Nova Almeida (Part 2)
OK, a power glitch here just wiped out my draft update, so let's try this again (saving it every few minutes)...
Yesterday after our staff planning meeting here at São Gabriel, I wanted to update the blog, but by the time I thought about it, I had to leave to get to the computer repair shop to pick up my not-fixed laptop before they closed. Thankfully, they didn't charge me for the stuff the guy did that didn't fix anything, although the laptop is significantly dirtier and the carrying case was stained with hot glue or something. Next, my supervisors' son will take a look at it to see if he can diagnose and/or fix it.
The group from Randolph-Macon College brought a lot of craft supplies with them and quickly planned to do skits and music centering on five different Bible stories. They wrote up plain-language narrations, which I got help translating and then we read aloud to the kids while the group acted it out. The Randolph-Macon team divided up to work with the team from Belo Horizonte to do workshops in crafts, music and recreation. At the end of each session, there was a "gincana" team competition of relay races, obstacle courses, etc.
I helped with the music workshops, and we sang songs with the kids in Portuguese and English. The big hit was the "Boogaloo Song," which I'd never heard before. The leader shouts "Let me see you boogaloo!" and the group replies "What did you say?". After several iterations of this, the everybody recites a caveman-like chant and does a dance resembling the Pony. For the subsequent verses, the leader substitutes an action that the group has to pantomime while doing the caveman-like chant (e.g. "Let me see you climb a tree!"). A retired missionary couple in the area came to assist, and the wife was particularly helpful with providing resources (puppets, costumes, musical instruments and a CD with children's music in English). At any given time, part of the group would be working with the kids and the other part on the manual labor (yardwork and painting).
Overall, people were very good-natured considering the hardships they had to face: insect bites, rashes, intestinal disturbances, sun poisoning and a brief power outage. The boys immediately noticed that their accommodations in the old dormitory were quite inferior to the girls' accommodations in the new dormitory, which had ceiling fans in every room and screens on the windows. The fans really did keep the mosquitoes from pestering you all night (only when on high speed). Although I was trying to keep covered in insect repellent the whole time (thanks, Dot!), I still managed to get quite a few bites that are just now healing.
The group liked to sit around in the evening playing games (Uno and CatchPhrase) and sing with the guitar. They even composed a few songs--"Yeah, Brazil" and "G-O-R-D-O-N" in tribute to one of my supervisors. I will not miss, however, people trying to learn to play Tom Petty's "Freefalling" ad infinitum.
The group actually invited me to travel to Rio de Janeiro with them to help my supervisor, so I went with her by plane to Rio and waited in the airport there for the group to arrive on their later flight. I have the feeling that people didn't believe us about how dangerous Rio is; thank God nothing bad happened other than a couple of people losing a little money. We had good weather and the group was able to go to both Corcovado and Sugarloaf to see the city from above, and several even decided to try hangliding. We all went to the airport Sunday afternoon, and my supervisor and I got home in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday night/Monday morning.
It was weird to come home to my new, mostly-empty apartment. I must admit that although I'd lived by myself before for about 8 years without problems, I'm finding myself much lonelier here. Probably lack of TV and Internet don't help, although I don't really watch that much TV. Brazil is much more of a communal society, so I'm definitely feeling the lack of companionship. In this apartment, I feel much more like I'm "roughing it," but I do have a mattress and a chair and a stool and nicer accommodations than many of my colleagues, albeit unfurnished.
The next challenge is to figure out how and where to get my clothes washed because the handyman hasn't installed the drying rack on the ceiling in my apartment, and the place I'd previously found in the neighborhood that does laundry no longer has the sign out front.
Here are a few pictures from the Randolph-Macon group and the summer camp:
Some of the Belo Horizonte team relaxing in the Shade
The kids from the summer camp
The team from Randolph-Macon College
The team performing at the summer camp closing party
Yesterday after our staff planning meeting here at São Gabriel, I wanted to update the blog, but by the time I thought about it, I had to leave to get to the computer repair shop to pick up my not-fixed laptop before they closed. Thankfully, they didn't charge me for the stuff the guy did that didn't fix anything, although the laptop is significantly dirtier and the carrying case was stained with hot glue or something. Next, my supervisors' son will take a look at it to see if he can diagnose and/or fix it.
The group from Randolph-Macon College brought a lot of craft supplies with them and quickly planned to do skits and music centering on five different Bible stories. They wrote up plain-language narrations, which I got help translating and then we read aloud to the kids while the group acted it out. The Randolph-Macon team divided up to work with the team from Belo Horizonte to do workshops in crafts, music and recreation. At the end of each session, there was a "gincana" team competition of relay races, obstacle courses, etc.
I helped with the music workshops, and we sang songs with the kids in Portuguese and English. The big hit was the "Boogaloo Song," which I'd never heard before. The leader shouts "Let me see you boogaloo!" and the group replies "What did you say?". After several iterations of this, the everybody recites a caveman-like chant and does a dance resembling the Pony. For the subsequent verses, the leader substitutes an action that the group has to pantomime while doing the caveman-like chant (e.g. "Let me see you climb a tree!"). A retired missionary couple in the area came to assist, and the wife was particularly helpful with providing resources (puppets, costumes, musical instruments and a CD with children's music in English). At any given time, part of the group would be working with the kids and the other part on the manual labor (yardwork and painting).
Overall, people were very good-natured considering the hardships they had to face: insect bites, rashes, intestinal disturbances, sun poisoning and a brief power outage. The boys immediately noticed that their accommodations in the old dormitory were quite inferior to the girls' accommodations in the new dormitory, which had ceiling fans in every room and screens on the windows. The fans really did keep the mosquitoes from pestering you all night (only when on high speed). Although I was trying to keep covered in insect repellent the whole time (thanks, Dot!), I still managed to get quite a few bites that are just now healing.
The group liked to sit around in the evening playing games (Uno and CatchPhrase) and sing with the guitar. They even composed a few songs--"Yeah, Brazil" and "G-O-R-D-O-N" in tribute to one of my supervisors. I will not miss, however, people trying to learn to play Tom Petty's "Freefalling" ad infinitum.
The group actually invited me to travel to Rio de Janeiro with them to help my supervisor, so I went with her by plane to Rio and waited in the airport there for the group to arrive on their later flight. I have the feeling that people didn't believe us about how dangerous Rio is; thank God nothing bad happened other than a couple of people losing a little money. We had good weather and the group was able to go to both Corcovado and Sugarloaf to see the city from above, and several even decided to try hangliding. We all went to the airport Sunday afternoon, and my supervisor and I got home in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday night/Monday morning.
It was weird to come home to my new, mostly-empty apartment. I must admit that although I'd lived by myself before for about 8 years without problems, I'm finding myself much lonelier here. Probably lack of TV and Internet don't help, although I don't really watch that much TV. Brazil is much more of a communal society, so I'm definitely feeling the lack of companionship. In this apartment, I feel much more like I'm "roughing it," but I do have a mattress and a chair and a stool and nicer accommodations than many of my colleagues, albeit unfurnished.
The next challenge is to figure out how and where to get my clothes washed because the handyman hasn't installed the drying rack on the ceiling in my apartment, and the place I'd previously found in the neighborhood that does laundry no longer has the sign out front.
Here are a few pictures from the Randolph-Macon group and the summer camp:
Some of the Belo Horizonte team relaxing in the Shade
The kids from the summer camp
The team from Randolph-Macon College
The team performing at the summer camp closing party
posted by Christine Piggee at
6:18 AM
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