Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Brazil

 So its been 1 week here in Brazil and I am not sure which story to tell.  My adventures have consisted of 3 days of couch surfing, being lost in a city of 19 million.  Trying to find my way through the bus system in that city, driving through other cities, my lack of speaking Portuguese, literally bush whacking through a jungle.  Helping teach with a team of people a group from one of the local churches and meeting up with 25 friends from around the world.  Today I got to sit down
(lay down) in a hammock and look over 
parts of a city and just realize how privileged I am to be living my life.  Though the work days start Monday 
on building the Ropes Course, and I hopefully will be hanging out in the tops of trees, its really been a time to remember.  

  The team I met up with consists of:

Jeff, his wife Sue and Loral his daughter (he is the guy I went to Germany and Latvia with)


Sal and his family. (They were in Sa

lem for just over a year training on the Ropes Course so we could bring it down here to his city of curitiba.  He has 3 daughters.)


Dirk and Patty and their family  (They have worked on the ropes course the last 3 seasons and have 2 daughters Kendra and Kylie.  They will be staying here for 6 months at the base.  


Jorg and his family (They were a family I met in Germany when I was there last year, a family of 4 boys!  Only 3 minutes into seeing them tonight I was already being tackled by 3 of them!  Good times)


Brad and Kendra (Both are on staff at 

YWAM Salem and have worked on the Ropes Course this last year.  They are dating.) 


Brian and Petra (Brian just finished his CDTS a few weeks ago and Petra I met in Germany last year...she came over here to work on Ropes and met Brian there.  They just got engaged.)


Bill (I worked with Bill on the Ropes Course the last first 2 years and has an incredible knack for intelligence coupled with an amazing testimony.)


Luba (Luba is from Ukraine and has worked on the Ropes Course the last 2 years.  She will be here 3 months just like me.)


Jesse (Jesse is the YWAM Salems Base Director and will be here for 2 more weeks.  He is one of the guys I got to go and teach with this last weekend)


Hanna (She is a girl that just arrived today (26th) from Germany.  She is working with the Ritter family and is working on the ropes course there.)


And for some people that we are still waiting on

Ivo, Rivas and Ritus (All from Latvia, I got to work with Ivo and his family one year on the Ropes Course in Salem and then I met up with all of them last year in Latvia) 


Cory and Kevin (Right now they are still in Salem waiting for their visas to come into Brazil.  They will be here for almost I year I think doing a DTS here and then going back to Salem.


So thats the clan I get to live and work with, most will be here a month working on the course and a few of the others will stay a bit longer like me and help out where needed.


ON TO THE STORIES!


So my first day in Brazil I spent walking a total of 18 miles in and around Sao Paulo.  I was offered a bike to ride around on but was encouraged to take the public transit system (faster and easier.)  First of all I want to say that the couch surfing family I stayed with was amazing!  I couldn’t ask for a better home to stay in they were minutes within Brazils “Wall Street” and wanted only the best for me.  They provided a key to the house and let me come and go as I pleased such a great time with these people.


Anyway, so I decided to walk that day and went to a few different places...the cemetery being one of those places...let me tell you this place was cool!  Its a very Catholic cemetery, so lots of tombs (is that the right word?)  Got a few good pictures there and then the rest of the day was me walking around all the different galleries one place must have been about 60 acres total and 4 stories up....very cool!



So the pictures.


I am having to pick and choose what photos to put on here and for some reason I can't get vertical photos...vertical...go figure.


So here are just a few 


The first 2 are just some photos of the first few days and the Sunday afternoon I got to relax on the deck.  The first photo is in Sao Paulo couch surfing and the next is where I'll be most of my time at the YWAM base.


the 3rd photo is of Jorg and I working up in the trees just hanging there with big drills...no big deal.  


Its 23:00 I am going to bed...NIGHT!




2 comments:

  1. oh, ryna. it's just great you're already getting stories and you've only been there a short time. i hope you get many more amazing ones so you can come back and spend hours telling me all about them, and i can laugh so hard my stomach hurts, as is usually the case when you tell stories. I'm so happy you're living a full life. i miss you and love you!

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  2. Rianne! You awesome trekker. It sounds like you've had a good orientation. I hope you get those kinks figured out with loading pictures. I'm still really sorry about the google ads. I guess I should have known better.
    Anyway, we'll be praying for you. It sounds like you'll have lots of families to chill with, as well as some groovy trees to hang out with throughout the day.
    Do you remember a few years back when we used to work together and I told you how cool of a job it would be to climb trees? It seems like you found a pretty creative way to see if that was really true or not. I think you like it.
    Keep looking up for your inspiration brother. Thanks for the update.
    Take care,
    Trentski

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