More Goodbyes
05 Aug 2008 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: in Rio
Edson just left for work, and I had to say “goodbye” to yet another person that has become so special to me. And of course there was more crying, and I almost made him cry. He kept saying, “Don’t cry now. You’re gonna come back. It’s ok, we can keep in touch online. And you’re gonna come back, ok?” And even though I know that we can still communicate even when I’m not here, and even though I know that I can come back….goodbyes are never easy…no matter what country you’re in.
Tears
05 Aug 2008 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: in Rio
I’m in the middle of a breakdown…you know the kind where you gasp for breath in between sobs?? Well, I’ve got it bad. Five weeks have never passed by so quickly. Maybe it seemed like an eternity for those of you in TN, but honestly, I can’t believe it’s over. I can’t believe I’m already leaving this place that has become home, and I can’t believe that I’m leaving these people that I love and adore. (Thankfully, I will get to see lots of people that I love and adore tomorrow in TN!!) I love all of you….in Rio and in K-Town…soooo much!
beijos
At Wise Up…
04 Aug 2008 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: in Rio, Portuguese
I am at Andre’s work again…since it is my last full day here, I wanted to come with him. And, about 47 seconds after he left me sitting in the little lounge area…I was forced to talk in Portuguese. As soon as he walked out the door, the custodian lady starts talking to me.
The conversation: (all in Portuguese…since I found out last time that employees, other than teachers and coordinators, don’t speak English….. )
Her: “Do you live close to him??”
(…..cut to me laughing, and trying to hold it in…because it was a funny question….but I was also very pleased, because that meant she thought I was Brasilian….and to me…that’s a very nice compliment.)
Me: “Um, no I’m from the United States.”
Her: “Oh, ok! But you speak Portuguese!!”
Me: “Well, a little bit.”
Her: “Only a little?!?”
Me: “Yes…a little. Only that.” (giggling….)
Her: “Ok. Nice to meet you!”
Me: “You too.”
Not too bad, I suppose. The problem is: when I’m not expecting people to start talking to me, and then I realize they are speaking Portuguese…it takes me a second to switch gears in my mind. It’s good to practice though!
beijos
Randoms
02 Aug 2008 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: in Rio
-If you are on my email list, you already know this…..I got to drive a car on Wednesday night!! Marcello (a guy from the church…you can see his picture in one of the last posts) asked if I knew how to drive, and I told him that I do. So, after the service, he handed me the keys to his car! I just drove around the block a couple of times, but since it had been about a month since I had driven at all, it was super cool. I will admit: I did kill it twice, but that was because I got stuck in a hole that was right in front of a speed-breaker. I finally decided to just gas it and get out of the hole! So, now I can say….”Yes, I drove in Rio.” 
-A few days ago, Luiza was playing with my hair, and all of the sudden she said, “Ah, caramba! Uma estrela!” (Oh wow! A star!) She saw my tattoo for the first time. It was quite funny.
-A new phrase that I’m picking up: “Ninguem merece…” It means “Nobody deserves this”. Vanessa says it when people are acting silly….like when Edson sings and dances around like a little kid. haha.
-Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting in the living room with Maria….waiting on Andre to get home from work. The t.v. was acting weird, and the screen kept going fuzzy. I was feeling kinda sleepy, Maria noticed it. So she said, “Julie, go ahead and sleep there on the couch, and when you wake up, the t.v. will probably be working again.” Sounded good to me. So I slept for about 45 minutes, and when I woke up, the t.v. still wasn’t working. Maria told me that while I was sleeping, something crazy happened to it, and the screen went black, and it quit working altogether. Ooops. Later that night, she figured out that the particular channel we were watching was messed up, but others worked. Too bad we didn’t discover that a couple of hours before-hand…..
-Last night, Andre was looking online for medical vocabulary for one of his students. We found this website that had “cloze” exercises. Yes, that’s a real word. Neither of us had ever heard of it, so we looked it up, and it’s real. It basically means “fill in the blank”. The were 20 sentences that described a certain piece of medical equipment, disease, body part, etc.; and you are supposed to know the word based on the information given. It was fun to test what we knew. One question: “The organ in the body of a woman or female mammal in which a baby develops is _? Andre says, “Womb!” I looked at him and said, “Uh, no, it’s ‘uterus’!!” He clicked on the tab for the answer; and what did it say?? “womb OR uterus“. Dang it! I just wanted to be right….
beijos
My Manicure
02 Aug 2008 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: in Rio
It seems that manicures and pedicures are a big thing here. But, you don’t want just the normal, boring solid colors. Nope. These people are all about drawing pretty designs on their nails. On Thursday, Danielle (an amiga of Luan’s) asked if she could give me a manicure. I was like “Sure!”. So we went to her house, and she said that since I love Brasil so much, she was going to paint the Brasilian flag on my nails. Awesome!! Here is a picture of me with Danielle, and also a picture of her handiwork…
Wednesday in Caxias….and Some Interesting Conversations
02 Aug 2008 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: in Rio
On Wednesday, I got to hang out with some of the teenagers from the church. Several of them came over to Luan’s house to visit. They were all impressed by the fact that I have a tattoo of Brasil on my foot, and the first thing they asked was…..”Your church lets you have tattoos?!?!” I was like, “Yeah, of course…I have two.” Well that started an interesting conversation about churches here and the beliefs that some people have…..which is totally what I have been waiting for! Finally, the opportunity arose!
I’ll go ahead and say that what I told them is what I believe about these certain things, and what I believe about the character of God. You can disagree with me if you want to….you have that right.
As I said, the first question was about tattoos and piercings. Apparently, some (possibly many) of the churches here don’t allow members to have tattoos and piercings. I’m not sure if you can’t join the church if you have them, or exactly what the details are on it, but I can assure you….they were shocked when they found out that it wasn’t a problem at my church. I asked why it is an issue here, and they told me that part of it is because many people in the churches believe that you shouldn’t alter your body in that way….like God made you the way you are, and putting ink into your skin and punching holes in your body changes what He originally did, and some people think that is wrong. I told them that God accepts you for who you are; regardless of whether you have tattoos, piercings, pink hair, etc. (Yes, I’ve had all of those!) And just like He won’t turn you away because your life isn’t perfectly in order; He won’t turn you away because you have a star tattooed on the back of your neck. Of course there are some people in my own church that don’t like tattoos. My parents don’t even like mine. But, it’s not about that. I, personally, feel no conviction for having tattoos and piercings. In my opinion, it’s not “wrong”, and as long as that isn’t standing in the way of my relationship with God, then I see no problem with it.
The next questions were about the Assembly of God churches here. They told me that these are some of the rules of these churches: women can’t cut their hair, no make-up, no piercings (not even earrings), can’t wear deoderant or perfume, women must wear long dresses or skirts, no shaving your legs, definitely no tattoos, etc. My response to this was: These are not things of God; these are things of men. Humans have created these rules, not God. And one of the biggest problems I see with this, is the danger of rules and routines. It’s easy to get caught up in all of these regulations….making sure you are “following all of the rules”. And then, what happens with God? What happens to your relationship with Him? Are you too concerned with being seen as acceptable in the eyes of men?? (By the way, all of these people are members of a Baptist church and professed to be Christians; and they too disagree with these “rules”) It was so good to talk with them and too hear their opinions on these matters. It’s always good to gain insight on what others think….
Tuesday Evening in Caxias
02 Aug 2008 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: in Rio, Portuguese
Tuesday night, we went to a service at the church. As we were walking there, I started getting so anxious to just see it again! Finally, we turned the corner, and there it was. The exterior gates are painted differently now, but I still saw just as I had before. We walked inside, and I saw Ingrid (she worked with my group last year). It was really exciting to see her again. When the pastor got up to start his message, he made a few announcements first, and THEN something happened that I was totally unprepared for! He told Luan to bring me up to the front and introduce me!! It caught me by surprise, and even though it’s a small church, I was shaking a bit. haha. Luan introduced me, and then tried to hand me the microphone. WOW! Hold on! You want me to speak in front of all of these people…in Portuguese??? Not happening, sorry. I looked at him and said, “Nao quero falar! Por favor, nao quero….” (I don’t want to talk! Please, I don’t want to…) Thank goodness they let me off the hook. After the service, I did mix and mingle, and talk to people though, and I really enjoyed that.
Some of the youth in the church are doing a skit for one of the services, and they were practicing after the service. Since I used to do that at my church, and I really miss it…..cough, cough…hint, hint…Tina! I helped them out some, and then talked with them some more. Here are some pictures from Tuesday night and Wednesday night at the church…
Marcello, Luan, and Juliana
Marcello, me, and Luan
Ingrid and I
Marcello and Angela (the pastor's wife)
Caxias
01 Aug 2008 4 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: in Rio
On Monday afternoon, my friend, Luan, called and invited me to spend a couple of days at his house. I met him when I was in Rio last year. He attends the church that we worked with there in Caxias. So he came with his father on Tuesday afternoon to pick me up. I was so excited to be able to go back to the community that I worked in, and to see some of the people that I have so often wondered about.
When we got close to the neighborhood, I started recognizing the area….there is this little underpass thing that you have to go through to get there. Last year, when we were in a big bus, I got so nervous every time we went under that thing. I could have sworn we were going to hit the pillars holding the thing up. (Those of you that were here with me last year will know what I’m talking about!!!) Anyway, as soon as I saw that underpass, I just had this indescribable feeling inside of me. So many memories came flooding back, and it was overwhelming. I had to fight to hold back tears.
We arrived at the house, and went inside where I was met with hugs and kisses from the rest of the family. We sat on the couch and chit-chatted a bit. The father (Lucinaldo) is crazy and funny, so he made me laugh a lot. Then, random people starting coming in to visit and say hi. It was so great to see them again.
However, there was one particular family (a couple and their little girl) that I fell in love with last year……when my group went to their house, they made coffee for us, and we stayed there for an hour or more just talking. The following day, we went back to visit with them….we even ended up being late to arrive back at the church because we enjoyed their company so much. The woman even bought purses for me, and the other 2 girls in my group. They truly were such a blessing to us. Well, much to my delight, the man and his daughter came to Luan’s house to see me! The little girl (I think she is about 3 years old now) has a nickname…“Batatinha”, which means “little potato”. She is so cute, and she has grown soooo much!! She came walking into the living room, and I almost didn’t believe it was her! My friend, Brooke, (who went on the mission trip last year) sent some gifts for “Batatinha”, and when I gave them to her, her father told her how to say “thank you” in English. It was so adorable when she said it. Once again, tears welled up in my eyes. The father was impressed that I speak some Portuguese, and it was so nice to be able to talk to him without a translator this time. He asked about everyone else that was in my group last year, and he was glad to hear that everybody is doing well. He told me that his wife wanted to see me, but that she couldn’t come that day, but she would come on Thursday. And of course, I couldn’t wait to see her! And now, to prevent this post from becoming too long, I’m going to end it, and start another…but, here are pictures of them:
Saudades….kicking in already
28 Jul 2008 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: in Rio
Everyone here has been asking when I’m coming back to Rio de Janeiro. My answer has been: “I don’t really know. Hopefully soon.” And that’s the truth. Last night I was talking with Edson, and he asked the same question. And then he said something that brought tears to my eyes. “Quando voce vai embora, eu vou sentir sua falta.” (When you leave, I’m gonna miss you.) Awwwwww. And of course I will miss him too…along with everybody else here. And then I felt a little panicky….like oh wow…this is my last week here. Please don’t get me wrong…I’m so looking forward to seeing everybody in the states. I miss yall! But I’m sad to leave too. I wish I could have all of the people that I love together in the same place; and obviously I know that’s not feasible, but I can dream, right??
Apparently I Don’t Know How To Use Computers Anymore
26 Jul 2008 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: in Rio
That post of pictures was supposed to be a “page” like the others, but I’ve apparently gone dumb, and messed it up. Since it took me FOREVER to do it, I’m gonna leave it for now, and try to redo it later….like tomorrow, or the next day. Ugh. I can’t believe I did that.
