Flanking Caskets

This is where I spend my Sundays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBdyKz5rnlI

Family

I have had this emotion lately.
I've begun to feel like I fit in.
I know.
It's not really an emotion. But...it kind of is.
I feel like I'm beginning to have a place.
Not a place as an American or a woman or a teacher or an English speaker,
but as Emily Taylor.
It's nice. I like it.

Last week was my birthday,
I talked to the fam.
The day was filled with birthday congratulations and hugs.
Jeff and Lindsay took me to Recife at night.
Then I returned home to phone messages and emails.
It was a good birthday.
Not because I got things.
Not because everyone was singing.
But because I had family.
Here, there, wherever. I had people that I fit with. People who I knew cared about me. People who I could trust.
I fit in.
It was nice.

Life. The Expanded Version.

Alrighty. What have I been doing for the past six weeks? Ummm....teaching.
But I have done a few other things. Let's see if I can remember them.

1-Karine & Roberto got married! These two are fantastic people and great for each other. They're wedding was beautiful and I can already see a beauty emerging from their marriage, as well. They will be living just down the hall from me. New neighbors!!! Woot!

2-Rock Ship (aka Pedra do Navio) and the vineyard. Two guys from church and their families took the Hoods (a fantastic couple that's here til December) and me to this big ol' rock. Well, I think it's actually two rocks. It looks like a big ship and has a nice view from the top. Then we drove through miles and miles of banana "trees", evidently the banana plant isn't actually a tree and once a crop is produced, the plant is chopped down and a new one grows. Now you know. Then we went to a vineyard. We had to climb a pretty steep hill to get to the ripe grapes but the view was tremendous and the grapes were delicious. It was a great day of riding in the car, trying to communicate and seeing new things.

3- Jeff & Lindsay got a car! You know when a kid says "I got a new car!" and the truth is that his parents got a new car? He technically didn't. He has no ownership and will probably only ride in it with his parents, but it's still his. Same idea. I got a new car!

4-Paudalho. Jeff, Lindsay, the Hoods, and I went to visit our friend Rachel in Paudalho, a nearby town. Rachel works with the the Living Stones program at the Community Church there. She and Cacau and Patricia work with about 100 of the poorest kids in Paudalho. This program is in conjunction with the government. The govt provides food and other basics and the church implements and then is able to teach about the Lord. It is a great program with lots of opportunity. One big problem, though is that the government hasn't been following through with the money, so often the kids have had to go home without food for that day. If you want to know more about Living Stones (aka PETI) check out Rachel's blog at http://rwinzeler.xanga.com/ It was so nice time to interact with some kids who are a little more similar to the kids I love in Africa. A totally different type of ministry than the work at the International School but really fantastic.

5-SBS and the Pizza Place. After we went to Paudalho Jeff, Lindsay, the Hoods, and I went to Recife, the big city that's a little over an hour away from Carpina. In the past it's been difficult to get into the city because we work all week and have to find a ride in on the weekend...which is not so easy to find. BUT Jeff & Lindsay got a car!!! Yippee! So, we all went in. And we went to a book store called SBS. Don't know what that stands for...but I'd imagine they would be ok with it standing for Super Book Store. Cause it's super. English curriculum kept Lindsay and me busy for an hour or so. Then all the English non-curriculum but school type books kept us going for another hour. Then all the fun English books kept us looking until we got the message that it really really was time to go. So we bought our books and left...just to find out that we didn't buy the one book that we came for. Oops. Guess we'll have to go back. After SBS we went to the mall and then the pizza place. I think it's called Cipo Nativo, but don't quote me on that. Now let me just preface this by saying that Brazilian pizza is generally not as good as pizza from home. It's good. But it's no Papa John's. But this place...seriously now? A-maz-ing. Expensive. But delicious. We had 1/2 vegetarian, 1/2 ham. I had pineapple and mint juice. Then for desert we had crepes made out of tapioca flour with tons of yummy stuff inside. For serious. Fantastic. And the place was even decorated uniquely. It had a rural Brazil motif. Complete with decorative mud walls, fake birds, bananas, thatched roof, awesome plates, and more.

6-Churrascu. A churrascu is a Brazilian barbeque. Where the States wins a pizza contest, Brazil wins the barbeque contest. A week or so before Roberto and Karine got married we all went over to Tele & Heather's house and had ourselves a churrascu. It was all sorts of fun. Took forever to cook. So we chatted. It was nice. More food than we could eat in a week. Including roasted pineapple...ooh my. D-lish. Then in the middle of dinner it rained. I can now add "Moving a loaded table indoors" to my resume. It was crazy. But fun. And memorable.

7-David's Farewell. David went to Bible School in Hungary. He left a couple of weeks ago. We had a party at his house the night before he left. Lots of pizza. A game of Bananagrams. Some hugs. And a friend on his way to big adventures.

8-Another exciting change in Jeff & Lindsay's (and by association my) life is the fact that they have an apartment in Carpina. Granted, they've had the apartment since last March-ish. But I wasn't here then. SO, now that I'm here they get to have parties! AND we get to be in Carpina at night. Because we don't have to take the bus back. Because we have a car! So, we've been to Boca Loca (the hamburger joint) a few times, a new (to me) little ice cream shop with the best lemon ice cream ever, we've watched movies, had taco night, played games, and had a big ol' slumber party.

9-Lagoa de Itaenga. I spend every Sunday in this little town about 30 minutes from Carpina. I leave right after church and arrive around 1. Have dinner with Ricardo, Kattia, and Rebecca and then teach Kattia English. Around 2:30 Ricardo and I leave for the church, where we meet Jeff, Lindsay, and the Hoods. We have a English class there with about 45 adults. It's pretty cool how excited they are to learn English and how it's drawing them into the church. I teach the advanced class and have about 10 students. I tell ya what, it doesn't matter what I do. They're so eager to learn that I just start the class, they ask questions, I answer and voila! an hour and a half has passed. It's kinda fun.

10-School. I teach. And we recently got some shelves and stuff for the English Resource Closet. So Lindsay and I have been organizing it. It's almost pretty. Which is exciting. Because before everything was on the floor. We also went on a field trip to Recife on Tuesday. It was a science & math field trip and it was nifty.

And that, my friends, is the short version of all the fun that has been had over the last 6 weeks.

Lindsay, Rachel, and me at Roberto & Karine's Wedding

Life

So, I've been in Brazil for a month. Crazy. I've been told that I need an update-y post. Problem is that the being a missionary isn't nearly as exotic as the general American public believes it is. Most people expect me to post things about being in the Amazon or being in some crazy situation. But the truth is that I live many kilometers from the Amazon and the crazy situations that arise are just a part of my life here. It feels normal. Things happen that I take note of...but they are things that are just part of the flow of the every day journey. So, here's your update. But don't expect it to be about snakes and savages, k?

Alrighty. I've been teaching. A lot. Kindergarten English classes, first through third intermediate English , fourth through seventh advanced English, math & science for first through seventh, advanced (which is really a more advanced beginner's class) English for teachers, & advanced English for adults in a little town called Lagoa de Itaenga. Aaand...that's about it.

Ok. There's more. But I'm tired. And I'm going to sleep now. More to come later.
Thanks for your prayers and emails this past month. What a blessing so many of you have been!