Festa Junina and Good-byes

We had been busy all last week and hadn’t had a chance to grocery shop so we ran over to a Brazilian fast food place. You don’t find many of those here. We all had chicken tenders and fries. I’ll give you one guess as to who picked this place.

Ministry with the Florida team kept going full speed ahead this week. The kids had a blast. Most of this team have been to Brazil several years in a row and have bonded with these kids. It is so sweet to see.

Since we’d had a busy start to the week, Tucker didn’t want me to “have” to cook and he wanted mom to try the Brazilian Dominos. (I, personal, just think it was a successful attempt to get pizza). And, of course, since Domino’s was right beside La Fresca, we “had” to get açaí, since it’s mamaw’s favorite. It’s for her. All for her. He’s a clever boy.

The team asked Mason if he would be the paralytic in their skit and he obliged. And the Oscar goes to….not Mason. Poor fella. He was doing great being still but he got a little confused on his que of when to take up his mat. “Jesus” tells him his sins are forgiven so Mason started to get up and was quickly shushed back down in his spot. Mason’s que was – “you’re sins are forgiven….take up your mat and walk,” which “Jesus” repeated after Mr. Mark finished the narration. HA! When his que finally came, he grabbed his mat and ran off and then hit one of the bamboo poles against a post while he was running off and made a loud clang. I love that kid!

Mom fell in love with one of our littles and decided to sponsor her. Since it also happened to be her birthday, Mom bought her some dresses, clothes, and a baby doll. She carried the doll around all day.

Feet. I hate feet but it feels like I’m always dealing with some kids’ feet. It just breaks my heart.

This week was the last week of the semester for our kiddos. July is their Winter break. There will other ministry to do on property (camps, teams, organizing, etc) until the kids come back in August.

The end of the first semester is celebrated with a Festa Junina carnival. The way Vinde does it makes me think Fall Festival, with costumes, games, and goodies. I had no idea what Festa Junina was and I came ill prepared to the festivities. Those of you that know me, know I love stuff like this, and to have no beforehand knowledge to be prepared, killed me.

Just so you’ll know, Festa Junina is a festival that runs all month long, nationwide (especially in Northeastern Brazil- I’m looking at you Campina Grande, Paraíba), with various places celebrating on different days but the big day is June 24. The festivities were introduced to Brazil when the Portuguese colonized Brazil dating from 1550-1822. It coincides with two events, originally, it had strictly religious connotations relating to Catholic honoring of Saint John, Saint Anthony, and Saint Peter and with the summer solstice. I know you’re thinking, “but Holly, the southern hemisphere started winter not summer,” and you would be right but remember it came from Portugal, which is in the northern hemisphere. Over time, it has become associated with symbols of rural areas.

Adults and kids, alike, dress up as farm boys and girls with large straw hats, pigtails, painted rosy cheeks with freckles, and checkered (flannel looking) clothing. Maybe, I’m half Brazilian. They perform dances, such as the quadrilha, Cana-Verde, and a crazy dance called the Bumba Meu Boi, involving a women desiring to eat the tongue of an ox and the husband killing the ox, the owner getting made, a healer resuscitating it, and everyone celebrating. On second thought, maybe I’m not half Brazilian. Look I can’t make this stuff up. Our version included regular dancing that the kids do at camp.

Mason, helped with popcorn, while Tucker, well, was busy being Tucker. He played games, won prizes, and ate junk.

Aren’t they just the cutest.

After the carnival there was lots to clean up and then time to say goodbye to the Florida team.

But before they left, we had to take them to the churrasqueira for all you can eat meat. I got to snug my little buddy, Daniel. He is Liandro and Chris’ youngest. What a cuddle bug! Oh, how I miss snugging babies! Mr. John, from the Florida team, generously decided to pay for everyone and there were a lot of everyones! Trev took a picture of Roberto holding the bill. Shocked and blessed.

This is something called a chat face. Don’t ask me. I don’t live in that world.

It was also time to say goodbye to Leticia and Dakota. They have been serving alongside us for the month of June. Super sweet young people. Tucker will miss Dakota helping him try to learn to do a back flip and Trevor will miss Leticia’s sarcastic sense of humor.

Mrs. Sonia and her husband, Bartz, invited us over for a Brazilian meal of beef stroganoff, rice, salad, and cauliflower (I don’t know how “Brazilian” steamed cauliflower is but I’m pretty sure she was just trying to get us to eat something healthy). They are such a sweet couple.

Even though our three months are up, the boys and I are going to continue Portuguese lessons with Sonia as part of our homeschool this year but cutting down the day and hours in order to leave room for math, science, and social studies. So just Trevor and David said goodbye.

Since it was mom’s last day, we decided to play tourist in Atibaia again. The original plan was to rest but Trevor knows how antsy I get. On the way into town we saw these trees. Mom loved them. She asked if she could bring home some seeds. (Calm down, Customs agents, she didn’t; I told her no).

This time we hit Parque Edmundo Zanoni. Not sure what that small tower looking thing is, but it was close enough to a castle that mom was happy.

Then we took a paddle boat (swan) ride around the small lake.

The weather was nice and the operator, Mr. Joe; a retired firefighter, was even nicer.

It’s a small park but it has a good feel to it.

The Natural History Museum is located in the park and is free, so we went inside.

It was small but had a lot of things to see. A little Brazilian boy looked over at me and said he didn’t want to see anymore dead things. I agreed.

Tucker wanted pizza again. (We don’t normally eat out this much but it just happened that way this month. I’m beginning to think that my clothing getting tighter has nothing to do with the salt or the heat). So he and Trev picked a restaurant and pizzeria within walking distance of the park. When we got there, we realized two things, one- they only make the pizzas at night and two- it was way nicer than we had intended. But the weather was nice and we had already walked so we decided to live it up on mom’s last day.

7ERVAS (7 Herbs) did not disappoint. I had filet with caramelized onion and Gorgonzola sauce, Mason had Salmon with maracujá risotto, Mom had parmigiana, Tuck had panqueca de carne, and Trev had filet fettuccine. Muito bom!

Of course, since we were in town, we had to make one last stop for açaí. I’m pretty positive it’s not the salt or the heat at this point.

And then, our finally goodbye of the week.