New Experiences

Over the past two days we have had several new experiences. The first was last night, attending a Camdomble ceremony. Orixas (Orishas) are deities that are guardians of the elements of nature.  There are various orixas representing water, fire, metal, etc.  The Camdomble ceremony we attended last  night was for lemanja.  The ceremony was in a white building that had concrete bleachers.  The women sat on one side of the building and the men on the opposite.  The front of the room was wide open and that was where the dancing took place.  At first the men and women danced in a circle counterclockwise.  They did various motions to the different drummed songs.  The women all had lace shirts, with large skirts in bright blues, greens and white colors. They all wore fabric wrapped around their hair and head.  The men had what appeared to be tunics on either in all white or greens and blues.  They too had a head cap.  About an hour into the ceremony, the people that were being initiated appeared to take a spirit.  I will admit this part was at times hard to watch as it didn't seem believable for someone who didn't understand the religion.  Groups moved around at random and then left to the back of the building.  We were told later that they were determining which orixa they possessed.  There was an 'intermission' were food was served (we did not eat) and then those being initiated came back out to the drum music in colors and props that were related to their orixa.  Our tour guide, Roberto, told us that it takes 7 months from the time the person is selected to the initiation Camdomble ceremony.  It can take several years until the person is selected to be the initiation.  I was very glad we got to experience this as it is religion that many people in Salvador practice.  We could not take pictures, but there are several statues around the city celebrating the Orixas.  I will try to take a picture to share.

Our next new experience was volunteering at our placement.  Today was the first day!  I worked with the children for the day which was very tiring but very rewarding.  They are beautiful beautiful children.  Just driving to the placement was emotional.  We passed many favelas.  Some of the houses have windows and stucco exteriors while others are just one layer of brick with motar and many holes. They are extremely small.  Picture your entire family living in the size of a medium sized bathroom.

Today was also our Capoeira and Samba lesson.  What a great time!  I laughed so much my face hurt.  I am looking forward to our next lesson, next Monday.

Tchou,
Bethany

Ter um bom tempo em Salvador (Having a good time in Salvador)

Day 2 -
Today was Orientation day.  We met as a group, there are 10 of us that started today.  Seven of us are from Lilly, one lady is from South Carolina, another lady works for CCS and just started as the specialist for Brazil, and there is a guy who will be here for 12 weeks.  We learned more about our placements, talked a little about the city and what our activities will be over the next week.  We then had our first Portuguese lesson.  There are 3 others that are here at CCS Brazil, they all started 4 weeks ago and will be here for varying amounts of time.

The ten newbies then walked down to the beach.  We went to the beach from yesterday but then continued to walk to the Atlantic side of the peninsula, seeing a lighthouse at Farol da Barra.  The scenery is absolutely breathtaking.

Tonight a group of us is headed to a Camdomble ceremony.  Camdomble is a Afro-Brazilian religion.  There are 365 Catholic churches here in Salvador, but there are over 1000 Camdomble temples in the city.   I will definitely have to post more after attending the ceremony. I think it will be an eye opening experience.

Here are some pictures from the day:

Tchou, 

Bethany

Ola do Brasil

Hello from Brazil!  We arrived this morning in Brasilia at 7:30am local time (5:30am EST).  The time difference will be 3 hours after the Day Light Savings in the US tonight.  We had quite the adventure at the airport.  Karen and I attempted to order a cup of coffee and something to eat.  We hadn't exchanged money before proceeding to the gate, but she found that they accepted US and gave change back in Real. When she gave them $20 US, they translated that to 30R, however when I went up a few minutes later my $20 US only translated to 25R.

We arrived at the home base around 2:30pm, unpacked and went for a walk with 4 other people that arrived today for the program.  We went to a local festival that had ethnic food from all around the world.  We tried the ice cream and the dark chocolate was fantastic!!  We then walked the 10 min downhill walk to the nearby beach.  We had a fabulous dinner cooked at the homebase.  I had a mango at the end of dinner which was really juicy and good.

Tchou,
Bethany

Below are some of my pictures from Day 1:

Photo taken from the Brasilia Airport

Photo taken on the drive from the Salvador Airport to Homebase

  Photos of Salvador

 Photos on the way to the beach and at the beach

6 days away!

Wow time has flown.  Six days from now, I will be on a plane headed for Brazil.  I recently purchased a book on Brazil and thought I would share some of the interesting facts that I learned.

• Brazil is the fifth largest nation on the planet.  The total landmass is 3, 285, 618 square miles.  In comparison the US is 3.79 million square miles in size.
• The population is over 192 million people.  (The US is estimated to be over 312 million people.)
• Brazil was discovered in 1500 by Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral. 
• Salvador is the first capital city of Brazil, starting in approximately 1549.
• Rio de Janerio is made the capital city in 1763.
• Brazil achieves independence from Portugal in 1822.
• Brazil was the only Latin American county to take an active part in World War II.
• Brasilia was inaugurated as the capital of Brazil in 1960.
• Brazil contains 26 states and one federal district. 
• Roman Catholicism is the predomenient religion with ~75% of the population.
• Salvador is the third largest city in Brazil (behind Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) with approximately 2.7 million people.
• Poverty in Brazil is high.  According to this book that was written in 2000, about 20 million people (out of the 62 million economically active population) earn less than $70 US a month.  Approximately half the Brazilian population can not afford their children a decent upbringing.

I learned that my volunteer placement will be at Madre Teresa.  It is a place that has elderly women live there, who have been left by their families, and children ages 1-3 who come during the day (or stay overnight Monday-Friday) from the nearby favelas.  I will have the opportunity to do crafts with the elderly women, paint their nails, and give them massages.  And with the children, I have been told it is basically just giving them attention and being a referee to break up any fights.  It should be interesting.

16 days and Counting - A Range of Emotions

As my title says, I only have 16 days left until I embark on my journey to Salvador Brazil.  As it gets closer my emotions are all over the place.

Excited - I am excited for the opportunity and excited about meeting the other volunteers that I have only talked to through email or phone.  It appears that there are 7 of us going from Lilly (interestingly all women), and then at least 1 other starting on the same day that is non-Lilly.  Our CCS contact will also be joining us on our trip, so that will be great!

Curious - I have been following the other Lilly volunteers in Brazil and they speak of their emotions.  They talk about being happy to help at their placements, frustrated about the language barrier, and sad when they see the poverty in areas of the city.  I am curious as to how I will react to the surroundings, how I will potentially react to not being able to communicate with words to the people at the placement, etc.

Stressed - I am stressed about packing for the trip.  I have a list started on what I want to bring, but the thought of actually starting getting things together in a suitcase is very stressful.  What if I forget something important??  Also stressed about all the items I want to get done before leaving.

Happy - I am happy that my visa came today.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the visa process like I was, you actually send your passport away and the visa is attached on a page in your passport.  I sent my passport in about 1 month ago.  You have to have an extra passport photo to send in with the paperwork, which of course is ugly since you can't smile. I now have a 10 year visa in which I can stay in Brazil for 90 days at a time but can not stay more than 180 days each year.   We liked that the nationality is listed as "Norte-Americano".

Thankful - Thankful that Lilly has given me this opportunity.  Thankful that when I changed jobs in July, my new boss was on board with me going on the trip.  Thankful to my colleagues who will take my share of the work while I am away for 2 weeks!

Sad - I am sad about what I will be leaving at home while I am gone.  Recently married, this will be the first time my husband and I are apart for this length of time.  Actually since we met in 2008, the longest time we have gone without seeing each other I believe was a little over a 1 week, and that was back in 2008.  We also have 2 cats, Tux and Dash.  I have had them since 2004, and anytime I go away they are not happy.  I am glad that Rob will be home to take care of them, and it will be interesting to hear how they do without me around.

Interested - I am interested in what my volunteer assignment will be.  Will I be working with small children in Orphanages, working with the Elderly, helping older children with English, working with children with HIV/AIDS?

Delighted - I am delighted about the weather in Salvador.  It is never too cold there, but the months of Dec, Jan, Feb is their summer since they are south of the equator.   As it gets colder and colder here in Indiana, I look forward to some warmth!

There are definitely other emotions as it gets closer to leaving for Brazil, but those are the big ones.

More to come as the trip gets closer....

Night Shift

So just about a month ago I started my new job.  As my new job is a front line support role for operations at a 24/7 plant, it was suggested that I try to work the night shift for a few days to meet the folks that only work the night shift.  Last week (Tues-Thurs) I worked the 12 hour night shift.

I was initially extremely nervous.  Nervous about being able to stay awake until at least 6am, nervous about meeting so many new people, nervous about not knowing enough about the process and looking stupid.  Monday night I drank a cup of coffee around 10pm and stayed awake until 4am hoping that would help with sleeping in later and staying up later.  Tuesday I drove to work as everyone else was headed home (~5:30pm).  Unfortunately Rob, my husband, wasn't home from work when I had to leave to drive in. We went from Tues to Friday seeing each other for only a few moments.

When I got to work Tuesday night I met the operators and supervisors and started a wonderful journey.  I should not have been nervous at all.  The people were wonderful, kept me laughing and talking through the night which made it easy to stay awake.  They taught me so much about the company and the process I support.  I even got proposed to by one guy who is probably 20+ years my senior after he learned I was a golfer, enjoyed football and brewed beer.  I was quick to tell him I had just gotten married which then was part of the story that was told on the next two nights to the operators that were present on the first day.

I will say that working night shift had its advantages.  It was nice not waking up to an alarm clock since I just slept until I was ready to get up.  It was nice not having to go to so many meetings and dedicate the time to meeting people and learning how the process is run.  It was nice having the extra days off.  There were disadvantages too of course.  Not seeing Rob was the biggest one.  Also it was pretty annoying waking up at noon-1pm and realizing I only had a few hours before having to turn around to go back to work. It was amazing to think that so many people do this 12 hour night shift all their life.  And all though they are supposed to work 3 days and then have 3 days off, they are often doing a day or two of overtime each week.  The other thing that was amazing was that the majority of the people in the plant do a swing shift.  So they work 12 hours 6am to 6pm for 3 days, then have 3 days off, then switch to 12 hours 6pm to 6am for 3 days, then have 3 days off.  I can't imagine how they get used to working that schedule.

Thanks to all the welcoming folks that had me laughing, learning and really enjoying my three nights of work!

Headed to Brazil!!!

I booked my flights to Brazil today for my trip in early November.  You may be thinking...why are you going to Brazil?  Well at the end of 2010, the company I work for announced that they were starting a new volunteer opportunity.  They started a program working with Cross Cultural Solutions (http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/) to send 200 people on 2 week volunteer trips all over the world.

Out of the 1800 people that applied for the opportunity, I was one of the fortunate ones to be selected as an ambassador for 2011.  The company is sending groups of ~8-10 people to a specific location at a time.  I am in the group of 8 that will be headed to Salvador, Brazil in November.  There will be a total of 4 groups going to Salvador, with other groups heading to India, Tanzania, Ghana, Peru, China, Russia, Thailand, etc.

Salvador is the third largest city in Brazil.  It is located along the Atlantic coast in the Bahia region north of Rio de Janeiro by about 1000 miles.  The city was founded in 1549 and was the first capital of Brazil, until the capital was moved to Rio in 1763.  Salvador has a rich African culture, which according to the guide books is evident by the music, dance and capoeira.

I will definitely be sharing more about Salvador in upcoming blogs before I go, potentially while I am there, and after I return to the US.  

Until then.....boa noite (boh-uh noyt)!  ((Goodnight in Portuguese))