Giant Red Flying Ants 3-8-10

Yes you read that title right. That was my bedtime present from Brazil last night. As I was opening the door to my bathroom these red flying ants poured forth as if flood waters from the heavens. So I went to visit my friends and they came to make sure I wasn't in danger of being overrun and we sprayed them until they all stopped moving. Soon my floor looked like a small battle had taken place littered with the bodies of the enemy ;) . But with the battle won I had to let the apartment air out for quite a while before i ventured back in fearful that I might join the corpses on the ground. I have been told also by several people since then that the flying ants because they normally only begin to come out of their dwellings until rainy season. So the fact that I had awakened them from their slumber was supposed to be a sign of the rainy season finally coming. Well I was skeptical, but later in the day cloud actually started forming and it began to sprinkle a bit. It didn't last very long but it was inspiring that the real rain may not be far off, and everyone here is ready for them.

Ok so on with a more relevant update. I spent the morning sitting in on classes. I was in an 8th grade English class, which is obviously taught in Portuguese which i have not yet begun to understand, a 9th grade Religion class, and a prayer meeting. Because of the heat in Brazil normally they have school on the mornings and evenings for 4 hours only. And I have been informed by many people that this is an unusually hot season for them (lucky me). Thankfully the evenings generally cool off (lower 80's) with a strong breeze which is pleasant. The pool doesn't hurt either :) . So I have not actually gotten into a routine yet, but I am starting to get plugged in to some areas and I get to start helping to plan for the youth group that will be starting up again soon here. For some reason people think I do well working with kids, I don't know where they get that crazy notion.

My Portuguese is not all that great yet, but I have set aside an hour or so each afternoon to work on it and am working at getting one of the teachers from the school to work on a language exchange as many of them want to work on their English skills. Although English is taught in Brazil from 4 grade on most of the English teachers do not speak/know English at all. So surprisingly most of the students do not learn English very well. The majority of the teachers at Alfa (the school started and run by the missionaries) can speak a little English but are much more proficient and the written and reading English skills. So they are eager for a chance to work on their conversational abilities, lucky for me. Well, I think it is about time for a swim to knock off the dust and sweat from the day it is 4pm here and the heat of the day is starting to fade of and it will be dark in less than 2 hrs. Being so close to the Equator they get just about 12 horus of sun and darkness. the day starts pretty early around 5-5:30 am and the sun sets between 5-5:30 pm so the pool is almost ready just another hour. God Bless you all.


For more Pictures of the trip so far Click Here


and an address you can get me at is

Ken Stucky
Caixa Postal 95
Mossoró, RN
59600-0000
Brazil, South America

if you are sending anything do it air mail or it may never get here. Tschau