The end

So I guess this is the end then. Where I conclude the chapter.

Probably no-one is still reading at this point, so I can be as honest as I want ha

Could you tell that this month changed my life? Day by day I think I have become a new person of sorts. Not just a new person, but a little more mature and a little more secure in who I am created to be.

Instead of going on for ages, I'll just sum it up with this one anecdote:

One crazy night I met this guy named Jonathan, and we got to talking about our lives, and faith and deep stuff like that.

At one point in the night, I asked him point blank: "what are you living for?" He replied, and then shot the question right back to me.

Without pausing, I said the first thing that came to me (it was about 4am at this point).

My response? One that I will never forget. One that I think actually articulates what this trip was about, and who I am.

I replied, "I'm living for holiness, life, love and service".

Brazil was the catalyst for me. To start to understand who I am, to test my limits, to realize a dream of mine.

I highly encourage anyone else to do a trip like this. Honestly, if I can do a month alone working in a dangerous city speaking a new language, you can do that life changing thing you've been thinking about.

For real.

Praise God for the experience. I know it was and is a part of His good plan.

: )

Sunday, revisited

It was my last day in Rio, and I feel really satisfied about how it ended.

After an early night on Saturday (we had all you can eat pizza and were too full and tired to do anything) it was easy to get up in the morning. Dani, Lucy and I met up and headed to the Ipanema street market, where I made my first ever 'big' art purchase. I was fairly nervous, spending a significant amount of money on a piece of art - I'm so glad I went through with it though. It depicts the favelas and it holds a lot of meaning for me. The vibrant colours, and textures - the emotions and complexity of life in the slums.

I'm standing next to the artist in the picture from yesterday's post.

After the market we sat in a picturesque little coffee shop and people watched for about an hour, until it was time to go Gabriel's house (Dani's Brazilian friend). We had planned to watch the World Cup soccer, and were pleasantly surprised when it turned out that Gabriel and his friends had prepared us a huge home cooked pasta meal. Food, wine, soccer, and some new Brazilian friends for the afternoon felt like a fitting way to end my adventure.

At 5:30 pm I rushed home, quickly packed and said my goodbyes to the people living at my guesthouse. I will really miss them...

I don't want to bore you with flight details, so I'll just say that my flights were great, and I actually managed to sleep for about 7 hours. The best part of the flights were the people I sat next to. For my journey to Houston, I sat next to Rosemary, a Catholic nun who was visting her sisters in South America. It was fascinating getting to hear the work that she and her sisters are doing around the world. Beautiful and sacrificial is the only way I can explain it.

Then, on my way home to Vancouver, I sat next to a psychologist who specializes in post traumatic stress disorder. He is currently working on a new theoretical model of treatment and I felt a little proud to be able to help him with some suggestions and ideas as we talked about the model. Hey, my psychology degree wasn't completely useless for once! : )

Finally, after travelling for almost 24 hours, I arrived at YVR. It was great to see my family. Isn't it funny how some things can change so much in the span of a month, and yet other things remain exactly the same?

Anyways, I'll stop now before I launch into a philosophical post : )

Thank God for a safe trip and a safe month spent in Brazil.

I'll post some more pics and a summary of my thoughts tomorrow....

A nun, a psychologist, and a lovely last Sunday...

I'm pretty exhausted from my flight so instead of posting words, I'll just do a couple photos of my Sunday afternoon.

I'll explain tomorrow : )

People above: Dani, Lucy, me, and the Brazilian boys who made all the food. Plus, me and the artist. Like I said, explanation tomorrow...

A little more detail...

Like I said I would, I'll expand now about life in the favelas. I'll try to keep it simple though, and only stick to overall impressions and highlights. I could get really philosophical and write for 10 pages but I'll refrain for your sake : )

So you know how you hear about missionaries who go to extremely poor parts of the world, and come back to report that the people they interacted with are actually the happiest, most generous people they've ever met?

That turns out to be true.

I found that the children, the adults, and even the teenagers in the favelas tend to have a beautiful attitude towards life. Maybe it's Brazilians in general, and maybe the perfect weather helps people to naturally be in a better mood, but it's blatantly obvious to me that the people in the slums are more content that most Canadians.

I had a long talk with Haley and James about this, and the way I summed up my observations was as follows:

It seems like it's Christmas time every day here. You know how at Christmas, everyone is generally in better spirits, more generous, more friendly, and more animated? Well it's like that all the time with people livings in the favelas.

Everywhere we looked, people were smiling, and truly seeming to enjoy and relax in the moment they were in. Yes, people have their regular day to day mundane activities, such as taking the kids to school or grocery shopping or sweeping or whatever, but the difference is that you get a vibe of ease, instead of tension. This sense of being content is pervasive in the community.

So I guess I should clarify - it's like Christmas, but without the stress.

And secondly, the people actually want to be your friend. I'm not talking superficially, like oh let's hang out once, and then we can keep in contact on facebook; I'm talking let me have you over to my house for a meal and if you would like to stay for a week you are more than welcome to. They open their hearts at the drop of a hat.

I feel as though the people live without masks, like many of us do in Canada.

They don't have a lot, so they don't have a lot to hide.

I'm blessed to have been able to have seen this different way of life.

Out with a bang

It was our last day of volunteering at the favela today and we ended things on a real high note. Dani, Jordan, Haley and I finished the painting that Steph and I had stenciled out earlier and it actually ended up looking quite cool.

The kids were excited and happy to help out and the community leaders showed a wonderful display of affection for us.

In the afternoon, we didn't participate in any co-ordinated activity, but instead just 'played' with the children. Dani had bought face paint and nail polish and I had brought stickers and souvenirs from home so we just shared presents and laughs.

I'll write more about the favela later, right now I'll post the pictures so you can get a sense of it all.

Photos above:

Late night cookies and Coke

Currently it is 4 am and I just packed away about 9 or 10 little cookies, and I'm finishing up the Coke Zero that Rachel left behind from the other volunteer house. Today has been a very long day, but a good one. I'll cut to the chase, since I have to get up in 3 in a half hours.

Highlights of today:

-getting my nails done again and having a lovely chat in Portuguese with two of the ladies who work there. I'll post pictures of them tomorrow if my camera works (the lens won't focus properly sometimes).

- relaxing at the beach with Dani

- dancing with the kids at the favela. Because our favela leader didn't turn up for our afternoon session, we joined in on a dance class in the big community centre.

- having INCREDIBLE sushi in Leblon, the posh area in Rio, with Haley and James (the other Canadians), Dani (project partner), Lucy (my room mate) and Ze (a local Brazilian that we made friends with).

- after dinner we went to a local club. However, I was not informed that this club is known for attracting a gay and lesbian crowd, and I was quite confused as to why these girls kept wanting to dance with me. Ha! First time for everything in Rio it seems. I wasn't even drinking any alcohol, and it took me about 15 minutes to finally catch on that there was a reason those girls were so friendly.

My last day tomorrow at the project! I can hardly believe it.

The photo above is of us: Me, Ze, Lucy, Dani and Gabriel (Dani's friend)

Scared for the First Time Here

When I told people about coming here, and about how I was going to volunteer in the favelas, I had many, many people warn me about the dangers I would face. So far, it has been perfectly serene - I was actually beginning to wonder what all the fuss was for.

Today though, was a different story. There was a police raid about 2 minutes after we arrived at the project. I'll try to explain the situation as best as I can:

- we were immediately told to get inside the community centre and hang out, until we had the go ahead to leave

- we could sense the seriousness in the air and the general feeling of masked apprehension. It was strange to see the local residents, not smiling.

- the most tense moment for us volunteers is when we walked between these two buildings, to get Haley (she was in another room) and the girl leading us was earnestly scanning the windows and buildings closest to us to make sure the police weren't aware of us.

- we got Haley and one of the main community leaders escorted us out of the area. We kept our heads down and tried to walk at a normal pace, as we passed by loads of police with machine guns, ready for action.

As we were walking, I asked the girls how they felt on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being totally fine and 10 being Oh God I have to run for my life. We all agreed that we were a good 5 or 6 on the scale. I was extremely relieved when we walked out onto the main street to catch the bus.

And Mom, if you're reading this, please don't worry too much. The community leaders were very conscious of our safety; they were wonderful and calming. The picture I'm posting is of the community leader who walked us out, we took the photo while waiting. She explained that this kind of thing (police raids) happen about 3 or 4 times a month and it is an unpleasant part of life in the favelas. Plus, the raids don't always lead to violence or conflict. It's mainly a drug sting, but as a precaution, most people stay indoors, in case anything does go down.

Anyways, we escaped unscathed, which is all that matters. Things should be back to normal tomorrow : )

Afterwards, we headed to the beach again, and I got the chance to go for a long run. It felt so good to hop into the ocean when I finished running - I love wearing my teeny Brazilian bikini and floating around in the waves to cool down. I'd post a picture of me in my bikini but I think it would be much too scandalous ha. Here, it's completely normal, almost expected!

I thought I'd post a fun picture of the typical Brazilian guy on the beach to neutralize the seriousness of my posting today. Enjoy!