Day 31 (one month!)

This week is going well so far - I have an idea of the class schedule now and am doing a pretty good job of pacing myself between helping in classes, reading for courses at Tyndale, and playing clapping games with some girls =)

I am also, after a month, getting used to the fact that every day has about three days' worth of weather, and dressing appropriately is impossible. Most days start out coolish and then get quite warm (so, capris and a t-shirt maybe would be good to wear) until some point later, sometimes before lunch or sometimes not until the afternoon it gets cold and windy and starts to rain (bring a jacket). It seems like the warmer the clothes I wear, the later it is likely to rain, and if I boldly wear a skirt or shorts or if I forget to bring something with long sleeves then the rain rolls in before 11 and lasts all day. All I'm saying is that the weather is unpredictable; I am not complaining; I have yet to regret not packing a toque or a scarf or a coat!

Here is a picture of Catherine and I having been caught in the rain walking home after band practice. =)

Here also is a picture of my knitting project, which I started today after I learned to knit!What is it going to be? It is... not only an experiment in knitting and purling, but also potentially a coaster. How functional!

Still Kickin' ;)

I have gotten into a bad habit of not bringing my camera with me places, and that was the case for Sunday School today. It was pretty fun, although also a little overwhelming and therefore stressful. I had a great time playing keyboard with the worship band, and I even got a little solo (to the glory of God!). There were between 40-50 kids I think, and the lesson was about the Battle of Jericho. There was also a game and some snacks, and all of the program took about two hours.

The low point of the day was when a little boy stepped on my infected toe, which hurt so much that I didn't know what to do, and he said sorry, and I think I said "you're welcome" and then I turned to go and stubbed my other big toe on some concrete and split my toenail, and it started bleeding, so then I just gave up and cried.

On the very bright side, I think it is close to two weeks since the last cockroach incident! I know that they are still around somewhere, but as long as I am not seeing any, life is good!

Day 25 - Wednesday is my New Favourite Day!

(Don't miss the quiz on Day 24!)

First of all, how could I almost forget! Last night, Catherine and I made guacamole from a giant avocado off the tree in the backyard - it is so delicious! The only down side is that we don't have any tortilla chips here, so Catherine made really flat biscuits, which were delicious, but we got so full because we had to eat SO much bread to get to this guacamole! It was definitely worth it though (as you may guess from all the exclamation marks!).

Today was a really fun day, and it had just about the right amount of everything! I sat with Catherine's 'Intro A' English class (the beginners of the beginners), which was really fun. Everyone learned "Hey, how's it going?" "What is your name?" and "Nice to meet you." We also went over the alphabet, and then learned "See you later" so that everyone could say bye to us when they left the class :)This is a picture from Catherine's class - there are lots of students! There probably won't be this many throughout the entire semester, but it is a good start, and it seems to be a very sweet, outgoing class, which is great because it is much easier to learn when you are willing to take a chance and make mistakes!

The class with Catherine was also briefly interrupted this morning with a visit from New Zealand's ambassador to Brazil! That was really cool, and hearing Portuguese with a New Zealand accent was just about the most fantastic part of my day. The New Zealand embassy donated funding to pay for the electrical wiring at Free Flight when there was a different ambassador there, so this guy came to kind of follow up and also become aquainted with the project himself. It seemed like he was pretty impressed :)

After Catherine's class I went to join Frank's more advanced English class (for students who are in the second half of their second year), which was much smaller, with only three students. That class was tons of fun too! We did some grammar (which I rocked at, obviously, so I tried to translate the sentences from English to Portuguese, which was trickier, but I learned the word for 'store manager' lol: gerente), and then we practiced asking and answering questions about each other. It was lots of fun, and they were all really good!

Over lunch, Catherine and I sat and chatted with some of the kids, which was really relaxed and fun, and then I had my class for Portuguese, and then I helped a mid-level English class at the end of the afternoon. It was a full day, but it was very good.

Also, there have been no cockroaches to report for the last few days, which I love!! I think that's it for today, except for...The director of Free Flight, Ivan, and his family, getting ready to head home on the motorcycle! Another great moment brought to you by Brazil. :)