Brazil Update: January 2010

Hello family and friends I hope you are all well. Over a month has passed since my last update and with it the holiday season and 2009. Here we are in 2010 and I am still in Ji-Paraná, Brazil. I have gone to the Federal Police station to see about renewing my visa for another 3 months. They gave me some forms to fill out and a date to return on the 27th of this month to get the last 90 days in my passport. Americans are only allowed 6 months in country with the tourist visa that I have, then I have to stay 6 months outside of the country before being allowed back in. So it looks like around the 25th of April I will have to leave, which is fine because the Salesians have found me a site in Bolivia to join up with other volunteers there.
My first couple of weeks in Ji-Paraná the vocational school was still in session so I was able to meet some of the students, all of the teachers and staff and get a feel for how the center ran on a daily basis. The Centro Educativo Dom Bosco is a vocational school for adolescents 13 yrs. old to 18. Guitar, piano, motorcycle mechanics, computers/I.T. and entry level business classes are offered Monday through Friday. There is a morning session from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and an afternoon session from 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. On Sundays the center opens in the afternoon for oratory (sports and games). I sat in on each department’s class to meet the students and teachers and for them to get to know me. Unfortunately, there were only two weeks left before summer vacation, so many of the departments were in final examinations and I didn’t get a chance to converse a lot with them. I did help out with the planning and decorating for the graduation mass and the party that followed. We had a mass over at the Salesian parish, São José, then the graduation party back over at the center. At the end of the mass four of us sang “Silent Night” for the grads, each taking a verse in our native language. Erasmo sang it in Portuguese, I followed in English, Jacinto sang it in Tucano (indigenous language from the Amazon) and Padre Alberto finished in Polish. We pulled it off well and the kids enjoyed it.
The year end outing for the students was a couple days later and we all went to Hotel Fazenda Coimbra Park about an hour bus ride away. Coimbra Park is a type of resort that has pools, slides, zip-lines, a zoo and arvorismo (canopy walking rope course). It rained for the first part of the day but that didn’t stop us from enjoying the pools and slides. When things dried out 8 of us went to do the arvorismo course. We walked about 20 minutes into the rain forest with our climbing gear and harnesses on to where the course started. After clipping in we started to ascend to the first platform about 15ft. off the ground. Each stage got more challenging and also higher. By the time we reached the final stage we were 75ft. off the ground and in the canopy of the rainforest. We then clipped onto a zip-line and descended about an 8th of a mile back out of the forest into a clearing. The zip-line for me was the best part, flying out of the dark forest into the lighted clearing picking up speed the farther I dropped. I really enjoyed myself. The pools also had some good slides. The highest slide was about a 25ft. drop which scared off some of the teachers and students. They also had a zip line course but it started to rain again so we weren’t able to do it. Even with the rain everyone had a good time enjoying their last experience together until the next school year.
Right now we are having registration for the 2010 school year and have already signed up about 215 students. The center only has room for about 125 students so the selection committee will award the spots to the students who come from the poorest families.
Christmas Eve was very nice. We had a wonderful dinner after mass at the center with the parishioners who stuck around. Christmas day we were invited to a barbecue lunch at another parishioner’s house. New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day followed suit with masses and dinner invitations from parishioners.
On Jan. 4th I started teaching my English class to adults and adolescents from the parish and community. Padre Alberto gave me a classroom to use over at the center and I am teaching two sessions to accommodate all of the people that signed up. 160 people signed up but only about 115 have been showing up on a regular basis. I teach Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8:00 a.m. and again at 2:00 p.m. I have to use a microphone and speaker because of the sizes of the class which doesn’t help when I am trying to write on the chalkboard and explain to them at the same time. I think they like the class so far, I know I enjoy teaching them and getting to know more people in the community.
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to start running again so I have been going to a little park that I found along side the river. About the 3rd day running around this little track that surrounds a pond I was startled when out of the corner of my eye I saw an alligator about 4ft. off of the track by the water. The alligator was only about 3ft long but completely caught me by surprise, I jumped off the track AWAY from the water and my adrenaline definitely kicked in. After moving several feet away I just stared, shocked to think that I had been coming to this park for at least 3 weeks prior, walking or just relaxing by the pond when the whole time there were alligators in it. I continued to run around the track and when I would get to the alligator I just gave it a wide berth. I have only seen an alligator one other time there since that day but every time I run there I am always on the look out and a little apprehensive, I have to admit, the first couple of laps.
Another activity we as a parish are preparing for is the arrival of St. John Bosco’s urn. The Rector Major (head of the Salesian Congregation) has planned for the 150 year anniversary of the founding of the Salesian Congregation to send an urn with St. John Bosco’s relics to the different countries where the Salesians are present. The urn has been traveling through South America, starting in Argentina a few months back. It is now in Brazil and will arrive in Ji-Paraná for our parish’s celebrations on the 15th and 16th of February. There will be masses, prayers, processions, celebrations etc. starting at the Cathedral, which is named after St. John Bosco and will be presided by the Bishop of Ji-Paraná, Dom Bruno who is also a Salesian. After the mass at the Cathedral the urn will be moved to our parish of São José and remain there until after the 16th when it will be taken to Manaus. I had the great fortune of seeing the urn back in 2005 when I visited Turin, Italy where St. John Bosco founded the Salesian Congregation.
My daily routine in the Salesian community is as follows: wake up at 6:15, morning prayer at 6:30, breakfast at 7:00, center 7:30-11:00 (when classes resume) lunch 12:00, center 1:30-5:00 (when classes resume) dinner 6:00, evening prayer 6:30 followed by mass at 7:30. I have access to internet in my room and they have satellite TV. We have a cook, Vilma, who makes our lunch which is the biggest meal of the day here. Breakfast is on your own and dinner is usually leftovers. Vilma also does our laundry every week. Needless to say I am not suffering at all here in Ji-Paraná. I enjoy the people, like my community of Salesians and am getting to know the layout of the town. Things are going well for me in 2010 I hope your New Year is as well.

Take care and God bless!!