The Long Weekend

6:30pm Sunday September 9th

Well, we have returned from the long weekend. Gwen and I got home a little over an hour ago after 3 days at camp. It was definitely a different experience than I expected. First of all, I am currently writing this in a Word document and will paste it in blogger later, because our internet is down. I will admit to feeling incredible disconnected from the world, considering that is basically the ONLY way I can communicate with people, but I’m trying to pretend everything will be fine by tomorrow and I’m telling myself I don’t need to go online. Let’s just say that if it’s not back up by tomorrow afternoon, I will have exploded.

So, back to camp. We got there around 9 on Thursday evening, and it was quite possibly the last place I wanted to be. I was already tired thinking about all we were going to have to do, and I knew I would have absolutely no fun because I wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone. Well, I was wrong. Thursday night I was quiet, maybe brooding a little bit, but we were working on putting together all these nametags and cutting and glueing and seemingly endless piles of crafts until about 1am. Yes, it was probably 4 solid hours of crafting. Then we slept to prepare for the arrival of the campers the next morning. Although it has been hot here during the day, at the camp (about 20 minutes outside Londrina, in the countryside) it got coooold at night. I only brought a sheet and a throw blanket, thinking I would maybe only use one, because in my room at the apartment I’m always hot. So I was afraid I would freeze. Before I went to bed, I took some time to pray for my attitude for the next day, and for my comfort sleeping. (Sleep is very important to Christine Rachel Allen…) I woke up on Friday morning, feeling refreshed, and wrapped up like a burrito in my bedsheet, with the warmer of the two blankets on the inside. I was the perfect temperature and had slept like a baby. Miraculous, to say the least.

Friday morning came and the campers did with it. It was total chaos, but it all worked out. I managed to find my nooks and crannies where I could help out, since it definitely wasn’t going to be part of my job description to just hang out with kids and get to know them. Gladly, I was able to do a good amount of that. I was one of the leaders, so I got to know some of them well and it was so great to meet people closer to my age. After lunch I saw a girl wearing a white sox hat. She looked friendly, so I took a few minutes in my head to prepare how I would tell her that I’m from the city where the white sox play, and sat down at her table. She ended up being such a sweet girl, and she and her husband Marcos spoke a tiny bit of English.

::edit::

Ok now I'm writing in real time, Monday afternoon. Internet is back up and running (praise the Lord. When I told Joaquim it wasn't working, he said "I would feel like I was in jail." Truer words were never spoken.)

Anyway, it was great to talk with Marcli and Marcos and I spent a lot of time with Marcli over the weekend. She lives in Londrina as well and I hope to see her more. She cuts hair, so I'll be giving her a call for that in a week or two. That's great, I was wondering what to do about that. She was kind of fascinated by my hair, because it's so fine and I'm so white, so she kept asking me how I dried it, etc. and then said "You have English hair. In my school, we learned about this." Hmm, interesting.

Friday and Saturday were both crazy camp days. The kids played lots of games involving lots of mud, etc. Saturday I helped Marcli work in the canteen (pronounced "can-CHEE-nee" in Portuguese) which was good for my Portuguese. All I needed to know were the names of drinks, the word for ice cream, and my numbers, all of which I have covered, so it was fun. We also spent some time with another leader named Taciane (Ta-see-AH-nee) and went swimming for a little on Saturday. I didn't do much with the campers, I just stayed in a room with Gwen, so I just sort of wandered around looking for opportunities to talk to people or at least smile at some awkward teenagers.

One thing I noticed on Saturday was that it was so refreshing having people address me when they talked to/about me. I got so sick of hearing "ela" this and "ela" that. ("her") and knowing that people were talking about me, but only sort of understanding what they were saying. Now people can talk to me, for the most part, and I feel a little bit more human again. There were a couple weeks where I just felt like a sad little fly on the wall. One girl, Flávia, who goes to Igreja Central, my church, was great about talking to me, speaking slowly and explaining things in goofy ways with lots of gestures. Funny, but sometimes necessary. So I got to actually have some "conversations" this weekend. Refreshing.

I also got to know some of the kids from Igreja Central a little more. It was fun just to sit down at a random table during meals and at least be able to laugh at jokes and let them try some funny English phrases with me. One girl only knew how to say "you wanna mate?" That was...interesting. We played some UNO, ate some popcorn, and overall I enjoyed it and feel a lot more comfortable at the church now that I know people a little better and can talk a little more.

Pastor Jhonatas, one of the pastors of Igreja Central has been asking me when I'm going to sing on some Sunday, and finally talked with Enrique, the worship team's pianist. So hopefully this week I can come up with something to sing maybe this Sunday, and can work with Enrique on that on Saturday.

I started Portuguese lessons today, and I'm realizing that my weeks are going to be BUSY now that those will be taking up 15 hours. I'll do that one morning and 4 afternoons every week, work with Gwen 4 mornings, and then almost every evening has something. Saturdays are booked too working with the youth, and I'll probably start helping them with some English conversation opportunities on Saturday afternoons. Ai ai ai...busy is good though. My first class today was great, I have private lessons, so I can really go at my own pace. It's a strange pace, because I know a lot but don't know a lot of grammar basics. So we could skip a lot of the vocabulary today and just focus on grammar things, which helped move everything along. I think with this program I'm going to learn very quickly. They have great teachers, and it is so well-structured. 2 days of grammar, 2 days of vocabulary and pronounciation, and 1 day of "situations" where a woman will come to my apartment and then we'll go out into town and get into said situations. Interesting, perhaps embarrassing, but effective I'm sure.

It's been good to hear from some of you in the last few days, as I wasn't able to update. Please always feel free to email me, I try my best to respond! But, well...it's Monday and it looks like these afternoons will be good times to sit back and relax. I'm still tired from the weekend, so I'm off to take a little nap...goodness knows I love little naps...