State Museum of Pernambuco

We visited the State Museum of Pernambuco to learn more about Brazilian history. I learned that Brazil had a rocky history with a lot of problems with slavery, colonization, and political instability. Over 40% of the slaves that went to the AMERICAS ended up in Brazil. The house behind me was part of an engenho, or small sugar cane plantation. The master of the engenho live a luxurious life in the house you can see behind me. The slaves lived in the senzala which is located in the basement of the house.

I was chosen to go to the house of gryffindor.

Jacob is always good at posing for pictures. We are in front of the master's house at the engenho. In case you are wondering, this is not the typical Brazilian house.

As you all know, Brazil is full of exotic fruits and vegetables.  Just so you can have an idea, an avocado here in Brazil is the size of a football. There are dozens of different types of bananas ranging from the expensive apple banana to the ground banana that is great for frying. Notice how the oranges are green. They say that all the orange oranges are shipped to foreign countries for a profit. All this fresh fruit makes great juice.

Castles in Brazil

 We spent our Saturday at a museum in Recife. I was very surprised with the art, sculptures and architecture. I had no idea that there were castles in Brazil. When Brazil was colonized Europeans brought with them there art and culture. I felt like I saw a little bit of medieval Europe and even some Greek influence.

 This is the first "wild" animal that I saw in Brazil. Hopefully, the amazon will have some more exotic animals to see.

 Here is David and I

 At first I thought that this statue was of eagles, but in fact, they are of parrots and other exotic birds.

More São João

 A huge party happened at a the Dona Lindu Park a few blocks from our house. I am standing below a statue of President Lula's family. Lula is from the Pernambuco.

 "Dona Lindu Parque"

 This is what traditional forro looks like. I promise it is something that you have never heard before unless you spent some time in Northeastern Brazil. Modern forro is when Brazilians take American music and put it to accordions, triangles and saxophones.

This is the theater where we listened to music at Dona Lindu Park.

Car Crash

 I took this picture from my bedroom window. Before I went to bed I heard a crash coming from outside. When I looked out the window to see what had happened, there was a car that had lost control and crashed into a light post. The scary thing is that I had been outside looking at the sunrise about 5 to 10 minutes before the accident happened.

 The car hit the post with such force that it came crashing down on a kiosk. The driver was killed on the spot and the passenger was hurt.

This is a picture of the crash from our apartment.

We are all getting ready for a night in the city of Carpina to see firsthand the party of São João. We danced until about 2:00 in the morning and didn't get home until 4:00 in the morning! Without a doubt this was the biggest party I have ever been to, but Glenwood had some parties that came in at a close second.

 This is a picture of Fernanda and Tiago, the family that we are staying with. They treat us like kings! Fernanda even pulled a few strings to get us into the V.I.P. section of the São João party.

 This is a picture of the traditional bonfire for the São João party. They say that if you jump over the fire you will get married! I accidentally forgot to jump over the fire. I guess that means that I won't be getting married this year. Besides, I don't think that my mom would have liked me jumping over bonfires in Brazil!

 This is a picture from the V.I.P section of the party. There were thousands of people dancing, singing and having fun. I went into the center of the crowd for one dance with a bunch of people from my study abroad group... unforgettable.

 Here is a cart that was filling up quickly with empty beer cans. This was one of many carts that was filling up and this picture was taken early in the night.

Here is another view of São João

Recife

I thought it would be good to get a picture of what Recife really looks like. Of course, I didn't take the picture, I got it off the internet. Anyways, there are about 3.7 million people and it is the 5th largest city in Brazil. A picture is worth a thousand words...

This is proof that we do study in Brazil. We are all hard at work doing are readings, posting on our blogs and writing our journal entries. When I get tired of studying, I just get up and walk to the window to look at the beach. This sure beats studying in the library.

The Recife Temple is gorgeous! It sits in the middle of one of Recife's most noble and rich neighborhoods. The temple is one of the largest temples that the church has in operation because of all the people that visit it. Many people travel days just to get to the temple, so the Church made it a very nice final destination. I certainly traveled a few days to get here. It was worth every minute. I am so glad to have been there with Jacob Kunzler. The study abroad just began and I have already made memories that will last lifetime.

It didn't feel right to go to the beach in my "p-day" clothes after being a missionary for two years in Fortaleza, so I went in my my church clothes. Just kidding. We are actually on our way to the Recife Temple. How many people can say they have to walk along the beach to get to the temple? The taxi ride to the temple was interesting because the driver told us a little about the city. When we drove past the largest hospital in Recife he grimly told us that 90% of all the the emergency calls to the hospital are because of motorcycle accidents. Driving in Recife for 10 minutes will tell you enough information that 90% is a low estimate of motorcycle accidents. The problem is that motorcycles are cheap and anyone can afford one as long as they have a job. This means that there are a lot of immature guys on the streets causing a lot of trouble.