Pictures

I'm sure that many of you want to see pictures from Brazil and have wondered why I havent posted any here. The answer to that is because I didn't feel like going through the trouble of doing that while I was writing each of my posts. I found a solution to uploading the pictures onto this blog directly. Earlier today, I put all the pictures that I have taken so far and put them on my Facebook page. Now I'm pretty sure that most of you do not have a Facebook page but that won't stop you from seeing the pictures. Facebook provides a public link that allows anyone to look at the pictures if they have the address. I have 5 albums created on Facebook and the links are listed below in order from the first taken to the latest pictures.

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56776&l=4c3f0&id=604883979

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59734&l=bfe33&id=604883979

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59748&l=a9ec6&id=604883979

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59753&l=6661f&id=604883979

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59760&l=451db&id=604883979

The last album contains pictures from last Sunday so you will have a clue about what will be in my next post.

If you have any questions or comments about the photos, post them here and please say which album you are talking about.
So now you can look at some pictures of what I've been doing here. I am going to post again tomorrow (Sunday) night or Monday to tell you what I've been doing for the past two weeks.

I Finally Update the Blog!!!

For a while now I've been meaning to write this new post for the blog and people have been asking me to write it. Well, I'm not too tired right now so here I go, writing another entry.

I left off last time with me getting back from Araçatuba. So now I'm in Corumba where I have to get up at 6 in the morning to go to school every weekday. The day after I got back I went to school where I took my first test in Portuguese. The test was a math test so you would think that it would be easy and with out a lot to translate. Well you'd be half right. The math itself was easy after I translated the evil word problems the teacher put on the test. The good news: it was multiple choice. I ended up getting a 6 out of 10 on the test (I think it was because I didn't show all my work because other people had the same answer w/ it marked correct). I, being the (I'm going to try and be at least a little modest here) kind of student who doesn't usually get below 85% on a test, wasn't happy with my grade until I saw that the other people around me had mostly gotten 4. I also had to take a Portuguese grammar test and, because I don't know Portuguese, I just circled random answers because it was multiple choice. I got a 4 on that est which is actually better than what some of the other people in the class got.

Onto a completely unconnected topic.....
Last Wednesday, like we do every Wednesday, we went out to eat. The reason I'm telling you this is that I got a great piece of news from my host mom's brother. That piece of news is that I can watch American Football on ESPN International!!!! I was very excited until Sunday night when I learned that a certain star player for the New England Patriots had gotten hurt and would be out for the entire season. This made me not feel as bad missing the season. But the good news is that I'll be able to watch football!!!!

Well that's it for now. I'm going to updake the blog sometime this weekend, I promise.

Until then, keep commenting!! The more you comment and ask questions, the more entries I'll write on this blog. I also like hearing about what you are doing so, if you feel like it, tell me how you are.

Araçatuba

I know I haven´t posted in a while. It´s because I´m very lazy.
Ok, so i left off my last post by telling you that I was going to go to Bolivia then travel to Araçatuba for a week of portuguese lessons and getting to know the other exchange students in the Rotary District. Well, i wasn't feeling well Friday so i didn't go to Bolivia, but at 11 o´clock i went to the bus station where i got on a bus and left for Campo Grande. An interesting fact about the bus ride to Campo Grande is that all buses from Corumbá are checked for drugs being smuggled from Bolivia. I´m not quite sure how they check the bags because I was on the bus but I do know that two officers came onto the bus and questioned a random person. After that the bus went on its way. I fell asleep as it was very late. We arrived in Campo Grande at 6 something in the morning where I was met by a Rotarian named Daniel. He gave me my ticket for the next bus and took me to his house where I ate breakfast and took a nap. At ten o´clock Daniel took me back to the bus station where I got on the bus with three other exchange students: Elisa from Germany, Maja from Poland, and Theo from France. So we took the more than 8 hour bus ride to Araçatuba with a really quiet and awkward lunch in the middle where the four of us just sat around a table drinking our water. Eventually we got to Araçatuba. There i was met by the family with whom I would be spending the week. Their names are (I´m really sorry if I don´t spell them right) Rose, Salvio, their son Gui, and their daughter Ana. That night they took me out for pizza where I determined that melted cheddar should not go on pizza. (Just wanted to mention that).
The next day was Sunday and all 30 of the exchange students met at the District Chairman's farm for swimming and information.
Monday through Friday we had Portuguese lessons. They were mainly focused on how to pronounce things, the words they thought we would need to know, and stuff like that. The most useful thing, in my opinion, was that they gave us a packet on how to conjugate verbs.
After portuguese lessons every day we had Capoeira classes. If you don't know what it is, Capoeira is a fight dance thingy. Look it up on google or something for more info because I'm don't want to explain it right now. Well anyway, that was a lot of fun even though I was really bad at it. It was very awesome to see those who practice Capoeira regularly (I mean the Brazilians because none of us exchange students had ever done it before) fight. Unfortunately I kept forgetting to bring my camera so I don't have any pictures of that.
On Wednesday night, all the exchange students met in the park/square thingy for Brazilian night. There, we listened to Brazilian music and for dancing. I didn't dance because I can't! It was a lot of fun though.
Saturday was the end of the week goodbye party at the yacht club. There we played some volleyball, went swimming and did other fun stuff. It was a ton of fun and I really miss all of the other exchange students.
Sunday and Monday I slept in and didn't do a lot!!! =D
Tuesday was the day I left. Sergio and Miriam came and picked me up on their way back from Sao Paulo where they were saying goodbye and sending their daughter to France. We drove to Campo Grande, spent the night there, and then on Wednesday we drove back to Corumba.
I really miss being in Araçatuba. I liked all the other exchange students. I really liked the family who I stayed with because they were awesome, and nice, and they had a Wii, and they spoiled me and they were really fun and awesome. They said they might would invite me back later in the year when I spoke Portuguese better and I really hope I can go.

So that was my week in Araçatuba. It was great and a lot of fun.
Oh, by the way, I really like it when people comment on my posts so if you have anything to say, please do, I love to read them.

My First Week

It's been a week or so (but it feels like it's been weeks and weeks since I came here) since I last wrote an entry here, and I won't have access to my computer for a week so I better write a post now. I'll start with last Sunday. A lot happened, kinda. On Sundays, the ENTIRE family eats together. The family whom I'm staying with and I went to eat at their Uncle/Grandmother/whoever else lived there's appartment building (I don't know what to call it but a lot of them lived there) to eat lunch. There were a lot of people. And for dinner we went to another uncle's house for some BBQ. There I learned just how bad I am at ping-pong. It was very fun.
Monday I didnt really do anything.
Tuesday I started school (this answers one of your questions, Lori!). School starts at 7AM and ends at 12:30 with a break in the middle. It's really different from Avon because we just stay in the same classrooms and the teachers come to us, and they don't mind as much about us talking in class. Again, I really didn't do anything because I didnt understand what any of the teachers were saying. They gave me a text/workbook that has all of the subjects in it. What I'm supposed to be learning is: Math, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Portuguese (basically grammar), Literature, English, History, the Arts and Geography(but there's only 4 to 6 subjects a day that we cover). Really I sit there doodling on a piece of paper, except in English where I help the teacher a little.
Wednesday was nothing again.
Thursday (meaning today) was the worst day yet. The school made me go to mass! It was long and boring, especially cuz I didnt understand a word. What was bad later (meaning with no relation to school whatsoever) was the Rotary meeting which was uninteresting and long.
Tomorrow I'm going to Bolivia w/ Phillipe (host brother) and tomorrow night I'm taking a bus to Campo Grande which will get there Saturday morning. There I'm meeting up w/ other exchange students to go to Aracatuba for a week of language classes.
Well that was my week. Oh, and answering Lori's other question: it's very warm here, at least 70ish (I think. I haven't seen a thermometer here) and it's still winter here! I hate to imagine how hot it's gonna get!
Bye, Bye

I´m Here!!!!

Well I´m finally here in Corumbá!! It was a fun time getting here (and I mean that with a LOT of sarcasm!!). At Bradley International Airport, there was a thunderstorm that delayed the plane from landing for an hour or so. I spent the time waiting in the airport talking to these really nice people from the south (I don´t know exactly where) and a lady from Chicago. The plane landed eventually and we all got on and flew to Washington D.C. There, I met up with about thirty other exchange students and one Rotarian who was to help us get to Brazil. Finally the time came to get on the giant plane to fly to Sao Paulo. The Rotarian was waiting for another student whose plane was delayed. At the last call for boarding, the Rotarian ran to the plane but dropped his passport on the way. Just before the plane left the other student showed up. There´s not much to say about the plane ride except that it lasted for 10 hours!! At Sao Paulo, we all got off the plane and went through customs and immigration, that is, everyone except for the Rotarian who I heard was sent back to the US. After immigration, my host mother Miriam´s brother, Marcelo, helped me change airports so I could fly to Campo Grande. After I got on the plane to Campo Grande, I was tired so I slept. The plane had a stop in another city. The fun thing is that I was sleeping when we got to Campo Grande so I didn´t get off the plane. The TAM (that´s the airline I was using) people helped me fly back to Sao Paulo and take another plane to Campo Grande. Instead of arriving in Campo Grande at 5 something, I got in close to 11. My host father, Sergio, and I spent the night at the apartment that Philipe (host brother) uses for school. This morning Sergio, Luiza (his daughter), and I drove 4 hours to Corumbá. After a family lunch with their ENTIRE family, I am here writing this. Well, so long from Corumbá!!

Before I Leave

Before I start writing and you start reading of my "adventures" as some may call them, I need to make something clear. I am going to be an exchange student to Brazil and, while I am very talkative in person, I dont write a lot so don't expect these entries to be very long. Well I'm just sitting here, at my home creating a Blog and writing the first entry. I have not yet left for Brazil. I am leaving August 8th from Bradly International Airport to Washington D. C. From there I am flying to Sao Paulo, Brazil from where I fly to Campo Grande where I will be picked up by my host parents.