meu nome é Julian...

My favorite preschool story to date...a little boy at snack time told me that he had a new grandma. I said, "oh, really?" and so he proceeded to tell me that his other grandma got sick and then she went to heaven and his grandpa was very, very sad, so he went and got another grandma (like at the mall?).

Friday night some of the girls went out for manicures/pedicures in honor of Clara's birthday (another Pre-K teacher). My pedicure was 13 Reais, or about $6 - $7. Not too bad, though I've already chipped one toenail...baaa. This was followed by a trip to the mall. I have been to a few malls here, though no shopping, just restaurants and banks. Friday, we hit a few stores. Nothing jumped out at me, but it was fun to look (especially at the shoes!). On the way out of the mall, we got tapioca. It looked like they were sprinkling powdered sugar on a skillet and frying it. When they were done, it resembled a very white, very thin tortilla. You can get anything from chicken to cheese to nutella inside and then they fold it over into a pocket. I had mine with chocolate and strawberries. Minha fruta favorita é morango.

Saturday was a tour of the Cidade de São Paulo. We drove to the metro station and rode the metro into the city, first to a cathedral at the city's center (Catedral Metropolitana on the Praça da Sé).

Then we walked through a street market (Vinte Cinco de Marco), where people (LOTS of people walking in the streets with cars honking, trying to drive through the masses) had their wares (underwear, pirated DVDs, socks, pet beds…) out on plastic tarps (this is because when the police come by, they gather all their things and run…I witnessed someone running with their tarp of goods another day when I was downtown with Rosa getting documents), then we headed to an inside market (Mercado Municipal) with lots of fruits, vegetables, and meats for sale and we stopped there for lunch. Next, we headed to an art museum (Pinacoteca) across from the train station (Estação da Luz) and wandered through the exhibits. Next to the art museum was a little park that we walked through…I love parks and even more when I am enjoying trees and flowers and turtles surrounded by buildings and traffic and noise. I appreciate the nature that much more.

From the park we headed to the Avenida Paulista (the main street in Sao Paulo, and a financial and business center). We roamed through a bookstore and went in search of a coffee shop…we eventually found a Starbucks (where their Brazilian grown coffee is supposedly sent to the states to be roasted and then returned to Brazil, pretentious, no?). Then we headed back to the metro and on our way to Clara’s birthday dinner at a Chinese restaurant across town. It was a fun, and very busy day…I slept welllllllll!

Sunday morning at American church I sat down in a pew and noticed a student and her family in front of me, one behind me, and one beside. One of these little ones even ran over to my pew, crawled over the people in between and promptly got all shy and wouldn’t speak…I said hello and commented on how nice he looked in his Sunday clothes and then he returned to his seat. Not thirty seconds later, his sister (whom I’ve never met) came to my pew, crawled over the people in between and promptly got all shy and wouldn't speak. I introduced myself and then she returned to her seat too. I had the sense during the service that I was being watched and it's because I was. I sang and they stared, I got out my Bible and they stared, I greeted those around me and they stared. I sense that this celebrity status may stick with me and my five year olds for a while...the elementary students I work with, however, don't even look me in the eye when I address them at school. Kids are funny.

I went to Portuguese church on Sunday night by myself, as in there was no one there from school that I knew and no one to translate for me (there were actually a lot of other people present, though). Everyone else from school had papers to grade (and I don't, for which I am so thankful!!!) or other things to get done. I really had no reason not to attend, save the fact that I would be going on my own, and I decided that wasn’t a good excuse. I can’t be a baby only three weeks in. They had a greeting time that evening at the beginning of the service (which they haven’t had any of the other weeks I attended), and I just stood there, because I didn’t really get what was going on until people started shaking my hand, hugging me, and kissing me on the cheek. I caught on, more handshakes, more hugging, more kissing. Then we had prayer time (which I expected since we HAVE done this the previous weeks), and a kind older gentlemen came and started talking to me in Portuguese. I said “no fala portugues”…“americana” because in my instance these go together (I don't speak Portuguese...I'm American). He continued to speak to me in Portuguese and I picked up that he was asking my name…which he understood as “Julian” (close enough)…what state I was from…”Indiana”…and that he would pray and then I could pray in "ingles"....compreendo. Another older gentleman, who came in later, motioned to the space beside me, “aqui” and I gathered he wanted to know if he could sit there, so I scooted over (motions and some words in Portuguese = understanding). Otherwise, I listened to the songs, the sermon, looked up “palavras” in my pocket dictionary, followed the Powerpoint with the message, and listened for “ahmen” to cue the end of prayers. I wouldn’t say I understood much more than previous weeks, but I was pleased with myself for having braved it without my translators. God is good, all the time…all the time, God is good. And this I understand, even in small snippets of sermons. Please pray that I would be disciplined in learning and trying out this new language (maybe even sometime with adults and not just the six year olds in my Portuguese class). I know God has a place for me right now as I am learning, encouraging others with not only my words, but mostly my actions. My words may be a barrier for me and many, but smiles are universal!