Crazy Days

Wow, it has been a crazy two days.. I don't even know where to start. Cindy and I just got home about an hour ago from a project we were doing in the favelas (slums) that included painting the homes and then painting and graffiti-ing those homes. Yeah, it sounds weird but the people there like it and they kept coming to watch us and had fun watching what we were doing. It was fun but got really hot during the day and it took so long that we never got to eat. The buses take about 2 hours or more to get us home so then by the time we got home it was almost 5pm. So Cindy and I pulled out chips and guarana and that is our snack until dinner. We are seriously worn out.


The reason we are so tired is not just from working today, but because we went to this huge Sao Pedro celebration where we got to watch a lot of forro, see a big concert and eat good food. We were there all night and didn't get back until about 1:30 am. Then we had to wake up at 630 to get back on the bus again for todays work. Yeah, we're a bit tired.


Well, the last couple days have been fun but crazy busy. I'm a bit tired from the constant bus rides so I'm gonna go chill. Here's a few pics to entertain til I can do a better post haha.

Finding a Little Piece of Heaven

I have always wondered if people that go across the world to find something actually do. They take the time, money, and resources to travel to a new location hoping for experiences that make it worth the trip. I am very new to this whole traveling thing and so I have never really looked for something in travelling, just enjoyed the ride and the adventure. Today, in the middle of the slums of Brasil, in a faded green, very worn down house, surrounded by my friends and some of the poorest and humblest people in Brasil, I found a little piece of heaven. 

Normally I am not the most sentimental guy but today it was one of those moments that just make you appreciate your life. It is amazing the way that people act, meaning their need for things. How often everyone is in need of something new and something better, I often times being included in this group. We put so much value on the things that have no REAL value. Today, when I was sitting on old, uneven stairs, overlooking the crowd as my friend Joe sang a song to a crowd of people, I couldn't help but be humbled by the circumstances. The young kids there are almost all in bad and sometimes abusive family circumstances, the program we work for struggles to keep up with the needs of the community, the building we were in was in need of serious repair, and they were all just satisfied to get food to eat and have music to dance to. Would we be satisfied with such simplicity? Is what is important the latest gadget, or family and tradition? I couldn't helped but be touched by the moment. My beautiful wife standing in the midst of the group, smiling up at me, reminded me why I married her: She would be satisfied with simplicity. I really am the luckiest guy in the world to have a girl that would love to travel to some random place, work for some random company, and put our lives on hold in order to better the lives of those around her. She makes my day, every day, and she does it in any country we might be in. She is the perfect example of love.

I started to recall the reason for my change from medical school to pharmacy and I know that simplicity is what I really want in my life. I want all of my focus on my family and community, not on school or work or money or anything else. I want to travel the world with my honey, play ball with my kids and watch their games, and help them with their math. If I drive a crappy car the rest of my life, it would be alright because I would still have that which truly makes me happy.  Playing soccer on the streets is so common in Brasil but nonexistent in the United States these days. Have the kids of the US become absorbed in the electronic generation and never taught what really has value? It makes me wonder, and for this I love Brasil. They may have nothing, but still with nothing they never forget family and tradition. In no way are they perfect, but family and tradition is key in their lives. I admire them and the love they have as a people and the fact they hug and kiss ever person they encounter. I am so thankful for their example.

Like I said, I am not normally the most sentimental guy, but today I had to express my gratitude for my life and the things I do have. I am thankful for the opportunity to be here, it is an amazing one and a once in a lifetime chance. I would not trade it for anything. Hopefully Cindy and I will have more opportunities like this in the future, also ones that we can bring our kids on as well. I want them to always know what holds true value in life.

Anyways, here are some pics of the party we went to. I won't lie, it was pretty fun :)

 These top two are pictures of the CCJ, where we are doing our internship.

 They were playing a fishing game with a broom handle and they were fishing out of an old suitcase.

 They were playing some game, I have no clue what it was.

 Yeah, she's beautiful :)

 This is "quadrilha", a Brazilian dance they do for the festa de sao joao

 They colored all over me for the party, so no, I don't have a beard and unibrow.

This is Joe playing the guitar and the crowd watching. He did awesome.

150 Cookies and Counting...

So for the last 3 hours I have been making cookies. Chocolate chip to be exact. For the last hour and a half Joe and I have been rockin out to a lot of random music in order to not get bored making cookies. I'll tell you what, bakers must have tough feet because mine are killing me!

We're going to a party tomorrow in the favelas (slums) with the group CCJ that we have been working with. They are having a party and we were asked to bring enough stuff for 40 kids. I thought, "okay, that's not too bad." Then I realized, 40 kids, 10 workers, and 20 students. 70 people total. Hmm.. things got a little more complicated with that realization. So I started mixing the ingredients and Josh started chopping up the chocolate bar (they don't have chocolate chips here) and off we went. Part of the way through Joe came in to help me bake them all and that's when we got rockin to a lot of different music. We both have a lot of similar likes and we kept switching around to keep things interesting. We got to about 150 or more and decided to call it quits for the night.

Earlier today we were planning on going to hang out with the CCJ and learn more about the community but it started raining and the bus guys were on strike so we weren't able to catch a bus out there. We made the best of things and came back to watch the Portugal vs Espanha game of the Euro Cup. Portugal lost, sadly, but I don't really care because I am rooting for Germany to kick everyone's butts. It was fun though getting a lot of friends together to watch. We were actually getting pretty into it and I'm glad no one was recording. We then came home and started working on the cookies for tomorrow.

Tomorrow the bus guys are still on strike so we'll see how the day goes. It is crazy expensive paying for taxis everywhere so we can't do that much longer. Hopefully the day brings a new hope (star wars reference for you nerds, aka Josh). Here are some pics of the day:

Yep, that was my day! Hopefully things work out tomorrow! Tchau!

Graffiti, On Purpose!

I think it is every guys desire to do graffiti at some point in their life. Just to tag something so they can see it later and say, "oh yeah, I'm cool like that.." Why, I don't really know. It's like, every guy has an obsession with some sport or another. It's just built in to us. Anyways, today was the first time that I got to paint and graffiti something, on purpose, without the fear of having the police catch me or my dad kick my butt.


So the story is that we are still working with the CCJ and the plan is to paint a lot of walls in the community and at the house where the program is centered, and then tag them with our different signs, symbols, ideas, etc. In this part of Brasil they consider graffiti to be very symbolic and important in showing what/who the community is. We watched a video in class that explained really well why they do it. A man with very little and struggling from day to day loved to do graffiti to demonstrate how the community and the people felt. I found it odd but he liked to paint cows. He did an awesome job and always made these cows with attitude. I laughed at first too: try imagining a cow with attitude. But he said he did it because people in poor places and favelas of Brasil are being born to die, just like cows. Just passive and letting things go their natural way without making any impact. He said the attitude represented his refusal, and those with him, to roll over and die without making a difference. I really respect his dedication to change and his desire to show it, even though it is a different way than I would expect.


So anyways, we went to the CCJ and Carbonel got us started explaining the different ways and tools to paint with and then divided us into groups. He then said, "okay, you guys paint that wall, you guys that one, and you guys that one." You can imagine that everyone just stood there looking at him like, "are you serious?" He then told us to make up something that represented the community that we had seen. We the, quite happily, proceeded to paint the wall. haha, it was pretty fun, I won't lie. Here is what my group did:

 Yeah, we're pros, I know. Ya know it wasn't too bad considering that we just threw some paint on the wall with no idea what to do. Shortly after we painted all of this stuff we went and got spray cans and added more paint to it. It looked pretty good until we kept getting carried away with the paint. Yeah, everyone just kept spraying and spraying. I know for sure now I wasn't the only one with the desire to tag something!


While this was going on, these kids were dancing and playing games. The game they started playing was one I had never seen. They stretch a piece of something like a big rubber band or something like it between three people, and two to three people stand on the rubber. The people on the rubber have to keep on foot on top of it at all times. This means you have to be able to jump really high or somehow get your foot over the top. It was pretty fun watching them, thought the best part was watching the change between boys and girls. The boys were going around doing just fine and the girls were holding the rubber thing, and as soon as they switched I swear it wasn't 60 seconds before every girl started saying, "You moved the cord, I saw you!", "I made it, you moved it! I see you cheating!", "I get to try again, this isn't fair!", "It's too high! Bring it down!".
It made me laugh, then I realized:
"Well, at least there are some things that don't change no matter where you go in the world!" ;)

Working with the CCJ

Today we had the opportunity to go to a piece of our program, a place called CCJ. They are a branch of an NGO called Diaconia which is a Christian organization that does a lot of good in Brasil. They fund the CCJ and so we are supposed to work with the CCJ through Diaconia. It has been a bit complicated due to the difficulty of getting things set up between our group and everyone else. There is a thing about northern Brasil, and that is that they can be way relaxed about things and take their sweet time. Due to this, we have been trying to get everything worked out. It appears that we have a full schedule for the next week and a half, but it changes daily so we'll have to see what happens. We are working with a guy named Carbonel of CCJ and he is a pretty cool guy, a guy who loves to spray paint stuff, so he keeps things fun. He has a sincere desire to help his community so I like him. This is him:

During our drive we had the opportunity to see some slums, and it always surprises me how little people have in areas of Brasil. They are literally shacks made of plastic, scraps of wood, and anything they can get their hands on. It is incredible. Cindy and I also saw four people sleeping on cardboard on the sidewalk. It is just sad to see the poverty. Much needs to be done to change the problems that still exist.


Otherwise, my sunburns are still hurting but feeling a bit better than yesterday. I am still red, with a small blister in the middle of my chest, so I'm pretty funny to look at. A human lobster, a martian (assuming they're red), or a bullfighter's cape, they're all pretty good descriptions so take your pick.


Well, not too exciting today but I'll make sure to keep you updated.

The Old Center, Burning on the Beach, and Forro!

Since I slacked off on putting a post up on Friday I decided this would be a good time to catch up. Friday we had the awesome opportunity to go to the temple of Recife, and yes, it was very beautiful. It was built in 2000, and has served as one of the closest points for many people to visit until the Manuas temple opened. The best part about going to the temple is that Cristina was tired of the buses and decided to pay for a taxi for herself, Cindy, Michelle, and myself. So cruising in an air conditioned car and chatting it up with a really nice taxi driver was a great way to start the day. We got on the subject of music and he said he preferred American music even if he couldn't understand it, then started teasing Cindy about how she knows more about Brazilian music than he does (in all honesty she probably does, she listens to it so much I am starting to learn the words whether I want to or not just from exposure alone). We got there early and were able to take a few snapshots:

It was a really nice session and it was fun to do it in portuguese. I haven't done that since my mission so it was pretty fun. 

After the temple we went to the old center of the city where we visited the Casa de Cultura which is an old prison that has been turned into a place where people can sell things that are related to the culture of Brasil. There were a ton of leather things and little trinkets. It was pretty fun to visit, but the best part is that they had this group of people walking around the entire time playing forro, a brazilian type of music of the northeast, and this old man started dancing and let me tell ya, it was awesome. He was surprisingly agile, check it out on Cindy's blog, it rocks. They had a lady dressed up to be the center of attraction but she ended up getting edged out by this old man. He has the moves that she can't compete with hehe.

 This was the group walking around the entire time playing forro.

 This is the inside of the prison. Several of the old cells still had the metal bars for doors.

The guy in the blue was rockin, the guy in the red did well but eventually gave up. The blue guy never stopped. Oh yeah.

On Saturday we finally got a much needed day off. We were going like crazy all week and finally got to relax on the beach and have a day to chill. We slept in to about 9 and went to the beach around 10 ish. I stayed until about 1 and Cindy stayed til 2. While there we bought a couple homemade kites that we didn't get to fly because apparently you're supposed to bring your own string to the beach to fly kites. Next time i'll have to keep that in mind lol. We also bought some fresh pineapple that tasted wonderful. Fresh, hand cut, full pineapple for $1.25. The only bad thing about the beach is that apparently I burn pretty easily here, and, not having put on any sunscreen, I proceeded to burn worse than I think I ever have before. I am currently VERY red, and I hurt everywhere. My favorite thing about Brasil is that people are very touchy and LOVE to give you frequent smacks on the back and, even better, on the shoulders. It has made my life soooooooooooo much fun recently. Josh and Joe, being some good sized american guys, have also adopted this habit so yes, I have to give them crap too, hehe. Thanks for the smacks guys!

So, to finish off the night, we went to a party for Sao Joao which is a huge Catholic Holiday that everyone celebrates in the north of Brasil. It was way fun, even if I was fried as red as a lobster. I danced it up. I had Morgan and Malorie show me how to dance. They are seriously legit pernambucanas, they even have the accent! They are makin things fun at the Jones residence! I got to play soccer with some kids and I think i was having a mini heat stroke cuz i had to go sit down for a bit before I passed out lol. Everyone was crazy sweaty. I then went back in and danced with Cindy for a while. I tried to get my Prof. Vanessa to dance with me but she turned me down. She is the first person to ever turn me down for a dance!

 This was some crazy line dancing thing we did

 Yeah, you can tell i was sweating a little bit..

Not a real stache, I had them painted on with some sideburns. A custom for Sao Joao. 

All in all, a great last couple of days. Now I just need to go put on some more aloe vera...

Young Boy's Dream Come True!

I don't know about you, but when I was little I always loved to read about midievil times, when King Arthur and his knights kicked everyone's butts, when jousting was the Football of the day, when armies of tens of thousands fought for king and country, and when glory was found on the edge of a sword! Yeah, I sound like a total nerd, but you can imagine how much fun I had going to this castle!
A little background: this castle was built by Richardo Brenannd who is a a very wealthy man who owned sugar plantations and gained a love for collecting art and weapons when he was young and his dad gave him his first pocket knife. He has a cousin named Francisco Brenannd who was an artist as well. Both men still live today.

This is when we first got to the castle. There were three sections that each had different paintings, sculptures, etc. It was incredibly beautiful there and the castle was on a gigantic lot with a large cobblestone road coming up to it. We were able to catch a ride on a little tram pulled by a four-wheeler. We made a nice entrance.

This was MY FAVORITE PART OF THE CASTLE! There were suits of armor from several different places of the world, many being used for ceremonies and many being used for battle. It was so much fun being able to see them and, well, touch them (though I technically wasn't supposed to..). It was at this moment that I felt like a kid getting to see something that he's wanted to see all his life. It rocked.

So there were weapons of every kind, from every place, and every color,shape,and size. It was AMAZING! Every boys dream house/castle! Seriously I loved being there! It is hard to explain a lot about the history behind what we saw today because most of it did not have any historical information to go along with it. I just loved the way that Brenannd took his money and put it into something that guys love, but more importantly, he did it in such a way as to bless everyone with the opportunity to see the amazing art, the amazing tapestries, the beautiful and varied weapons, and so much more. People waste their money in so many pointless ways and this was just an amazing way for it to be put to use. I guess the only thing that seemed strange was that in one room there were paintings all over the place with nude women. In the other sections there were a couple of them but in one room in the last section of the castle there were naked women everywhere above eye level. Yep, I guess Brenannd is still a man lol. 

I guess I am just grateful for the opportunity to be here. This alone makes it worth the whole trip and all of the difficulties that may be involved. Seeing such history is such an amazing way to spend my time and I hope to have more experiences like these.

Olinda, Beautiful

Today we had one heck of a trek. We had the opportunity to visit Olinda, a city that is a very unique part of Recife. It is unique because it is actually older than Recife and is the location of some of the oldest settlers in all of Brasil. It has buildings from the 1500s and if you think about it, those are older than ANY buildings in the United States. It sits pretty close to Recife and yet remains separate enough to keep it's unique heritage.  Yeah, it was an awesome experience, and I'll start by showing pics of which places we visited and what they mean. Here we go:

So this is near the actual port where the first colonists landed. Cindy and I decided to take some notes this time since we were in a very historic city.

So this is an example of what the buildings look like in the city. They have a cool story behind the whole colorful part, it being that rather than having addresses for everyone they just painted their house a certain color in order to identify the location. I thought it was pretty clever until I realized there could be problems with deciding certain colors belong to whom and to where the house can actually be found, no matter the color. Oh well, not my problem! haha!

During Carnival in February they have HUGE parade and at the front of each parade they put these flags. After each parade they leave the flag at this place. You can go in and get a drink and eat in this place, it was pretty cool.

This is the inside of a church that we visited that they still sing Gregorian chants in. The wood was hand carved and then covered with a layer of gold. It is 15 total tons of gold in the church. Yeah, that place is worth a little bit. There were several different statues representing different saints. It was a very beautiful place to visit and very historical.

So visited a few other beautiful churches and got to walk around the historic Olinda. It was a really fun day even though it was crazy hot. My neck now has a permanent tan line on it. Seriously. But on the way home I got a little reminder of normal Brazilian life. We got on a bus to go home, which was probably only like 15 miles away at the most, and it took us an hour and fifteen minutes to get there. Not only that, but out bus was packeddddddd with people the entire time. I had people pressed against me so often that if someone had wanted to rob me they probably could have gotten away with it. They could have taken my shoes without me even knowing it honestly. Plus, I had to hold onto a bar to make sure I didn't fall, and being such a large guy, whenever the bus moved people had the tendency to lean all of their weight on me. I won't lie, I was pretty glad to get home. Josh, Joe and I then went and put on some swimming suits and jumped in the ice cold pool. Great way to cool down, and when you're numb life is good. All in all, pretty fun day!

Day in the Neighborhood

So today started off pretty normal, the group meeting together at ABA and learning about different aspects of Brazil. While in class, we learned about why Brazilian's are the way they are, and in order to demonstrate, Vanessa decided to take us to the favelas (slums) to meet with the director of a branch of the NGO we'll be working for.


We took taxi's out there (and almost got in several wrecks at the same time, the guy drove like he was insane), and met the director and all of the people that help him there. They were all way awesome people and we got to know each other a little better and laughed a ton. we even had a guy display is dance moves. I was very impressed, especially considering it was in a small room with 35 people in it. This was a pic:

This is him bustin' out some moves.

This is a few in the group, the director has the beenie on (even though it was 85 degrees and 100% humidity). He is like a professional graffiti artist, and apparently is pretty good. He was a way nice guy, and he has a lot of great motives.


I look forward to working with this group. The area we were in (Olinda) is very very poor. Just the ride there gave us a hint of life there and reminded me of the poorer locations on my mission. I know things are worse in some areas, but it is pretty bad in Olinda. The kids are great, but to imagine them living in the conditions they are in is incredibly sad. Here are some pics of where we were:

 These are some old ruins that the city is slowly starting to fix. They were used as slaughter-houses and places for thieves and convicts to hide.

 These are a couple of girls that benefit from the program that we'll be participating in, and, of course, my beautiful wife :)

 This is the bottom level of where we'll be working.

 This is a small portion of the community where we'll be working.

These are the kids that benefit from the work this NGO is doing. They are awesome kids and love to play and laugh. I look forward to helping them out in the near future.


After our long day in the humid air, Cindy and I came back and the first thing I did was go down and chill in the really cold pool. It was soooooooooooo nice. A great way to relax.