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!
