And Three Weeks Later He Returns From Hiding

Ooops, I kinda forgot to post on here for a while. This is my last day in Brazil, so luckily I have one more chance to catch you up on the last three weeks of my trip. First of all, my internship at SBT became more busy leading up to the finale of Idolos. That's my excuse for not posting for so long, so I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. About a week before the show ended, I was assigned with the task of taping for a special "Behind the Scenes" peice that will be on the Idolos DVD when it comes out. It was great experience, but it kept me busy throughout every day because I always had to be ready to capture what was taking place behind the scenes of the show's production.

About a week ago, the show ended, and so did my internship at SBT. I spent most of the last week resting, which was a good change of pace from living/working at SBT 24 hours a day for 5 days a week. By now I've had more than enough rest, and I look back on my last week wishing I might have made a little more of an effort to do something productive. I did manage to spend some time volunteering at Escola do Futuro, the school that my Brazilian friends at Liberty graduated from. That was a good experience, because I felt like I was giving back just a small portion of everything the people in this country have done to welcome me and make me feel at home.

During the last week, my friends have been asking me, "Is there anything else you want to do before you leave Brazil?" As I look back on my two months, there is only one thing I wish I could have done that I didn't. I never did anything signifigant to help the poverty that is such a visable problem here. I guess I could console myslef by saying the money I gave to the church here will help, or I could say that time I spent volunteering at the school will make a positive impact in the lives of the kids I met. But I look back on my experience here, and I can't think of anything I did that will make a tangible difference. I guess the small things every day count for something, but I feel like there is more that can be done. I still don't know exactly what can be done, because if I knew, I would do it. At the very least, I think I've come to this realization: I'm going to have to come back to Brazil.

My adventure doesn't have to end when I get on the plane tomorrow. I remember about a month ago, I was standing in the streets of Sao Paulo and taking in everything around me...the way everything felt different than it did in the United States. I thought to myself, "How adventurous!" Then I realized, I shouldn't have to be in the middle of Brazil to appreciate the adventure that life holds. The adventure was much easier to see in that moment, because my surroundings were out of the ordinary. But I had an epiphany: every day has the opportunity of being an adventure, regardless of where I'm living. His plan is our adventure, and it always will be our adventure, as long as we choose to follow Him wherever He leads us. I have a feeling He will lead me to Brazil again, and I have a feeling that He will allow me the priviledge of helping others while I am here. But I don't have to wait until my next trip to live an adventure. There is an adventure waiting for me every day, I only have to wake up and choose to follow the One who will lead me to it.

Quick Story

Two posts in one day...how rare! I found another computer, and I have just a few minutes to post again. Nothing profound is coming to mind right now, so I`ll just tell a quick story...

Earlier this week my friend Felipe got to stop by the Idolos house. I was showing him around the courtyard area, and we noticed this little ball that was made out of some type of porcelain. Neither of us really knew why it was there, but I guess it was some sort of exterior decoration. "Let`s play soccer," he said. I kicked the ball up to him, and then he tried to kick it back. Unfortuneately the ball never made it back to me, because it shattered when it touched his foot.



We walked back into the house with sheepish smiles on our faces, and I asked if I was going to be fired. Thankfully, I still have my job, and my adventures at SBT will not cease quite yet.

Ramblings

This was a fairly normal week at SBT, but I did a haircut. For me this happens about 3 times a year, so it's a fairly monumental occasion.



Right after my haircut, I accidently stuck my finger in an electrical outlet.



Luckily the shock wasn't too severe, and I was able to recover fairly quickly.

Also this week, I made one of my best discoveries yet in Brazil. I found out about these little "hot drink" machines that are all over SBT. These little machines make hot drinks, mainly coffee and tea, for a small fee. And when I say small fee, I'm speaking the truth--I can get a cup of hot tea for a little less than five cents. And the tea tastes better than anyting I've ever paid three dollars for at Starbucks. I only wish I would have known about this sooner.

This reminds me of another discovery that I've been meaning to tell you about--churrascarias. A churrascaria is a special type of restaurant. It's an all-you-can-eat restaurant, but not like Ryan's or Golden Corral. Churrascarias are more formal, and they specialize in steak. You don't have to get up from the table either; the waiters are constantly walking by offering any type of steak you can imagine--even filet mignon. Churrascarias vary in price, but the first one I went to cost roughly 12 or 13 dollars after I paid for my drink. That means I ate all the filet minon I wanted for somewhere around 10 dollars.

Well, now I need to run. Sorry, I wasted almost 30 minutes typing about a haircut and food, so I didn't really give you any information that was valuable. Oh yeh...this weekend I'm going be traveling outside the city of Sao Paulo for the first time. I'm going to a beach about an hour and a half away, and I might get to try to surf. I'll let you know how it goes next time I can find a computer for 30 minutes.

Where Has the Time Gone?

Today is the halfway point of my trip, but it doesn´t feel like it´s been that long at all! Time really moves fast...I think it´s been just over a week since my last post. It´s tough to get to a computer for long enough to write a decent post. I started to post last Sunday, but never got a chance to finish. This is what I had started writing (I´m going to complete the paragraph now):

So Brazil got knocked out of the World Cup yesterday. It was kind of the last thing I expected to happen. All the Brazilians were so confident that their team would win this year, I just assumed it was something that would soon come to fruition. It´s funny how sometimes the things we think we can count on the most are not always there. Take Angel, for example (See previous post for a little more info.) Everyone thought he would surely stay with Idolos for at least a couple more weeks; but when the votes came in, he had to go home. I think it´s easy to depend on things, take things for granted, or assume that they will always be there. Angel leaving Idolos and Brazil getting knocked out of the World Cup were two things that caught me by suprise, and they´ve made me realize that I should be thankful for the opportunity every moment holds. We never know for sure what we can count on to be the same tomorrow, because change is always taking place. Every day we face the choice to live the fullest life possible or to wait and try to live a full live the next day. But tomorrow may not hold the same opportunities that today does. Tomorrow holds "a new good" for each of us--(a C.S. Lewis quote that my friend Chad told me about)--but today holds its own ´good.´ ( I hope that made sense.) It´s always easy to wish for the past or wait impatiently for the future, but it´s a beautiful thing when we can simply be grateful for the good and the bad that exist for us today. I know I´m not the best writer in the world, so I´m not sure if I communicated exactly what I was thinking in my head. Hopefully we have at least some shared meaning.

Anyway, you´re probably wondering how my life has been, since I´ve been so infrequent in my postings. I was thinking yesterday about how my week had gone, and the words that came to mind suprised me: "This week was pretty normal." I find it a little humorous that I chose to describe living at a TV station in Brazil with the words ´pretty normal,´ but I think it just means that I´m actually settling into somewhat of a routine here. For the last two weeks I´ve spent Monday through Friday living in the Idolos house and then I´ve come to my friend Lucas´s house for the weekend. Lucas´s family is extremely warm and welcoming, and I think their house reflects their hospitality...what I mean by that is I feel very much at home here, both because of their welcoming attitude and because of the house itself. Here´s a picture from their kitchen that gives a taste (this pun was accidental) of what the house looks like. In a way, the house reminds me of my grandparents.



Oh yeh...back to how my life has been. Nothing incredibly exciting or out of the ordinary has taken place beyond the fact that I wake up everyday to find myself in Brazil. Every day still feels somewhat like a really good dream. I definantly miss my family and some of my closest friends very much, but I know that the next month before I see them will pass very quickly. I hope that until then, I can keep the attitude of being thankful for the good that the present time holds for me.

A Bittersweet Goodbye

Everything at SBT has been great, but I have noticed another downside to my internship: every week I am forced to say goodbye to one of my new friends. You see, every week one of the Idolos contestants is voted off the show and has to go home.

This week, my favorite contestant received the least amount of votes, and therefore had to go home. Don´t get me wrong, all of the contestants are extemely nice, but he was my favorite because he seemed to have the biggest heart of them all. Angel (pronounced like 'an' 'gel') is one of the most incredible Brazilians that I´ve met so far. (I´ll have to post a picture later, when I´m at another comupter.) Everyone on the Idolos production team thought that Angel was going to be one of the final two contestants, but somehow he got voted off much earlier. He has a family, so even though it was extremely sad to see him go, I knew that it would be good for him to be back home.

Last night was the night everyone had to say goodbye to him, and he and I had one of the best conversations I´ve had yet in Portuguese. He told me that we would be friends for life, and I agreed. But then we started to talk a little more, and I asked him if he believed in Jesus. He said he did! I had guessed that he might, because of his humble attitude, and I told him that his life spoke of the fact that he beleived in God. I didn´t really know enough Portuguese to be able to discuss our beliefs in any great detail, but I´m pretty sure that when he said he believed in Jesus he was talking about truly believing. If I had to bet, I would say that I will see him one day when we are both with God. I told him that not only would be friends for life, but that we would be friends for life "and more." I know this isn´t gramatically correct, but it was the best I could do in Portuguese.

I thank God, becasue I can´t tell you how excited I was to be able to have such a conversation in Portuguese!

Update (7/8/06): It´s over a week later, and I´ve finally found a computer that I can use to post pictures. Here is Angel with his family:

Quick Hello

Hey everyone! I was able to sneak away for couple of minutes to make a quick post. This week has gone well so far in the Idolos house. Last night I got out the New Testament I bought that has English and Portuguese on each page. A couple of the contestants were really interested in it...I think mainly because they want to learn English as much as I want to learn Portuguese. But regardless of their motives, a couple of them were reading short passages out loud, first in Portuguese and then in English. I hope that they will be interested in it enough to want to read a little more tonight. I need to run, thanks for checking in, and as always I´ll try to post as much as possible.

Quanto Tempo! (It's been a long time!)

Wow, it's been a while since the last post...almost a week. I love my new position at SBT. I was a little nervous going into it, because I thought that perhaps the contestants on Idolos would have large egos--they are, after all, quite talented. After moving into the house, I was a little suprised to find them to be exactly like all the other Brazilians I've met--extremely friendly. I don't know what it is about Brazil, but everyone here seems to genuinely love other people.

In America, if a foreigner became an intern at my place of work without being able to carry on even a simple conversation in English, I am pretty sure that I would not recieve him with joy. I'm sure I would be wondering what in the world this new person thought they were doing--coming to work in America without taking the time to learn my language first. I thought that the employees at SBT might have at least some of this attitude towards me, but I have found the opposite to be true. Everyone is enthusiastic about teaching me Portuguese, and no one seems to feel like I am in their way. I am quite impressed with the way I've been received.

Living in the Idolos House has been great...like I said, the Idolos contestants are all very friendly. There are also three employees, other than myself, that live in the house. I'm suprised with how well everyone gets along--in a way, it reminds me of a retreat, because everyone is removed for their reality and secluded from the outside world. It is, of course, a little different from the retreats I'm used to.

I'm the only one in the house that spends a little bit of time every day reading the Bible, and I've already recieved some attention for my habit. Everyone seems to respect it very much, but I'd love to be able to share with them more about why reading the Bible is important to me. (Only one person in the house speaks English, by the way.) I would count it a great priviledge to to be able to share my belief in Christ with these people, and I pray that God will help break down the language barrier so that I have that opportunity. I bought a Bible yesterday that has one column of English and one colomn of Portuguese on every page, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Below are the remaining contestants from Idolos...well, actually, the girl in the red had to go home this week because she was voted off the show, but all the others are still there.



On a side note, I think the worst thing about my new position is that it's basically 24 hours a day. It's not that I don't like being there all the time--I actually enjoy almost every minute that I'm around my new friends and co-workers. The bad thing is that now there is not very much time for me to go out into the city, because I'm always at SBT. This means that I don't really have a lot of free time to help the lower class in Brazil. I haven't forgotten about the favelas, but for now there is not a whole lot I can do. I can (and do) pray, but I want to do something more active as well. I think I will have most weekends off, so maybe I'll have an opportunity then.

As far as a long term impact is concerned, I'm starting to realize that education is probably the best way to effect a change in the economy. I'm sure you've heard something to the effect of, "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. But if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." Feeding a family for a day would be nice, but it would be great to do something to help improve the Brazilian schools one day. Public education in Brazil is not anywhere near the quality of public education in America, and there is a huge difference in the education of students that can afford private school and those who cannot.

I had a chance yesterday to go to Escola do Futuro--the private school that my friends at Liberty graduated from. The school held an open-house type activity, and I had an opportunity to stand up and talk to the parents (with a translator, of course). I shared about how impressed I was with the alumni I had met from the school, and told them the graduates that the school produced were the reason I first became interested in coming to Brazil. I hope that I encouraged the parents and helped to reassure them that the money they are paying for tuition is worth it.

I hope to be able to post a little more frequently, but it's very difficult to find time during the week to post. Until next time...I'll appreciate your prayers very much.

Descupa (Sorry)

Once again, thanks for everyone´s commments on my last post, and thanks for the emails I´ve received regarding the blog as well. I apologize for not posting the last couple of days. After 10 or so days of being in Brazil, I started to think that it might be possible to have time to post every day...but alas, my schedule is changing just a bit.

There´s so much I want to update you on, but so little time. I´ll only share the most important details for now. Last night I finally found out where I´ll be staying after Duda´s house, and I´ll be moving in today. Are you ready for this? (I´m pretty excited myself):

You see, there are seven contetants left on the Brazilian version of American Idol (called Idolos), and they all just moved from the hotel they had been staying at to a house on SBT´s property. The opportunity arose for me to live in the house with the seven remaining contestants, and I accepted. Now I will have a flexible on-call schedule with the SuperNanny production team, and I will live with the Idolos contestants so that I can be available to film anything exciting that happens in the house. So now my internship will kind of be 24 hours a day, but it will be relaxed for the majority of the time.

There are a lot of pros and cons to this new living situation. One problem that I won´t have to worry about will be getting to work; it had been kind of difficult since I don´t have a car here. One major con, however, is that there is no computer in the Idolos house. That means my posts may become a little less frequent, and it means that finding a computer I can use to post pictures will be even more difficult. I will do my best to update you whenever possible, and I will try to get pictures posted as much as I can. I hope I´ll be able to post again fairly soon! Until then!