More Pictures!

Please go to the following link for more pictures! Carol and I had quite an eventful Tuesday this week, check it out.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2061095&l=95188&id=54602315

God's Blessings, Amanda Scott

Sao Paulo

Carol and I were able to go into the BIG city of Sao Paulo (third largest city in the world) for the first time this past Friday. It is about an hour from Itu. We joined Mark, Ali, and our friend Vitinho for a fun filled day of lots of walking, people, and merchandise. Our first stop was a large market that is inside of an old train/bus station. The building itself is really neat with lots of natural light and stained glass windows. Much of Sao Paulo has a large European influence. They had EVERYTHING at the market. You could find really expensive olive oil. Olive oil is a really important ingredient in Brazilian food. They add it to potatoes, chicken, salad, and even pizza! We also tried garlic from a vat of olive oil and a large seed of which I cannot remember the name. They had fish and meat everywhere just out in the open covered in a lot of salt. They had the prettiest selection of fruits and vegetables I have seen. We tried some large blueberry-like fruit that grows on tree branches here. My big purchase was 250 grams of dried apricots. My favorite new food item has to be candied lemon and orange peels (so good). After finishing a large slice of pineapple, we went to Rua Veinte Cinco de Marzo (forgive spelling errors) which is known for the shopping. Ali was rug shopping but was unable to find one she liked. Vintiho bought a watch. They had the largest collection of knock-off designer watches I have ever seen! I was tempted to buy me a fake Swatch watch, but decided to keep my $6.25 for now. After our shopping phase, we toured the refurbished stock-market exchange. Since most of the stock market is done via computers, the trading floor has been redone as an homage to the past days. We watched a 3D movie on stock investing and trading. My favorite part was the interior design. They had these really neat round doorways and a exhibit in a series of “blue lit” glass rooms that housed museum type stock market paraphernalia. The last stop on our extravaganza was the Cathedral de Se. The Cathedral is at the heart of the city and is actually the starting point for all kilometer markers in the state of Sao Paulo (it is a state and a city, kind of like if there was a Texas, Texas). The Cathedral was reminiscent of a gothic cathedral one might find in Europe. It was HUGE! It was interesting getting into the cathedral because all of the Postal workers that are on strike here were staging the strike on the Cathedral steps. By the way, I will NEVER, EVER complain about Houston traffic again. Sao Paulo is much worse. Thank God I was not driving. After the Cathedral we went to our friend Pedro’s apartment and made the best grilled chicken on a George Forman grill. At 12:15 we went to see the new BATMAN. It was awesome, but really dark. Any of the healthcare architecture majors will appreciate the use of hand sanitizer in the hospital scene (that is all I will give away). After going to bed at 5:00 AM, we got up and made French toast on the George Forman grill! It is amazing how much you can do on one of those things! We rearrange Pedro’s furniture (for which he was thankful) and we headed back to Itu.
Saturday afternoons are filled with dance lessons! I will have to take picture next time. The dance classes mainly focus on a Brazilian dance called Forra (once again I don’t know how to spell this.) It reminds me of swing dancing mixed with two-stepping and a little salsa. The dance class is actually all members of the yuppie group from church which makes it a lot of fun.
On a great note, we started Portuguese lessons today at 7:00 A.M. It is hard to speak English at that hour! Hopefully I will be able to add to some Portuguese to this blog in the future. Well, you are probably tired of reading and I am tired of typing so until next time, have a beautiful day!

Love ya, Amanda

P.S. Please check out my Sao Paulo pictures at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060793&l=85f62&id=54602315

The Chocolate Farm

Today Carol and I joined the youth group from Igreja de Cristo for a walk to a nearby chocolate farm. The 10 mile trek felt more like a hike for sure! I really like the fact that we get to do a lot more walking, due to the fact that we do not have a car, are centrally located to almost everything, and the people here actually like walking! I used my very broken Portuguese to at least exchange names with a few of the youth. However, my Portuguese has a VERY LONG way to go. Carol and I start Portuguese lessons on Monday at 7:30 in the morning (a little early!). I am excited to hopefully being able to say more that “my name is”, “how old are you”, or “do you have any brothers or sisters”. We have been able to spend the past couple of days brainstorming projects for our internship with the missionaries we are working with (Mark and Ali Kaiser). Everything is in the planning stages right now, but it seems like we are going to get to work with the youth group to plan service activities, hang out with the yuppie group (the 20-somethings), and pursue interests to our individual liking. I am going to start talking to a couple of businesses that need some design advice. I will let you know how it goes. Friday we are going into Sao Paulo to visit another camp and see the new Batman movie! Our apartment is coming along, we have almost got everything we think is essential to making it fully compatible with living conditions for the next few months. Please continue to pray for our time down here. I must admit that I am missing my family, boyfriend, and friends dearly; but completely excited to see what God has in store here.

Love ya and I hope God Blesses your day, Amanda

To see pictures of the chocolate farm, go to:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060502&l=b4ea1&id=54602315

Our Apartment in Pictures!

So, here are a few pictures of our apartment! Enjoy! We live on the 6th floor of an apartment/hotel building that is near the church office. It is kind of like a dorm room, but much cooler by virtue that it is in Brazil. Thes images show one side of our room, the other side, and the view from the window!

Our Apartment

Carol and I moved into our apartment today! No pictures yet, but I will post some soon. We get a great view of the city from the 4th floor and the top floor of the building has windows all the way around so we can see a lot of Itu. Groceries, blankets, toilet paper, and a few other items will hopefully make it feel more like home, soon. Check out the other blog links I added to my blog, including Carol´s.

God´s Blessings, Amanda

PICTURES_First Week

So, I have finally put up some pictures from Brazil, read the comments in the order of the pictures to kind of get what is happening in them!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057251&l=6d034&id=54602315

Enjoy and I will write more soon!

Love ya, Amanda

Back from Camp

We made it back from camp and Friday we got to have fireworks for the 4th of July! I don´t think I have ever celebrated American Independence in a foreign country before! I will write more when I can put up some pictures from camp. The group from Highland is still in town and we will be going to a Praise Festival (four Christian rock bands) tomorrow night. We are moving into our apartment on Monday and I will write more soon!

Love ya and God´s Blessings, Amanda