Vamos a ingreja

Yesterday began as really boring, and ended as really fantastic. For most of the day, due to most of us in the program not having Brazilian cell phones, I just kind of waited around trying to get in touch with people via email, not too successful. Did some Sudoku, passed out on a beanbag chair, contemplated setting up the hammock in my room. Then around 4, Diego asked if I wanted to go to church with him and Judah. The only other thing I knew of going on was one of the girls in out group going to a club/dance thing at 8 ish, and seeing as I didn't really know about how I'd get there, I figured might as well go to church. As a bonus, it would be a cool window into everyday Brazilian life here in Belem.

Wow. I can't remember the last time that I can say I felt really moved by a church service. A ingreja, the church, was a very small little building about 15 minutes drive from the apartment. We met up with Judah coming from drum lessons there 30 mins before, and I wasn't sure if I would be poorly dressed in my t-shirt and casual pants. Luckily, the whole church experience I got here was entirely different than anything in the US. No dressed up people. No formal lectures from a priest. No stifling atmosphere. The whole room was exploding with passion and faith. I was able to somewhat read along with a reading or two from the Old Testament in the Portuguese Bible. Both this one lady, I think Sarah was her name, and Diego spoke, did a reading or two, and so on. But the really moving part of the whole thing was hearing the emotions that poured out of everyone while they were praying to Jesus and O Senhor. I've never seen or heard people physically get emotional and cry with their faith in the heavens, and although it's completely foreign to anything in a Quaker Meeting House, I could definitely appreciate it. You don't need to be able to comprehend Portuguese to be able to understand the feelings that the people in this room were experiencing and devoting themselves to. It was a really special experience. I'm going back in a few hours, actually.

It made me think a lot about empowerment and how much community was there. Activists can talk all they want about needing to get people organized, and at places at Bard we can all contemplate the philosophy behind religion and debate things such as Evolution versus Creationism, and while such things most definitely affect policy decisions, in the end, its what brings people together in a very unique way. Case and point: after the service my host brothers and I went to get pizza along with several members of the church. I was trying to talk to one of the guys while eating, he's only a few years older than myself and is studying management at the University, and was having trouble finding the right words in Portuguese for everything (I can basically have a very simple conversation at this point, it's pretty cool). He stopped me, and said, more or less, "You don't need to worry about getting all the words right. You speak, we get the basic idea. This is Portuguese". I thought that was really cool. It keeps striking me how friendly and open people have been so far to a complete stranger here in Brazil. Whether it is a family taking American students without much Portuguese into their homes, or just random people you meet in a Sports Store in the Belem Mall, people seem to throw themselves to help you, converse with you, and learn about you. It's also striking to learn, outside of one's own language, how non-verbal communication really is. I've really liked just plugging away at Portuguese, even though it can be frustrating.

After pizza, which is muito gostozo here, we went out to the old docks right along the Amazon. In the moonlight, very nice. I want to go back with some friends and walk around. I was able to find out from the people I was with a little about the boat trips and such. Talked about American music, learned how to say super awesome: "paid-egua!". All in all, a very good night, and a good day. I came back and was so pooped I just passed out instantly. One of the members of the church, who teaches beginner english, was telling me how tired she feels after speaking english, so I must be exhausted. How true.

Today has likewise been good. Portugese has gone well hoje (I hope you all are actually picking up the little Portuguesese I put on here...I'll need someone to talk with when I get home). We went to A Praza a Republica, this huge market in the center of Belem, very very cool. I drank some cool random Amazonian fruit juice and saw a bunch of cool shirts and little knick-knacks to buy in the future. Saw a bunch of people doing capeoera and that look paid-egua. Overall the market had a real cool vibe, another place to go back to a lot. Got back to the apartment and had lunch, carne e feijoes e arroz e frango. Beans, rice, beef, and chicken, but not in that order. But very delicious. Also tried some of Lea's suco de cacao. Yes, from cacao beans, like chocolate. Although it tasted nothing like chocolate, it was the bomb-diggaty. Also had a fun time (no seriously I did) explaining how I purify the water with the chemical stuff in my room. They seemed interested, and it made me feel a little more competent with my Portuguese skillz.

As a side note, I finally found a youtube video of Bard's acapella group singing Africa by Toto. So happy.

Tchau