Notes
 
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                         "To have another language is to possess a second soul”

                                                         Charlemagne

I returned to Rocinha after two months away.  Entering again was like jumping into another life, a life that I know and do sometimes fear, exhilarating.  I flagged down a motorcycle taxi, weaving through traffic, leaning the curves, the motorcycle never fails to get the heart racing, and I thought it appropriate to enter again with this method, preferring to dive headfirst into the water without toeing in slowly.  One ride up the hill equals thirty minutes of meditation, your brain finally relinquishing the myth that you are actually in control, this occurring instantly, relaxing your weight deap in the seat, resisting the desire to hold on to the rear handles, believing somehow you'll live through this, and then stopping believing when you accept what you know to be true.    


The motorcycle driver dropped me off at Paulo Brito, my neighborhood in Rocinha.  I gave him a two Real bill, the standard favela rate, which can get you anywhere in Rocinha, and also anywhere in Rio by van.  I walked up the steep and imperfect alley, a maze to the confused newbie, countless turns in infinite directions and the thin line view of the sky blackened by a million power lines added and added as the favela grows. 


I knocked on the door to Percy’s house, my heart beating from the steep walk up and my excitement to see him and the family again.  I think it’s the relentless American in me that is always struck by the strength of Percy’s hug.  He escorts me up further to my kitchenette (a studio apartment with kitchen area).  My kitchenette in Rocinha is clean, new, and very white.  The walls are concrete, made by hand, and curved by gravity. My floor slopes down by ten degrees or more, and I have to sleep with my head above my feet so I don’t wake up with a headache.  I have nice new white tiles.  I have a small barred window in the kitchen that, when standing, gives me a nice view of over half of Rocinha proper.  I remember jumping out of bed one Friday morning at 6 am because of the military helicopters circling overhead.  I ran to this window and watched for fifteen minutes as two helicopters circled overhead, constantly changing direction with angle of banks approaching ninety degrees, and one police officer hanging out of the helicopter, shooting an automatic weapon down on the traffickers.  The helicopters would pass so close I could actually see the eyes of the shooter, and I ducked down instinctively as my body was telling me the helicopter was actually close enough to hit me, ridiculous, and I laughed.    


Returning to my kitchenette, I have an old broken refrigerator, which I carried up the alley with three others.  It worked initially but the compressor start would sound like a gunshot, and this woke me up in a start many times during the night, and then finally it quit altogether.  No one will ever remove it from this room due to the sheer workload required to haul it back down through the alley maze, so I removed the door and turned it into a nice bookshelf.  
 


My kitchenette is located high up close to the surrounding jungle, and always has a damp feel.  I used to think that living in constant dampness would give me health problems, but it never did.  I remarked to Percy how clean my place was… He told me that he had come into my place a week ago, and found it completely covered in mold.  Everything had a green film on it and my clothes were practically ruined.  He recalled telling my landlord, and how everyone came and cleaned my place, and how the landlords wife grabbed my clothes and washed them, refusing to use my laundry detergent and proudfully using her own.    


Dr. James Auer, the director of the U.S. Japan Center at the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies, and a good friend, gave me a sizable donation prior to my return back to Rio.  I was very touched by this and very excited to contribute this to a worthwhile cause in Rocinha.  Percy, my neighbor, is a Brazilian Marine, and has been serving for over 27 years.  He was born and raised in Rocinha.  He married at eighteen years, and he built his three-story home by himself, carrying every bag of mortar and sand up the hill, every day for months.  He is an overachiever literally running against an opposing force.  Percy is a triathlete, and a very accomplished one who usually finishes top in his age group.  He was invited to Hawaii to participate in a triathlon there, and will eagerly tell you of his trip when you meet him.  He trains with substandard equipment, but doesn’t ask for anything.   Thanks to Dr. Auer’s contribution, we bought him 2009 Look carbon-fiber pedals, brand new Shimano carbon fiber shoes, and a new Nike Triathlon watch.   The day I arrived back in Rocinha, I gave these to him.  Percy cried with joy, and was moved by how a man with whom he had never met, could do something so selfless.  Thank you Dr. Auer.   


I also need to send a thank you for the continued support of John and Jan Ohlinger from Nashville.  During a trip to Rio last December, they lugged down over 50 pounds worth of school supplies which they purchased, and they successfully smuggled two laptops that served as donations to the community.  I look forward to continued efforts, travels, and caipirinhas with them!   


The community of Chagrin Falls has also been a great support.  The local schools and Patriots for Change have donated hundreds of pairs of tennis shoes for the community.  This could not have happened without the tremendous work of my sister Betsy, Bill Rowe, and my parents Jim and Fran Clark for all their work organizing and shipping.  Used tennis shoes for kids is a great and easy way to support, one pair of Nike shoes costs over $200 in Brazil.  


A huge thank you to Manitoba Corporation and specifically Richard, Carol, and Adam Shine for their work on the collection, software updates, and shipping of our three laptops at the institute.  These are being used daily by the children of the community.   


Rogerio and Kleber now run Rocinha Crossfit and Celeiro do Boxe(boxing class).  We had been searching for our own space to rent and when I was back in the US, Rogerio found the perfect location.  Rocinha Crossfit is now being run on the rooftop of a centrally located building in Rocinha.  There is much work to be done to improve the present location but we have just accomplished a major feat with the help of the Vickers family in Chagrin Falls and Jodi Aaron in Nashville.  Lifelong friends, the Vickers gave Rocinha Crossfit and Instituto Dois Irmãos a huge support financially.  Jodi also gave a substantial donation to the institute during a transition period in her life, when she did not have any income.    We had been training at our new location with an old concrete floor that was broken, after a few minutes of training, the air would fill with dust, and the trainers could barely see each other across the room.  We used the Vickers’  and Jodi’s donation to re-do the entire floor, and now our training is greatly improved.  Also, Instituto Dois Irmãos(our NGO) was in the middle of their rooftop project(foto above), but stalled financially.  Their donations were able to nudge the project forward to completion, and now the institute has a beautiful new rooftop which greatly improves our ability to add classroom space.  Thank you to the Vickers family and Jodi Aaron.    


Friday nights in Rocinha I teach an exercise class for the girls of the institute.  The youngest girls are around five or six years old and I also have some up to age ten or eleven.  I have them do some light boxing and occasionally show them some self-defense maneuvers.  I make the class difficult, and I run the class as a Marine.  I always wondered why the girls kept coming back every Friday night, in spite of the intensity.  The real goal of the class is to keep the girls off of the street on a Friday night, and I was happy to support this, but I wasn’t enjoying giving the class.  After going away and coming back again, I decided to shift my view of the class.  I realized that if I wasn’t having fun giving the class, then eventually my energy would fade and the class would find a reason to stop.  I thought of my former Commanding Officer, Captain Andy Johnson who used to say “keep em smiling” about our midshipmen.  I resolved to follow his guidance now, and the direction of my class completely changed, though the intensity has not.  My new goal was to have as much fun as possible during the class.  This minor attitude shift changed everything, and the class became the highlight of my week.  We actually worked even harder, the photo above is us preparing to have a race between two teams.  Each girl has to carry the kettlebell down to one cone, then sprint back.  The next girl on the team must sprint to the kettlebell, then carry it back.  The sight of these tiny girls lugging kettlebells with amazing competitive spirit is something I’ll never forget.  They had a blast.  I walk away from those classes as happy as I’ve ever been, knowing now that enlightened self-interest always outlasts altruism.    


The past few months I have made several trips home and back again.  A tenant issue with my condo in Nashville drained my last financial resources and my passport was set to expire within two weeks.  I remember being in my kitchenette, mentally staring these issues in the face, when I received an email about some work in Brasília.  A week later I received a phone call about my selection and had to leave Rocinha.  This was more difficult than I had imagined it would be because I was just beginning to develop true momentum and comfort in the community, however… as Rocinha Crossfit is now self-sustaining, I saw this opportunity as a way to support the community even more financially.    


I now live in Brasília, the capital of Brazil.  This city was made from nothing over fifty years ago.  The Brazilian President at the time, pointed his finger at the center of the Brazilian map and literally said, “build a new capital city here.”  They did, and now we have interesting socialist style architecture, a huge man-made lake surrounding us, and two million people magically here acting as Brazil’s central nervous system.   I work with the Military Liaison Office on active duty, and I spend much time at the embassy.  I am extremely excited about this opportunity and am loving this city.   



Final note:  my greatest source of strength and inspiration comes from my family.  I am blessed with the best family in the world, and I look forward to my visits home more than anything.  Without their unfailing and unquestioning support, I could not be here.  Its critical to make this point very clear: I did not leave the US out of dissatisfaction, nor a search for a better life, I left the US because I already had the best life possible, and because of my amazing familial support and my belief in our ideals, I can better serve here, and that “here” is just one place in a million places I could have chosen.  I am not, nor ever will be expatriated, I am and forever will be repatriated by the values of my family and the idea that is America.