The Beginning of a New Beginning, Part 2

Okay where did I leave off… stories, yeah. So, Friday we go to Hillbilly (a country western bar cuz well I live in the country,lol) Let me explain the going out system here. You don’t have like 6 packs where everyone has their own. It’s a communal culture so everything is shared. You also don’t pay for stuff before they bring it to you. Kinda like a tab but it’s just on paper. I went to a bar Saturday where I had to pay for my drinks upfront for the first time since being here. It was rather strange, but I understood cuz the bar is outside with no door so that’s how they prevent people from just walking off. Anyways, at places with doors, you’re handed a ticket when you pay and you have to show that to leave.

So we leave Hillbilly and within the hour a friend’s mom calls like are yall ok?? I heard shots.  So we find out the table next to ours has a fight, then somebody pulls out a gun and starts firing in the air and everybody starts throwing chairs, breaking bottles, and hopping the fence. Shortly after someone else pulls out a gun and starts shooting across the street. The police took 10 mins to get their despite the bar literally being on the same street within eyesight.  Though injured, no one was killed. Apparently no one was questioned either. I can only imagine how much money the bar lost.

So we get home and go to sleep. A little while later I wake up to this crash and subsequent yelling. Now it seems like Dona Esmeralda’s apartment (directly below us) literally breaks something every day. That being said I assumed a grandkid broke an important dish or something looking for a midnight snack. The next morning Michol informs me that two men tried to rob the house across from ours. The crash I heard was them landing on the air conditioner holder (we’re still using wall units) after jumping the wall. Every week is a holiday and people generally clear out of town.  The family was home and came out with knife and shotgun. Spiderthief #1 steals a dish towel from Dona Esmeralda and ties the electric fence (never woulda thought to do that)

Spiderthief #2 then scales our wall (houses have walls built around them here so you never actually see anybody’s house unless you’re invited over) and hides on our balcony.  He then shuffles his way (leaving shoeprints) to our laundry room bars because then he will be inside Dona Esmeraldas gate with access to the much shorter wall they came over. They got away unscathed and I was left wondering how dude survived the fall.

Also, a man who apparently was involved in the killing of a police officer was hospitalized last week. Somebody then walked in the hospital and shot him. Yep.  In lighter news, Elisa’s daughters Nina and Nanda were winners in a state wide authorship competition.  The prize was getting their manuscripts published. They both had very different but equally awesome book release parties. Below are a couple of pictures from Nanda’s release.  

These salgados get a picture of their own because they are the best salgados I’ve ever tasted and that’s saying a lot since you eat salgados here regularly.

This is a picture of ingá. The accent is important because without it the word means bait. It has a peel like a banana and it has really large black seeds inside so you suck the white part off. Very tasty.

Since being here I've eaten a lot of farm raised animals that were killed and then taken to the kitchen.  As sad as it sounds, I actually prefer our hormone injected, processed meats. Like a healthy chicken really has no meat on it and the meat that is there is tougher. I will say that farm raised chickens make the best eggs I've ever eaten.

For those who don't know, this is what a cashew looks like 

Finally this is an açai (ah-sigh-ee) store. Açai is a berry that is used to make this paste. People eat it with fish or they add sugar and ice and eat it as a dessert.

The Beginning of a New Beginning, Part 1

(Cuz the beginning of the end sounds so final,lol)

Hello readership,

When we last tuned in the strike was set to end for Araguaína on September 10^th.  Classes actually resumed one week later on September 17^th.  Nine weeks later I am writing my penultimate blog post from Brazil. It has been a pleasure and I thought I’d break this down into two parts so the goodbye next week isn’t so long.

The semester officially ended on Friday and we had 8 successful weeks of courses.  Michol gave a writing workshop and together we gave an hour long conversation class 4 times a week.  We also began separate weekly reading classes for some natural science students.  We discovered that our students though struggling with prose actually write beautiful poetry so Michol suggested an open mic night. That happened Friday accompanied by the like 120 pancakes that she made and was really successful.  We felt really fulfilled at UFT this second half of the semester.  Things were challenging this year to say the least but it has been an incredible experience.  

One of the things I’m also pleased about is that I was able to start a Bible Study.  It taught me a lot about the process and it’s something that I think I’d like to look into at home.  I pray that the students received God’s word and were blessed by it.  I thank them for bearing with me while I prayed for God to speak through me every day but especially on those days when no amount of planning in the world could move the Spirit if it wasn’t willing,lol. 

What else? I took the GRE. I didn’t get the scores I was hoping for but when I finished the test I felt good about it. I’m learning a lot about “failure” here. Case in point, week before last I played in a guitar recital. It was nice for me because I saw the bi-annual recital in May and decided that I’d be in the next one and I was J Anyway, I practiced all day and got up there and got LOST, which I thought would be the end of the world beforehand but it wasn’t. I still had a great time and was proud of myself.  I say that to say that sometimes my best won’t be good enough. And that’s ok. Cuz God is more than whatever "enough" ever will be.

As for stories, Michol and I went with Rosy to the farm to go fishing.  It looked straight up like the land before time. 

 Anyways, as I’ve said in an earlier post I pee like 7 or 8 times a day cuz I have to drink that much water to feel like I won’t die. So we’re on a boat and I’m like I gota go to which they offer two suggestions. Or I pee in the boat (on myself) and throw some water on it (me) or I get in the water.  It would seem that I could’ve just done one of those without the announcement.  Here was my dilemma: the first didn’t sit well with me. Not that I didn’t have practice. “Just throw some water on it” seems to be the common response to urination related experiences. The second was that we went fishing for piranha and cachorras so them telling me those fish live 30 feet deep wasn’t really comforting. In any case I chose the latter and survived.lol. Although one of the cachorras flopped up and bit a chunck outa Rosy’s finger…

a cachorra

piranha's are actually smaller than I thought they were

I forgot sunscreen :/

Uhh… and Michol and I went to Palmas (the capital of Tocantins) with Tenikey. Some friends have a band that was playing in the International Rock Festival of Tocantins there. They were cute,lol. 

(centavos)

Saw my second favorite waterfall and went to their Mercado Municipal. Way bigger than the one here.

After the 25 min hike from the waterfall

 We ate almost every meal at the shopping (mall). My ma was like buy a big mac and see if it tastes the same.  The sandwich alone was $6 and was smaller but same taste.  All in all an enjoyable weekend.  I’m glad I went.