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Nossa! Quanto tempo!

It's been awhile since my last blog entry and lots has happened. I moved and am with my (graças a Deus) last family. I know have two younger siblings-my host sister is 13 and my host brother is 10. My new house has digital cabel (which I'm super-pumped about-which is why I'm mentioning it even though it has no real signifigance). I'm really liking my new family.

School is just what it has always been-school. Even though my grades have noticably improved.

On the 30th I leave for my trip to the Amazon! Yesssss! I'm mad excited! And almost immediately after I have the Rotary District Confrence, where I will see all my exchange friends, some for the last time. And then in the end of May or early June I am hopefully going on vacation with my family to Caldas Novas in Goias. I'm not sure exactly what it's like but I think its lots of water. Hopefully I'll get a nice tan.

Today I finally saw a movie in the movie theaters! OMG! I waited so long for this day. hehe. I saw Rio, the animated one about the domesticated bird from Rio de Janeiro. It's worth seeing. And I only paid seven reais to get in because I'm a student so I got the ticket at half price. Which made it like four american dollars. And the popcorn and soda were also really cheap. But the popcorn wasn't exactly amazing-not like Capital 8 Theaters popcorn anyways.

And I have finally managed to let my nails grow out a little and hopefully when I get back to the US, they will be nice and brasilian.

And when I think of coming back, I feel sad. My time here went by at super-sonic-speed. And I feel very at home and really love Minas Gerais. E Brasil inteiro. It will be so wierd to just pack my bags and leave it behind. I think wierder that it was to leave behind my American life. Its so hard to describe the way I feel about Brasil and the friends and family I have made here. Brasil is my home. And I have a real life here. And now have two countries that I love and feel completely at home in will always be torn between the two. Sad face. But, it will be nice to be home and see my family, and sleep in my bed, and not move every three months, and eat fast food, and even hear my dog bark. But, I'm definitley going to make the most of my last thee and then some months left here.

Tchau pessoal.
Ate mais.

Viagem dos Sonhos (Dream Trip)

o cristo in rio de janerio (with all the americans)

sugarloaf mountain with mexico's flag

some beach. i have no idea where, however.

maybe the same beach. maybe not.

lençoins at the top of a mountain sort thing with the girls from South Africa.

same mountain. different flag.

lençois.

lençoins.

brasilia at the top of a tower.

temple of peace in brasilia.

some cool "art" in brasilia.

"templo de boa vontade", or the"temple of good feeling", in brasilia where everyone was "purified.

the trip started in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, the state in which I live, and went from there. our first stop was Brasilia, the capital of Brasil. it is a city full of cool arcitecture and neat looking buildings. Then we we continued north and spent about a week doing a lot of hiking, trekking, and swimming in lakes, and at waterfalls-naturey-stuff like that. then we hit the beach. the water in norhtern brazil is so rediculously warm and the beaches were so beautiful. and they had lots of shops and resturants. i loved it. and we got to do like a truely authentic carnival in o linda where everyone dressed up in costumes and we had this band who played typical carnival music and we danced in front of them through the streets while they played music. it was so fun. i ate some wierd things, like stomach with liver bits inside and cow's tongue. and the food was generally less yummy to me-it was deffinitely good to get back to my typical Minas food. but I ate ice cream pretty much everyday-usually more than once a day. and about ninety percent of the hotels had air conditioning so that was a treat. and i got to meet people from all over the world. also pretty sweet. so in all, on the trip, i visited, brasilia, lençoins, maceio, o linda, natal, recife, salvador (two times), porto serguro, rio de janeiro, chapada de diamantina, and i think thats it. but who really knows. so all in all, it was a fun, exciting trip and i got to know what many brazilians refer to as the most beautiful part of the country.

and now i have finally started school again. and i have a new class. which is going alright. it could be going better but i really liked my old class! but i do understand a lot more and have decided to put a little more effort into my studies. i even went so far as to buy school supplies! yay!

carnival is approaching! i am so ready! i think i am going to spend the week in another city that is supposed to have a pretty awesome party and most of my classmates from last year will be spending it there so i look forward to one more bash with them! 

tchauazinho. vai com deus. beijos.

Feliz Natal Atrasado (Merry Late-Christmas)

Christmas this year was definitely very different than that of any other I have ever had-but I had a fantastic time! My host dad has a very large family, and lots of them don't live in the same city. So, everyone came here for Christmas and lots of people stayed in my house. We had such a good time together! On Christmas Eve, we had a churrasco and just hung out. And then at midnight, everyone told everyone "Feliz Natal", and then about three hours later everyone went to bed. And Christmas day wasn't really a big deal. My family didn't exchange gifts and didn't put up any Christmas decorations or a tree. I don't know why but Christmas just isn't as strong as it is in the United States. And one of the weirdest things was the weather-it was hot, sunny, and snowless. And the day after Christmas, I went to the pool and got sunburned. That same day, I went over to an "uncle's" house and when we got there, we decided to eat dinner. And so I was eating and someone offered me a chicken's head, swearing it was delicious. So, I decided to just go for it, and I bravely accepted. And once I could finally eat it, it was actually very good-tender, flavorful, all-around yummy. And so I happily went along eating, until I came across this black, mushy, slimy thing. And stupidly asked, "What is that?!" And when my uncle told me it was the chicken's eye, I could barely keep down the chicken I had just eaten. But, I was able to forget the eye, relax, and calmly finish my rice and beans. :)

On Thursday, I'm leaving the state for the first time and going to Sao Paulo(which is not just a city, but the state, which is what I am referring to). I'm going to the city of Franca, where lots of my host dad's family lives. Here, for O Ano Novo, or Revellion, New Year's, people wear white. And the coming year is determined by the color of underwear you wear. If you want love, wear pink, passion-red, money-yellow, peace-white. And if you live near the beach, and you want to have good luck, jump seven waves.

If you have the time or desire, check out these three songs. They're my favorite right now.
Madri
Fudiginha
Sutilmente

Tchau.
Beijos.

Verão (Summer)

my host mom got a puppy!

my host grandpa turned 75 (but, oops! the candles say 77. hehe)

my host grandpa and his grandchildren

my host grandparents

my host grandparents and their kids (my host mom is in the blue)

the girl in this picture made the cake!

me and my host grandparents

I have no school! Eba! So, to pass the time, I have been getting my nails done regularly (just one more way to become more brazilian), and going downstairs and hanging out at my host parent's supermarket. A couple people my age work there so I have made some new friends and the customers are sometimes quiet intersting. And my host grandpa comes there a lot so we get to talk to. I have already learned two super-hard Portuguese word from one of the girls that works there. etiquetadora (eh-chee-kay-ta-door-uh), which is "price-gun" and paralelepípedo (pah-dhah-lay-lay-pee-pay-doh), which is some sort of geometric figure. And lots of Brazilians say, one of the hardest words to say. It's sort of a tongue twister.

I cannot believe its only eight days until Christmas! Christmas just isn't very "strong" in Brazil-most people don't decorate, say Merry Chirstmas, or anything like that. And its getting hot. It just isn't Christmas without snow. But, to celebrate, my host dad's nine brothers and sisters are all coming to my house. So if I can be sure of anything, its that on Christmas I will not be lonely. And I think for New Years I am traveling to Franka, a city in São Paulo. It will be my first time in another state in Brazil! Eba!

And then on January 4th, I leave for the Northeast! I'm so excited!

Well, I guess that's all that's new with me-just hanging out and enjoying my summer-in December. How wierd.

Tchau.

Ultimo Dia de Aula (Last Day of School)

me and Cintia

almost my enitre class. one girl is missing.

does this look like the face of someone who is learning?

ahhh. who did her hair? hehe

My last day of actual class was the last Friday of November. On which, we didn't actually have class. It was kind of a sad day. Now, everyone is taking the vestibular and preparing to move away! :(

Lots of people have already taken two, actually. And, three or four of my friends passed the first one. So, in order to celebrate, we are going to throw a party. But we don't have any money. So, what do we do? Well, in Brazil, we throw smelly food on the people who passed, then, go stand by a stop light, and ask for money from the people in the cars when the light turns red! It's called trote (troh-chee). It was so much fun! We did it for about four hours and got almost 500 reais! That's almost $250! And all we did was simply ask! Sometimes, peoples' windows weren't rolled down, and so we would knock, and they would just look and slowly shake their head "no". And sometimes people would see us before they got to the stop light, and would stop way far back just so we wouldn't ask. But lots of people were happy to give their spare change for the people who passed the vestibular. And now, we can have parties until it's time to go back to school! And this was such a blast and so effective, I think I might try this when I get home in order to raise money for college. Jefferson City has a lot more stop lights than Sao Gotarrdo. Hmmm.

Well, Christmas is approaching. Although, it doesn't quite feel like it. I have seen like two strings of Christmas lights, four Christmas trees, and heard one Christmas song. I haven't had a single cup of hot chocolate, eaten a single chocolate-covered-pretzle, wrapped a single present, or done anything that feels remotely Christmas-y to me. I think this Christmas will be mostly just sad for me. But, its just one out of the many I will have. And it will be interesting to see how another family celebrates Christmas.

My Northeast trip is coming! I leave January 4th! Whoo hoo! I love the beach and promise to take tons of pictures and only put about five on here. :)

Tchau.
Um beijo.
Ate mais.

Missa, Churrasco, e Formatura :)

watch my "homenagem" in very bad portuguese :)

Titi, Me, Mariana America

My two host dads

Cecilia and Me

Mariana America, Me, and Leticia Yasmin. And let me just say, I look like a box.

My entire class at the churrasco

This is such a cute picture. And look at Titt´s face. It makes me laugh every time. We were singing "Rebaixei" when I took the picture.

Mariana America's sister. She's so cute! And she loves me so much. Haha.

She hates this picture.

Me and Cecilia.

I graduated on Saturday! Woo hoo!

To start of the celebration, we had mass on Thursday. And after we ate dinner at a resteruant.

On Friday, we all rode a bus the one of my classmate's farm where we had the churrasco. I ate way to much and danced a little. It was so much fun, too! I love my classmates!

And then, on Saturday, we had the grand, unforgettable, incredibly fun Formatura. It's like graduation and prom put together in one night. Only, it was very different from my graduation. First of all, you don't wear a cap and gown, you wear whatever you are going to wear to the prom. And it didn't even start until nine o'clock at night. And lots of my classmates gave little speeches about the students, teachers, and parents. And then the dance started. And the had appatizers and drinks while we waited for dinner. And then around eleven dinner was served, but I didn't eat so I do not know what it consisted of. However, I heard it was very good. And, since I live in Brazil, the most shocking difference, is that at a school function, there was open bar all night. And people walked around serving beer to people-they even squeezed their way through the packed dance floor to see if anyone wanted more. And there was a band called Nova York. They performed other artists songs, both Brazilian and American. It was so incredibly fun! I danced almost the entire time! I even danced forro-a type of Brazilian dance. I don't really know how to describe it. I didn't dance it incredibly well, but I did dance it.  In fact, I danced until 5:30 in the morning! By the time four o'clock rolled around, I was running around telling all my friends, "OMG! It's four o'clock! I've never been out this late before!"

And now after this week finishes, I only have one more week of school. Which, very surprisingly, I'm bummed about. When I start back to school in February, I'm going to have a new class. Vou morrer de saudades! And the video you just watched or are going to watch, is me giving my "homanagem". Which I guess is like a little good-bye, thanks-for-everything speech. It has a word in English but it escapes me at the moment. And my Portuguese is very bad. Note how many times my class bursts out laughing. And I was so nervous. Queria sumir! But, I did make one person cry and Cintia said, "Que linda!" "How beautiful!". So, I guess, over all, it went decently. But I can't wait until I get even better! And not to seem big-headed, but I think my Portuguese is better than what you see in this video. The pressure of everyone looking only at me didn´t really make the speech any easier.

Until next time.
Tchau.
Beijao.

Mudei as Casas! (I Changed Houses!)

back row: my host brother, his girlfriend, my host sister´s boyfriend´s mom and dad, and my host dad. front row: my host sister´s boyfriend, my host sister, my host mom, me.

Two Mondays ago I finally gave my presentation about Missouri and myself to my host Rotary club. Please, feel free to note how many people are sitting in this particular meeting. There is usually like twelve of us.

Me, some past exchange students(the one in purple is my new neighbor), a future exchange student, and some officials in my club.

The view from my new room. Look! There´s grass!

Tons of it!

My parents will like this one. I live across the street from an Assembly of God church. And if you have nice vision, and you can see the church steeple in the background, my old house is really close to that.

My new room.

A different angle. Haha. I wake up to that little boy mooning me every single morning.

This is funny. It says I only drink after ten. Its hanging where you come into my house.

You may be thinking, why did she put this picture on here? But, if you notice, it says `ta chuvando. I sent this to a friend after a bet about whether it would rain or not, and so when it started to rain, I sent it. It means, ´`it´s raining". Only the thing is, it should actually be, "ta chovendo". But the noun, rain, is "chuva", so logically, I assumed the verb form would be "chuvar", but it´s not, it´s "chover". And so the friend I sent this to teaches and English class and used me as an example and now everyone in this stinkin city knows about it. And everyone laughs and when I tell them to stop laughing they´re like, "Ah, but it´s so cute!" So this is not just any text, is the most famous text in Sao Gotardo and a hard lesson learned for me. :)

My class. We threw a birthday class for the director of our school! And got to miss two classes! Eba!