Lots of Stuff

All my classes were canceled today so I thought I would catch you up on stuff. It's been a while since I've updated anything. Let's start back at the earliest thing, my birthday. I went to Belo Horizonte with a buddy from church to visit his friends and my friends now. I met them the last time I went there and they really liked me and so did their dog, or my leg anyway. Just good people, they remind me of southern folk.

We got there Saturday and went to a different church that my buddy wanted to visit. It's a different church than they attend. It's much smaller, only 30,000 members. They had a young adult service that was really cool. It was long like all services but it really held my attention. A preacher would come up and read a scripture and talk a bit and then people would come up and act out the verse he had talked about. It was really, really cool. They also had some street dancers do a couple of numbers. I felt like getting up there with them and doing the worm, my only break dance move, but I refrained myself.

We ate a meal when we got back with cheese fondu, meat and bread. Really good! The next day the wife woke up really early and blew up red and white balloons because they know I'm a big Alabama fan. She also printed off the Alabama logo off the internet and gave me a CD of my favorite Brazilian Christian artist, Fernandinho. (Side note: He used to be a truck driver and not a good person. His wife started going to church and one night he got angry at her and got a gun and was going to shoot her and she cried out to God to help her and the gun wouldn't fire. He ran out and got in his truck and kept thinking about what happened and came to a church that was still in service and surrendered his life to God.)

Before we had lunch on my birthday the wife wanted to say a few things and my buddy interpreted and she said that when they first met me that they invited me into their house because it was the Christian thing to do but now they invited me because they feel that God put me in their life and many nice things like that. Then the husband prayed and thanked God for me and asked God to bless me with a great wife and for his blessing on my life. I'm not an emotional person but I told them after the prayer the only thing I could say was "Thank You" because words couldn't say how much I appreciated it but the real reason was I didn't know if a tear of two might sneak out, of course I could have blamed it on allergies.

I actually got a couple of birthday cards which was a great surprise. A lady from my office at Blue Cross bought a card and had people sign it and another friend from Blue Cross mailed me one. It really did my heart good. I really miss the people that I worked with. When you're somewhere for almost 11 years you build a lot of good relationships.

I also got another care package from home last week. It had some Christmas presents in it which I've been told not to open, but what they don't know won't hurt them. I actually haven't eaten all the oatmeal cream pies yet nor the swiss cake rolls. I think it's some sort of record for me. I've been feasting for the past few days.

Oh yeah, weirdest thing so far. A week or two ago on Sunday night I hear this really loud music outside and I think,"Oh, it's some sort of street party." So I decide to go outside and see what's going on. I go outside and the first thing I see is a guy with his arm around another guy. The first thought in my mind was,"I think the guy is hurt and his friend his holding him up." Not so much. It was a gay parade in Copacabana. I start looking around and seeing all kinds of crazy things, things you don't see in Falkville. It doesn't take me long to figure out what I've stumbled into and go back to my room. My buddy from church calls me and said he and his brother are going to get some ice cream so I said sure because it would be good to get away from the area for a little bit. I go to the Metro and the line is all the way out to the street. I've never seen it like that before. I then decide it's better to stay home. I wanted to go back and take a shower. The paper the next day said 1.5 million people were in Copacabana for it. Craziness!

Hanggliding, Favelas & College Football

Tudo bem? It's been a while since I've updated. I've attached a few pics from a place I visited in Rio called Pedra Bonita. It was absolutely amazing. Some friends of mine came in town from Belo Horizonte and we went there a Saturday a few weeks ago. I didn't know this was the place where people can hangglide or paraglide down to the beach. If I had known, I would have brought enough money to do it. It costs $R250 which is around $150. I just knew we were going to a mountain. What is interesting is that several cariocas that I told about this place never heard of it. I want to hangglide and paraglide before I leave, for sho.

Last week I wanted to visit Jardim Botanico which is a botanic garden. I waited kind of late to go. To begin my journey I printed out directions from google maps. I wanted some exercise so I decided to walk instead of taking a bus. Well, I started walking and started noticing I was going up hill and there was a lot of doggie doo on the sidewalk. The climate of people seemed a little different too but I kept on trucking. It kept going uphill and the area didn't seem to improve. I finally see these police officers and one kind of speaks English and they are talking to this couple. I'm kind of thinking that I'm in a favela and turns out I was right. I ask them for directions and what I can understand is that Jardim is very difficult to get to from here. I'm not good with directions that involve more than two turns in English much less someone giving me detailed directions in another language. They stopped this motorcycle taxi and asked how much he would charge to take me there and he said $R15 which is pretty expensive for a mototaxi. Yeah, it's a motorcycle where they slap a helmet on you and take you to your destination. Not my first choice so I said that was too expensive and I would walk back to where I came from. Because of my late start I did get there but had to meet a friend and didn't have time to go in and have time to enjoy it but I did see it from the outside and it looked nice. I'll catch it from another day.

I'm currently looking for another apartment because this one is so expensive and the pay as a teacher is not stable. My schedule is pretty full and if everyone that is scheduled comes to class then there would be no problems but life as an English teacher here is not stable. You never know who is going to cancel. I'm gonna have to find a place with a roommate and that will save me a lot of money plus it will help me with learning Portuguese. I found this site and have been emailing apartment owners and it hasn't been promising so far but I know I'll find the right place.

I went to a place Wed night and they had two rooms in this place with 3 other people who seemed nice but the two rooms were smaller than a prison cell (don't ask me how I know how big a cell is). They wanted $R800 for the smaller room and $R900 for the "big" room. Nah! I said "Thanks"and smiled and thought "There is no way I'm gonna pay that much money to live in a glorified closet."

Today I went to a place that I really wanted because of the price. I needed someone who spoke Portuguese so I took a friend with me to help negotiate. I found out why it was so inexpensive. Yeah, another favela. The house was kind of dark and gloomy and I didn't have a good feeling but I was so focused on the price I was ignoring the bad vibes. I'm glad my friend came with me because she talked some sense into me after it was over. My friend I went with reminds me of my uppity cousin Lee Ann who is one of my favorite people. I'll keep looking and my goal is to find the right place this month. Just pray for me to get the right one and the best price.

Today I was in crisis mode because it's the first Saturday of college football and I couldn't watch. It was difficult. I was supposed to get cable this week but there was some sort of issue so hopefully it will be in time for next week. I did find ESPN streaming radio at night so I did listen to some football and got a Domino's Pizza and Coke and listened. It felt so good. I did have a Portuguese class with another teacher from the school I got my certificate from. She speaks very little English and I speak very little Portuguese so it was a good match. It was very helpful for me. Sorry for the long entry, it's been a while. I'll try to update more.

Southern Hospitality In Minas

At a lake in Belo Horizonte









My JCPenney look









Lake in Belo

Tudo bem? I'm just showing off my little knowledge of Portuguese. It just means "Is everything good?" It's a common greeting and I use it all the time. After that, I got nothin' else for you as far as conversation goes.

Last weekend I went to Minas Gerais which is another state here in Brazil. A friend of mine had an engagement party there and I went with a friend of mine from church. I've met a few people from Minas here in Rio and they're so friendly. I had expectations of what I thought the people were like in Minas and I wasn't disappointed.

At the engagement party, there was a couple there who's getting married in December and they invited me to their wedding. Another lady there was talking about setting me up with some girls. A couple that we stayed with in Belo Horizonte were sooooo nice. We went to their church Sunday which has around 45,000 people. It has a main building which has services going on all the time and there are several blocks of buildings that they use as well.

The couple we stayed with bought me a Brazil shirt with a faith shield on it. They said "Joel, we like you so much we wanted to give you this shirt." I was like "Man, these could be southerners. They're just good people." The city where we stayed was called Belo Horizonte which has around 3 million people. It reminded me of Birmingham a little bit. If I come back to Brazil, that is where I would live next time. It's not as pretty as Rio but I just like it, mainly because of the people that I met there.

I added about three more students since last time. I've started working with another school which pays more than the others and I picked up two more private students. The private students are just coming from word of mouth. One of my new students asked me a question about present perfect in our first class and I was able to give him the correct answer. He said "You are good. I've asked that to other teachers before and they couldn't give me an answer." I did my Barney Fife sniff and was like "Well, that's how I roll."

I Just Got Scalped

I'm going outside of Rio for the first time this weekend with a friend from church. His roommate who is a friend of mine as well is having an engagement party in another state so we're taking a road trip. I'm looking forward to it. I've heard the people in Minas Gerais are very friendly and there's a church in Belo Horizonte we're going to visit that has around 40,000 people.

My hair was getting a little shaggy so I wanted to look decent to meet a lot of new people this weekend. I went to the place I normally go for a haircut and they were booked but I wanted to go ahead and get it cut now because I had a cancellation this morning and was the best time for me.

So I go down the street a couple of blocks to another place because there are salons on every other corner. I haven't had a bad haircut since I've been here so I figured why not. Either I didn't communicate my idea very well or he's part Indian and needed to fill his quota for a scalping.

I felt like I was in 3rd grade when my Dad did the same thing and cut every portion of bangs off me in perfect timing for picture day. I tried to tell him I only wanted a little bit cut off. I think he interpreted it as I only wanted a little hair left when he got done. He wanted to shake my hand after he was done. Why would I want to shake your hand after that? Then I have to pay for it. Come on man!

I keep going back to the mirror and hoping that I'll think "Oh, it's not that bad" but it hasn't happened yet. The word that comes to my mind every time is "Dang!". Good news is I won't need a haircut for about 6 months. By the time I come home I'll still be riding the effects of this haircut probably.

Just had to share.

Getting Married In Rio...

Ha! Just wanted to see how many people would read this with that headline. Who knows what will happen here, I may bring someone home when I come back. You just never know.

Since that's out of the way, I thought I'd give an update because it's been a while. My recent highlight was getting a care package from home. Man, it felt like I had won the lottery with oatmeal cream pies, pringles, oatmeal, peanut butter, etc. Oatmeal cream pies...gone in less than 2 days. I haven't eaten everything yet because I'm trying to make it last but the oatmeal cream pies didn't have a chance.

I found out that the tutor that gave me a couple of students when he had to leave the country in April is coming back in September. One of the students is a high school kid who is going back to the US in October so I was planning on losing him but the other students are a husband and wife couple that I tutor twice a week. It's a pretty good chunk of change from those two students.

I found out from a friend of mine about another school that pays better than any of the other schools. I emailed the lady this week and she gave me three times where she needed a teacher. I should be able to rearrange my schedule and get those three classes. Those three classes will completely replace the income I am losing from the two students I'm losing in October. God is good!

I've added a couple of new private students that are really nice. Most of my students are from one company which is a bank. It all started with a friend from church sending a notice to people at the company about my classes. One of them said her boyfriend wants to take classes too so that will be great. I'm really thankful that I really have a great group of students.

I'm also trying to get some other students to give myself some cushion. I found out that in December, January & February that it's pretty slow for teaching so I may come home in December. I'm not sure yet, I'll just have to play it by ear. I don't want to just be sitting here and paying rent without teaching. It all depends on my situation at that time.

I just found out tonight that I sold my Alabama tickets for the year. I will miss the Alabama games so much this year. I'll figure out a way to watch them on the internet somehow.

I found out this weekend that some people I know from Alabama were in Rio and preaching at a church outside of Rio. I googled the address and it would take 3 hrs to get there by bus. If I had a car it would only take 1 hr. At first I wasn't going to but I talked to my brother and he said if I didn't have anything else going on I could do some good reading on the bus ride. I decided to go do it and waited about 45 minutes for the bus and it never came. If it had come I would have been about 45 minutes to an hour late and then have another 3 hr bus ride home. So I just came back to the apartment. One thing I miss is being able to get in my car and go where I want. Even though I have no desire to be in this traffic its the principle of going where I want to go and when I want.

I talked to a couple of friends this week and one of my brothers which made it a great week. It always does my heart good to talk to someone and be able to communicate. It's the simple things that I miss like basic communication. Well, tchau for now amigos e amigas!

Hillsong Comes To Rio & The Tide Rolls In Rio

As I'm sitting here watching my Brazilian soap operas (it helps with my listening comprehension), I thought I would give an update. I forgot to email about something that happened several weeks ago. I was walking down one of the main streets in Copacabana and I'm waiting for the green light to walk across the street, I start hearing shrieks and screams behind me.

I turn around and I see this big rat running right down the middle of the sidewalk and people are dodging right and left like they're avoiding a locomotive. He's hoofing it and takes a right turn into this women's clothing store that had its door open. I see all these people almost immediately jump onto chairs and tables. He was in there for about a minute and I guess he didn't see anything that would fit so he came back out and went back in the direction where he came from. It was like his sole purpose was to go into that store. That was so funny! It made my day.

This past weekend Hillsong came to Rio and the church where I attend sponsored it. It was Darlene Zschech and her band from Australia. There was 4 different acts before them. It was supposed to start at 4 so I get there a little early. I should have factored Brazil time into the equation because it started close to 5.

Hillsong actually started around 8 and went until close to 10. Then our pastor came out and I guess he was giving an altar call. He can be really long winded and I wasn't exactly sure if the concert was over or not because a lot of people were leaving so I left too. It wasn't exactly in the best part of town so I didn't want to stay really late. As I was outside the stadium I heard them playing again. It was a very worshipful experience and did me so much good. I'm not good with numbers but there was probably 20,000 or more there.

I've had a lot of students on vacation or canceling classes lately so I've had a lot of free time. I've been walking or running by the beach a lot. Well, Monday as I'm running I have on my Alabama shirt and then I hear this family that is going the opposite way yell "Roll Tide!". I thought "Hallelujah, country folk!" and almost thought I heard angels sing. I yelled "Roll Tide" back and had a huge smile on my face the rest of the day. A couple of weeks ago I saw a guy on the metro with a University of Alabama ball cap on. We're international baby!

I've had some nice comments on my last post and I appreciate them. In case anyone is interested here's the link to the free 8 day email course on changing your thoughts and focusing on what is going right in your life - http://www.the48principle.com/toolbox.php. It's called the 8 day challenge.

Oh yeah, last night I was coming back from one of my classes and took this little van. The cost was $R2.30 and I gave him a $R5. He gave me some change and I started to look at it pretty closely, which I don't always do. He only gave me .70 back. I almost didn't say anything but I thought, "No. I can't let these people walk over me just because I'm a foreigner." I was trying to figure out how to say it but I told him "You gave me..." and then pointed at the change. He was like, Oh, I'm sorry (in Portuguese of course) and kind of smiled. He knew what he was doing.

Some of the people in the van started saying something to him and I heard United States and English with my translating skills. The guy who shortchanged me was saying something and making a face like "I didn't do it on purpose" or that's the feeling I got. It seemed like those people were taking up for me. Regardless if they did or not, that's the way I choose to think about it. I was still nice to the guy and slapped on the back and said "Obrigado amigo" when I left.

Quick Testimony

I just had to update on this week. This is probably more for my benefit than for anyone else. This has just been a good week and today was the best of all. Just lots of little things.

You see, I had allowed myself to get pretty negative about some things. It hasn't been all beaches and bikinis, there have been some rough patches. I told God last Sunday that I needed to hear from Him that night at church. He really showed up and the pastor gave a great message about how changing your negative thoughts and replacing them with God's Word can change your life and situation. I took so many notes and really got me encouraged to take action.

I had taken a free 8 day course a few years back regarding changing your thoughts. He's a Christian author that I had read before and really like called Tommy Newberry. I signed up again Sunday night and started getting the emails Monday morning. I could tell a difference already on the first day. It helped me out soooooo much.

Today's email was on being grateful for what you have. He said gratitude is focusing your attention and energy on what is working instead of what isn't. The more you appreciate, the more you notice things to appreciate. I've been doing that today and it was just a good day. I got an email from a guy who knows a friend of mine that used to work at Blue Cross. I think he does some sort of mission work here and I'll meet him tomorrow. That will give me another contact here which is great.

I was on the bus to see a student tonight and this pretty girl sat beside me and recognized me and spoke to me. I couldn't for the life of me remember who she was. Note: In Rio, when you see so many beautiful women every day, they almost run together and you can't remember which ones you saw the day before. Just unreal. Well, she could tell I didn't remember and reminded me that she had helped me before with directions and we got off the bus and talked for a while. Nothing major but just talking to a pretty and sweet girl can always brighten your day.

Finally when I got home tonight I had a card slid under my door. It was the first piece of mail I've received since I've been here because I just had a permanent address recently. It was a letter from the online campus at my church in Bham signed by everyone. It did me so much good. I had to write and encourage myself with this and share it with everyone else as well. Gratitude is something I will continue because it can change a dim outlook into a sunny day. There's so much to be grateful for, for sho. Word!