My last week in Itu was somewhat eventful. I continued making strides learning language, culture, and how to not look like a Gringo, but there were a few things that happened this week that really made it different. First of all, I was constantly bombared with reasons for why I should stay in Itu and not go on to my internship in Niteroi. Second, the interns in Itu (Kayli and Kim) arrived to Sao Paulo on Saturday. Third, I went to a high school to assist Eric in talking to kids about drugs. And finally, Josh and I got stopped running on the streets of Itu at midnight by a police officer pointing a gun at Josh and yelling in Portuguese. Crazy week right?!
Among many other things, Brazilians are notoriously known for their "good-bye's." Here they are cherrished like a precious gift. This Sunday I went to lunch with Bruno, and before we left, he asked if I had said my "good-bye's." I turned around, said "bye guys," and was ready to go. He looked at me like I was crazy. That is not how Brazilians do things. You take time to greet everyone coming in and leaving. This week, I had there were a lot of "good-bye"'s. I had to tell a lot of people that I might not see them for a while. It was sad. I will definitely miss those guys.
I woke up Saturday morning rushing out of bed to head to Sao Paulo at 5:30 in the morning to pick up Kayli and Kim. It was great to see them come out of customs at the airport in one piece. I got the low down on the in-flight catastophe that occured to them, and we navigated our way through Sao Paulo (the seventh biggest city in the world!) taking a few wrongs turns here and there, but making it out just fine.
On Monday this last week, I had the opprotunity to help Eric with his drug prevention talk to a group of high school students in Itu. This is how it worked. I (the Gringo/ Americano) stood in front of the class and talked about this "new technology" we have in the States that everyone uses. I talked about it for a while and Eric translated his own lesson. I tried my best to draw the kids in with my knowledge of good English and new things (like every American should be able to do). At the end, I asked the kids who wanted the "new technology." A few kids came to the front, and Eric arrested them with hand-cuffs. He used this as a metaphor for begining a life with drugs. Eric was a drug attidict for 10 years, but has now been free for 5 years. He goes around now talking to high school kids, and is now preparing to live in a half-way house in Itu. His idea was that someone can give you this "tecnologia nova," but after a while, you become bound to it and it is a very hard and difficult escape. If you think about it, it is like that for a lot of material things. His talk was amazing. And after, he sang a song about a man living with drugs giving his life to Jesus. Then he freestyled in Portuguese. I understood more of the Portuguese freestyle ( a language I hardly know), than one hour of freestyling with Nate. Eric is a truly gifted individual.
My last story is pretty strange. On my last night in Itu after watching the movie "Rio," we had to go home. The only problem was that there were 5 seats in Daniel's car, and 6 people. So being the brave and valient heroes that Josh Love and I are, we decided to run to the hotel and meet Daniel there because 3 of them had to go there anyway. So off we went. Running down the street around midnight. We were doing pretty good, and all of the sudden, I heard someone coming up behind us. I thought it was Daniel. Then, "Pare! Pare!" I turned to my right, and I see a Policia Federal car with a cop pointing a gun right at Josh. We stop, and the two cops get out yelling and tell us to put our hands up. At that moment, Daniel drove up and explained to the cops that we were Gringos and there was no room in the car and that was why we were running. They let us go, but we had to walk (not run) to the hotel.
Fact.
- Brazilian police do not have to have a reason to pull out, point, or shoot a gun. There is no such thing as profiling, justified cause, or collateral here. -
Lesson learned. Don't run at night in Brazil. They will probably think you are a thief.
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