how we spent our two year anniversary in brazil.

today Jordan and I celebrated two years of marriage!

today we went to our internship CCJ early in the morning to fix up their building (or you could call it a house maybe?) It has a couple rooms that act as offices, classroom type rooms, computer rooms etc..but it was probably a house before. 

Unfortunately, the whole place is in incredible need of repair.

there is so much to be done, but we are trying to do as much as we can with the materials that we have.

when we got there, we all said happy birthday to our teacher vanessa! and happy birthday to her daughter natalia whose birthday was yesterday! then everyone was so kind to keep congratulating Jordan and I on our anniversary and we just felt so special all day. so thank you! We have such a thoughtful teacher and classmates. When we arrived, Vanessa & Natalia gave us a little present from Caruaru that they picked out for us. It was so kind of them to think of us and we will keep it pra sempre!

a cute little couple swinging together! it's adorable. :)

anyways, the biggest thing the center needs is a complete paint job!

luckily, we have Jordan or else our group might be a little lost.

He oversaw the painting today to make sure it was all being done efficiently and effectively.

I was really proud of how great everyone was working together today and how much we were able to get done. The walls are in serious need of repairs..there are many holes so it required a lot of plastering, and there is also water damage and other problems. We were able to get done the main room and a hallway today but I think now that we understand what to do we might be able to get a lot done faster.

Here is a picture where you can see an example of how the walls are:

jordan painting!

There were about 5 of us who volunteered in the kitchen-cristina, berkley, michele, carla and I. 

So while everyone was painting we had the job of planning lunch and preparing and serving it to everyone there. A few of them went to the store to get ingredients while the rest of us began the cleaning process of the kitchen. Wow, surprisingly this was a difficult process! We had no running water in the kitchen (can you imagine how we cooked and cleaned without running water!?) so it required a lot of finding water, putting it in buckets, using pots to gather water, etc and most importantly making sure we were cooking and cleaning our vegetables with good water. It was complicated! There were also not many cleaning supplies so we had to make a lot of purchases! We started cleaning the kitchen brazilian style-pouring soapy water all over the ground and scrubbing really hard with a broom then finally using a pano (rag) to scrape all the water out. It took SEVERAL times and it still never got clean! But it was better so it's ok!

Here was where all the cooking took place:

we made noodles with two different types of sauces and chicken.

It was really difficult because of our large group to feed and lack of stove space but we fed them all and decided we will not be doing that again! next time sandwiches it is! that way we can spend more time actually painting and helping rather than cooking and cleaning.

after lunch we painted more, got rooms prepped for tomorrow, cleaned the floors some more and then we went home :)

after getting home, we showered & got ready for our date!

then we went to this place:

that was literally right next to a little marina, where all the fishing boats are. It was so beautiful and lovely, and the restaurant had most of its seating outside so we just sat by the water and watched all the people running along the beach. One of my favorite part about that restaurant was the music that played- a lot of romantic brazilian bossa nova type songs. :)

our entire meal cost about $30 and as you can see we got meat, onions, chicken, sausage and fried cheese along with rice, beans, farofa and vinagrette. It came out on a plate that literally had a flame under it. They were taking a little long on our food so they gave us free appetizers-caldinho. It's this little soup (more like a bisque) that they serve to you in a mini mug looking thing (like where you'd drink an espresso maybe? those coffee shots) It was made of shrimp-like a shrimp bisque and it was really good. Even Jordan ate it but I think it was because he was really hungry but he paid for it later. He seriously has an allergy to seafood.

Another wonderful part about our dinner date was this:

I swear the moon is prettier in Recife than anywhere else in the world!

Another fun thing about our date was that we made really good friends with the waiter. He literally talked to us for probably 30 minutes just standing there and telling us all about his life. It was so fun to hear from someone who was born and raised in recife.  We told him we were working in Olinda in the favelas and he got really concerned for us especially when we told him it was in the bairro of Peixinhos! Yikes :/ I mean he says we are fine because we are with people of the community but otherwise it would not be safe to do that. We laughed and talked for a long time and when it came time to leave, we didn't feel like taking our left overs so he told us to take it to some woman at the pharmacy so we agreed. We took the food to the pharmacy and had no clue who to give it to. Finally after we had almost given up I decided to ask the lady directing the parking outside if she had any idea who it was that I should give this food to and she said ME! So she got our left overs and was happy about it.. I guess she has asked that people from the restaurant give her their left overs so they tell their customers to give it to her haha

Anyways, it was a wonderful, fun filled day!

favela.

 Even after a really late night, we still got up bright and early to be at CCJ (our internship) at 9AM.

We had our first encounter in the favela (slums). We were given some painting materials and paint and were given some walls to start painting.  The people in the favela seemed very grateful for our efforts. Even though we didn't do much (in comparison to how big the favela is) people were really happy that we were there trying to help.  They kept coming out asking us to paint their wall but we just did not have the time or means to be able to paint everyones who asked.  After we painted a base paint, we used the graffiti cans & other paints and actually painted things on their walls. It was hard for me to accept that people would WANT their front wall painted covered in trees, clouds, birds, hearts, etc. To me it appeared kind of "day care" or childish to have your house covered in things like hearts, clouds and what not and I kept thinking "what if these people would prefer just the solid color and no added pictures?"(we were told to graffiti on the base paint) But as time went on I realized that it was not "daycare ish" at all but the favela itself has its own "culture" and views on what is beautiful.  I cannot think about what I myself would consider beautiful (plain, solid paints, no graffiti) but I had to realize that what they consider beautiful is graffiti & images. I grew up in a place where graffiti was used to tag things and not as an art form as much as it is here.  They wanted their homes to be painted bright blue and covered with trees and birds and what not! because that is what THEY like and it doesn't matter what I like or think looks nice. That was an eye opener.

I learned that when I step into someone elses community and home, I must serve them in the way they would like to be served, not how I think would be best to serve them. So there we were, painting random walls with different images like flowers and stuff! and the people all stood outside and watched, and asked their walls be painted as well. I learned that if they had the means available, they would love to be able to fix up their community themselves and be more self reliant..but they just don't have anything..

this was probably the nicest street in the favela we saw..at least in my opinion.

two little girls & a boy who were running around the favela playing together. It was amazing how seeing those kids was just an eye opener for me. I feel like a mom in the US typically watches every single step their child takes, protecting them from anything that could possibly hurt them..but on the other side of the world, kids like this are running around with no shoes on dirt roads covered in bricks, rocks, glass, feces, bottles, etc while sewer water runs throughout everything. The mother's let their kids go and they run around, play and come back even in those horribly unsafe, unsanitary conditions. A lot of time they don't have anyone really watching them because their parents are involved with drugs and other addictive substances. I bet these kids were around 2 or 3 years old and they were just running wild & free.

 Look at those beautiful dark eyes & eyelashes! 

the first wall we started working on before we separated

these kids were painting this house and they were loving it.

the final piece of jordan's group wall.

In all, I would say my first experience in a brazilian favela was a positive one. I was saddened by a lot of things I saw such as the fact that about 90% of the girls who were walking around had a huge pregnant belly, there were plenty of drunks and lots of blood shot eyes. But I also did see wonderful things like LOVE. I saw people outside surrounding a baby and being so happy to see him smile.  I saw a grandfather holding his grandson in his lap lovingly. I saw parents throwing a ball to a stray dog while the kids laughed. I saw kids playing soccer in the road. I even saw my little rascal friend covered head to toe in flour and egg. I guess kids are kids no matter where they live! There is sadness in places like this but you can also find happiness there as well.

From what I could see, people were ok with our presence there. I feel like they appreciated our want to make it look a little nicer in there, I feel like many of them were grateful and happy to have us. I would never have entered that area if we had not been with Carbonel or the other people of the community. It wasn't exactly the safest place in the world for a group like us. But I think overall we felt safe there as we watched tons of small kids playing and running around the street. I heard people passing by shouting "gente boa" which means "good people" & I thought either they are telling us that or telling other people in the community not to bother us because we are trying to help.

But one of our roomates Joe, said that he heard a man murmur as he passed saying "Look at these Americans here to see people going hungry." I'm glad I didn't hear that because it would have broken my heart. I did not travel all the way here to see people go hungry. There is poverty everywhere, including the US. I came here because I love Brazil. I came here because I want to learn about the culture, the history. I want to explore new places. Learn new things. I came here to SERVE the community through my internship. 


But I did not come here to see anyone go hungry.

festa junina at CCJ

last night there was this big storm so we woke up to lots of rain & wind.

my first thought was-I GET TO WEAR JEANS!

silly thing to get excited about right? 

after class this morning, we all took buses to Peixinhos to go to a Festa Junina party at our internship CCJ. We were all told to bring treats for the kids so our house brought cookies, and those kids loved them! We had so much fun playing and talking with them. They were all pretty shy and embarrassed to come talk to us so we really had to try to make friends with them. But once they were comfortable they were the cutest things. I had one girl ask me if I was from China and another ask me if I was from Japan. Do I look asian? Maybe my black hair and whiteish(compared to theirs) skin made me look asian. It was also cute being called "senhora"by all the little kiddos too.

They also did a cute little line dance for us. They were adorable.

A lot of these kids have a lot of problems in the home & they go to that place during the day since they have no one at home. One of the little girls I talked to told me she had 13 siblings..

After all the festivities died down, Berkley and Joe played some music for them on the guitar and we sang in portuguese & english. It was really fun!

playing a little handgame with them.

this boy was the cutest little 5 year old.

dancing quadrilha

2 four year old best girl friends dancing together.

little black girl with the prettiest green eyes. she was so cute.

this girl was a little doll as well. eating her corn:)

taking a picture with another cynthia! she took my camera and was so excited to take pictures of everything. I ended up with 120 pictures on my camera thanks to her! lol

that little boy with the hat was a serious little rascal.

so cute!

the kids happy with their cookies that jordan made them.

playing with sparklers. it was not the best idea. i thought for sure someones hair was going to get caught on fire. 

a video of that little rascal..he thinks he's a little playuhh

graffite. (grah-fee-chee)

yeah we are representing "power" or "resistance" ..not really sure! haha

Meet Carbonel!
He is our internship contact at CCJ. He works with a media project that does photography, videography, to raise awareness. He is also a master at graffiti & today he taught us how to do it! haha! Look out provo, I'm going to be bringing some brazilian graffiti skills home! Yesterday, Vanessa gave him some gifts from BYU & he loved it. He put his shirt on right then so we took a picture cause we were kinda matching. We also learned that the word "cougar" comes from Portuguese. (Even though there is no such thing as a mountain lion in brazil..I think)


Here are some examples of their work:

I love photography like this-realism. It tells a story of peoples battles. 

Anyways, today we had a chance to paint the room & then practice our graffiti skills.  I think we were all pretty much in shock when we were told to just start painting the walls in the room!  It was pretty tough because we had NO idea what to draw- practically none of us are artists and we were asked to paint ON THEIR WALLS! I kept thinking (I hope they paint over this after we're done) but I'm thinking they are planning on keeping it there.. Anyways, we had to paint something that represented us in recife? Well Doug had the great idea of doing a running man so he posed and we started painting and then I asked the question "What is he running to? Is he running away from something? He has to be running towards something or else this makes no sense at all!" So we stood their dumbfounded a few minutes before deciding exactly what our message was going to be. Well.. we turned our running man into a track runner with a baton. So part of our picture is a man passing off the baton to this man, and basically its showing one person passing on his knowledge to the next, and taking what he knows in order to share and give to the next person so that he can do the same thing. Pretty soon after he takes what he knows and "runs with it" he will also pass it along. Pretty good right? Yeah, I was impressed.

Pra frente Recife means- move forward recife.

Here is a picture of Carbonel in front of his own work:

At least here in Recife,  Graffiti is a way to really express yourself.  It is considered a real artform, and not in the way that people view it in the US. That is kind of a shock to me to look at graffiti in a different light-as a way to express yourself and not something that is seen as vandalism. A lot of times their messages are really powerful.  The other day, we watched a video documentary called "I am from Bahia" and there was a graffiti artist who talked about his art. Many times he painted a cow, because cows are only meant for one thing-to feed. Cows live and they die with only one purpose and that is to feed others. He said that is how it feels sometimes to be a baiano.

Other updates from our Study Abroad
-One of my favorite parts about being here is listening to Vanessas lectures. I am not kidding! They are so fascinating & I learn SO much about history & also new vocabulary. Today we watched a video about the people that live in the Sertao (dry lands-which is currently in their worst drought in 30 years) & about the lives of the people there. Vanessa told us all about how the people in the Sertao and how they are a mix of indian, black and white and brazil considered them an impure race (the ideas related to darwinism) so they figured if they ignored them, & didn't help them or support them, then in 4 generations their race would die off..because white was considered the pure race. Well obviously it didn't work out like that..so the people of the dry lands have been these people who were kicked to the side, ignored, left out to die in the desert for being impure & so they have tried to create a name for themselves. Living in such a dry desert is a hard way of life (imagine death valley of california) but they have tried to overcome their obstacles by their faith & through music.

-Every night my host mom makes the most extravagant beautiful meals! She even goes out of her way to make us a nice breakfast every morning. They are leaving in 6 days and I'm dreading them leaving! I can't live off of PB&J like the rest of these boys. I don't even like PB! HAHA

-I started officially getting eaten by the mosquitos. I started using deet yesterday & so far so good.

-I started creating two videos of our recife trip-one that is mostly clips of jordan and I (go figure!) and one of our group so that they also have a cool video to remember themselves by. So I have gotten a little video camera crazy these days & have limited the photo taking but I have 2 cool videos so far. I figure if I work on it a little each day, by our goodbye party it will be awesome! Yippee!

-We were invited to a candomble party which is really huge here in the northeast. Candomble is a religion from Africa where they call spirits into their body and fall into a trance, they also make different offerings & sacrifices & there is a lot of music involved as well. We learned about the various religions like this such as black magic, white magic, voodoo stuff etc in my Portuguese 355 class. Well, this stuff is real and practiced in Brazil. Although it is interesting to learn about these various aspects of religion in brazil, we will not be attending.

ohh & I forgot to add- we will be going to the sertao in a few weeks! I am actually really excited & I know you are all thinking "who cares about going to the desert?" but this is probably going to be the biggest eye opener of my trip, seeing people in these kind of conditions than anywhere else..We are going to the favela tomorrow so maybe it will be worse there. I don't know. But I am still excited to see the desert in Brazil.

Until next time!