I’m basically falling asleep while writing this. Exhaustion has been hitting like a ton of bricks the last two days. The biggest drainer is the language barrier. Conversations that should take two minutes take about fifteen minutes here due to working through the language. My body’s also being a jerk by making me crave all of the things I can’t have here. I can’t remember the last time I was craving fried cornbread but man has my mouth been watering for it since last night. Also, if anyone could mail me some Hook’s BBQ or some Chick-Fil-A that would be great.
Still loving it, though. One thing we’ve learned is that Brazilians really put an emphasis on shared experiences. Even if you aren’t really saying much because you don’t speak the same language they still feel a connection with you because you were there with them.
One of the girls I have gotten closest to is Stacey. She couldn’t speak a word of English when we met her but she’s been learning so much. Saturday night after hanging out with us she went home and studied English all night. Tonight a bunch of people came over for dinner. We have a schedule for dish washing and tonight was my night but Stacey was determined to help. In exaggerated motions, broken English, and broken Portuguese I was telling her to get out of the kitchen and go enjoy herself with everyone. She would not have it. She stayed beside me the whole time and washed dishes. Later on she was braiding some of the girls hair. After she braided mine I had someone translate that she was going to be a good mom. That pleased her so much I thought she would cry. Here it is the respectful thing to live with their families until they marry but Stacey is the only student I have met that doesn’t live at home.
Hope everyone is doing good. Seriously send some Hook’s BBQ.
We have been in Brazil for three days now and this is the first chance I have gotten to listen to music (that Brazilians weren’t playing for us) or log onto a computer. At this point I have a deep gratitude that Ryan Adam’s full Ashes & Fire album can be found on YouTube because, guess what, Pandora is not available outside of United States, New Zealand, and Australia.
It’s difficult to sum up what we have experienced so far. The plane ride was LONG and nonstop turbulence. It’s winter here but you probably wouldn’t think so. Imagine those few perfect days that towns down South get when we’re transitioning to summer but not quite there. That’s how every day has been here so far BUT NO HUMIDITY.
We’ve made so many friends already. They always want to hang out. It’s been so fun learning Portuguese and helping them learn English. I think my favorite is when I meet someone who knows as little English as I know Portuguese and we just struggle through it together.
The food is so good and all organic. Seriously nothing is processed.
Tomorrow I will go with my new friends to their English class and play sports with them. The school we spend time at is all sports and physical education so a lot of time spent together is bonding with sports. On that note, I played soccer last night. In Brazil. I feel like that’s something to mark off a bucket list. Oh also have you ever heard of a capybara? If not then look it up. They’re these huge rodent things that wander around near this water area and I got introduced to them today.
Thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts.
"In a month she would not mourn, because in that season it had never seemed to her that they were married, she and the silent Methodist Edmund who wore a necktie and suspenders even to hunt wildflowers, and who remembered just where they grew from year to year, and who dipped his handkerchief in a puddle to wrap the stems, and who put out his elbow to help her over the steep and stony places, with a wordless and impersonal courtesy she did not resent because she had never really wished to be married to anyone."
— Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
I don’t know about you but a certain new trend has caught my eye something fierce…
The way these shirts cinch in and then flare out is incredibly flattering on almost everyone I’ve seen so far. It creates the illusion of a great waist and hips.
I’m on the hunt for a shirt just like one of these.
The credit for these shirts goes to Urban Outfitters and ModCloth
This is pretty late but just to make it blog official…I will be interning with Judith March this summer! I’m so incredibly excited. I really want my life to head into a fashion career and I’ve been at a loss of how to even get started and then God practically placed this internship in my lap. Judith March is a fashion line that leans mostly to a cute bohemian style. They’re based in Santa Rosa, Florida which is about ten minutes down the road from my most favorite place on earth: Seaside.
The first half of my summer will be spent in Brazil with Campus Outreach. We’ll be there to spread the gospel and see God in a bigger light and I can’t wait. I’m nervous and will be out of my element though.
How could this summer get anymore perfect?
