I just wanted to let everyone know that I am safe back in Canada, loving being back with my family although still missing my friends in Brazil. Thanks for all of the love and support throughout my trip, and if I haven't seen you yet, hopefully I'll be seeing you soon!
love,
Alyssa
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Day 97
I've heard it said that absence makes the heart grow fonder; I'm learning more and more that goodbyes make the heart grow fond too!! All this week it has been so bittersweet to spend time with friends and enjoy it on purpose because I know I'm leaving soon and to have people telling me that they'll miss me when I go.
Catherine's English class had a goodbye party for me this morning - lots of people brought food - mostly cakes, but some other breads too, and pop, and it was so much fun! Everyone wrote me a little note to say bye or wish me good luck, and I loved reading through them! There is a mix of English and Portuguese, but they were all filled with such kind thoughts, and it made me really happy :) - By the way, yes I am wearing jeans and a sweater... it was cold and damp this morning! I think Brazil is trying to prepare me for heading back to Canada where summer hasn't quite yet arrived ;)
Catherine also broke out her guitar, and we sang Leaving on a Jet Plane and Stand By Me. One of the students, who I also helped to teach keyboard to, learned the words to Wherever You Go and she sang it to me accompanied by Catherine on guitar. We also all did an a capella version of the YMCA, and we muddled through one verse and the chorus of My Heart Will Go On. All in all a very sappy and beautiful goodbye party for sure!
I also wanted to post a picture of my fingernails because they are gorgeous!! Socorro is the cook at Free Flight, teaches hairdressing and manicure, and also cleans Joyce's house once a week, and she gave me a manicure yesterday! It was a little bit scary because she trimmed my cuticles which I've never had done before, and she accidently cut each of my pinky fingers because my skin is very delicate apparently... anyways, the second time it happened it hurt a lot! I was surprised, and tears came to my eyes, and we had just been joking about me crying the first time she cut me even though I hadn't, so I was trying not to cry, but then I was laughing and crying and it was a big silly mess and we bonded a lot over the ridiculous situation. Anyways, here you can see that it was definitely worth it! I keep looking at my nails no matter what I'm doing, and I feel all motivated to practice this summer until I can give myself a manicure :)
If you can't see very well, you should click on the picture to make it bigger and see how cute my nails are! This is NOT a picture of a missionary suffering out in the bush.
The plan is to go out for dinner tonight, although Catherine is not feeling well and Frank sprained his wrist yesterday so he has a hard time eating. I need to hang up some laundry now though so it can dry before I finish packing tomorrow. bye for now!
Catherine's English class had a goodbye party for me this morning - lots of people brought food - mostly cakes, but some other breads too, and pop, and it was so much fun! Everyone wrote me a little note to say bye or wish me good luck, and I loved reading through them! There is a mix of English and Portuguese, but they were all filled with such kind thoughts, and it made me really happy :) - By the way, yes I am wearing jeans and a sweater... it was cold and damp this morning! I think Brazil is trying to prepare me for heading back to Canada where summer hasn't quite yet arrived ;)
Catherine also broke out her guitar, and we sang Leaving on a Jet Plane and Stand By Me. One of the students, who I also helped to teach keyboard to, learned the words to Wherever You Go and she sang it to me accompanied by Catherine on guitar. We also all did an a capella version of the YMCA, and we muddled through one verse and the chorus of My Heart Will Go On. All in all a very sappy and beautiful goodbye party for sure!I also wanted to post a picture of my fingernails because they are gorgeous!! Socorro is the cook at Free Flight, teaches hairdressing and manicure, and also cleans Joyce's house once a week, and she gave me a manicure yesterday! It was a little bit scary because she trimmed my cuticles which I've never had done before, and she accidently cut each of my pinky fingers because my skin is very delicate apparently... anyways, the second time it happened it hurt a lot! I was surprised, and tears came to my eyes, and we had just been joking about me crying the first time she cut me even though I hadn't, so I was trying not to cry, but then I was laughing and crying and it was a big silly mess and we bonded a lot over the ridiculous situation. Anyways, here you can see that it was definitely worth it! I keep looking at my nails no matter what I'm doing, and I feel all motivated to practice this summer until I can give myself a manicure :)
If you can't see very well, you should click on the picture to make it bigger and see how cute my nails are! This is NOT a picture of a missionary suffering out in the bush.The plan is to go out for dinner tonight, although Catherine is not feeling well and Frank sprained his wrist yesterday so he has a hard time eating. I need to hang up some laundry now though so it can dry before I finish packing tomorrow. bye for now!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Day 95
Day 95... and I'll be leaving on day 99! I know that it is so close, but thinking about actually going home still feels very surreal.
I gave my testimony in Joyce's English class today - they are the class that I was teaching while she was in India, so it was neat because they've had a chance to get to know me a little bit, and they are the most advanced class right now, so I spoke in English, and then Joyce asked them questions after to gauge their comprehension.
I also had my second-to-last time with Frank's English class this morning - my favourite group of students! They're all girls, from ages 14-20 and they are just all sweet and bright and wonderful :)
At lunch time I knitted a cell phone holder for when I get back to Canada, and then I had my Portuguese class at 2 as usual. I am going to do a review/final exam tomorrow, and preparing for it today with Maricildes I realized HOW much Portuguese I have learned since I arrived. On my trip home I have an 8 hour layover in Sao Paulo, which would have been much more difficult three months ago - this time I am not nervous about ordering food if I need to or asking directions for anything, or even possibly making some conversation waiting for the flight. It is a flight to Toronto, so some people will likely speak English, and I'm planning to bring things to do, so hopefully the time passes pretty quickly.
And now there is something very important that I need to know about Canada: do we have white chocolate Smarties? Because I just ate a package of what amounts to white chocolate smarties, and they were too delicious for words. Usually I have to be in a certain mood to love white chocolate, but apparently I was in that mood about 20 minutes ago, and now I am just blogging, basking in the afterglow of a LOT of sugar :) If anyone has information about that, let me know :)
I gave my testimony in Joyce's English class today - they are the class that I was teaching while she was in India, so it was neat because they've had a chance to get to know me a little bit, and they are the most advanced class right now, so I spoke in English, and then Joyce asked them questions after to gauge their comprehension.
I also had my second-to-last time with Frank's English class this morning - my favourite group of students! They're all girls, from ages 14-20 and they are just all sweet and bright and wonderful :)
At lunch time I knitted a cell phone holder for when I get back to Canada, and then I had my Portuguese class at 2 as usual. I am going to do a review/final exam tomorrow, and preparing for it today with Maricildes I realized HOW much Portuguese I have learned since I arrived. On my trip home I have an 8 hour layover in Sao Paulo, which would have been much more difficult three months ago - this time I am not nervous about ordering food if I need to or asking directions for anything, or even possibly making some conversation waiting for the flight. It is a flight to Toronto, so some people will likely speak English, and I'm planning to bring things to do, so hopefully the time passes pretty quickly.And now there is something very important that I need to know about Canada: do we have white chocolate Smarties? Because I just ate a package of what amounts to white chocolate smarties, and they were too delicious for words. Usually I have to be in a certain mood to love white chocolate, but apparently I was in that mood about 20 minutes ago, and now I am just blogging, basking in the afterglow of a LOT of sugar :) If anyone has information about that, let me know :)
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