My Dear Friends of St. John’s & St. Peter’s and Bishop Michael,
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My third week was an interesting adventure filled with normal routines and unique differences. This was the last week that the morning day care / preschool program was in session. July is basically a month off for schools. It is their winter break. The children were very excited by the idea of a vacation and were very excited in general. |
Monday was a normal day that started at the school with the children. After that, Sergio and I did our normal routine. That evening there was a special performance at Yuba, and I was invited to go. The community had visitors from Japan who wanted to see some of the community's work. The community put on a short performance that showcased a variety of their talents. All four performances were striking and remarkable, but two of them have made an impression. The first one was a dance that portrayed their work at harvest. The dance was very strongly choreographed and expertly done. As I was watching the dance I was struck by two things: the amount of teamwork required to work the fields and the almost militaristic precision with which they approached the task. The second dance was just as interesting in a different way: the costumes were much more free flowing and the movements were more like a ballet. The dancers were explaining the seasons and it was graceful and moving at the same time.
Tuesday was also a normal day followed by another trip to Yuba. On Tuesday, they featured a woman singer from Japan. She has an amazing voice and I sat for her concert for over an hour completely amazed.
Please don’t get the impression that going to Yuba is a common event here in Pereira Barreto; it isn’t. In fact, most people don’t go. Because the parish of Santo Andre is mostly a Japanese congregation, they have ties to the Yuba community and get regular updates about the activities of that community. This just happened to be a week in which Yuba was doing two performances in one week.
One of the parish leaders, at Santo Andre, used to be a teacher at Yuba many years ago. She is a very honored and respected guest of the community. Most of the people in the Yuba community who can now speak Portuguese consider her to be their teacher because she taught either their parents of their grandparents.
Wednesday was a different day for me. I went shopping.
An event that was small for me, turned out to be a little bit larger for the community. Last week, when we went to Yuba, it was raining and my shoes got muddy. The soil here is mostly red clay, and you can imagine what rain does to clay. When I arrived at Sergio’s the next morning, I took my shoes off and left them on the patio because I didn’t want to track mud in their clean house. Later that morning we went to the grocery store and I was given a pair of flip-flops. I was told that flip-flops are a common style of shoe and that they thought I might be more comfortable in them. When we returned to Sergio’s home, I left my shoes outside and put on the flip-flops. My shoes were then taken and washed. I ended up wearing the flip-flops for two days while my shoes were drying. As a child, I never learned how to wear flip-flops and I look rather silly trying to walk around in them as an adult – they keep flipping off my feet and flopping down on the ground about 5 feet in front of me. I think that you can get a good visual picture of what was happening.
I was very happy to have the flip-flops as something to wear around the house, but I was so very happy to have shoes on my feet again. As it turns out, my problems with the flip-flops were noticed. Some people here were actually asking if they even have flip-flops in the United States. I tried to assure people that they are a common style of footwear for the summer, but that I was just never comfortable in them.
| On Wednesday my friend William volunteered to take me shopping in the shopping district here in Pereira Barreto. It is hard to describe and I hope the pictures give a good impression of the area. We visited several stores so that I could run some errands. One of the first stores that we visited was a shoe store and I bought a wonderful pair of sandals. It feels like I’m walking on clouds and they stay on my feet. This is a very happy arrangement for everyone. My hosts aren’t concerned about my feet sweating and I have shoes that I don’t have to chase after every few steps. |  |
In my shopping excursion, I was also faced first-hand with the difference in currencies between the United States and Brazil. The exchange rate is about 3 reals (‘hey-ice’) to one dollar. In other words, my dollar goes a very long way. The prices look the same, but I’m only spending about one-third of what I would pay for the same item in the United States. In the end, my new leather sandals only cost me about $20 and I’m sure that I would have spent at least $60 for them in the United States.
The other interesting thing that I discovered in my shopping trip is discounts and delayed payments. Because people here in Brazil earn a lot less money than we do in the United States, many people purchase things on a delayed payment schedule. For a payment plan that would last for 6 months, a person would be required to write a total of 6 checks and leave them at the store. The checks would be dated according to the agreed-upon payment schedule (once a month on the date of the purchase) and they would then be deposited exactly on those dates. Because I will only be here for a limited time, and because the dollar is so strong against the real, I pay in cash or with my ATM card. When I do this, I get a discount that is equal to almost 20%.
At the end of my shopping trip, I found myself thinking about how unfair the system is. Those who can afford to pay for their purchases up front are the very ones who already have money. These people are the ones who get the discounts and get the prices reduced. Those who are financially struggling are forced to pay in installments and do not get discounts. The rich who do not need the discounts get them and the poor who do need them, can’t afford them. I can’t blame the merchants, for them having the money at the time of the transaction is worth giving the discount. They have the money and can use it right away to replenish stock, pay employees or even as immediate profits. I don’t have any answers, but I really noticed how privileged I really am, and I’m not sure that I’m completely comfortable with what I discovered.
Thursday was a short day. I was invited to attend a weekend session with the seminarians of the Diocese of Sao Paulo. My bus left at 9:40pm and I decided to take a nap during the afternoon so that I would be somewhat rested before the overnight bus ride.
The bus ride brought home a very interesting observation. Unless you own a car, there are only a few ways out of this town and most of these ways aren’t very reasonable. You can walk, ride a bike, take a taxi or ride the bus. Walking and riding a bike for long distances on many of these roads is a very dangerous undertaking and it is not recommended. Taking a taxi is much safer, but taxis are not cheap and the people here don’t earn a lot of money. That really leaves the bus as the only reasonable alternative transportation for those who don’t own a car (a great majority of the people here in Pereira Barreto). Transportation is something of a luxury here in Brazil. People here don’t move around like they do in the United States.
I was also confronted with another reality while waiting for the bus. My friend William and his family were kind enough to take me to the bus stop and they told me about how some members of the Japanese community earn money by returning to Japan and taking manual jobs for 6 months to a year at a time. Because the wages are much higher in Japan, these individuals are able to save enough money to return to Brazil and not work for extended periods of time. Not everyone does this, but it isn’t an uncommon practice, either.
Now would also be a good time to explain what wonderful friends I have made here in Pereira Barreto. The congregation of Santo Andre has been very warm, welcoming and inviting. They have made me feel like a member of the congregation in a very short time. I have also been blessed to become friends with William Steinmetz and his family. William is originally from West Chester, PA, and he spent part of his childhood in Florida. He moved to Brazil about 10 years ago and is bi-lingual in Portuguese and English. He has been enjoying our conversations in English and he has been a true friend in helping me understand the Brazilian/Japanese culture here in Pereira Barreto. He and his family have taken me to the Yuba community every time that I have gone and they have been wonderful hosts and friends. It has truly been a real gift to be able to ask questions of someone who “has already been there.” William and his family have invited me to many meals and he and I are working on a couple of projects together. They have truly made my trip here much more enjoyable and I value their friendship very deeply.
Friday: After a long overnight bus ride, I found myself back in Sao Paulo, without a guide. One of the first things that I noticed was how polluted the air is. When I was in Sao Paulo a couple of weeks ago, I ended up having sinus difficulties and I just assumed that it was from being on a plane in a pressurized cabin for 9 hours. Within an hour or two of arriving in Sao Paulo, I developed a sore throat and sinus troubles. I couldn’t make any claims about an airplane this time.
After getting off the bus, I took the subway to the Santa Cruz station and walked a few short blocks to the diocesan center. Once I was there, I took a nap and then a shower. In the early afternoon, we went to a Roman Catholic retreat center. There we began a weekend-long event for the seminarians of the diocese.
I’d like to take a little time to describe the system here in the Diocese of Sao Paulo and the Anglican Church of Brazil. A person who feels a call to the ordained ministry needs to get the approval from the bishop before s/he can begin seminary studies. No one spoke of this directly, but I think that the process is fairly similar to the system that we have in the United States. The process involves meetings with members of a Commission on Ministry and the bishop. The major difference begins once the person gets to seminary.
In my case, as an American, I am expected to enroll in a seminary as a full-time student. If I have difficulties in paying for the education (and I don’t know a single seminarian who doesn’t) I apply for grants and financial assistance. The great difficulty is that there really isn’t enough money in the church or the government to offer financial assistance to seminarians. So, what ends up happening for the seminarians is that they have to work a full-time job during the day and take classes during the evening.
Here in Brazil, there are only two Anglican seminaries in the entire country and neither of them is in the state of Sao Paulo. So the seminarians from this diocese have to enroll in a seminary from another denomination in order to get their education. They have discussions with their bishop to decide which seminary they should attend, but the basic pattern is fairly simple. Those who have a protestant/evangelical background go to a Roman Catholic seminary, while those who have a Roman Catholic background go to a protestant/evangelical seminary. In order to help the seminarians understand the Anglican way of thinking, the diocese calls the seminarians to weekend-long meetings twice a year. It was one of these meetings that I had been invited to attend.
While most of the discussions about spirituality were over my head because my Portuguese is not good, I immediately felt that I was among friends. It was very nice to be among people who share many of the same concerns and life problems.
Saturday was spent in discussions on spirituality and the life of seminarians preparing for the priesthood here in Brazil. We had a very nice time visiting a museum during a two-hour lunch break. It was an interesting visit because the museum focused on natural history in Brazil. Something that I knew, but hadn’t really appreciated, is the fact that the animals are different here. There were animals displayed that I had not ever seen before. In another way, it was brought home to me that this is a very different place.
In the evening we had a party filled with songs and laughter. Everyone was very helpful in assisting me to understand the language and trying to translate into English. It was a wonderfully relaxing time.
Sunday morning was spent in class sessions with a concluding Eucharist. After lunch I returned to the Diocesan Center where Bishop Ito graciously invited me to take a nap. After I woke up, I went to the local mall, where I treated myself to “The War of the Worlds.” (I will also admit to stopping at the local McDonald’s, but the food tasted processed and artificial.) If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I don’t highly recommend it, but after focusing so hard on Portuguese for three days…it was wonderful. The movie was sub-titled in Portuguese, and I should have used the opportunity to improve my reading skills, but I was just too tired.
I then took the subway to the bus station and later that evening at around 9:15pm I boarded a bus for Pereira Barreto.
I pray that all is well with you, my friends.
Peace,
Patrick