Hello from beautiful, tiny Cebreuva in Southern Brazil!

We just finished a session and am feeling the CLV magic x 100 (kicked in day 3 as I was literally covered in gold eyeshadow and dressed as a vampire, searching for a CLUE murderer with a group of 10 year olds...

Today we did our closing program and I almost cried saying goodbye to some of my students, which I definitely didnt think would happen after just a week. Then I moved houses, cleaned up, prepared my evening program and some lessons for next week... and went into town to hit up a grocery store (since I definitely want to bring some of the treats Ive discovered home but will essentially go straight to the airport when I leave here next week) and relax with some coworkers. Now for some coveted internet time (about an hour for the week) before dinner.

I will obviously explain everything later, but for a glimse, here is a website that was created for the parents (and somehow gets updated)... http://hometownbrazil.villagepages.org/

In short, its pouring outside and its terribly hot (wish I had packed the sundressed!) but I am having a fantastic time. In the last two days Ive found myself dressed as a southern soujerner, faking an accent with dyed blonde hair and writing lyrics to Beyonce songs with Brazilian adolescentas. Bizarre, but so fulfilling. I will say, however, that isolation from the world is a strange thing and I find it ironic that we are here to expand the worlds of Brazilian kids worlds while we remain naive of what is going on in reality. I just found out about Haiti. I just checked in with my parents for the first time in 2 weeks.

But while I have a lot of pressure on me and am very busy, I also find myseld feeling so lucky for this experience and glimse into this culture and the lives of the people here who maybe experience things slightly different than what I was raised with.

The more places I go, the more questions I have and the more I see the similarities.

Tomorrow is our day off so Ill be going on a jungle trekk in the morning along with some other small adventures. I am incredibly excited (despite how tired I really am - in a good way) and hope that all of you are also doing well. Pictures, stories and more to come in a week or so - probably from Boston. Ill be hitting the ground running (classes start now) so it might take some time, but until then, besos. -b