Well, I just had my first full day here in Paulinia. And it sure was a great time. Had to wake up at 7am though - that was hard after the long travel day yesterday. I slowly got dressed and made my way downstairs. It wasn't much longer before it was time to head to the church. The plan was to have breakfast here, so when we arrived, there was a large assortment of bread and pastries - all typical of brazil. We ate and I had a good chat with my fellow group-mates. Right after, we had a tour bus waiting for us - we were going to get a city tour today. Paulinia was a beautiful place. We drove by many nice parks and little colourful shops. Our first major stop was just outside the city - we saw one of the largest oil refineries in brazil - a major contributor to the wealth and prosperity of the city. We drove past for a long time, but the refineries seemed to never end. We eventually made it to a theatre. It was built to promote the arts as a source of income for the city once the oil runs out. It was huge, modern and very cool. A white building with pillars and modern glass walls. We received a talk about it and then, got a big picture taken in front of it. This whole time, I've been able to converse really well in portuguese. Everyone seems to be impressed that I can say so many things, despite only learning the language for four weeks. I'm so thankful for all the lessons that Jeffson taught me back in Manaus. It was probably really good that I had so much time immersed in the language. I'm like a celebrity here - everyone wants a picture with a Canadian and it seems that because I am the whitest guy, I am perceived as the most legitimate Canadian. I think many of them would be surprised by how multicultural our country really is. On the way back, we saw something peculiar - a library without any books. This is a virtual library that only contains computers. It's a good idea for the locals here. Not too much longer and we made it back to the church. Lunch was waiting for us - a traditional dish called feijuada (i'm sure i spelled that wrong). It's basically a black bean and pork mix that you put on rice. They had mandioc flour as well (just with smaller grains), so I could sprinkle all that on top. It was great! During lunch, myself and a couple others from my group were talking to this woman, Angela. She had been with our group, helping with the english and taking pictures all this time. We talked a lot about our countries. Maybe one day we will see her in Canada. I hope I get to see my host family again as well. Everyone is so nice - I am so lucky again to continue living with wonderful people. After lunch, we went to the park with a huge crowd of brazilian youth. The afternoon was filled with activities here. They consisted of games and races, mixed with bible trivia. We were divided into six teams and took part in the events. I had a lot of fun, however, i pulled something in my knee, and now i have a bit of a hard time using the joint. I hope it heals fast. After the racing, potato sack races, egg and spoon walks, scavenger hunt, etc... the scores were tallied up and we were a long way away from winning. It still was fun though. The next couple hours were spent resting at home. I checked the university courses that my mom enrolled for me today - looks like I got into everything i wanted. Our dinner was a great treat - Lasagna!!! Homemade here, it was delicious. It was different though - they used ham as some of the layers. Dinner went a bit overtime - we were a bit late to tonights mass. We had mass, followed by eucharistic adoration. It was a pain to not be able to kneel, but it still was fine to sit at the edge of my seat. This got me a little tired, but I managed to stay awake. Afterwards, there was snacks, but i was still full so i just had some pop. Again, many, many youth wanted to either talk to me or take a picture with me (or both). I have a good few pics on facebook now - everyone is adding me and tagging me in the photos. It's been great for this blog because now i don't need to take as many pics - everyone is taking them for me. The night finished off with us watching the news at home. I got an ice pack to put on my knee, which helped a bit. I hope it is better by tomorrow. I better get to sleep now so that it can. It's 1:30 now - can't believe how fast the time went!
Eucharistic adoration
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