Where Does The Time Go?

This is probably something I ask myself at least once a day... where is the time going? It is hard to believe that a few days ago marked my 3 months down here! Right after I last posted my blog Katie became sick again with something that just seemed to drain the energy from her. As a result she had to miss several days at the program. As much as I hated to see her feeling this way this was a huge growth period for me and Megan. Being at the program alone, all problems that came up were brought to us and anything the kids needed was our responsibility. It was absolutely a test of how far we had come thus far in the trip and our ability to be the reliable teachers without Katie by our side. It was tough at times and challenges arose but I think we both learned that we are capable of a lot more than maybe we thought.
We made another trip to renew our visas, this time to Ponta Grossa, a little closer but a lot more complicated! Who knew the city would have more than one Policia Federal?? It was a long day of asking for directions, lots of walking around the city and scrambling to ensure that we had all the proper documents but by the time we snagged the last 3 bus seats for our ride home, we were officially given permission to stay in the country another 3 months!
Something new we have been doing at the program has been picking a Student of the Week who gets to fill out a poster all about themselves: their favorites, how they show others they care and interesting facts about themselves. We try and pick the student based on behavior throughout the week, attempts to try all the activities we offer and most recently we have been looking for a student with good manners. We hang up the poster along with a picture of themselves on the wall for everyone to see. It has been really neat to see their pride at being chosen and put on display for their good behavior!
Another Friday Megan and I prepared a craft for the kids and had a successful, MESSY, day painting and decorating large photo frames. Although the clean up was tideous and long, it was well worth the fun we had getting creative with the kids. They came up with some really unique designs and now they are hanging on the walls at Peti giving the classrooms some nice color!
We had a special activity for the kids one Saturday, something we have done in the past, where we had trampolines, ball bits and face painting. Our original plan was for this to be our introduction to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program between our kids and students at FATEB, the local college in our city. Unfortunately, despite our many visits to speak with students there, we only had 3 students show up to help. It was a little frustrating but you have to start somewhere. Despite this we had a wonderday turn out of students and it was a great chance for us to just play with the kids and not feel like we had to constantly be disciplining them, instead we just got to enjoy their company!
Unfortunately the numbers for our Monday night English class continues to dwindle. With a lot of schedule conflicts we are now down to 4 students who come on a regular basis. We had several people on a waiting list so hopefully the class will work for them and we can start to fill in our numbers again to have a full class. For now we are loving being able to give our current students some wonderful one on one attention and it is so amazing to see their improvement each week, absolutely gives us a sense of pride!
This past week we have been hanging out with some groups of friends that we have formed including the Telemaco Borba police force and an amazingly fun class from FISK English school. It has been nice to feel like there are still people in this town for us to meet because it was starting to feel that the town was so small and we were running out of fresh ideas for things to keep us entertained on the weekends!
We sent Sister Rose off to the United States with a pizza party at their house followed by a classic game of Rummikub. There is nothing like putting yourself in the company of 3 nuns especially when you have us 3 young girls who have alright matched ourselves up with one of the nuns and constantly talk about how that is us in a few years maybe minus the religious life but who knows! They are such a wonderful example to us of a life dedicated to service and it is great to just exchange stories with them and soak up what we can of their knowledge. Sister Rose will be in the States for almost a month and situations have already arisen where we have requested her presense only to remember her absense! We wish her a wonderful vacation and break from her hectic life down here and hopefully some of you will get to visit with her while she is in town!
Another new aspect we have added to the program is literatura. Us 3 absolutely LOVE reading so this has grown to be one of our favorite things! The students have about 30 minutes each day for silent reading. Also they are given a new task each day involving some sort of a summary of what they read or designing a picture to depict what they read. It has been really important for them to see us reading as well because it is rare here in Brazil to find people who enjoy reading. Hopefully we can reach out to some students who never knew what they could learn or experience just from reading a book!
We had around 15 students come to Telemaco Borba this past Friday for a capoeira houda. It took place in the front of the church and involved both our kids and other kids and adults who practice capoeira at our gym. It was one of my most proud moments thus far in Brazil. Without taking any credit, I felt so proud to see our students work up the confidence to fight in the middle of the circle with more experienced people. They never backed down and continued to arise to whatever challenge they faced playing with the older students. The smiles on their faces as they left on the bus that night was priceless and the whole night was something I will never forget!
We now have plans to go to Curitiba this Saturday with our selected 37 students who have earned the right to travel with us. Right now the plan is to go to the mall for some food, possibly visit the Botanical Gardens and then finish with a soccer game! This trip was always in our plans but the date being this weekend came together yesterday, giving us 3 days at the program to plan. It has been hectic and chaotic but we were able to get both a bus and the tickets to the soccer game for free!! We are really proud to have been able to pull this off so quickly and we are excited to experience this with our most well behaved and deserving students!
Hope everyone at home is doing wonderful and enjoying the fall weather, something I am sad to miss. We are anxiously awaiting and preparing for the arrival of possibly 18 travelers in only a little over a month! May God continue to bless you all as He just continues to shower us with wonderful friends, experiences and opportunities to spread His love to His most beautiful people here. As usual I would like to thank everyone for their constant support and prayers for us; know that we continue to keep you in our morning prayer as well.
Bejos (kisses) from Brazil!