22 Things I Have Done in My Life

Mama Kat had a writing prompt to make a list of 22 things I had done in my life.  I didn't write it at the time it was posted, so I am doing it now.  Click on the link in #21 for a post about that event,

1. Learned to play the piano, starting at age 5, 1950
2. Became a Brownie and later a Girl Scout, 1953-1960
3. Worked as a waitress for Kiwanis Club meetings, c.1957-63
4. Won several awards for my art work in High School and later as a professional artist 1963-present
5. Was involved in several school plays, c.1962-63
6. Worked as a hall counselor in my college dorms, 1965-67
7. Attended an advanced placement Peace Corps Training program, summer 1966
8. Earned a BS degree in Art Education, 1967
9. Lived and worked in an underdeveloped region in northeastern Brazil as a Peace Corps Volunteer and learned to speak fluent Portuguese 1967-1969
10. Taught art in public schools in PA, 1969-1999
11. Married husband #1, 1971
12. Left my husband and bought a house, 1978
13. Adopted numerous cats over the years: 8 in all, plus a few kittens one of our adoptees had before we realized she was pregnant ---found homes for them.
14. Married current husband, 1985
15. Bought another house, 1987
16. Retired. 1999
17. Worked temp. jobs 1999-2002
18. Wrote art reviews for a local newspaper, 2001-2002
19. Worked as a senior customer service rep for a wireless phone company, 2002-2008
20. RE-retired, 2008
21. Traveled back to Brazil to visit old friends, former students and my Peace Corps site. While in Brazil, I visited two places I always regretted missing while I lived there 42 years earlier: the Amazon region and Iguaçu Falls, 2011
22. Organized and attended a reunion of my Peace Corps Training Group to coincide with the 50th Peace Corps Anniversary in DC, 2011

RETURN TO GLÓRIA

In response to the writing prompt: "Did you create a list of 22 things you’ve done in your life last week? This week, choose one item from your list and elaborate!" on Mama’s Losin it blog.

Well, my bad! I didn’t create the list of 22 things last week, but I that list will be in my next post, but I’ll elaborate on one thing I did in August, because it is something that would have made my list.

Being a Peace Corps Volunteer was one of the defining experiences of my life. I spent 2 years in Brazil, living and working in Glória, a small town in the interior of the state of Sergipe, without benefit of full-time electricity, running water, a sewage system, TV, phone service, paved roads, hospital, nor university. There was no industry and only a few small businesses. I left Brazil and the Peace Corps after 2 years of service in July of 1969.

Over the intervening years, I had always wanted to return to Sergipe. Brunie (the other Volunteer who served in Glória) and I kept in touch and discussed traveling to Brazil often, but there was always some reason we couldn’t. Besides work, family, and money issues, we had lost touch with our Brazilian friends and former students.

Jorge Henrique (striped shirt) and his wife Veronica (top left photo between Brunie and me.)
Brunie's husband Eric is with Brunie and Jorge in the lower right.
(Photos: Jorge Henrique and Veronica, used with permission.)

I won’t go into the details (you can find them HERE) but finally in 2009, 40 years after leaving Brazil, I found the email address of one person in Glória. Even though Jorge Henrique, a poet and professor, hadn’t been born when I lived there, he helped me contact others and soon Brunie and I were invited to visit Sergipe. We were told all we needed to do was pay for airfare ---we would be provided with a place to stay.

How could we refuse?

It took nearly 2 years until we could both travel (Brunie from southern CA, while I left from PA.)

On August 8th, 2011, she and I (and her husband Eric) met at the airport in Rio de Janeiro to catch a flight to Aracajú, the capital of Sergipe. We expected former students Idalécio and Célia and her sister Alcione to meet us. We were shocked to find more than 20 people at the airport, clapping, shouting, whistling ---and even a professional videographer to record our arrival.

Friends, colleagues and former students meet us at the airport in Aracajú.
Brunie is in the front row in black holding a sign and
I am beside her in the aqua shirt.
Celia, front row left, and her family hosted us in Aracajú.
Teresa and José Augusto (back row behind Irene in the striped shirt) hosted us in Glória.
About five people who greeted us are missing from the photo.
(Photo: Eric Lifrak, used with permission)

Aracajú is now immense. Because most of the city has been built in the last 40 years, it is relatively new and therefore clean and modern with lovely parks and beaches. It is one of the best-kept secrets in Brazil ---a beautiful unspoiled and safe resort city.

One evening, we were told we were meeting "a few people" for dinner. Another 20 or so showed up. We were honored with several speeches and one former student Gil, now a professional singer, sang for us.

Gil sings about everlasting friendship.
(Photo: Eric Lifrak, used with permission)

At the dinner reception for us at a churrascaria (bar-b-que restaurant) in Aracajú.
I am sitting (in green) at the front.   Neuzice and Idalécio (in front of and behind Brunie) made speeches.
Again, a few people are missing from the photo.
(Photo: Eric Lifrak, used with permission)

In addition, many people stopped by Célia's beautiful home to visit us and others invited us to visit them. We also met others at the apartment of Idalécio and his wife.

In Brazil, one can never eat enough to please one’s hosts, so after eating wonderful meals at Célia’s home, we were offered more food everywhere we went. Sisters Neuzice and Euridice took us to the beach for fresh crabs, then wanted us to have another meal at their home. (Already full of delicious crabs, we politely declined.) Idalécio and his wife Graça took us to a great restaurant for feijoada, the Brazilian national dish. Irene and Dona Guiomar both had us to their apartments for scrumptious lunches.

One former student, Valmiro, now a doctor, invited us to a restaurant to celebrate his birthday and informed us that his first child was named Bruna Carolina in our honor.

Célia's brother Wilson who owns a fabulous studio, where he is a videographer creating commercials and promotional videos, had his driver take us to many places including his farm in the country.

On our fifth day in Sergipe, we moved from Aracajú to Glória to stay with Teresa and José Augusto (both former students) in their lovely home. Again, we were fed wonderful Brazilian foods and visited by many old friends.

On Saturday night, more than 50 people showed up for another dinner reception where the former school director of the ginásio where we taught, now in his eighties, made an eloquent speech about us. It was all quite embarrassing and yet a bit thrilling.

Dinner reception in Glória.

We received tons of gifts ---luckily I hadn’t filled my suitcases. One entire piece of my luggage was overstuffed with presents ---several CDs of Brazilian music, including one from Gil, a DVD of Idalécio’s singing group and DVDs about Sergipe, tote bags, key chains and other small souvenirs of the region, a hand-knit sweater, a blouse with hand-made lace, several linens embroidered by local crafts people, T-shirts, a hat, fancy soaps, cologne, hand-decorated dish and bath towels, several books including a beautiful book of photos of Sergipe and two books of Jorge Henrique's poems, a wood-cut print, sculptures created by local folk artists ---one made by Veio, who had been a pre-teen neighbor when we had lived there.

Gifts were totally unnecessary. My best gift was just being there and seeing everyone again.

Another photo from the reception in Glória.
Seu Manoel, the former school director is on the right.
Jorge Henrique and his wife Veronica are in the foreground.

Glória has progressed. All the things I stated above that didn’t exist when I lived there are there now. There is even a cell tower in the middle of the city. The town has many businesses and several industries. It always had a market on Saturdays, but now has a huge outdoor market from Friday through Saturday that attracts buyers from three states. Whereas few vehicles existed there in 1969, the place is teaming with cars, trucks, and zillions of motorcycles, fewer horses, mules, and donkeys, but none of the familiar ox carts that used to travel the streets and roads.

Many things came together in the late 1960s. I know I was part of it, but without all the other happenings, the town may not have progressed. The National Department of Works Against Droughts built a dam to hold enough water to last through rainless years. A high school was established a few years before we arrived. A branch of the Bank of Brazil opened, providing loans for farmers and small businesses. A silo was built to store farmers’ crops so the market would not be glutted when they were harvested. An agricultural assistance agency provided an agronomist and a home economist (Irene and later Maria José.) A progressive woman, Dona Guiomar (Célia’s mother) became the elementary school director. The Brazilian Legion of Assistance started chicken cooperatives. A health center was opened and a doctor hired to visit one morning/week accompanied by Helen, a Peace Corps nurse. Nancides, an extremely intelligent, hard-working, eloquent, and humorous bank worker who also taught night classes at the high school, became the president of a Municipal Commission set up to make positive changes in the town. Brunie arrived in 1966 and started literacy classes. I arrived one year later and took over Brunie’s high school teaching duties so that she could concentrate on health and sanitation projects.

Best of all, despite there being no colégio nor universidade in the town, nearly all of our students managed to continue their educations. They are doctors, lawyers, professors, engineers, agronomists, social workers, nurses, teachers. Some work for the state’s health service. One is a meteorologist. One became a minister of agriculture. One was the first woman to work for the Bank of Brazil in Sergipe and when she retired, became a lawyer.

If there was any doubt that we had made an impact, the doubts are gone.

Yet, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I gained so much more than I left in Glória. I have thought about Brazil and especially about Glória nearly every day since 1969. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to live and work there, to learn Portuguese, to know and appreciate the wonderful Brazilians and their culture, and also the opportunity to return 42 years later.

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And while I was in Brazil in August, I decided I was going to do two things I had always regretted missing. First we visited the Amazon region. We were able to visit Nancides' daughter Erika in Manaus. Erika's father had died when she was only 11, so she was happy to meet us and hear stories about her father, even before her mother knew him. Then, while Brunie and Eric headed home, I went on to Iguaçu Falls.

And although, the rainforest and waterfalls are spectacular natural wonders, nothing compares to the reception we received from our friends and former students in Sergipe.

If you are interested, you can read many stories about my experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer on my other blog: A Little “Peace” of Brazil

Iguaçu/Iguazú Falls - Brazil/Argentina

Iguaçu (Portuguese) or Iguazú (Spanish) Falls are on the border of Brazil and Argentina and close to Paraguay.

Below find two slide shows, one from the Brazilian side of the falls and another from Argentina.

The first presentation is longer, because I had more time to spend on the Brazilian side. I caught a bus across the street from my hotel, which took me to Brazil's lovely welcome center with colorful buses to take one to the actual falls. One descends and climbs lots of steps and takes wooden or metal walkways to see the falls. Afterwards, I walked across the road to the Bird Park where one can enter cages with exotic birds. (See the Bird Park slideshow HERE.)

The following day, I caught a bus from Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, went through customs at the border, exchanged dollars for pesos, took a bus to the city of Puerto Iguazu, then another to the falls.  It was a rainy day, and not as nice for taking photos as it was the previous day.

By the way, even when it was not raining, the overspray from the falls, even when not close to them, is enough to get one quite wet. The first morning had been cool, so I threw a nylon parka into my knapsack, not even thinking I would need it to stay dry, but it came in handy, although plastic raincoats were on sale on both sides of the falls.

The Argentinean falls were fun because of the coati, an animal of the racoon family, which roamed everywhere.  (I have seen videos of coati on the Brazilian side, too, but I didn't see any myself.) In Argentina, they wandered among the tourists and were quite tame.  Despite many signs about not feeding the animals, I saw many tourists doing so.  Some of the Argentinean falls were wide and spectacular like the Brazilian ones, but some were narrow and surrounded by vegetation. I felt more as if I were in a rain forest than when viewing the Brazilian falls.  But they were both spectacular to see.  (Be sure to check out the very short video at the bottom of this post.)

These falls just go on and on.  They were one of the highlights of my trip.

I had always regretted missing Iguaçu when I lived in Brazil 40+ years ago, so I knew I had to visit there on this trip ---my first time back since 1969.

Iguaçu Falls - Brazil Slideshow: Carol’s trip from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States to Foz do Iguaçu (near Foz de Iguacu), State of Parana, Brazil was created by TripAdvisor. See another Foz de Iguacu slideshow. Create your own stunning slideshow with our free photo slideshow maker.

Iguazu Falls - Argentina Slideshow: Carol’s trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States was created by TripAdvisor. See another Pittsburgh slideshow. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.

The sound of the roaring water is almost deafening. I included a very short (27-second) You Tube video to demonstrate the sound and the enormous amount of water rushing over the falls. This is just one small section of the falls. Imagine this amount of water multiplied by perhaps 100 rushing over the falls.

BOOKS --Recent Non-fiction Favorites

I have read several books in the past year that have stuck with me. They left such an impact that I think about them almost daily ---and recommend them to anyone who will listen to my rave reviews.

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The author's narrative reminds me of a detective novel, with the writer searching for clues to solve the mystery of the HeLa cells that were taken from Henrietta before she died of cancer in 1951 and how they have aided medical research ever since. Skloot needed to research the lives of Henrietta Lacks and her family members and gain their trust, a difficult task because the family had little reason to trust outsiders.

It was one of those books I could not stop reading. It also brought up issues I had never considered —--that our cells and tissues can be used without our knowledge or approval.

In August, I roamed airport shops while waiting for a flight from Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil) to Rio de Janeiro ---and found a Portuguese translation A Vida Imortal de Henrietta Lacks. I'm so glad the book is being sold worldwide, for it was not only an entertaining read, it was an important book about medical ethics.

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At Home by Bill Bryson

Bryson, born in Iowa (coincidentally) the year Henrietta Lacks died, had been living in England for many years in an old house. In this book, he roams from room to room, telling the story or how each room, as well as the things in it, came to be.

Bryson's writing is informative but also compelling and extremely witty. It is history, archeology, etymology, sociology, science, invention, and humor all rolled into one.

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Turn right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams

I visited Machu Picchu in 1969 and ever since, I have been fascinated by its history and its mysteries.  I have read several accounts of Hiram Bingham III's life and his "discovery" of what many termed the Lost City of the Incas.  (We all know that Bingham discovered the archeological site in the same manner that Columbus "discovered" America, as if no indigenous people ever lived in either place.)  This book caught my eye at the library because of my prior interest in the subject.

Author Mark Adams worked for several adventure publications, but never engaged in any adventure of his own. But after reading the controversy over whether Bingham,  the "discoverer" of Machu Picchu had stolen important Peruvian artifacts and whether or not Yale was obliged to return them to Peru, he decided to research the matter and follow in Bingham's footsteps.

"Have you ever seen Mr. Travel Guy? He's the fellow who strides through international airports dressed like he's flying off to hunt wildebeests - shirt with dozens of pockets, drip-dry pants that zip off into shorts, floppy hat with a cord pulled tight under the chin in case a twister blows through the baggage claim area. All of this describes exactly what I was wearing. I could have been trick-or-treating as Hemingway."

The book tells the tale of Adam's physically-demanding trek through Peru with an Australian guide, John Leivers, who seemed to be Bingham's kindred spirit. Adams interspersed his own story with the history of the Spanish takeover of the Incan Empire and Bingham's own treks through Peru in search of important archeological finds.

Adams has an entertaining writing style and seems to have adopted Bill Bryson's humor to make this an informative and humorous read.

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Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell

I haven't finished reading this book yet, so I will withhold a review of it (although I have greatly enjoyed Vowell's previous works.)  Vowell, much like Bryson and Adams, has a quirky style of humor which makes her take on history engaging.

This book tells how New England missionaries, led by none other than Hiram Bingham (yes, that Hiram Bingham's grandfather,) attempted to Christianize the paradise then known as the Sandwich Islands, now Hawaii, and make it into an uptight version of New England. Missionaries strived to prevent the native women from having sex with seamen ---and thus prevent the obvious diseases they would contract ----yet the natives believed that it was the missionaries who would "pray us all to death."

I mention this book here because the day I returned Turn Right at Machu Picchu to the library, Vowell's book was waiting for me on the hold shelf.  As soon as she mentioned missionaries, I wondered if Hiram Bingham's grandfather and father (Hiram Bingham II) would come up ---and there they were.

Hiram III was expected to become a missionary, too, but he had other plans.  He married Alfreda Mitchell (of the Tiffany family) which allowed him to become an adventurer on his meager university salary and father 8 sons between expeditions.

BOTANICAL GARDEN -Rio de Janeiro

One of the highlights of my trip to Brazil in August (2011) was the Jardim Botânico in Rio de Janeiro.

I hope  you enjoy it as much as I did.

Jardim Botânico - Rio de Janeiro Slideshow: Carol’s trip from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States to Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was created by TripAdvisor. See another Rio de Janeiro slideshow. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.

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