December 19, 2009

It’s so much like Christmas here right now… snow on the ground, Christmas music, freezing cold weather.  Hahah that’s a lie!  Not in a million years would there be snow or cold weather here!!  There is no snow, cold weather, hot chocolate, Christmas cookies, real trees, stockings, or Christmas music.  Maybe it’s for the better, because I know if it seemed like Christmas here, I would be morrendo de saudades (missing everything)!!

 

After spending last Christmas in Spain, and now this Christmas in Brazil, I have come to realize that no Christmas is quite like the American Christmas!  I really didn’t realize it until I was away, but Christmas in the U.S. isn’t just a one day holiday.. it lasts for a month, and starts Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.  The end of November and the month of December is filled with Christmas music everywhere you go, Christmas cookies and heavy comfort food, Christmas shopping, decorated houses, holiday lights, and everyone thinking about the end of the month!  Here you can see the occasional holiday lights on apartment balconies, the boxes and boxes of fruitcake being sold at the grocery stores, and the shopping malls and stores are filled with a few more people than normal.  Some families put up Christmas trees and decorate the house, but with other houses, you couldn’t even tell that it is Christmas time!  I think that in southern Brazil though, Christmas is celebrated more because the region is like a second Europe, and full of Germans and Italians.  My first host mom is from the south, and I’ll be spending Christmas and New Years at her house.  She is having close to twenty relatives from the south and outside of the country stay at her house, and she invited me to come back since she’s the closest family here.  The family I’m staying with now doesn’t have any Christmas decorations or tree in their house, and they’re just spending Christmas at church, and New Years Eve as well.  So they thought it would be better for me to spend Christmas with a bunch of people, and we will just celebrate Christmas early.  I think it will be a lot of fun as well :)!

 

Last blog I promised I would talk about my adventures these past couple weeks so here you go!

 

The first weekend in December, I went with Adriana, Cabral, and Luana to Recife because Luana had to take the SAT test there.  It was just a 2 hour drive down there.  Hellcife is what people outside of the city call it, and I can definitely see why now!!  There’s some kind of sewer/river that runs through the whole city that gives it a smell sooo bad that you have to keep the windows up.  But you have to keep the windows up anyways though, because it’s considered one of the most dangerous cities in Brazil next to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and people could come up to your rolled down window with a gun or knife and ask for money or electronics in your car!  It is also a really dirty city, the buildings and apartments look ancient and there is trash everywhere.  And the worst part is that you can’t swim in any of its beaches because there are sharks!!  There are signs everywhere on the beach that warn the people not to enter into the water because of the sharks!  I didn’t take any pictures in the city because it’s too dangerous to walk around with a camera, but don’t worry you’re not missing out by not seeing any pictures of Hellcife!!

 

We spent the day shopping and driving around the city while Luana took the SAT.  When she finished, we drove to one of the three prettiest beaches in the Northeast, Porto de Galinhas just a 45 minute drive from Recife.  So far I’ve been to 2 of the 3 prettiest beaches here, Praia de Pipa by Natal, and now Porto de Galinhas, and by far Porto de Galinhas is my favorite beach!  We arrived there pretty late and spent a few hours driving around looking for a place to stay since it’s packed now that it’s summer!  We finally found one and went to the beach to swim until it got dark.

The next day we woke up early and went to the main part of the beach.  The water was sooooo blue!!  When you stand with the water at your waist, you easily could see your feet.  It was absolutely amazing.  Here are some pictures…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, December 8^th was yet again another holiday here in Brazil.  At least just for my state it was a holiday because it was a past governor’s birthday or anniversary or something like that… no one really knew!  So we all got up early and helped prepare food for a big churrasco my new host family had for a group of pastors and their families that were visiting from Rio de Janeiro.  Kelsie and Kate from Canada came over because Kate’s house.. Kelsie’s old house… is about 10 minutes walking distance on the beach from our beach apartment.  The whole day we spent eating TONSSS of steak and food from the churrasco and swimming at my pool.

 

Wednesday, the group of exchange students from the city Aracajú (about 12 hours by bus south of here) arrived.  My friend Erin from Canada stayed in my house, and the rest stayed in other exchange student’s houses.  Thursday the exchange students from João Pessoa and Aracajú took a bus and toured around the city, and after went to a famous beach in southern João Pessoa, Carapibus.  It was my second time going but it still was incredible.   That night all the exchange students went out to Ferinhas (all the restaurants close to the beach).  It was a bunch of fun seeing all of them again since the last time was at Maragogi in August!

 

We then went to the city called Natal for the Rotary conference.  Sooo much fun.  The highlight was easily the buggy ride we went on Saturday on all the sand dunes in Natal.  It was soo crazy.. almost like 4 wheeling over all the dunes!  Saturday night there was a dance at a big hotel, and then Sunday we all said our goodbyes and went back home.  Some pictures from the weekend:

 

And here we are now, just days away from Christmas!  If I don’t update before Christmas, Feliz Natal e Boas Festas para todo mundo (Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone)!!!

 

I’ll hopefully get to skype with a lot of you on Christmas Eve at the Thompson party and Christmas with the Hansens!  So if anyone could bring a laptop with a camera, I would LOVE talking to you all and being part of the party!

 

Beijão from Brasil! 

December 1, 2009

I cannot believe that it’s already December!  Time has gone by too fast here.  Since the last blog I wrote, I visited yet again another beach here in the Northeast called Barra do Cunhaú for the weekend with Adriana, Cabral, Luana, Kelsie, and my host aunt and uncle Brivaldo and Ana.  Brivaldo’s mom has a huge house there where we stayed, and here is a view from the deck...

 

 

One of the days out of that weekend we traveled 15 minutes North to a famous beach here in Northeast Brazil called Praia de Pipa.  There Kelsie, Luana, and I went on a speed boat ride to a beach close by where there are tons of dolphins.  The dolphins would jump out of the water Just 10 feet from the boat.  We all jumped in the water and swam for a while before going back.  The ride back was one of the scariest boat rides I’ve ever been on.  We would go over rows and rows of 5 foot waves, and you had to hold on tight to the boat so you wouldn’t fly out!  This day was definitely something I’ll always remember!

At the beginning of November, I caught some crazy sickness.  I was in bed for one week, and I could hardly get up and eat anything.  Everyone here thought I had a mild case of dengue fever.  I had to go to the doctor twice and do a blood test, but now I’m all better :). 

 

After I recovered, my host mom, Kelsie, and I went to something João Pessoa is really famous for… the sunset.  I might have already said something about Jacaré, but it’s a place where there are lots of shows, and the famous sunset.  I’ve heard people say that it’s the prettiest sunset in the world, but that could be just people here being proud of their city.   But I definitely thought it lived up to its nickname!  Here are some pictures…

 

 

 

November 18^th was my last day of high school.  I’m now on summer break until February or March :).  Everyone brought their cameras, but it wasn’t like the last day in the U.S.  In the United States, the last day there really aren’t any classes, but here the students still have to study because last week and this week there are tests called the Vestibular, similar to the ACT or SAT, but here they take 3 to 6 vestibulars that last 5 hours each.  So the last day was good just for me really, because my friends only would have the tests after!

 

For Thanksgiving Kelsie and I decided that we would make a Thanksgiving dinner for her family and mine… at 10:00 the night before.  So the next morning we went to the grocery store and bought everything that we would need.  When we arrived home, we realized that the turkey was frozen, so we decided to make Peru do sol (Turkey of the sun).  A famous meat here in Brazil is called Carne do sol (Meat of the sun), and they make it by putting raw meat out in the sun to dry up and then they grill it.  So Kelsie and I went up to her deck and put the turkey out in the sun for a few hours haha.  We spent the whole day in the kitchen cooking.  We made turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, salads, apple crisp, and pumpkin pie.  It took us only about 7 hours to do everything.  Before eating, we explained the story of Thanksgiving to our families.  Everyone loved the food and they keep asking us to make the turkey and gravy again!  So our peru do sol turned out alright and no one got sick :).

 

 

 

 

 

Right now I’m in my second host family’s house.  I’m living with the mom and dad, and their son who is 16.  They have a daughter who is 18 years old that’s in Canada on exchange right now, but she’s coming back early in January because she’s not having a good exchange year.  The family is really nice and the apartment is amazing.  I’m on the 13^th floor, same as my other house, so the view of the ocean is incredible.  There’s a huge gym and pool on the main floor, and today I went and worked out for the first time in 4 months.  It felt sooo good to finally exercise!  The family has another apartment right on the beach that’s only a 15 minute drive from here.  The beach is called Ponto de Campina, and everyone in João Pessoa has summer houses there or goes there every day in the summer.  I already miss my first family a lot though, and I skyped with Marisa and Lucas earlier today!

 

The day of the switch, Marisa took me out for a going away lunch.  We went to Jacaré where there are a lot of restaurants with Marisa, Lucas, Daniel, his girlfriend Laura, and Lucas & Daniel’s dad.  It was a lot of fun and after eating we waited for the sunset.

 

This weekend I’m going to the biggest city in Northeastern Brazil called Recife with Adriana, Cabral, Luana, and Marisa to go shopping and see the city and the weekend after that I’m going to Natal (the same city I went my first weekend here in Brazil) with Rotary for what they call Natal em Natal.  Natal in Portuguese means Christmas!  So I’ll try to update it after I get back from Natal because I’m sure there’ll be a lot to write about!

 

Até Mais! Tchau Beijão

October 29, 2009

Ai faz quanto tempo, de novo!  (It’s been so long, again!).  I just finished reading my best friend, Courtney’s blog who is in a state called Mato Grosso here in Brazil.  She wrote about the huge trip she went on with her future host family to the south, and put on tons of photos!  So I haven’t been on any huge vacations lately, but I’ve been keeping myself very busy here in João Pessoa! :)

 

Two weekends ago, right after my last post was a 3 day weekend.  Saturday I spent resting at home and then at night I went out with some of my friends from school, we went to a party and I arrived home at about 3 in the morning (very early here in Brazil haha).  Sunday I woke up bright and early and went with my host mom and Luana (past exchange student to Michigan that I mentioned before) to a city in southern João Pessoa where all the prettiest beaches are.  The city was full of only beach/summer houses, and hotels.  Here it’s very common to have a house or apartment and then another beach house close by!  We went to Marisa’s friend’s summer house which was crazy!  It had 4 floors, a pool that looked like it belonged at a resort, a garden with every kind of Brazilian fruit (açaí, cajú, açeirola, and others that I’m not even going to try to spell haha), and an amazing view of the beach!  We spent the day at the pool, and then later we walked down to the famous beach in João Pessoa, Carapibus.  A lot of the people that have been living here their whole lives don’t find the beaches that great, but to me, every time I go I still can’t believe I got so lucky to be living here right on the beach, it’s all so new to me, and every time soooo pretty!

Carapibus Beach

My host mom :)

Luana and I at Carapibus Beach

Luana and I at the pool

 Açaí tree at Marisa's friend's house 

I took a quick nap, got ready, then went out to another huge show at the same beach where all the shows are, Praia do Jacaré.  A really famous rock band was here that night, so it seemed like all of João Pessoa was there too!  I went with my host brother and his girlfriend, and then met up with my friends from school and the other exchange students.  It was sooo much fun!  We danced the whole night and sang along, or attempted to sing along!

Monday was Dia Das Crianças (Kid’s Day).  My host mom, brother Lucas, and family friends went out to a restaurant for lunch.  Because of O Dia das Crianças, there was a clown at the restaurant just for the day that came around to all the tables and gave candy and toys to the kids that were there.  Afterwards we came home and rested after the long and busy weekend!

 Kid's Day!

The next few days weren’t too exciting, school, beach, and studying more Portuguese.  The next weekend there was a Rotary meeting on Saturday with the president of Norbrex (the multi-district in the Northeast) there, asking us how we’re doing and how we’re liking it.  He told us that it looks like we’re all super happy and enjoying it here, and he told me that my Portuguese is the best, which always is a great compliment :D.

 

The following week was once again, not too exciting.  School, beach, once again, and shopping for an outfit to wear to the  big party I went to on Saturday that I’ll talk about in a little bit!

Friday night there was a Rotary meeting to choose the second host families of all the students.  My next host family is my future host mom Chiquinha, her husband, and their son, who is 16 and going to Poland through Rotary next year.  They’re all very nice, and have 2 huge apartments.  One here in the main city, and another summer house where I’ll be for the majority of the time in a smaller city called Cabedelo that’s right on the beach where everyone goes in the summer.  I only have one month left in this house now, and I hate thinking about switching because I love the family I’m with now :(.

Saturday Marisa and I woke up early and went to her friend’s son’s first communion service.  Afterwards we went to their house and had a party with amazing food and the best brigadeiro cake I have ever had!  Marisa and I left the party before everyone else to go get our hair and nails done for the Festa de Quinze Anos (Fifteenth Birthday Party) I went to Saturday Night! Here in Brazil, when you turn 15 you either have a huge party or travel (usually to Southern Brazil for a few weeks or Disney World). Words cannot describe how much fun the party was and how nice the place was!  I felt like I was in the show My Super Sweet Sixteen on MTV.  It’s estimated that the party was over 50,000 reais, over $30,000 dollars.  There was a famous band from the Northeast there, caterers, huge dessert tables, a cake the same height as me, havaianas for all the guests for dancing,  fresh flowers everywhere, camera men, photographers, and when everyone left they got a goodie bag with a bunch of chocolate and a magazine of model pictures of the girl and interviews.  It was soooo crazy.  Words and pictures can’t even begin to describe it!  The whole night all my friends and I were eating, dancing, and taking tons of pictures.

Festa de Quinze Anos!

Kelsie & I

My friend Camila & I

The cake was taller than Kelsie! hahha

This week has been pretty normal, school in the morning, then usually something in the afternoon or night.  My friend from school is letting me borrow her book, Marley & Eu (Marley & Me) and i’ve already read 10 pages and have 8 notebook pages front and back of words I don’t know that I have translated into English.  Hopefully my Portuguese will get a lot better with that, but still, I can see that it’s improving so much.

 

Até mais!  Tchau beijo.

 

P.S. Recently I found out that they don’t celebrate Halloween here in Brazil, so everyone back home, please eat twice as much candy for me on Saturday! :)

October 10, 2009

It’s been over a month since I wrote my last blog post! I’ve been really busy, but that’s not a very good excuse, so I’ll try to make this a good post and fill you in on everything that happened in the past month!

The first weekend in September I went to a town called São José da Coroa Grande. Say that 5 times fast! São José da Coroa Grande is about a 5 hour drive south and it’s just a few minutes north of Maragogi, where the Rotary conference was. I drove down with my host brother Daniel, his girlfriend, and his dad. We all slept the whole way there because we left at 5 in the morning. Before we left Marisa and I ate breakfast together and I was lucky enough to watch the sunrise here from my apartment balcony! It is said that the sun rises here first out of North America, Central America, and South America because João Pessoa is so far east. It was SO pretty and I’ll put a picture of it on here. The whole weekend we were with my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. My cousin Lara from my class and her best friend Amanda were there too. The weekend was a lot of fun. Lara’s grandparents have a house right across from the beach, so we were in the ocean the whole weekend. One of the days we went out on their speed boat and went to a small island. The water was sooo clear there and beautiful! Independence day was Monday, September 7th. I was expecting a huge party like we have on the 4th of July, since here in Brazil they have parties for everything. But there were no fireworks, parties, or celebrations so we just drove home Monday.

My host mom Marisa just got back from Europe on Sunday. She was there for three weeks so the whole time I was at Adriana and Luana’s house, who I went to Natal with. The night before my mom left for Europe, we all went out to dinner. It was me, Marisa, Daniel, his girlfriend Laura, and Lucas. We went to a pizzeria called Pizza do Paulista, which is the best pizza place here in João Pessoa. The pizza there was AMAZING. Here in Brazil you can get every kind of pizza imaginable. Different kinds of cheeses, every kind of meat, corn, pea, just pizza sauce, egg, cheese and fruit, and my favorites… Chocolate and banana, brigadeiro, and dolce de leite. It was delicious but I’ll talk more about the pizza places in a little bit!

The first weekend I was at Adriana’s house, there was a huge samba show. Here in João Pessoa, there is a beach called Praia de Jacaré (Alligator Beach). Apparently Praia de Jacaré has one of the prettiest sunsets in the world; I still haven’t gone yet :/. Luckily there are no alligators there though but there are shows every weekend with big bands here in Brazil. Some weekends it’s forró, forrock (forró and rock), pop, samba, hip hop… every kind of music. But that weekend it just so happened that there was a samba show, and a famous samba band here in Brazil called Monobloco played there. It was sooo much fun! Nothing like shows in the U.S.! Kelsie (from N.Y.) came over to Adriana’s house earlier that day and we walked over to a hair salon to get our hair and nails done. Here in Brazil those kind of things are super cheap. Five hours later (Brazil time) and only 22 reais ($11.00!) later, our hair was blown straight and our nails were painted!. We got back home at about 7:00 and got dressed for the show when we realized that it didn’t even start until midnight! Kelsie, Luana, and I hung out until it was time for the show. At the show it was Kelsie, Sophie (Germany), Julia (Finland), Rouven (Germany), Luan (Kelsie’s cousin), Rodrigo (Kelsie’s brother), and some past exchange students. We were dancing the whole night and everywhere we went everyone was staring at us because we have light hair and eyes. Pretty sure the word got out that there were foreigners at the show by the end of the night to the 500 people that were there, because everywhere we went, people would try talking to us in English. It was crazy! Kelsie lives right next to Praia de Jacaré so we walked back to her house at about 4:45 and got there just in time to make ourselves açaí with bananas, granola, and honey, then we went up to her deck, put our feet in her pool (black with dirt from the show), and watch the sunrise. Once again, SO pretty! After a while we went down to her room, watched a movie, and slept until about 12.

The following week I had school and a Rotary meeting. At the Rotary meeting I knew I would have to give a speech just about what I have been doing lately, so I had that all prepared in my head what I would say. But then when I got up to speak, the Rotary president asked me to say why Rotary is so important, and why it’s so good to be an exchange student. The speech actually went pretty well, I said a lot in Portuguese, and the Rotarians liked it a lot!

That weekend on Saturday Rodrigo and Kelsie came over to Luana’s and we watched a movie and then went out for açaí. Maybe I talked about it before, but I’ll explain it again anyways ☺. Here in the Northeast the people eat açaí like we eat Chipotle. Açaí is a berry grown only in the Amazon, but they turn it into a frozen mix, kind of like ice cream. The mix is usually just açaí, guaraná, and banana ground up together and turned into that ice cream. At the restaurants you can order Açaí na Tigela (Açaí in a bowl) and it comes with bananas, granola, crushed peanuts, and honey on top. Meu deus do céu it is the best thing EVER created. The first time I tried it I hated it so much (typical with açaí) but now I’m ADDICTED. I can’t go a week without having it at least 3 times!

One day after school Adriana took me out shopping for clothes. The fashion here in Brazil is really different. I’ve only seen one person here that has worn sweatpants, and that was Luana in her house because she was an exchange student in Michigan last year. Everyone always looks their best, even at the gym when they work out or when they sleep they always wear fancy pajamas. At night when people go out, especially girls, even if it’s just to the mall or to get acai, they always dress up so much. Dresses, jeans and high heels, and these crazy shirts that I still haven’t figured out yet. From the front they look nice, but when the girls turn around, there’s no back! Or else it ties at the top and the bottom is like a cape. That, speedoes, and Brazilian bikinis I still haven’t gotten used to! :P

Last Wednesday it was a guy from my class’ birthday. At night my friends and I went out to another pizzeria with a rodízio (where they bring every kind of pizza around and you can take whatever you want). The pizza was sooooo good just like always, and I ate 10 pieces. Eu vou engordar MUITO aqui (I’m going to get so fat here)! After dinner we all walked across the street to the long sidewalk called Calçadinha. Calçadinha here in João Pessoa is a really long sidewalk that runs along the beach for a few miles. There are restaurants, bars, and shops on it, and it’s where everyone runs to work out or walks during the day and especially at night.

After dinner my friend dropped Kelsie and I off at Luana’s house and we watched t.v. for a little while then drove to the bus stop to get on a bus at 1 in the morning. The bus was full of Luana’s swimming team, and we were headed for a big city called Aracajú about 11 hours south of João Pessoa. Kelsie, Rouven and I were the only exchange students that went, so we hung out the whole time while the other people were swimming. The whole weekend was a lot of fun. I fell in love with the city, but unfortunately we didn’t have much time to see it. Luckily though, someone from the swim team’s parents took Kelsie, Rouven, and I for a drive around the whole city so we could see everything by car, but we didn’t get to walk around it much. Everything was so pretty there, and I hope to go back in November with Kelsie to visit the other exchange students there that we met in Maragogi.

I’m really lucky to be where I am and know the people I do here. Adriana is good friends with all the swimmers, and so she’s taking me with the team when they have other competitions. I’ve already been to Aracajú with them, in December we’re going to Maceió, close to Aracajú, we’re flying to Salvador in April, and flying to Belém in May. We only had the weekend in Aracajú, so that’s why we didn’t get to see the city, but when we go to the other cities, we’ll be spending a lot more time there, so we’ll get to have more fun. I’m also really lucky because the people I’m with here like to travel a lot and take me with. I’ve already been to Natal with Adriana’s family, Maragogi with Rotary, and São José da Coroa Grande, I’m most likely going to Recife for Carnaval (2nd biggest Carnaval in Brazil), and Adriana loves traveling and told me she’s going to take me to a lot more places in the Northeast! There’s a Rotary trip that I was talking about earlier called the Northeast Dream trip that I really wanted to go on, but I’ve already been to and will be going to a lot of the cities it goes to anyways! :)

My Portuguese is improving so much. It’s still not great, but it’s getting there. It’s impossible to learn a language in just 2 months. There are so many words and especially the Portuguese grammar is really difficult to get, but for only being here for 2 months, I’d say I’m learning quite a bit! When the exchange students and I go out and we have to ask someone a question or order, I’m always the one who does, so that’s saying something, right? :) 

Sorry it’s taken me forever to write this post. I’m really not a blogger but I know I should be updating all the time so I can look back at this to remember my year!

Everything here is so amazing, and I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. It’s so crazy that I’ve already been here for almost 2 ½ months.. time has gone by SOOOO fast, and each day I love it here more and more! :)

Once again, if you’re reading this feel free to comment on the blog or email me at raethompson93@live.com. I’d love to hear from everyone back home!

Até logo. Tchau beijão :) 

P.S. Last post I was talking about chicken heart and how everyone here eats it. Well I went to a huge churrasco (Brazilian BBQ) last week and finally tried one! I have to say it was pretty good, but I couldn’t finish it because I knew I was eating a heart! Haha maybe next time I’ll be able to eat a whole one… :P

September 2, 2009

It's been exactly 1 month since I've been in Brazil.  The time flew by so fast.  It's weird to think that already I'm 1/12 done with my exchange... I don't like the way that sounds, it makes it seem like I don't have that much time left here, and I know it's just going to go by soooo fast! :/

Last weekend I was at the Rotary conference in Maragogi that I was talking about in my last post.  It was SO much fun!  On Friday, all the exchange students from João Pessoa went to the bus station.  When we got on our bus (1 1/2 hours latera than scheduled... Brazilian time) we met all the other exchange students from Natal.  We then continued to go from João Pessoa to make a stop in Recife, where even more Rotary exchange students went on.  From there we went down to Maragogi, which was about a 5 hour bus ride in total.  We got there and all the exchange students were down talking on the beach.  Before we knew it, all of the guys were throwing everyone in the water!  It was freeeeezing cold!  We all went back to our hotel rooms and showered and then went to dinner.  After dinner was a really long Rotary meeting.  We went over all the Rotary rules, met the Norbrex district Rotary members, and introduced ourselves.  After that a guy from Belo Brazil (the Brazilian tourism company) gave us a huge presentation about all the different trips we can take with Rotary throughout our year.  Some of the trips are the Amazon Rainforest trip, Pantanal/Bonito, the Northeast beach trip, Iguaçu Falls, Southern Brazil, and more.  It's really hard deciding which trips to go on, because they all sound so cool, but for sure I want to go on the Amazon Rainforest trip in April!  After the meeting, I went swimming in the ocean with a bunch of people until about 1 in the morning.  

Saturday we woke up at 6:30 to go on a walk on the beach.  Here in Brazil, you have to wake up really early to be able to enjoy the beach the most, because the sun rises really early!  We came back and ate breakfast, then we had the rest of the day for free time.  We swam in the ocean for a while, then went to the pool, and Rotary had a big churrasco (BBQ... they're the best in Brazil!) with a bunch of meat and other food.  There were ribs, steak, chicken, and chicken hearts.  Here in Brazil, everyone loves chicken hearts and they eat them all the time.  I still haven't been brave enough to try one, but if I do, I'll let you know how it is!  In the evening, Rotex (past exchange students in Brazil) put on some activities for the exchange students.  We all got into groups and we had to make sand sculptures with people for one of the games, limbo for another, capture the flag, volleyball, and the last one was the girls had to dress as guys, and the guys as girls and we had a huge show.  It was soooo funny!  After the activities, we had dinner and then went to go watch a capoeira show at the hotel.  After the show there was a big dance.  The d.j. played a mix of Brazilian music and American music.  Kelsie (the girl from N.Y. in my city) and I taught the exchange students and some Brazilians how to do the Soulja Boy dance.  The d.j. played the song 3 times in a row so that everyone got it haha.  The rest of the night we went swimming in the ocean again, and hung out.  I think I got to sleep at around 3 or 4 in the morning.

Sunday we got up, ate breakfast, traded Rotary pins, took pictures, and went back home.

This whole week I don't have any school, because there aren't any classes, just tests all of the days.  At my school, Geo, once every 2 months there is a week where there are just tests.  The school doesn't want me to go and take the tests until I know more Portuguese, so I'll probably take them in 2 months, when the next week of testing comes around.  Also, the tests have all the material that the students learned for the past 2 months, so I wouldn't know much!

Yesterday I spent the day at the beach with Rouven (the exchange student from Germany) and his host brother Miguel.  It started getting cloudy, so we went back to their house and invited over another exchange student from Germany (Sophie), and Kelsie.  We had a churrasco and after that played a soccer game on their playstation that everyone here is obsessed with!  I went back home, showered quickly, and then went to a Rotary meeting, because the Rotary vice governor is here, so he wanted all the exchange students there.  After the meeting I went home with Rouven, his sister Luna (my good friend here that I study with), and Miguel.  We hung out for a while, and then they brought me home.

Later this afternoon, I'm going to the cinema with some of my friends, so I should go get ready for that now.  

Até logo! Beijos!  

August 25, 2009

So, I haven't written anything in almost 2 weeks, so I'll try to write everything I've been doing since my last post!

I continued going to school all last week and this week.  I love it there.  It's close to impossible following what the teachers say, so whenever the teachers give handouts, my friends and I always take my Portuguese-English dictionary and translate everything.  The rest of the time in class I either attempt to understand what is being said or I study some Portuguese books that I brought with me here.  I think I'll start taking tests in a month or so when the language isn't so hard!

The Sunday before last, Marisa, Pedro, Lucas, and I went to church.  Most people here are Catholics, so everything at church was a lot different from what I'm used to.  After church, Marisa dropped me off at my cousin Lara's apartment.  About 10 of her friends were there because every Sunday she has a choreographer come for a dance class.  They taught me a dance that was a mix between Reggae and forró.  Pedro came and got me after the class and we went from there to his dad's apartment and then out to lunch with Pedro, his dad, and my 2 older brothers Lucas and Daniel.  When we came back home, Lara and her friend Amanda came over to the apartment because they wanted me to help them with English.  We went to Lara's house later and then went out walking with a bunch of friends along the beach at night.

Tuesday night Pedro and I and a bunch of his friends went out to a Japanese restaurant because it was his last night here in Brazil.  He's going to live in New York for the year as an exchange student like me through Rotary.  Afterwards we all went walking on the beach.  The next day we went down to Recife to bring Pedro to the airport.  

(Pedro's going away dinner)

Thursday I went to Cabral, Adriana, and Luana's house (the same people I went to Natal with) and I stayed there until this morning because my mom was in Belo Horizonte visiting her family.  My friend Kricia was supposed to leave for Canada on Tuesday, but couldn't go then because she needed something more for her visa, so she and her mom were staying at Luana's house too so the whole weekend Kricia, Luana, and I hung out.

Saturday a group of about 20 friends went to an island called Picaozinho.  It was about a 10 minute boat ride from João Pessoa and it was sooo pretty!  It's a place where people can go snorkeling and swimming, and there were so many fish and coral there.  Later that day the whole group went to a beach called Intermares where there is a windsurfing/kitesurfing competition.  When we got there, it wasn't windy enough for them to windsurf/kitesurf, so we all just swam in the ocean until it got dark.  Luana, Kricia, and I went home and showered quickly and then went out for açaí with the same group again.

(Kelsie (from New York), me, and Kricia in Picouzinho)

I just got home from Luana's house after school this morning, but even though I've only been here for 3 weeks, it feels nice to be home :).  

This weekend there is a huge Rotary conference in a city called Maragogi.  All the exchange students in Northeast Brazil will be there and it's held in a huge hotel on the beach.  I hear it's one of the best Rotary conferences of the year and that it's a lot of fun.  I'll let you all know how it goes!

I know I'm forgetting to write a lot of things in here, but I've been so busy that it's hard to remember everything! :).  To sum it up though, I love everything here.  The people, the food, the weather, the beaches, the school, the Brazilian culture, the language, my city, my friends, and my family. 

And even if you're not following my blog, you still can comment on it because I would love to hear from you all!  Also if you would like to email me, my email address is raethompson93@live.com.  And lastly if you want to send me letters, my address here is:

Rae Thompson

Rua Major Ciraulo, 745-Apt. #1302

Manaíra

João Pessoa, PB 58038-291

BRAZIL

Tchau Beijos :)

August 13, 2009

Now that my foot is almost all healed, I have been a lot busier than before.  

Two nights ago, Pedro and I made chocolate chip cookies from the mix that I brought.  It called for 1/2 cup of butter and an egg, so I asked them what they use to measure things here in Brazil so we could convert it online.  They brought me into the kitchen and after looking through all the drawers, they realized that they didn't have any cups or things to measure food with!  I asked them what they do when they cook and they said, "Oh we don't cook, the maid does, and I think she just throws in whatever she thinks would be good!"  All the food here is really good, but I thought that was really funny that they didn't have anything to measure with.  After guessing how much we thought was 1/2 cup of butter, we mixed everything together and put it on a pan to cook.  It turns out that it was Pedro's first time cooking in his whole life, because they always just have the maid do everything!  The cookies turned out really good, and the Brazilians loved them.  

Yesterday Kelsie (through Rotary from New York) and Julia (through Rotary from Finland) came over to my apartment and we went from there to the beach.  We all have light hair and blue & green eyes, so everywhere we went, people stared at us because here in Brazil everyone has dark brown or black hair and brown eyes.  

When we came back from the beach we had some ice cream and juice and tried watching Spongebob in Portuguese.  When my host mom came home from work, she took Kelsie and Julia to Julia's apartment and then took me back home to get ready for a Rotary meeting that night.  She had just bought fresh pão de queijo (cheese bread that Brazil is well known for) and so we ate a bunch of that and then got ready for the meeting.

The Rotarians here in João Pessoa asked me to speak a little about myself, so before we went to the meeting, my mom helped me write a speech in Portuguese to give so I wouldn't sound completely dumb!  We got home from the meeting and Pedro and I watched Saw, which here in Brazil is called Jogos Mortais (Death Games).

This morning I woke up bright and early at 5:30 to get ready for my first day of Brazilian high school!!  I'm going to a private school called GEO.  Here in Brazil, most students go to private schools because the public schools are terrible.  A lot of the time the teachers don't show up and the kids don't learn anything in the public schools.  Pedro's cousin, Lara, came and picked me up to take me to school.

When we got there, we walked inside and it felt like everyone was staring at me because of my hair and eyes.  Lara and I went up to her class room and sat down and everyone came over and started talking to me in Portuguese! 

The schools here are different than in the U.S., because here, instead of the students switching classes, the teachers switch instead.  So I stayed in the same class of about 50 people for the whole day.  Everyone was so funny and nice, and the whole day everyone was telling jokes.

My brothers Pedro & Lucas came and picked me up from school when it was done, and we went home and ate lunch.  My mom took me to Luana's house later and from there Luana, her mom, Kricia (from a city in the Amazon going to Canada in a week through Rotary), her mom, and I went to the mall to watch a movie.  Movies here are really cheap.  I only paid 5.00 reais ($2.50) for my ticket!

I have to go to bed soon because I have another early morning of school tomorrow :).  

Tchau Beijos!

August 11, 2009

This last weekend I was invited to go to Natal with some friends here.  I went with Luana (she was an exchange student in Michigan last year) and her mom and dad.  It was sooo pretty there!

On the first day there, Luana, her cousin Camila, and her cousin's boyfriend Rodrigo and I all went to the beach.  Everything started off so well.  The weather was nice, the beach was amazing, we got agua de coco (coconut water) and we were just sitting down talking for a while.  Then we started walking into the water.  We got about knee deep when I felt a really big pain in my right foot.  I lifted it up and (sorry if this is too graphic) blood was going everywhere!  The first thought that came into my head was "Oh my gosh a shark is going to come with all this blood!" Luana and her cousin had me put each of my arms around them and the brought me back to the table where her cousin's boyfriend was sitting.  I left a trail of blood on the sand too :/.  They had me sit in a chair and put my foot up and they brought a bottle of water and ice over to clean it up.  I wouldn't look at my foot until they told me that everything was fine and there was no more blood!  Luckily Camila is studying biology at the university in Natal, and she specializes in the ocean, so right away she called her professor and talked to him about what could have happened.  They concluded that I stepped on a bagre.  A bagre is a type of fish that when you step on it, a long spine goes up, so the spine was what went into my foot.  They are pretty uncommon in the beaches here, but you know, since the exchange student came to the beach, it decided to show up!  

We went to the closest hospital just to get it all cleaned out and to be sure it was nothing bad.  It was my first experience in a hospital ever!  We got in and were talking to the doctor and she sent me to a nurse to get it cleaned out and to get a band aid on it.

The whole time from sitting in the chair at the beach to driving home from the hospital, I was laughing.  Of course a super uncommon fish would happen to come to the huge beach where we were and I, the exchange student, would happen to step on it just right so it would cut me!  

The rest of the day we just sat around at Camila's house and I rested my foot, and later at night her parents took us for a drive around Natal along the beach.  I told them that everything there felt like a dream, but my foot made me remember that I wasn't dreaming!  

Sunday was Dia dos Pais (father's day) here in Brazil.  It also happened to be Luana's grandma's birthday so there was a big party at her uncle's house.  The whole time I had to sit down because I couldn't walk very well, but I tried talking to some of her cousins in Portuguese.  

We came back from Natal on Monday afternoon, so once again, on Monday I just sat around and rested my foot.  It's looking a lot better now.  It's not too swollen anymore, and hardly hurts.  They think I'll be able to walk like a normal person tomorrow or Thursday. 

I'm going to go to school later this week too.  I'm really excited to go!  Everyone tells me that school here is really fun, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Portuguese is becoming easier to understand.  If I'm not able to understand full sentences, I get the main point of what people are talking about.  I've only been here for about a week, so hopefully in another week it'll be even easier!

There isn't too much to update here in this blog because I haven't been doing much lately because of my foot :(!

Tchau Beijos!