#usbcsanta

[41seven]

Here is the video recap I put together of my trip to Brazil with US-Brazil Connect & Conexão Mundo!

Peep it and let me know what you think!

A million thanks to everybody who donated to help me fund this trip. It was a fulfilling experience from beginning to end. I love this program. I couldn’t have had the experience I had without you all; and for that I am truly grateful. 

The HD version is available on my Vimeo page. 

Enjoy! 

[41seven]

Brasil is bãe. Finally some much needed R&R after these three weeks. I can't believe this trip is almost over! #usbrazilconnect #usbcsanta #floripa #florianopolis #teamjarule

[31diasnobrasil]

Semana 1

@Julho 3 x 2015 I've been busy the last couple of days so I'll have to play some catch up. This program was more time consuming than I thought! I'll start through the lens of a tourist since I know what that's yall want to hear about. First things first: I may sound like a traitor for saying this but Brazilian Pizza trumps American Pizza. It's just better. I'll stand behind that argument as well. They're just more free with what toppings they put on it! They don't make a crust out of hot dogs. What's also great is that the bars/restaurants have figured out the whole splitting tabs issue. Before you enter any place, they give each person in your party a ticket with all of the items on it. When you order, the waiter marks down your order. So when you leave, the question, "did she split it?" never comes up. It really is an ingenious idea when you think about it. Another strange nuance of Brazilian food is that they eat cakes for breakfast. I mean, that's kind of weird but what is worse is that they think eating BACON in the morning is super strange (I'm standing behind the United States on this one). I'm slowly learning the Portuguese language and my students are helping me out a lot with the slang. "Você é uma toura" basically translates to "You're a bad ass" which is awesome. About the program: These kids are phenomenal, man. They treat me like their family member. On our first day they bought me a soccer ball, Havaianas, a custom T-shirt, chocolates, and made me a sick video introducing themselves. It almost brought me to tears on my first day... I already know leaving them is going to be hard. This week we've been learning about being a good team; So, Coach D, please believe I gave them a little taste of the Hope Basketball pregame warm up. We do it at the end of every class. I can already see growth in many of my kids. Not so much English yet, but their confidence in trying to speak another language. A couple of my girls from thr first time we met we're so shy and now in-person they're all hype about the program. And that's what this is about: Not just teaching English, but giving these students Confidence. Speaking of confidence, my group and I have been teaching them Let It Go during our assemblies every day. So, soon... a video will surface of us coaches dramatically singing Let It Go on stage. I still have never seen the movie... Week one is in the books. I feel like I've been here for ages already. It's going to be hard to leave this place. Today we're marching up Morra de Antena here in Jaraguá. I'll let you know if I survive. *excuse the type o's, I'm doing this from my phone*