December 10, 2009
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from Sharon ...
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10 October 2009
it has seriously been a long time since my last email/update, has it not?
although i haven't been able to send an update email, all is well.
the internet connection has been kinda sucky lately because of the
thunderstorms.
therefore- no email. i've also been busy doing whatever.. but things
are less crazy lately.
today, i will write a little about the life in São Gabriel da
Cachoeira, the city i am living in.
so- inspired by my friend, Stella, here is SGC in 10 points!
1. Driving. you can drive however you desire as long as you don't get
into a car accident. the crazy rains = crazy potholes. driving down
the road is basically driving to avoid hitting a pothole and ruining
your car. so yes, that means you can drive on the other side of the
road. also, if you drive like a old grandma, you get passed by the
other drivers. but old grandma's speed limit here is somewhere between
40-50 mph.
2. Comercial- (not to be confused with comMercial). there are no big
supermarkets here, just little marts that are everywhere and sell
almost the same things for nearly the same prices. and they're all
named after the owner. for example, my mart would be called "comerical
sharon" ya know. also, the owners are surprisingly lax and trusting.
once, some of the students were short a couple of cents (but i saw the
same thing happen with dollars) and the owner simply said, "pay me
tomorrow." and let it go. craz-y.
3. Change- the owners also are good at rounding... down. if my
purchase comes out to $6.60, the owner will give me 50 cents in
change. and no, it's not because they can't do math. it's because they
chill! i think.
4. Bread and fruit- delicious and unbelievably cheap! bread (the mini
baguette ones are 4 for R$1 (70 cents US)! what the! and fruit--
incredible. a bunch of baby bananas- R$2, pineapple and papya- R$2.50
each. and they are delicious!! guh.
5. Bugs- this being the Amazon and all, bugs are a part of life. so
it's no big thang if you see a couple of flies flying around in the
bread case at the store or in the kitchen at the restaurant. who cares
here. honestly though it's kinda gross just because flies are gross,
but it ain't no thang.
6. Energy loss- it's expected to have a blackout when the thunder
comes a-rolling and the lightening comes a-striking. the seminary i'm
staying at is kind of in the middle of nowhere (in between the airport
and the city) so it's not a surprise when we lose energy. but one
saturday after a crazy thunderstorm, i realized i was for real in the
boonies. i was at the bakery trying to buy some bread when the energy
disappeared. the lights went off, the fan stopped turning and the TV
shut off. in the middle of the day. in the middle of the city. this is
where i am.
7. Reuse- the peeps reuse water bottles here. it's really necessary.
some neighborhoods don't have running water so they have to carry
their water bottles to the water center, fill em up and lug em back
home. i also reuse them and they truly are handy... but i don't know
how i feel about it. haha
8. Trash- there is no landfill here so you burn your own trash. once,
when i went to the villages, i went with some of the guys to throw
away the trash. this is what we did. we took a speedboat out to a
random and remote area of the jungle, got out of the speedboat with
the trash, some gasoline and matches. we walked a little bit into the
jungles (straight up pure only jungles man), put the trash down,
poured some gasoline on it, struck the match, threw it onto the pile
(i threw the match!!!! is that ok?? O_O) and bounced! we didn't even
stay to make sure that the forest didn't burn down. we just left. and
that was that.
9. Shirtless- it's very normal and acceptable to see men walking
around without their shirts on. they come into stores, ride buses,
walk on the streets, eat, drink, sit with no shirts on. thankfully the
women don't walk around shirtless. that would be weird. it's just so
stankin' hot here it's completely understandable.
and finally 10. Frontier- did you know i'm living in one of the
frontiers. the triple frontier include brazil, colombia and venezuela.
SGC is the closest city to all the villages, and thus the closest city
to the other two countries. therefore the military presence is huge
here. they need to guard and protect the brazilian front ya know. the
interesting thing is that the army runs almost everything here. you
barely see police cars or police men, but you see a lot of army tanks
and soldiers. they're in the airport, the hospital, the bank, the
streets, etc. and they keep a live jaguar (mascot of the Amazon
apparently) in their base. why....
so yep! there are my 10 points on SGC and hopefully you got a little
glimpse of where i am. the city is not really a city and things are a
little dull, but life here is still fun and great. it's fun being able
to walk around and do things because everything's so close together.
the only not fun thing is the sun! definitely not fun in the sun- it's
super quente (super hot)!
well, hope everything is going well with you! i hope God is
challenging and convicting you as He is challenging and convicting me.
i have a little less than ten weeks left here and i'm already sad.
isn't that strange of me? i don't understand either.
i am sending two pictures. the pretty collage is of my most recent
trip to the villages. the not-so-pretty collage is of my bug bites.
it's kinda nasty so beware. it doesn't look that bad anymore though.
since i got darker, my dark legs have hidden the bug bites and their
scars. ;)
have a great day!
love, sharon
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