Free Time

Megan has been traveling a lot lately for capoeira events, generally being gone from Wednesday until Sunday or Monday which has given me a lot of alone time. At first I was not sure what I would do with all this time by myself but it has ended up being the best thing for me! I have kept myself busy by being very productive with my classes, traveling with the kids, attending extra Masses, go to Reconciliation, and spend a lot of quality time with friends here I have not gotten to see as much this year. I have found this time to be really important for me actually.

This past week I had the chance to travel with our students from Imbau, who I have not gotten to see as much this year, to the nearby, bigger city of Ponta Grossa. The participated in something they call ´the games´which is really just some friendly competition between different PETI programs in the state. There is a PETI in almost every city yet sadly only 3 came. It was 3 days of physical activity for 10 hours a day in the blazing hot sun. We took about 40 kids and they played everything from soccer to ping pong to volleyball... any American would have gotten a kick out of watching these kids attempt basketball; not a natural sport for them! :) The kids loved the friendly competition and makes friends with the other kids from different cities but at the same time, it was exhausting. We had several injuries and by the end of day 3, just about all of them were dead. I found it really draining just to sit in the sun and watch them so I can only imagine how they felt by the end. That being said, it was such a fun trip and I had an amazing time! I think I loved it even more because I have seen them so little this year and it was nice to see that our relationship is still strong and my love for them grew so much more! I will forever cherish that time I had with all of them!

We are now planning for another trip with the Erval kids this upcoming weekend. If you remember from last year, we took the Imbau kids on an overnight camping trip to a place with a beautiful waterfall and lots of open space to play- we are taking the older Erval kids to the same place on Friday. We have been really busy running around, organizing everything for the 20 kids we are taking; this is a little more complicated in a town in the middle of nowhere with very few contacts or connections but it is coming together nicely! We are really excited but I think they are even more so!

We have our monthly store for the kids to spend their money they earn through participation and good behavior at PETI and this last one, a sleepover at our house was a big purchase! We had 3 different groups of 4 girls buy this night by putting their money together and last night we had the first group! We took the four girls to Telemaco with us for the night and two of them did the Muay Thai class with me. For some reason, my teacher decided to make it a very difficult class with complex moves that were really tough for the girls. Regardless, they had a great time and loved the chance to try something new! Then after we all headed to a pizza place in town to stuff ourselves with the amazing pizza here in Brazil, finishing with a chocolate and strawberry pizza. I think the girls took at least 100 pictures to capture the night. We all had such a great time! 2 more groups of this to go before we come home in around 3 weeks!

Sending lots of love to my sister Maria in Denver!!! She made the big move to the new city just last week and I am sure it has not been the easiest adjustment far away from the family but hopefully she knows the strong support she has from all of us and that we all have so much faith in her! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that you found it easy to find so many things to be grateful for.. I know I sure did! Enjoy the colder weather, I can´t wait for it as I am burning badly in this intense sun! My love to everyone!