Semana cinco (the famous week five)

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him." Psalm 28:7

Yep that's right, I have officially made it through week five, without the week five blues that are so infamous back in Cambridge. In fact the last week has been a great and really busy one, and one when I have constantly been reminded of God's grace in providing strength to go on even when I am exhausted, shy, scared and weak.

'O casamento' The Wedding

Saturday brought the long awaited wedding of Bruna (my Brazilian Mum's sister) and Gabriel (my Brazilian Dad's cousin!) Beforehand I was feeling really tired and worried about how I would survive the all night party and make it through to sunrise, however in the end I really enjoyed the wedding and was so busy enjoying the food and providing entertainment with my very English dancing attempts that I barely noticed the hours go by. It was really interesting to see not only my first Brazilian wedding but also my first Catholic wedding and meet more members of the huge extended family here. The key thing to Brazilian weddings seems to be the entering, not only of the bride and a few bridesmaids but of lots of "padrinhos" (couples who are sort of godparents of the wedding). They enter one couple at a time and in the end the entrance part of the wedding was definitely longer than the ceremony itself! Then people threw rice over the newly married couple before we all headed off to the reception, in an absolutely stunningly decorated hall (with an incredible selection of food and an amazing cake!)

Me with baby Marina at the wedding
(the daughter of a Brazilian Cousin!)

Sandra, Me and Clara outside the church 

My Brazilian parents entering the wedding as 'padrinhos'

Church on Sunday was good, despite being pretty tired, - in the teenagers group we did various dramas based on a few proverbs about the contrast between using our words t to build up and love and be like a "fountain of life" as opposed to words said without thinking that can cause so much harm. It was great to see the teenagers coming up with some of their own dramas to reflect this and to get to know them a bit better. 

Sandra, me and Clara with singer Kleber Lucas and wearing our
 fetching 'Happy 32nd Birthday Arco-íris' T-shirts!

My Brazilian family here own a supermarket chain called Arco-Íris (Rainbow) and Monday brought the annual 'festa' (party) to celebrate Dia dos comerciantes (Day of people working in commerce!) This was a huge event to which thousands of workers were invited to enjoy food, games, music and dancing. In classic Brazilian style it was a really noisy celebratory atmosphere during which I seemed to be constantly being handed the Brazilian equivalent of Mini-Milk ice creams, which is always a good thing! The main act of the day was a performance by Brazilian Christian Singer Kleber Lucas, which was amazing. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzlnPqQNOXI) 

Visiting a different project and bus achievements!

The last few days have brought lots of bus travelling. I'm starting to get the hang of it and have survived the milestone of getting the wrong bus and making my way back on course! The best bus experience of the week was when on a typically crowded bus I was clinging on for dear life and contemplating how Brazilians manage to stay standing up with the erratic driving, when a man whips out a guitar and starts to play. He then (while somehow staying upright as the bus lurches round a corner) started to sing worship songs in the loudest voice ever and hardly anyone on the bus even batted an eyelid! I love Brazil. 

Erica and Diana with their lovely Children's Bible

This bus experience was on the way to my first time visiting Porta Larga (the community where I'm working) on my own. I visited a couple of families, firstly helping Diana (13) and Erica (12) to practise their reading with their beautiful Children's Bible and some other books. I then sat at the side of the road reading with 9-year-old João-Vítor, who I had been shocked to hear doesn't get any education at all at the moment because no one registered him at school. While we were reading, more and more children kept appearing out of the house where he lives and I soon had about 8 children gathered around to read the story!

Then on Wednesday I went to visit a children's project linked to a different church in a favela in a part of the city called Barra de Jangada, just down the coast. The project runs each morning with 37 children, teaching the Bible, reading, writing, art, sport and singing and it was great to visit it and meet some of the children. I'm hopefully going to start helping there 1 or 2 mornings a week, from this Monday coming, which is really exciting.
Wednesay afternoon brought a party at church to celebrate Children's Day which was a couple of weeks ago. This was put on by the Women's Fellowship at church and included egg and spoon races, hot dogs, an amazing cake and the children's favourite game - Praia e Mar (which you might know as either Ships and Lifeboats or Port and Starboard!) It was a really fun afternoon and everyone went home very happy with their party bags and balloons.

After a couple of weeks break due to a Reading Week and bank holidays my theology classes have started again and I'm really enjoying them. They're really interesting and the other students are lovely, always willing to be my dictionary when I don't understand crucial words and make me laugh at myself when I have the inevitable awkward 'gringa' (foreigner) moments! I've also been spending lots of time with my Brazilian family recently which has been fantastic, this often seems to feature them laughing at me hiding behind a cushion due to some scary film/video of a cesarean (yep that's genuinely a thing here) or laughing at my Portuguese fails/dancing attempts/general awkward moments! Last night we had a great moment of hysterics at about half midnight after a mammoth photo sorting out evening, when I walked into the kitchen to find Bruce the dog with cream cheese all over his face. Standard.

Just when I thought it wasn't possible to attend a more random collection of Brazilian events this month, I have been proved wrong. This Saturday I've somehow said yes to a Motorbike rally in a city called Campina Grande to the North-west of Recife, with Sandra and Boê, my Brazilian parents! Awkwardly don't know a thing about bikes, however one of my classmates tonight gave me the helpful advice of just saying "boa maquina" (good machine) to anyone I meet, so hopefully that will see me through! I'm excited to see a different city and spend some more time with the family and their friends. Also you may be glad to hear that we will be travelling by car, not bike!

Sorry this is a really long post, it's been a week with lots of news! If you are still reading now I'm very impressed. I hope that things are going well with you and that the UK is loving Prince George's christening.
Miss you all lots,
Flor xxxxxxxxxxxx (I got my favourite name yet this week - one of my classmates has taken to calling me Flor-Sorriso (which basically translates as Smiley Flo!)