Culture shock

In the time I have been here I have never had more of a culture shock then I did a couple of nights ago - in a church. I neglected to mention the extent to which my mom here is involved with church. First of all it is an absolutely huge evangelical christian church. I would guess it would hold about three thousand (we were there on a Monday night and it still had about two thousand.) We went to church hungry (which I figured out later was on purpose as a sacrifice) but that made it even more difficult for me to concentrate. The whole service was incredibly loud - the preacher constantly yelling things into a microphone of which I could understand little - and performed standing up the whole time. For THREE hours. Needless to say I was exhausted from my attempts to stay standing and to understand what I could of the service. The experience for me was the opposite of what I would deem a religious experience for me personally - there was no time of quiet or reflection and prayer was supposed to be shouted into the air (something I am not exactly comfortable doing.) Also there seemed to be a big emphasis on the material wealth that God can bring to the very faithful. There were testimonials about people who went from hard times to wealth. They stood in front of the congregation telling how many cars and house they now owned. In addition, during the offering the emphasis seemed to be on how much you could give - and in a very public manner. People were implored to stand up and go to the front if they could give 100 reais, then fifty, then twenty and on down into the smaller denominations. It seemed to me at least to be a very uncomfortable way of giving in church especially given the huge variation in wealth among the people present. My mom gave what she could but it certainly was with the masses, not the handful of people able to give a lot. It seemed very odd to me I guess because the act of tithing for church or God seems to me a very private one - about being able to give what you can and not feel ashamed at that amount. Oh and the fact that all of the people in power there were men - women helpers were dressed like stewardesses did not sit too well with me either. So that was an experience to be sure. I am glad my mae has something she enjoys so much but I am completely positive that it is not for me. Unfortunately in my poor portuguese somehow she got the message that I liked it. She goes every single night so until I learn how to say "your faith tradition does not touch me spiritually" (in Portuguese) I will be figuring out some real good excuses. A lot. And ESPECIALLY Sundays because if I heard correctly she goes for thirteen hours on Sundays. Which, needless to say, is not exactly the way I want to spend my Sundays. Especially with a beach two blocks away.

In terms of traffic I am surprised there are so few accidents since everyone seems to travel about two feet from the bumper in front of them - no matter the road or weather. But everyone avoids the busses which dominate the streets and tend to honk more than they do stop for anyone. My mae did make sure to detail the craziness of traffic (every morning for three days) so that I look both ways. Because red lights don't necessarily mean anything.

On a different note I spent all day after class yesterday at the beach! The ocean is delightful and warm. The only problem comes avoiding the men trying to sell cooked shrimp that they have been carting around in the sun all day. (I'm not really sure how to say food poisoning in Portuguese.)

My cousin helped me join a gym last night! He has been going there for a really long time and knows everyone. It is a really cool little gym hidden away in a neighborhood about a block from my apartment. Everyone knows him and were really excited that he brought a gringa to the gym. They were all trying the few English phrases that they know on me and having a blast doing it. The main trainer's name is Igor (which I find hilarious) and he is super pumped to try to learn what the heck lacrosse is and teach me weight lifting tricks. Between that and running along the road by the beach I think I will enjoy working out as much as possible in the intese humidity.