FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2007
CRAZY AND EMBARRASSED 
As I have already mentioned more than a few times, you're never far from a holiday in Brasil.

Today is yet another: All Soul's Day, so the schools, banks, post office, and many local businesses are closed.

The English classes are going well. Ana has an afternoon class that I enjoy participating in as often as possible. Here's a photo from last week.

Another language tidbit. I got a laugh recently when I said something about my unkempt hair being "crazy." I assumed the reference would make sense, but here it doesn't. The Portuguese term for out-of-control hair is embarrassed, as in "Do you have a brush? My hair is embarrassed." Much better than crazy.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2007
PREACHING IN THE WEST ZONE

Yesterday I preached in Bangu, a large "neighborhood" in the West Zone of Rio. When I say large, I mean large: there are about 250,000 living there. Bangu is surrounded by 8 war torn favelas that have been creatively named -- one is called Iraq, another is called Korea. A couple of weeks ago some violence broke out in the favela behind the church and 12 teenaged trafficants were killed. (This event was mentioned in the October 24 post.)

Bangu is also known as the hottest area of Rio, because it is in a valley between two mountains. They get all the benefits of the scorching sun, but none of the benefits of the ocean breeze. It rained in the morning (it has been raining here almost every day for the past 2 weeks), so we got a bit of a break from the heat. It was about 90 degrees here yesterday.

My translator (pictured here) was a young man named Winston who is working on his master's degree in linguistics. He speaks excellent English. Winston is not a traditional Brasilian name; his friends call him "Tone." I preached from Proverbs 24:16 -- though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again.

After church we took a quick tour of the community. The West Zone is so much different than the South Zone, where PB's work is located. The South Zone is where you find Copacabana, Ipanema and all the tourists. There are middle class homes mixed in with the favelas and high rises. Conversely, almost everyone who lives in the West Zone is poor. Many houses rent for less than $100 USD a month; some rent for less than $50. And you never see tourists there, especially Americans. Since the West Zone is primarily residential, many residents commute to other parts of Rio to work, requiring a 2 hour busride both ways. The West Zone favelas are poorer and more violent. A different world hidden away in a different world.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2007
A HORSE IN THE CITY

While I was in Bangu Sunday I noticed a horse wandering the streets. The horse was alone, casually walking around, stopping to eat trash here and there. It was like a stray dog, but it was a horse.

To remind you, this is a city of 6 million people; this is a neighborhood full of apartment buildings and houses without yards. You don't expect to see horses strolling around unattended.

Actually, I saw several horses while I was there, most were tied up in front of a house. A number of people here ride horses as transportation. You also often see horses pulling carts. I also saw a pig tied up in front of a house.

When the pastor saw me taking photographs on the street, he told me to put away my camera. It's not safe to take photos in this area. This is an amateur mistake and I should have known better. But how often do you see a stray horse?

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2007
I DON'T LIKE THE WAY THAT CHICKEN IS ACTING
I'm pretty sure that I got a little bit of food poisoning earlier this week.

I had lunch Tuesday afternoon at a little sandwich shop called De Vassa's with Rob, a PB volunteer visiting from the UK. The next day I woke up with a pounding head and an extremely upset stomach; leaving the apartment was unthinkable. Turns out I wasn't the only one. Rob called about an hour before class, all apologies, saying he was terribly sick and couldn't work today. He had the same thing I had. Coincidence? I don't think so. I suspect De Vassa's chicken was afoul.

It was a couple of days before I was back to normal, but I'm OK now. This brings me to a point I had intended to mention earlier. From time to time I do find myself feeling a bit under the weather here, and buying medicine can be quite a challenge since I don't easily read labels. This is frustrating: there are many American products here, but very few American medicines. You can get Brylcreme and Listerene and Coca Cola and Nestles Crunch -- but not Nyquil or Tylenol. This makes treating a common cold something of an adventure. My suggestion to others is that if you plan to visit Brasil, bring the basics with you.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2007
OIL IN BRASIL
CCN featured a story last week about a recent oil discovery that "rocked" Brasil -- it could increase Brasil's reserves by as much as 40% and make Brasil one of the world's leading exporters. Here's a link to the story.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2007
HAPPY HOLIDAY
As I have mentioned in these pages before, you're never far from a holiday in Brasil. Today is yet another: Proclamação da República. Brasilians have figured out a way to extend certain holidays a bit by allowing them to land on Thursday in this case, instead of Monday as usually happens in the states ... so that nearly everyone takes off Friday as well.

This time they've really beat the system, because Tuesday is another holiday (Black Conscience Day) -- which means almost everyone is taking off Monday too. So, it turns out that many Brasilians are taking a week's vacation right now. Can't blame them for wanting to do that.

The result is that a lot of people are traveling this week and I feel like I have the city to myself.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2007
A BIRTHDAY SERENADE
Last night I participated in a unique birthday custom called "serenading." It's similar to Christmas caroling, except you do it when someone has a birthday. Last night about 20 people from the church, including two guitar players, visited the home of a woman named Leda, whose birthday is today. We arrived shortly after midnight (i.e. as soon as it was officially her birthday) and began singing to her.

The first song was something about "come to the window and listen to us sing." Instead she came to the door, which was better. We sang a few songs I didn't know and some that I recognized, including "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (or, rather, a song that used that melody); Ralph Carmichael's "He's Everything To Me" whose words were almost a direct translation of the original; and Ronnie Milsap's "What A Difference You've Made In My Life" which is a gospel song here. And, naturally, we sang Happy Birthday To You, which, incidentally, doesn't include singing the person's name when sung in Portuguese.

While we were singing, her son slipped out the gate and went to the store to buy Coke and cake and bread for everyone, so after the serenade was over we stayed a little longer to eat and talk. It was well after 2:00 a.m. when I made it back home, but it was great fun. Maybe I'll try this with some friends in the states.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2007
HOME AGAIN

I traveled last week and am now back in the states. The flight time from Rio to Memphis is 12 hours, but with busrides and layovers the trip extended to 33 hours. It was good to finally arrive. Had a great Thanksgiving holiday with the family. Have my hands full with a couple of new projects. Life is never dull. More later.