Festas Juninas

Isn't it crazy how being in one place can remind you so much of another time/place where you were a long time ago?

Like yesterday.

In my head, it's easy to remember that I'm in Brazil.  Everything is in Portuguese.  I'm back in a white minority.  I stand out.  The culture, the music, the language, and everything about this place is so Brazilian.

At the same time, it reminds me so much of Tonga.

Yesterday we went to CCJ and did a Festas Juninas party with a group of kids.  We...

taught them "Down by the Banks" (except we actually just chanted a count-down because even the teachers were having a hard time getting the song together haha)

We dressed up!

I think I should have told them to use a lighter pink on my cheeks than they did on the Brazilians...if my skin were about 6 shades darker it would have been so much cuter and less nutcracker-y.

BUT despite everyone laughing at me, I liked it! :)

The kids danced.
They did a big group dance (none of my pictures of that turned out...bummer), and then did a dance competition in partners.  They were so cute.  Most of the pictures were blurry; and none of them capture how cute the little kids were dancing...

Joe and Berkeley played guitar (and sounded fabulous!)

Cute little girl and Carbonel listening to Berkeley playing

 This girl was so cute.  She reminded me SO MUCH of this cute girl from somewhere in Lulunga (don't know what island):

Me and Cristina with the girls

And then I danced forró with Carbonel.

 I really like this picture because it captures how fun it was and NOT how awkward I looked hahaha :)

I am amazed at how happy these people are.  These cute kids do not have much; but they still smile and dance and hug each other all the time---simply happy.  They don't have stuff  but they have each other.

Why isn't everyone like that?

I know the people here aren't perfect either, but I love how happy they are.  I have so much admiration for the faith and determination and the positive attitude of these people.

People are so, so very good.  So much better than we give them credit for.  And I love them :)

Just another reason I love Brazil

It is less than .5 miles from my bedroom to the beach.

I love that.

I love that I can see the ocean from my window.

And I love that sometimes, if you're lucky, you can see things like this:

And every night, you can see this:

Yeah, I love it here.

Food, glorious food!

When I lived in China, our school's cook was fantastic.

Breakfast, lunch, and sometimes even dinner; Michael always (ok---almost always) cooked delicious food.  But basically our very favorite thing was to walk into the school in the morning and be greeted by the smell of red bean rolls.  I have no clue exactly what type of bean "red beans" are, but they are delicious.

Michael made a few different types of rolls; one kind in particular was a steamed roll with the red bean paste in the center.

I admit, it took a few times to get used to, but by the end, I LOVED THEM.  So much.

So imagine how happy I was when I went to the kitchen for breakfast the other day and saw these:

The red bean insides.  Poor Shawndeen thought it was fudge.
The red bean really is delicious...but apparently not so much if you're expecting chocolate haha.

Me being super excited to eat red bean rolls again! 

(sorry for the backlight)

 Me being really brave and eating QUAIL EGGS!
It actually just tasted like a regular egg though haha.

 Caramelized banana.  SO GOOD.

Oh how I love food :)

Operation Find-Camera-Cord = Successful! :)

So...catch up.

Monday.  Class in the morning, then headed to CCJ for the afternoon.

While we were there, we learned about their graffiti project, and also produced our own picture of what we would graffiti.  Here's mine:

There's actually another one on the back that I like better from a symbolic (and even artistic) point of view, but I like the way this one looks.  Also, it feels more graffiti-ish to me...  (Dan, I wish you were here to show me how you do stuff, cuz yours always looks sweet!)  We were supposed to draw something that represents what we have to contribute to Brazil/Recife/CCJ.  Honestly, I could not think of a single way to portray the way I feel.  I love it here.  I love coming to serve and share my knowledge and experience with them, but really the thing I most want to bring is hope.  Hope for them and hope for a better future; something they will be excited to work toward.  But I had no clue how to express that in a picture...so I just represented the interaction of BYU and CCJ; theoretically the combination of BYU and CCJ will result in the hope and ambition for these young people that I am also hoping for.

Tuesday, we went back and actually got to paint!  Crazy, huh?  I am in Brazil learning how to actually spray paint and graffiti.  Can I just interject right here and say you should all be jealous and that this is the coolest program EVER?  Seriously, I love it.

Anyway, we were put in groups and given a piece of wall to essentially repeat our first project (represent what we bring to Recife/hope to achieve in this internship), but in groups.  Again, it was surprisingly hard to come up with something, and also harder than I expected to actually paint it.  Here's me and Natalia working on it, then our whole group by the finished project.

Ignore the fact that the guy at the back looks like he's bowing...I should have tipped his head up more.  In my defense, the girl I was tracing for the rough outline had her head down that far...I was just tracing and then detailing.  I take no responsibility for the fact that he doesn't actually look like he just handed off the baton haha.
Hard to see details in this picture, but the guy standing up is holding a baton, symbolic of the knowledge (represented by a lightbulb in his head) and love of the world (earth where his heart is), ready to run and pass it forward.

I think the past few days have really changed how I view graffiti.  

To some people it's just that:  Graffiti.  Defacing public property.  Juvenile delinquency.

But now I realize that it can be so much more.  Just like in our picture (which we put so much thought and effort into), someone else looking might not see what we intended to create.  It is art.  And it is open to interpretation.

I still would agree that there are lines (aka places where graffiti still should not be done), but I think that if it's done tastefully, graffiti can be a great form/expression of art.

Also, I think graffiti artists deserve way more credit.  It's a lot harder than I expected it to be!  You have to hold the can at the right distance.  And the right angle.  AND it's really hard to move slow enough to have control, but fast enough to not lose control (dripping, wider lines, etc).

Anyway, it's super cool.  Jealous yet? :)

almost dying

My camera cord has disappeared.  Don't worry; it's in my room somewhere.  :)  It's really amazing to me how me and my roommate can make such a big mess with just the two of us and we each only have one suitcase...but somehow we manage haha.  Anyway, the moral of the story is that while I have several good stories and experiences to share, I'm waiting to post them with pictures...so hopefully tomorrow or Friday expect some good posts with pictures. :)

BUT.

What I really want to write about right now has absolutely nothing to do with Brazil.  It is just simply that I am so so grateful for everything right now.

Some of you know that I have had a lot of foot pain the last few months (nothing super serious; just some good 'ol plantar fasciitis, tendonitis, and a few stress fractures...), but it hasn't been bothering me as much lately and I went for a run this morning.

I ALMOST DIED.

No, really.

Okay, not really.  But I thought I was going to!  It hurt!  So much.  I had to walk probably 3/4 of the way home (of a short 2-mile run) and was nearly in tears when I got home.

The whole time I was thinking about how miserable I was.  I know my pain is hardly nothing compared to what some people go through, but really, I love running.  I miss it so much.  The "stay off it for 6 weeks" has turned into a little over 6 months, and I still have so much pain.

But then it hit me:  I was running.  I was in pain, and couldn't go as far or fast as I wanted to, but I was running!  Maybe I won't ever be able to run a marathon, but I can walk.  The people in my group often ask about my feet (because I have so much pain...combined with 15 blisters) and I have started jokingly replying "well, they're still attached!"  But this morning I thought about it, and was like, "Yeah! My feet are still attached!"  Painful, non-functional, and annoying as my feet are sometimes, they are still attached.  And they take me where I need to go.

I think I'm pretty lucky.

What started my day off in a super-negative and whiny mood totally changed when I realized that what I DO have is so much to be grateful for!  I have so many wonderful things in my life.  Family.  Health.  Friends.  The gospel.  Being in Brazil.  Living by the ocean.  Eating Chinese food.  I could go on and on.  There's so much to be grateful for in my life.

Isn't it funny how much a little perspective can brighten your day so much?

My feet are still attached, and that is something to be grateful for.  :)

Knights in Shining Armor

I found him.  My knight in shining armor.  He's tall and handsome, and gallantly rode into my life on a white horse.  

Actually...he just stood there... next to a brown horse.  And the horse was stuffed.  And I'm not even sure the knight was actually handsome, since I couldn't see his face...

But he really DID have shining armor! :)

Haha.  Anyway, on to the rest of the post:

So sometimes I feel super motivated to do blog posts.  It's like, "Oh, I saw something cool---I should post about that!"  Or even, "I don't want to write in my journal, so I'll just type a quick blog post instead!" (the second one actually causes most of these posts haha) but the last few days I have felt very little motivation to post.  So sorry about the lack of posts, but here's some stuff I've done the last few days (mostly on Friday). (pictures in no particular order)

We went to an awesome museum (that's where I saw the aforementioned knight).  A guy named Ricardo Brennand made a ton of money, collected lots of artifacts (especially armor/weapons, etc), and then turned his house/mini-castle into a museum.  Yeah, that's a really short summary of a really cool story...but I think the most impressive thing about his life is really that last phrase; he turned everything into a museum.  I don't know about the rest of you people who will end up reading this, but if I had a ton of money, I can think of about a million things I would do with it before creating a museum.  I like to think that I would not use it all on myself (travel being the main temptation...), but even if I thought of a way to benefit others, I'm not sure I would do something SO big.  This museum is huge.  It is one of the largest collections of armor in the world.  And people will be able to come see it for years!  It's not just "come visit, help a few people, then go home and pretend it never happened."

Ok, that feels really rambly.  Point is, I really admire that he chose to create a museum.

 It's probably hard to see the detail in this, but it's a super-intricately carved ivory tusk.  SO COOL!

 They had a whole room full of knives and swords, they are super cool.  This one seems sort of less-functional as an actual weapon/tool, but it's super cool.  That's a row of little animals...

 Dinner!  Yeah, I know you've been wondering what I've been eating, right?  So here's a lovely picture of the sausage and chicken we had for dinner the other night.  Since I served myself, I wasn't quite brave enough to take any sausage...but I diligently ate the chicken!  But the tofu we had was AMAZING!  My roommate doesn't like the tofu (or the soy-milk-grape-juice stuff we drink), but eats all the meat, so together I think we make a pretty good team. :)

Again, sorry if you can't see this (no flash allowed in the old churches).  

There are two ladies in this picture:  one is praying, one is texting.  It was really crazy to see these two ladies so close to each other, and realize how representative it was of the whole world, and even our own lives (or at least mine).  It's so easy to go to church, but sometimes it's hard to stay focused on the reason I'm actually there.

Sure makes you think.

 These last two pictures (above and below) are more from of one of the old churches we went to.  The coolest thing to me as I sat inside the church, was looking at how beautiful it was.  Lots of people have nice things in life; beautiful houses, fancy cars, swimming pools, etc.  Those things are nice, but not ultimately important.  But these churches?  They symbolize so much more than social status or wealth.  As I sat in this church, it hit me how grateful I am for all the people throughout history who have sacrificed time, money, and even lives for the sake of religion.  Especially in LDS history, but even in others, I think it is important to recognize how much effort they put into making their churches beautiful.  Because churches are built for God, and that is something worth sacrificing for.  And I am so grateful they were willing to make those sacrifices.

Isn't it beautiful?

Life really is good.

'Oku ou fie sio ki he temipale... :)

That's "I love to see the temple" in Tongan.  Ever since Dad translated that song and we had to sing it on TV and a million other times (radio, etc), whenever I hear that tune I start singing it in Tongan.  I love it.  I love how much we were able to go to the temple in Tonga, and what a special experience I had there.

This week, I had the chance to go to the Recife Temple.  It was beautiful.  I'm not sure how I could possibly do it justice.  Suffice to say it's been way too long since I went to the temple (I really should take better advantage of living so close to the Provo temple), and I loved it.  It felt so good.

The Temple president spoke to us, and I didn't understand even close to everything, but I did understand some things.  More importantly though, I felt the spirit.  I love the temple.  I love how beautiful and simple and clean everything feels inside.

Does this look like a google picture?  Because it's not.  I really took this.  And that's really how gorgeous it was.

Me and my roommate, Shawndeen :)

"Oh it is wonderful, wonderful to me."

So, I hate uploading pictures.  It takes forever.  But since that's probably why most people check blogs (assuming someone does actually read these...), and my laziness isn't actually that great of an excuse, here ya go:  a glimpse into my life :)

 So, I'm still a little vague on a few things that we've seen so far (my own fault I don't speak enough Portuguese yet to follow all the instructions/explanations haha) but this picture was taken a few days ago during our field trip to visit this group of people who basically create things out of recycled materials.  They reach out to a lot of youth, and it's really amazing to see all that they have been able to do.  I love how easy it is for us to recycle in the US, but I wish more people would do stuff like this and actually REUSE it to create something beautiful.

 Me being me and Tawnya being...Tawnya.  haha, just kidding :)
Tawnya is awesome.  (With a face like that could you think anything else?)
She was basically my first friend in this program.  This picture is to prove that I do in fact have friends here :)

 Danny, this is for you.
They have whole walls here full of this stuff; you'd love it.  Instead of going to Mexico to join a mariachi band like you joke about, why don't you come here and do stuff like this?  It'd be sweet, right?

 I ate this for lunch today.  Well, dessert.  It was delicious.
Imagine chocolate-flavored sweetened condensed milk.
"What's not to like?" :)

The rest of these pictures are from our trip to Olinda today:

(Note: I take no responsibility for factual errors.  But I think that it's at least mostly accurate :)

 Me and Natalia standing outside the first house in Olinda.  We're actually standing next to a window; the foundations have gradually sunk over time so this is where it stands now.  Crazy.
Makes you want to have a firm foundation, doesn't it?
(Yeah, I came up with that right now....I know you're impressed.)

 This church made me miss Tonga.  I don't remember which village or even island it's on, but there's a chapel in Vava'u, and if you sit on the stand you can look straight out the chapel doors to the beach and ocean.  Can I just say that sitting there was probably the best fireside ever?
Seriously though, I loved this building.  It was so pretty inside.  Sadly, I couldn't understand anything he said (it may or may not be the case that I actually ignored him --just for a few minutes-- so I could just enjoy the serenity...)
I think all church buildings should have surroundings like these :)

 Super creepy dolls.  Okay; so they're actually pretty cool.  They're super huge (taller than me), and used during Carnaval.
Random fact: my camera only auto face-detected the guy with a blue and white face. Weird.

 Some door we walked past in Olinda.  I'm pretty sure it was just on a house.
Zero historical significance (or at least none that the guide shared), but I loved it.  I love how beautiful these people try to make things.
It reminds me of Tonga, how so many people would line their yards with those "angel wings" shells, to add some beauty to their simple homes and lifestyles.
I love how much they work to add beauty everywhere.

 Again, proof I'm actually here :)

And to end, some pretty pictures of churches and city/landscapes.

I'm not sure what I did to get such an awesome life, but it must have been something pretty amazing because....

I'm here!

And I love it.  So much. :)

Squishing this post between the last post and the one I'm about to do for class (with pictures).  But for anyone interested in how awesome my life is, here's another sweet post of things I love/am grateful for :)

1.  NO MEAT!!  Okay, I'm still eating meat (when it's served...in a few weeks I might be brave enough to actually order it myself so I can try new things, but for now I'm still working on the non-optional part haha).  But last night, I was SO dreading dinner.  It always involves meat, but my stomach was finally feeling better and I didn't want to eat any meat.  At all.  I went home, and walked in to a VEGETARIAN dish of EGGS AND TOMATO!!!!  (Note: that may sound disgusting...but that was one of the foods that I grew to LOVE in China.)  Seriously, I could not have been more excited, or more grateful.  I am so thankful for vegetarian food!! :)

2.  I HAVE A ROOMMATE!!!  (if you think I'm over-using capital letters, get over it.  I'm in a good mood.)  Shawndeen is awesome.  I am so excited to not be alone so much.  AND to have someone to force me to practice Portuguese.  *AND* she served in Florianópolis, the city I'll be living in for fall semester, so we will be able to have some sweet talks about that.

3.  I love my Professor and her family.  They are fantastic.  Vanessa  has practically adopted me into their family, and I have so much fun hanging out with them basically every day.  But she also manages to maintain professionalism (is that a real word?) when we're at school, so even though I love how much I have gotten to know her as a person, she still works hard to influence me as a teacher.  I have loved our class so far.  Sometimes it's hard for me to understand, but I love the things I do understand, and I love the ideas we have discussed, and the way it has made me think about how to best serve others (hopefully more on that later).

4.  Morning runs on the beach = glorious! :)

5.  A brain.  Is Portuguese still hard?  Duh.  BUT!  Today, in class, I felt like I understood almost everything. Granted,  that can probably be at least partly (if not mostly/completely) attributed to the fact that I talked to Natalia and Vanessa about all the stuff last night, so I knew a lot of the info, and was just filling in the translation.  Regardless, it was nice to feel like I can do this.  Maybe not quite yet, but it will come!

So I decided to change my blog name/picture and fix the formatting.  Changing the name went okay, but the picture is way more messed up now.  Whatever.  If you don't read my blog because the picture at the top is huge, I can deal with it.  :)

Anyway, I decided to change my blog because even though I really like the quote that I pulled my first title from, I decided that I didn't like the emphasis of what I was leaving behind, when in reality I keep doing things because of everything I am going to; the things I am doing.  The things I love.  And how simply wonderful this life is.

Yes, it's true.  I am feeling a little sick with all the meat I've eaten.  Yes, I was locked out of our apartment all day today. Yes, I have 8 blisters on my feet from so much walking in my church shoes..while I was locked out.  And yes, I am sporting a decent number of flea bites.

But ya know what?  I'm really happy.  Not like floating along in blissfulness, but just happy.  In a real way.  Does that even make sense?  Probably not.

Let me explain.

Despite the bug bites and blisters and feeling a bit sick, I have had a really good day.  Oh you want to know what was so fabulous about today?  Alright, you talked me into it :)

1.  I went to church today.  It reminded me a lot of Tonga (mostly in the sense that I sat through a full 3-hour block and didn't understand most of it), but also in the spirit I felt.  I love the church.  I love the gospel.  And I love the people who are a part of it.

2.  I played the piano at church today.  Remember how I absolutely hated performing for about the first 20 years of my life?  Oh yeah...that's because I think today was the first time EVER that I *VOLUNTEERED* (<-can't put enough emphasis on that word) to play the piano for something.  It was so weird.  Why would I even do something like that?  I still don't know.  But I DO know that it felt really good.  It's nice to feel that, despite being unable to share my testimony and feelings for the gospel in Portuguese (yet!), I was still able to participate and contribute to Sacrament meeting.

3.  I went to the beach.  Not swimming or anything, just a lovely walk with my new friend, Natalia. We stuck our feet in and tried to build a sand-castle version of the Salt Lake temple.  Ok, so maybe it mostly turned out looking like a military tank...but it's the thought that counts, right? :)

4.  I had a conversation with a stranger.  A cute girl came up to me while I was walking home and asked in English (just a little bit better than my portuguese) if I needed help.  It was so sweet.  We were walking the same direction, so we continued talking for about 5 minutes, going back and forth between languages.  It was great.  My Portuguese probably didn't get any better in those 5 minutes, and I probably won't ever see that girl again.  BUT, I am reminded of two things:  1, if practically the whole world can learn English as a second language AND be brave enough to use it, I can do the same with Portuguese, even if it seems hard.  2, People are good.  So very good.  Good people just don't get enough credit these days.

5.  I made a friend.  Remember Natalia?  (Not that you met her, or anything.. just see # 3)  She's great.  Her mom is our program director, and they live about a 5 minute walk from me so I spent most of the day at their house while I was locked out.  Some fun facts about Natalia, besides how awesome she is:  We like almost all the same movies.  Not only do we both enjoy them, we both quote them.  Fabulous, yes?  Despite the fact that we have only 2 mutual friends on facebook (both from this program), as we were talking we made several MUCH more interesting connections.  Like the fact that we both lived in Hinckley Hall, and then the Elms (I was just behind her!).  And that she was April's visiting teacher!  And that we both liked boys at BYU who are siblings.  And that she is in the Barry family's home war, and served with my friend Matt Barry in Brasilia.  CRAZY.  It's so fun to make all these bizzarre connections :)

Well, if you're still reading, congrats.  You now know why my life is wonderful.  I hope yours is just as fantastic, and that you recognize all the great things in your life.

Wow, four posts in one day!  I'm pretty sure I didn't post four times in the two years I had my last blog. I guess that's a good sign this one will actually survive! :)

This is actually just an update/extension of my last post.  Remember how proud I was after surviving lunch today?  That was NOTHING compared to dinner.

Fact:  Even before becoming vegetarian, I didn't like fish.  Salmon, shrimp, etc---Dad loves it; I can't stand it.

For dinner today, we had "hot pot".  For those of you unfamiliar, there's a pot of boiling water (with spices, etc) in the middle of the table, and plates of raw food that you put in the water, then eat.  Kind of like fondue.  Anyway, I really liked going to eat hot pot in China, and I would just eat the vegetables (potato, cabbage, lotus root, etc) and noodles.  It was delicious.

But apparently that doesn't work as well when someone else is serving your food.  Especially when they give you a big scoop every time they say, "just try--if you like you can take more".  One can't say no to trying something...even if it is WAY bigger than a no-thank-you bite. :)

I ate:
-Shrimp.  I remember why I didn't ever eat it...  I also very much do NOT enjoy pulling it apart.
-Dried fish.  As in, a whole fish.  They're like 3 inches long, still have their fins and you can tell where the eye was.
-Some rolled up pork thing.  Not bad...except the texture.
-Beef.  This was the most familiar...except the huge bone I had to pull it off of.
-Crab.  Again, I remember why I didn't eat this before.  Some long thing with a super strange texture.  4 pieces!  Bleh.
-Egg-dumplings full of some sort of meat?

Okay, now that I've gotten that out of my system, I can be proud of myself again.  I've never thought I had an issue with texture but I have never come so close to puking at dinner.  Luckily, I didn't.  (That would have been awkward my first day...)

I do not like eating meat.  Not even a little bit.  But still, I am so grateful that I have been able to do so with only minimal gag reflexes, and that I don't feel really sick.  And hey, I'll take blessings where I can get them! :)

Day 1.

So yesterday at the airport in SLC, Vanessa, the program director, told me that basically, the family I had been planning to live with could no longer host me, and that hopefully Vivian (housing coordinator from Brazil) could find something quickly so I would have somewhere to live.  Yeah, hopefully.

Anyway, when we arrived, we were debating where I would go stay until they could find something, then Vivian says, "Oh, you lived in China?  Would you be okay staying with a Chinese family?"  Uh...duh!  I said I'd love to, so that became the plan.  Whooda thunk that I'd end up living with a Chinese family in Brazil?  Such a crazy coincidence, that as my sister Angie pointed out, it really emphasizes how much of a guiding hand Heavenly Father has in our lives.  The odds of this happening are basically zero, yet here I am!  I am so excited.

 The only thing NOT exciting is that...today I said goodbye to the vegetarian Michelle.  I know, I know.  I couldn't give it up for Tonga or China, but today I did.  Before I left, I told myself that I would not turn down any food from my host family, and today that became the first (I'm sure more will follow) hardest thing I've had to do.  I ate SO MUCH MEAT at lunch.  She cooked Chinese food, and there were 4 dishes on the table; only one was exclusively meat, and I was like, "Sweet.  I bet I can dodge the meat without being obvious and still eat enough to demonstrate how much I like it."  Nope, didn't happen.  My host mom (her name sounds like Johnny, but I'm pretty sure that's not how she spells it) seems to be under the impression that Americans love meat.  So I served myself one of the dishes and just scooped tofu and vegetables, and she was like, "Meat!  Meat!"  And proceeded to serve me several pieces of some sort of meat.  Anyway, that continued to happen...until I had cleaned about 4 chicken bones and eaten 7 fairly big pieces of unidentifiable meat.  I nearly died!  Okay, I didn't.  Although my stomach feels a little funny (but it's probably just psychological...I doubt meat would make me sick so fast), I'm proud of myself.  A lot of people ask me why I am vegetarian, and the honest answer is probably just that I really don't like the idea of eating animals.  It grosses me out.  And since I don't love the taste of meat anyway, it was easy to give up.  But it was really hard to overcome 8 years (yeah, it's really been 8 years since I became vegetarian) of carefully avoiding meat and even picking small pieces out of things...just to not offend someone.  But I think it was worth it.  :)

I went to the mall yesterday with Melissa (my host sister, 18), and it was huge!  We live about a 3-minute walk from this mall; it's the biggest in Recife and the second biggest in all of Brazil.  Almost makes me wish I loved shopping haha.  They did have some cool-looking stores though, so I'm sure I'll spend some time there.  We also live really close to the beach.  I haven't gone yet, but I am so excited to.  Vivian said the water is always warm, and the beaches are beautifully sandy.  (I absolutely love Tonga, but it will be nice to go to beaches that don't tear up your feet!)  Oh yeah, and she also warned me to look out for sharks.  Sweet.  haha.

Okay, and here are some pictures:

Welcome to Brazil!!

 Good morning :)

 Recife

The view from my bedroom window :)

Life is good :)

26 hours later....

I made it!  I'm in Recife!

Whew, what an adventure it has already been.  I don't want this post to be too long, since to be completely honest the travel part of traveling is actually my least favorite part... but here are some fun facts about my trip:

-I sat by this cute boy who asked for my number before we landed.  Oh yeah, he was only 9.  Shoot. :) haha.

-The aforementioned 9-year-old decided to pull an all-nighter on the flight, which he did successfully.  Which meant he woke me up every few minutes to tell/ask me something about the movie, or simply to inform me that he still hadn't fallen asleep...  (Although I think he annoyed my professor sitting behind us more than me haha.)

-The flights were really long.  But my ankles are almost visible again :)

-I got a window seat on every flight.  I know, you're jealous.  I got to watch the Rockies disappear, then all the changes in scenery to Mexico City, and then the whole flight to Sao Paulo (ok, so maybe it was mostly dark then), and then get my first view of Recife in the early morning light.  It was fabulous.

-I haven't unpacked my camera cord yet, so you'll just have to imagine the pictures for now! :)

Next update:  Day 1 in Brazil!

Sailing Away from Safe Harbors

The blog post I wrote 2 weeks ago...before actually leaving for Brazil.  But better late than never, right? :)

I did it.  I jumped on the bandwagon and started a blog. 

I actually need a blog for my experiences in Brazil (need as in I'm required to do blog posts for one of my classes there), but I also really just wanted to start one.  So far in my life I have lived in the US, Tonga, and China; and two weeks from now, I will be in Brazil.  It's a little bit crazy to think about; sometimes I sign up for things so impulsively...but then they really happen!  Like now.  But the point is, I didn't do a great job documenting or journal-ing about my experiences in all those places, and I really want to do better.  I want to remember all the cool stuff I do!  Typing is so much faster than handwriting, and if I think that people are reading it, I just might find the incentive to keep it up. :)

This blog will mostly be to document adventures---since I plan to have a lot to share---but I will probably also post unrelated stuff every now and then.  Is it weird that it took me forever to come up with a good name for my blog?  I wanted it to capture the spirit of travel, but not necessarily feel limited to JUST travels.  Then I found this quote by Mark Twain:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover."

I love that.  I tell people that travel is addicting, and it is.  I love it.  But it also scares me.  It's not easy to pack up and leave everything familiar and take off to a new place.  I've been home from China for just under 6 months, and I'm taking off again...for 6 more months.

There isn't a word to describe how I feel right now.  I am terrified.  I feel so inadequate.  My Portuguese is not nearly as good as I wish it were.  I'm sad to think of all the things I will miss while I'm away.  But more than all that, I am excited.  I am thrilled at the thought of meeting so many new people, exploring a new country, trying new foods, and trying to soak in as much of Brazil as I possibly can in 6 months.

Utah, 10 more days.  Then I'm leaving the safe harbors...and heading to Brazil.

I can't wait! :)