.:Jornada Brasil:.: Uma experiência inesquecível

I have safely arrived home and the most amazing journey of my life will remain as some of the best memories I have ever experienced. I expected to teach these kids as much as I could to help better their lives, but somewhere along the way they made my life better. I can't explain the feeling that I am feeling now. I have never missed something so much in my life. I left my heart a million miles away and Brazil will forever be in my heart. I truly feel like I accomplished something bigger than I could have imagined. Of course I miss the volunteers, the location, the independence, the adventure... but most of all I miss the kids that I coached. I especially grew a strong bond with Praiano since I had consistently worked there every day. Those kids made me a better person without me even realizing it. I can still picture my first week at Praiano and how scared I was. I was quiet since I could not speak the language, I was timid to play, and I was reserved. At the end of the two months, I was energetic, played competitively, smiled constantly, communicated with them, and joked around with everyone. I can't believe how much I grew in two months. Every single night that I have been home I have been counting the hour difference for when Praiano begins. I imagine myself still being there at that time. I can hardly wait until the next time that I see them!

One of the other volunteers, Kevin, began working at Praiano the last week I was in Brazil. I can see the same timid qualities in him that I had when I began. He noticed how close of a bond I had with them and he always informs me of how much they all miss me. When I was in Brazil I bought a soccer ball. I decided to give them the ball as a gift since they would put it to better use than I would. On the last day I was in Brazil I wrote a note in Portuguese and the same note in English on the ball. I signed my name and put #19 under my name. I gave the ball to Kevin to give to Praiano, so they would always have a token of me. Without knowing what would happen next, Kevin did something that was truly amazing. He knew how much they missed me, and how much I missed them. He had everyone from Praiano sign the ball! He is going to give the ball to Luis to hold onto until the day I return, in which I will come pick it up for my own keeping. Words can't even describe how much that means to me.

I have kept in communication with all my friends in Brazil and some of the kids from Praiano. It is great because I am helping them with English and they are helping me with Portuguese... it is a win, win. Today is 'Friends Day' in Brazil, so it was great to log onto Facebook to see everyone spreading the holiday to me. Even though we are in different countries, I still feel close to them.

Also, I thought I would share this with everyone. Jins had wrote a very good article for a paper in Australia and it has some great insights. It was about the work he had done at Project Gerson and he mentioned the work I contributed as well. It is a different perspective from my experiences, which is awesome to see how much we valued our work in Brazil in different ways.
http://capitalfootball.com.au/site/news.php?id=1613 - Great job Jins!

Kevin took a picture of my coach signing the ball... still speechless with how happy I am that he did this for me. He said that they all wrote there names and number just like I had done.

Carlinhos (as I mentioned in the other blog) made this for me on Facebook and wrote "Já to com saudades! :'(", which means I miss you already.

This is Itiociara beach and we climbed to the top of the rock (30 minute climb) and this was the view. The day before I had climbed this and I forgot my camera when the day was clear. I still think the clouds make the view look amazing.

This is how steep it was: Jon and I were laughing the whole way up because we were practically crawling up with our sandals on our hands to get grip. We felt like spider-man. Haha it was hilarious.