(Photos will come later, the internet connection is terrible right now!)
It’s a good thing I update this blog so much, otherwise you all would have no idea what I am doing!! But really, I’m soooo so so sorry about not having updated it. If you can believe it, I’ve just been too busy ever since the last blog!
Let’s start all the way back in March! The Thompsons decided to come visit this month. They stayed for about 2 weeks, and loved it here! The stong sun here was hard for them to get used to, as was “tempo Brasileiro,” Brazilian time!
Here are some photos of the family together:
The beginning of April I switched houses for the last time. It was hard leaving my second family, because they were really great, but my third host family is wonderful as well! Mid-April Kelsie and I did more pictures with the famous photographer here. It was once again, so much fun! The weekend after, I went with all the exchange students from the Northeast on a weekend trip 14 hours south to a place called Paulo Afonso and another called Xingó. They are considered the biggest hydroelectric complexes in the world. The trip was a lot of fun. We spend one day touring the complexes, and another boating and swimming on the river São Francisco. The weekend after this trip was when all the big traveling started! I went down to Salvador with some friends to spend a few days. It was absolutely amazing there! Not only is it the oldest city in Brazil, it is also the home to the most Africans outside of Africa because of the history. When the Portuguese colonized Brazil, they brought over slaves from Africa which stayed in the Northeast region (mainly Salvador, and it’s state, Bahia). The city is beautiful and full of culture. It’s said to be the best place in the world to go to for Carnaval. This year for Carnaval in Salvador, on the parades going through the city, not only did they have the most famous bands in Brazil, such as Ivete Sangalo, Claudia Leitte, and Parangolé to name a few, but even David Guetta flew down to perform! One year I am definitely going to come back for Carnaval in Salvador!
Directly from Salvador, I flew to Manaus, Amazonas for the Amazon trip with exchange students from all over Brazil. The Amazon was a once in a lifetime trip that I’ll never ever forget! The program we went with was great; they always had us doing something, whether it was visiting Indian villages on the river, trying special food only found in the Amazon, swimming in the river, pirana fishing, alligator hunting at night, and even sleeping out in the middle of the forest! It was increeedible! When the trip ended with the exchange students, Kelsie and I stayed in Manaus for another 10 days and stayed with some family friends that live in a city 5 hours away from the capital. The city was called Pitinga, and reminded me more of back home than any other city I’ve been to in all of Brazil! The houses aren’t all fenced in, and everyone actually has a backyard! It was like this because this city was created for the mine workers and their families. You have to have permission to enter into the city, and the only people that live there have someone in their family that works on the mineral mine. It’s a really rich city, but during the day there isn’t too much to do since everyone is working and all the kids are in school. There in Pitinga, instead of just going to school in the morning or afternoon, they go in the morning AND afternoon. It was nice staying at their house after, because this way we got to stay in the Amazon for longer, and at the end, we got to stay in Manaus for a few days to get to know the city a little more! Here are some photos from the month!:
Last week was my 17th birthday! My host mom and some friends put together more or less a surprise party for me. A few friends came over and we had a lot of cake, brigadeiros, and salgadinhos! Pictures:
This week, I should be going to Curitiba, a city in southern Brazil to visit some exchange students I met on the Amazon trip and see the city! Everyone says southern Brazil is like a whole other country, it’s very organized and like Europe. And another thing… FREEZING!! I’ve been living in 90 degree weather for the last 10 months, and there during this time it can get down to 50! I don’t know what I’m going to do… I already can’t use air conditioning here because it’s too cold for me! But we’ll see how it goes! I’m really looking forward to the trip!
Until later! Até mais!
Beijos! :D
