Teach!

This morning started off different for me (again) than the rest of the team. While the others headed out to the new school site, Pastor Jim took me to the old (current) school site. Yesterday, one the school’s teachers suggested that I go with the English teacher today while he made his rounds. After some asking around, we finally found the English teacher – Marcio! If you don’t know Marcio, he speaks great English. In fact, there are not many people in Brazil (that I know, which means about 15!) that speak better English than Marcio. And he can sing! I do not think there is an American song that he does not know by heart. I love to hear his Brazilian accent disappear while he sings songs in English!

Well if there was one person who would not need help in teaching/speaking English, it’s Marcio. But he was gracious and allowed me to tag along with him anyway. I’m glad he did. I met some of the nicest kids that morning! We went to about five different classes, ranging in age from 5-12. I learned a lot from the kids while they were learning how to pronounce “red” from me. I learned that in Brazil, it’s not always required to stay in your seat (kind of like driving and staying in your lane!). I learned that the children here are excited to be at the Nazarene school. I learned that for some people, 63 degrees is cool enough to wear a sweater or jacket. I learned that children, even in other countries, want attention. And I learned NOT to show the OK sign (index finger on thumb to make a circle) to the third grade class that you are a guest to (it’s the same as giving someone the finger in the States – OOPS!). Marcio, thanks for letting me go with you to your classes! I had a blast!!

Back at the work site, I couldn’t believe (again) at how much work the team and Brazilian team had done. The supports for the ceiling/next story floor had arrived (these cement things that were about 9” across by many feet long, made of steel rebar and concrete – weighing several hundred pounds each) and most of the afternoon was spent unloading hundreds of these off a truck. While that was being unloaded several of us were pulling double duty on the wheel barrow (taking loads both ways, with no break with an empty wheel barrow). I though I was going to die after doing this for about 90 minutes. But I kept passing the truck were the cement supports were being unloaded and thought how lucky I was! Dr. Fredrick, you will be proud of me! :)

After Don and AJ spent many hours putting up new reboco (plaster) on the wall, another crew had been painting the front of the back building of the school adobe brown/orange. Towards the end of the day, plastic was put down over the entire play area, and we started laying # 1 rebar. Cool – I’ve never worked with rebar before. I enjoyed it at first!

We then went back to the house (almost all the wood put out front is now gone – still great recycling!) and celebrated both Clayton’s and Lee’s birthdays (84 and 32 respectively). The birthday cake was delicious! It had strawberries, pineapple, and another fruit I can’t remember in it, on a moist cake (combo between pound and angel cake) covered with a crème cheese icing. WOW!

As if that wasn’t enough, we then headed out to go bowling. Yep, you heard right – bowling. Chileno was our driver. If you haven’t met Chileno, then you haven’t been to Brazil. Chileno is proof that you don’t need to speak different languages in order to understand each other. He plays the most interesting game of International Charades that I have ever seen. Using a good number of English that he knows (way more than the 3 Portuguese words I know!) and signs, actions, and just good humor, you just know what he is talking about! Not only is he good at entertainment, he’s also quite the driver. And he knows all the shortcuts in Brazil (I’ve never passed the same horse twice in the middle of a city on the same short cut before…). Before we knew it (approx. 44 different smells, 55 speed bumps, 66 roads, 77 prayers and 88 grey hairs later), we were at the mall and bowling alley.

Bowling in Brazil (well, maybe I should say at this one alley, since that’s all I’ve ever done), is a bit different than in the States. I had already slipped my shoe off because I knew under the tongue there was a sticker sewn in that would tell me the measurements of my shoe in EN units (44), and I wanted to sound impressive. But to no avail, since you bowl in your street shoes. Why?? Because the lanes are laminate wood, that sort of look like counter tops – all the way down the lanes. The next small difference was that you did not bowl per game but per hour (R$36/ hour or about $18/hr for 6 adults). So wile we waited for our turn (there were only 12 lanes), we were given a card to keep our tab on. We were told to NOT lose the card, because everyone needed one to get out. And if you lose your card, you would have to pay R$200 to get out (about $100)! Don went ahead and tested the system and ordered a Red Bull (pronounced “hedgged buhl”) for what was a mere $5 in American cost! I hope it tasted real good!

Finally it was our turn to bowl, and we moved to our lanes. When it was my turn, I grabbed a 14 lb. ball, and gave it a good spin down the lane. That was when I noticed the next difference in bowling alleys here in Rio, Brazil. Not only are the lanes not wood, they are also not oiled/waxed. My ball went about half way down the alley; the spin caught the floor, and promptly entered the gutter on the left side about 20 feet in front of the lead pin! This was going to take some getting used to (or not!). The next thing that I noticed was even when I would get a good hit on the lead pin, they would just not move around as much as I was used to. I soon discovered that this was due to the fact that there were strings attached to the top of every pin! When a curtain would come down to block the lane/view, the strings would pull up the knocked over pins and raise them out of the way. After the second frame, all ten pins were set up again using the strings. Interesting! After scoring a 106, we left and went into the mall right next door to the bowling alley.

To my surprise, the mall looked like I was back in Wichita. Even the murmuring sounds of the mall sounded like I was back in the states. I asked Chileno to help me get a Caffè Mocha (or the closest thing to it, since there are no Starbucks). I like Brazilian coffee – it’s good and strong, and this cup did not disappoint me either. After my coffee, we stopped by a McDonald ice cream stand and got chocolate ice cream cones. This is true missionary work! :) Our night ended with the trip home, including stops at the gas station (interesting – they argue over how much gas you should get), and Chileno got stuck between a bus and a trash truck. Other than that, it was business as usual!

Mark