Conferência Nacional de Unidade

Towards the end of June, I headed down to Mogi Guacu to visit Samareh a few days before the National Baha'i Unity Conference in Mogi Mirim. The conference took place at Soltanieh - a Baha'i Education Center. It is basically a huge are of land that is kind of like a mini college campus. There is a lecture hall, dining hall, and dorms to host the hundreds of people that registered for the conference. Many of the large scale Baha'i events are held at Soltanieh (summer schools, conferences, etc...) and it is even rented out for other non-Baha'i events.

I ended up working closely with the Assecoria Nacional de Juventude in several photo presentations and a power point. I learned so much and had a bunch of fun working with them for the short amount of time i was there.

After the conference, it was time to head back to Sampa and get things in order for the end of the semester at PUC.

Only in Brazil...

Yesterday we had a final exam scheduled, but class was cancelled and the exam was moved to today because it fell on a game day. Only in Brazil, hehe.

A couple of us got together at a bar near PUC to watch the game...
All i have to say about the team is that sleeping beauty finally woke up!! In the last 30 seconds of the first half, Japan had already made a goal, and I was like "okay, you've got 30 seconds to make a goal"...and in comes Ronaldo!!!!!!!!!! wow, que emoção!! Everyone jumped up, clapped, cheered, hugged anyone close by, etc. And that was only one of four goals, hehe.

last night everyone came over for pizza. we all sit around the table, plates get passed around, food flys onto plates, and everyone talks a mile a minute at the same time. it amazes me how anyone understands anything. i've learned to focus on two people and tune everyone else out in order to at least get one side of the story, hehe.

Maria Luiza, the youngest member of the family is shy with strangers. and after 5 and a half months we broke the ice, hehe. her first words to me were "dona Leah, olha que cê fez!". i had been pushing her around on a mini chair and then realized we were ruining the wooden waxed floor. i stopped for a second, she looked down, and then looked up at me and said "look what you did." Luckily my host mom was real chill about it and said the floor was needing a re-waxing soon anyway.

As you all back in the States are enjoying the heat of summer, Brazil is entering the peak of winter. and it's no joke my friends.

Every time i enter the house, i don't have to say a word, if my facial expression even hints that it's cold outside, my host mom doesn't let me forget how she warned me at the beginning: "você não acreditou!", and then gives a little chuckle, hehe.

I always thought i'd be able to handle the winter here because it gets ALOT colder in the States. but there's a tiny detail that makes ALL the difference: heating systems simply don't exist here. but then, heating systems would be a big waste of money and energy because the winter here has intercalary days of sunshine and warmth (but it gets cold at night either way). However, on those cold days, it is as cold inside as it is outside. i now sleep with 4 blankets. when i got here, a sheet was unbearable at times and now 4 blankets is almost not enough.

Living in Brazil during the World Cup

As many of you can imagine, the World Cup is like a national holiday in Brasil. I'm not kidding. We don't have class, people don't go the work, the streets are decorated with green and yellow and they are empty on days that Brasil plays. Weeks ago, almost every commercial on TV had a song advertising their product and cheering for Brasil to win "one more". I've already got jingles stuck in my head for various banks, a grocery store, a furniture store and dishwashing soap.

The last two games of Brazil (9 June and 18 June) were rather disapointing. Brazil won against Croatia and Australia, but everyone expected more from our world champions. Nonetheless, that doesn't stop people from celebrating victory with fireworks and decorations and all sorts of funny looking things that make loud noises when you blow into them. I watched the first game at Samareh's house in Mogi Guaçu. A bunch of Baha'is came over and took part in the festivities. The second game i watched with Feizi and Azm at a japanese restaurant on a projector screen. The apartment across the street set off fire works from their balcony.