May 3, 2013
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Mom and Koral: Week 3
Koral: This week as either been very long, or really quite short…. I haven’t made up my mind yet. Between terrible sunburns and general sickness, I haven’t been able to really DO much, but what I have been able to do has been more than worth it. On Sunday, we met a family of eight girls living in a small house of cement walls and dirt floors and I was reminded of all the complaining I did about living in a perfectly good two bedroom house with six people. Being here never ceases to remind me how absolutely spoiled I am back home, how spoiled we all are as Americans.
Brazilians are spoiled in another way however, with the sheer beauty of the land around them. I went to the beach for the first time I can remember on Thursday and I shall never forget it. The water that seemed to go on forever, slipping effortlessly from color to color, the fish darting between my leg and arms, the sun shining off the water and bouncing off their scales…. It was simply beautiful. I did pay for it with an awful sunburn, but it was more than worth the price. And I also got pizza with tomato sauce, which makes everything wonderful!
Mom: The first part of our trip was filled with firsts and getting to meet and see so much of what has been Rachel’s life the past 10 years or so, and getting to meet “her” children from all over and giving them love gifts.
This week has been filled more with what she does when on short vacations here. In the big town of Recife (3rd largest city in Brazil) we first had an exciting opportunity of getting from point A to point B in the “Venice of South America” (exciting, but then, I didn’t have to do the driving). We had a shopping day in Old Recife (overwhelmed with scores of stands, we mostly stuck with the ones Rachel already knew), Casa Cultura (an old 3-story prison converted to actual shops) and Olinda (hostels and shops wrapping around a large hill overlooking the ocean).
Another day we went to the Chicken port (porto de Galinhas), a gorgeous beach with yet another small town of multitudes of places to shop, but known for decorating with the base of old, cut down palm trees and painting the top portion white and like a chicken with enormous, crazy eyes. We were taken by a wonderful family and some other dear friends of Rachel’s, as they even brought a shelter and did all they could for my personal benefit.
I’d longed to see the fish they spoke of that people walk out to see when the tide goes out, but was grateful for the chairs they had carried in when we got to that part of the beach, as the walking was harder than I had expected. It was still lovely, but God wasn’t done blessing me as Rachel returned with a beach wheelchair! I was pushed to the shallows and lifted into a kind of raft with board seats and a sail. We went around the area, then stopped twice for the girls to get out with masks and see the fish that came for the fishfood. It was amazing!
The next day and a half were needed for rest, of course, as the girls’ sunburns were just as impressive as my many memories of the day.
Continuing with our picture review:
April 25: Koral’s Birthday was filled with flowers, as the kids wanted to do something special for her:
We then celebrated April birthdays at Guadalajara:
And last but not least, the surprise:
April 26: was our day to see Recife and Olinda
April 27: Koral and my mom taught the children colors in English:
and their first churrasco
April 28: We fought through the rain to get to these sweet girls:
(the special princess tea set from Disneyworld)April 29: Our only chance to get to meet the kids from Carpina, and celebrate the April birthdays:
April 30: At Guadalajara, we shared about how important mothers are, and to start planning how they can bless their moms this month!
May 1 was Labor Day in Brazil, so we were off to the beach:
And found mom a beach wheelchair:
Had an amazing boat ride:
May 2: Burnt to a crisp
