Chronicles of a winter in Canada - part 2

Continuing with my winter chronicles...
*click here for part 1

same place, summer and winter

In general, trying to cope with the winter hasn't been that bad. In fact, I find it better when it snows, or the few days after when there's still snow here and there. Not that it's starting to melt, it's not pretty anymore! Plus, it's still cold, but since you don't see lots of snow out there, what's the point of being cold?! I prefer it when it's all humid and snowing. At least I feel it's worth it wearing that big coat and those huge (but warm!) snow boots.

After one of the many snowfalls we had this winter.
Do you see the bust sign and the red lines? 
Well, that's where people usually walk to get in the bus.
The blue lines are for the sidewalk.

People had already told me that February was the worst month of the Canadian winter. In my opinion, in terms of temperature, January was way worse than February.

And February still looks white!

Then March started. Somehow, my mind started to think of spring, but at the same time I know that we still have a few more months of cold days. The snow is starting to melt (though I saw the news and there's more snow coming up tomorrow!), but that does not mean warmer days, yet.

Montreal, March 1st

In the meantime, there's pretty much no more snow in Toronto!!!!

Toronto, March 10th

What I've always liked about winters in the States, and now in Canada, is that though it is very extremely cold outside, once you're in the bus, metro or any building, that's it, you are not cold anymore. And you can find very warm winter clothes and boots.

So, in general, I don't think it has been a bad experience. Though I do want the winter to end already lol. The thing is that it's just too long. Yes, the snow is beautiful, but the temperatures are just not nice at all!

Chronicles of a winter in Canada - part 1

You can surely find many posts and articles about the winter (in Canada): how to survive winter, how to prepare for your first winter, Canadian winter 101, etc. And by no means this post intends to present a guide or a how to. This is just something I thought I had to write about, since it's my first official (two white Christmas holidays -Utah and Cali- don't count because both times were just for two weeks, with a car and on a holiday mood) and real winter. And by that I mean not the winter we have in Monterrey, with a few weeks days of 0º C and the rest of the season with temperatures around 10º C or more.

So the first snow of the winter 2013 was in November 28th, but it was very light. Little I knew how bad normal this winter was going to be. Normal because last year, the first snow was on Dec 24th, there were very few blizzards, and by March winter was all gone. This time? Well, it's been lots of snow so far. And there's more coming!

Views from my apartment window

Luckily, Canada, unlike the USA, has a great déneigement snow removal service. This, added to Montreal's great STM (public transportation system), helps people continue living their routines, despite the terrible weather conditions.

Winter went on and I had to get used to very cold days, and walking on messy roads and sidewalks (half of the time it was hard to walk on the sidewalk, so we just end up going to the streets instead). I didn't have, yet, appropriate winter boots, nor a warm enough winter jacket, so I had to wear like 3 sweaters plus my jacket in order to kind of tolerate the crazy temperatures.

There's no way your shoes boots won't get wet, so better go for waterproof ones.

I spent Christmas at my roommate's parent's place, 2 hours drive from Montreal. It was good to get out of the city for a few days. Since they are all Québécois, used to this kind of weather, they all decided to go out for a walk (on a day with -15º C!). And wanting to get some fresh air too, I went out with them. Oh boy! it was a bad idea!!

Taken right outside the door, so I was still ok.

As we started walking, my hands, feet and nose started to get colder.

The day they decided to drive us back to Montreal (December 27th), there was a very very bad blizzard (la tempête du siècle, 45cm in one day) and it took us 8 hours to get back. Most of the time, we had to go 20 km/h in the highway and it was twice blocked because of a carambolage multiple crash. Twice the car almost got stuck on the road because of the snow, and a couple of times visibility was almost 0. When we finally arrived in the apartment, the entrance was blocked with snow.

We almost got stuck trying to get back on the highway after this.

The blue lines show where the sidewalk is supposed to be.

This is how I found my room window when I got back.

After that historic storm, there has been more snowfall, but nothing as bad as that one.

Spiritual Retreat

It is not uncommon for the churches in Brazil to organize spiritual retreats during the Carnival holidays. I believe it is totally programmed with the intention of drawing the people's attention (esp. young people) to something  meaningful rather than waisting their time in events such as the famous Brazilian Carnival.

I was blessed to be invited to go camping with Central Recife SDA Church.

Missao Calebe 5.0

Maraial, Pernambuco, Brazil

I'm finally posting some pictures of Caleb Mission (previous post about it).

The whole month of January was a blessing in Maraial (and I'm sure it was a blessing all around Brasil where the "Calebs" were). I was the first to leave the group (I came back to Recife on Jan 31st); therefore, I did not have any information about the number of baptisms they had. However, to my surprise, Mr. Marcos and Mrs. Sandra (the Mayor or Maraial and his wife, who is adventist) came to Recife yesterday and decided to visit me at the Union. She told me that 16 people were baptized and that her husband is getting baptized this coming Sabbath. It totally made my day, my week, my month!

I left without seeing the fruits of the mission there. All these time, I had only been praying for them, but yesterday the Lord allowed me to hear just a little bit of what He's doing in that town. The Lord is pouring his blessings unto those people and is guiding them to the light. I thank my Lord for allowing me to be part of that story, but most important, for allowing me bring people to Him.

Calebs in action (L to R: Mauricio, Naide, Sendy, Mr. Itai-the evangelist, Rafael,
Wesilany, Cizinha, Jessica, Sister Vade-the cook!, Cristina and Jedson.)

My kids!! I taught them English every evening for three weeks.

Maraial

Inviting the people of Maraial to the community service project and evangelistic meetings

Babysitting

Babysitting in an amusement park! Can that be called babysitting? 

Yesterday I went to Mirabilandia with a 9-year-old PK and her school. The point is that she was not allowed to go alone, and her mom could not go. Since I'm the volunteer and my schedule/job is more 'flexible' than everybody else's, I was asked to go with her. It ended up being fun but tiring as well. And I think my cold is the result of all the sun from yesterday :(

At the roller coaster... first time in one that has a corkscrew. I think I like roller coasters now lol.
Though I got a headache after a few rides.

This was the other time I babysat here in Brazil (another PK). I was staying for a weekend with a pastor and his family in Caruaru (here) and on Saturday evening I stayed with Andrezinho. This time was funny cause the mom would call me like every five minutes telling me she was on her way back lol.

Do I look like a babysitter? I guess it's all part of my versatility :)

Missão Brasil – The first month

In Salvador, Bahia, on my way to Recife

The adventure began 2 months ago, in September 16^th when I landed in Recife International Airport. *Well, it actually started in Mexico, by collecting EFL books a lot of orchestral scores*

I was welcomed to the 4th-largest Metropolitan area in Brazilian (according to Wikipedia), but not as crowded, polluted and developed as Sao Paulo. It is colonial, historical and nordestina (that would be like a southern city for the USA and Mexico), but most important, it is a coastal city :)

Boa Viagem beach, Recife

I work as a volunteer in two different places. On weekdays I live and work at the Northeast Brazilian Union Mission (UNeB) headquarters. I teach English to pastors, staff and PKs. I like my classes very much, though they are very unstable and varied.

UNeB headquarters

UNeB staff members

PKs

My second job is conducting an orchestra and giving music lessons on weekends in a church in Cruz de Rebouças, a small community 25 kms away from Recife. That church has a great music ministry: a choir, two singing groups, and an orchestra of around 20 people. Sometimes the orchestra is bigger, but most of the times it is smaller (please pray for us, as we face challenges every week).

My packed weekends are like this: on Friday evenings we have orchestra practice, on Saturday mornings we practice before church service and then play for the Divine Service (hymns and offertory), and then in the afternoons we practice with the Conjunto Joven and with the choir, all that before AY. On Sundays I teach music (violin, viola, flute and clarinet –I know what you are thinking!!! Sendy teaching clarinet/flute?!?! It’s been all by God, not me!!).

Cruz de Rebouças

Cruz de Rebouças church

Orchestra @ Cruz de Rebouças church

Playing for a Publishing Ministries Annual Meeting

Thank God life is not only about working :) and though I am the only SM in this place, which means I do not have a travel partner or things like that, God has given me the chance to visit some nice places with some families from the Union.


I have been here for 2 months, and I have got more holidays than I could probably get in a whole semester in any other place. Brazil has a big amount of holidays and of that I am grateful! :) And living in the litoral nordeste brasileiro mans that the best beaches of the country are just within a few hours driving. What make these beaches so beautiful is the clear and warm water pools naturally formed by coral reefs during low tide. There are a few things that Brazil has changed in me, and one of those is that now I like the beach. I do not mind the sand anymore, nor the salty water either!

Boa Viagem beach, 15 mins walking from where I live

Praia dos Carneiros

Maragogi, Alagoas (another state, 3 hrs driving south of Pernambuco)

Maragogi

Snorkeling @ Porto de Galinhas, the best Brazilian beach according to a well-known Brazilian magazine

Food is another great thing that I have been enjoying here :) It basically includes arroz e feijão (rice and beans) all the time, but it is still great! But the best part is the wide variety of fruits (which means delicious juice!). Oh, and now I drink coconut water, and I eat papaya (fruits I used to say I did not like).

*Just like what Memphis helped me like banana, Brazil is doing it with coconut. Who says we cannot learn to like something? lol *

Pão de Queijo... I loved it even before I got to Brazil.

Maracujá = Passion fruit :) Love it! esp. the juice!

Pinha = Sugar-apple

"You are just like the wind: you cannot be stuck." YC

Learning Portuguese

One of the things that has made my adventures in Brazil more exciting is the language. The first days I was comparing everything with Spanish, making learning Portuguese even more complicated. Then I decided to just say the words even if i felt they were incomplete or wrong to me. Now, I am memorizing and using more words in Portuguese and reducing the amount of Spanish words in my conversations :)

Talking about language, yesterday in a restaurant I was reading the menu and I saw “x-hambúrguer”. By the way, the Anglicism ‘hambúrguer’ and ‘sanduíche’ are just a few of the words that Portuguese borrowed from the English language. So, I could not understand what an “x-hambúrguer” was until today that I started to read my recently acquired Portuguese book where it says that in Portuguese you use “x-hambúrguer” because the name of the letter X is ‘shis’ having a similar sound with the word cheese. Therefore, “x-hambúrguer” is read shis hambúrguer. That is just very funny and interesting :)

I love Portuguese! I love languages!

The end of another great adventure

If we never meet again

(Selah)

Soon we'll come to the end of life's journey

And perhaps we'll never meet anymore

Till we gather in heaven's bright city

Far away on that beautiful shore

If we never meet again this side of heaven

As we struggle through this world and its strife

There's another meeting place somewhere in heaven

By the beautiful river of life

Where the charming roses bloom forever

And separations come no more

If we never meet again this side of heaven

I will meet you on that beautiful shore

Mexican food in Thailand

Yaniris and I have been writing our Thai Adventures and it also includes Cooking Adventures. So far we have cooked Mexican food twice (the third one will be next Sunday!). I had the marvelous idea of bringing tortillas all the way from Mexico, and we enjoyed them the very first week we were here. We have written about this in our mini series so I will focus on the food.

Our first meal was Enchiladas, which is basically fried corn tortillas soaked in tomato sauce (you can fill them with whatever you want to, this time we decided to put chicken). Then you pour hot tomato sauce and spread grated cheese on top of the ENCHILADAS (if you do it while they are hot, the cheese will melt and it will be even more delicious). Since we thought that the enchiladas were not going to be enough, we also cooked rice (western style: with salt and some other seasonings hehe), vegetables, potatoes and pico de gallo (chopped tomatoes, onions and cilantro). And guess what... it ended up being a lot of food and we even got to eat it again the next day!

Our second meal was TACOS but this time a Thai friend, Boon, brought tortillas from Bangkok. We cooked chicken, potatoes and tried to make the Pico de Gallo, but we forgot to buy cilantro, so it ended up in salsa only (tomtoes and onions).

I cannot believe that it has been only 4 weeks and we have cooked twice. I say that because it is usually hard to get the ingredients, but I guess my cooking mood has helped as well. The last time I was here I did not cook any mexican food at all, but I think I have done more cooking because now I enjoy it more than before. It is especially gratifying to cook for friends who ask for Mexican food because they love it. And even if it is not mexican food, I think I enjoy cooking!

Next dish is going to be Molletes!

Questions to think about

Mrs. Nebres always starts the class (English for Tourism) reading a question and then we all give our answer to it. I'll try to post some of the questions and my answers here. This question was from yesterday (01/Sep/09).

What’s the greatest accomplishment in your life so far?

There are two great accomplishments that I can think of right now. The ‘new’ (it’s been a process actually) attitude that helps me look at things from the positive side and that helps me find new adventures, even if they come from small simple pleasures. The second and more recent accomplishment (it’s been a process too) is that I’ve managed to face *some* of my fears and try new experiences. Things as simple as eating Thai food or writing an article for Newsbyte are part of that process of doing things I would normally say ‘no! I won’t do it’.

Driving around Muak Lek with Aaron and Yanis. Simple adventures that bring joy to our life.

Major updates

I just realized that my last post is from mid June, and I kind of feel bad that I haven't updated this blog like in ages. Sometimes I feel like I want to write something, but then laziness comes to me and I keep on sayingtomorrow... tomorrow. But finally I'm writing again and this time it will be about new adventures. I realized/decided that life does not really have to be that normal and monotonous. That's like looking at things with a negative perspective. Instead of doing that, all I do and all that happens to me will be an adventure, even the most simple things.

The beginning of my adventures date from July 2009. I found myself heading to Memphis on July 3rd knowing just a bit of what it was going to be all about. After a couple of weeks of babysitting I found out that there was going to be an unusual adventure. Some friends tried to discourage me saying that I was being exploited, but somehow God had prepared me to see the good side of any situation and that helped me not to give up. On the last week of July I found myself in northern Florida enjoying the beach and playing with a 4 year-old boy that was scared of the waves. Finally,August came and my USA/TN adventure ended. I was glad that it was over because I was ready for whatever was coming next, but at the same time I felt like I needed to stay longer to fully enjoy what TN could offer to me.

August 11th, I was on my way back home, excited because I was going to see Sara again. She did not know what I had planned and that was even better. Our Houston-Monterrey flight was the same, so while waiting for my connection flight in Houston, I decided to go look for her on the other side of the airport. She was surprised to see me and I was so happy to see her! After that we had 6 great days together to do some cooking, paperwork, meeting friends, eating out, shopping, etc.

On August 16th the big adventure started. This time it involved 3 more friends, so it makes it even more interesting. Somehow I was sad to leave because I wanted to be with Sara, but I was excited as well because I was going to see some of my friends again. After long hours of waiting, running at the DFW airport, sleeping and walking around planes, we got to our final destination, AIU (formerly MC). This big adventure will end in January, but I'm sure there will be more to come, small or big but there's always new adventures to enjoy.

Thank God my adventures ended up being great ;)