Men are seldom more commonplace than on supreme occasions-Samuel Butler


Man, Brazil has a lot of bank holidays. THANK the LORD. This month of November there are two coming up, and to be honest, we need them. There are loads of exciting things happening in the next month or two, but it means that we are snowed under with preparation and kids, loving it, but add that to a particularly busy time at seminary handing in essays and such, means that I am a little fed up, and a little more than a little tired. This week has been particularly hard, and at the start of the week on Monday made we want to cry that it wasn't already Friday, but then I was blessed, and blessed again (with the help of our awesome teens) and have been blessed all week, and have made it to Wednesday without incident, and with several good days at the project, so I think I'm going to make it!

On Sunday we had an amazing time at Children's day, we rented 5 different 'games' for the kids, two trampolines, two bouncy castles and one ballpit for the little ones and it was a roaring success. I had organized games to play with those who were tired of waiting in lines, but no one got tired for 3 hours, and so we didn't have to run the games at all. Hannah and I even got a go on the trampoline, and I giggled a little uncontrollably, because it really is quite fun. Thanks to the success of our children's day, we were quite busy at the project on Monday, and we decided to run the games we had prepared, and it was great fun. Lots of relay type games, and Hannah and I have learned lessons:
- Don't let them choose their own teams
- Make sure the that the rules are VERY clear, if this means a 8 page powerpoint presentation, so be it.
- Don't count up points to give a big prize at the end, give out small prizes after each race.
-Leave the water games until the end, and make sure that you close the doors to bathrooms and kitchens so that it doesn't get out of hand.

Points one through to three we had down pat from earlier experiences, it's just that we forgot point four, and as it turns out, take children, add water, and you have a recipe for disaster, they just cannot help themselves, it's as if the water shrinks their self control to nothing - Although only you as the adult can perceive the disaster and so the kids all left happy, albeit wet. Hannah and I left wet, a little less happy, but satisfied in the end.

Some of our teenagers have come leaps and bounds, I am really very excited to see change in the lives of teenagers who I really wouldn't have believed it was possible in. One has come of drugs completely, it would appear that he has been clean for 4 months now. This is amazing, that a 17 year old, without any medical or psychological support has just simply STOPPED using addictive substances. There aren't very many explanations for that, and I know which one I am going with....

We are currently practising for a large parade on Saturday in Cha da Cruz, we are taking some of our teenagers along with us, and we have rehearsed a small play, the Cha da Cruz kids have dances, plays, music, war cries etc etc etc, prepared for Saturday, and I'm actually very excited about it, it is a large campaign against drugs. I will put photos up of all of our activities at the end of the month.

Hannah and I are taking two well deserved days off next week, hoping to go to the beach town of Porto (Port of the chickens,.... I really dont know...), with a couple of friends, and I plan on doing nothing but sleeping, without any guilty feelings.

One request. If you know some short Christmas plays please send them my way, we are preparing for Christmas and I am in charge of Drama, and I have GRAND plans, but would love some ideas, just send them my way emma.hietanen@gmail.com

Thanks
hugs
Emma

P.s. Did you know that if over 50% of people vote Null at the elections, then the presidential elections have to start from the beginning and the two candidates can't run again, so if you know a Brazilian, tell them to vote null. Neither of these guys seem to be worth their weight in lead.

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 8, 2010 at 1:53 PM

    http://www.christmasplays.com/

    Lot's of fun plays there :)

    Laura

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 8, 2010 at 1:56 PM

    Oh and this one,

    http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/christmas/plays/

    Laura

    ReplyDelete

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