Living Above the News

I love the window seat on a plane because I like to look out the window. As we flew into Sao Paulo, we saw a large area of lights that were in the pattern of a bird or flower. It was really neat. As we started to land in Miami, I stared down at the shining lights of the city. There were brightly shining lights, blinking lights, different colored lights, patterned lights, lights in a straight line, moving lights. And there were some areas that were in total darkness. I couldn't help but wonder what my "light" looks like. Is my light bright or dim? Do I blink from time to time, or quickly? What hue does my light give off? Am I a part of a pattern or line of lights--a pattern that provides a certain shape, or a patern that guides others along to something bigger than myself? How does my light feel about the darkness? Do I try to shine brighter, to light up that darkness? Or do I stay to myself? Of course, a couple of Scriptures come to mind: Let your light so shine before me...

So, tomorrow is the big day to return home. It's always nice to get away from everything that one considers "normal". It's nice to get away to Brazil and experience all kinds of wonderful things. But one also gets weary of the adventure at some point. One starts missing one's Select Comfort bed and one's very HOT shower and air conditioning (it was 95 degrees today and NO air conditioning!). And in my case, one starts missing the ability to understand what is being said all around. Of course, this also means--back to the grind and back to traffic. Back to no fresh fruit juices. No inexpensive churrasco. Oh well, we make the best of what we can, wherever God has planted us. Maybe that's why the Brazilians say, "Go with God". See you soon! Va Com Deus, Melissa

Yum, yum. The fruits abound here in Brazil. I've been having soooo many different kinds of fruits it would make your head swim. I've grown very fond of passion fruit this trip. I have had many glasses of fresh passion fruit juice. Today I even had some mousse or flan that was passion fruit flavored. Wow! We went to this store today called Frutos do Cerado. All they sell is fruit ice cream and popsicles of the fruits from Brazil. I just had a popsicle of something called Araca. But my favorite is pequi. The whole world should taste pequi. Too bad it's pretty much only found in this area of Brazil. Renee is the only one of my friends who has actually tried it. I found some info on the web about pequi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caryocar_brasiliense http://www.caldas.com.br/fotos/galfrut1.htm Pictures: http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-30,GGLG:en&q=pequi&sa=N&tab=wi Apparently, someone has put both passion frui...

I created a group on Snapfish so I can share some photos from our stay in Brazil thus far. I hope you all can sign go to it without me having to do anything else. If not, somebody please tell me by emaiing me. It will be Wednesday before I'll be online again. I'll miss you, friend. Here's the link: www.livingabovethenews.snapfish.com Is anyone able to tape any of the 9-11 stuff for me? It's killing me not to watch it.

Because I'm "pao de branco" (white bread), when we go to the wonderful eucalyptus sauna, my skin turns really red, for hours, because it is so hot. In the States, we say that we're as red as a lobster. So, in trying to communicate in Portuguese, I looked up the word for lobster in the dictionary. I pointed to my red skin and proudly announced to everyone in the living room "lagoste". They laughed. A few minutes later, Daniel comes to me and--having figured out what I was trying to do--says, "In Brazil, when you are comparing yourself to something red, you use the word turkey, which is peru." [I haven't seen a red turkey, but whatever.] Oh well, I tried. I should get some points for trying, right? OK, the sun calls my name! Have a blessed day!

I mentioned that we've been walking a lot. Two nights ago,I decided to take my iPod with me. I had downloaded 3 songs from Jars of Clay's new album Good Monsters but iTunes was calling this Mini Monsters . Let me tell you something--those 3 songs are awesome walking songs! JoC has been my favorite group every since their first album and one can usually hear me say "they can do no wrong"--musically. But I will admit that I haven't listened to their last few albums as much as I have their first 2-3 albums. This one may be the album that puts them back on top of the Christian music scene. Good Monsters is also getting many good reviews. The guy in CCM Magazine states, "puts the art in recording artist" and "the most intelligent, musically appealing and conceptually framed Christian album that I've heard in quite some time." I must agree with him, and I've only heard 3 songs! I can hardly wait to get back to the States and buy the entire al...

I will never get used to the way Brazilians drive. It's just crazy! They have creative ways of making two-lane streets into three or four lanes, especially when you add the loco motorcycles to the mix. And how does ones know who is supposed to go through the rotunda first? I believe they call them "rotula" here. Man, if we had those rotundas in Atlanta, I can't imagine how many accidents we'd have. I sure wouldn't be able to drive. But Brazilians just drive on like it's normal to fly through those round passageways with cars darting in and out of every lane. I guess they're kind of used to living life this way--problems and dangers dashing in and out of their lives. They certainly are survivors. If you've never been to a 3rd world country, you just won't understand why people want to leave and why they'll do just about anything to have a better life. Daniel's family does quite well. But you can see people with many struggles all around....

Brazilians are always amazed when I order my fresh juice or coffee "san sucre" or without sugar. I have actually noticed some waiters standing back, watching me as I take my first drink. I don't know what they're waiting for--for me to croak, to gag, or ask for sugar, or what. Brazilians like coffee and juice very sweet. Well, so do I, but when you have diabetes, you need all the help you can get to reduce carbs. I believe diabetics would have a hard time here, with all the sugar and bread. They even have pure sugar cane juice. Yep, they take a sugar cane stick, push it into a grinder of some sort, and out comes juice. I tried it in 2000 when we came, but never again! Yuck. Daniel likes it though. I must say I don't feel as alienated this year as in years past. There are a few more overweight or at least normal looking (ex: not super skinny) people than there were in my prior two visits. I guess all that bread and sugar and modern ways may be catching up with them...

One of the first things I saw here in Goiania was a huge complex across the road from Carre-Four (Brazil's knock-off of Wal-Mart). And what was on this huge complex but a Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. Just for kicks we decided to go to Sam's Club the other day--to see if our Sam's card would work. It did! We were allowed access and even bought a few things. This complex is huge and very upscale! You park underneath the shopping area. It has mall-like fast food joints as you enter from the parking lot. And Sam's has an Ikea-type escalator that escorts you up and down. The Sam's is laid out entirely like home. We thought it was cool. However, Brazilians would like to get a message to Wal-Mart (if anyone has any way to get a message to them, please feel free). Brazilians say that if Wal-Mart wants to stay in business, they need to offer something different from Carre-Four, something like American products. Hey, I didn't say it, they did. Brazil has had Blockbuster f...

When at the restaurant in the middle of nowhere down a red dirt road, we also saw another site that I've never seen before. Termite dirt houses. Yuck! Some of them are as tall as me! I asked why they let the termites just stay in the field like that and Daniel said there is not any danger to the houses and buildings because everything is made out of concrete. Then we came up with this weird story that termites must dream of getting to the U.S., where all the houses are made of wood. But since immigration won't let them in, they make their big red houses of dirt ... and wait for their deliverer to come and take them to the Promised Land. I didn't really like standing by this "termite house" but we wanted to get a picture.

Daniel's health-conscious brother, Nelson, is compelling us to walk every evening. This is good for us, but I want to walk in the day (to get sun), but they want to walk at night (because it's cooler). I really don't care when we walk since the prize for walking is "aqua de coco"--coconut water! As we walked around Saturday evening, Daniel started showing me all the mango trees in the park. One of them was close enough that we could pick a mango off. I was so excited to pull off my own mango. I don't really care that it wasn't yet ripe--the important thing to me was that I picked my own mango! It is Spring time here (not winter, as I previously reported) and many fruits are in season--mangoes, cashews, and avocadoes-- to name a few. Their avocadoes are HUGE! I can't wait to taste one. Sunday, we went to a restaurant that was in the middle of nowhere on a little red dirt road. That's where I saw the avocado tree.

I don't know if I'm like most people, but when I haven't traveled for awhile, I get a bit antsy and want to travel. Then when I'm traveling, especially internationally, I begin to remember how difficult it can be. Our flights went well; only one small delay. But the flight from Miami to Sao Paulo was COMPLETELY FULL, which means we were crammed in the plane like sardines. Would it hurt the airlines to take a few seats out of the plane? I got a little stir crazy a few times and had to get up and walk around and stand in the back, drinking water. In addition to feeling like sardines, it was hot all the way down, which means we couldn't sleep well. This made it two nights in a row where we barely got sleep. When we got to Sao Paulo, the lines for TAM Airlines stretched out the door. The other large carrier in Brazil, Varig, has gone bankrupt, and this is causing havoc at the airports. I didn't get to hear or see any news. No CNN at the airport. Bummer. I am happy t...