September

Hi again! I'm sorry that I didn't post for awhile, I have been crazy busy these past few weeks. I'll try to go in order week by week, a lot has been going on!

From Wednesday August 4th through Sunday August 8th, there was a huge party in my city called the Exposerra. It's a lot like the Minnesota State Fair, just smaller, but with a rodeo and a huge concert every night. The rodeo starts around 10 and goes to about midnight, then at midnight the concert starts and goes to about two, after that there is a dance party in a different part of the park. I was really surprised because everyone was at the Exposerra, teachers, elderly, little kids, everyone. They also all stayed really late, I saw whole families at the concert at one in the morning. The music that was played for all but one of the nights was music that is liked by both young and older Brazilians, so everyone enjoyed the concerts. It was really good that the students weren't the only one's who went to the expo, because then at school we weren't the only one's exhausted. The teachers were too, and so even though we still had classes as normal, it wasn't as rigorous. I got to go every night except Sunday, and it was a ton of fun! I went with different groups of friends every night and met a lot of new people. They taught me how to dance many different Brazilian dances, and they laughed at me a lot because they thought it was funny how a "gringa" was learning to dance like a Brazilian. The dancing here is so much fun, and everyone knows how. My friends were all really excited to teach me, and I can't wait until there is another event to dance at.

Another thing that we did every night was go on this crazy ride called the samba. It's a circular platform with a seat running around the outside, and the whole things spins and goes up and down really fast.The guy who runs the ride stands in the middle and turns around to try to not fall down, and every once in awhile he will grab someone off the bench and pull them in the middle and try to teach them how to do it. The person usually just stumbles around and when the guy lets go of them and they try to turn on their own, they stumble around and fall onto the people sitting. It was so funny to watch, everyone was laughing and cheering for whoever was in the middle, and when one of my friends got in the middle and was able to do it, there was a huge crowd cheering on the sidelines.

On Sunday I didn't go because it was my friend from school, Andressa's, 15th birthday party. Here when a girl turns 15 it is a really big deal, and they have a big party. For hers, they had rented a patio, and everyone crowded around and ate cake, sang to her, and danced. There were a lot of people from school there, and we had a ton of fun!

The next friday I went to a motorcycle party with Leah, one of the other two exchange students living in Tangara Da Serra. We played soccer and then went to go lay in the grass. A group of little girls figured out that we were exchange students, came and sat down around us and asked us a bunch of questions. Then we played tag and danced and they had us sing songs with them, it was really fun. They would just grab out hands and pull us around the party and they tried to teach us to dance, it was really cute, and all of the parents were smiling and laughing because we were so confused and they were helping us.

The next morning my dad took me, Leah, and Julia to Cuiaba to go to the Federal Police station. It is a crazy four hour drive on this two lane highway. There are a lot of semi-trucks that drive back and forth on those roads, and they go really slow because the roads are really bumpy and the trucks are always over full. Everyone else wants to go really fast, and so it's this crazy leap frog train of cars. We'd be going almost 180 kph and then slow down to 40, and we would pass a line of 5 cars, and then have to quickly pull back in the lane because a car was coming. I am finally starting to get used to the driving in Brasil, but the drive to Cuiaba is still pretty scary :) We spent the whole day in Cuiaba, first stopping to see my host sister Juliana's new house and to see her little son Heitor. My host dad then dropped us off at the big shopping mall so we could look around before going to the Police station. Shopping is different in Brasil, the shops are mostly really small, and the people who are working there help you pick out clothes and one person helps you the whole time you are in the store. Since we weren't really looking to buy anything, and our Portuguese wasn't the best, we decided that going into the shops wasn't the best idea, but we had a ton of fun looking around.

We hurried back to Tangara after our appointments at the Federal Police station because Interact, the rotary group for teenagers, had a pizza party. There were about a hundred people packed into the meeting room and the patio, and the teenagers from Interact were running around and serving everyone the most delicious pizza that I've ever had. They have all different kinds here with different toppings and cheeses. My favorite is Brigadero pizza. Brigadero is really hard to explain, but it kinda tastes like chocolate carmel. It's made out of condensed milk and chocolate powder, and then is cooked until it thickens. It is so good, I could eat it everyday! A lot of my friends from school were there, and so I introduced Leah and Julia to them, and we sat around and talked about the differences between the United States, Germany, Canada, and Brazil. After the pizza party, I went to one of my friends houses where we all sat outside and drank Terrere, a kind of brazilian tea made with lime juice. You put a bunch of the grass in a cup with this special straw, and pour lime juice water into the cup and everyone passes the cup around. It is surprising, but after awhile, I started to really like it.

The next week was really busy with school and studying because the next week was the week where you have tests in every class. Since I am in the third year here, everyone is studying really hard because they have to pass their tests to graduate in November. I am going to write out my school schedule so you can see how many classes they have to study for. Everyday school starts at 7:00 and goes until 12:00.

On Monday I have History, English, Math, and then a 15 minute break for snack at 9:00. After snack we have Math, Organic Chemistry, and Spanish.

On Tuesday we have Physics, Literature, Non-Organic Chemistry, Art, Biology, and Geography. Then we all go home for lunch and come back at 2:40 for Math and History.

On Wednesday we have Organic Chemistry, Geography, Philosophy, Writing, English, and Spanish.

On Thursday we have Physics, Portuguese, History, Non-Organic Chemistry, History, and Math. We go home for lunch and come back for Organic Chemistry, Physics, and two class periods of Biology.

Then Friday we have Physics, Sociology, Portuguese, Physics, Literature, and Religion.

 Finally on Saturday we have Writing, Biology, Biology, Physics, Literature, and Geography.

It's a crazy school schedule, and even though it is still hard to understand what the teachers are talking about, I am really enjoying school and am actually learning a lot. The teachers are all really nice to me and tease me when I am completely lost, and when I understand are really excited. I love the relationships that the teachers have with the students here, it reminds me a lot of Artech-Arcadia. The kids tease the teachers, and the teachers tease them right back. A lot of the time, the teacher is sitting in the middle of a group of students that have pulled their chairs around them. One of my teachers, Elaine, walks around the room and will sit on the kids desks and braid our hair as she talks about History, her classes are a ton of fun because she is always teasing us and telling us stories. Another teacher is called Batata (potato) because he is really short and round, he gets so excited that he paces from side to side in front of the blackboard, and tells so many stories that the students often have to remind him to finish the math problem on the board. I also really love school because I get to see all of my friends. The kids in my school are so wonderful, they treat each other with so much respect and love it amazes me that they are only in high school. Everyone is so nice to me, and they are all working really hard to include me and to help me learn Portuguese and more about Brasil and the culture.

These are some of my friends from my school:

The next weekend my whole family went to Cuiaba to visit my host sister, we left right after finishing lunch on Friday and didn't get back until sunday night. When we got there, my host parents and I went to a concert at a local church. It was a really intamite setting because he was just sitting on a chair with his guitar and a mic. We were in a really small church, and his voice just filled the whole room. He sang one of my favorite songs, Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel, but in Portuguese. When it started my host dad who knows it's one of my favorites, got really excited and grabbed my hand and my host moms hand, and then the whole room held hands and sang along. It was one of those moments where I really realized that I am in Brasil, and not just as a tourist, that I am living here and learning the language and the culture. It was a really cool feeling.

That night one of my other host sisters, Raquel, flew in to Cuiaba and the next morning my host mom and two host sisters took me to buy a swimsuit. We had a ton of fun trying to find a swimsuit that was modest enough for me, it took us a long time, a lot of trying on, and a lot of laughing, but we finally found one. Then my host brother and little host nephew joined us and we went out for lunch at a fancy restaurant. That night we went back to the Mall to find some school clothes for my brother, it was a ton of fun. My host nephew was with us, me and my host dad played with him a lot while my host mom helped Henrique. We played hide and seek in the clothes racks, and my host dad tossed him around and carried him in the cloth shopping bags. It was also fun because me and my host brother walked around and tried clothes on and made fun of each other. Me and my host brother get along really well. We have a ton of inside jokes, and when one of us is frustrated for some reason, the other can tell just by looking and then starts to crack up, and then we're both laughing. In the mornings, we both roll out of bed and take showers and go to eat in the kitchen. It's pretty early and so we're both tired and usually not to happy to be awake, but we take one look at the crabby face on the other and we're both laughing.

On Sunday, I cooked lunch for my host family, my two host sisters, and Juliana's husband and son. I made pancakes with bacon inside them, scrambled eggs, syrup, and  my host mom made rice and beans. The first time that I made pancakes I was really confused when my family cut them up and mixed it together with rice and beans. I couldn't imagine that it tasted good, but my host dad loves it, and has me make it every week. I realized that whatever I make is going to be eaten with rice and beans, I just hope that it all tastes good :) After lunch, we all took a nap, and then drove back around 3. On the way home, Leah the exchange student from Canada called and invited me to sleep over. The next day at my school was a test day, so I didn't have to go so my host parents dropped me at her house on the way into town. Her dad took us to the market where we bought the ingredients to make spaghetti and tomato sauce for lunch the next day. We were trying to find corn chips, but we couldn't find them so we tried to ask a guy for help. He didn't understand our question, and eventually we just said thank you and walked away. We started laughing because of how embarrassing it was, and we laughed so hard that we were crying. Her host dad found us and cracked up because we looked so ridiculous. The next day we woke up and made spaghetti with homemade sauce. It actually turned out pretty good, and everyone liked it. Then the two of us went for a really long bike ride around the city, stopped for ice cream, and just explored. It was a really good day, and when I got home that night I was so tired that I fell asleep right away.

The next weekend was amazing! The Interact club in my city had a camp. Interact is like Rotary, but run by, and for teenagers. The people in the club are really wonderful, and it was a ton of fun. We drove out to this beautiful campsite about 15 minutes outside of my city. There were about 25 kids there, and we all slept in tents. There was a big field, on one side there was a lowered soccer field, and on the other side a big pavilion with a ping-pong table, a Foosball table, and a pool-table. There was also a swimming pool and a river that ran along side it. When we first got there after school on Friday, we all set up our tents, and then everyone just hung out playing games, singing, dancing, swimming, and playing soccer. Then we ate spaghetti and everyone went out on the soccer fields for the interact meeting. The meeting was really moving, it is really amazing to see what teenagers can do to help their community, and how much they mean to each other. After the meeting we all stayed out on the field and played games all night. It was a ton of fun, after playing games, the boys all pulled their blowup mattresses up into the middle of the field, and we all piled on them and played music and sang together. After we were done singing, about 15 of us stayed out there, and they asked me Leah and Julia all about our lives back home, and it was really relaxing to lay outside and to just talk. The next morning we all got up really early and ate breakfast, then we went out to the field and played a bunch of games. After lunch the boys all dragged out a big tarp and got garbage cans full of water from the pool and dragged them out to the field. Me, Leah, and Julia were really confused because then the started putting soap on the tarp. Everyone crowded around and we spread the soap and water all over the tarp and then everyone started running and diving across the tarp. It was so much fun! Everyone was running into each other and falling down and sliding everywhere. Then we did sumo wrestling, and then the girls played soccer. That was a ton of fun because you couldn't really run without falling, and everyone was running into each other or slipping and tripping each other. We were all covered in soap and soaked, and everyone was laughing and having a great time.

 On sunday my host dad picked me, Leah, and Julia up in the morning and we went with my whole host family to a waterfall near my town called Salto das Nuvens. It's so beautiful. We ate lunch at the buffet and then went down to the beach. After looking around and taking some pictures me, Leah, and Julia took a nap in hammocks and then went swimming with my host dad and brother. It was a great day.

Last weekend was a little bit of an adventure. On Friday I went to my friend Leah's house to make pancakes for her friends from school and her host cousin. It was a ton of fun, and everyone liked them. After we made pancakes Later that night I had an asthma attack, and I ended up going to the hospital. My host family handled it really really well though, and are now helping me to make sure that it doesn't happen again. The rest of the week went really well, my friend from school had a birthday party which was a lot of fun, we ate more good food and cake (they really love fancy cakes).  This past week we had our graduation pictures taken. We all went out to this beautiful farm, and first they took pictures of our whole class, and then we individually went out onto this dock in the middle of the lake and they took more. The boys went first, and when they were done they all jumped into the lake and swam around. Two of my friends from school took me out in the paddle boat which was a ton of fun, and we spent the afternoon running around and talking. I forgot my camera, but when my friends from school post the pictures from that day, I can upload them here. I have one of the pictures of my class.

I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to write a blog post! I'll try to write more often, and to write shorter ones, hopefully every week or two. I am also going to upload pictures onto my other blog posts now that I know how, so re-check those out if you want to see them.
Até mais tarde!
Tchau,
Olivia

Friends, Flowers, and Food

Bom Dia!

There is so much that happened this week, I'm not sure if I'll be able to remember everything. At school, the students were finishing up exams, which meant that I was able to work on my Portuguese books during classes because I can't read or write well enough yet to do the written tests. I tried the multiple choice tests, but I had to use my dictionary to translate each question and answer, so I couldn't make it through most of the test in time. It was difficult even if it was a test in a subject that I really enjoy, like literature, because it would be about books written by Brazilian authors. Even the English class test was really hard. The questions were in Portuguese so I didn't understand what they wanted you to do. My brother got a better score than me because he's been going to English school for a long time. My host dad thought that was really funny, and laughed almost the whole way back from school  :)  Even though I have a hard time trying to understand what is going on in class, I really enjoy school. I have become friends with everyone in my class, they're super welcoming, and kind to me and have helped me a ton with my Portuguese. Now that testing week is over, they said that we will be able go out more after school. I am really glad that I was put in their class, I have something in common with everyone in the class, and the things that they enjoy doing after school are exactly what I love to do. It is amazing how fast you can become close to people, I've only been here three weeks and I already feel like I have known some of these people for years. Yesterday I tried to thank all of my friends at school for being so nice to me and helping me with my Portuguese. My friend Isabelle said "Linda, pode sempre contar com a gente, voce d muito querida por todos nos." Which means, "Beautiful, you can always count on us, you are very dear to us all." I haven't been the new girl many times before, but I was not expecting to make such good friends so soon.

Last Saturday morning, my host parents and I went to the morning market. It was so busy and I absolutely loved it! There were a ton of different stalls set up selling all different types of things. There were tables just piled with fruits and vegetables, a lot of which I've never seen before. Stalls with buckets of different spices lined up, homemade tamales, different fruit drinks, and tables filled with different flowers. Those were my host mom's favorite.

Then later that day, my host mom took me around the city to take pictures because the trees that are in the middle of the roads were all flowering. She said that she always likes to go to take pictures during this time of year. We drove around and took pictures all around the city. It was so much fun, and I was able to see a lot of the city that I hadn't been able to before. That night, I made my family dinner. I made stir fry (surprise) and they really liked it! I even made the sauce that I love, and they liked it so much that now they make steamed veggies and the sauce for lunch every day.

On Thursday, my host dad took me and Leah, the exchange student who is in Tangara from Canada, to the local dance and exercise center. They gave us a tour, and I think that we will be taking a dance class together, and that I will be going with my host mom a lot to exercise. I am really excited because I haven't been able to dance for a while, and I can't wait to start! Me and Leah also have a lot in common, and when we are able to see each other, we spend the whole time laughing and talking about the funny and embarrassing things that we've done or said. When my host dad and I first got to her house, she showed me her room, and we were trying to talk but were having a really hard time. After about two minutes we realized that we were still speaking in Portuguese! We had completely forgot that we could speak in English. We laughed about that for awhile, and then tried to communicate in Portuguese, but we got to excited to have to work that hard to talk to each other, so we switched back to English. 

Friday night, my friends and I went out to a restaurant for dinner, it was for Brazilian grilled meat. They call it Carne Asada, and it is meat grilled on a stick, and then served with sauces, rice, and salad. It was really good. A lot of the restaurants here have completely outdoor seating, it's really nice to be able to sit outside. After eating, we walked over to my friend Isabelle's house where we played karaoke, and then two of us slept over. It was a ton of fun, and I found that I was able to participate without having to focus only on the language. It was a really good feeling to be able to just focus on having fun, and not trying way to hard to figure out what to say. 

Last night my host parents and I went to the Circus. It was amazing! I had forgotten how much I love the acrobatics. My host dad let me get a Maca de Amore, apple of love. It was like a caramel apple, except instead of caramel, it had a red hard candy around it. It was really good! My host mom said we could try to make them at home. The circus was all acrobatic and humor, and I found that I was laughing at the jokes, it was a really good feeling to be able to understand what was going on! The acrobatics were amazing! And the company was really small, everything was done by about 12 or 15 people. They each did a few different things, and it was absolutely amazing! At the very end, they did this amazing thing where three people on motorcycles got in this wooden ball. I can't even try to explain what it was like, but they were all going around really fast, upside down and weaving around. They had to duck their heads because they were so close to each other. I couldn't even imagine trying to do that. It was terrifying and amazing to watch! That was a really good end of a great week!

Today we are just taking a nice day to relax, it's really nice to be able to have a day to just think about everything that happened the last week, and to get excited for the next one. Tonight I am going to make them Honey-Lime grilled chicken, I hope they like it! I think that I am going to be able to cook every Sunday night. I am really excited to be able to cook for them. I'll write again soon!

Love from Brasil,

Liv

Almost Two Weeks

Boa Noite,

I can't believe that I've been here almost two whole weeks. I can't believe I've only been here almost two weeks. It feels like I left Minnesota just yesterday, but also feels like I've been here for a long time because of how much I've seen and learned. The days seem to go by so slowly, but at night I can barely remember everything that I did. I can see why the people who have already gone on their exchange year, say that you have to make the most of everyday because your year goes by so fast. I'm sorry that I haven't posted any pictures, I feel really weird and touristy waking around with a camera in my hand. Don't worry though, I've decided that I would rather get weird looks, and have pictures to document my year, so I'll start posting them soon.

 School is still going great, and even though I have absolutely no idea what is going on during class, I have a ton of fun and I get to practice my Portuguese. The kids in my class are so understanding and funny, we spend half of our conversations laughing about something that was said wrong, or a story someone told. Everything with my host family is going wonderful as well, I am able to spend a lot of time with them, and it is a ton of fun! My host mom has been talking me along with her when ever she goes somewhere. To the store, to visit friends, I even got to go to a baby shower. My host dad wakes up at the same time as me an Henrique and makes us breakfast and sometimes homemade pineapple juice. Then he drives us to school. He always kisses the top of our heads before we get out of the car, and then again when he picks us up again after school.

Last night I went out with Henrique and a bunch of our friends from school. We went to a Pasteleria, where we ate these huge pastries that are deep fried dough with different types of fillings inside, I had chicken and bacon, it was so good! Then we walked to one of the guys houses and sat outside talking for almost two hours. Me and Henrique had to walk about 20 blocks home though, which I enjoyed a little bit because a city always looks different when you are walking, then when you are driving. Today we went to a farm to see my host mom's friends new baby. She was so tiny and cute. We just spent the whole time watching her sleep and playing with her little toes. My host mom really loves children and babies, she is going to take me with her when she goes to play with all of the kids at the local Children's Home. That is where she adopted my host sister and brother from, I am so excited to play with all of the kids! She said there is a new baby there that we can see as well.

The drive out to the farm was really the first time that I had been out of the city since driving in from Cuiaba. I had forgot how amazingly gorgeous it is out in the country. The soil ranges from a deep brown to burgundy, bright red, orange, and then light brown pinks. It is so beautiful. There are beautiful long grasses growing everywhere, and then tree's scattered in the fields. There are hills in the distance, and the sky is a really deep blue. In the city almost everyone drives a motorcycle/bike (moto) they are everywhere! Yesterday I saw a man driving, and a woman on the back holding a little baby. Unlike the U.S. everyone wears a helmet, I don't think that I've seen a person without one yet. This evening, my family took me to the Saturday night market for dinner, I had a different type of pastel filled with hamburger, and sugarcane juice. Later we are planning on going dancing, around 11:00. Everyone except me is taking a nap right now before we go, I am really excited to see what kind of dancing it is!

I'll post soon,

Tciao,
Olivia

Fathers Day

It's August 7th today. I can't believe that I've only been here five days. I already feel like I'm settling in. School is so much fun that I don't even mind that we have to be there by seven in the morning. The school also reminds me a lot of ARTech/Arcadia, everyone knows everyone, and the teachers and the students have really good relationships. The teachers are both respected as an authority figure, but also as a peer.  Yesterday it was fathers day in Brazil, and the rotary club in Tangara had a party to celebrate. I had no idea what to expect, and it was a ton of fun! Everyone came and ate some really amazing food, then a few people gave speeches about their dads and why they are important to the club and to their families. Then all of the dads in the room were sent out back. I didn't understand what was happening until they all came out dressed like woman and started parading around the room. It was so funny (: Everyone was laughing and taking pictures or videos. I wish that I had my camera because my host dad looked so proud and so happy to be a dad. Up until then, I'd been so focused on experiencing and noticing what was different  between Brazil and the US, but seeing all of those smiling dads with proud families made me realize that the similarities can be just as important and interesting than the differences. It was a really great night. (: I've decided to try to post smaller posts more regularily, but bear with me, I accidentally must have packed procrastination.
With Love,
Olivia

(Happy Brazilian Fathers day dad, You would have looked ridiculous in the dresses that some of them squeezed into, I laugh just thinking about it.)

My First Days

Bom Dia!

I'm sorry, I am posting a little later than I had hoped, but the past few days have been incredibly busy. On August 2nd I started my exchange. Leaving was really hard, but once I realized that I was about to start the year that I had been dreaming about since I first learned about Rotary Youth Exchange, excitement took over.

I had a one and a half hour flight to Detroit Michigan, from there I had a ten hour flight to Sao Paulo, and then a two hour flight to Cuiaba. I was with Elise, another girl from Northfield who is going on exchange in Brazil, on the first two flights. I probably would have gotten lost or really confused if we hadn't been able to navigate the Detroit airport together. Unfortunately we didn't get to sit together on either of our two flights, but it turned out alright. During the first flight I practiced Portuguese and slept a little. During the second flight, I got to sit next to a boy who was coming home from his exchange in the US. We talked until we fell asleep, and he gave me lots of advice for my year. When I woke up, about four hours into the flight, I found that my water bottle had leaked all over my backpack and Patagonia bag. I had to take out all of my stuff, and because I couldn't put in back in the bags wet, I decided to try drying them out by using the air vent above my seat. :) It actually worked pretty well, and I had it all dry by the time my flight landed. When we landed in Sao Paulo and got off the plane, I got pretty nervous, the airport was HUGE and I had no idea where to go or what to do. I only had one hour to figure it out, so I was really stressed, but thankfully a woman saw that I was completely lost and helped me figure out what to do. After that I only got mixed up once, but a really nice couple helped me find our gate. We had been sitting there for about 30 minutes when we noticed that there weren't as many people in the gate that had been there when we  arrived, and that even though it was almost time to board, there wasn't a plane in the spot. We figured out that they had switched our flight to a new gate and we had to run to get to it in time. From Sao Paulo, I had a two hour flight to Cuiaba. I sat by a woman who was from Brazil and we spent the whole flight talking, she helped me with my Portuguese and told me a lot about Brazil. When we got off of the plane, we had to walk from the plane to the entrance of the airport. The baggage claim belt was pretty small and hardly any of the people could fit around, but everyone was talking and if someone's bag came and they weren't in the front, the people who could reach it would get it for them. A really nice man helped me get my bags off the belt and load them on my cart.

Then I walked out to where the people were waiting. Right away I saw my host dad holding his little grandson, they were yelling my name and smiling, then he walked me to where my host mom and host brother were standing. I was hugged and then we headed out to the car. My little host nephew is the cutest baby I think I've ever seen. He has these huge brown eyes with the longest eyelashes, and when he doesn't understand what you say he looks at you and goes Eh? It is really adorable :)

We drove back to my host sister's house in Cuiaba and had a really good lunch of rice, beans, and different meats in several sauces. It was really good. Then my host parents drove me and my host brother Henrique to the mall in Cuiaba. Henrique's friend Amanda met us at the mall and then we all took the bus to her house. We had a ton of fun watching music videos and when her mom came home we all danced to the music and ate cake. Later we walked to Amanda's friends house and then all four of us walked to a pool in the neighborhood and talked while dangling our feet in the cool water. When we got back, they noticed that I was really tired after my flight and so her parents drove me and Henrique back to his sisters house. We watched a little TV, and then I went to bed.

On Sunday, we started the morning with a really big breakfast with lots of different fruit, bread, cheese, and juice. Then we drove the two and a half hours to the city that I will be living in, Tangara Da Serra. On the way we stopped at a roadside shop. It was a cluster of small thatched roof and open walled rooms, one where they sold different homemade pastries and drinks, one where there were bathroom stalls, and another where they had chairs clustered around a TV. There were chickens and dogs running around everywhere, and there were little kids playing. I wish that we could have stayed longer, but we had to get to Tangara Da Serra for a huge rotary barbecue, it was a ton of fun, and I got to meet many rotary members. After that, we went back to the house and I watched some TV with Henrique. Then my host mom, dad and I went on a walk around the main part of the town. There were so many people sitting on the sidewalks in lawn chairs, listening to music and laughing, it was really loud, but exciting.

Monday was my first day of school, I was really nervous before going because I'm not very good at Portuguese yet, but I really wanted to make friends. I didn't have to worry at all, the girls in my class came up to me right away and everyone was helping me to understand what they were asking or telling me. They didn't hesitate to correct me when I was wrong, and when we couldn't figure it out, we would just laugh and move on to another topic. In the middle of the school day, we went out to the outdoor gymnasium. The kids all sat on the cement bleachers while the principal and teachers were taking, suddenly one of the girls next to me raised my hand. I was really confused because everyone was looking at me, then the principal made me get up and walk to her. She kept asking me questions, but I couldn't understand her, I would have normally been really embarrassed, but everyone in the gym was smiling and when I walked back to my friends, they all cheered. I really like my school and the people in my class. Then  Henrique and I went home for lunch and then to one of the girls from our classes house to swim. That is all for now, but I'm sure that I'll have much more to post later :)
Tchau!

Departure Date

Bom Dia! I just got my departure date last week so everything is starting to come together. I still have a while before I leave, but I know that it'll go so fast that I won't even know what happened and I'll be on my way to Brazil. I leave on the second of august, and fly in to Cuiaba. I'll post again closer to then!
Até Então

First Contact!

My first host family contacted me for the first time a few weeks ago. I still haven't found out much about them, but I am very excited. I will be going to the city of Tangara Da Serra, in Mato Grosso, Brazil. I've spent a lot of time looking at it on Google Maps because someone went on vacation and took a lot of pictures of the city, and you can click on a dot and it'll show you the street view. The little that I know about my host family is wonderful and I can't wait to meet them. The nerves are starting to set in a little bit though, but they're the good kind, like right before you go onstage.
Até Então,
Olivia