Social Central

Pastels

Some of you will be pleased to hear that it hasn´t been all work and no play. My social life has been just as hectic as it is at home which I´m exceptionally grateful for! I´ve been blessed with a multitude of new friends to keep me entertained. The weekend I arrived, I spent some time with Dot, Caio and Arthur before camp. Arthur is a student from Holland who, like me, is over here for a little bit of work experience and travel adventures. He came to camp with us and is currently working at Casa Elohim (the rescue house for street boys). On the Saturday afternoon we went to the local market for pastels. I forgot how much I love those! In the evening we went to Caio´s parents house for dinner where we had amazing fondue and wine by the fire. We also went there for lunch the next day. I had met Caio´s parents on our previous trip but I always appreciate how hospitable people are willing to be when they don´t even know me very well. Over the first weekend it was really nice just to relax and spend time together before the madness of camp ensued. 

Me, Sam and Pedro

The weekend prior to camp was the beginning of my holiday time here. I have this week off to myself so I had arranged to see my friend Sam from college as he is over here visiting family in Guarulhos. We spent some time with his family including a big family lunch on the Sunday which was highly entertaining. On the Saturday night Sam had a reunion dinner with some old school friends. I went along with him and his cousin Pedro. Neither Pedro nor I actually knew anybody at the dinner so we spent most of the evening getting to know each other better! However, it was nice just to be out in the town without lots of children to be responsible for! Again, the hospitality of a family who don´t know me at all was so much appreciated. When I got home I watched the Brazil v Paraguay game for the South American Cup. Have to say, I was somewhat ashamed of Brazil!

Me and Marianne having chocolate pizza

I thought that after the weekend my activities would calm down somewhat but this is Brazil - I should have known better! Monday afternoon Dot and Caio were leaving for their month-long trip to Holland. Robert called in the morning and we arranged to all go to McDonalds for lunch to say farewell. I came home and was prepared for a quiet night in. Wrong again. Robert called to say he´d arranged a dinner out at Casa de Pizza for the team who´d helped at camp last week. That was a really nice treat because with all the madness and activities at camp, the team actually didn´t have much time to spend together. We managed to get together Robert, Silvana, myself, Dora, Arthur and Zaqueu (a part time social worker at Casa Semear who also helped at camp). It was a relaxing and enjoyable time of fellowship for everyone. I also got my chocolate and banana pizza which I love!

Zaqueu, me and Arthur

The next day I settled in to the house and resolved myself to a quiet day. Wrong again. Zaqueu got in touch to say that there was a gig on at his church with a Brasilian gospel group. We picked up Arthur and went shopping in Interlagos for a couple of hours just having some fun. Around 8pm we headed over to the church for what I can only describe as the best three hours of my life! It´s so hard to describe but I would say imagine that Queen Latifah and James Brown were leading worship with a gospel-funk band. It was kind of like Sister Act meets Jackson 5. The band were incredible and the singing was just phenomenal. The best part was the free-style break-dance session where some of the kids got up and jammed. I very nearly joined in! After the service most of the youth came over so speak to Arthur and I - being the only white people in the building we attracted a lot of attention. The girls wanted me to sing and dance to them a little so I did and we had a good laugh. Zaq, Arthur and I went for a drive and hung out for a while afterwards, making it home not long after 1am. I´ve been blessed with good friends already and I´m really grateful for that. I think I was prepared for a long, lonely trip but so far it has been non-stop fun. I love Brazil!