Teacher Retreat

Monday and Tuesday we had a teacher retreat before school began on Wednesday.  We had wonderful speakers and it was nice to be able to spend time outside of work with colleagues. The retreat was actually located on the same road as Camp California where I had been less than 48 hours before.  It was just over a different hill.  Once again the view was beautiful!

There was a deck outside of the chapel that offered a gorgeous view.  We were all checking out the deck down below.  We were not quite as daring as it may appear in this picture!

Three Michigan girls

Game night

10th Birthday Party

This weekend I was able to attend the 10th birthday party for the sister of one of my students.  Her teacher was able to come too and we all had a lot of fun!

Black mustaches for the boys,

and pink for the girls!

My student and me

Blow out the candles!

 

Camp California

Last week I went to an English camp called Camp California.  Some of my students were there.  The theme for the week was Super Hero´s and each day there was a different Super Hero from the Bible we focused on along with a particular character trait they demonstrated.  Some of the characters included Joseph, Joshua, and David.  On the last day we talked about how much greater Jesus is than all the rest.  I was pretty tired, but we all had a great time.  It was a wonderful opportunity to serve a little over break.  

A huge ant hill- there were several of these.

The camp is located in the hills/mountains with a beautiful view.

The chapel area

Playground...I never will get over the wooden slides!

One of the games...and one of my cute little kiddos!

Uno

David and Goliath cupcake decorating contest

One of my cuties ready for the zip-line!

Tie-die shirts...Joseph and the coat of many colors

The whole gang at the end of the week

Iguazu Falls

One of the 7 Natural Wonders of the world is located in Brazil.  This hot spot (quite literally) is located where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet.  The falls are one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen.  Depending on the time of year there are 150-300 falls.  It blows Niagara Falls out of the water!  The second grade teacher and I made the trip together.  Our first morning we went over to Paraguay pretty much just so we could say we have been there.  It was nothing special, but it´s always nice to try out a new country.  On the bus ride over I saw these men selling food with their little picnic tables right in the middle of a few roads.  I thought it was rather interesting.

This river defines the border between Paraguay and Brazil.  

A shopping mall right over the border.  Things are supposed to be cheaper in Paraguay.  I didn´t find anything worth buying.

Then we went back to Brazil to a bird park.  There were birds, reptiles, and butterflies.  Here I am touching a Toucan...the Froot Loops bird!  I was a little nervous that long bill would come around and poke me!

Aren´t they beautiful?!

This bird was heavier than I thought!

Here is our first view of the falls from the Brazilian side.  I thought this was spectacular (which it was) and that we were seeing most of the falls.  Well, this is only a small portion!  We walked all afternoon seeing sights like this along the path.  

Here is a little video of a portion of the falls.

These lizards were crawling all over.

The next day we went over to Argentina.  We were able to take a short boat ride that went under two different falls.  That was really nice since it was well over 90 degrees each day, and it was fun.  We couldn´t see anything!

This is one of the most famous places or portions of the falls called Devil´s Throat.  The falls are shaped like a horseshoe, but tighter than the Canadian side of Niagara.  

A video of Devil´s Throat

This is a link to a youtube video of a helicopter ride over the falls.  

http://youtu.be/wndkgwcdDQU

The river between Paraguay and Brazil powers the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world.  We toured this in the morning before we left to go back to São Paulo.  

Brazil and Paraguay share it equally.  Here are their flags (Brazil on the left and Paraguay on the right).  

Pico do Jaragua

According to Wikipedia (always factual) São Paulo has 6,467 buildings, it is considered to have the 3rd-greatest concentration of buildings in the world, behind only New York City and Hong Kong.  Even if those exact statistics are wrong, there are a lot of really tall buildings!  There is no real downtown area but rather there are clumps of skyscrapers all over. 

 There is a place called Pico do Jaragua just a little bit north of the city where you can hike or drive up to the top of a mountain and overlook the city.  I wanted to see the city I live in from a better view to gain perspective.  Well, I could not see the whole thing and its enormity is overwhelming!  It was pretty amazing to see and realize that the horizon hinders me from being able to view the entire city.  Pictures cannot really capture it, but I will post them anyway to give you an idea.  

While hiking up the mountain we saw a little monkey.

It was a very beautiful hike.

Here are Katie and I at the top.  We went with her mom as well.

Here are two videos of the view.

New Year's 2014

New Year's in a different country is always memorable.  This year I was able to attend an English church service last minute.  It ended up being a wonderful opportunity to reflect, and I am so thankful for the family who gave me a ride at the last minute!  Members of the church each read a chapter of Revelation and by the time the service was over they had read through the entire book!  Three to four chapters would be read at a time and then we would all sing a song or two.  It was amazing to reflect on the last book of the Bible, which is about end times, at the end of the year!  

After that I went over to another families house for tacos.  Just that day I saw a picture of my friend eatting tacos on Facebook and I thought about how good that looked.  Once and a while I will have a taco here, but it isn't too common.  Anyway, that was a real treat.  From there I went with another one of my student's family's to a club nearby where they are members. Another family joined us and we had a great time bringing in the New Year!  

It is difficult to tell from this picture, but it's a soccer field filled with fireworks!  

The entrance to the club is lined with stately palm trees lit up.  It is just beautiful!

Some fireworks 

A few members of our group after the fireworks

Parent´s Visit: Day 6

Whoopse!  I accidentally posted Sunday´s adventures before Saturday.  You can figure it out though I think.

Saturday morning we woke up in Atiabaia and got a bus back to the northern part of São Paulo.  After that we took the metro a few stops and met up with another dear friend who took us around some other parts of the city.

We went up and down a famous street here called Paulista 

Famous building...I think it might have something to do with the stock market.

Famous art museum built above the ground so that the view was not ruined.

A big stage set up for a New Year´s Eve party

Then went to see an area where there are some mansions.  The people who live here own companies like BMW, Mercedes Benz etc.

One house was for sale so we got a tour!  The maid´s quarters were bigger than my whole apartment!

It has a 20 stall garage (10 inside and 10 outside).

There were several bullet proof doors and even a panic room with bulletproof glass.

On the way home we stopped at another one of my student´s homes for a Brazilian barbeque.  My parents were able to interact a bit more with some of my student´s families, and we got filled up again!