Adventures in Belo Horizonte

Yesterday was an interesting day.  I got up to take a shower, and as I was leaning over to pick up a pair of pants, I threw out my back.  How can picking up a pair of pants throw out your back? you might ask.  Great question.  I cannot say I have an answer to that question, but I can testify that it is in deed possible.  I have broken a toe, both wrists, and three fingers in my 22 years of life and never cried at any of them, but I think a tear or two dropped yesterday... I was in pain!  

The ibuprofen began immediately, along with alternating ice and heat.  I missed lunch due to the pain.  But early afternoon I went for a walk, which helped.  

Around 4pm, we went to professor Carlos Gom's house... wow!  He has his own jungle in the middle of Belo Horizonte - plants that produce mango, Persian lime (whatever that is, right?), coffee, passion fruit, oranges, lemons, myrrh, you name it.  Not to mention it was just a beautiful house.  We talked some business and got a few more "leads" for our research and then were off to the ballet.

A group called Corpo ("body") was performing at the university.  The venue was outside in a big area of grass, and it was free.  That was quite a deal considering tickets are usually $60 and up!  It was an amazing performance!  There were two pieces presented with an intermission in between.  The first was very modern - the most interesting ballet performance I had ever seen.  The second was more folkloric - also a spectacular performance!

I thought sitting for two hours on the grass would kill my back, but it actually helped so much!  By the end of the day, I was feeling considerably better - to my surprise.  I was afraid it would be "2 steps forward, 1 step back," though, waking up hurting all over again today.  But I am actually feeling even better today!  

And we're off!  until next time... 

Belo

So here's the latest.... 

I've been trying to figure out how and when I might be able to see some friends in Campinas.  They will be leaving to the States on Monday, June 9, and I will arrive late Sunday night, the 8th.  So waiting until I get to Campinas would not ensure that we would get to see each other.  Sunday night I was talking with Licinia to let her know the situation, and it donned on me that I could go during the morning/afternoon on Monday.  So that's exactly what we did... Dandara and I got up at 6, braved the rush hour traffic in Sao Paulo (the third largest city in the world, mind you), and caught a bus to Campinas, arriving about 10:30 or so that morning.  We got some lunch with my friends and went back to their house for dessert.  I decided since we were (literally) in the neighborhood, it would be fun to swing by the office and say hello.  It worked out so perfectly!  I have always wanted to surprise friends in Brazil, but, as you might imagine, that's slightly difficult.  So here was my chance!  We stopped by the Hope downtown office and said hello to Philip, Lucia, Luci, Marlete, and Grazielle.  Then stopped by the Smith's place and said hi to Corenne, Marc, Rosangela, and grandma (Corenne's mom).  And to my joy - and surprise - Nayana was even home, so we stopped by "my" house and said hey to Nayana.  I even got to pick up my keys so I don't have to worry about someone being home or not when I get there.  It was so great to see everyone!!

We got back to Sao Paulo with just enough time to take Dandara's dog for a quick walk and then pile into the taxi to head to the rodoviaria (bus station).  Then it was an 8 1/2 hour bus ride from Sao Paulo to Belo Horizonte.  It was a nice ride.  We took the "leito" bus, which is like first class sort of... foot rests, big seats that recline almost completely.  I even got some sleep! :o)  We arrived in Belo about 7 this morning and to the hotel close to 8.  We napped, took showers, got some lunch, explored the neighborhood a little bit, and met up with Wanessa (pronounced "Vanessa"), who happens to be my very first Portuguese teacher ever.  It's been a good day.  

We'll have an easy morning tomorrow and then our work begins.  We'll meet up with Fernanda (who studied at UNM this past year) for lunch and then head to one of the universities to meet with a professor there and begin exploring the possibility of setting up our service-learning program with him/this university.

Passion Sao Paulo

Well, I'm awake.  It seems we have been awake and going for days straight.  

After our trip to the park on Thursday, my feet were killing me, and we were both quite exhausted.  Friday we slept in a little bit and then we were off again - Dandara, her mom, and I went to the Museum of the Portuguese Language.  It was a small museum but super cool.  From there, we stopped for dinner and then parted ways - Dandara and I off to Passion, and her mom to return home. 

For those of you who may be reading this but don't know what Passion is... Passion is a Christian conference for college students.  They usually hold Passion in the States, but this year they are doing a world tour, and Sao Paulo was their third stop (after Kiev and Stockholm).

We didn't know exactly where the Via Funchal (venue where Passion was held) was, but we knew how to get to the general vicinity and asked from there.  We made it no problem, got our wristbands and such, and found a seat.  The event was Friday evening from about 7:30 to 10:30 and then all day Saturday, starting at 10 AM and ending around 10:30 AM (with two breaks, of course).  

It was incredible - Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio kicked it off Friday night and then tag teamed with the David Crowder Band and Francis Chan on Saturday.  Brazilian's are crazy loud, so worship was crazy awesome.  We jumped, sang at the top of our lungs, jumped, and sang some more. 

Francis Chan presented an image of God that I hadn't really ever had before, as found in Revelations 4:1-8 (go check it out and really try to visualize the description of God sitting on the throne shining like rubies and diamonds with beings with 6 wings and covered with eyes flying around Him singing "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty...").  It's a pretty incredible image!  and that is the God we worship!!  It transformed the way I worshiped and blew my mind even more to think about grace.  This God, through His Son Jesus Christ, gave me HIS righteousness and calls me "daughter"!!!  I can come before Him and say, "Daddy."  And there is nothing, no nothing at all, that He will not forgive me for - nothing that can come between us that He cannot remove in order that we may be reconciled again.  Wow! Incredible. 

Sorry to be long-winded, but hang in there, as I have just a couple more things to share...

Money was collected for Kampala, Uganda, which will be Passion's next stop on their world tour.  They are anticipating 20,000+ students in Kampala, and the event will be completely free for them.  But it of course is not free for Passion.  Last night the students in Sao Paulo gave R$24,000 - which translates to about US$15,000!!  I don't know that that will cover all the costs for Kampala, but it should help!  And we all have agreed to be praying for Kampala.  

To get home, we catch 2 buses and 2 metros - which takes a couple hours.  Finally we got home, hung with the friends for a little bit, had some dinner (yes, at 2 am), and went to bed around 3.  Whew.  What a day.  We were exhausted!

Oi, seja bem-vindo ao Parque Ibirapuera

Translation: Hi, welcome to Ibirapuera Park.

Dandara and I went to the Ibirapuera Park yesterday... it took us almost 2 hours to get there.  And yes, it's in the same city.  That's how big Sao Paulo is.  Yikes!  "Ibirapuera" does not exactly roll off the tongue... well, it doesn't just roll off mine, anyway.  I decided I wanted to learn how to say it, though, so I walked around the park welcoming everyone "ao Parque Ibirapuera."  Haha... I would, right? 

We caught two buses and walked a few blocks to get to the park.  As we were walking the last leg of our journey, I saw something I haven't seen before... a group of boys holding onto the back of a bus, getting a ride for free.  Personally, I'm not sure how safe it is INSIDE the bus, let alone hanging on to the back of the bus... yikes!  

The park we went to was really cool... It was huge!  There was a lake, museums, basketball courts, soccer fields, volleyball, everything... and TONS of people!  Granted, yesterday was a holiday here.  Which one, I don't know.  And neither does anybody else.  But it was a holiday.  

We rented some bikes.  They were pretty sweet, but what we really wanted to rent was the low-riders.  You have to have a membership with them to do that, though.  I think Dandara will register with them this week.  :o)

here at last

Well it took us longer than expected, but Keeley and I finally arrived in Brazil.  We left Albuquerque around 1 on Monday afternoon, the 19th.  The idea was to go to Denver, then DC, then Brazil, arriving in Sao Paulo at 8:20 Tuesday morning.  Things were going quite smoothly until we were supposed to leave Denver.  Everyone was onboard and ready to go when they announced there was a problem with the aircraft.  We waited an hour or more as maintenance worked on the plane and finally determined it was not fixable.  So, off the plane we went.  The line at customer service to get rebooked was ridiculous, and before we got to the front they had another plane for us.  We headed back, got on board, and they found another problem.  Woo hoo!  About 2 hours later, it was finally fixed and we were off.  Needless to say, leaving Denver 5 1/2 hours late did not go over too well with our scheduled 1-hour layover in DC.  So they put us up in a hotel - that was oddly far from the airport, might I add.  We got to bed about 4am, but it felt soooo good to be able to lay down and sleep!  Ordered pizza the next day, checked out at 4pm, spent a good 4 1/2 hours or so in the airport until our 9:45 flight, and finally arrived in Brazil one day late.  Keeley is with her friend's parents, and I am at Dandara's.  It's weird to be in Brazil again, but here I am, safe and sound!

p.s. Chuck Norris once round-house kicked a salesman.  Over the phone.