What a busy last few weeks these have been!! I returned to my old house, Marisa’s, about a week before Christmas, and spent until the 30th there. All of her family was there, so we were always doing something every day! Most of the days consisted of going to restaurants on the beach and going out for dinner or açaí at night!
Christmas was really different than Christmas’ in the U.S. There were about 20 people at the house on Christmas Eve, and the whole night was spent talking and eating dinner. When the friends left at 2 in the morning, we opened presents for a few minutes and went to bed. Christmas day everyone woke up around noon and we went out for lunch at a Chinese restaurant! Christmas night Kelsie and I went out to Calçadinha (the huge sidewalk on the beach) with the cousins dressed like Santa. Before I came to Brazil I bought something called snow-to-go, which is white powder that when you add water expands into what looks like snow! So Kelsie and I walked on the beach with a grocery bag of snow and threw it in the air so it seemed like it was snowing! :)
I think that New Years Eve here really makes up for the lack of Christmas! I spent the New Year with Adriana, her family, Kelsie, and some family friends of Adriana on the beach, along with the other 700,000 people of João Pessoa. There were shows on the beach, and at midnight the fireworks began and everyone ran to the beach to jump 7 waves for luck.
January so far has been a month of beaches, sun, and shows! The past three Sundays there were the three biggest shows of the year called Fest Verão. The most famous Axé & Forró bands in Brazil came here and played at each of the shows. Just some of the bands were Ivete Sangalo, Claudia Leite, Asa de Aguia, Chiclete com Banana, Jammil, Garota Safada, and Cavaleiros do Forró for those of you who are reading this and in Brazil! It was soo much fun and it seemed like half of João Pessoa was at these shows!
These other summer days I’ve spent boating, at the beach, shopping in Recife, jetskiing, going out with my friends, and getting pictures taken by my host mom’s friend who is one of the most famous photographers in João Pessoa (the pictures are coming soon!). I’ve also been cooking a lot of American food for my host family since my huuuge package from home arrived! They say that if I really don’t want to go back home, I can stay here and be their full time cook! :) We’ve made tacos & salsa, apple crisp, cookies, banana bread, puppy chow, and we’re making brownies tomorrow.
I was lucky enough last weekend to get the chance to go down to Porto de Galinhas (2 hours south) and visit my best friend Courtney from back in the states who is doing exchange here in western Brazil, since she is traveling in the northeast this month. It was soooooo great seeing her. We spent the day at the beach, then at night went out for pizza with all the exchange students on the trip. This weekend I’m going up to Natal (2 hours up north) to visit them again for 2 days. I’ll put the pictures from Natal up when I get back :).
Here are some photos from my past weeks here in Brazil:
Beijos e Até Mais!!
