I'm Here

I got to Sao Paulo around noonish on Sunday. Then had another 3 hr flight to Recife. Once I got here I slept- I was so out of it. Then Christina (an mcc worker serving for 3 years here with her husband and two kids), her sister Amy and I went to a market in old town Recife. We walked up and down the little street lined with european style buildings and people selling their goods....so cute. Then we stopped to watch a crowd of people dancing to live music. A guy who Amy's danced with on previous sunday nights came up and took her to dance. I was thinking, "I hope he doesn't think I'm gonna dance!"...but he definately was. He came up after they were finished dancing and insisted that I do the same. My face must have been purple- past red. Good thing it was dark. It was so fun! Something I normally would not do. Guess I have to get used to all this dancing....I truely like it, though. Then we sat outside a cafe at a little table and drank coffee drinks and had Manioc (like french fries). They never eat with their hands here....gotta get used to that. We ate the "fries" with toothpicks! And I'll leave you with some pictures....


This is my room for now....like the mosquito net?? I kicked my fan last night when I got up to go the bathroom and broke it. Now it's crooked and makes a loud noise.


Christina's on the left and her 16 yr old sister's on the right. She's just visiting for 3 months. They are so sweet.

Atlanta

I'm sitting here at the Hartsford Airport (I think that's what it's called) in Atlanta, Georgia. I woke up at 4:45 this morning, left Refreshing Mountain Camp near Akron, PN and flew out of Phili at 6am. I should get to Recife at about noon tomorrow. I still have a while to go and I'm pretty tired. Good thing I just bought some Milky Way Popables and ate Panda for the last time...food at airports always tastes a little off.

I spent the past week with the 50 other SALTer's at orientation. This was the first year that MCC had the SALT and IVEP orientation together. IVEP is the opposite of SALT...people from around the world come the the U.S. and Canada to serve. The 4 Brazilians who came couldn't get their visa's for the U.S., so they had to go to Canada...I didn't get to meet them. BUT, I did get to talk to the guy who wrote my job decription for what I'll be doing in Janga. Him and his wife and two kids just returned from a three year term in Brazil. Talking to him was really good. He told me a lot more details about everything. Basically, every day this week we had group discussions and listened to various people talk about what it's like going into a culture that is not our own. They pretty much prepared us for the worst, which is a good thing.

It's definately been a great time so far, but kind of weird at the same time. I met so many neat/interesting people all doing the same thing as me, spent a week with them and had to say goodbye again. I'm already looking forward to debriefing next July! ha. I'll try to update at least every other week from now on. I'm not sure how often I'll get to use the internet while I'm there. I'M SO EXCITED TO GET TO BRASSSSIL!!!!