May 18th, 2010

(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 17^th 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

February 26, 2010

So summer here in Brazil unfortunately has come to an end!  I have never seen anything quite like the summer here in Brazil.  Everything stops for about a month or so, so that everyone can enjoy the sun, beaches, family, friends, and not having to go to work, school, or study.  Some of the highlights of my summer were:

Fest Verão: I talked a lot about Fest Verão in my last blog, but to sum it up again, there were 3 shows.  They were the biggest shows of the whole year, and the most popular bands in Brazil played at them.  The whoooole city was at these shows, so of course, the exchange students couldn't miss it!  Everyone was dancing and singing to all the songs... so much fun!  This was something I'll never forget!

Learning to surf:  One day Kelsie and I went to the beach with our friends who own surfboards.  They tried teaching us how, but it is a LOT harder than it looks to get up, and unfortunately we never managed to get up.... maybe next time!

Visiting Courtney:  With Rotary, there are many trips you can choose to go on.  They include the following:  Rio de Janeiro, Amazon Rain Forest (I'm going in April!), São Paulo, the south of Brazil, Iguassu Falls, Pantanal e Bonito (a wetland nature region), and lastly the Northeast, that my friend Courtney went on.  While she was in Recife (2 hours south of me) and Natal (2.5 hours north), I found a way to go visit her and spend some days with all the other exchange students on the trip.  Recife was the first trip I went on which I wrote about in the last entry, and the weekend after was Natal, which was so much more fun than Recife!  I spend 2 days there instead of 1 like Recife, and we spent the days there at the beaches of Natal, then the last night was a Claudia Leite show (A famous singer who played at Fest Verão)!!  The show was crazy with all the 100 exchange students there from all over the world, and of course with our luck, it rained a lot!  But that just made it all the more fun! :)

Pictures with Fernando Bronzeado:  I may have mentioned this before, but my current host mom is good friends with one of the most famous photographers in João Pessoa.  He offered to take pictures of 3 of the other exchange students here in João Pessoa and me!  So one of the days in January we spent a day in his studio and at the beach!  It was a looooot of fun!  Usually girls do pictures like this for their 15th birthday, or for weddings and they cost about $5,000 at least, but he did ours for free! :)

CARNAVAL!:  When you think of Brazil, probably one of the first things you think of is the big Carnaval celebration in February.  Carnaval in Brazil really lives up to it's name!!  Here in João Pessoa, the first week of February, before the actual Carnaval, was a week full of parties.  I went to three out of the five, and I'll tell you a little about them!  The biggest freeway in João Pessoa was blocked off for these events, and I heard that there was estimated to be more than 400,000 people at each night!  It was basically a big parade, but each float had HUGE speakers on it and everyone would follow each of the floats dancing all the way down the road.  The second night I went there was a theme where all the guys dressed up as girls.  They went all out.  It was hilarious to see everyone with a bunch of makeup on, clothes, and wigs!  Then Saturday the 13th was the real Carnaval!  I was extremely lucky to be able to go to Recife (the 3rd best place for Carnaval in the world!!)  There were over 2,000,000 people on the street, and could see people dressed up as everything you could imagine!  We even got a picture with a guy that looked exactly like the president of Brazil!  Carnaval here was definitely one of my highlights of my year in Brazil!!

Now summer's over and everything is settling down and everyone is starting to get back into the swing of things.  Everyone's going to work again, school, and moving back into their houses in the city.  I've recently starting working out in the gym here, and I'm taking a Spanish class and Portuguese grammar class at night!

Até Mais, Beijos!

January 27, 2010

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 30^th 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!!  

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!