Fun Facts

Ok, so these are all based on what I have been told...no research done on my part, but they sounded interesting to me so here ya go!
1. Sao Paulo has more helicopters than any other area of the world.  Everyone hates the traffic so if you have money you get a helicopter.  Its also safer that way because some people get robbed sitting in traffic especially at night.  Evidently a few years ago there was a family who brought their kids here to PACA via helicopter every day and landed on the soccer field.  Now that's going to school high class!!
2. Things here are really expensive.  They have a lot of mozzarella cheese here, but if you want another kind of cheese (at least one that I recognize) its mostly a specialty item such as parmesan, blue cheese etc.  A small wedge is about $15-$16!!  That's one way to get me to eat less cheese!!!
3. Along those same lines a couple weeks ago I heard some people talking about Black Friday.  I asked, "Oh, they have Black Friday here too?"  I thought that was just the U.S. because Thanksgiving is a U.S. holiday.  They said, no not here.  Brazilians fly to the U.S. to buy things and  bring them back here because its cheaper to buy a plane ticket and hit up the sales than to buy things here.  That also factors in that they can only bring back $500 worth of merchandise!
4. When you go to a restaurant you have to buy water.  There is no free water. :)  Well, the bottled water is probably a little more than 1/2 the size of a regular U.S. bottle of water and it is about $2.50 per bottle.  For a girl who likes to drink I have to be careful and remember not to forget my own water bottle!
5. I'm starting to realize a little about how much of the rest of the world lives.  Sunday night I went to a new church.  Its in a poor neighborhood and we had to drive next to a favela (slum) on the way.  This particular favela is only about 1 minute from PACA.  There was one car completely burned out with a couple of the doors missing, but the frame of the car still intact.  When we got to church and got out of our car we saw a blackened spot on the ground where a car had been and was burned.  All that was left was a small piece of tire rubber and a screw in a piece of metal.  This picture isn't the greatest, but I was trying to be sneaky about taking it (and it was night).  You can still kind of see the black spot where a car was.  Monday night my Bible Study leader said her fiancee's car had been stolen over the weekend.  People felt sad for her, but evidently this is quite common and no one was shocked.  On the way to Bible Study I saw my first protest.  Evidently you can get stuck in traffic for 3-4 hours because of these protests.  Thankfully it was peaceful AND on the other side of the road!!

Avoiding the Thesis

Tonight I decided I'm too tired to really do any quality thesis work...soooo how about another blog post? :D

We were practicing alphabetical order, so we got in order by first name.  I stepped out of line to take the picture. 

One of my studnents brought all the teachers chocolate!  The center of the rose was a chocolate and inside the box were several more chocolates...one great way to sweeten the teacher up! 

Last Friday we went to a Mexican restaurant for Josh's birthday.  I ordered by myself for the first time!  (Luckily "burrito" is "burrito" in Portuguese too!)

The other day I went for a run and came across a little fruit market/store I had not been to yet.  I decided to try a couple new fruits.  I'm not sure what this one is.  I didn't think to take a picture of it before I peeled it, but it was good so I'll have to see if I can find it again!

I also got a starfruit.  I have had this before, but I don't think I have ever bought one.  I wasn't sure how to eat it and since I actually knew what it was called I could look it up online!

Google search of course

Which took me to YouTube

...and yes I can eat the skin!  The seeds are slimy and crunchy as I was told from the youtube video...guess they knew what they were talking about!

Because we never know about traffic we allow extra time to get to BSF (Bible Study) on Monday nights.  So far the traffic has been great and we have gotten there early.  We came across Rua Michigan (Michigan Street), so Katie and I got a picture (notice our lovely maps...we are pointing to GR!).

Here are the other ladies who attend BSF with me.  From left to right: Katie's mom Kim, Elizabeth, (me), and Ji.  We all live in the same building on campus so it works out really well!

Top Ten

1. Last week I went somewhere by myself for the first time in over a month.  I walked a couple blocks to the grocery store, found some food, purchased it, and made it safely home! (...and I'm only 29!!)   :P

2. Today I went running for the first time with a friend.  We went to this little neighborhood and it was just beautiful!  It was probably in the 50's and there was the slightest bit of mist in the air.  The walls around the homes were covered in moss and vines, and there were beautiful tropical plant and flowers poking out through the cracks in the sidewalk.  Some houses are visible from the street and one had statues of Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs in a garden.  I felt like I was running through the Secret Garden. 

3. Tonight I made popcorn in a pan on the stove for the first time.  It was pretty successful and I'm enjoying it while I type this post.  

4. Tonight I also got my phone so I can now receive calls!!  If you don't have my number let me know and I'll send it to you.  

5. Tomorrow we have a half day of professional development...no students.  

6. Monday I go to work on my documents some more.  We leave at 6:15 AM...ewww!

7. Today I attended my first Portuguese lesson.  I can't even say the alphabet correctly!  :P  However, I am really excited to start learning!

8. Last night I had some girls over for dinner.  The menu was the same as the last time I had people over. :)  However, this time one girl brought a salad and another brought dessert.  I did come up with another dinner idea after they left, so maybe next time it won't be spaghetti! :)  

9. Saturday night I went to a surprise 40th birthday party for the high school principal organized by his girlfriend at the time.  She is the preschool director.  Well, he surprised her by asking her to marry him!  Their two surprises collided a little, but it was really fun.  I'm so excited for them!

10.  Monday night I attended my first Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) class here in Brazil.  I was/am so excited about this!  Its an International Bible Study that I participated in when I lived in Grand Rapids, and my church from the Philippines also hosts it.  I have friends in Manila, Grand Rapids, and Seattle all completing the same Bible Study with me at the same time.  Its really wonderful and a huge answer to prayer.  I had been asking God to lead me to a good Bible Study here and BSF is one of the best I have ever been involved in.  I'm so thankful for the other women here who are willing to take me and that time times/location worked out.  People said it would take anywhere from 1.5-2.5 hours to get there because of traffic, but it only took us one hour and it only took 20 min. coming home!  We were really thankful for that!  In addition the study is in English.  The other members of my group speak Portugese as their first language, but we were able to communicate pretty well.  The teaching lady is from the U.S. (with a Southern accent!). 

 

Parties

Here at PACA they celebrate birthday's a little differently than we did at schools in MI.  Once a month the room mothers come in with treats to celebrate all the birthday's for that month.  This month we had 5 student birthday's!  Here are a couple photos. 

A Brazilian birthday cake with "confetti".  

 The birthday kiddos

Singing "Happy Birthday" (also in Portuguese...I have got to learn this song!)

I was just thinking you probably might wonder if we do any work in 1st grade, so I thought I'd update you on our current topics.  I guess I don't post much about it because parties seem like more fun!  

In Language arts we are doing some testing to gain student levels, working on basic writing (subjects, nouns, capitals, punctuation), and working on Read-to-Self.  Today the kids reached their stamina goal of 12 minutes!  Here is a photo. 

In math we finished up basic addition and are about to finish a chapter on basic subtraction.  Next week we will begin addition strategies.  In Bible we started with Creation, then moved on to Cain, Able, Noah, the Tower of Babel, and are now at Abraham.  The story of Abraham is part of why I ended up in Brazil so I am really enjoying the chance to teach that.  In Social Studies we just finished our unit on the continents.  This morning one of the mom's came in and presented on China (she is from China).  It was very interesting and I learned a lot!  Now we are studying ancient civilizations beginning with Mesopotamia and then moving onto Egypt. 

I asked Josh, Brenda, and Jen to be my first dinner guests.  They have been so very helpful to me.  I also knew if it was a total flop they would be gracious. :)  We had the basics, spaghetti, garlic bread, fruit, broccoli (yes mother a vegetable!!), and brownies.  

Little Bathroom Story

Here's a little example of what adventures one might have not knowing Portugese in Brazil.

Last Sunday I was with some friends at the grocery store and they were getting in line to check out.  Now, here lines to check out take a VERY LONG TIME, so I asked if this might be a good time for me to go use the restroom.  I figured then we wouldn't all have to wait for me to go once we checked out.  They told me it was on the other side of the store, so I went over there but did not see signs anywhere.  The store has a pharmacy in it,  so I went to the counter and tried saying the two words I know that mean bathroom.  Evidently I have a really terrible accent because one worker went to get another and soon there was a group of about 4 workers trying to understand me.  Well I tried doing motions.  I tried showing them the handwashing motion.  They tried selling me soap.  Ok, that didn't work.  I thought of showing them toilet paper, but I couldn't find it anywhere.  Then I thought of a sure way to make my point.  I would do the world renoun 1st grader bathroom dance!  So I'm dancing and prancing and crossing my legs...nothing.  Oh boy, what to do?  The lady took me to a computer and started looking something up.  I motioned to let me try.  I went to Google images and looked up pictures of bathrooms.  Fail again...then I went to the best website... Google Translate.  I typed in "Where is the bathroom?"  All the workers laughed and laughed, as did I...and one sweet lady brought me to the bathroom.  SUCCESS!!

Its a Small World After All

Today I met up with Ana Carolina who was an exchange student with the DeRuischer's in Grand Rapids in 2005.  She took me around the city a little and introduced me to a couple of her friends. 

On the way home I took a photo of Estaiada Bridge which is a famous bridge here in Sao Paulo.

VISITORS!!

Marianne, Karin and their group came down this past weekend.  They are still in Brazil working at Restoration Ministries, but I was able to see them this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  It was such a blessing to see familiar faces and to be able to spend so much time with them!

Meeting up with the girls at their hotel

The largest bookstore in South America...dream come true for Marianne!!

Karin got sushi

Deborah and I tried on some fun sweater dresses at a local mall

Shay and Khamile at the mall

Saturday night we went to Casa Pizza

Fun little spot at Calvary church

The girls at church

Khamile eating a chicken heart!

Lunch at a Brazilian Churrascaria

 The bathroom has floss...

and Listerine!

How cool are these faucets/sink!!

We went to an outdoor shopping area in the Japanese section of the city

Khamile got the purse she had been looking for.

I found a coat ...its winter here!