Nearing the End

As of this post, we have approximately 56 hours of camp left.  56.  Not very much at all.

We have a mix of emotions…I think we are all ready to see our families and sleep in our beds.  But leaving here will be very difficult.  We have lifelong friends, a schedule that does not include school or work, and summertime in Brazil.

The friends we have made and the experiences we have had here have challenged us and changed us.

I´m not sure how much time to post I will have in  the next 56 hours.  But expect some more posts after we return home.  We have lots more stories to tell!

And please remember to be patient with us when we do get home.  We love you all, but will probably be missing our new soulmates at the same time.

See you soon!

 

Technical Difficulties

Just wanted to let all of our loyal readers know that I´ve been having trouble getting pictures uploaded, hence the slow down in postings.  That, combined with a very busy schedule, makes updating difficult.

Tomorrow is Shopping Day, and Sunday is Open Day for the Sao Paulo chapter.  We are less than one week from the end of camp!  And we had a VERY successful national night on Wednesday – I hope to post pictures and details soon.

Boa noite!

 

Sharing Cultures, part 3

Our latest national night was a fun event from Peru and Costa Rica!

We started with the Perutica Fair (Tica is a word for a Costa Rican person).  We played musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey, jump rope, and a game with a very large elastic band that you jump through.

Peru shared a delicious dish at lunch today – pastel de papas – made from potatoes and cheese.  We also got to see two dances.  One is traditionally done before a marriage or wedding proposal and the other is a harvest dance.

Peru Delegation and the Staff

Costa Rica shared snacks – a sweet snack made from guava and condensed milk – and their national dance as well.

We ended with a small dance party!

Muchas gracias, Peru and Costa Rica.

 

Trees

As we posted before, the theme of our camp is Footprint Village – what´s the mark you leave on the world?

One of the ways that humans leave a mark on the world is through our impact on our environment.  And in order to help make our footprint smaller, we have planted two trees here at our campsite – a mango tree and a lemon tree.  The CISV song, which we sing every morning and every evening, says “sow a seed and plant a tree, beneath whose branches there may be, all the nations gathered free.”

(taken in our pre-Will days)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We´ve also been told that the parents of the Swedish delegation will be planting trees to cover the carbon footprint of flying from Sweden to Brazil round trip!

And speaking of trees, check out this sneak peek of our beautiful campsite!

 

Footprints

So why is this blog called “Leaving Footprints”?

Our fantastic staff chose the theme of our village to be the Footprint Village.  Here’s a little excerpt from our pre-camp information:

You’re invited to Footprint Village, a place filled with possibilities, a world with no boundaries which we can build together in our own way.  Each one of you will leave your mark here in our Village and in everyone we meet during this experience.  Let’s work and grow together to impact all the world with our dreams and actions.  So get ready to spread your footprints all around!

Did you ever stop to think about the impact you have in the planet?  While the world population goes beyond 6.5 billion people and the world is growing nonstop at full speed, what difference can one person make?  Do you think you have the power to change something?  Do you believe your existance makes any difference on this gigantic world?

Walt Disney once said, “If you can dream it, you can do it”.  So come dream with us at Footprint Village and let’s leave a great mark all together!

And finally, some questions that we have been thinking about:

What’s the mark human kind is leaving in the world?  Is it good or bad?
What’s the mark you are leaving in the world?
And finally, what’s the mark you want to leave?

What do you think?  What is your mark?  We’ll be leaving some of our answers as the month goes on.

And in case you are wondering…we leave in 4 days!

 

What?

What are we doing, you ask?

The short answer first.  We are going to Brazil for 29 days.

The long answer?  Well, it starts in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1951.  A mom, who just happened to also be a child psychiatrist, was hanging out with her son, when he looked at her and asked, “Mom, why do we have to fight in a war?” *  And as she thought about how to answer him (since there is no good answer to that question), an idea began to form in her head.   What if we didn’t fight wars any longer?  What if she could do something - something with children – to prevent wars in the future? 

She believed that if children learned at a young age to understand different cultures, those children would grow up to be adults who could avoid fighting in wars.

And that, my friends, was the beginning of an organization called CISV. 

Dr. Doris Twitchell Allen began sharing her idea, traveling the world, making friends, researching how this organization would work.  And a short time later, the first CISV Village was held in Cincinnati.

A Village is a four week residential cultural program that brings together delegations from around the world.  Two boys and two girls, age 11, travel with an adult leader to the village, live together with people from all over the world, learn how to communicate, resolve conflict, build consensus, and become friends.  So we’ll be living, learning, communicating, resolving and building with our new friends starting on December 27.

* This is only my loose interpretation of actual events.