No Thanksgiving day in Brasil. why not? please don’t ask me that. because there were no pilgrims landing on Brasilian shores in 1620. mostly just depraved Portuguese gold seekers who killed the men and raped the women. not very pretty.
But we had thanksgiving at Jeff and Lindsay’s apartment, and it was wonderful perfect.
The day started off perfect and went well from there. i got up and then walked to the hammock and fell back asleep. we didn’t have the Living Stones project Thursday morning because of a great answer to prayer.
Some of the workers for the government program, PETI, have treated Patricia and Cacau with distain. They said that Patricia and Cacau were stuck up, and trying to make them look bad. the truth is, Patricia and Cacau did make them look bad–because many of the other workers were not working…and so it made the selfless sacrifice of the ladies stand out even more. But last Friday, the workers came and apologized to Patricia and Cacau. they said that they had been watching, and saw how everything they did was to serve and help the kids, and that they were genuine. They even went a step further and asked for Patricia and Cacau to help them plan the PETI program outline for next year–for the whole town of Paudalho!
At the same time (i love how God works these things), Heather (Tele’s wife) and I worked on putting onto paper an outline of Living Stone’s objectives, methodologies, values…and so on. all that stuff. Monday i showed the plan to Patricia and Cacau, who loved and embraced it. We spent the day translating it into Portuguese, and then on Thursday, that is the plan that was presented to the rest of PETI, the government social program. They loved it, including the Character and Biblical values we presented. And that is the outline plan for next year’s program for the whole town of Paudalho. that was a God thing. yeah.
so i slept in and then saw that we had a bunch of old yucky black bananas (banana’s are super cheap here. normally about 5 cents or less. but if you go inland, you can get 100 bananas for 50 cents. needless to say, we eat a lot of bananas). I did what my mom would do. i made banana bread. but i didn’t have a recipe. and i always forget that i have never done this before. but my new cooking rule is this: if it doesn taste good enough to lick out the bowl, then it won’t taste good after it is baked, so you should keep adding ingredients until it tastes good. it worked.
In the afternoon we had Living Stones and the girls and i worked on our Jewelry project (pictures to come in PART 3) and then i went to Carpina to Jeff and Lindsay apartment where i was greeted by yummy smells. yummy American thanksgivng smells. like Turkey (whoop, i am a veggie-tarian) and stuffing. Family sent Lindsay the box stuffing kind. the really yummy kind. and pumpkin pie.
and mashed potatoes and gravy and veggies and yum yum yum and i did nothing but walk with Mr.Hood to get the Canjica (corn pudding) at the store. yesssssss. Mrs.Hood (left) and Mr.Hood are here in Brasil teaching English this semester. They are wonderful and so encouraging. I love to sit in on Mrs.Hood’s classes, because she never yells, and all of the kids listen perfectly. i have a long way to go in becoming a teacher like that. Emily (middle) has her work visa and is heading up the English department at the school. She does a fantastic job. Lindsay (right) teaches the lil kids and is the sweetest one of all of us. I didn’t get Jeff’s (Lindsay’s husband) picture, or Roberto and Karine, who came later. That makes up our “American” group here in Brasil.
Mr.Hood and our pretty table. before munch time.
After a full tummy and sitting around and sharing about God’s great gifts and working in our lives, i went to college (FALUB) where we had a school fair this week. Each class picked a theme and then had a tent to present it. My class was “English: aprender brincando” (learning while playing). since i am the only English speaker, i was elected chairman and director and all…it went well. as soon as i realized that some people were going to give 110% and most everyone else was going to do nothing…and was ok with that…it went well.
We had a “show,” dressing up like clowns and singing “head, shoulders, knees, toes” and “Hokey Pokey” over and over and over, a table with games to learn colors (candyland), numbers (sorry), and parts of the body. lots of books, and a projector playing “Magic English” (a Disney learning DVD).
but their favorite part was when we translated “Thriller” and attempted to dance to it. one kid…11 years old…had the thing memorized. in English. even though he didn’t know what the heck he was saying…he sang for us. Micheal is king in Brasil. they haven’t accepted the fact that he died. my claim to fame is that i was born in the same state as he was. The two main questions the kids had for me “Did you know him?” and “Are you sure he is really dead?” (while i didn’t personally go to the funeral…i tell them very assuridly that YES, he is and no, i didn’t know him.) i didn’t tell them that this was the first time i had even seen “Thriller.”
this is Dona Rita. She is amazing. She turns 60 on December 9th. she is the most dedicated student i have ever seen. Seriously. she writes pages and pages…and then turns assignments into poems and reads them for the class. and she takes care of me. she makes sure i always have a group, and that i know what is going on. and normally, if i am confused, she ends up doing the work for/with me, which i know is going to spoil me silly, but it is such a nice feeling of…being taken care of.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I missed you Mommy and Daddy and Johnny and Anna and Donovan and ?????lil one yet to come.
Recent Comments