No Weekend for me...

So I have to be whiny for one second...okay maybe like 10. I keep getting bitten by something while I'm sleeping and I always wake up during the night scratching my arms and legs. I can't take it anymore. Last night though I found out what it is that is biting me at night....fleas. We dont have any pets, but lots of people in the building do, and they are also probably comming in through our sliding door when we have it open since we're only on the second floor. So I talked to our boss and he is going to get the place sprayed next week while we are out of town...until then I guess I'll just live with it. I really dislike bugs now... even more so than before.
Today when we came into the office we mostly did homework, I helped a little bit in the room with all the job appilcants, but mostly just wrote a paper for my portuguese class. But can I just say it is SO hot outside now? When we were walking to the office it was so sunny out and humid, and it was only 73 degrees! I can't even imagine how it would be now in like recife or somthing....speaking of Recife, I got a phone call from Jose, a friend that lives there today just to say hi and he says that all is well with him and his family. He spoke such fast portuguese that i had to ask him to repeat things a few times, but it was good to talk to him.
Tomorrow I am going to help kellen teach one of the workshops from 9-5pm and so I wont really get a saturday off...but next week we dont have to come in on monday-wednesday because we are traveling all thrusday-sunday.
Tonight I think Camila and I are going to go to the mall or something, I feel really stressed out about the fleas, about not sleeping the whole night, about things back in the states, about my classes for next semster, so I'm going to go do something to get my mind off it. I hope that unlike me, you all are un-stressed and are having a good day and i hope you have a great weekend. And to all the folks that helped me with figuring out teachers, classes, holding classes, and schedule stuff thanks...i appreciate the help!

até....segunda, eu acho.

I totally didnt need to see that!!

So funny story, well kinda. Yesterday Camila and i went running at the passeio público in the morning. We streched for a few minutes and then started running, and we had not gone even 100 feet before we noticed this guy behind a tree near the path we were on. As we got closser he came out from behind the tree and lets just say, he showed us more than we ever needed wanted or cared to see of him. Camila in a panic said "não olhe!!" but it was too late. Both of us being really offended by this guy went and talked to the administration and they called the military police that are staioned in the park and within minutes they arrived and found the guy. Other than having a horrible image now, we're fine here and went running at the same park this morning with no problems. There sure are some crazy people in the world!
Last night I was so tired when we finally got home, I think its because the class that we just finished teaching today wasnt very motivated so it took extra work and convincing to get them to do things. One of the girls today was really interested in the gospel so Camila got her some pass along cards and a pamphlet of the proclamation on the family. We told her that we would get the elders in contact with her, and then she said, "thats okay they live in my building, do you think I could go ask them for a book of mormon?" We told her that would make their day, I hope she does it. Either way, we'll pass her name along.
But anyway, we cut Camila's hair last night to try and fix a semi-bad hair cut that she got last week. It looked kinda like Charlie's Angels hair...not in a good way. But its better now so dont worry. After that I painted my nails and watched Curious George...thanks to Doug for burning me that DVD....I really liked it, thought the movie was cute.
Next week for the workshop that we give here we are traveling to Guaratuba, Paraná. Its on the coast and we dont have to pay a thing...I can defenetly deal with having to go to the beach, life is hard sometimes right? hehehe...
Also yesterday one of our students from last week came in to ring the "success bell" here in the employment center. She got a job yesterday at Brasil-Telecom as an administrative assistant. I was so happy for her though because she is partially paralyzed on the right side of her body and has to use a wheelchair to get around. But that didnt stop her from comming here every day and even comming back for extra help. I was super happy for her.
Well, I should probably go....its almost 9 pm here and we still need to get home, but I hope that everyone has a good evening and a great tomorrow. I will try and get some more pictures up when I'm not as tired or when I have a few more spare moments.

It's raining....cats?

So now that my day is over at 6:30 I can write about a couple things while Camila helps two of our students from this week for their interviews tomorrow. We started teaching our class for this week today, there were 24 people. I am always so tired by the end of the day from teaching and helping people for 4 hours straight. It is defenetly building my patience here, which seems to be a lesson I still need to learn :) I sometimes think that things are explained totally to the point for people, but they are still confused at where they are to write things, every single thing needs to be done with them step by step. I attribute this to most of the people in the classes not having finished their formal education in middle or high school. But I am willing to help, thats why I'm here. Today I sat with a woman for like a 1/2 hour helping her write a little paragraph about herself, her professional experince, and stuff like that. I hope people are actually getting the help they need out of me, somtimes I feel like I cant get across what I want.
The title of today's blog comes from a weird experince from our vizinhos pagodeiros....they threw their cat out the window...from the third floor. I really didn't like them before, but now I have no respect for them. They were yelling at the cat "sai daqui burra!" and then the cat like was meowing really loud and I saw it fly past our window. Poor cat, it landed down in the garage, and when they went down stairs to try and get it back it was meowing down there too really loud. So I didnt want to say anything but I felt bad that someone was tourturing the animal, so...I opened the door to the garage from our apartment, since its right below us the transmitter works from our living room, and the cat ran out and away. So not only do they do macumba and have parties till 3am and smoke lots, they also enjoy throwing animals out of the window. It was like watching "Raul's wild kingdom" (that's for the fam, "did you know turtles are natures suction cup?")
Let's see what else, last night we watched LOST after getting home at around 8, and ate some subway....yes we have a subway like 3 blocks from our house, so im back to "eatting fresh" here in Brazil. I love that show, and I got Camila hooked too. The we watched some straight up romantic comedy from the 80's called "Only You" it was great....movies from the 80's are great just to watch the clothes, it makes me laugh everytime.
This morning we went running for an hour in the passeio publico that is about 4 blocks from our apartment. I like having a place to go running, and a place I can wear my adidas shoes and use my iPod without worrying...cant really do that in São Paulo, Its not a norm there to go running, and I wouldnt dare get out my iPod in public there...but here in Curitiba yeah. After that we came home and got ready for work to John Mayer's new CD....I bought it yesterday in a music store off rua XV. I love not being on study abroad anymore because i discover more and more every day that this country isnt very different from my own. You can still buy newly released CD's at a music store, go rent a DVD at Blockbuster, buy things at Wal*Mart, and go to a cinemark movie theater to see a movie. It is not as different as people somtimes make it out to be here, culturally of course its different but as far as stores and products avalible...its the same thing. Weither that is a good thing or bad, I dunno.
I'm also frantically trying to figure out my schedule for winter semester. I remember when I was a freshman I would call up my parents to ask if I could take a class or not...lol, like I needed their permisson to take greek history or something. Now I just call Kimberlee to ask which classes in the department she liked and didnt like, its nice having someone to talk that has already been where I am and taken the courses I need to take. I think I'm gonna try and do my capstone class for seinor year next semester to get it out of the way. There is a topic open in the history 490 class that I like with a teacher I like, so why not while the chance is here. Also Portuguese 315, Honors 261, a religion elective, and some other 3 credit class to get me to 14 credits. That will only be 5 classes, but as every college student knows, my schedule will probably change again another 5 times. Its a good thing to be flexable in college...haha.
The creepy old man just arrived here at the employment center. For those who dont know the creepy old man is a man in his late fifties that has taken the idea that its okay to ask me an Camila out for dates... he actually just came into my office to ask give me a pamphlet about some museum exhibit on Japanese history, since thats what I study and to tell me he missed me at church on Sunday.....gross. He has already asked me out to dinner, to go sightseeing here in the city, and other random things he shouldnt be doing. He creeps me out...especially since he likes to like catch me in moments where no one else is around, it makes me uncomfortable! He wants to volunteer here now in the center, if he does we are going to talk to our boss about that...people like him shouldnt be working here.
Hmmm....lets see, I am reading two books for my latin american history class, one on the mexican revolution and one on the revolutions held in Rio Grande do Sul and Uraguay during the 19th century. Its really cool to read about the revolution in mexico, pancho villa and the zapatistas and also the rebel Gaúchos from the border of brazil and Uraguay, its giving good insight into the culture, traditions, and personalities of both places. I really like that class.
Well, I should better go eat dinner...I'm starving from not getting to eat lunch, but thats what happens when you have a busy day. I hope that everyone that reads this had a good day and that everyone has an even better tomorrow. But before I go this is my quote for today, to help me remember to keep trying! "I believe that perseverance is vital to success in any endeavor, whether spiritual or temporal, large or small, public or personal. Think seriously of how important perseverance, or the lack of it, has been in your own endeavors, such as Church callings, schooling, or employment. I believe that essentially all significant achievement results largely from perseverance."-Joseph B. Wirthlin

Até Mais

"Even your emotions have an echo"-Gnarls Barkley

So this is my "Crazy" blog from todays commings and goings. We found this guy on Rua XV today amidst a politian parade...here is a photo from that, or two...

It was super crazy getting lost in this crowd, Camila and I were on our way to the office and were looking for black and white film too for Camila, no one here in Curitiba sells it, weird huh? Also we saw this lady too...She is a palm reader, Camila took her picture because her hair matches her radio in her hands, great huh? I thought it was, uh unique.
So how was my sunday? It was good...woke up to a migrane, but hey, that happens sometimes right? I slept it off and missed church because of it, but there is always next sunday. Camilas parents fed us sunday dinner, it was japanese food...umm good and I learned how to make tempura, so doug, we can eat that when i get home in december okay?
Sunday we also decided to go to the park near our house and take some pictures of the birds and stuff there, its like a little zoo. It was so nice to go there and just have fun taking some pictures and walk around.
After dinner at Camilas parents I talked to her mom about lots of stuff...it was good to talk to her and get her perspective on things, she is an amazing woman. I also played around with my camera and camila showed me how to take this photo. It is cool to figure out how to do new things everyday...I defenetly have that chance learning a new language too lol..I gotta go the office is closing, but ill write more later...tomorrow. Have a good night everyone!

A Vida está Corrida!!

Heloooo.

Super fast because I'm really tired and busy...hope everyone is having a good day today! Things went well with the class, it was one of the girls birthdays so Camila and I made brigadeiros last night for them. We had them call contacts on the phone and at least half marked interviews for either today or tomorrow. I was so proud of them! Congrats to Kimmy on her engagement, I'm excited to be your maid of honor! Yay for eternal marriage!!

For those of you who asked, my address here in brazil is the following:

Kristin Aten
Rua Visconde de Nacar, 1440 Cj. 1201
Centro-80410-201
Curitiba-PR
Brazil

So send me things if you want, I will gladly recieve them! Tonight we are going to a play thing that a lady in our ward directed, she got us some tickets. I think it will be fun! But I'm going to go do homework now at home, thanks for all the emails and messages....and have a great rest of the day! I hope to have some more time tomorrow to post pictures etc...we'll see if that happens!

Another week of fun!

So, I have the best news to start this with....one of our students last week got a job on Monday! Hooray! She is the 5th person we have taught that has gotten a job I believe in these 2 weeks we've been teaching. She just got off her mission and told Roberto she was so glad to have the course to do because she was a little lost upon getting home. When she came into the class the first day she was really good at speaking to us and everything but felt like she couldnt find a job because she lived outside the city center. Here, somtimes in Curitiba people are discriminated against if they dont live in the city, and that has happened to her in the past. So we thought of some ways to turn that into a strong point for her in an interview, and also found her some branches of banks she could work at that are close by to her home. I guess it paid off because she went and turned in her resume at a bradesco bank branch, had an interview later that week, and then monday finalized everything and was hired there. I was so happy for her because she really did something she felt was out of her reach. Yay for people who keep trying even when its hard.
Today we started our 3rd class and this one is 20 people, only 4 of which are members of the church. Hopefully we can have 16 more referals for the missionaries by the end of the week. We had our class today write on their name tags a quality that they posess and what accomplishment gave them that quality. One of the ladies in the class wrote "I dont get discouraged" and when we asked her what acomplishment gave her that ablility she told us with tears in her eyes that she is rasing an 8 year old girl on her own, and sometimes she couldnt pay for bills and things and went many times without eating all day to give her food to her child. But dispite that, she is still working to get a job, still has hope that she will find something to help her provide for her and her daughter. She isnt one of the members, and I just wanted to tell her that its okay, and that heavenly father is aware of her circumstances and wants better for her, but instead we read a scripture in D&C and I told them that every single one of the people standing before me has something special in them, a gift, an ability that no one does better than them. They just need to find it, realize it, and then use it. And that God cares about each and every one of us, and is there to help us in our struggles. I hope that lady in our class finds the help she needs, it broke my heart listening to that, no one should ever go hungry.
But, my language skills in the class room are getting better each week. I am able to help people out more one on one, and there were still times when I had to say "Disculpa, não entendi" when I was talking with people, but up infront teaching people, I'm not nervous anymore and I am actually having fun now. Thank goodness!!
I went to lunch today with another voulnteer, Roberto (the manager), and Camila to a casa de chá. It was like a little house converted into a resturant/bakery with tons of good food. This as I was told is something super curitibana, and your supposed to go there and just take a few hours with your friends eating and talking. The main attraction are the cakes. I think there was probably like 10 different cakes, all kinds of breads and candies, and pies too. It was defenetly a good lunch, I'm just glad we didnt eat churrasco. After eating so much with the study abroad, I think I wont be ready for that until like december before I go home.
Tonight Camila and I were going to go shopping and just go have some fun, but we were asked to teach the first day of the Executive course they are giving tonight because the other manager cant make it. I can always go shopping another day, the malls of curitiba will still be there.
And for those who love/dispise and make fun of the novelas do rede globo...they have a new one that just aired for the first time last night. Its called "o profeta", and its about a guy who can see into the future. Its like the "dead zone" meets "thats so raven"....basically its really cheezy and should be a funny thing to watch once and a while. I really liked watching some of the novelas, but the bunch they have now are meio podre, so this one should be a nice change.
Well, I should probably get some homework done, but I hope that everyone is having a good week so far and that things are going well for you. I am enjoying everything here this week, and besides our crazy neighbors above us everything is great. Até Mais!!

I found the one I’ve been looking for

This is Ermival...someday I'll have a dog, but right now....this will do :)
So I know you’re all pretty curious so I guess I should tell you the story. Saturday night Camila and I were hungry after a long day of helping her parents move. We were totally caipeira earlier that afternoon and cooked beans and rice in her backyard over some wood and then ate it with spoons off the lids of the pots. But that’s besides the point…we were hungry so we decided to go down to the mercadorama (a Wal-Mart owned grocery store) and get something to eat. I met him there, funny enough as it sounds. I saw him the moment I walked in the store and I just had to be with him! Tall, good looking, and unique in a good way….I decided not to make my move until after I had gotten my dinner stuff all ready to go. So as we were in the check-out line I couldn’t resist any longer. I simply told Camila I would be right back and walked over to where I had first seen him. Then before I could stop myself I had already picked him up and gone back to the register to get my things and pay. Minutes later we were back in our apartment, and me Camila and my new long lost companion were chillin. It was perfect…and I only have to water him every other day, isn’t that nice? Yes I saw some cute Gerber daisies for sale and I had to buy the orange one….who doesn’t love Gerber Daisies? There is only one daisy right now and I named him “Ermival” due to the earlier caipeira moments of the day. I always like having a pet, but since that’s not an option I decided a plant would work, since that’s like my only choice. The oven had already been moved out of Camilas house, so we used the "jetinho" to heat up our beans and rice.
Anyway Saturday was good I helped at Camila’s parents house until I got really really tired and decided to go take a nap in the back of the house. I read some magazines for a while and then took a little nap until my mom called. I talked to her for like an hour, and it was good to talk about where I am in life with her and get some good sound advice as to what I could do with all my worries. But in the end it really comes down to one thing and one thing only. What I know I should do with the opportunities I have before me, and whether or not I follow through.

"Beans and Rice, they taste so very nice, with some cornbread on the side...." Sometimes I feel like I have been working so hard at things, not just this internship but with so many things in life spiritually, personally, intellectually and I feel as though I will never be able to be happy with my results or the outcome of situations. But then when I was in sacrament meeting today I listened to a little boy about 10 years old give a talk about faith. He told the best story that I needed to hear so I thought I would write it out because I think it can apply to everyone in one way or another. It is not a true story but the parable gets a good point across.
One day a man was praying and he saw the Savior appear before him. He asked “Master, why have you appeared before me?” The Savior answered, “There is a large rock outside, I have come here to command you to move it.” The man replied, “I will do as you have asked.” And in the coming weeks and months this humble man tried from dawn until dusk to move the rock that was so large and heavy. Without any progress, the man started to let small thoughts of doubt creep into his mind. He thought, “This rock is huge, there is no way I can move it.” “I have been working hours and days, weeks and months, and have gained no progress in moving this rock.” “This work is so painful; there is nothing in this that profits me, why would the Lord command me to do this hard thing, something so impossible?” So finally when his body was too sore, when his strength was too weak, and when his determination had faded he decided to tell the Lord that he quit. He prayed and said “Lord, you have asked something too great of me, this rock that you have asked me to move is much to heavy for me, I have worked diligently for some time now with no results and I can do this no longer.”
The Lord appeared to him once again and said, “Though the rock has not moved since the day I have commanded you to this work, you have accomplished many things. Your arms are strong from pushing and pulling every day, your legs have gained strength as you worked to move the rock, you have gained patience and knowledge of what true determination is, and your mind has been enriched with the ability to think of ways to move this rock.” What he had viewed once as an obstacle was actually molding him, refining him, and bettering him in ways unperceived. Sometimes I think what we all need to do is stop and realize that maybe we can’t move the rocks out of our paths in life, but if we at least try we can be benefited, and there is one greater than us all that will help us without fail if we only ask. Maybe he won’t move the rock for us, but he will give us the strength we need to keep trying. I really liked that story, and I hope that you did too.

Camila thought her cheetos were gross so she found another use for them instead!

Sunday as you can tell I went to church and after sacrament meeting I turned around at the sound of a woman speaking English. I turned to see a girl about my age, blonde, talking with one of the ward members about how to say something. I went up and introduced myself and asked her where she is from. To my surprise she answered “the bay-area in California” turns out she is from Antioch and I told her I was from Fairfield. I asked what she was doing in Curitiba and she proceeded to tell me that she married a Brazilian back when she was up at school and they moved to Curitiba so he can get doctorate about a month ago. She spoke very little Portuguese and could barely understand anything during the classes. I translated the announcements for her in relief society, and helped her get to the right hymn numbers during the songs. I want to help her out, but I could tell that she was just happy to have someone to talk to between meetings and someone that is from the same place as her. Yay the sky came out! Usually here in Curitiba this time of year its rainy most days, but thats like spring in california, so I feel right at home!
After church I went home and read my scriptures in Portuguese and then took a nap. I then attempted to make a cake with our ghetto electric oven that heats unevenly and without any measuring equipment. It was like a MacGyver cake, I mean I mixed it in a blender due to a lack of a mixing bowl and whisk...and it didn’t look too good, but it was tasty at least. Then we died Camila’s hair and now I’m writing this…two random and long days. But they have been good, thanks to an insightful conversation on the phone and a little boy’s sacrament meeting talk I feel like I can deal with what life brings me and try and move my rocks in life once again. I know that everything I’m going through is to help me grow and stretch and reach my potential. It’s like a watercolor canvas I guess, we all have to be stretched and brought to the right conditions before any of the art can be made. If the canvas isn’t prepared correctly then when the time comes to brush on the first stroke of paint, the color will just sink into the canvas and not blend with its surroundings. I want to be able to blend :) Yay for the darker haired me...maybe someday I'll stop dying my hair every 6 weeks hehe..
Sorry if this blog isn’t the crazy blog that I normally write, I guess I have been rolling these “deep thoughts” around in my head for a while now and I finally thought I would write them out. You might be a little wiser or dumber from reading this, but it all depends on who you ask.

p.s. This is to Patty: I just realized yesterday that you will be serving your mission in the same place that I stayed for study aborad! So maybe my host mom will have you over for dinner sometime. This means I'm even more excited for you:) If you wanna know anything about the area let me know!

Sexta-Feira Treze de Outubro

Our class from this week. Two of them already have interviews for next week, keep your fingers crossed for'em!
Today is a slow day at the office, some of our past students are in here filling out their resume's and its all cloudy outside. For those of you who dont speak portuguese the title says "Friday the 13th of October" which is why I took this picture earlier today. I'm scared in the photo as you can see.Also I was calling people and writing emails to apply for a sweet scholarship that I got invited to do by BYU....I probably wont get it, its a national scholarship, but it never hurts to try! I also got my first little credit card today so I can start building good credit so eventually I can by my own car, house, boat, whatever. Exciting huh? I thought so..This guy sits on Rua XV everyday and plays the leaf and accompanies it with his guittar. I give him props for playing the leaf...it sounds like a trumpet more or less.
Tonight we have to give a little tour to some people comming from Ponto Grosso...they're having a hard time setting up their voulnteer center so we're supposed to show them arround here and everything and explain how things work here.After that we I think might be helping Camila's parents move. They are moving into a new apartment that is better for them now that all their kids arent at home.Me looking all professional in our office. Camila took it from her desk.
This weekend we dont have much to do, so I think we are going to go around the city and take some nice pictures, go to institute, maybe do a little shopping, of course homework. Oh the empada yesterday was good, I want to add them to my list of things to learn to cook. Those and Esfihas, those are like little arabian pizzas....and there so good! Maybe after i write this I'll go recipe hunting online. I hope that everyone has a good weekend! Untill Monday!

The gradumination of the second group

Curitiba is known to have the higest trees (greenery) to person ratio out of any other large city in Brazil....that means its really pretty here!
So I'm sitting in the employment center with just me and Camila here. Why so empty you may ask? Well, today happens to be Children's Day (like fathers or mothers day...but for kids) and also a holiday for a catholic saint a nossa senhora da luz. Im not catholic by any means, but I thank them for getting me a day off of work! Mostly we have been doing homework here, writing church headquaters and BYU for our weekly report, returning emails, taking quizzes on blackboard, and um, calling people in the US. It was good talking to Tisha and Kimberlee....and Jeni too! And of course talking to Liesel and Ashley on-line, I'm glad I have good friends! I hope that all is well for everyone else too. Who knows maybe I'll get a chance to call you next week! We pass people like this (yes thats a person) on the way to and from work everyday on Rua XV...its such a cool street, reminds me of San Fransico the buildings and stuff as you can see are really beautiful.
But about the rest of the week.... After my mini melt-down on tuesday things went better the next and last day of our course. My students were all really good at their mock interviews and every single non-member this week wanted to know more about the church! I am always so excited to get those little papers back from them, and the missionaries are always excited to get them from us. I hope some of those people get baptized because I have thought to myself many times with the people that come into the center, they would be such good members of the church! They already have that intrinsic goodness, and God is already a big part of their lives, so i hope the missionaries follow up on them. This too is in the downtown kind of by our house, either that or there are two busts of the same guy in this city.
We had another good experience with one of our students from this week. He came in Monday on the first day with unkempt hat under a baseball cap, an unshaven face, and poor personal hygiene. He was quiet and needed one on one help throughout most of the workshop. On the third and last day he didn’t show up, and I was sad to see all his hard work gone by without him finishing the course. But then about 10 minutes into the class the door opened and in walked a man with a new hair cut, a shaven face, and a dress shirt, pants, and shoes. It was the same man from the first day that we had worked with so much. He had gone home and practiced everything from the workshop and gave a flawless interview. I was amazed to see the change this three day course made in not only his appearance but his posture, demeanor, and confidence. Its moments like those that make me grateful for this experience and opportunity I have been given to do this internship.
We go past a feira (farmers market thing) just like this everyday, its got cool stuff that some day when I have time I will buy.
Yesterday we also had our first conference call from church headquarters in Salt Lake. Camila and I talked to Ron, one of the heads of the welfare department and mimi another one of the admisitrators there. It was so good to talk to them and tell them how things are going down here, and they also gave us some pointers for things we should do down here and talk with our bosses about. So we have a lunch meeting tomorrow with our bosses to go over what we talked about with headquarters.This would be our new view if we move...the apartment looks out onto the plaza where this univeristy is...not a bad view huh!
And, it looks like we might be moving. Camilas aunt has a vacant apartment about 10 minutes away from the office that has a washer and is a 3 bdrm 2 bath. Its huge and since Camila has no bed down here and has been sleeping on the couch for the past 3 weeks we figured we might want to live at her aunts place. I think that would be nice, although ive grown quite fond of the jacuzzi tub lol.

This is an Empadão...i'll let you know if its good!
Well its about 7 pm and i have been writing people like all day, so i suppose i had better go grab some dinner, Camila is sugessting an empadão...nunca comi, mas deve ser bom! Thanks for all the emails and encouragement I got from everyone, I promise I will keep my complaning to a minimum.

Hard times in Curitiba

Today was the second day of our second class, things went well for the most part. I still feel really dumb about my language skills. I get so frustrated sometimes teaching because I can't explain things well enouogh, and people must think that I'm dumb....but the thing is, I'm not its just that I dont have good enough language skills to fully explain what I want to say or make jokes, or even understand what people are saying to me all the time. Sometimes after I sit down after teaching I think to my self why am I here? Why did I bring all this upon myself, who am I kidding by comming to another country to teach in a foreign language that I havent even mastered yet? But, I just try to tell myself that eventually I'll get better at the language, and someday people wont laugh at me when I speak...but until that day things will be tough for me.

Another thing that is hard being down here is being so far away from everyone without sufficent means of communication. I wish sometimes that I could just call people like I do when I'm in provo or california, but its not a possibility, only when I'm in my office for like the hour or two a day. I was so sad to open every single email inbox today only to see messages from days earlier and no new ones. I feel like I'm falling out of touch with friends and family and there is nothing I can do because I write emails to people, and there not returning them. I understand people are busy, but so am I you know? I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel really alone here away from everyone and it makes me want to sit down and just cry sometimes, but I'll try not to! I'm not trying to be whiny or complain, but thats just how I feel right now.

Well, I had better go, its already 7 pm and dark outside so we should probably head home. Hope all is well with everyone and that your weeks are going well, and that you have a good rest of the day.

Dancing, Cooking, and Studying…and a bit of macumba.

Me and Camila, we had a good time, as you can tell!

Well since everyone was so curious about this dress I bought I made sure to take some photos. It turned out really well thanks to Camila’s aunt! But about the dance….
It was a lot of fun! There were lots of people there of all ages, the greatest thing I saw there was like a 65 year old man with light-stick bracelets on like the youth dancing along to some Axe….it was great. The boys there were funny and really forward. I got sick of dancing after a while so I turned a few people down, but oh well…I couldn’t help it if my feet were tired!

Kellen, one of the other voulnteers I work with and me.
One guy was really forward and asked me to go meet his family and parents….lol, they were nice people, and I politely excused myself at the first chance I got. Turns out that this same guy is in my institute class, and tried to get my number afterwards so he can practice his English, I told him we don’t have a phone or internet at home…I hope he got the point! Nice guy and all, but I can’t date here and he’s not my type. Camila was telling me that the boys here like girls from America, lol…too bad. The CrAzY dance floor...cool decorations huh?
Saturday we slept in until 11 since we didn’t go to bed until like 3 am, and then studied for a long time. I’m working mostly on my Latin American History, trying to get that done so that I can focus on the other 2 classes. Right now I’m studying the beginnings of the Brazilian empire, and the 19th century politics of Brazil. The people from institute, if your wondering I was telling the person to hold down the button longer, they obviously got the message. Mr. "meet my family" is the one to the left of me...lol.
Even though I studied that over the summer as well, I’m learning lots of new things and it’s really interesting to me to read about how the government was set up and the point of view the author has about the emperor of Brazil Dom Pedro II…but I wont get into all that now. This was the dress I wore...it got good reviews.
Also on Saturday since we were studying it was super quiet in our apartment, and we have some crazy neighbors that live up stairs. I mean we can hear them super drunk at like 2 am on a regular basis or they love to play some Pagode (annoying music akin to Forro for those that know Brazilian music) really loud at any given time. But this time when we heard them it was something brand new and made them even weirder…they were doing a macumba ritual. There were probably like 10 voices chanting something over and over and someone playing some maraca sounding thing, needless to say Camila and I thought it was funny and very fitting that they would do that. I’m very curious as to what these people look like, if I ever find out I’ll let you know. Me, Kellen, Her sister, and her sisters boyfriend.
Institute was good; the teacher is really good and keeps the class energized for the 2 hours that we spend there. The people in the class are really fun and nice, I’m glad that they are a fun group of people, we should have some good times in the months to come. I’m excited to be learning more gospel vocabulary and everything here, its nice because by the time December gets here I’ll have a church vocabulary, business vocabulary, cooking vocabulary, and of course just regular words too. Me and my first pot of Feijoada...
After institute I did some more homework by having Camila teach me how to make feijoada from scratch….I started with just some dry beans, bacon, Linguica (sausage), onion, garlic, and salt. By the end it was feijoada, and Camila told me “ja pode casar” which is a saying for its really good…so I suppose it turned out pretty well! I was surprised at how simple it was to make and I had fun doing it too. Now I just need to write my papers about the dance and cooking for my Brazilian culture class and I’ll only have 12 more papers to go (ahhh!).

The view down to the dance floor from the 2nd story, there were 3 levels to the club...it was really cool!

Sunday was fast and testimony in our ward and it was a really good meeting, our ward is small but friendly, and so I’m excited to be there. All the kids in the ward are so cute, I’m glad to have kids in my ward again, something I missed while at BYU. I still don’t like to speak up too much during the classes or anything because I’m too embarrassed of my Portuguese but I think that will go away as I get a better handle on the language. After that we went to eat in Camila’s aunts house with her parents. Camila’s Grandma is from Japan so she made us all Sushi and it took her 5 ½ hours to do. Doug would have been in heaven! I ate it and liked it, none of it was raw…just veggie rolls and crab so nothing I couldn’t handle!
As for the coming week, Camila and I are teaching the CASP course again but this time in the afternoon Tuesday through Thursday and then Friday and Saturday were teaching an intensive course. I hope I do better this week than last, not that last week was horrible, but there is definitely room for improvement. We also found a place really close to the apartment to go running in the mornings so we are hoping to start that. Somehow walking for an hour everyday just isn’t enough exercise for us lol. I’m glad Curitiba is safe enough you can go out and run without having problems with people…hahaha, imagine going for a run in Sao Paulo, yeah right.

One Down, Lots More to Go!

Mine and Camilas class...yay for them!
My official first workshop ended yesterday, it was a good experince for everyone I think. Camila and I had a good time teaching them, and I think that they had a good time with us too. We hand out evaluation forms at the end of the class on the last day, and one of the questions on there is if they are members of the church. Out of about 20 people, 15 of them were not members of our church, and out of those fifteen all but two of them wanted to learn more about our church! Isn't that awesome? We're going to get the phone numbers and names of those people to the missionaries for that area, but I'm glad to be representing the church in a good light, and that we managed to be good enough examples to the members of our class.
About the girl that ran her mouth the first day, I talked with her on the second day, and she was just frsutrated with her carrer situation, and kind of came into our workshop looking for someone or something to take out her frustration on. I tried to help her out and give her some options of things to do, I really do hope things will work out for her so she can be happy. Its sad to see how unemployment effects people emotionally and finantially, I'm glad that the church implemented this program for people, it is truly blessing the lives of people throughout the world.
Changing subjects though, I have my dress all done, its little jacket all made, and the tickets for Camila and me to go to the dance tonight. Kellen is going to come and get us tonight from our apartment at 9 pm, and then us three are going to go party it up! I hope its fun, well, I know it will be. I'll be sure and take some pictures!
What else, umm....oh! Since the rules here for Camila and I are different than from when I lived in São Paulo, I've been able to go out by myself here in the city. I ride the bus around here, I did the 30 minute walk to the office alone today, and Suprisingly enough....I'm totally fine with it! Ususally I dont like to go walking around alone in places that I'm not too familiar with, but its been good practice for me, and I'm totally a pro at taking the bus now here in Curitiba. The bus system is different here than anywhere else I've ever seen. You pay at a little turnstyle before you even get on the bus and then stand in this tube with other people wating for a bus. When yours comes along, the doors of the tube open and a little drawbridge comes down from the bus to meet the tube. Then you get on. Pretty high tech huh? Maybe someday I'll even learn how to drive here...maybe.
Last night we actually got home before 5 pm, and both of us totally took like a 3 hour nap. This whole thing can be really tiring sometimes, but hey thats life.
To the fam, glad everything is going well, and I hope that you all have a good weekend! It was good to talk to you the other day (those in California, well mom and dad) Hillary, it was awesome to talk to you today, dont you love hecka long distance international calling? I hope you get into the upper level class you want, its never fun being stuck in a class learning things you already know! And to those in P-town/ Lehi hope everything is going well for you and that you all find something exciting to do this weekend.
To the Lambs and other friends that read this....Hellooooo! I hope wherever you are you are having a wonderful day!

First Day and a new red dress...

Camila thought this picture was cool, so i thought id pass it along, its of me:)
So, as everyone knows....today was my very first day teaching. It was great to meet the people that I'll be teaching for the next two days, and very daunting! I talked a little about the activities that we were going to do, and unlike people in the US, when I messed up my portuguese the whole class joined in to help me out. I explained at the beginning that I'm on an intership for the welfare department of the church and that I came all the way from the states to teach them, so they were very nice....except one girl. lol. You know those kind of people who just seem like they need to condradict people in any situation? The kind that love to take the attention away from others while they're speaking and make very opinonated comments? Yeah, I had the supreme pleasure of getting one of those in my class today. I was teaching a principle that helps people learn how to talk about themselves in a short and interesting way and she I guess had had enough of the class, and so when I asked for some feedback, hers was "I think these are kind of empty, no one really talks like this, and I know that this wont work" and kept talking for a long time!! She was talking in a way that brought so much contention into the room and thanks to Camila things got back on track, but I was amazed at how rude she was! I almost hope she doesnt come back for tomorrow! Other than that incident things went fairly well, I was nervous the whole time but I did okay I think for the first time teaching in a second language, and I just keep telling myself this will get easier!
Anyway, last night we stopped in a dress store to find me a dress for this weekend, and after trying like probably 15 different ones ( I like finding the RIGHT one) I found the perfect dress! It has no sleeves, is really low cut and has a low back, perfect right? Lol...I liked the cut and color, so I'm taking it to Camila's aunt who is a dress maker and she is going to sew up the front, use the extra fabric for sleeves, and fix the back...i'll post some photos of the finished product...speaking of photos as FHE activity last night Camila and I took some great photos that we could post on our blogs....so here they are!
The Satire of Living in Brazil....
For those of you who dont know, living in Brazil is pretty rough on Camila and I, for example...life here is so hard we have to chop our own wood and keep a fire lit while were at home, because otherwise we just might freeze to death. See, I'm cold...really cold. We have to endure primitive bathing, I can honestly say that I have never owned a shower like we have in our apartment, its so hard trying to get up and bathe in a jacuzzi tub and rain shower everyday. Its hard having a jet tub, I know.
Sometimes Camila and I have the hardest time keeping ourselves entertained, since there are no TV's in Brazil you can imagine that we also lack an DVD players, Cable, VCR's and of course any type of sound system. Maybe someday electricity will get here!
But with all the hardships come the perks, like as you all know, Brazil is full of trees and is pretty much just one big forest, a big forest inhabited by indians, and anacondas. This is the huge forest that we see from our office's window.

Some of you also might know how brazil is still pretty behind in archetecture. Usually people live in huts and stuff. This picture just goes to show that sometimes, you just have to work with what you've got...like walls completely made of granite, and huge elevators that hold 20 people and i know, primitive right? Thats the entrance that you see comming into the employment resource office...maybe someday they'll find something better. As you can see, Camila and I are barely holding up down here, "its a hard nock life for us!" But I think that with a lot of hard work and scraping by, we'll make it back to the US in one piece! and yes, my hair is darker. well that concludes my little blog for today, thanks for all of the adivice, tips and crossed fingers for me today, they worked pretty well! Até mais!

Conference weekend and Guarda Chuvas

I ofically loved watching conference down here! It was really cold, and we were kinda ghetto and brought blankets with us to the broadcast....because there are not heaters in the building and since it is made out of brick it was colder inside than out...but its better like that than it being super hot! I watched the General Relief Society Brodacast finally in Portuguese and all but one session in English. Nothing aganst portuguese, but it is still easier for me in english to get the stories, jokes, and most importantly the basis and themes of the talks when Im listening in English. I must admit sometimes I was sitting there wishing I could be in SLC watching it there, and that I felt homesick at times, but Im trying my best to get used to things here, and to enjoy where I am.
This weekend we stayed at Camilas parents house, her parents are super nice and I love her mom's cooking, she cooks good things from Brazil and also great japanese food...its like the best of two worlds. She sent us home with lots of fruit, so i dont have to go buy any for a while...shes such a nice woman. We used our umbrellas all weekend because its been raning here since like friday off and on. I love when it rains, as long as im not walking around in it too much!
Today was a big preparation day for when Camila and I start teaching tomorrow. Our bosses are going to watch us teach, and so are two of the other teachers....eek! Im crossing my fingers that things will go well! I'll let you all know how things go. We went to buy some papers for our class, and some treats and some other random things, I felt for a minute that i was getting ready to teach 3rd graders because of the things we bought, but whenever I teach like all interactive people usually respond well so it should be good. I ate my first straberry bom-bom, its not like the bom-bom's in the US....it was so good, like ghiradeli chocolate good, and only like 75 cents...even better!
Tonight Camila and I are going to start our own little FHE and then hopefully go dress shopping for the dance this weekend. I'm excited to go the dance....everyone here is going, even adults go and they grab tables with their friends and bring their kids and everything...people sure know how to party here in Curitiba, and people say the South of Brasil is cold and boring....lol yeah, sure.
Well I had better go, so we can get home before it gets too cold outside. It was warm this morning when we left so i didnt bring a jacket, but the wind is back again and its drizziling... so ill probably arrive home purple! Thanks for everyone staying in touch with me, I think I'm doing a lot better job this time that last time I was here...lets just see if I can keep it up! sorry there are no pictures...ill try and get some up tomorrow!