Trying to figure out where these roads are leading me

Oi, tudo bom? (is everything good?) My attitude over the last couple days has gotten a bit better, which is always a good thing. There are still a lot of uncertainties, but that is life. I forgot to tell you guys that my cell phone got stolen a few weeks ago, so don't try to call the phone number that I posted on here. I still haven't gotten any mail here : ( except for a funny card from my mom. I can't believe how much I miss Noblesville, I didn't think it was possible. But I guess you don't appreciate home until you're not there. This week was actually kind of eventful, but I also got a lot of reading done as well. My host mom (Rosa) had her birthday on Tuesday, and my house was full of people and craziness. Birthdays are really weird here because the person whose birthday was has to do all the planning and serving for the celebration! In my opinion the best part about your birthday is that you don't have to do shit besides choose where to go eat! We had so so so much food here, and it ALL got finished, including all of the dessert after all the food was gone. I had a bad headache, so I took some ibuprofen and just stayed in my room most of the time reading a textbook about the history of Bahia. On Wednesday I went to that school in Amaralinha, a really poor neighborhood in Salvador. My friend Sarah and I are going to teach an English class to a group of 9-11 year olds at the school. I am really excited about getting the opportunity to be involved in the community, and I feel so bad for these kids. They didn't ask to be in the situation that they're in: they are just kids that want to go to school and try to make something out of their lives, but there are no opportunities for them. This English class is part of a program that the school is putting together to try to make activities outside of class time for the kids to be involved in. They are going to offer English, dance, capoeira (Afro-Brazilian style of dance mixed with martial arts), and sports to keep the kids out of their homes and streets in the afternoons. Wednesday night we went to that play, "Everyone has Sexual Problems." I thought maybe I was missing something in the translation of the title, but no the play was really about sexual problems. There was like 5 actors, and they had people write in letters about sexual problems that they were having. Then they went through 6 letters and the other actors tried to offer them advice on how to fix their relationships/ sex problems. It was a lot easier to understand than the last play we went to for school, I think for 2 reasons: 1. my Portuguese improves every day here and 2. there were only 5 actors in the play so there were very few people talking at the same time (which Brazilians are notorious for!). I'm really not sure the program took us to the play because it had nothing to do with race issues, but it was really funny. Mom said maybe because if you wanted someone to understand American culture, you could take them to a popular Broadway play of the time. That makes sense, and when I told my Portuguese teacher that we were going to that play, she said that she thought it was really funny. The program was going to take us to eat at a Japonese restraunt, but Sarah & I skipped that to indulge in our weekly ritual of Mexican food at the Creperia on Wednesday nights! We shared an order of fajitas, and damn was it good!! Thursday morning I went with my Portuguese class to the Terreiro to get a tour and meet the people. We ended up leaving the campus almost an hour later than we were supposed to, and then it was raining (the world stops here when it rains, although it rains atleast 3 times per day now that it's the rainy season), so we got there pretty late. We only got to see the house of Oxala, who is the main orixa (spirit/god) of this terreiro, the fount of Oxum (the goddess of fresh waters), and the building where they have the rituals. I didn't really learn more about Candomble, but I did get to see how the candomblistas (practitioners of candomble) live. The terreiro (in Portuguese, means ground, but is really sacred earth) is a village of practitioners, all living and working together. They all worked together to raise the food, commune, teach, learn, and worship together. This terreiro had a school built in it that people from the village and surrounding neighborhoods study in. It is a really good school, that teaches a higher level of education than the public schools in the area, as well as parts of African culture that have been downplayed, dismissed, and descriminated against so much in Brazil since the first slaves were brought here in 1534. When we went to the building where ceremonies were held, we actually got to talk to the Mae-de-santo, the leader, of the terreiro. She was telling us about how the terreiro is a community within itself, and tries to be a part of the greater community around it. You could just feel the power her even though she was this frail old woman with slow speech. Some kind of feeling of great knowledge through experience and the collective consious. I could definately feel all the energy of the place, of this sacred tree that we saw that was celebrating its 100th birthday (I bet you didn't know trees had birthdays too?!), when I was sitting in the building imagining what it looks like during a ceremony. After the Mae-de-santo was done talking with us and answering our questions, some of the ladies of the terreiro served us food, and do I mean food! We had like 4 or 5 different things on our plates; pop, water, beer or liquor to choose from to drink; and watermelon & this sweet banana candy for dessert. After we were done eating, they kept trying to serve us more, and more, and more food, drink and dessert. They were so nice and hospitable. Another example of Brazilian hospitality, I had to go to the bathroom (imagine that!) cuz I had already drank 2 bottles of water, and I asked one of the girls that were serving us where the closest bathroom was (because it was pouring down rain I didn't want to have to walk half-way back across to the public bathrooms I had seen if I didn't have to), and she said that she would take me to one. She led me to her house, opened the door, showed me where the bathroom was, and told me just to close the door to the house when I was done because she needed to go back and help serve the food. She let me use the bathroom in her house, and trusted me to leave me alone in her house even though she didn't even know me. My weekend has been pretty uneventful and relaxing. My family went to a wedding of a cousin (I think?) in Praia do Forte, which is about 2 hours away from here. The wedding was at a church on the beach, and there was going to be a big reception afterwards. I didn't go though, because I had to go to what ended up being a pretty retarded play for my Portuguese class. I got to spend yesterday afternoon and all day today at home by myself, which has been really nice to chill out a little bit. I'm so independent now and used to living by myself that sometimes everyone in my house drives me crazy! Especially when they are fighting over stupid stuff, damn women! Hope you enjoyed the play-by-play of my week! Sorry there's not a lot of reflecting, but my back and neck are hurting from being on the computer so long today. Also, I need to do all my dishes that I dirtied while my family was gone before they get home! Have a great week everyone, and I'll write again soon so you can get the emotional side of my life lately! Once again, take care of you and yours! Beijos XOXOXOXOXO <3 Becki <3