Shambalaiê! Adventures continue!

OLÁ GENTE!

Well, I figured it was time to update everyone on how things are going over here in the Amazon basin. Many things have changed since the last time I updated, so sorry if this ends up being long and rambly, I also just downed a nice cup of steaming coffee so thoughts and fingers might be a little jittery, haha…oops!
Where to start?!?! I guess I will start with my trip to Manaus, because things before then were kind of the daily drill of routine routine, prayer, Portuguese classes (sporadic, but existent), and CLEANING! So let’s move onto Manaus. On February 8th-ish, I don’t remember the exact date I flew, but it was somewhere around there, I hopped on a plane at 3AM from Porto Velho and landed in Manaus, Amazonas less than two hours later, albeit exhausted I was unable to sleep because of excitement. The reason was because my friend and fellow salesian missionary Joe Czupinski had finally arrived in Brazil after patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for SIX MONTHS for his volunteer visa after completing mission training in New York. I was ESTATIC to get out of Porto Velho for the week, not because I don’t like PV (I love PV) but because I would be able to see Joe, and also Sabrina an Italian volunteer in Manicoré would be there and I was ready to pick brains on how her volunteer experience had been and to reunite with Joe and give him what tips I could. Little did I know that we would have a NON-STOP action packed adventure-full agenda waiting for us.
The first day was beautiful, everyone was just super happy to be reunited. We just talked in the morning, and in the afternoon we had a reunion (small retreat style meeting/talk) where we discussed the Salesian volunteers and our missions here in Brazil. It was like a breath of fresh air to sit down and really talk about things I am passionate about, like really loving the poorest of the poor, reaching out to those most distant (emotionally), how to serve selflessly, and leaving the first talk I felt like I was ready to head back to Porto Velho and really give to the kids I work with, with a reinvigorated sense of love and devotion. (I realize there are a lot of cliché words used in the past couple sentences, but I don’t really know how else to explain what we talked about.) However, this was just the first day in Manaus, I still had 4 more full days of retreat and adventures! The following day, we had a mass in the morning with just Padre Chicão, Padre Benjamim and the volunteers which was a great way to start the day and then we headed out to the markets to show Joe a little bit of the city (and really me too, the last time I was in Manaus I was only there a few days and didn’t get to see much!) We headed to the port to see all the boats, for those who don’t know… the Amazon is a region where there are no roads to connect cities… here we use the natural highway system, the rivers. That’s right, if I want to travel to Manaus, or to Manicoré or where Joe will be stationed, Iauarete, there are only two ways to get there, plane, or boat. There is no road system here, which is actually really cool! (ps. Iauarete is ONLY accessible by boat, no roads, and not accessible by air… kind of jealous). So we checked out the port, and hit up the markets, which were full of all sorts of smells, fruits of all sorts, spices, and tons and tons of FISH! It was a lot of fun to walk around the market and point out all the different Brazilian fruits and spices that you only find in Brazil and often only in the Amazon. It was overwhelming, but beautiful. It was a really cool experience to share with Joe, his first Açaí, Guaraná, maracujá do mato, tucumã, papunha, farinha e farofa, caiparinha, pirarucu, tapioca (not what you think), etc (not all of this was experienced in the market, but it was great!). We went to an indigenous market and just roamed the streets before heading back to the inspetoria for the afternoons session on Salesian Spirituality and the Preventive System. Topics I have covered intensely before, but it was good to review for sure.
The following day we headed out to Presidente Figuerido, which may be the most beautiful place I have been to. We drove about 2 hours out of Manaus into the meio do mato (middle of the jungle) and came across a river with waterfalls and jumped on in! The water was RED, it was sooo strange, but oddly enticing, it was all very clean water, just very red. On the path down to the falls, we came across and snake slithering along the way, luckily it was rather small, but it was my first Amazonian snake experience. We hopped on over to some other falls later in the afternoon and just enjoyed the beauty for awhile. The cool thing was, we were the ONLY ones there. It was a nice day, and we had the river and falls all to ourselves. Soooo cool! I posted pics in Fbook, and will add some at the end of this blog! We spent basically the whole day out on that adventure and ended it by stopping at a little food place on the way back where we ate tapioca with tucumã, and juice of cupuaçu and graviola with fried bananas. It was wonderful.
The next day we spent taking a tour out to the Encontro das Águas where the river Solimões meets the River Negro. It is a weird effect where the rivers don’t mix, and the Solimões is a light brown color, while the Negro is… well… you guessed it… black (color of coca-cola). We saw a giant tree, got eaten up by mosquitoes (correction: I got eaten up by mosquitoes, Joe managed to escape them), got to hold a snake and sloth, and eat really good FISH! It was a good adventure.
I missed a day somewhere in there where we went and hung out with the seminarians in Zumbi (I talked about Zumbi in my first or second blog post… it is an interesting part of town) and visited the Colégio Dom Bosco there. It was wonderful to go there, because three of my good friends from Porto Velho are Seminarians in Manaus and I got to visit them, despite the fact it was brief it was full of excitement and love, and presents! They are the best guys! Jerrold, Jairo, and Wellington, sinto falta de vocês, e estou rezando por vocês! (It would be strange if they read this far, considering none know English, but wtv.) Wait, another day, we went out to the Dom Bosco site and played volleyball and swam with the post-novitiates, ahh it’s all blurring together, but it was all great. Joe and I just kind of laughed at the fact that we hung out with a bunch of seminarians who were blasting Lady Gaga and playing Volleyball, Brazilians are really cool! *laughed in the sense that we were having fun too, and it was just kind of ridiculous and not something you would see in the USA.
Anyways, I took a plane at midnight back to Porto Velho 5 days after arriving in Manaus, and my plane was delayed so I didn’t get in to PV until around 2:30am. (Fun story, for some reason, the airport in Porto Velho showed that the flight was cancelled from Manaus, so my ride home…left before I arrived. I don’t have a cellphone here and no way to communicate with the priests I live with. Haha, but it wasn’t really a problem, I just took a taxi, I’m just thankful I live in a city where taxis exist and not in the boonies) I arrived home just 3 hours before the first day of school began! Haha, I didn’t sleep at all, for the second day in the week (I didn’t sleep on my way to Manaus either). Luckily I got out of teaching the first day, and classes really started Tuesday for me.
School has been so great for me. It takes up a lot of my time! Haha. I teach eight sections of English and assist with Recreation and Religion classes when I’m not teaching English. The kids don’t know ANY English, I was really astonished because in all my previous travels the people have known at least the basics…nope. I started with Hello, and Hi. This presents the challenge of: although I am teaching an English class, I am teaching fully in Portuguese. It’s really boosted my confidence in Portuguese though, I am at the point where I am comfortably conversing with everyone and have been able to fool a few people into believing that I am Brazilian. Haha. I have two teaching moments that I am going to share with you all. The first is the first day snowball fight. None of the kids have seen before snow before, much less know the sensation, so I figured it would be a fun activity and cultural lesson to explain what a snowball fight is. So I had the kids write their names on a piece of paper and three things about themselves. I then continued with the first lesson, greetings and the verb to be. After the lesson the kids had forgotten about the paper, and I asked them to take it out again, and explained to them what snow was like and what a snowball fight was. I asked them to crumple the paper with the names on it into a ball, and then we started a war!!! It was soo much fun, one of the kids was like “Teacher, can we throw them at you too?!” I was like… “heck yeah,” and we just chucked paper around the class for awhile pretending to have a snowball fight. And at the end everyone had to pick up a snowball, unfold it and introduce themselves and the person on the paper they ended up with, using a greeting we had learned and the verb to be “i.e. Hello, I am Jon, She is Maria.” It was a fun activity to say the least.
The second day however, the lil angels decided they wanted to have another snowball fight. When I told them “no” one of the students pulled out a phrase I can only assume he learned from watching some movie. “F- YOU, teacher” but he said the whole word. I was about to get really frustrated with him, but I realized he was just sitting in the back with the biggest grin on his face, so proud of himself for using English. It was soo hard not to laugh, and to let him know that that word was strictly forbidden in the classroom. He seemed to not realize the gravity of the word, and the rest of the class was confused as to what was going on… so I just kind of let him know it was not okay and continued with the lesson. The kids are quite the rowdy bunch, but I’m really enjoying have students. Basically, I love what I’m doing, I love the kids, when I’m not teaching I spend time in the Oratory with them, playing sports or chatting, and it is just the most amazing experience to sit and talk with them. A challenge of teaching here as well is that the kids are poor, and when I say poor, I mean, many of the kids that come to the school receive their one meal a day at the school which consists of bread and juice, they come to school without pens, pencils, backpack, nothing…because they simply can’t afford it…not even paper. So, how are they supposed to take notes in English class without paper??? I’ve been supplying paper and pens every day, and will continue to, but it is just a reality check for how blessed I have been.
Okay, I’ve written too much already. Sorry for how long this is. I will try to be more consistent and less wordy, but can’t promise anything. Haha. Life is very busy here, which is a great thing.
But I send you all my love from Brasil to wherever you are! Know there is much more going on here than I can explain in words here, and it is all challenging, and beautiful and crazy! Just the way I like it!

Abraço e Beijão,

Jon

Paz sem voz não é paz, é medo.

Olá!

Well, I’ve been getting some subtle and some not-so-subtle hints that I should update my blog, so here you are. Sorry that it has taken me awhile to update, the reasons for this should be obvious from this entry.
The school time has officially ended for Brazil, the kids have had break since mid-December which means, I too have had break. My original plan for break was to go visit one of the other volunteers in Brazil or travel to São Paulo or southern Brazil where I know people and go visit them. This idea was quickly stomped by Padre Jefferson who decided that staying in Porto Velho and doing language classes and getting to know more of the “realidade” of the city and Salesian work was the best idea. I’ve been occupying my time with random tasks around the schools. I spent a good solid week cleaning the old residence of the priests which was closed years ago, and by the amount of dead cockroaches that lined the walls and the inch-thick layer of dust on everything, I would venture to say the doors hadn’t been opened since. I made the best of it by blasting music, dressing up as a ninja (this was more for protection from inhaling a disease than for games) and dancing around the residence with broom and mop in hand. It actually was fun, maybe I have a future in cleaning houses. Actually, scratch that, my next task was cleaning an old storage facility, I won’t go into the horrors I encountered there, but I would rather clean the old residence with cockroaches with my tongue than clean that place again. Haha, I definitely worked off some purgatory time there.
Christmas came and went without much hub-bub. Christmas Eve I got to serve as an altar boy for the first time ever! It was quite the rush. Haha. Seriously. We went to this tiny neighborhood on the outskirts of the city to a little church, and Padre Moisés (the 90 year old priest here) celebrated mass, including him playing a handmade flute out of PVC and giving his homily from the presépio (the manger scene thing…what’s that called in English?). We also scored a nice lil fruit basket from the community that was given up at the offertory, thanks guys, the cupuaçu is awesome. Christmas day, I went out to the River Rio Novo, and took a dip at the base of some small waterfalls, hung out with one of the priests and a seminarian and got sunburned. Oops.
I feel like this blog is just rambling with random facts about things that I have been doing, but the truth is, there has been so much beauty that I have encountered here in Brazil in the past month that is impossible to describe, where the words fail, and I feel in lots of ways that I am doing this experience an injustice by trying to describe my happenings. For instance, Christmas morning I visited this old man who lived on this huge plot of land, and he was missing a lot of his teeth, his house is in conditions that are completely unlivable by most American standards, he had a mattress on the floor and a hammock and that’s it… in his entire house where him and two others lived, including his daughter that is 2 years old. He offered us water, which was the only thing he had to offer, and when he poured it into the glass, I couldn’t help but noticed the black chunks floating in the cup (not clean water). The door to his house was wide open, it was 90 degrees outside and all I could see was a path to a river lined with palm trees and wild sheep like animals running around. He sat on this old dirty plastic chair, shirtless, and it is obvious that hard work and the sun has given him many more wrinkles than he should have at his age. He just talked and talked about everything. He was alone on Christmas day. It was one of those moments in life when everything freezes and the world is exactly how it should be. This is just one of the memories that I have where unexpected beauty is shoved in my face… like the little boy running barefoot down the street dragging a kite behind him, the houses around him are crumbling, the road is just dirt and trash litters the sides but he is grinning ear to ear, … these are things I can’t describe, where emotions just rush to try and the beauty that is so present in the moment gets lost in words later.
But in other news, in the past two weeks we’ve been robbed four times. The first time we just laughed, mainly because the person who robbed us just broke into the kitchen and stole food. They left a nice mess of rice and milk all out on the streets as they were getting away. If people are stealing food from priests, not a big deal… we’ll just go get more. Np. They obviously need it. The next time was out on one of our sites. This robber guy has been haunting the community there… he managed to break into the site steal all of the wiring, disconnect water and electricity like permanently since he stole the wires and tubes or whatever (don’t ask me.. I don’t know how it works). Anyways he keeps coming back and he has managed to steal the keys to all the rooms at the site and all sorts of weird stuff. We went to the local police station, which was smaller than my room in the states, and the sheriff told us to go investigate “the scene” and tell him what we saw. Haha. Thanks detective. We’re on the case, don’t worry, you just stay here and smoke your cigarette. We replaced all the wiring just to have it stolen again. Whoops. I guess it’s really expensive too. That sucks. But the robber seems pretty harmless… the guy who lives out there walks around with a machete now though. Haha. Crazy Brazilians.
Some of the kids are coming back to the center in the afternoons now which is great. I’m back to soccer and basketball, which is great, because I have been slacking on sports without the kids here. Now I await the time of Carnaval and for school to start in February. Until then, I’m learning more and more Portuguese and the culture here. I’m to the point where I am comfortable talking with strangers. Fluency, here I come.
I have a lot of thoughts that I could word vomit all of this blog. But instead, I will leave you all with a quote and call it a night.

“A minha alma está armada e apontada para a cara do sossego, pois paz sem voz não é paz, é medo”~ Maria Rita

My soul is armed and pointed at the face of silence, because peace without a voice, isn't peace, it's fear.



Love from Brazil,
Jonny

"Tudo o que existe na vida real aconteceu antes nos sonhos"

Beleza,

Sorry for the delay in getting some new information up here, but to be honest, not much has been happening here in Porto Velho. My days seem to blur together and days are just FLYING by (which is a sad thing, because I really like it here.)
Some of the priests went on retreat for 2 weeks in Manaus, so there were just three of us here at the Centro for awhile. It was a really queit time, but it was nice and much less hectic than normal. They returned this week and since then, life has been non-stop busy.
Highlights of the past couple weeks have been the following
1) Kayaking in the Amazon. A student invited me to her English school two Saturdays ago, I went and got to meet some really great people, all of which conveniently enough speak English. Haha. They invited me to go kayaking on the Sunday following and of course I was up for it. So we headed out to the Rio Preto at 9:30am and spent the day in the river. It was a really beautiful adventure. There was no one in the river but us, and we got to just slowly make our way down the river, surrounded by the Amazon, including all of its beautiful greenery and crazy animals. We made our way down the river until we were stopped by unpassable waterfalls. So we just got out and swam a bit (I warned though that piranhas were in fact in the water, as well as the fish that swim up... you know where… if you go pee pee in the water… so I was a bit nervous, considering we also saw a scorpion on the rocks, ha! but it was worth it, it was beautiful to swim in the Amazon.) We turned around and made it back to the camp where a family was cooking some fish up, so we joined them for lunch! It was amazing. We jumped back in the kayaks and headed in the other direction and just spent the day kayaking through. It was a really great day.
2) Exposição de Arte e Cultura. This was this weekend, it was basically a culmination of what the kids at Centro do Menor have been learning this semester. I was amazed at the products that came out of them. The tapestry sections made couches that were furnished beautifully and were modern and really cool, refrigeration built air conditioners and refrigerators and were selling them, the ceramics section had really awesome vases for sale. There were all sorts of awesome things to see, and it was great to see more of what the kids here have learned to do. The fest was a fund raiser, which unfortunately was really poorly attended, so I don’t think the centro made much money from fest, but it was really cool to see everything. I also got to “learn” how to make a vase from clay… or rather I tried and the kids were just like… “what a newbie,” but it was a lot of fun.



3) Laughing at really awkward cultural differences. I’ve been getting to know the Brazilian culture (at least in this region) at lot more and I just have to laugh at how different it is sometimes. The difference that is strangest for me is the difference in styling for guys and girls. It is completely normal for guys, for example, to polish their nails with the shiny clear polish, pluck their eye brows and shave their armpits. It is however NOT normal for a girl to shave her legs. I keep getting comments about how I need to “take care” of my nails, or pluck by eyebrows. Haha… not going to happen. Also, Brazilians are really relaxed with timing and also with following through with things they say they are going to do. For instance the “Tarde (afternoon)” lasts from 12-6pm, I keep getting people telling me, “Let’s meet up in the Tarde,” I will follow by asking what time, and they will repeat “the tarde” so I usually have a six hour window of time to work with of when people will show up or when we will go somewhere. It is always a fun surprise when they show up and then tell me to hurry up. Or when they don’t show up at all… haha. These are things I really just have to laugh at though, it is part of Brazilian culture, along with all of its really beautiful things like always smiling and hugging and being really loud, and dancing all the time.

Well, other than that, things have been pretty steady. Padre Jefferson told me yesterday that in the New Year I will be teaching 8 sections of English at Centro do Menor, which is really exciting for me. It will be really good for my relationship with the kids. As of now, I feel like a lot of the students see me as another “kid” or student here and the girls have a hard time understanding that it is not appropriate to put their hands on my thighs and thoroughly question me about having the desire to have a Brazilian girlfriend. I think the teacher-student distinction will help with this lil problem though. At least I hope so. My Portuguese really is getting better and better. My goal still is fluency by the end of January, but we will see. I definitely caught myself thinking in Portuguese the other day which is good. Also, my dreams definitely have had Portuguese phrases in them, which is a good sign.
Um, yeah guys. I’m really happy here. I love the people, the culture, and really mostly everything about Brazil. I do miss family and friends though, but I know that I am here for a reason and am growing through this experience.
Thanksgiving message:
I’ve been so blessed in my life to experience everything that I have and I’m so thankful for all of my adventures, the good and the bad for I have grown into the person I am through them all. I’m so thankful for all the people who have made these experiences possible and have taught me how to love with all that I have and to give selflessly, because it is the most beautiful thing I can think of to do with my life. I feel so lucky to be here and to be supported by the people I love in this mission, I’m thankful to be able to spend my days with these kids who make smiling so easy. I’m so thankful for my faith, which has given me the strength to jump into this mission trusting that love will carry me through the hard times. And finally I’m thankful for Brazilian coffee, chocolate, pagode (samba-ish music), and guaraná soda which brightens my everyday.
Love for all of you,
Jon

Pics below are the road to São Antônio (Salesian Parish)and me and Padre Jefferson, the boss.




“When you find your path, you must not be afraid to follow it. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way.”

Adventures in Porto Velho and Amazon

Oi Pessoal!

I hope that you are all doing well. I figured it was time to give you a quick update (I promise this will be shorter than the last one and less rambly).
This week lots of great things have happened. We have been having constant visitors from the Amazon region here in Porto Velho and it has been great meeting them and having some more company.
As far as work goes, it has been kind of slow. A lot of my job simply entails playing games and having fun, which I can’t really complain about. I get to spend the day with high schoolers playing soccer, volleyball, and just chatting about life and differences in culture, etc.
A highlight of the week was going to Humaitá with Pe. Jefferson and Pe. Gennaro. Humaitá is a city that borders Rondônia (the state I live in) and Amazonas, but it is actually located in Amazonas. We spent two days there and I got to see the Centro do Menor (Salesian site) for the kids there and got to hang around the city about which was fun. I also ran into a Swiss volunteer and got to whip out my German and had a good conversation with him. The downside of Humaitá was the sleeping arrangement. I was in a room that looks like it came straight out of a horror film, (mysterious stains on the walls, mold growing in all sorts of places, the room was lined with the carcasses of huge insects, plumbing only kind of worked and worst of all… NO AIRCONDITIONING.. in 90 degree weather) So basically I just sweat all night, and didn’t sleep much. Also the roads to and from were… exciting! I thought I was going to vomit on multiple occasions, but we made it safe and sound (only hit one biker at a stop sign… who didn’t seem to notice really…we just tapped his wheel really). It was a really beautiful trip though. The Amazon is a gorgeous region. The pics I have a blurry because they are taken from inside a moving car… but I think you can get the jist of it. We also had to take a ferry to cross the Madeira river (note.. this is not your typical ferry) on the ferry on the way back I also got to see kids being taken to school in the Amazonian version of a School Bus… a boat. (see pic)




Tomorrow we are having a big festival here. (It seems like one giant party after another here. Haha.) But the main event is Bingão. (Which just means really big bingo). I’m super excited for it. The prizes include a motorcycle (first choice for winning) a cd of a Padre Manoel rapping (close second) and a goat (third choice.. slash it’s actually a Garrote, but the closest animal I can think it resembles is a goat). All really great prizes, so I’m sure the place will be packed.
I managed to watch my first Brazilian soccer match on tv, with two priests and some friends. Half way through the match I declared myself a São Paulo fan… which is a big deal. Soccer is everything here. At which point, Padre Jefferson turned to me and said, “João, remember when I told you I bought you a present… it is a Flamengo jersey” hahah AWKWARD, since that is the biggest rival team to São Paulo. I guess I am a Flamengo fan. He still hasn’t given me the jersey though… even though he keeps talking about it.
We also celebrated All Souls day by going to the cemetery and celebrating mass there. It was a really cool experience. The cemetery was full of people, all lighting candles and praying and visiting their deceased relatives and friends. The streets were absolutely packed with people on their way to the cemeteries and people selling flowers and candles. At the actual cemetery there is a big cross in the center, where people would come and light their candles and pray. There are some pics of the events underneath. Cool experience!

I am still really loving it here and am having a great time. My Portuguese is picking up and I am determine to converse fluently by the end of January. Haha at least I promised Pe. Jefferson that I would be fluent by then. We will see how it pans out. Lol. Here are some extra pictures for visual enjoyment 
Sending you all my love do Brasil,
João

Bem Vindo ao Brasil!

Saudacoes do Brasil!
Greeting from Brazil.

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been keeping this updated. Where I have been for nearly the past week actually didn't allow me to get on the blogger website so I was unable to access this until today. So here is a semi-quick update of what has happened since arriving in Brazil (Some of you are on my email list so the beginning of this might be a bit repetative, but keep reading, there's lots of new fun information!)

AHHH I made it to Brazil! Everything went smoothly and safely. It is absolutely beautiful here. Looking out the plane window as I landed all I could see were tropical trees and winding rivers and as we got closer, colorful houses lined the streets. It is such a cool city. When I arrived, Padre Chicão was there to greet me and he presented me with a really awesome hat (I will post a picture later) it has a crocodile (Jacare) on it and says Amazonas, Brasil. Lol. I definitely need to sport that soon! He took me on a tour of the city. Manaus is a city of over 2 million people. (HUGE!) And the poverty is present everywhere you go in the city. Driving through the city I was able to see a lot of favelas (this is a term usually used for the slums of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo but it is a similar situation here). "Houses" are stacked next to each other and are crumbling, the people mainly stay out in the street and it is clear that poverty is everywhere in this city. There are a few sections of nicer houses, which are owned by people in the rubber industry. The amazon has a lot of "rubber trees" and those who harvested them got rich quickly, but the industry since then has since crashed.
Anyways, after taking a tour around the city I got to the Inspetoria (the house for the salesians) and I took a quick nap, before heading out to the city with padre chicao again. We walked around the main plaza then grabbed....pizza. haha. I know you may be like "what?!?!?...pizza??" and at first i didn't want pizza as my first real meal in Brazil...but the pizza was definitely different than any pizza I have had back home. It had a very thin crust and was topped with Tuna, onions and olives. haha. It was actually DELICIOUS. Seriously. I kind of felt like a kid though, because Pe. Chicão got a beer...and he ordered me... juice. lol. But the juice was CRAZY. It was Graviola Juice (no idea what that is...some fruit...but it isn't in the dictionary, so I can't translate it.) It was really refreshing haha. We finished dinner a little after 10:30, (it seems customary to sit for a while over a meal and chit chat) and headed back to the inspetoria where I instantly passed out...well after attempting to pray a rosary. But after travelling for 24 hours straight, then constantly being on the go with Pe. chicao, sleep was needed.
Tuesday morning, I got up grabbed coffee (good and strong...way to go Brazil!) and headed out to the Salesian Professional School with the Provincial of the salesians. They teach things like automechanics, refigeration, auto repair, etc there. There was a tornado last week that ran through the school and did a lot of damage, so we were assessing and just checking out what all needed repairs. (School is currently not in session). We also went we an Indiginous Priest, who comes from a tribe in the Amazon. He was a blast, we just sat in the back of the car and laughed basically the whole time. The culture here is very warm....just like the temperature. ha! Everyone is always smiling and welcoming and hugging me, and we just laugh that I don't understand what is going on most of the time. Most of the Salesians don't speak any English so we play charades and i attempt to form sentences. I think I will be able to pick up the language fairly well within a matter of months though.
It is summer here in Brazil, so it is hot and Oh my Goodness...HUMID. It feels like you walk into a sauna when you step outside. It's going to take some getting used to, but I enjoy it thus far. haha. Here is a pic of my backyard in manaus.



In Manaus, I had a bathroom with a shower for cooling off. Granted... it was tiny... I could sit on the toilet and shower at the same time (its a closet) but I really really liked it!!!! After I was done showering I had to "sweep" all the water into a drain because it all just collected around the toilet, on the toilet and floods the floor. hahaha. But it is so good. Also there is a bit of an ant problem, so I drowned them when i shower too. :-) Porto Velho is a completely different situation, keep reading to find out about my situation here. haha.
I am very very very happy here. I can't say it enough. It feels so right to be with these people, in this place. I am already in love with this country and its culture and I can't wait to learn more about them.
Wednesday I went to the west part of Manaus, to a section of the city known as Zumbi. There is a Salesian formation house there, and a site for a future oratory. We entered to the complex to meet the novitiates. They were all extremely friendly and managed to talk a little with me (despite my poor Portuguese) before we started a game of Futebol (Soccer). There is a reason that Brazil is ranked first the world. HOLY MOLEY, these guys were doing tricks, shooting like I have never seen and I could barely keep track of the ball much less keep up with them. (Remember these guys are becoming priests…they aren’t exactly the most athletic guys around…haha). I quickly got out of playing by letting another guy take my spot and I just watched awhile. A Priest came to my rescue and told me it was time to leave, back to the city center where I was staying. I am not going to tell the entire story of Zumbi here, but know that Zumbi is a place unlike I have ever seen before, with lots of poverty. In Portuguese, they use the phrase “realidade diferente” it means “different reality” and they use it to describe various forms of life. I think it is really fitting because the people here experience a completely different reality than people in the U.S., Europe, or even other third world countries. We all have our own realities that we exist in, often without acknowledging other realities around us. Talking to Pe. Chicao, he noted that even Porto Velho is a very different reality than Manaus, one that I will get to know.
Despite the sadness that came with seeing Zumbi, Wendesday was actually a really beautiful day. I took my first bus ride to the center of the city with another volunteer (Sabrina from Italy). Riding in any automobile is an adventure in Manaus. Haha. There aren’t any sort of dividing lines to create lanes, so people take it upon themselves to figure out how many cars can fit and where they can fit on a street. There aren’t really any speed limits, at least any that are followed. People are constantly walking in the streets, amongst the cars and they have no fear whatsoever when it comes to finding room to walk for themselves. Drivers are really good about honking here. Basically if you think you might get hit honk and people will pay attention and watch out for you. There is no signaling or sometimes even stoplights…the people direct traffic themselves by honking at each other. It is really fascinating actually. At intersections..you just wait until someone gets enough guts to start going then all the cars will go with them, and after awhile someone from the intersecting street will pull out and stop traffic so the other line of cars can go. It is a busy busy city. Wednesday, we were stuck in traffic for a bit on a hill, and a taxi rolled back into another car…what did the other car do? Honk of course. The taxi pulled up stuck his hand out the window, waved and gave a thumbs up as if he were asking if the other person’s car was ok. The person responded with a thumbs up and they continued on their way. Haha.
In Manaus, we went down to the port, so Sabrina could buy her ticket to Manicore where she volunteers. She is going by boat! Haha. She got a speedy boat ticket, so it is only going to take her 24 hours to get to her city. She says it is an absolutely beautiful trip and wouldn’t travel any other way. She recommended that when I come back to Manaus from Porto Velho that I go by boat. The trip for me is in a smaller boat… and it takes three days. Haha. And, if I am lucky I get a hammock to sleep in on the boat, outside. Sounds like fun to me, and when Joe C. gets here (Another Salesian Lay Missioner from America) I am coming back to Manaus to greet him, so that is the plan.
Brazil is home to a crazy amount of fruits that I have NEVER heard of before. So naturally I want to try all of them. Some of them are delicious, some … are … well interesting. At the market downtown Sabrina and I decided to get this all natural fruit drink that had Acai, Guarana, and some other fruit in it that I had never heard of. It was literally just smashed up hunks of fruit and ice. It was almost edible because of how fruity it was. I can’t say it was delicious though, it definitely tasted…healthy. Haha. Guarana is huge here, they have everything guarana… which is a positive, because it gives a lot of energy and I like the taste of it. However, the food in general is to die for here. Seriously… it is so good. We have fresh stuff everyday. Yesterday we had the typical fish with it’s head on it still…haha… but man it was DELICIOUS, and we always have rice and beans, but it is accompanied by some form of delicious meat. It is all non-greasy, healthy and very flavorful.
Side note.. the people here are so amazingly religious. The church is packed daily for mass. People stand up and sing and wave their arms and cry and pray and ahh it is so amazing. We had the feast of St. Joseph here yesterday and I have never seen a church so packed. This church is HUGE… hundreds of people can fit in it, and it was standing room only, trust me, I know because I was one of the many standing. Not only that, but there were people standing outside the doors of the church because it was so full; outside in the 90 degree 95% humidity weather, to attend mass. Incredible. And that was only ONE of the five services that was there yesterday ha! The 7 o’clock service they had to hold outside in a field because not everyone would fit in or around the church, unless they were out in the middle of the street. Ha! How awesome is that!?!
I also had my first contact with kids at a Salesian school on Wednesday. It was soo much fun. All of them are loud, expressive and very welcoming. I got tons of hugs, and after hugging it is very common to stand and talk for a while just holding each others arms or hands. “Guys stick with the arms or shoulders.” Brazilians are definitely a fun-loving outgoing people. Which is perfect, because I like to think I am too. They are always laughing or smiling and aren’t really shy around people. It’s great.
Thursday was my last day in Manaus, it was a pretty relaxed day and I spent most of it hanging out with Sabrina and the Priests in Manaus, studying portuguese and having really good conversations with Sabrina. We walked around the city a little more and I grabbed a guarana soda and we just kind of chilled. Padre Jefferson came and got me around 10pm and we headed for the airport for our flight to Porto Velho. It was a pretty quick flight, just over an hour and we landed around 1:30am. We didn't get out of the airport until 2am and didn't get home until 2:30... when I had to make up my room, so it was sleepable and I crashed. hauhau. I was hoping to get some good sleep but I woke up around 7am to the sounds of happy kids running around, playing soccer and filling the centro do menor (where I now live). I had just over 3 hours of sleep and my brain was not functioning in this new place. hauhau, and definitely not functioning in Portuguese. But what is the first thing I'm asked to do? Walk around to the different classrooms and introduce myself... in my Portuguese. Gah! So here I am, half zombie like, no clue whats going on and attempting to talk with adolescents in Portuguese. haha, good thing these kids are so great and like to laugh even more than I do. I got to meet a few banditos *a term used by Padre Jefferson that I will be using for all my favorite kids...pronounced like banjeetu* and we hit it off pretty well which is great. During all the breaks the kids had i ran upstairs to my room and slept. But the point of this, is that the kids are great, and very welcoming.
So my home in Porto Velho... I am living with 6 religious (5 priests and 1 brother), all Salesians. I am living in the Professional School/Oratory known as Dom Bosco Centro Do Menor. It is actually a really nice facility for the most part. (I even have air conditioning in my room!)The kids that come here come to learn a trade of some sort. There are ceramics, art, tapestry, some sort of mechanics program (although at least part of it was discontinued, because one kid chopped of his fingers last year?!) and computer stuff (informatics...is that a word?) I will get back to you on the number of students that come here, there are hundreds, I just don't remember exactly how many, so I don't want to post a number and mislead you. The salesians also run a Colegio (a high school) located not far from the oratory. I visited today, and it was really nice. As far as I know, school isn't in session right now, but resumes in January. I am still trying to understand all of the work that the Salesians do here. There is a lot! There are two other sites (Sitio do Menor and Sitio ... some portuguese word haha) they are places kids can go and just hang out, play games, sing, dance, whatever. They are both really cool and really rural. No paved road there.. .no no. Just palm trees guide the way. haha. But most of the roads here are paved. (ok I'm rambling.. sorry)
I still don't know exactly what my work is going to entail. I think we are getting me used to being around the kids, learning portuguese, etc, before my real work is going to start. I know I am going to be workign with activities for the kids, and hope to be teaching/tutoring English at the Colegio.Vamos ver (we'll see) Remember this is only my second day here...let's not rush into anything ok.
I had my first Portuguese class yesterday. It was bizarre, it was taught by a linguistics professor and he totally just gave me a bunch of linguistic information about Portugues. (Syntax, Morphology, phonemes, where certain words are derived from, etc...) It was good, but not what I was expecting, I think I will have to learn the language from just talking with the kids. However, I am definitely holding my own. It's been good not having anyone who speaks English around me here. I am having conversations, ableit slow and often with mistakes, but I am able to communicate effectively of a large portion of the time, and am understanding more and more.
okay i am going to leave it at that for now. Sorry for the lack of pics, more will come I just feel strange, considering a just arrived wandering around and taking pics, especially of people. Know that I am happy and healthy.
As of now I only have access to internet on the weekends from Father Jefferson's office, but the situation is supposed to change. However, if you don't hear for me until the weekends...that is why.

Much love from Porto Velho,
and Deus te abençoe!

João

End of Orientation

Hey guys,

Well yesterday we officially finished training for the mission. We ended up in Stony Point, New York at a Marian Shrine on retreat with about 20 Salesian priests, 23 Lay Missioners and 7 Salesian domestic volunteers. It was a great week to say the least, it was really refreshing to spend time with a bunch of holy people all there for the same reason; to spread God's love to the world.
The week before last we spent in Port Chester, New York working at a camp for youth. It was the best week that we had here for sure. I worked with two different groups, a group of 6 year olds, which were absolutely amazing and a group of 14 & 15 year olds which was more challenging but none-the-less a good experience. It was definitely re-energizing and a good way to remind me why I chose to serve the youth. They give me a lot of hope in their innocence that the world can change and that the future is in our hands.
Now that orientation is over, I can't honestly say that I am any more prepared to leave everything behind and head to Brazil, but I can say that I am more excited and have a better vision and understanding of the importance of this mission, not only for the people that I will be serving, but also for myself. It will be a journey to not only understand the youth of this world, but to better define myself and attempt to discover my purpose and what God's will is for me.
As I leave this place I am leaving with a lot of unanswered questions, anxiety and uncertainty, but I am also leaving full of hope, which is most important. I know that with courage and trust I will be able to overcome all anxiety and trials that lay before me. The people I have gotten to know over the past five weeks have shown me that this world is filled with people who have a true desire to love and to serve and I know that with these people, love will spread. It is contagious after-all...
So Tuesday I am heading back to Washington for 2 weeks before leaving for Brazil. I am fortunate enough that I think all of my visa issues have been resolved and I should have it in my hands before too long. Everything is in order... just need to say my goodbyes.
I am currently in a cafe in Port Chester and have to give the computer back to my friend, so I will conclude with a quote from one of my favorite author's Paulo Coehlo: "The universe always helps us fight for our dreams, no matter how foolish they may be. Our dreams are our own and only we can know the effort required to keep them alive."

New York, New York!

Hey,

I'm in New York! Finally! It's been a really great couple of days here. I spent the first two roaming around the city with Marie and Josh (another SLM from Washington) and we got to do all sorts of cool things. We walked around times square, strolled through Central Park, saw the fireworks on the 4th (correction: we caught glimpses of fireworks from behind trees and through the masses of people), and we went to daily mass at St. Patrick's in downtown NY. Now, some of you may know that at one point in my life i had the dream of moving to NY. WHOA, what was I thinking. ALthough it is a really cool city, trying to manuever through the masses of people of the 4th of July turned me off of the idea of EVER wanted to move there. It was so crowded that at many points in time I didn't get to choose which way I wanted to walk and was just forced to move with the crowd and police men were everywhere shouting at us to keep moving, not to stop. Anyways it was just kind of crazy.

Well, I've made it to orientation. Crazy, right? It's weird to finally be here, it has been something that I have been looking forward to for the past couple months and I am finally here... sitting in the computer lounge at way too early in the morning writing a blog. lol. So bascially it has been a really chill couple of days, we are just in the phase of getting to know everybody and where everybody is going and taking care of some administrative business like how to get a visa, what to expect in the foreign country, what to do about money, registering with the embassy, etc. There are a total of 23 of us going abroad with the Salesians come August. Out of the 23, I am the ONLY one going to Brazil. :-) In a way I'm glad, because if I hadn't answered God's call to go there, they wouldn't be getting any help this coming year from their program, but it is also kind of nerve-racking because EVERYONE ELSE has a missionary partner. But, I trust that God has some crazy plan for me and it is time to trust blindly in Him... soo here it goes.

Many of you may have heard that I have been having visa issues. Well, fear no more. I think it is all going to work out. I am just waiting on some documents from Father Chicao in Brazil (he has already put in them in the mail, and they are on their way to New York as I type) so it'll be just a matter of time before I get them and can send my passport off for the visa.

The group of people are absolutely amazing here. They all seem to have a strong devotion to the work that I am passionate about, which makes it really easy to get along with all of them. Today is the first day that we will be working together with the Maryknoll lay missioners (another missionary group) and we will be with them for the next two weeks.

Well, morning prayer is in 15 minutes and I gotta brush my teeth.

Jon

"Christ has no body on earth now but yours."