Camping in Bodequeda Part 2

The following days at camp were full of different things and new experiences. It was definitely awesome to spend Sabbath in nature. The camp site had a natural pool and river with several water falls. The natural pool is just river water in a pool. The water enters the pool from one area of the river and returns to river at another area of the river. The water is constantly being changed. I spent a good portion of the Sabbath just sitting by one of the waterfalls and reading. Sabbath afternoon we had a bible knowledge game. The camp was divided into 3 different teams and were tested on our Bible knowledge. Saturday night was a free night for people to play games and go swimming.


One night we had a children party. Everyone was supposed to dress up as children and there was food that children loved to eat. I got in the acampitos spirit and volunteered to help with the decorations and earned a lot of acampitos that night. The party reminded me of my childhood in Jamaica. They has some of the things I had as a child in Jamaica. The costumes of the persons were something else. Some people went all out. One person was dressed up as a baby. He was wearing an adult size diaper, not a very pretty picture.


The highlight of the camp was the auction. Everyone was excited about the auction and wondering what things there would be able to buy. Obviously the more acampitos a person has, the more leverage he/she has. At the beginning of the camp the pastor informed us the person who would be doing the auction would be someone from Cape Verde. I was thinking in my head why would someone from Cape Verde come all the way to the middle of nowhere to have camp auction. The days leading up auction helped me to get a better picture of the character of the pastor to realize this auctioneer from Cape Verde was just another one of his schemes.

Okay, this pastor is not like any pastor I have ever met, not in a bad way. He is so down to earth and he is a total joker. He has a name for everyone. These names sometimes have nothing to do with the real name of the person. My name, for example, was teacher because I am here as a teacher in Brazil. I don’t think most people at the camp knew my name because he kept calling me teacher and everyone caught on. This pastor was something else you would walk around the camp joking with people or cracking jokes.

So at the beginning at the auction, the pastor announced that the Cape Verde auctioneer was on his way then he disappeared. Later, the sound system in the meeting hall started playing this African song and the pastor returned wearing a shirt and pants made from a cloth with an African print. Then, he told us how he had a long trip from Cape Verde. After that he dropped the bomb on us about the auction. Everyone was of the opinion that we see the items we were bidding on, but that was not the case. We had to bid on persons and after we had bid on the person, we would see what we actually had bid on. Not even the person we were bidding on knew which item we were bidding on. The pastor said he wanted to teach us to value each other rather than material possessions. I wasn’t too thrilled about this idea about having someone bid on me because even though I knew some of the people, they had other friends and family who they would rather to spend their money on.

I was hoping that my name would be called among the last when people had no money and had gone to bed or not be called at all. I was not so fortunate. After probably the fourth person had been auctioned. The pastor asked for the international camper to face the crowd. That was just my luck, I had to be fifth person out of a population of a 100. Then to begin the bidding he said that since I was an international product, made in Jamaica, the bidding had to start higher. They started the bidding at 500 acampitos. That was high because other people started at 100. I was thinking to myself, no one is going to want to spend their acampitos on me.

I was surprised when the final bid was close to 4000 acampitos. The person who was bidding on me did not get as much satisfaction as I had gotten. It just happened that she was bidding on a doll. She spent all those acampitos a doll. I felt sorry for her and decided to return the favor and bid on her when it was her time and we decided to combine our acampitos for greater bidding power. Towards the end of the auction the value of persons started to drop so I guess it was better to have gone among the first. In the end the girl left me with all the acampitos and I was able to buy a book and a t-shirt.

Another highlight of the camp was the river. Most people spend most of their free time at the river, because it was so hot and the water of the river was cool and nice. The river was ok for me. I was not really feeling the color of the water nor the fact that there were small fishes swimming the water. I liked looking at the waterfalls but I really didn’t want to go into the water. By day 2 it was very hot and I could not put off at least taking a dip. Despite the color of the water, it was pretty nice swimming in the river and it was fun.

Two very unpleasant things about the camp was the frogs and insect situation. I dreaded nights because frogs were everywhere. I was so glad I had brought a flashlight because I did not want to encounter a frog. Also every night I was afraid that I would find a frog in my tent. Fortunately, a frog never entered my tent or at least not to my knowledge. I did wake up one morning to find a dog sleeping at the entrance of my tent. I don’t even know where it came from and I never saw it again. Probably it was my protector from frogs.

There were some other very interesting things the camp. When I was packing I was thinking bare essentials because I would be living in a tent for a few days. The other campers did not think that way. Some people brought big bags equal to the size of suitcases. There were several electric fans, extensions cords, hair dryers and other things that I thought were totally unnecessary for camp. I really thought I had over packed because I had a knapsack and other small bag. I was under packed big time. Another then about the camp that was different and a shock for an Adventist camp was the food. The food was good don’t get me wrong, but when I got lunch and dinner on several occasions I had to as if the food was vegetarian because chicken and red meat was being served. That was a shock and a major disappointment for me, given our health message as a church. It is one thing to eat chicken and meat, I have nothing against it because I used to eat them but when a person is unable to survive five days without them, it is a major problem.

Overall I had fun at the camp and I am glad I went. I made a lot of new friends and many of them happen to also work at the hospital so I will see them around for the duration of my time in Campo Grande. One positive thing about going to this camp was the fact, that Bodequeda was only an hour away from Bonito a must see of Mato Groso do Sul. In my next blog entry I will tell you about my trip because I have already written a lot in this entry. Thanks for reading!

Camping in Bodequeda Part 1

It is the tradition in SDA churches in Brazil is to go camping over the carnival weekend. So given that I am in Brazil, I have to do as the SDA Brazilians do. A week before carnival I met a lady from the church next to the hospital and she invited me to go camping with her church. So, the following week I made arrangements to go camping. There was however, one problem I had no tent and my sleeping bag just happened to be at IABC. I explained the situation to the organizer of the camp and she told me that between herself and Sonya, the lady who invited me, they would find me a tent and sleeping bag. The following day in class, one of my students mentioned that he would be going the same camp as chaplain and that I could ride with him to camp. Every thing was just falling into place.

The camp started on Friday and my student said he would pick me up at 1/2pm and we would make the 2 hour drive to camp. Two o’clock came, then 3pm. I then decided to call him. He did not answer his phone. I called three more times but with no response. Finally, at 4 pm he called me and told me he would be there in half an hour. When he finally got there, he told me he took a nap because he woke up early that day.

The ride to the camp site was fine and I got to see some of the Mato Groso do Sul landscape. As we drove I couldn’t help feeling like I was driving on I-75 or the turnpike driving north from Miami. The road basically just a straight road with very few curves and both sides of the highway there is very flat land, with very little vegetation. This is a change from the state in Goias, which is full of mountains and valley and lush landscape. I thought it was strange for a place with the name thick bush of the south to have so little shrubbery and tree. One other thing that Mato Groso do Sul does have through is a lot of water in the form of rivers and swamps. As we got closer to the camp site, I couldn’t help but notice the large amount of swamp area which was very close to the highway, obviously a flood hazard during rainy season.

When we finally got to the camp site it was dark and the temperature had risen a few degrees. Mato Groso do Sul obviously isn’t like Goias where it becomes cooler at night. When we arrived at the campsite my first point of business was to find out where I was going to sleep so I went in search of Sonya. She told me the organizer of the camp found me a tent and that she had brought me a sleeping bag. As she told me I could set up my sleeping bag beside hers, a frog hopped in the same direction. I am terrified of frogs so I screamed. Sonya got rid of the frog and then I began asking myself, “What had I got myself in for the next four days?” Sonya’s husband and another guy then began assembling my tent for me.

After they assembled the tent and I brought my stuff into the tent and got settled. We then had our first camp assembly and ate dinner, we opened the camp and learned about the activities for the following day, Sabbath. At dinner I met some of the people and I learned about acampitos, something that would be mentioned all throughout the camp.


Acampitos was the camp currency. Throughout camp, each camper would try to earn as much acampitos as possible to have a lot of acampitos to buy stuff on the last night of the camp at the camp auction. There were different ways to earn acampitos, from showing up to morning worship on time, volunteering to help in the kitchen, clean the bathroom and just participating in camp activities. The acampitos looked like monopoly money and came in notes of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100. This was very interesting to me because I had never heard of this at a camp before and the people we all in excited about earning acampitos. I couldn't help but get excited too. To open the camp and to welcome Sabbath, we had a fireworks show which was very beautiful and we prayed together in the dark as a camp, very cool.

Riding the Bus in Campo Grande

So since I am in a new city, it is my duty as a traveler to explore. I have Fridays off so I decided to explorer downtown Campo Grande on my first day off. My mode of transportation of course is the bus. Before deciding to take the bus to explore I tried to ask people different questions about getting downtown and about downtown in general. No one knew what bus I had to take because most people in the hospital drive or have a motorcycle. One person told me to take one of the blue buses from the bus stop in front of the hospital to the bus terminal and then take one of the red buses from there because they all go downtown. This information was helpful but not very helpful. Most of the buses are either blue or red and some red buses do not go downtown.

I had a breakthrough when the secretary of the Hospital Director told me that one of the hospital drivers could take me downtown Friday morning and that he could tell me how to get back to the hospital. Friday came and we were on our way to downtown, when I asked him about getting back to the Hospital. It took a while for him to answer the question only to have him tell me he didn't know. His suggestion was that I ask the people downtown and they would tell me how to get back to the hospital. I thought to myself, "Great, I'm going to get lost downtown, and it's too late to go back to the hospital."

When we got downtown, the driver dropped me off on one of the main roads and I started exploring. Downtown Campo Grade reminded me a lot of Anapolis in Goias. There were a lot clothing stores and several Latin American type diners. I don't know if I mentioned this before but in Brazil the favorite snack is something called pastel pronounced pasteu. When I was originally invited to have some I thought it would be sweet because the equivalent in English pastry, which is usually sweet. Here, pastel is flat rectanglur shaped deep fried pastry which is stuffed usually with cheese and/or meat/vegetable. It can be found in any and every Brazilian city or town. In downtown Campo Grande there are a lot of these diners that sell pastel.


I walked around the downtown area just exploring. I bought myself some lunch and drank coconut water and then decided it was time to head back to the hospital. I was not quite sure of how to get back to the hospital or where to get the bus but I decided to walk to a park where I had seen several buses parked. As I walked to the park I noticed that several buses passed by me with signs that said they were going to Aereo Rancho. I also remembered seeing a bus terminal near the hospital with the name Aereo Rancho Terminal. I, therefore, assumed that that was the bus I was suppose to take to get back to the hospital. The only problem was that I could not find the bus stop for that bus. I decided to stick to the original plan of walking to the park. When I got to the parked I asked someone who was selling bus passes what bus to take and he directed me to one of the bus stops.


My bus came and I took it feeling proud of getting on the right bus and going home. The thing is I was on the right bus but I was going in the wrong direction. I didn't know this until the bus got its final stop and I realized I was not in Aereo Rancho. I got off the bus with the other passengers and decided to get some information. I was told to take the same bus line to the final stop. I was upset because it had already taken almost an hr to get to that station and I had to get back on the bus. It would take me an hour to get back to the place I had originally taken the bus and possibly another hour back to the hospital. On top of that I would have pay another fare.


The bus I taken to the station had already left so I had to wait for another one. When another one finally came, I noticed that everyone rushed on the bus as soon as the bus rider and conductor exited to, I guess, use the bathroom or get a drink. I was wondering why no one was paying the fare. Then it dawned on me that once you were in the bus station you could get bus transfers for free. I didn't have to pay another fare because it was counted as a transfer. When I finally got to the final stop in the other direction it was over an hour later and I had to take another bus to get to the hospital but that bus ride was only 10 minutes.


Even though I got lost, I learned about the bus system in Campo Grande. While I was waiting for the bus, I saw a bus that went to the shopping/mall so next week I'll be going to the mall. Thanks for reading!

I am Living in a Hospital!

I'm really living in a hospital! Check out my room! Here I am testing out my bed. I also have a ready supply of extra oxygen above my bed if ever I need it. Cool uh?

{}

{}

As you can see, I am not sick. Anyways let me explain why I am living in a hospital.

Here goes....

I have embarked on a new adventure here in Brazil. This new adventure is an answer to many prayers. Even though I loved being at IABC I was feeling bored and for a while unhappy. God answered my prayers right about the time I was at widst end. I am now going to be a traveling teacher. I will be traveling over the Central East Region of Brazil. This region includes the states of Goias, where I originally was, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Tocantins and the Federal District-Brasilia. I will spend a month at a time in the capital of each of these states . I am excited about this new adventure, because I will get to see more of Brazil. It’s also kind of sad to leave IABC because there has been home.

My first stop is Campo Grande in the state Mato Grosso do Sul (MS). Ok the translation of name of the state is funny. It is translated Thick Brush of the South, not to be confused the state Mato Grosso, which is translated thick bush. The funny thing about these names is that IABC is more of a mato or bush than where I am now.

Given that I will only be here for only a month, I was given a room in the Adventist Hospital of Pênfigo in Campo Grande. When I first learnt I would be staying in a hospital for a month I was somewhat uncomfortable. But what could I do? The first night I was laying in bed and I was thinking to myself, “I wonder how many people died on this bed” and “Did the last person who was in this bed die?” Luckily, I was very tired because I was traveling all day so I went to bed soon after to stop my imagination from running away with me.

The next day I realized that it was not too bad being here. The hospital has a lot of acreage and has many different fruit trees so I get to walk around and explore. On my second day here, I found a june plum tree. This is a fruit that we also have in Jamaica. It is shaped like a large oblong egg and is usually yellowish-green. The seed is somewhat strange because it has sprickles so you have to be careful when you eating the meat of the fruit closest to the seed. We usually have them in the summer. I haven’t eaten a june plum in probably 4/5 years, so seeing a tree with almost ripe ones is a big treat for me. There is also a family atmosphere here because the hospital is surrounded with houses for staff. Many of the staff members have children, so children are always riding around on bicycles.

Another positive thing about being here is the fact that the hospital has the Health Living Spa. This spa is for people who want to improve their lifestyle. It has a gym, massage therapists, pool and other spa amenities and I get access to them, so I guess it not too bad to be staying in the hospital. I also get to eat at the spa which has great food, so I don’t have to eat hospital food. Overall I am happy to be here and the good thing about being in a hospital is that if I do get sick I can be treated in my own room. I start teaching in a few days so I will share more of my adventures and thank you for reading!

The Education System

The new school year in Brazil is starting. At IABC, it started the first week of February. I did not have any students so I helped out with English classes in the school. This experience was a learning experience not only into the educational system but also in the how a boarding school functions.

Students at IABC besides belonging to different grade levels fall into two categories, the bolsistas and the regular paying students. The bolsistas (scholarship recipients) are students who pay their way through school by working at the school in different capacities. Some work in the kitchen, laundry, administrative office, other work as teachers’ assistants, IT personnel, gardeners, janitors among other jobs. They came back to school two weeks before the other students, in order to help prepare the school for new school year. From what I have noticed, though, there are more student workers than actually actual IABC staff.

There are different levels of bolsistas and the level determines the length of the work day. There are many students who would like to become bolsistas but there are only a few spaces because the school needs a specific number of students to pay the tuition to meet the demands of the school. The process is therefore very competitive. The students’ grades are very important and past behavior weigh a lot in the selection process. As a result of working for the school, bolsistas are called on to set an example for other students. Bad behavior or bad grades are grounds for losing their bolsa or scholarship.

I spent all of first week of school helping the school’s English teacher with his classes and I had first hand knowledge into the day-to-day operations of the school. The first very obvious difference between schools here and those in the US/Jamaica is the time schedule. Schools here are either in the morning or the evening for all levels. IABC has classes in the morning. Classes start at 7am and end at 12:30pm. Teachers, however, are expected to be there earlier. There are sometimes classes in the evening for students with difficulties but for an extra fee.

The school system is divided in three levels: our equivalent of Kindergarten, elementary/middle school (1-9) and high school (1-3). I was helping to teach middle school grades 6 to 9 and high school grades 1 to 3. Given that it was the first week of classes and there were several new students, the students had to introduce themselves. During this process, I was surprised at the age differences and the classroom behavior. In many classes the age disparity was as much as 4 years. As you know I love to ask questions, so I wanted to know why the ages differed so much in each grade level. I was told that students sometimes changed several schools during the school year and did not bring up to date school records. As a result, they are placed in specific classes. Also sometimes students are forced to repeat different grade levels because they did not do well in the classes.

The classroom behavior was another shock. IABC is a coed school and off course there will be couples. Given that this was situation, I thought the teachers and school would have rules about how students are to interact with each other in class. Well maybe there are rules, but since it was only the first week they have not been enforced. Anyways in several class couples were sitting together, hugging each other, holding hands and whispering and talking to each other rather than paying attention. I felt like the students here have less respect for the teachers within the classroom. They see their teachers more as friends rather than as an authority figure.

I hope I am not giving the impression the school system here is terrible. There are positives and negatives as in any country also I was only in the classroom for a week so my impressions may be skewed. The good thing though is that the teachers have realized that some of the students are disrespectful and that this is obviously something that has to be improved. The school just hired a new person who is in charge of discipline so they are trying to improve the situation. I must say I admire, the work ethic being developed in the students through the bolsas (scholarships). These students learn to value their education. Many of the bolsistas who have administrative positions gain valuable work experience. One cool thing I learnt about Adventist Education in Brazil is that all the schools in the country have the same uniform. So if a student has to move to another school in another area, they can use their old uniform.

Unfortunately, I was only able to help out in the school for a week. I am leaving IABC for a several months to work on a special project. I will tell you more about this project in upcoming blog posts.

The Aliança de Compromisso

I discovered a very interesting custom in Brazil that I just have to share. It has to do with the tradition of having a dating ring. The aliança do compromisso is a ring that couples wears to show that they are in a relationship. It doesn’t mean the couple are engaged but rather that they are dating. This ring is a normal band without a stone so it looks like a wedding band. Interesting isn’t it?

My first real experience here with this tradition was with the students at IABC. So just imagine, I am in a school with teenagers most of whom are wearing rings which look like wedding bands. It is also obvious that the ones with the rings were in a relationship with someone. In my head I was wondering if in Brazil kids could get married before they finished high school. Then, I am thinking that the school was crazy for having married teenagers for boarding students. Teenage pregnancy and young and inexperienced parents came to mind. My imagination was getting away with me.

After observing that male students sat on one side of the church and female students sat on the other and that some unmarried teachers had the same type of ring, I realized that the rings didn’t mean the couples were married but rather they were dating. This was later confirmed when I was able to speak enough Portuguese to inquire about the tradition.

There is however a scheme to the whole ring situation. A silver band signifies that the couples are only dating. A gold band on the right hand means they are engaged while a gold band on the left hand means the couples are married. Brazilians don’t usually wear engagement rings like there is in the US. Most couples only have a wedding band.

I was curious to know if persons had to buy these rings at specific jewelry stores or if they were available most places. According my friends, the rings are available at many jewelry stores and are somewhat inexpensive. But it costs more to have have the rings engraved. That’s another tradition. The rings can also be engraved with the couple’s names.

I guess in a sense this tradition has its purpose, for a single person looking for someone, he/she can know without asking if another person is single by the absence of a ring. The ring makes the dating process get off the ground easily. This tradition also generates a lot of income for jewelers. On the other side, it seems like quite a lot of trouble for dating especially if the persons are young and likely not to get married.

Ok, since I am on the topic of rings I must share another interesting discovery I made about Brazilian weddings. Unfortunately, I was not able attend my friend’s wedding because it was in the South of Brazil which is several days away. I did however learn a lot about Brazilian weddings which I must share.

In weddings I am accustomed to, the couple chooses bridesmaids and groomsmen and they are usually dress alike. In Brazil, they do not have this type of tradition. Here, the equivalent of bridesmaids and groomsmen are godmothers and godfathers for the wedding. The couple chooses usually several persons to stand up for them. Sometimes these persons are married to each other but regardless these persons are paired with another person because they walk in the wedding in pairs like bridesmaids and groomsmen.

These godparents don’t just walk in the wedding they have a very important role. They are expected to contribute a very large and expensive gift to the couple. One would think a large gift would be an appliance or some money. Not here! The gift is usually a piece of furniture. They buy the couple either a bedroom set, furnish the entire kitchen with small appliances, a refrigerator, a stove, a dining room table or a living room set. Basically, when a person is asked to be a padrino/madrino of a wedding they know they have to contribute very expensive gift. It is also considered an honor because they are blessing the union.

I have to lift my hat to Brazilians for this custom because when a couple gets married they basically go home to a furnished house, because at the cha bar they get the small appliances and at the wedding they get the bigger stuff. All the couple has to worry about is the wedding, but some of the cost is offset by the tradition of giving money to the couple at the reception. It looks like here is the place to get married. You’ll get everything you’ll need to start your new life!

Christmas and New Years in Hortolandia

I spent the holidays with my friend and her family in the city of Hortolandia in the state of Sao Paolo. I arrived there a few days before Christmas so everybody was busy getting ready for Christmas. I went with my friend to city center to buy gifts and the place was packed. There was hardly anywhere to walk. All the stores were crowded. I could not imagine how it would have been in a bigger city. Christmas here in Brazil is one of the biggest holidays and is a time of great celebration. It is also a time for getting together with family and unfortunately a time of over indulgence.

The family I was staying with consisted of mother, father and three adult children. One of the children my friend lives in Abadiânia with me, the other female lives at home and the older child, the son is recently married and lives 20 minutes away. The Christmas dinner was held at the son’s home on the 25th in the night. Traditionally, Christmas is celebrated on the 24th at midnight. At that time people eat a huge Christmas dinner and open presents.

Given that family I stayed and I are vegetarians we did not have traditional, Brazilian Christmas dinner. The traditional meal consists of a lot of meat and in particular turkey. One traditional food that we did enjoy was panetone. This food is very similar to fruit cake. The really cool thing about panetone is the way it sold. They are usually sold in a bright colored box to match the festivities of the season. It’s like a gift box with a little cake inside. Many years ago, when I spent Christmas in Peru I was introduced to panetone, but I did not particularly like it because of the dried fruits. This experience with panetone was totally different! Now, panetone comes with either chocolate chips or dried fruits. The chocolate panetone is called chocotone. I totally enjoyed the chocotone because it was like eating cake with chocolate chips, and I love chocolate.

There was one downside to Christmas in Brazil. As you know Brazil is in the southern hemisphere, so this time of year is also summertime. Besides being summer, it is also the rainy season for many areas. For the two weeks that I was in Hortolandia, the rained probably most of the time and two of the days it rained was Christmas and New Years. I love the rain but it sort of put a damper on the holiday for me. I am used to having either sun or snow for the holiday season.

The New Year’s tradition in Brazil I think is more or less similar to many places in the world. We went to church at sunset to welcome the New Year. After the church service, the church had a large feast with fruits, nuts and bread, which is a tradition in the church. The family that I stayed with had a laid back family dinner and watched the New Year's concert and fire works on television. The rain dampened everyone’s enthusiasm to leave the house.

One New Year’s tradition in Brazil has to do with cloths. It is a tradition to welcome the New Year, in white. Usually all garments of cloths is white down to the underwear. This tradition helped explain why many of the clothing stores had mannequins dressed in white in the store windows.

I have to say all in all, Christmas and New Year was good. Even though I was not with my biological family, I felt like I was with family, because the family made me feel right at home and welcomed. Thanks to the Gonçalves Family!