Day 8

Ola again everyone from Sau Paulo (Vila Madelene to be exact). We just got back from a very fun performance!  This morning, WE GOT TO SLEEP IN!  We met at 10 (we had breakfast at the hotel) and then we boarded our bus to head to Osasco, this time headed for an outdoor mall, just outside of an indoor mall.  

We are so spoiled.  We got there and all of our equipment, sound equipment, stands, and chairs were already set up for us by the members of the Institute.  It's been like that every place we have played.  And, I have no idea how our bus driver manages this traffic and these streets, but he is amazing!

We set up our stuff and started the concert.  It was once again live streamed on the Instituto Hatus Instagram account.  They have posted so much over the last few days.  Please follow them and check out all of the great clips!  So many people stopped to listen, take pics, and take videos.  We were absolutely a hit (and the band is sounding great!  They are really gelling now.  It feels like a real tour.)  The folks from the Institute were there, passing out flyers, talking to people and advertising for their school.  Again, this is what we do best.  We are the pied piper that gives people an awareness of a worth while cause.  I hope that we even were able to get one parent interested in sending there kids to this after school music program.  Then, along with the fun of performing in front of a very fun and enthusiastic crowd, it will have been more than worth it.  

It was a really fun concert and after today's performance....everyone in the band has taken a solo in Brazil!  Now everyone can go home.  I tell them I won't let them on the plane if they haven't soloed in country.  

Here are some pics from today:


 
A view down the mall
 

 
Gotta get the band selfie....My director friends at the Middle School Band and Orchestra camp taught me this move.




 
The crowd was awesome!


And the crowd kept getting bigger!


 
Now that is a cool view!  


 
Pastor Manu
 
I love these next few interactions...

 
Camden has an admirer...

 
And another.....



The band

 
The band with some of our new friends!

 
This is Herbert.  I really like his shirt!  This is the flute player that brought the volleyball and REALLY wanted us play with him and his friends last night.  He sent word by Instagram to a bunch of my students that we should all meet him and other kids from the institute at a park tomorrow to play volleyball.  He also figured out, by ear, the melody for Samba for Carmen, a tune that we are playing here in Brazil, and he recorded it and sent it to us.  He is DEFINITELY performing it with us tomorrow!  He doesn't know it yet.

Then we headed into the indoor mall to the food court for a meal that included a meat choice with three sides.  Again, we are eating well.  
(There might have been a few quick excursions to the candy store as well)

Then we headed back to the hotel, where we are all chilling until we head out for dinner at the Lebanese restaurant where we ate the first night.  We are done playing for today, but I will check in after dinner when everyone gets settled.  

We are back....Dinner was just as good as the first night.  Family style salads and sides and filet mignon and lamb kabobs and chicken kabobs.  And....the best chocolate cake in town!  (That's what the incredible waiter at this place told us.  He is an amazing waiter who has waited on us twice now.  And he's not wrong about the cake!)   So good.  

At our nightly chat, we talked about the audience reaction today.  About how so many people stopped and watched the whole time.  About how many people were filming us and taking pictures.  About how many people heard us play today (it was definitely in the 1000's with all of the people going by).  

We also talked about how the people from the Institute have told us that they are already dreading tomorrow, because it is our last full day in Brazil and the last time we will see them.  They all have learned "Bye-Bye" and "See you tomorrow."  Tomorrow night, it will just be "Bye-Bye."  

I always get sad at these times too because we will be leaving our new friends and amazing hosts, but also because tomorrow's performance will be the final performance of this version of the Baylor Jazz Ensemble.  This will be the last time we will all play together before we lose our graduated folks and our student teachers.  There have been 23 versions of the band for me and the last performance never gets easier to do.  We will go out with the best performance yet, and we will make a lot of people happy.  I'm sure it will be streamed on the Instituto Hatus Instagram account and we start at 5:30 Waco Standard Time.  Check us out if you'd like to.  It will be a lot of fun.  We will be performing with the kids from the Institute and doing our last set as well.  

Thank you all for following us.

Thank you Baylor Missions.

Sic'em Jazz 

and

Tchau  (Chow)



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