Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 19:13:29
Subject: The first few days

Hello all,
	My first few days here have been incredibly educational and
exhausting.  Lets review.

	The traffic here is pretty crazy.  People ignore you until
you stick your hand out the window to ask permission at which point anyone
will let you do anything you want.	The police don't bother with traffic.
Crossing double yellow lines is optional.  Going twice the speed limit is
typical.  The busses here are nuts, but a lot of fun.  I was riding one
today coming back from the mall and we were doing (I estimate) around 50
MPH down narrow curvy streets lined with cars and people.  I have yet to
see an accident and my friend who has been here for 2 months has only seen
1 (it was with a motorcycle and car).  Oh yeah, the motorbikes here are
crazy too.	They cut between cars on a regular basis and move to the
beginning of lines at stop lights.	Despite all this chaos people rarely
seem upset.  I won't be doing any driving while I am here (at least that
what I have been told) so I will just ride the bus.

	The food is pretty amazing.  I have been to one of the places that
cuts hunks of meat off skewers right on to your plate and also to a pizza
place that does practically the same thing.  They carry pizzas around to
the tables and drop slices onto your plate.  They have McDonalds and
Pizza-Hut as well.	Oh, and I just ate a bag of Doritos.

	The music is heavily influenced by the US (at least in the large
cities).  I was walking around the mall the other day and they had this
dude playing live music.  I heard him play about 4 songs, 2 of which were
Beatles tunes (and he sang in English although I am sure few people
understood).  The music shops have a lot of US music too.  Eighties rock
is especially popular - people like Guns and Roses (barf).

	The housing is nice (at least the Mission housing is).	Tile
abounds.  Walls and floors are typically tile.	This makes it kind of hard
to talk because of all the echoes, but playing a guitar sounds nice.  Hot
water for my shower is provided by an electric shower head that heats the
water as it comes out.	It can't heat it very fast as you can imagine so
the pressure isn't that great, but its bearable.  We have a nice
refrigerator, a propane stove, but no microwave.  My bed is firm, but
comfortable and I have a lot of closet space.  Since I will be moving a
few more times many of this is likely to change.

	I am really looking forward to getting into learning the language.
I have already been able to communicate a little bit due to my basic
understanding of Spanish.  Many of the words are pronounced the same
although they are spelled differently.	However, Portuguese has a sound
all its own and I hope my Spanish habits don't hinder my progress.

	My fears are slowly turning into motivation.  Christ as already
granted many of my prayers and given me great strength.  I hope this all
continues and that I can continue to adjust as I move from place to place.
On Monday I am moving in with my Brazilian family, then a month later I
will move into a place of my own, then 1 or 2 months later I will move to
Sao Paulo.	That is a lot of moving and a huge opportunity to become
overwhelmed.

Pray for:
	Ability to learn the language
	Ability to find personal time with God
	Courage to build relationships with nationals

Normally my emails won't be this long, but a great deal has happened over
the last few days and I thought I would fill you guys in.

Justin
http://www.keyspace.org