Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother´s Day from Salvador!

Today I am thinking of my mom, mother and law and all the amazing mom and grandmas out there! Today is your day and thank you for the support and guidance you have given to many of us over the years! If it wasn't for my mom I probably would not be sitting here in this Internet cafe writing you from Salvador today. She is the reason I have been blessed with so many amazing things in my life and made the sacrifices she did to make sure both my brother and I and grew up with solid foundation. She made sure we did everything with integrity and to our fullest potential! Love you mom!

This morning we had our orientation where we went through our volunteer packet placements and discussed out loud more about where we would be. The  education center I am at is there to support children whose families are the poorest of the poor. I was looking over the schedule of daily activities and twice they change clothes during their time and we even bath them at the center; this is not a normal routine event at their home. In America we are not thinking about if we are or not going to bath our children but more often which parent is going to do it that night and which cute pjs are we going to put them in once they are all clean? Big difference. We also began going through common phrases that are spoken here and specifically in our volunteer placement areas. I have so much respect for those that learn another language other than that of their native country. Many people here speak no English at all. I took this for granted, as many of the places I have been that are NOT predominately American, majority of the populations learns and speaks English. I´m on Brazilian playing field now and I am trying so hard to make sure I show patience in trying to communicate. 

I have tried twice now to load a video of where I´m staying, but having trouble. I´ll keep trying! In the meantime here are some other photos!



I´ve seen multiple areas like this where there is a big fence all the way around a field in the middle of busy roads.



By the beach



A CHOCOLATE DIET.....WOW...if only this was possible!




This is Vinnie. He is our house Director. We were introducing ourselves, I said I was from Fort Worth, Texas....he said "O, I had someone from Texas come and he gave me this!" (and then he proceded to lasso Ronnie) I told him," yes, Vinnie, we all carry lassos with us wherever we go in Texas."


Make sure to give your mom a hug and kiss for Mother´s Day!

Tchau for now!

Nicki

2 comments:

nicolet said...

Hi Punkin,
I am glad you are there safe and sound. I read your blog today, thank you so much for the Mothers Day wishes, it made me cry. We were at the "Snooty Pig" eating so I had to quietly wipe the tears from my eyes while Bryan and Douglas continued their "guy" talk. I love you and look forward to reading more about your adventures.

Stacey said...

Great post! Your picts are great! Hope you continue to have a wonderful time!