Our first graduates

Tonight we finished the last section of our first self-employment workshop, and we ended with four graduates (from right to left): Sheila, Luciano, Rebeca, and Marcos. Brother Torres is on my left (well I guess it's my right, but to the left of me in the picture), and he teaches the Career Workshop here at the employment center. He participated to see what we were teaching and also to take the info back home to his wife who started the course but couldn't come to the last two classes because of illness. Marcos was one who did the most work on his own business plan. By the end of the workshop he had completed almost the entire plan for an after-school volleyball program he plans to set up for at-risk kids in a couple of neighborhoods here in Rio. He came to class prepared every night and is quite determined to get this class going. Wish him luck!  I also learned today in our class that Luciano isn't a Church member, but was introduced to LDS Employment by a friend of his who is.  At then end of our course, we passed out a little feedback sheet, and Luciano said he would be interested in receiving a copy of the Book of Mormon and learning more about our Church.  How cool is that?!

We also spent two days this week in the mountains about two hours from Rio teaching a workshop in Petropolis. When we showed up on Tuesday for the first class, we were expecting between 20 and 30 people, but to our surprise, 42 had shown up! My first reaction was to worry about being able to teach so many people in a setting that was designed truly for about 15 participants, but I soon realized that we could adapt easily enough and that many of these people had been waiting for quite some time for the self-employment workshop to come to their stake. Besides, I didn't come here to necessarily teach in ideal conditions, but rather to help as many people as I possibly can. Josh and I will return to Petropolis two more times next week, and hopefully we'll be able to spend a day visiting some of the many historic sights such as the tomb of Dom Pedro II (Brazil's second "Emperor" after gaining its independence from Portugal) and his wife and daughter, and the home of Santos Dumont. If you don't know who Santos Dumont is, just ask any Brazilian who invented the airplane. If you insist it was the Wright Brothers, prepare for an uphill battle (to say the least). Anyway, more on that next week when it all happens.

Cristo Redentor

Since Josh and I will be teaching workshops each day for the rest of the week, we decided to start the week off with a bang by visiting Rio's most well-known landmark: the Cristo Redentor statue that towers over the city atop the highest peak, o Morro do Corcovado (the Hunchback). Brazil's dual culture of ubiquitous Christianity combined with an attitude of "you can basically do whatever you want" has always fascinated me, and I think this statue in the middle of one of the world's largest party cities is quintessentially Brazilian. We haven't been able to do a whole lot since I got sick with Dengue Fever (a really fun tropical disease ... look it up), so it was great to get out of the house today and visit one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

Besides the beautiful statue, there's a fantastic view on top of o Concorvado. Thankfully today was clear and sunny, so we were able to see the entire city from up there. This picture isn't the best on of the view, but it's the only one that has Josh and me together.

Tomorrow we're heading to nearby Petropolis, a small city up in the mountains about an hour and fifteen minutes from Rio. We'll teach the first section of the workshop and then come back late tomorrow night or early the next morning to teach another workshop here in Rio. Thursday we'll head back to Petropolis, so looks like we'll be doing quite a bit of travelling this week. Should be fun! I hear Petropolis is kind of like a little European hamlet tucked away in the mountains. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

National Library and Municipal Theater

Atrium in the National Library

Today after work Josh and I wandered around a little in downtown Rio and found two gorgeous buildings that are jam-packed with history and culture. We first visited a Biblioteca Nactional (National Library), which is the largest library in Latin America. The original collection was brought to Brazil in 1810 after the royal family moved here from Portugal to escape Napoleon's invasion. The library itself was built between 1905 and 1910 and contains over 10 million volumes. As an interesting factoid, Brazilian law mandates that for every book published one copy be sent to the National Library. I guess that's one way to increase the size of your collection.

Municipal Theater

The second building we visited was right across the street (and we actually found it completely by accident): o Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro (the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theater). It was a fascinating collection of eclectic arcitecture, from Baroque to Classical to .... Persian and Babylonian. They recently finished some serious restoration that took over 2 years, and the inside has tons of marble and inlaid gold. Josh and I are hoping to go see some kind of performance here, but I imagine it will be extremely expensive. Anyway, I thought that was a pretty good day, especially for not really knowing our way around Rio!

A cidade maravilhosa

Mark this historic day on your calendars, for today I enter the blogosphere. I don't have a lot to write, but I figured I would give a quick rundown on what I'm doing here in Rio de Janeiro for those of you who don't already know. For the next three months I'll be interning for LDS Employment Resource Services in this beautiful city teaching a workshop on self-employment. We walk people through the steps of defining a business idea, doing basic market research, designing a marketing plan, and laying out the basic finances. In a place with such high unemployment, starting a small business is sometimes the only option people have. Tomorrow I'll go to the employment center for the first time, and hopefully within a week or so I'll start the first workshop.

Just to give you a little taste of this city's beauty, here's a picture of me (that's not the beautiful part) on the world-famous Copacabana Beach. I didn't have a swimming suit with me, so I had to settle for dipping my feet in the water. I'm sure my beach bum days are just beginning, however. More to come on that one.