Career Workshops Week 1 and 2

For the first week of the internship instead of teaching we took some time to study up on the economy of Brazil.  It's kind of intimidating the fact that we'll be teaching people younger and older than us in Portuguese about what they should do to get jobs in a economy we're not really familiar with.  We're expected to be experts overnight.  Sounds like a good challenge to me.  

So for the first week we sat in on a Brazilian teacher's career workshop to get some advice and a bigger picture of how to personalize the training for those that we will be teaching.  On the second week, this past week on Tuesday and Wednesday night from 7:30 to 10:30 PM we started teaching.  The first day was a little rough, and I was happy to get the kinks out.  The workshop we taught on Wednesday went a lot better.    I found that as we focused more on activities and the career exercises, everything flowed smoother and Anders and I were able to match up better our teaching styles.  One thing we learned from day one, (which is still kind of tough for me) is that we have to be tough with our class.  If we don't offer good, constructive feed back no one will get anything out of it.  After all, in the real world if someone blows a job interview no one is going to tell them what they did wrong and what they need to do better.  

Volleyball

I thought I would be playing soccer for sure when we got here, but apparently where we live the ward members love to play some intense volleyball.  I've mentioned before that Brazilians are a very outgoing and a fun people.  And while it's true, don't get between a Brazilian and his sports.  Oh yeah, everyone here tends to be pretty passionate about their soccer teams, and it carries right into play them.  We turned up at the church expecting a couple of fun, easy going volleyball games but as we entered there were spiked volleyballs flying left and right.  We still had a lot of fun, but after a couple of games we called it a night and headed back.

Santa Vigenia January 23rd

I thought it wouldn't be a problem at first but then after a week I realized how much I love my WI-FI. Up till then we've had to trade off using the internet (our laptops had to be directly connected with the phone)
In our apartment, we have a little internet problem.  Since it's connected manually to the phone, only one person can use the internet at a time.  After a while of sharing I guess it finally got to us and we finally gave in and went looking for a WI-FI router.  And that's when we headed to Santa Vigenia.  Santa Vigenia is place in down town Sao Paulo that sells all sorts of things super cheap, including electronics, clothes etc .. You just have to make sure to get one from a legit place, since there are plenty of counterfeit items, albeit they may work, they definitely won't last as long.  After we hit up the stores we ended up going to a churrascaria (all you can meat place).    It was basically a Tucanos for half the price!

Comida

"Don't give up.  Miracles happen every day." and "There's a silver lining in every cloud"


Is what I tell myself everyday as I head to the kitchen, I mean who knows maybe one day I'll wake up as a french chef one day like Alfredo Linguini from the film Ratatouille and whip up a storm. Anyways, I guess it's not a good idea to leave two college age interns responsible for cooking their own food.  There were some hiccups in the beginning but fortunately things have been working out. Usually for Breakfast we eat Brazilian style, light and inexpensive (I guess that's American style too except for cereal is expensive down here).  Either its a fruit shake, (banana or papaya) mixed with milk or bread with morta dela (which is a type of ham) Now for dinner (notice I skipped lunch, it's always a surprise)

Let's see Monday's dinner - spaghetti
Tuesday - Spaghetti
Wednesday - Spaghetti

wait it gets better!

Thursday - Spaghetti with sausage

okay i think you get the idea, this is about when we started to dream of Salt Lake and the training meetings where the food was heavenly and where the water tasted like milk with honey......(the silver lining to this situation is that at least we know how to make spaghetti)
we finally had a man council, we laughed, we cried, we argued, we despaired about our situation
and eventually we decided on a variety of meals if we were to survive 3 more months
Let's see we added to that list, yakisoba and we forced ourselves to learn how to make a Brazilian dish of rice and beans for the first time on Sunday! When I was in Salvador as a missionary, people would ask me "so what do you Americans eat for dinner"?  I would puzzle over it for a couple moments and respond, "I really don't know, every night it's different."  Unlike Brazil where meals tend to be typically the same everyday (rice and beans with other sides), I realized that it was pretty much a big debate point in America as to what would end up on the dinner table every night.  I mean how many times have I been asked by my parents or you by yours, "what do you want for dinner tonight?" I guess it's a genius idea if you could find a food  that's good, inexpensive, healthy, and saves you a bunch of worry and stress as to being creative every single night to impress the family.  Well the Brazilians got there before we did! (that is if you don't count spaghetti)

Arrival in Brazil January 12th

Crazy feeling to finally arrive in Brazil!  Funny thing is that instead of feeling foreign it felt like I was coming home.  It was good to see everyone around me speak Portuguese again.  We eventually  met up with our manager (Osvaldo Bassi) and as we started talking Anders and I both realized how really off our Portuguese was.  (I'm sure we sounded like two gringos who just stepped off the plane from the United States :)   Afterwards  he dropped us off at our apartments, which I was surprised to find out is right next to the temple here in Sao Paulo!  so if you ever visit the Sao Paulo temple drop by and say hi!  Our places are super nice apartments, never had any better on the mission.  I mean they even have a dryer and hot showers!

As soon as we got there the first thing we did was get the beds made and nap for the next 8 hours.  Seriously , airplanes aren't made for people to sleep on.  I mean that's probably why they installed movies in the first place.  And I don't know about Anders but I definitely couldn't sleep on the plane, not when there were so many good movies to watch!   As soon as we got there the young single adults took us under their wing and the same night we went to the mall and watched in Portuguese Detona Ralph (Wreck it Ralph).  It must have been the lack of sleep and the combination of not understanding the majority of the small jokes, but I dozed off a couple of times during the movie.  As we left the mall the rain started to pour, and it did so for the next couple of days.  I guess it was Brazil's way of a warm welcome to two guys from Washington! Either way it's good to be back!

It All Starts with a Dream January 10

Dreams are meant to be lived and songs to be sung. Without action even the simplest of dreams go unrealized and the best of songs unsung.

"Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air.  They are where they should be.  Now put the foundation under them."                         

  - Henry David Thoreau

It was always a dream of mine to return to Brazil one day ever since I stepped off that airplane from Salvador, Brazil one year ago.  Like every return missionary who dreams about returning and never does, I thought I would be just the same and dream for a while until reality dragged me down to earth. Luckily, that wasn't the case.  

In October of 2012, Anders heard from a friend about an internship opportunity in Brazil that was offered through BYU.  When I first heard of it I thought it was an interesting idea and then brushed it off like any other.  I mean I was already super behind in school so why take another semester off?  But then with the passing of a couple of days the idea grew on me and then took hold.  And just like that I was committed. 

In the upcoming weeks Anders and I prepared for our trip and eventually heard that we would be working with the LDS Employment Service in São Paulo, Brazil.  We were ecstatic!  Our real training began the week before leaving in Salt Lake, Utah.  During the 5 days we were there, we were fed like crazy, nearly froze to death, and received some great training  in the Church History Library on the bottom floor for teaching the Career Workshop (and yes we got to use the underground tunnels!)  Our time in Salt Lake with the snow and great food ended with our graduation dinner, where we heard the experiences of past students who did the internship.  And then we were off to Brazil!

Our plane left for New York 8:30  in the morning on Friday.  When we arrived in New York we realized that we had a 4 hour lay over in New York.  Since we were in the world's most famous city and since Anders 'had' to go buy a gift for a friend in Brazil, we decided to venture out and have a small adventure on the crowded streets of New York.  We got back with only a couple of minutes to spare!  We were actually buying a burger at Wendeys when we heard our names being announced really loudly on the intercom. Well I'm glad to be able to say that we made it!
I remember that as I packed the night before and as I boarded the plane I started to have this feeling, was it anxiety, nervousness?  I'm not sure, but it was the same feeling that I had going to Brazil the first time when I left for my mission.  It was a sense of adventure, an electrifying feeling that comes when you know you are living your dream.