7 weeks in Rio

It's incredible to think that we've been living in Rio for 7 weeks. I think the vacation phase is really wearing off because some things about life here are starting to get on my nerves. Like not being able to go anywhere alone esspecially after dark in the favela. But I can live with that for another two months. There are other things that bother me more, like the reason we can't walk around alone. But that is a conversation for another day, perhaps over chaí.

This weekend was the first time in over seven weeks that I had an opportunity to run. It felt so incredible freeing to run. It didn't even bother me that I didn't have my iPod or shoes on one of the occations. Friday was the first time I ran. The staff from one of the ministries we are involved with invited us to go hiking at the Floresta da Tijuca (the mountains in all the pictures from where we are currently living). We brought along a few of the older kids and made a day of it. One of the kids who helps the staff out a lot apparently recently finished his oblicatory military service and is in impecible physical condition. So he, I and a few others tear off down the mountain towards the end of our hike. It was awesome. On that occation I was prepared and wearing my tinnis shoes. I think we startled a camelion that had an 18 inch body + tail but all I saw was a lot of movement instead of the actual animal. The next day we hoped on a bus to a town called Angra on the ocean west of Rio. We spent the whole day grilling, swimming, conversing, reading, sunning, and all the other great beach activities. I decided after eating the huge Brazilian churrasco, I decided to try running through the neighborhood in my chocos. Bad idea. I may have made it a mile when my feet said NO MORE! so I ended that run at the beach. Rested my feet for a moment before kicking off the shoes and tearing off down the sand. That was awesome! I think one of my new loves will be running on the beach. When I got back to the house there was freshly grilled pineapple. I have never had anything like it before. You Have To Try This Stuff! I will make it lots when I get back to the states guaranteed.

I'm so tired. It was a long weekend. It's good to be back home but the beach house may have been the first time I've felt like it was okay to really relax and enjoy myself. Now it's back to business, which I love but like I said, the glamour in the unfamiliar is beginning to wear off.

motocycle

4 weeks later

in Rio de Janeiro...

Things I can live without-

microwave (though it still would be nice to own one someday)

any time telling device, but I must be around others who can provide the time. (time telling devices include but are not limited to watch, alarm clock, wall clock, and yes even a cell phone)

dish washer

clothes washing machine and dryer, thats right my hands have become washing machine masters

electric coffee maker (just put a filter over a mug, good enough)

car (truly in a big city with year round good weather and sufficient public transit I dont miss having to pay monthly loan, insurance, gas, and maintance expenses along with knowing the directions to places)

a closet, who needs a closet when all you need is a drawer full of clothes?

air conditioner, I may change my mind when summer rolls around but so far Im doing well with the 80+ degrees weve had so far

Im sure there are many more things that I enjoy living without these are just the ones that most easily came to mind.

chilin in Rio

I've been debating wheather or not to tell the story at all but because I don't know how many more times I can  check my email and facebook and I don't know what else to do while I'm at the internet cafe, I've decided to spill my first great Brazilian adventure...

Tuesday (aka-day 3 in Rio) we went to an orphanage. There were youngsters and teenages. Like 15 in a tiny house. So we were loving on these kids playing soccer and picking them up and running around and all and then I noticed I was having trouble standing up after sitting on the ground. That was odd. Then I sat on a couch for a while with some really sweet kids and had trouble again standing up, this time including some sizable pain. Then we walked down the block to get some lunch and sat down for an hour or so and by the end of that time the pain was building and I couldn't walk. It's true. I managed to stand up and couldn't go anywhere. My back was shrivalling up and I didn't really know what was going on. Somehow I managed to waddle to the door and was really stuck at the top of some stairs. So they hailed a taxi and we went to the private hospital which didn't have an emergency room. So they put me in a chair and loaded me up into an ambulence. I went to the other private hospital and had x-rays and an IV of muscle relaxers and pain killers. Neither did much good so I was put on bed rest at one of the Word Made Flesh staff houses and slept for about 24 hours. At the end I was able to get around enough to follow the other interns back to our real house and have been walking better each day since then.

Isn't that peciliar? Out of the blue I must have pulled a muscle and it's rotten that this was so early in the trip. Now I'm going to have to go really easy with all the stuff we do. I haven't tried to lift anything yet, I didn't even go swimming at the beach. But I am healing. Hardly a moment of pain today in fact. And God is soverign. There is a reason and I will respect the care my body now needs to protect myself from a reinjury. Maybe now I will choose to spend more time at one of the other sites. I would have been really drawn to the orphanage otherwise. Or maybe when I go there I will spend more time with the older kids who are less in need of being picked up and more inclined to converse with. Either way, that's my story and I hope you enjoyed it. Please don't worry about me. I'm in good hands.

Texas