Dear Friends and Family,

Wow! It has been a month since I have written and a lot has happened! Looking at our calendar, the past month, we have only had three evenings that we have not had something going on! And usually I try not to schedule things on school nights! I hope I can remember it as this our journal for ourselves too. This will be my last entry from here as our internet will be shut off on this Wednesday and we fly out on Saturday. We will be back in Hutchinson on Sunday afternoon of the 28th.

Annie is now 8 and had a fun birthday party! One of her friends could not make it as she had to make an emergency trip to the US, but the rest had fun and let us sleep a little!

Since I last wrote, we have been to several museums that we wanted to see here and waited until the end of our time to do so! The girls have also attended other friends’ and a teacher’s birthday parties. The girls have been to numerous slumber parties and had them here. The “big one” we had here (with friends of both girls) after school was out; we took all six of the girls to a state fair-like amusement park here to wear them out well before coming home to our apartment! We have been to several markets, and numerous farewell dinners with teachers and of friends made here! One of my parents even had a farewell party for me at her home on a Saturday and invited my whole class and their families. Another dinner was at a Malaysian friend’s home and the husband and Bill cooked a Malaysian meal! I hope Bill remembers how to cook it! We even managed to take in a Harlem Globetrotters game.

School ended on June the 10th, but before it did we had the typical “Festa Junia,” June Festival Party. It is a harvest party that all schools celebrate some time during the month of June and schools even get out for a couple days for it! The Brazilian/Portuguese Department is in charge of that party, but teachers sign up to help with different food or game booths! Typical outfits are square dance-like. I got the girls and I dresses at a market for the occasion; and the girls even volunteered to dance what they had learned in their Portuguese classes with several others!

The girls both had special end-of-the-year field trips that Bill and I were both able to go on also. Courtney’s class went to Cristalina, a town known for its crystals. An alumnus of the school owns a farm that had a crystal quarry on it. Although they stopped mining several years ago, you could still find numerous small crystals amongst the piles of mining debris. In fact, the whole area was covered in pieces of crystal. It appeared as if you were driving on a road of glass! It reminded me of my family’s rock hunting ventures in Africa as a kid. We also spent a couple of hours walking down the middle of a creek to loop around to the farm house which the kids thoroughly enjoyed!

Annie’s and my class, 2nd grade, went to a Brazilian student’s farm for their final field trip! It was also the girl’s birthday! The family hired people to entertain the kids like a teacher would do in the US! They played dodge ball. They had a DJ playing music. They hired a professional photographer. They had games set up like at a fair with prizes. They rented a trampoline, a bungee-type slingshot ride like I’ve seen at the Kansas State Fair, and a rock climbing wall that you slid down a on a rope once you reached the top. There was a pool and a hot tub on the farm, as well as a pool table. They had a horse to ride and another one pulling a cart. People were walking around the whole time serving soup, hotdogs, popcorn and drinks! They then served all of us hot sit down meal!

We just returned last night from our final trip here! We spent five days in the part of Brazil called the Pantanal. It is a world’s largest tropical wetland and has just recently been promoted for tourism. It is scarcely populated and not easily accessible as of yet. We took two airplanes to get to the capital city of Mato Grosso do Sul, which is only about 700 miles southwest of us here in Brasilia. We then rode a bus for four hours before getting to the Pantanal area, some on dirt roads. Most of the land is private farms which some have opened up parts for ecotourism. The government pays the farmers a stipend to use it for tourism, but there are strict guidelines for visiting and protecting it! They even limit the number of visitors per day! Much of the land is flat with trees scattered around. There also many termite hills across the pastures. There are many cattle ranches with 99% of Brazilian beef being raised there. Corn, beans and rice are also grown there. We saw agricultural names such as Cargill, Bunge, and Pioneer near the capital city of Campo Grande where we landed via airplane. There are various rivers that eventually drain into the Paraguay River. We spent parts of a couple days dressed in wet suits with masks and snorkels and floated down two of the crystal clear rivers and saw many types of flora and fishes. We also saw a couple of caves that were recently opened for tourism. They say there are 50 registered caves, but only three open for visitors. We spent another day touring a farm that was drained marsh land with canals. It was a bird watchers paradise! We also did a boat tour and fished for piranhas on the farm’s river. We also saw an old, enormous sink hole that had become a home to nesting macaws and parrots. We saw lots of animals on the trip--many birds, such as macaws, parrots, toucans, owls, kingfishers, spoonbills, ibises, hawks, storks, emus, herons, vultures, and many others I didn’t know. We saw lots of Brazilian alligators (They look different than the Everglade alligators.) and capybaras side by side. I was shocked the alligators didn’t eat the capybaras, but they said they preyed upon fish and birds! We also saw a huge snake which I was thankful we were on the truck when we saw it! In addition, we saw marsh deer, grey wolves, monkeys, and my favorite, giant anteaters! We saw three different ones. They usually keep to themselves and do not mingle with other anteaters. One was carrying its baby on its back. They were so beautiful and majestic! We saw the tracks of a jaguar and smelled it’s sent that it left behind, but saw no jaguar! Anyway, I told the girls it was another memory to file away of Brazil!

A family that is related to the family we had connections with in Salvador (that we went to the wedding at Thanksgiving time) is here in Brasilia to get visas to go to the US. They have a daughter that will visit us next year in the US. She will also spend some time here in Brasilia with us. We met up with them yesterday evening and LuAna came with us to our apartment to spend several nights. The girls are thrilled!

We will then try to pack. In fact, I hope to get to some done here in the next couple of days! I am not sure how to begin! Saying our good-byes has been very hard! And they seem to be going on forever-so we are constantly shedding tears! Some of the girls friends left before school was quite out and we had some farewell dinners before school was out too! Then there was the last day of school, our final “big” slumber party, and more farewell dinners! Leaving the States was hard, but we knew we would return! We do not know when we will see some of these people again! Saying goodbye is never easy, but I remind the girls that we if we did not have to say goodbye, we would have never had this wonderful experience! Also, now our world is so much smaller!

As we return home, we will hit the ground running there too! Bill’s dad’s dementia has worsened since we have been here as we knew it might, and we are anxious to see him! My siblings will all come to Kansas as we will all get together in McPherson, 30 miles away, where my parents have moved since we have been here, over the 4th of July. Bill’s aunt and uncle that have had our dog will come up from Houston on the 8th of July and possibly bring an aunt. We all are also anxious to see friends from home, especially the girls! Thank goodness we both have jobs to go back to and a home. Bill is not yet sure when he will return to work, but my school officially starts on the 14th of August. As we said all along about this venture: this will be an experience of a lifetime; and that it has been!

Saudades Brazil!
Ciao!
Connie

“Oi!” Hi!

Times flies; and time is flying! We are greatly aware that our time here is coming to an end! In fact there are only 16 more school days left! There is a big banner in front of the school counting down the number of days until the Senior class’s graduation! They have fewer days than the rest of us!

If I don’t write, I will forget all we have done! This weekend was a very full one! They just keep getting fuller which seems impossible! Saturday, the teachers of the school had a potluck/BBQ for the teachers that are leaving! We left that early to go to a farewell party for me at one of my Brazilian student’s homes. The parent invited all my students and their families! I was honored! It was wonderful! I didn’t want all the attention so I had it be a surprise bridal shower for my assistant, Debora, too. She is getting married the middle of July. It was fun and we were able to pull it off as a surprise! Her fiancé, Marcelo, made it too! I had told her to ask him to come!

Then on Sunday the Wolverton’s, the family that arrived when we did, and have a daughter Annie’s age, went with us to a nearby private farm with numerous waterfalls and hiking trails. They have guides and serve you lunch for a fee. We had been there before, but they had not! It was our last family outing with them! Annie and Savanna have been best friends here and will miss each other greatly! Ironically enough they live in the apartment building next to us in apartment 604 which is the same as ours. The girls’ birthdays are only a day apart, actually only about one and a half hours apart as Annie was born about 11:30 at night and Savanna about 1:00 am. On the next day!

In fact yesterday was Annie’s birthday. We went out to eat at a Brazilian BBQ last night for her birthday, her choice. She is having her birthday party this Friday night. She is having her first slumber party here with four friends, and is very excited!

The girls have been invited to friends’ homes every weekend or had friends here! We have been invited to different Brazilian teachers’ homes! The girls and I were invited to Cristina’s home, their Portuguese teacher! She is such a neat, fun lady! The girls love her and she loves them! She is actually a sister to my classroom assistant, Debora. Diane, the other teacher’s home we were invited to is American, but she is married to a Brazilian. They met at Bethany College. For those of you not from Kansas, Bethany College is about 45 miles from us in Hutchinson. Lander was there on a soccer scholarship. Diane is originally from Nebraska. They have been here three years now. She was hired here and is considered a local hire. They have two cute boys, Lucas and Daniel. It is always fun to see people’s homes, especially the local people’s homes!

Monday, May 1st was Brazil’s Labor Day and it was a holiday. Having the three day weekend, we flew to Sao Paulo to visit my host family from 29 years ago. I was 16 years old when I spent the year with them! Sylvinho, my youngest brother, actually visited my family in the US, my Senior year of high school, the year after I was there. I revisited them four years later, during my college Christmas and January term break. My two brothers, Octavio and Sylvinho, are two and four years older than me; and Dulce, my sister is five years older. They were all living at home when I was there, which is the custom here until they marry, and all in college. We saw Octavio and his family on our Christmas break here when we went to Paraty. Other than that I had not seen them in 25 years! Sylvio, my Brazilian dad passed away a couple years ago. Dulce is divorced and has moved back in with Nina, my Brazilian mom, along with her older son, Pedro. He is a very nice Senior studying at a British school. We stayed at the house that I lived in. The girls loved seeing where I spent that year and were shocked at all I remembered from that long ago! Dulce took us by my old school, which she had also attended, and the USP, University of Sao Paulo. Octavio and his wife, Legia, are co-owners of three very nice restaurants which we ate at! Courtney and Annie were thrilled to see them again and meet their daughter, Laura. They have so much fun teasing Octavio that they are the “VIGs” (Very Important Girls) and let him know that he is not! We went to a park with Sylvinho, his wife, Chang, and their new puppy, Milo. Chang is a Chinese-Brazilian. Partially because of her, Sylvinho decided to study Chinese; and is now a professor at the University of Sao Paulo, USP. His Chinese is better than Chang’s as she was born and raised here. We also went to Chinatown with all my siblings and their families and ate at a Chinese restaurant! It was a fun day! Nina still manages her catering business and keeps busy with that. I’m glad I got to see my Brazilian family again and it was neat for my girls and Bill to meet them! I know they were pleased too!

“Ciao! Ate proxima!” Bye! Until next time!

WOW!

We just returned from a four day weekend at Iguacu Falls. Wow! What splendor! It is known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World and it is beautiful-more than I remembered! Iguacu Falls has the widest curtain of falls in the world with 275 different waterfalls. Victoria Falls, in Africa, is known for having the largest area of a continuous fall and Angel Falls in Venezuela is known for being the highest. Iguacu Falls is also known for having the greatest flow of water. It is on the border between Brazil and Argentina. We did tours of both sides. From the Brazilian side you see the panoramic view that is spectacular. Then on the Argentinean side you see the magnificence of where the mouth of the Iguacu River plunges over the edge of the falls. The whole area around the falls is a forested National Park and is beautiful also. There are many coati mammals (similar to raccoons) pestering people for food.

On the Brazilian side of the falls, we rode in a wagon pulled by a jeep to get close to the river. Then we walked through the forest on a trail until we were closer to the river. We then took a small motorized boat ride up closest to the falls. As part of the experience, they soak you in a smaller fall upon the way! Annie was terrified of the rapids initially and then once she got used to the “fun of it” she wanted to know why we could not go again! It was an awesome experience!

From the Argentinean side we took a train through the forested National Park area and then walked upon many man-made walkways over the river to get to the view of the falls. An Italian family that stayed at the same resort as we did was on the same tours with us. They had a five year old daughter that befriended Courtney and Annie which made everything even more fun for the girls. (Courtney doesn’t know a stranger!) The dad is stationed in Brazil working with Fiat. The girl and her brother go to a Brazilian/Italian school, so the girl spoke pretty good Portuguese. The girls communicated in “Portitaliano.” Upon leaving that side of the falls, it was exceptionally neat to see a “flock” of about five toucans in a tree in the wild! We also saw a guinea pig in the wild!

We also went to a Bird Park in the area. It is the largest bird sanctuary in South America. They had birds from all over the world, but many from the area. Within the big fenced park, you were sometimes in smaller fenced areas to see the birds from specific parts of the world or the birds themselves were in smaller fenced areas. I think we all really enjoyed the toucans, including Annie until one bit her.

Our last day in the area, we went to Itaipu Dam which borders Brazil and Paraguay, along the Parana River. It is the second largest dam in the world, following the Three Gorges Dam in China, but it produces the most energy in the world. It is one of the Seven Modern Wonders of the World. The dam provides enough hydro-power to give electricity to 95% of Paraguay and 20% of Brazil. It was just fully completed in 2007. The day we were there they actually had water running over in one of the spillways which they said was rare.

The Thursday and Friday prior to this trip, I had parent-teacher conferences. Most of the parents seem be very appreciative of all I have done for their children. Having conferences those two days followed by Monday and Tuesday as a holiday gave the students a long break. Tuesday was Tiradentes, a Brazilian holiday honoring the man who was a martyr in gaining Brazil’s independence from Portugal. “Tiradentes” literally translates as tooth puller as the man was a dentist part of his life. It was used during the trial as a term of ridicule.

I’m now back to school with less than one quarter to go! And as any end of an elementary school year, it is already looking quite busy and full with all the end of the year activities!

Ciao!
Connie