Aaron and Marcele

Aaron set out for an adventure to Brazil with a rough time frame of four to six months. During this time in, he enrolled in various Portuguese schools and travelled to different parts of Brazil. He made the most of his time catching up with old friend that he had already made (in both Australia and Brazil) while getting to know the culture and language better. After this adventure he had a ticket booked to London with the idea of finding work there.

Five months into the trip he returned to Rio de Janeiro where it all began - this is where he stayed for two weeks on his first trip to Brazil in 2009. He planned to stay there for a month with friends. But as he didn't have any schedule and had finished official Portuguese classes he looked for a church where he could get involved in some volunteer work. He found one where he had the opportunity to help in a local favela and teach English to children.

It was through this church that he met a young lady named Marcele. The first time they met, there were a number of people talking at the same time. Marcele took pity on Aaron as she perceived he didn't understand too much of what was being said (Aaron also finds it hard to understand when multiple women are tailing at the same time in English). While their first encounter was relatively brief, Aaron was most impressed by her kindness and outgoing personality (not to mention her obvious beauty) and didn't say goodbye without asking for Marcele's email address. He sent her an email that night to which to this day she has not replied.

However, undeterred a couple of meetings later they managed to go out for dinner with another of Marcele's friends - Jessica. Miraculously Aaron's quick wit and corny jokes somehow managed to win Marcele over, they both thoroughly enjoyed the night and it wasn't too longer after that they commenced dating.

Aaron promptly postponed his trip to London in order to get to know Marcele better. The ticket was changed from September to November. When November came, the ticket was changed to January. A couple more changes took place and it was no longer possible to change the ticket any more, but so be it - there were more important things afoot.

Early in the new year Aaron persuaded Marcele to go with him on a picnic. She had various other ideas that day, but when he finally got her to the park and they had eaten he took the opportunity to get down on one knee and ask Marcele to marry him. She started to cry, but he was able to verify that this signified "sim" (that's Portuguese for yes).

So nine months after it began in May 2011, they plan to get married and - with the Lord as their rock - live together for as long as their lives on this earth should last.

Healing on the street

The other evening my fiancé Marcele had a meeting to go to. She didn't feel like going, but realised that it was important and went. Afterwards, on the way back she saw a woman on the street who was begging for money. Marcele decided to give her some money and talk to her about the Lord Jesus.

Something touched the women and she started to cry. She called her husband over and Marcele also talked to him. Before going she offered to pray for them. After she did this the man looked surprised. He revealed that he had had a pain in his chest for the last four days which prevented him from working, but the pain was now completely gone - he was healed! Marcele didn't even know about this when she was praying, praise the Lord!

One year in Brazil

One year ago today I arrived in Brazil. When I arrived I hardly spoke any Portuguese. The first four months were spent studying Portuguese in a few different language schools in different parts of Brazil. I decided to study in different locations to get to see more of the country - in hindsight I'm glad I did.

My Portuguese is now at a level where I can have a decent conversation. I can also tune into other peoples conversations, this was always a lot harder - it's one thing when someone talks to you slowly, but its another when two Brazilians are talking with each other at full pace with their full range of volcabualary. So its nice that I can now do this. Although I'm still not fluent, have a strong accent and can't understand everything, it's nice to have seen the improvement.

I had originally planned to stay here a maximum of six months. So what happened? Well seven months ago I met a lovely young lady by the name of Marcele at a church I started attending in Rio de Janeiro. Seven months on and I'm glad to say that we're engaged and planning our wedding!

I have tried to make the most of my extra time here and was doing some volunteer work in a favela, although now a lot of my time is being used as we plan towards the wedding and future travel plans!

Healing of deaf girl

Well, I realise that it's been a while since I've written. I've actually met a young lady by the name of Marcele that I've started seeing and hence have extended my stay here in Rio. I've been getting involved in helping at a local favela through a church that I've become involved with and doing some volunteer work like teaching English.

I have something quite amazing to share that just happened earlier this evening. I was walking on the streets of Rio with Marcele when we bumped into a friend of hers who was with two other women, one of which had her twelve year old daughter with her. The girl was deaf since the age of one and a half years old.

Marcele told the girl's mother that Jesus could heal her of this deafness and commenced praying for her in the name of Jesus. After praying for her for a few minutes, she (while still praying) hugged the girl. As she was doing this tears game into the girl's eyes. Marcele started speaking with the girl and she responded - she could hear! Marcele asked her various questions to which she responded (she couldn't do this when we met her fifteen minutes earlier). I also talked with the girl. Afterwards Marcele walked behind the girl (so that she was out of sight) and called her, she heard and responded by turning her head and smiling - Glory to the Lord Jesus!

Favelas


As the favelas are high up, they often come with very good views!




One thing that makes Rio so beautiful are the mountains the city has. This allows for such famous spots as the where the "Christ the Redeemer" statue is located. From spots such as these the views are spectacular. Unless you go flying, it's not really possible to get the same sort of views of Sydney because it simply doesn't have the mountains for you to get that high.

The hills and mountains are also where the favelas (Brazilian Portuguese for slum) are built. This is illegal housing where a lot of the poorer people live. For many years the Brazilian government didn't acknowledge the favelas and many are ruled by druglords. Although things are apparently better now than they used to be.

In my first week in Rio I went on a favela tour. Some people find these a bit controversial as they seem it as exploiting the poor. But having been on the tour I see it as a good way to bring awareness to how people are living and bring some tourism money into the community. While we were allowed to take photos on the tour we were asked to take pictures focusing on buildings and scenery, not people. In part out of respect for the poor and in part because the druglords (who tend to have guns) don't particularly want their pictures being taken. While poor, I think the favelas I've seen here are better off than the equivalent I've seen in the Philippines. The bigger ones are fully blown communities with shops and banks (I'm told the banks have never been robbed) etc.

Since I've had more free time in Rio (no official Portuguese classes), I looked for somewhere where I might be able to do some volunteer work. I found this http://www.projectbrasil.com - a Christian organisation that is partnered with a church here to help in a relatively small favela called Morro Azul.

I will take a moment to share a sad story that shows how serious things can be. This happened a couple of weeks before I arrived. There was a young man in the favela who (despite the advise of friends) got into selling drugs. After a few arrests by the police he changed his mind and decided he didn't want to sell drugs any more. However he was told that he had to pay back the money he owed the druglords by a certain date or he'd be killed. He didn't have the money, but the church got involved and was able to help him personally and with the finances. The debt was paid and the church was helping him get his life back on track. However shortly afterwards he was shot dead anyway. As it turns out, the guy collecting the money told his superior that he didn't pay up and kept the money for himself, so sadly he was killed despite having paid the debt. The debt collector was also killed once his superior found out what really happened. The only good thing about this story is that the man who was trying to get his life back on track gave his life to the Lord Jesus before he was killed.

The above gives an idea of what things can be like. Although generally the druglords don't want any trouble from police, so as long as you respect them apparently things are pretty safe. In the particular favela I've been getting involved with they're cleaning things up and are actually looking to build a police station there.

Back where it all began

Rio de Janeiro!


Lívia, Aaron and Alessandra


Milla, Aaron and Alessandra

It seems hard to believe, but it's almost a year since I came here to Rio de Janeiro. It was on Satuday 29th August 2009 that I came here with my good friends Max and Monique. That was for a trip just short of three weeks. On now on my second visit to Brazil and have been here five months this time, and yes I'm now back in Rio de Janeiro!

Last time I was here, as much as I enjoyed it, I wasn't really "allowed" to go anywhere by myself because I was told everything was dangerous for a gringo such as myself. This time around, I've made a point of getting familiar with the public transport - particularly the subway system - so that I can have a bit of a look around myself.

I've caught up with some good friends, particularly Livia and Milla - friend's of Monique - who I met here last time. But this time around they're pretty busy during the week so I've been keep myself occupied. During my first week, I caught up with a friend Eirik who I met back in Floripa. He's from Norway and was here for a holiday. So I did some of the touristy things that I did last time but are well worth doing again such as visiting the Sugar Loaf and Christ the Redeemer statue which is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World (although there seem to be a way to many "seven wonders of the world" variations these days).


This is my first extended stay at a place where I'm not doing any official Portuguese study. But apart from talking with people - which is probably the best way to practise - I've found some other ways. I bought some 'classic' books, kids version (probably designed for 8-10 years old), about 70 pages each - all in Portuguese. The kind of stories I liked when I was a kid and still do now. I've nearly finished Robin Hood and plan to read King Arthur next! I don't understand everything, but enough to follow what's going on. Likewise I bought myself a Portuguese "modern language" Bible. I've been reading about Joseph in the book of Genesis. I was happy because I understood more than I thought I would. Being already familiar with what happens does help.

I've also been looking to do some volunteer work while I'm here. I might be able to help in one of the favelas. I intend to write more about this in my next blog.

Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo

left: Priscila's step-dad, sister Deborah and her husband.
Right: Priscila's step-sister Thais, me and another friend (also called Priscila)




I spent a week in Mogi das Cruzes in the house of the family of my friend Priscila Romeiro - not to be confused with the other Priscila's in Brasilia. Priscila lives in Sydney at the moment, but her family were very hospitable. Her brother Bruno met me at the bus station when I arrived from Curitiba and showed me around over the weekend. Her step-sister Thais is really cool and had some time off during the week which she used to show me around São Paulo. Likewise were sister Deborah and step-father were very friendly. I really liked mum who insisted that I return.

Mogi das Cruzes is a city in the state of São Paulo about an hour or three (depending on traffic) outside of the city of São Paulo - the biggest city in Brazil and one of the biggest in the world. In Australia you rarely get more then 3 lanes of traffic going in the same direction. In São Paulo I once counted 11.

So I spend some time getting somewhat cultured and visiting various museums and parks in São Paulo. I was under the impression that Sydney was second only to San Francisco in having the biggest annual gay event of the world. But it turns out that São Paulo has an even bigger one. It commenced in 1997, but now has overtaken even San Francisco in annual attendance. Amongst other events, São Paulo has a big annual "March for Jesus" day, which is also quite famous.

It was good to have some time to check out Brazil's biggest city and be overwhelmed with the crazy amount of traffic. I have a couple of friends in São Paulo who unfortunately were out of town when I was there, so I may return.

A big thanks to Priscila for letting me stay at her family's place. On Friday I took the 6 hour bus ride to the city where it all began for me - Rio de Janeiro.



Priscila's mum and I


Museum