22 June 2012 - Temple

Today was kind of supposed to be a day of rest.  We do not have class of Friday so no lessons on the culture, but in the morning we went to the temple here in Recife, it was a great activity, and i believe there is no greater lesson than those you learn in the temple.  We were able to go as a group and have a great time.

In the afternoon we went to the center of Recife and saw another old cathedral, and we were able to se some of the daily life of the people of Recife.  Later the family that I'm living with made some food that is typical during the St John Holiday's here and they were very delicious.  

Then I went to a Festa de São João that one of the stakes was having and was able to dance forro and try to dance a quadrilha.  It was pretty fun trying to dance the typical dances of Recife.

21 June 2012 - Instituto Brennand

Today we had a presentation about Ricardo and Flavio Brennand is class.  Ricardo Brennandwas a rich man from the state of Pernambuco (where Recife is located)  who had become rich from owning a sugar cane plantation.  After he became rich he started buying many works of art and weapons and filling a castle that is located here in Recife.  His cousin Flavio was a painter and a sculptor who helped make Recife a beautiful place.

In the afternoon we went and visited the Instituto Brennand.  That is the castle that Ricardo filled with the many paintings and sculptures and weapons that he collected.  It was a truly wonderful place to visit.  It was filled with many different things and you could spend hours or even days looking at all of the different things there.

20 June 2012 - Olde Town Olinda

Today was a great day of learning about the culture and history of Brazil.  In class in the morning we learned about José Mauricio de Nassau, who was the Dutch governor of Recife and the surrounding areas for most of the Dutch occupation of Brazil.  He was a good governor and helped the area develop into a very cultured part of Brazil.

In the afternoon we traveled to see the historic area in Olinda which is the city directly north of Recife.  It is in fact older than Recife is, but not by much.  We visited many old catholic cathedrals in the area and took a scenic elevator to the top of a building that was on the highest hill so that we could see all of the surrounding areas and take pictures from the top.  Most of the cathedrals had been originally built in the late 1500s.  It was an amazing trip and a great cultural experience.

19 June 2012-The Internship

Today in class we talked about the "jeitinho brasileiro," or the way that brasilians do things.  The "jeitinho brasileiro" is the methods they use to generally get around a certain rule or shorten the time needed to complete an objective.  We analyzed the cultural impact that the "jeitinho brasileiro" has on the mindset of the people of Brazil.
Afterward we went to Olinda to see about the internship that we are going to do.  The man in charge was very helpful, and after we met the people that we will be working with, he took us to a building called Nascedouro de Peixinhos, which is a Center of Technology and Digital Culture.  There was also an old slaughterhouse that was in disrepair nearby and we took a look inside.  It was a creepy place, but one filled with history.

At night Brady and I went to a cultural dance about the African-Brazilian descendants and learned some of it.  It was a lot of fun and we had a good time there.  The African culture was very prominent there with the different drums and food.  We ate acarajé wich is a typical food of the northeast with lots of spices and shrimp or crab.

18 June 2012- The Beginning

On Friday I arrived in Recife. I got here on a plane with my sister and many others from my group. The family that I'm staying here with went to pick me up from the airport. The mother's name is Vanda and her husband's name is Lucimario. they have a son and two daughters. The son's name is Lucimario Jr. (from here on referred to as Junior)and the older daughter's name is Laurileide, she lives next door with her husband, Severino, and her daughter Laura. Vanda's other daughter, Lucimar, is also married, but is staying with the family because she is pregnant and says that all the smells at her house make her stomache churn. They are a great family and are always willing to help and show me parts of Recife and talk about the culture. They took me to a small square in town and I ate a tapioca, with chocolate and condensed milk. On Saturday Sara, my sister, came to the house I'm living in and met the family I'm staying with. After lunch we went to pick up the other member of the study abroad that will be staying with me at Donna Vanda's home. His name is Brady Squires. After we brought him to the house, we took a shower and went out to a party that the ward here was having. It was a lot of fun, and we met my sister, and Tawnya (another member of the study abroad) there. On Sunday I went to church here in the ward Jardim Piedade. There were six from the study abroad there. We then went to the beach and I made a castle in the sand. While I was building it, Laura ran through it after some light goading from Junior. After the castle was destroyed I decided that it would be a lot easier to build a pyramid, so we made one really quickly, and when we finished we had Laura run through it as well and so it also was destroyed. Today was the first day of class here in Recife. Just like every other first day of class, today was a day to get to know people and places, as well as a time to understand what we are supposed to do. After class we went to the mall in Recife there we ate lunch (I ate a calzone) and tried to get all the phones tested to see if they would work. After a a short time Brady and I grabbed the bus and went back to the family that we are living with. There I tried to get the papers we need for class copied, so that I could get the reading completed for class. During the wait Junior, Brady and I all played the kinect dance game. We all enjoyed ourselves and had lots of fun. After a few hours the copies were ready and we were able to go pick them up. So everything has turned out well so far.