short and sweet

What a great week I have had! I was able to skype with my family twice to celebrate the birthdays of both my mom and today, Marcos´. We were so blessed with lots of help from Brazilian friends this week at the program and on Thursday we had more Brazilians than Americans helping out. The hardest part this week was saying goodbye to a student, Hulian, on Friday as he is moving to Curitiba on Monday to live with his elderly grandparents. We gave him a goodbye gift and card... it was heartbreaking to hear this 15 year old boy almost refuse to open the gift in front of us for fear of crying. :( Katie and him were really close and it was difficult to see them have to say goodbye. We have promised to visit him whenever we are in the city! The kids are now officially on their month long vacation but we will still be traveling to Imbau on Tuesday and Thursday for two hours of optional Capoeida and hip hop for any students that want to come. Also on Wednesdays we will be going to teach intense English lessons to 20 selected students who show great potential in the language. On our days off we will be taking advantage of having Sister Rose as a neighbor. We will help her out in whatever way possible. Starting this Monday we will be holding English lessons in our garage for around 5 friends from Telemaco. This is a great opportunity for us to earn some extra money and build strong relationships in the community. Grocery shopping is a must today but more stories will be coming soon! Sending love and gratitude to everyone in the States.