I'm tired of crying whenever I talk about how I have to keep saying goodbye to people, so I'm going to talk about the inevitable DVBS. Hope it's worth the wait! LOL
So, Monday morning, two weeks ago, the DVBS started. The Canadians had decided to do the same program twice, once in the morning, and the other in the afternoon, to reach as many kids as they possibly could. The registration was interesting...they were trying to group kids by age by different coloured name tags like they do in Canada(unfortunately this is Brasil, not Canada) so...needless to say, it didn't work out very well all week, so we won't even talk about it. Some people were getting frustrated, but hey, this is Brasil, you have to go with the flow.
So, what they did every day was have a main group session, do the verse and sing, they the different groups would go to either music, drama, crafts, or sports, and then they would switch after a time. The crafts were difficult to plan, I can imagine, for Kay who was one of the Canadians to do crafts. The thing was, they could only bring so much stuff with them, right? So, she would have had to pick crafts that were the same, but that were challenging enough for the older kids, but easy enough for the little kids. It was difficult, a little stressful, but that's ok. That's life at a DVBS, né??? For translators, we had Joyce, Sadie, and ...me? it was good, most of the time I just stayed in the craft room and just had to translate simple instructions, like " Glue here, or cut there..." and sometimes the kids wanted to talk to the Canadians, so I could translate that for them. But...one day, Joyce had to do something, and I had to translate the drama Bible story of Zaccheus...there's only one word for that moment.... CRAZINESS!!! I asked Wellington(the sports director, a 25-year old string bean who is so hilarious) if I did ok...he said,"it was ok...you didn't get the verb conjugations right though!" Of course, that's inevitable with me! One day, I will know them perfectly!
And another day I got to translate some of the songs in the music room. It was fun! The lady who headed that up, Wendy, has lots of energy, so it was fun working with her.
Normally there were more kids in the morning group than in the afternoon groups. The sad thing was that kids from the morning group would repeat it in the afternoon. (I say it's "sad", because that just shows you that these poor kids have nothing to do on their holidays, so they would rather come back sing the same songs, do the same crafts and everything the same than be bored...but I guess that's better than being on the streets and getting into trouble!!!)
One 13 year-old boy was giving Kate(a very timid but ever strong daycare worker) an extremely hard time the first day. But she got me to translate that Jesus loves him, and that he is a good boy but he just has to show it. As the week went on, he still was impish with others, but she just kept giving him hugs, and showing him love, and he was pretty much fine with her. Later on she told me that he accepted Jesus into his heart! It's so exciting, but unfortunately we aren't sure how far that can go. I mean, I doubt that his parents go to church, so he may not have a chance to learn more about Jesus. Joyce has Saturday morning Bible studies for kids, but not many kids go. So please pray for Fabrício...I know that Kate is! She never gave up on him, not once! I know that the week was a success, all the kids enjoyed it, and the Canadians were happy to give it, even though it was stressful at times. At the last session, they handed out homemade knitted dolls and certificates. (I even got a doll later on too!Ok, everyone else got one too...lol) Anyways, it was a very good week, and I'm glad that so many kids showed up!
That night the Canadians bought a cake for Joyce and sang "Happy Birthday" to her...Her birthday is in December!!! They're such a funny group. It was so nice to get to know them all. oops! I forgot to mention one thing. On Wednesday and Thursday there were clowns there. WEdnesday had only 2, but Thursday there were 6, and I was one of them! Four of the Canadians dressed up as clowns, and then Wellington and I dressed up as clowns too! It was so much fun, and because Wellington is so tall, and kind of a ditz, he was the perfect clown! (Sorry to any of you blonds out there,(I am sort of one too) but honestly, if WEllington wasn't black, I would think he was a blond!!!) I will tell you one reason why afterwards. So, it was fun, all the kids loved it. Then, later, Nalva(Vôo Livre's telepromotor) had to go pick up a donation from one of the supermarkets. So Josh, WEllington, and I went along too. Unfortunately, WEllington and I were feeling in the clown mood, so Nalva was getting really frustrated when she was trying to talk to the manager. The manager loved it though, and she even told her daughter to get us a bag of candy so we could give candy out to people in the store. Well, don't get us started!!! We didn't just give candy out to the store, but also to the other stores on the block, both sides of the street!!! It was so much fun, and I loved it alot! The manager of the store said she would love it if clowns came to her October children's party that she always has(so we almost got a job right on the spot!!!)
When the Canadians left, Brenda(the team leader who was also the head clown) gave WEllington the face paint and many pieces of paper on how to be a good clown. It was awesome, and I know he liked it.
Friday night we went to a Churrascaria(a semi-facny barbecue place in Taguatinga) and it was a different experience for the Canadians.
Saturday morning we had to get up really early to take them to the airport. We had to leave at 6:30AM to get the team at their hotel. Here's where Wellington's ditziness comes in...he started washing Joyce's front windshield with soap and water, not even 2 min. before we had to leave. The scene was so funny, she walked out the front door, saw him and said," WELLINGTON! What are you doing?????!!!! We have to leave right now!!"
W: Well, I'm just washing you windshield.
J: But we have to go RIGHT NOW!!!
W: Ok, I just have to rinse this off.
J: Do you have all your stuff from the house?
W: Yes.
(2 minutes later we were just ready to go and he ran into the house to get his stuff. Joyce was about ready to throttle him. He is so funny, but at the wrong time, it just doesn't work!!!)
But we made it, got to the airport, almost everything went fine, except Kate found out that in Manaus on the way here, they took the wrong plane ticket, so Joyce and her had to hurry and get the problem fixed. It was hard to say goodbye, because they were a really friendly team, but we did it.
So, that was the long awaited DVBS story. Sorry that it took so long for me to write!
Love to everyone. Hope you have a good day! Today I'm at the school in Taguatinga, and tomorrow I'm back at Vôo Livre, but these two days are going to be the hardest because I have to say goodbye to students. So please pray for me!
Thanks for all your prayers. I know that God is with me and has been watching over me here!
Love, Ash

SORRY

Ok ok....I'm back...I admit, I was stalling. There are just so many things to say, and some of them I can't even describe with words, so that's kind of difficult. This week as it goes on is going to be extremely difficult for me...Thursday and Friday I have to say goodbye to lots of students that I have known for the past 5 months. But the happy news is that I am ready to come home. I am missing my family alot, and even though I have a family here too, there's nothing like the family that I was born with. They know me inside out, and I love them so much. It still doesn't stop the hurt from leaving here though. This is life, though, eh?
Let me write about what happened last week, and then I will take a stab at talking about the DVBS...haha!
So, last week was the first week of school after vacations. Holidays for most students was 2 or 3 weeks, but some had 4 weeks. It just depends on what school they go to. Monday and Tuesday I was at the English school here in Taguatinga. It was alot of fun. We asked the students where they went on their holidays, but most of them said that they just stayed home and played computer, video games, watched T.V., and slept. How boring!!! One girl went to the Pantanal, a really tourist spot in the next state over. It is really swampy, so they have alligators, beautiful birds, and stuff like that. All of the classes on Monday and Tuesday just played a review game that was so awesome. They made a grid on the board using squares of paper and then marked the top of the grid with letters, and then down the sides with numbers. In this way, the students would pick a paper square using a letter and a number. On the other side of the squares, there could be 1 of 3 things: a star(which meant a free point), a bomb(which meant you lose all of your points), or a number(the students would have to answer a question regarding English). I really liked the game, so I made up a set of paper squares all marked differently to take to Vôo Livre with me for my English classes on Wednesday and Friday. I also made up a review for my classes, totally forgetting that I was starting the Introductory English classes. I was upset that I wouldn't have my old students(because I love them so much), but I actually did have one class after lunch that was my class from last semester, so I was happy about that. So, yes, Wednesday we started a new semester of um monte de coisas(many things) at Vôo Livre, including: Guitar, English, Computer, and Reenforcement classes(not really sure what this is, I think it has something to do with kids who aren't really understanding some things in school, I guess sort of like a tutoring class) plus the normal sports things that go on there all the time.
The thing was, Sadie told me she wasn't going to come, so I had to start a new semester all by my lonesome! It went well though. The morning class was packed with people I had never met, all who came to learn English, most of them for the first time. So I taught them the alphabet and the numbers from 1-10, and got to know them a little bit. It was a a bit overwhelming though, because there were about 24 people!!! Also, two of the boys in the back kept talking to each other. Finally I couldn't take it anymore, so I told one of them to come sit at the front. He was ok with it... he's a good kid! The class after lunch was my regular class from last semester, so we just worked on the review I did, and played the grid game. Then....then....if I thought the class before lunch was packed, ya...my third class had about 30 people!!!! Talk about nerve racking!
I just did the same stuff with them that I did in the morning. So, that was an interesting day, but it went well. On Thursday, I told Joyce she could make me do anything she needed me for. Soooooo....saying that.....yes, she got me to go over their inventory for Vôo Livre. There was so much stuff that I had to look for. There were tables, all the computers, chairs, sports equipment, and more. It was basically just to make sure we had everything that was on the inventory. It took me all day to finish it, and it was very tiring! But hey, if it helped Joyce out, I'm glad I could do it. At 4 o'clock, I went to Luziana's house(she's the teacher for reenforcement). She lives on the same street as Joyce, and she always rides her bike to Vôo Livre. So, it was a new experience...she has a little thing on the back of her bike for holding books and stuff, and she was able to sit on that while I drove the bike! Here in Brazil it's very common to have more than one person ride a bike, but of course I'm not used to it(the north american rules of helmets, seatbelts, and other things like this drilled into my head!!!) It's more difficult than you may think, because you have to balance the weight on the back. Craziness!!!
But I had a good visit at her house(she was a little stressed because it was messy, but it didn't matter to me) She is from Bahia, and music from there is called "Axé". She was teaching me how to dance to Axé, and the way they dance, it's more like one of those classes you go to, like dance aerobics. Talk about a workout!!! My goodness, it felt so good to excerise and have fun at the same time. I had a really good time!
Then just as I was going to see if Joyce had come home yet, she was looking for me(to go to church). So, sweaty as I was, I hurried into the house, changed my clothes, and got in the car to go to church. It was good to see the pastor and his wife(they had been on holidays too).
Friday was the same thing, just review of the alphabet, numbers, and review. However, word had spread, and I had more students. The afternoon introductory class now has 35 people!!! Crazy times!
Well, unfortunately have to wait again for the DVBS...time for dinner!!!
Love to everyone, looking forward to seeing my friends and family again soon!
Love, Ashleigh

A Canadian DVBS in Brasil

Hello to everyone...Quanto tempo!!!! It has been such a long time, and to tell you the truth, I am kind of dreading this blog in particular, just because I know that it is going to be really really long!!!
Not last week, but the week before on Friday, a group of 11 Canadians came down here to Brasil!
There was only one man on the team, but I think that they planned it that way. They were just coming to do a DVBS, or in Portuguese(EBF-Escola Bíblia da Ferias). His name is Ralph, and he is married to the group leader, Brenda. The youngest person on the team was 27 years old, and the oldest was 73 years old, but my goodness, she has more energy than me! They were all very nice people, and it was such a pleasure getting to know them each individually. I think Josh(the 21-year old who came 3 wks ago) really appreciated having Ralph here, because he would have been the only guy in the whole group of Canadians, especially every night when we had dinner at Joyce's house!
So, on the Friday after they arrived(at 8 in the morning!) they went to their hotel and rested or slept until noon. They ate lunch with the rest of us at the nearby little restaurant, and after that went to Vôo Livre to organize for Saturday. What happened on Saturday you ask? Oh, well, here, I will tell you. On Saturday(the day after they arrived) they had a women's day, sort of like a little retreat. They served breakfast, lunch and dinner. I know that all the women who went really enjoyed it, and immediately after some of them asked Joyce, "When are we going to do that again???!!!"
They had 3 different sessions, and during the sessions talked about different things about God...how he made us, the earth, and how everything that he makes intwines itself into everything. After the different sessions, the women went into 3 different groups, and then they had a discussion time. I guess you could say this was my first time doing some actual translating. There was only Joyce, Sadie(the lady who is teaching English for Graça) and me who were really able to do the translating that day, so I really had no choice to translate for this group. It was pretty easy stuff, just translating to the Canadians what the Brazilians thought about God, and translating to the Brasilians the Canadians' thoughts. Sometimes though, it was very difficult, because some words that they would say, I honestly had no idea how to translate them, and so in comes the improvisation. But to say the least, it was very very fun, but tiring!!! I guess I was tired because I had to think double.
Right now there are fire works happening really close to our house, and it is really annoying, because it's very loud. Allana just told me it's because one of the national soccer teams won a soccer game. That makes sense, because during the World Cup there were so many fireworks going off all over the city.
Back to the Women's retreat(which was titled "Share the Wonder" and for the Portuguese lovers "Compartilhe as Maravilhas")...In between the sessions, they had crafts for the women to do(the first was a butterfly fridge magnet, made of paper, and the second was an angel necklace made of ribbon and one of those huge criss-crossed shaped paper clips). There was also some recipe demonstrations, and I think the women really liked the whole day. I know it was tiring for the Canadian women, but it was a good day in all, and well liked by everyone. On Sunday after church and lunch, Joyce took the team to Brasília for some touring and a some shopping for souvenirs. Unfortunately Josh was sick, and he had never been touring in Brasília either(but she took him yesterday so he got to see everything). But I went with the group, and it was alot of fun. But by the time we got back in time for dinner and church at night, we were all really really tired. It was long day!
By the way, it has been nice and hot lately, no coldness at all! Yesterday and today it was almost 30 C, so back to normal again I hope!
Another tidbit of info...women and girls here don't really wear shorts. I know that has no relevance whatsoever to what I have been talking about, but it's really strange. They like to wear form fitting jeans, and capri pants. But I went out to mail a letter today wearing shorts, and felt like everyone was staring at me! It was so weird!
I know I said that I would write really long, but my right hand is hurting from writing so much, and I have to go eat something for dinner anyways. So tomorrow I will catch you all up on how the DVBS went, I promise!
Good night for now, and love to you all. Thanks for your prayers!
Love, Ash :)

Bom Dia!!!

This is how I want to look. Unfortunately today, I am very pale. Thank you all for your prayers for me. They worked! That antibiotic that I took made my strep throat go away that very night. However, I still have sore gums and it hurts a little to eat still. But, that is a big improvement! Considering I still felt kind of dizzy when I stood up, today I am totally fine, except for my poor little gums!!!
It's a good thing I'm feeling better, because today I'm going to Àguas Lindas to stay there for a week...sabe porque???? Do you know why? Because the group of Canadian ladies from Ontario are coming to do a DVBS this week at Vôo Livre. They're arriving tomorrow, and then on Saturday they're putting on a ladies day at Vôo Livre.
Please please pray for me. It seems like everytime I go to Àguas Lindas, I get sick from the dust and other people being sick. I know that God will take care of me, but a little few extra prayers won't hurt. I'm not exactly sure what the ladies will want me to do with helping their DVBS, but I'm sure that it won't be too hard. I have helped out with plenty DVBS's over the years. Also, pray for Joyce, that she will have enough energy to do everything that she has to do. She needs tons of energy! Pray that there will be enough kids showing up next week for the DVBS. It's their holidays right now, and so we're not quite sure how many will actually come!
Well, I have been thinking alot lately about the day I come back. I don't like talking about this because it makes me cry. I think it's less than a month now. August 15 is the big day. I am having such mixed feelings. I love being here in Brasil...love the people, the food, the music, the culture. And yet I miss the Canadian culture too...even though it is sooooooooooo much busier than here. And I miss my family and friends. However, when I go back there, I know that I will have such great "saudades" for the people here. (FYI: The English language doesn't have an actual word to describe when you miss somebody. We just say "I missed you"or "I will miss you". In Portuguese, they have this word "saudades" which is actually a noun for "missing". For Example: "Eu sinti saudades de você" "I felt missings for you". Or when you haven't seen someone in a long time, you can say, "Que Saudades!" "What missings!" It doesn't make sense in English, but in Portuguese, it's a very important feeling, and it has alot of emotions in it when you say it to someone. Way more than just saying "I missed you!" It's really nice)
Yesterday Cristina and I walked home from the English school. It really isn't a long walk, maybe 20 minutes or so, but felt longer for me because I haven't walked like that in a week, since before I got sick! It was interesting. I got home all out of breath.
I don't know if I told you, but for breakfast in Brasil they have lots of breads and stuff, and even chocolate cake!
And friends here in Brasil, when they say goodbye to each other whether in person or on the phone, they always say, "Beijos!" which means "kisses!". I thought that was interesting! They even say it to their guy friends too!
One more thing I haven't told you yet...every gas station is full serve. I don't think anyone here knows how to put gas in their vehicles. It's different. I guess they hire people to do that for two reasons. 1.) So that more people will have jobs. 2.) So that people won't steal gas.
Those are my opinions...don't quote me on anything! If you have any other ideas, then go ahead and put them in the comment section.
I forgot to answer one question. Taguatinga is about 20 minutes from Brasília. Taguatinga, Àguas Lindas, Guara, and all sorts of other places around Brasília are calles Satellite cities. They are small, but they all make up the surrounding area of Brasília.
Well, hope that answers everyone's questions, and satisfies everyones blog appetites, because I think that will be it until another week.
Hope you all take care in that heat, don't do anything strenuous.
Love to you all...
Beijos, Ashleigh

Hi everyone. Hope you all are doing well. I stayed in Àguas Lindas from Wednesday until Saturday. Wednesday was fine, I just had a cold, little bit of a sore throat, and I was ok during the day...BUT...at night I started not feeling too good, got a little dizzy, headache, and fever...and my throat hurt even more. When we got home I looked in the mirror and my throat was swollen so bad on either side that there was hardly any room left to swallow...no wonder it hurt so much!!! Joyce bought me some anti-inflammatory pills, and I just thought it was a viral infection because those are the ones I usually get(doctors can't do anything for viral infections). So Thursday I stayed in bed, had a fever once or twice, and that night I was ok enough to go to church. Friday I just went to Vôo Livre because I knew that staying in bed would do no good for me. However, I was not feeling very good at all and I got a fever after lunch(thankfully it didn't last long)...I didn't eat anything except dinner on Thursday, just ate hardly anything on Friday, same with Saturday and Sunday, because it hurt so much to swallow. On Saturday we had a game day, and I was on a team, but once again, could not play. It looked like all the kids had a really good time and enjoyed it immensely. They had formed 7 groups of 5 people and the ones who got into 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place got a medal at the end. Of course they were all boys groups, but that's ok. While they were still counting the marks, they had a praise team come and sing songs, and then a man from the international church came and said a few words about the Bible. I thought that was very clever of Joyce to do that, a little outreach program for the kids as they wait to see who won! Afterwards, there was cake and pop and I think it was a good day!
I didn't think about going to the hospital until yesterday. I had noticed something happening in my mouth with my gums, but didn't know what to do. But my gums above my front teeth started going a little white like the back of my mouth, and were very tender. Yesterday it got even worse, and I got two sores on my lips as well, the way the back of my mouth looked. So, finally a friend of my took me to the hospital, (by then I was missing my mommy(I think everyone wants they're mom when they're sick!)) and we waited for two hours. It was funny how the man called my name "ASHLEG"!!! Poor guy, he apologized for not knowing how to say it! I said it doesn't matter. Finally we got to see the doctor, and thankfully he was young! He made me sit in a chair and there was a desk beside it and he sat behind the desk. Then he asked me if I was allergic to anything, if I had any serious illnesses, what's wrong, where it hurts, how high my fever was that day, stuff like that. I was nervous about speaking Portuguese, and thankfully my friend was able to answer some things for me. THEN he took one of those tongue depressors and one of those little laser light(the annoying things that every boy has and likes to shine in people's eyes!) and started looking around my mouth. He kinda cringed what he saw there, and then he looked some more, and he wrote me a prescription and told us to go get a needle on the other side of the hospital. He was really nice. So we went to get the needle...
oh, the needle......let's not talk about this. I am not queasy when it comes to needles, ok, maybe a little but normally not enough to freak out. HOWEVER. let's talk about this for a second. Do you know where they normally put the antibiotic needle here in Brasil??? they inject antibiotics with a needle to the buttox!!!! I was not looking forward to it, and I was watching the girl prepare the needle(which was long enough by the way) and finally the time had come...she was going to put it in me. It hurt going in(like a long prick) BUT the worst part of it was when the antibiotic went in. That kind of pain is torture! I thought my eyes were going to roll back into my head and I started crying immediately! Finally it was over, I wiped my eyes, said thank you to the nurse, and left limping. It still hurts a little today, but I can swallow without pain, so it did something. My mouth is still inflamed and sore, but I'm sure that will go away in the next day or so. However, I'm still not 70% today, and I think it's from lack of food. I already ate a yoghurt today, and we'll see what I can chew today...my gums are very tender. So, that was my adventures this weekend, going to a Brazilian hospital for me! Thankfully the antibiotic was free, all we had to pay for was the medicine for the pain at the drugstore. Thank you Lord!
There's another Canadian here...he arrived on Wednesday. His name is Josh. He is a really nice guy, he just finished university to be a biologist, and next year he's moving to Ontario to study at Guelph. The kids love him already, and so does everyone else!!! He always laughs when he doesn't understand, but he does understand a few things. A group of ladies from Canada is coming this Friday. Hopefully I will be better by then! They're staying for a week to do a DVBS at Vôo Livre. That should be lots of fun!
Hope you all take care...hope you aren't doing too many crazy things this summer...and relax!
Love, Ashleigh

This is my last class of the day at Vôo Livre...however there are a few people missing, and some of these people don't belong in my class! lol...so it's a little mismatched!
Well, I went to Águas Lindas again on Wednesday, and stayed until Friday. It was a good 3 days, and Sadie and I did lots and lots. Wednesday was just a normal day...except that I learned how to make "Moqueca de Peixe"...such a good meal!!! I will make it for you when I get home!
(I wrote the recipe down)
Also, I don't know if some of the people who were on the team from my church in November remember that one girl at Vôo Livre who was pregnant...well she had her baby 4 months ago and just started coming out to classes again last Friday. She is only 16 years old, but my goodness, she holds her baby the wrong way, and now that it's so cold, sometimes she doesn't dress her baby in the appropriate way. I feel so bad for the baby, because she is so young and vulnerable! However, because she is poor, she really has no way of knowing how to act otherwise as a mother. Sadie said we just have to show her love, and she will show it to her baby. So, please pray for Graciete and her baby Maria Eduarda.
On Thursday we had the classes for music and knitting and crochet. I can't help with music because I don't know the terms in Portuguese, and knitting is so difficult fo me. But crochet I can do, so I was able to help the girls with that. But that craft class, my goodness, it tires SAdie and I out. Some of the girls are all thumbs, and no matter if I show them how to do it a million times, for some reason they can't get it right! Some of them pick up knitting or crochet right away, but others it doesn't come naturally!
Then Thursday night we had a church service at Joyce's church,but we didn't know that the pastor's wife used that time as an excuse to throw a surprise birthday party for her husband, so it was such a good time! He was so surprised and overwhelmed that he started crying, and then eventually his wife and son started crying too. It was so cute!
On Friday Sadie taught the morning class, then she had to go somewhere in the afternoon, so I led the afternoon classes all by myself again!!! I love it so much!
It's so nice, the last class of the day, because all of the people want to learn English, and plus they're between the ages of 15 and 32, so they're not very young! It's awesome!
Not entirely sure what I'm doing today, but I hope that everyone has a good day.
Please pray for Joyce...she is so so busy, and I'm not kidding. Everyone expects her to do everything for them all at once, and all the time...and you know what? She has to do most of it, because she has a car and she's the missionary there. So she doesn't have much time to rest and reenergize. Please pray that God will give her a little time to rest, or that He will give her energy!
Até mais, gente!
Love, Ash

4 Days of Blogs in a Row!!!

This is from our trip to São Luis in June...one of the streets in the very old part of the city. I absolutely love the architecture...and look at how big those steps are!
Today was actually really fun and really busy. The last day of classes until August, so all of the students were writing tests and whatnot.
It's Andréa's 27th birthday, so many of her students brought little cakes and "doces"(sweets) to have a little party. I know that she liked it.
This morning was slow and kind of dull, but this afternoon was really good. Andreia(secretary) asked me to type some dialogues up for her, just thinking that I would be able to help her. Well, she ended up wanting me to do all of them, because I type really fast. So, I was happy to do that most of the afternoon(I absolutely LOVE to type-I would type out anything you ask me to) I also got to read for two classes their listening portions of the tests. Andréa had to sit with another student because he takes lessons privately, so I was able to sit with her class and help them with questions...ya, that was interesting. They wanted me to explain some of the grammar and stuff. (A little I could help, but mostly I sent them to ask Cristina, because she knows so much more than I do)
All in all, I got to type, read oral tests, and help Andréa put in the numbers for the final marks of her classes...AWESOME!!! It was a really good fulfilling day.
BUT my goodness it is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cold here, and I do not exaggerate. It's one of those days in Canada, where it's cold enought to expect to come into a warm house, but unfortunately this is not a warm house!
But we'll be fine.
I will go now, hope everyone has a great evening and take care!
Love, Ash:)

Waterfalls...

Just a casual little picture of some waterfalls...BRINCADEIRA GENTE!!!(KIDDING!)
I love pictures of waterfalls...and this one happens to be on the property of Andréa's boyfriend's house. This is where the adventures of A&A took place(don't know how many of you remember those...I think it was in March or April, back when it was warm enough to go swimming!)LOL
Anyways, this is beautiful...hope you enjoy it.
Not much to write about today, people. The kids are going into vacation now, so today they were just writing final tests at the English school.
I have something to say...I don't know about where you live, but at my house the garbage men come by to pick up the garbage around 7AM or so. Here they come around 10 or 11PM. Kinda strange, but it makes sense...not many cars around anyways!
This morning I went for a walk. It felt so good to get out walking again. I have to keep up this habit, becuase I'm starting to lose all my leg muscles I had from walking 2omin. to work everyday in Canada! (LOL ...no they're not flabby...yet!!! )
Anyways, enough about me...let's hear from you guys...what do you want me to write about? Just post a comment and I'll write about it in my blog!
kk, well ttyl
Love to everyone
Love, Ash

A Sad End for Brasil

To comemmorate Brasil's loss against France in the World Cup yesterday, I have posted this picture of Andréa and I in our matching Brasil t-shirts. Now Brasil has to wait another 4 years to be in the World Cup...que pena...what a pity.
Enough of the depressing stuff...yesterday was a work day at vôo livre, but because of the game only 6 people showed up to help out, which wasn't very much at all. But they did get some stuff done, so that was good.
It's going to be short today...not much happened yesterday after I wrote again. I think everyone was depressed about the game and didn't really feel like doing anything.
I love everyone, and I miss all my family and friends. It was good to talk to you guys on the phone earlier, family! Love you all!
Take care...
Love, ASh

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!!

Finally I was able to put up some pictures of the "Sweet 15" party we went to last Saturday. This first picture is of me, trying to dance with Lucas, one of the students at Yale. As you can see, "trying" is the operative word! It was so much fun!
This picture was lots of fun...near the end of the party they gave out all these feather boas and funky sunglasses and stuff. The "Anniversariante"(the birthday girl) is the girl directly in the middle of the pictue in the white dress. Her name is Flàvia, and she had so much fun at the party.
So, there you go...some more pictures. Eu tenho notícias boa e mã...I have good and bad news. Let's start with the bad news first, because the good news is REALLY long. Celça left last night for the airport. I know she was supposed to go on Wednesday, but we missed her flight. Both of the girls went with her too, so now they're all up in Natal. I will miss them, but they have to go on with their lives.
And now, for the good news!!!
Iwas in Àguas Lindas Wed, Thurs, and Fri. On Thursday, Joyce and I got to go to the Ambassador's Residence of the Embassy of Canada in Brasília!!!!!!!! HOW COOL WAS THAT!!!!
This was for a Canada Day celebration, and they had invited all the Canadians they knew that were living in and around Brasília, as well as ambassadors of other countries too. It was from 12:30PM to 2:30PM, just a light luncheon. My goodness, their residence is HUGE! There were alot of people there too. The ambassador's wife is French, so they make a good representation for Canada. They both speak Portuguese very well. They had a brass band there, and they played the National anthems for both Brasil and Canada...it was very patriotic! I'm glad Joyce invited me to go...it's horrible going to these parties and not knowing anyone else. We did meet a really nice single lady who is about Joyce's age named Rachel, and we talked to her for the whole party. She is the General Manager for a huge hotel here in Brasília, and she is also a Canadian citizen(she has dual citizenship). She lived in Canada for 10 years, with no intentions of moving back to Brasil, but then her father got sick so she had no choice. And now, she is the only woman in Brasil who has this title of General Manager. I know that she wants to go back to Canada, but has no idea when. So she was a nice lady, and a Christian too.
What a grand day out! I loved going there so much!
It also rained on Thursday!!! Shocker McShockerton...it hardly ever rains during the dry season. But it was good for Águas Lindas. There is so much dust now. Everytime I go there and stay at Joyce's, I get sick with allergies to the dust! But it's normal now, so I don't worry about it.
Last night was the graduation for 10 students from the English school. Only 8 made it, but it was a good night anyways. I got to say something to them, and of course I almost cried(so proud of myself that those little drops of water from my eyes didn't spill over! haha). I really like that group alot. We had the dinner at a restaurant, in a party room, so it was nice and private. It was a really good night, and really late too. I didn't get to bed until midnight, but that's normal here. I'm telling you now as I've said before...these Brasilians keep the weirdest hours! It's craziness!
I should go now...today in Águas Lindas at VôoLivre Joyce is having a workday, and I might be going to that. Don't forget for all of you that can, today is the game between Brasil and France, at 4PM my time(not sure when it is there), and watch it!!! And wear green and yellow if you're going to cheer for Brasil...I will be wearing a mix between green and yellow and red and white. Because of course, it's CANADA DAY!!!! and I have to be patriotic too! (I just have to figure out wear the little girls put my CANADA roots hat...hmmmmm...)
So, have a wonderful Canada Day, be safe, watch the parades, and have fun!!!
My thoughts are also with friends of mine, Jayme and Aaron, who are getting married today, and I can't be there :( but I hope you guys have a wonderful fairytale wedding, and all the best in everything! Love you all, and take care!
Love, Ashleigh