4.27.2006

I went to the school again today, and helped in three of the classrooms. It's funny, yesterday I learned the Portuguese word for "lazy", and today it came in handy...ALOT! The word is "preguiçosa". I think I have been a little lazy because of the weather. It's cooler in the mornings and at night, but then really hot during the day, so my body is trying to get used to the changes. And so, I am so sleepy during the day.
I was able to help mark one test today...it takes me 5 minutes to mark, and during that time Andréa already marks 4 or 5 tests. What a laugh! Que isso!
I have to tell you a story. This happened a couple of weeks ago, but I totally forgot to share. One day, André, Celça, Andréa and I were going to the mall. On the way there, we had to go to a store to get film developed. Now this little store is in an area sort of out of the way where we wanted to go, so Celça suggested we take a shortcut. It was at the end of the road, and as we started ona new little dirt road(which was the shortcut), I started to laugh. On either side of us were tall tall grasses, and the dirt road had puddles and puddles of mud. It was sort of like an little safari through the jungle or something. We kept driving through the puddles and it was splashing up so high that I had to close my window. Thankfully André and Celça drive a Mitsubishi truck, because as we were driving along, we came upon a mud puddle so big that a car had was almost submerged in it. We all looked at each other and were like, "E agora? What now?" It was so funny. So, since Celça was driving, André started telling her where to go. There was just enough room on the side of the road for her to half drive around and half drive thru the puddle. Finally we came to the main road that led to the mall, and we were all so happy that we made it. What an adventure! I loved every minute of it!
Tomorrow we're going to Àguas Lindas again, and so I know that it will be a good day.
Talk to you soon...
Love Ashleigh :)
Remember, if there's anything in particular that you want to know, just ask!

4.26.2006

mmmm...Chinese food!

I just have to say something..when you haven't had anything in a long time, you learn to appreciate it way more when you do have it. Like last night. Andréa and I had Chinese food and my goodness it was sooooooooooo good!!! We walked to the restaurant and took our food to go, so we just got to different things and split it. The food was so greasy but incredibly good(isn't that always the way things go? When you know it's bad for you it always tastes better!). Andréa told me that here in Brasil they don't have any Chinese buffets all you can eat, but it's a buffet where you pay by weight. How unfortunate!
Someone asked me what it is I do in the English classes, and if it's different every day. Well, let's just put it this way. It usually is different every day, but the usual thing I do is sit and watch and occasionally if they have a dialogue to read I help with that. The only thing I really do is just read for them, so they can see how the right pronunciation is supposed to be. Occassionaly I have helped with marking papers or writing stuff on the board, but really I'm not needed that much. I am really just here for the experience, and help whenever they need me. But it's such a good experience, you know? And I'm learning so much about the culture here.
It was funny, yesterday in one of the classes, Andréa asked each of her students to write 3 questions to ask me about Canada and Brasil and the differences. Alot of them asked me about the culture, and what is different. And you know what? I couldn't give them an answer! Because I know that there is such a big cultural difference, but I don't notice many of the differences anymore. I feel totally comfortable here, and there is not much of a cultural shock. They asked me whether I liked Canada better, and I had to tell them that I like both of these countries equally...I can't choose!
Today we went to Àguas Lindas again, and it was alot of fun. Sadie came with her instruments, so we were able to do play some music after an English lesson. I think the kids had alot of fun!
Well, trust that you all are taking care, and we shall talk soon.
Love to you all!
Love, Ashleigh :)

4.25.2006

Another Beautiful Day...

God is so good to have blessed Brasil with such wonderful weather right now. I love it. Although, I have to confess, I do have allergies here too. I thought they were bad in Canada, but I didn't get them until late June and July. Unfortunately, I have them now! Maybe they'll go away soon...I hope, because my eyes have been burning and my nose is sooooooooo itchy! It's absolute craziness!
Today was fun. I was able to help in most of the classes at the English school today, which was so awesome.
I did have something to tell you all, but now I forget. But I can tell you something else. I don't know if I told you what we eat for breakfast, but in case I didn't, I'll tell you now. We just have different kinds of breads, varies with the morning. And coffee, but, of course, I don't drink coffee, so I just drink water or juice. Andréa thinks it's awesome how in the United States(and Canada) have eggs and bacon and sausage for breakfast every morning. But, I know that my family sure doesn't have that for breakfast every morning, so I don't know how many other people eat that richly in the morning. It is soooooo good, though, to eat that for breakfast. But, I do like the breads they have here. There is one type in particular that I am going to miss for sure when I come back. It's called "Pão de Queijo" which just means cheese bread. However, it is totally different than the cheese bread we have at home, and each one is shaped in a little circle and is about 2 inches wide and about 1 1/2 inches thick. They taste the best warm, and they are so addictive. My favourite time is when we buy them for the afternoon at the English school, and we are all so hungry. They taste the best then.
ok, so maybe you do put sugar in the drink I was telling you about yesterday...truthfully, I don't know. You'll have to experiment.
Well, tonight I think that we're going to eat Chinese food, and I'm so excited!
ttyl
Love, Ash :)

4.24.2006

Somebody's Birthday...

Boa noite, gente. I hope that you are all taking care. I have a big announcement to make...today is my sister Melissa's birthday...she is one year older than she was last year! :) Big surprise there. I just want to send out a big birthday wish for you, Mel, and hope that you had a wonderful day, and that it was everything you expected! Hugs and kisses!!!
It has been beautiful weather here, lately. I don't think it has rained since Friday. Today I sort of puttered around this morning at home, and then I went to the school and helped with Cristina and Andréa's classes.
I wanted to tell you all about this certain drink that they here in Brazil. They make it with beets and oranges. And I don't think they add any sugar, so it's very healthy. So, if any of you are willing to take a risk and put these two vegetables together, you just cut the beets up into pieces and then blend them until they are smooth... chunky vegetables are not cool in a drink! Then you probably have to use a juicer to get the juice out of the oranges, but my goodness it is a tasty drink!
Sorry this is short, but now that I'm sort of keeping up with myself, I don't have to write alot. Please take care, and I will write tomorrow...hopefully!
Love, Ash :)

4.23.2006

This morning Graça and I went to church, and both Sunday school and the sermon were very good. It's a little bit weird going to that church, though, because even though all the people there speak English, they're all American(well, most of the church is made up of Americans). Every single one of them have American accents, too. It's so different! They're really nice people, though, and I do enjoy going there.
On Friday night I went to a really really small little church in Taguatinga. It was good, but extremely different. Let me just say, it's not a traditional service. At the end, everybody went up to the front, and then the Holy Spirit started speaking to certain people, and I was a little bit frightened. For starters, I have never seen this happen in Canada anywhere, so it is soooooo different. Also, they speak in Portuguese, and of course they are speaking so fast I can't understand. However, Cristina told me that one of the guys that went up had been drunk when he came into the church, but at the end he was far from it. He also confessed that he was a homosexual, but after coming into the church, he wanted to change his life, and asked for help. It was cool.
Yesterday, Graça, me, and a bunch of our friends wennt to Àguas Lindas after lunch, because Graça had to sign something for Joyce with the board of Vôo Livre. But it was fun, because when we got there, we had Canjica(kind of like rice pudding, except made with a type of corn) and had a little service. They were so excited because they finished the roof on the school, so it was an answer to prayer. After that, me and a bunch of kids got to play volleyball for a little while, and I got to be a sort of translator for the Canadian guy and the kids while we were playing. That was so awesome!
I have had an awesome week-end so far, and I hope all of you have too.
Love, Ash :)

4.21.2006

Last night was alot of fun. We left to go to the Bruno e Marrone show at 9 PM, and normally it would have only taken 30 minutes to get there. However, there were so many people trying to get into the place, that it took us an hour to actually park. Then we had to wait some more to buy our tickets to get in. Finally we got into the place, and then we went to find somewhere to get some food because we were starving. The show started at 12:30midnight I think, somewhere around there. I was soooooooooooo tired! They sang really good, though, and they sang alot! I think it ended at 2:00 or so. They only sang 3 or 4 fast songs, but it was a really good concert. I really don't know why this thing started so late. I think maybe it was because they place we went to was also like an exhibition place with other things to see, so this show was really just the highlight of the event.
We got home at 3:30, and I was like practically crawling into my bed. It was so much fun though! Today is another holiday, it's the capital city, Brasília's anniversary. So, I woke up around 10 AM, but was still kind of tired so have been sleeping on and off all day. I don't know what's happening this week-end, but whatever we're doing, I'm ready for it!!!
Hope you all have a good day...take care!
Love, Ash :)

4.20.2006

Nossa, gente. It is so cold here right now!!! My fingers are like ice as we speak! I thought that after Easter it would warm up a little bit, but it hasn't yet. Last Sunday though it was the hottest it's been since I got here. I think the temperature was 33C. I don't know what it is right now, but it's freezing!
Yesterday we took another English teacher, Sadie, to Àguas Lindas with us when we went to Vôo Livre. She plays the harmonica and the accordion, and I don't know what else. She is a friend of Graça's and is VERY talented! So she brought her harmonica and accordion, along with a whole bunch of percussion instruments, like the tambourine, and maraccas, as well as this cool shaker from Bolìvia made out of goat's toenails. That was definitely the weirdest instrument I'd ever seen!
So, Graça wrote some English songs on the board for the kids to copy down. There were three, and they were "Our God is an awesome God", "My God is so BIG" and "Sanctuary". After they were finished copying them down, then I worked with them on their pronunciation of the songs. Then Sadie gave them all a shaker of some sort, and she played a couple of songs on her harmonica, and then we sang the songs from the board. After that she got out her accordion and we danced along to the songs, and that was it! We did that for all three classes yesterday, and it was sooooooooooo much fun!
Graça is coming to Canada to stay with one of the members from our team from November, as well as to visit other many other people from the team. I'm sure that all of my immediate family will be able to meet her especially at church, and I'm so excited about that. She's probably coming in late May and maybe to stay for a month or so. I will miss her terribly while she's gone.
This morning I went with Andréa to the school, and this afternoon I am going to three more classes. I think maybe tonight we're going to a concert of this famous group called Brune & Marrone...they sing Forro music. I'm not sure how to describe Forro, so for all you research likers, there is probably something you can find on the Internet about Forro. It's so much fun to dance to!
Anyways, I think that's all for today. I am praying for you all, and hope that you are safe and well. Love, Ashleigh :)

4.18.2006

Sorry to keep you all waiting. I have become a terrible blogger. My week-end was very good. On good Friday we ate fish, because it is a tradition for Brazilians to eat fish on the good Friday, as most of the country is Catholic. Then, there was a live performance of Jesus' betrayal and death that was on the whole week-end. It was called the Via Sacra, which translates into the Sacred Road. It was very well done, and there were so many people there on the Friday night that we had to stand behind the stands they had set up, and watch it on a screen.
I enjoyed it alot, but of course it was very sad because it was portraying Jesus' death. It was so cute; we left before it was over, so that we could beat the crowds coming out. But the part we left was when Jesus was hanging on the cross. Andréa's little niece looked at her and said, "Tia Andréa, is Jesus going to stay there?" So then Andréa explained that no, Jesus rose on Sunday and that he doesn't stay dead. I thought it was so adorable. That night Andréa took me and her boyfriend to his house in the country, to stay there until Sunday morning. His house is on the outskirts of Àguas Lindas, and it's beautiful country. On Saturday, some family of Andréa's came, and we went to go swimming in some waterfalls (cachoeiras) twice. It is quite a hike to the falls, so my legs were hurting even yesterday. Then on Sunday morning I woke up early to go to the International church for their Easter service that started at nine. They were having a breakfast at 8AM and then baptisms and an Easter service later on.
After the service, we came home and had a barbecue(Churrasco). We also exchanged chocolates with anyone in the family who had wanted to participate, and it was alot of fun.
I hope that you all had a blessed Easter, and that you remembered the reason for the holiday.
Yesterday I wasn't feeling well, because my allergies were bothering me. It must have been the week-end at the farm(chacra) that caused them to flare up. Plus, it was raining and it was pretty dark out. But today I'm fine, and I helped at the English school.
I wanted to tell you about the Churrascos that they have when all the families get together. Instead of having hamburgers and hot dogs like we do when we have a big get together, they cook a barbecue of different meats. They'll barbecue beef, sausage, and a very thin sausage and they cut the beef into strips so that people can take as much as they want. The also salt it alot, but it's funny now how I've gotten used to the saltiness of their meat. Then they eat that with rice and beans, a simple salad, and one other dish of food...it varies. But it's alot of fun when they have a churrasco, because all the men are standing around the little barbecue all trying to look like they're cooking the meat.
I think that maybe by the time i come home I'll be able to know how to drive a car in standard. Don't worry, Dad, I haven't tried it yet, but I keep watching them and how they shift, and it doesn't look that complicated!!! Just kidding, I don't think I'll be able to practice it anywhere.
Hope you all are taking care, I love you all!
Love, Ash :)

4.11.2006

The rain ceases...for today!

I had to mention something that is very interesting here in Brazil. You know how they have the signs "push" and "pull" on doors to businesses? Well, here in Brazil, the word for "push" is "empurre" and the word for "pull" is "puxe". However, there is one problem...they pronounce "puxe" as "pushe" so, whenever I go to the door and see "puxe", naturally I always push it, and naturally it doesn't because it means pull! Oh, it is so funny! I have embarrassed myself many times trying to get out of a building. Andréa said that Brazilians who go to the States have the same problem I do, because they see"push" so they pull.
Anyways, today was a good day. It hardly rained, and all the classes went well at the school. This morning we got to exchange the chocolates in one of the classes. My chocolate secret friend gave me a huge egg, which was a mix of chocolate and coconut!!! mmmmm..he wasn't even supposed to give me that, because for this class we only had to give boxes of chocolates, and they're way cheaper than the eggs. It was nice of him, though, and the chocolate is so good.
Tonight I'm going to the university with Andréa, and then after that we're going out for dinner to celebrate a friend of hers birthday. He's going to be 21 years old, and he is so funny. He is her best friend. It should be lots of fun, and I think they bought a cake to have too.
Anyways, ttyl
Love, Ash :)

4.10.2006

Apparently the rain will stop after this week. Man, I have never seen anywhere rain so much as it has here. It's funny because all the clothing stores are selling sweaters and long-sleeved shirts, and get this...even winter coats. I'm thinking, "You guys, you don't know cold when you see it." However, apparently it does get as low as 8 Celcius in the winter time, so that is pretty chilly when you're used to temps in the 30's during the summer time!
I don't remember if I told you that there is another Canadian here now, he arrived on Saturday I think, and he's going to be working with the sports at Vôo Livre. I don't know how old he is, but I just think it's cool that another Canadian is here! I heard that he speaks Spanish, too, so Portuguese is majorly going to throw him off!!
Today we had the always present rice and beans for lunch...I can tell you the Portuguese for that now... rice is "arroz" and beans are "feijão". But we had meat and guess what else? Zuchinni!!!!! Oh my goodness, it was so good! I think Vera mixed it with carrots, and season with garlic and oil. Que delisioso!!!
Today I started doing verb conjugations...we started this week because I was starting to get frustrated with myself when I couldn't say the right conjugation. So I learned the present tense for the verbs "ser"(to be), "estar"(to be, also, but only when you're talking about something that you are only sometimes...for example, I am hungry, "Eu estou com forme". You aren't hungry all the time so you use the verb "estar". I would use "ser" to describe myself saying, I am Canadian, "Eu sou Canadense", because I can't change the fact that I am Canadian.) Sorry for that little boring tidbit of information, but I love it!
The other two verbs I got to conjugate were "Vir"(to come) and "Ir"(to go). Oh how fun. Then after that Graça wanted me to make sentences using the verbs. So, I made 24 sentences. I'm glad we did that though, because some of the conjugations I didn't know. Now I have to do past tense for those verbs though...pena!!
I forgot to answer one of you that left a comment about what type of chocolate I eat. Well, here the chocolate sure isn't Hershey's milk chocolate bar! It's still good, though. I think it is made in Brazil.
OH,I have to tell you about this food we have for breakfast sometimes. It's called "misto quente", and it's sort of like a grilled cheese sandwich, except you also put ham in with the cheese. Honestly, it is sooooooo good for breakfast! Try it!
Today I didn't do much with the classes at the English school. I was able to read for pronunciation for one class, but that's about it. I think right now the teachers are just teaching, so it's hard for them to find anything for me to do.
Oh my goodness, it was so cool. Last night we went to the Brazilian church again, and Cristina was all ready to translate for me during the sermon, when we realized that the pastor was American. Yes, he spoke English!!! Que Legal!! So everyone was happy because we all understood!(his wife translated for him) I was so happy. He was a very good preacher, and he spoke on Mary and Joseph forgetting Jesus in the temple. He made it so interesting, and he made the story come alive. It was so awesome!
Well, I think that's enough for now. Até logo! (you know that I expect all of you to look up these Portuguese words and learn them for when I come home! Make sure you get the pronunciation right! Just kidding!)
Love, Ashleigh :)

4.09.2006

Páscoa. This is the Portuguese word for Easter. This week being Easter, I decided to write an Easter edition. Here in Brasil, instead of giving chocolate bunnies for Easter, the big thing is to give these chocolate eggs, but there are so many different kinds. They're big eggs, wrapped in cellophane that tells what kind it is, and in every single grocery store, they have them hanging from a rack over top of your head. So, when you walk underneath it's like you're under a canopy of eggs! Here, it's like if you don't buy one for someone, you're weird. And what they usually do, is everyone in a house picks the name of someone else in the house, and then buys the kind of egg that person wants. However, when it's time to reveal who the person is that you had, you have to describe them first and then everyone has to guess who it is. It's really neat. They're doing this at the English school. I only participated in two classes, but because Andréa's the teacher, she participated in all six of her classes!! It gets so expensive after that! Well, the eggs are about $8 Canadian, so I guess that's not that bad. They also exchange boxes of individually wrapped chocolate. Now for the religious part of it, on Friday, I guess because most of the country is Catholic, everyone eats fish. And the same with Sunday. And they also buy this Easter cake that has drops of chocolate in it, and eat that like the first week before Easter, and the actual days of Easter. I'm not sure about any other Easter traditions, but I will tell them to you as soon as I know. The past few days were good. Wednesday at Vôo Livre, their was not many kids there, because of the rain. The same with Friday. But on Friday, Graça and I were invited to one of the girls houses for lunch. It was very neat, and the lunch was so good. There was lots of chicken, and rice of course, and also this salad...Diced potatoes, carrots, and beets mixed with mayonnaise. I encourage all of you to make it, it was absolutely delish!!!! (If any of you do make it, tell me how you liked it!)
Yesterday I was going for a walk , and then André and Celça came up behind me in their truck and invited me to come with them where they were going. I totally forgot to tell Vera where I was going, and so when we came back 3 hrs. later, she was so happy to see me. She said she had phoned Graça and told her that I had gone for a walk and hadn't come back! They were all worried about me. I felt so bad!
WEll, it's time for church now, so I had better go!
Love, Ashleigh :)

4.04.2006

I forgot to mention something about the wedding yesterday. At every Brazilian wedding, after the ceremony, the groom takes off his tie. Then, one person carries the tie, and the other carries a basket and they go around during the dancing or during dinner and ask people if they want a piece of the tie. If they do, the person holding the tie will cut off a piece with scissors, and then give it to them. Then, they can put money in the basket. It was very different. When I saw it, the basket was full of money. When all the tie is gone, then they give the money to the bride and groom. It's a very fun little tradition. I think it's neat.
Yesterday I got some sun on my shoulders... finally. I've been inside most of the time so I never get to do that hardly ever! It was awesome.
The traffic here is the craziest I have ever seen...except maybe from Toronto. But I hardly ever go to Toronto, and in my city we usually have very civilized drivers. Here , drivers are so rude to other drivers, and the buses are too. They just cut in front of people. It's crazy. And, the air is different too, when we're driving. All I can smell is the fumes from cars all around me, and then I see the black fumes come out of the trucks, and I think"I'm gonna die!" LOL
They have the most beautiful trees here. They are just blooming with pink, red, and purple flowers. So pretty.
Today Cristina is not feeling well, so I'm going to be taking her last class this afternoon, the one that goes from 5 to 6:30PM. It will be easy, because they're an advanced class, so I just have to take up homework and then just listen for words in an English song.
Tomorrow we're going to Aguas Lindas again.
I keep thinking about my family, and all my friends. I do miss you all, but not enough yet. I'm sorry to say. Actually, it's not really a bad thing, is it? It only means that I'm comfortable here, and that I feel at home. Give me about a month or two, and then I'll start to get homesick. I really am having a good time, and I'm learning lots. Sometimes I wish I could do more for the teachers when I'm helping them, but I know that it's hard for them to get used to me being around.
I don't know how many of you were worried about me, but I did not drink at the wedding on Sunday night. There was plenty of opportunities, as the champagne just kept coming around, but I have absolutely no interest in drinking. Personally, I don't see the need. I have my chocolate to keep me addicted to something, and that's all I want!! :)
I love and miss you, and thanks for your prayers for me. I have been doing my devotions every day(almost) because there is lots of time, especially at night. It's so much better, because when I was at home and working at Timmy's, I was usually too tired. So it's good.
That's all folks...please, don't forget if you're curious about any topic, just write a comment and tell me what you want to know, and I'll do my best to fill you in.
Love, Ash:)

4.03.2006

A Wedding

Goodmorning to you all. I hope that it is a lovely day in Canada today. The sun is shining beautifully here, and I highly doubt that it will rain today, but you never know. I wanted to tell you about my adventures yesterday. In the morning we went to the International church(this one speaks only English, so it's nice to go to) and then Graça and I went out for lunch afterwards. We went to a food court in a nearby mall and it was packed. And when I say packed, I mean literally people were waiting near tables for the people to leave so they could sit down afterwards. It was crazy. After that we came home and just relaxed for the afternoon. Finally Andréa came home from visiting her boyfriend, and then we went to see if any salons were open so she could get her hair straightened for the wedding. There weren't any, but one salon said they would do it for her even though they were closed! I thought that was very nice of them. The person that did her hair was a guy from the south of Brasil who told me that before I go home to Canada I have to get my hair done very Brasilian. He wants to streak my hair with bright red streaks!! I don't think that is very Brasilian, and I really don't want to do it. I probably will have to get a trim before I come home, but I'm not letting them dye it red!!
Then we came home, got dressed, and we got there just in time to see them write in the registry and exchange rings. The bride and groom are not religious apparently, so they had their wedding at this club, and were married by a justice of the peace. It's a really nice club, though. It's shaped like an Auca Indian hut, but it's really big. And inside there is a really open space in the middle with gravel and grass and stepping stones to get to the buffet table. The buffet table was very different. The food was placed inside these really big ceramic pots, made to look like they were cooked over a fire. And the whole inside of the club has straw roof like a hut would have. The eating area is in a big circle surrounding this middle area and buffet table. I liked it alot, because it was very open and believable! Very nice! So the wedding started at 8PM. After the ceremony, the bride and groom got pictures taken outside, and then came in and had pictures taken inside with their cake, as well as with family members. Apparently the bride's family is very rich, so they even had proffessional photographers with the lights and apparatus' you have in a photo studio. It was pretty shadowy in the club, though, and you would want your wedding photos to turn out! After all those pictures, they had a little bit of dancing(apparently it was music that they dance to on the beaches in Bahia, very lively) and finally dinner was served at 10:30PM. It was very good...they had of course, rice and beans, mashed potatoes with vegetables, grilled fish, beef, vegetables, these little mini pie things with sundried tomatoes and cheese, some weird cheese sauce thingy with hot peppers in it, which I didn't take because I want to use the inside of my mouth in the future! They had some more stuff, but I can't remember. Then after that we got to have some of the little truffles they had for dessert, plus ice cream, plus cake. Man alive, they do want to make me fat here!!! I got to say congratulations to the bride and groom. The bride went to the states to live when Andréa did, so she speaks English too. More dancing after that, and all the girls dance in high heels so my feet were absolutely killing me. But it was so much fun. Then we decided to go home at midnight because Andréa has to work this morning. We did take some pictures of us in our dresses, by the torches surrounding the hut/club. It was so cool. So that was fun, my first Brasilian wedding ever. Apparently here, everyone has a different wedding ceremony, so you never know what to expect. It's not like in Canada, where almost every wedding is in a church, then go to a hall for the reception. And most often, there is only a small amount of guests invited, only family really and some close friends. So, like this wedding, it's very small. Graça told me that most often if a guest is invited to bring a friend, they bring their girlfriend or boyfriend. Andréa could have invited her boyfriend, but I'm so happy she invited me! It was so much fun! The only thing was, I guess that the bride doesn't drink hardly ever, but last night she was drinking alot, and she was getting quite drunk. When it came time for her to throw her bouquet, she kept teasing us and when we'd count to three, she wouldn't even throw it. She drew that out for like 15 minutes, and I was thinking," why would you get drunk at your own wedding?" But finally she did throw it, and when we looked over at the boyfriend of the girl who caught it, he had has head in his hands and was covering his eyes! It was so funny.
Well, that's all I have for today. This afternoon I'm going to be at the English school again and I don't know what's on for tonight, but I'll keep you posted. Take care!
Love, Ash :)

4.01.2006

It's April 1st!!!

Wow, how the time flies. I can't believe that it's the first of April today...how cool is that? And for all those of you who has a birthday in April, you're totally psyched up!!! ( I know you are, Mel!) This morning was really fun. I forgot that we were going to Águas Lindas again today. We were going to a practice for the puppet group. The girls were already there when we got there, and so were alot of guys. This was because it was also a work day on one of the buildings at Vôo Livre. So, there was about 25 guys ranging from 14 yrs of age to about 60. While the girls were inside practicing the songs, all the guys were mixing cement and putting it on the roof. The practice went well. I think they have a performance for American Women's Group International in the next week or so, and they had to do some touch-ups on their songs. It was fun.
Then we had lunch, and all the guys were hungry. Trust me, I was near the end of the line, and their were no noodles left for the rest of us!!! They worked hard though. Too soon after lunch Graça said we had to go! I was sad!
I think tomorrow I'm going to a wedding. Andréa is going, and she asked me if I wanted to come too. I am really excited, and looking forward to it. I don't have any really nice things to wear though, so either Andréa or Cristina is going to let me borrow one of their dresses. I'll have to tell you how it went. I'm not sure what time it starts, but I'm pretty sure that Graça and I can go to church in the morning.
That's all for today folks! Love, Ash :)