Happy Holidays and Scary Birthdays

The following signs have prompted me to buckle down and write this blog entry:

1. Maddy wrote in her blog, so in order to keep up our deal, I must now do the same. And click on that link! Her blog is so great, especially this week. There's a lovely picture of a cute little piglet! Miss you Maddy =)

2. I was going to write this morning, but I decided to put it off (as usual) and go swimming instead. However, the pool was totally empty except for a man wielding a blowtorch. Apparently they were cleaning? I'm not sure how that works.... Anyway, I had to come home.

3. It's been over three weeks!

So here we go.

The weather is heating up down here and Christmas is on it's way. It felt sort of weird skipping Thanksgiving, but a good long webcam chat with my family back home was all I needed. As my host mom pointed out however, I did have turkey hot dogs for lunch that day (she doesn't eat red meat), so it was pretty much Thanksgiving here, too. Hmmm, not quite, Mom. But thanks for trying! I need at least one pecan pie and my Aunt Debbie's cranberry chutney before I can call it a Thanksgiving dinner.

Ok, so remember that party I went to where my history teacher performed with his band of fellow faculty? And remember how I had to leave early? Well, this paragraph is about why. The next day my cousin's Rotary Club was sponsoring a trip for about ten exchange students to go visit and tour Natura Cosméticos, a Brazilian cosmetics company that sells products all over Central and South America and France. It was a really fun trip! I wasn't all that interested in the cosmetics to tell the truth, but it was interesting to see how a major Brazilian corporation works. They put a lot of effort into maintaining their carbon-neutral policy and are extremely environmentally conscious. There are a lot of American companies that could learn a thing or two from Brazil! Anyway, it was a full day with lots of interesting info and some great time with my exchange student friends.

Hanging out with the exchange students is always a great mental exercise. Nearly all the Mexican students are already fluent in Portuguese, and about half of them speak English fluently as well. There's an Ecuadorean and an Australian student who have been here for nearly a year already, and they of course speak Portuguese very well. The Asian exchange students are having a really difficult time with the language and are getting by mostly by use of their English. The European and North American students are using a lot of English as well, but are learning to use Portuguese most of the time. Anyway, it's hard to remember who speaks what, because not everyone speaks English and not everyone speaks Portuguese either. I finally feel confident enough in my Portuguese to declare myself fluent (which is a major breakthrough!) so it's not difficult for me to speak either language, but it's just challenging to know when I have to switch my brain over. Then there's Danish, Chinese, and Spanish conversations going on all around me too. Such a language fest! So exhilarating! This is one of my favorite parts of being an exchange student: the huge confusion of languages. It makes me so excited to get to college and start studying more and more of them.

A couple weeks ago we surprised my friend Dora for her 19th birthday party. Her host parents invited some friends of hers from her school and neighborhood and I managed to get a few exchange students together to help blow up a bunch of balloons and get the party going before she arrived. I knew that Brazilians love parties and conversation and most things loud and disruptive, but I couldn't help but be a little scared for my life when Dora walked in the door and people starting shouting "Surpresa!!! Parabéns!!" at the top of their lungs amid flickering lights, flying confetti, bursting balloons, and-- to top it all off-- an air horn. Things carried on this way for at least 90 seconds. It may not sound like a long time, but you try it. See how you feel afterward. Seriously, I thought one good burst on the air horn would do the job, but apparently it didn't. The constant honking along with Dora's dad popping every single one of the balloons in the house made me feel like I was in the middle of a shootout in Time's Square. But the rest of the party was really enjoyable. I'm going to be living with Dora's host family later this year, so it was cool to see what their apartment was like. It's pretty spacious with a great view of downtown Santo André. Takehara and Elza, both of whom I already know pretty well, are really warm and smile a lot (like the majority of people I've met down here). Dora's host grandma made a beautiful cake that we cut about 2 hours after Dora got here. In Brazil, it's tradition for the aniversariante (birthday girl or boy) to give the first piece of cake to the person in the room that's most important to him or her. Dora circled the room nervously a couple of times before giving the first plate of cake to Takehara, greeted of course with more confetti and cheering. Thankfully, all the balloons had already been popped and the air horn had expired.

The following day (Sunday), Rotary had organized a get-together for all the exchange students in Guarujá, an island about the size of Anacortes off the Southeast coast of São Paulo State. We spent the day at a Rotarian's house on Guaiúba Beach, playing in the ocean, lying in the sand, enjoying the churrasco, and exchanging gifts with our secret pals. It was the first time in what felt like forever that I got to spend time with all the exchange students together! It was a great time with some really relieving discussion-- it was good to find out that I wasn't the only one missing my family during the holidays! I'm hoping to go to Santos for New Year's to spend some time with my exchange student friends there.

Let's see, what else has been going on around here? Oh yes, last weekend Bryan, another American exchange student from Arizona who's living in a neighboring city, spent the weekend at my house in Santo André. It's so fun hanging out with Bryan and talking about all the funny things we notice about Brazil. Most things I forget are strange until I'm hanging with an American and we compare it to our own culture. That didn't make sense, so I'm going to come up with an example. Grocery shopping. You know how everything seems to cost a certain amount of dollars and 99¢ in the US? Well, same thing here, except the currency is the Real (R$). And when something costs R$4,99 and you give them a bill of R$5, they don't give you your penny in change. Same thing goes the other way around. Something may cost R$20,03, but you give them R$20 and it's all good. I've gotten used to little details like that, but when I'm with Brian, we always think of the typical American reaction to things. What do you think John Doe would do if he didn't get his 2¢ back at the supermarket? Probably either complain at the service counter or pull out his shotgun and give a speech about liberty and personal rights. Things are a little more chill here in Brazil.

Anyway, on Friday night we went to Dora's non-surprise birthday party (Dora told us that in Taiwan it's bad luck to celebrate your 19th birthday, which combined with the Brazilian superstition that it's bad luck to celebrate a birthday before their literal birthday, called for an extra celebration). We all arrived at Petiscaria, a small restaurant and bar, at about 10:00 in the evening and didn't end up going home until 4:00 AM. Great fun! The next day, Sandra took Brian and I to see the Avenida Paulista with all it's Christmas lights in downtown São Paulo. Traffic was horrible, but the decorations were awesome! It helped me get into the Christmas spirit a little more, which has been hard to do in the 85º weather. The next day, the whole extended family surprised Sandra's aunt for her 81st birthday. Brian felt pretty out of place during the whole rowdy affair, but at least he had Dora for company-- we invited her to help her adjust to the family because she'll be moving into my place in February (I'll be moving into my friend Luis's family, and he'll be moving into Dora's. We'll all rotate again in April). She was definitely overwhelmed, but in a very smiley and cheerful way. Her Portuguese is coming along at a slower pace, so it's hard for her to keep up with all my talkative aunts and uncles. But she'll love them in no time. I already do! They keep asking me if I really have to move, and giving me suggestions on how to get out of it. I love them all so much that I'm considering faking a psychotic break so that Sandra can insist I stay with them since she's a psychologist. We'll see how it all plays out...

So all in all, I really feel settled in here. I wake up at night muttering to myself in Portuguese and it doesn't take a minute for me to remember where I am. I can answer the phone without worrying about not understanding whoever's on the other end. The heat is even becoming more and more tolerable. I don't know exactly what changes are happening in me, but I'm definitely not the same person I was when I left the United States. I keep trying to imagine myself walking my dog on the rocky beaches of Puget Sound, eating blueberry fritters at The Donut House with my friends at 3:00 AM, or just watching a movie with my mom while we slurp our favorite dessert of vanilla ice cream, peanut butter, and chocolate sauce, but it all just seems so foreign now. I'm starting to understand what Gary and Melissa told us about feeling culture shock when we get home. Being home will be such a great thing, but it will be a whole new adventure. Plus I can't wait to see all my friends and family! Keep sending me news of fun holiday get-togethers.

I love you guys.

Kevin

My family having a nice Thanksgiving chat with me via Skype. Katie in front, my cousin Christine sitting in the chair, Aunt Debbie and Uncle Steve behind them, and my grandparents making their way in to see what all the fuss is about.

The view of Santo André from Takehara's apartment.

Surprise! Happy Birthday Dora! (Is she cowering?)

Our friends at Dora's party. Thumbs-up! Hahaha...

Guaiúba Beach on Guarujá

Friends! Dora (Taiwan), Arely (Mexico), Anne (Germany), and Brittney (Canada)

Some rainbowy tower on the Avenida Paulista. Cool, huh?

The Banco do Brasil building

The Banco Itaú building

Happy Birthday Tia Maria! We didn't have a "1" candle...

Baby Henry!!! He doesn't always look that scared, I promise.

A Rant and a Sunday Night Rave

Well, that didn't last long, did it? I said I was going to be updating every Sunday and here I am on Wednesday night, writing the blog entry that should have been written three days ago. No excuses, just laziness. But here I am, ready to describe a few details of my ever-changing life down here. Let's get started.

There are countless English words that have seeped into the Portuguese language. There are many words like sanduíche, picape (pickup), site, internet, email, business, marketing, and flyer, not to mention countless mispronounced titles, names, places, and greetings. But of the innumerable English words that we use here in Brazil, none stands out as glaringly as the word shopping. I partly say this because it is so clearly NOT a words of latin descent, and partly because it is used outside of its original English context. Here the word means "mall". It means "the mall". As in "I'm going to the mall," in normal English. But in Brazilian Portuguese, we say "I'm going to the shopping." All the native English speakers I know here find this as amusing as it is confusing. I find it a little irritating because it's a constant reminder that English is and always will be inescapable. Here I am, minding my own beeswax, trying to learn an exotic new romance language when BAM! Here comes the ol' English-mobile, throwing out linguistic treats for all the little girls and boys. Seriously, half the television shows are in English with Portuguese subtitles, nearly all the names of the stores inside the shopping are in English (Surf Shop, Authentic Feet, China in Box), over 80% of the movies in the cinemas are imported from the US, AND everyone is dying for an excuse to practice their English on a real live natural born speaker. Gah! Leave me alone, you wretched, invasive language of mine! I'm seeing someone else for a while! Her name is Portuguese and she's way more interesting than YOU ever were! I feel like Wayne Campbell sitting in that diner while his ex-girlfriend, Stacy, keeps making eyes at him and eventually comes over and gives him an entirely useless gun rack for their would-be anniversary. Just leave me alone you intrusive wench!

Alright, where was I going with that? Oh right. Shopping. So I went to the Shopping ABC last Wednesday with a few of my exchange student friends, since there isn't really a good place to just hang out around here. A couple of my Brazilian friends came too because they heard there were going to be a few Mexican girls there. Well, they weren't disappointed. We didn't know what to do for a while, but in the end, the girls just went around shopping for bikinis and shoes while the guys sat around on the couches that they have in the hallways. It all seemed a little pointless, but it was really fun. The whole thing was a serious mental workout with all the switching from English to Portuguese. Plus, I'm always thankful for something to do in the afternoon. Brazilians don't really get the concept of hanging out-- just going somewhere to do nothing in particular with some good friends-- so it's hard to know what to suggest when you want to hang out with your friends.

That night I went home and got really sick. It only lasted for about twelve hours, but I was seriously shaking and cold when I went to bed, and then woke up burning hot with a terrible headache and aching all over my body. I just lay there for the whole night, sleeping 20 minutes at a time. When I finally managed to drag myself out of bed to ask my mom for some good pain medicine, she insisted I was feeling so bad because I had eaten next to nothing the day before. I was irritated because all I wanted was a pill and some mass sympathy. Plus, as confirmed by my American mom, you can't get sick like that from just skipping a meal. But Sandra is Brazilian and knows everything, so let it be. Afterall, she takes good care of me, even if she's a little too pragmatic at times.

By Friday, I was feeling well enough to go to my last day of school. It was really chill, with minimal lectures and a heightened amount of conversation. My math teacher walked the classroom through their weekend leading up to their test on Sunday and I got nervous even though I wasn't even going to be taking the test! He made it a big dramatic event that included special diets, an altered sleep schedule, and literally smacking the test on Sunday to show it who's boss. In the end, we all got in a circle, held hands, and he led us in a shouted prayer about our futures. It was seriously hilarious.

I skipped my last class with all my friends to play around on the athletic courts. It was my class, 3C2, against our friendly rival 3C5. First we all played capture the flag, which was full of creative tricks. At one point, about five of our guys crowded around the flag and then ran off in separate directions. Most of the guys were caught, but none of them had the flag. Then Artur crossed over to our side and pulled the flag out of his shirt, gaining another point for our team. Apparently, anything goes in Brazil. Unfortunately, the next time Artur tried to get creative, he ended up falling about ten feet onto his back. He grabbed the flag, and then scaled the wall to a metal bar that ran parallel to the ground. After shimmeying for a few seconds toward our side of the court, the bar just broke and he came tumbling down with it. The game stopped and just about all of us were crying with laughter. That's when we decided to switch to dodgeball. Well, we should have stuck with capture the flag because 3C5 finally got the best of us, winning 2 out of the 3 games. But it was still some of the most fun an intense dodgeball I've ever played.

That evening was a fun night of barhopping with some of my best friends. We started at a birthday party, and then worked out way down the main social strip of Santo André. The last bar was the funnest, with endless toasts to my nationality, my president-elect Barack Obama, and my pullover. I had chosen this night to make my self-conscious debut of my awesome argyle sweater vest, and it was noticed by all my friends. No one here wears sweater vests, so I stuck out a little more than usual. Luckily, they all just thought it was cool and American, so all the comments were impressed. Phew. We got home at about 2 AM and I had a lazy Saturday while all my friends were studying for the test of their lives that would be on Sunday.

After the test on Sunday, I went to a party put on by my school for all the seniors that were finally done with the Fuvest. It was at a pretty cool club in neighboring São Bernardo. There were a ton of people from all over the city, and the dancing got really fun and rowdy. Most of the music was played by the DJ, but the main headliner of the night was a band of teachers from Colégio Singular. There were five of them. Three of them I didn't know, but my math teacher, Marco Polo, would be playing drums, and my exceedingly dull and adored history teacher, João, would be on vocals and lead guitar. I thought it would be interesting, but apparently my expectations were low, because it ended up being the best part of the night! They played all kinds of music, and everyone was so excited to see them perform. And they were actually really good, too! João freaking ripped it up on the guitar and his voice didn't resemble his normal drone at all. I got some fun photos, but I had to leave early. I was getting up really early the next day to take a day trip with some other exchange students. But more on that next week. I'm supposed to be posting these on Sundays remember?

Anyway, here are a few photos for you to enjoy. Please excuse any terrible typos or spelling errors for now. It's past midnight and I don't feel like going through and editing my work right now. Maybe I'll get around to it tomorrow. In any case, Happy Thanksgiving! Eat some delicious turkey and pie for me.

Love you all.

Kevin

One of the numerous Christmas displays at Shopping ABC. It's been up since October!
My friend Lucas juggling a soccer ball during the break at school.
My friends Camila, Renata, Eliza, and Flávia from school
Capture the flag! (Pegue bandeira)
Some guys from 3C2 with our beloved João. The chalk represents the cigarette that he always has in hand when he's not in the classroom. I was actually a little cold that day. Weird...
João playing his guitar and wailin' his sweet voice on Sunday night. This was awesome.
And the crowd goes wild!
Me, Everton, two girls I don't know very well, and Bia on the right. Don't mind the weird look on my face.

Turtles are seriously cute

Milk! Oh, how I miss thee. I never realized just how much of a milk person I was until I came to Brazil. Of course milk exists down here, but it's rather nauseating. Are all of you familiar with the abbreviation "UHT"? If not, kindly follow this link. It will tell you all you need to know about the only type of milk available in Brazil. There's just something terribly unnatural about a carton of milk that can sit at room temperature for months and never spoil. I have found it mildly palatable only when mixed with Toddy, a powdered chocolate nutrients supplement, pretty similar to Instant Breakfast. In the end however, I can think of only one word to describe UHT milk: Bleh.

Other than my liquid adversary, things are still treating me pretty well down here. I've had a short week of school because of all the testing. This week we only had four classes a day instead of the usual six because the seniors use the last couple hours to take their finals. The other four classes aren't usually more than role call and then sitting around studying or chatting. Wednesday was the English final, which ended up being pretty fun for me. Everyone was asking me about vocabulary and grammar all day. It's strange when I can't always answer their questions! There's a big difference between studying a language and just speaking it naturally. But I like to think I was of some help to some of my friends, anyway. The English final was the only test I actually took, and I think it went pretty well. It seems like it would be easy, but all the questions are in Portuguese and many of the responses have to be as well. So it ended up being a test of both my English grammar skills and my Portuguese proficiency. I wouldn't be surprised if some other students did way better than I did! I couldn't think of the Portuguese word for "stage" for the life of me, and I had absolutely no idea what "indirect discourse" was. Oh well. At least my diploma doesn't depend on it.

On Friday was the Prova Geral which lasted the whole day, so I didn't even go to school. But I was invited to a churrasco afterward to celebrate the end of all the tests. I got to skip the test but was still invited to the party? I love being an exchange student! It was a pretty sweet, too. My friend Luiz Felipe hosted it at his apartment building and a lot of my good friends from school were there. We played futsal for a while, and I even scored a few goals! It was a pretty easy-going game, so everyone scored a few times, but still. I'm just glad I didn't make a fool of myself! The rest of the time was just spent hanging out, eating meat skewers and snack food, and taking turns playing DJ. My favorite part was when Everton switched it to Colt 45 by Afroman. I felt like I was back in Anacortes!

My mom picked me up to go visit Thais, Ricardo, and Henry later that afternoon. Henry was sleeping the whole time, but that didn't stop everyone from leaning over him and exclaiming over his resemblance to his parents, his cute little hands, and the amount of hair he already has. Thais's mom, Íris, showed me around their apartment and introduced me to all their aquariums and little animals. When she took me out on the deck to meet their turtle, she got a little panicked because we couldn't find it right away. Eventually we discovered it cramped at the bottom of a foot-deep drain, just chillin' there like turtles do. I reached my arm down there and lifted it out of it's damp and depressing prison, and I was relieved to see that it was definitely still alive. As soon as I set it down it went over and started gnawing on some of the vegetation they grow out there. We covered the drain and then went inside and tried to figure out with everyone how long it must have been down there. We never came to a conclusion, but it couldn't have been that long. After all, it wasn't dead, right?

Oh! I've been forgetting to tell you guys that I finished my first Portuguese book a few weeks ago: Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix. I've read the fifth Harry Potter book a couple of times in English, so that made it quite a bit easier to understand in Portuguese. It was a long read, but was immensely satisfying when I finally finished! Then I read O Alquimista by Brazil's very own Paulo Coelho. It's a really cool story about a Spanish shephard who heads to the African continent to realize his destiny and fulfill his personal legend. It's all very spiritual and gives you a lot to think about. His works have been translated into dozens of languages and I can't tell you how cool it felt to be reading his literature in it's original text. Some of you may have read the English version, The Alchemist. If you haven't, you may want to consider it. It's a short read and I seriously loved it.

On Wednesday (am I a little out of order here?) I went to the mall to hang out with a couple of my exchange student friends- Brittnie from Canada and Bryan from the good ol' US of A. We decided to watch the new 007 movie- it came out a week earlier here than in the United States- and we had some time to kill before it started, so we wandered around looking at fish, getting kicked out of furniture stores for just sitting on the couches and talking, and oggling at the early Christmas decorations. I forgot to mention that, too. Christmas decorations have been up for at least three weeks now. I know! But without Halloween or Thanksgiving, Brazil is free to fast forward to twinkling lights, candy canes, fake snow, and dancing Santa Clauses. There are already giant pine trees in all the shopping malls, and Christmas carols can be heard just about anywhere. I guess it wouldn't be so weird to me if it weren't 80º out! But Brazilians are serious about their pre-fabricated American traditions. They get really into bundling up and celebrating the winter holidays in the swealtering heat of summer. Everyone tells me this is a direct import of American culture. I still don't really get it. Anyway, the movie was pretty cool. I really like Daniel Craig as the face of bond these days, even if this movie was a little lacking in both the witty dialogue and nifty gadgits departments.

Alrighty, this is the part where I post some pictures and say goodbye, but I don't really have any pitures relevant to this week's events. However, my camera functional at long last, thanks to the lithium battery charger my mom sent from home. Thanks mommy! Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures of my friends from school. Which reminds me... I decided I'm going to continue school until everyone else is done. They told us that the exchange students don't have to come anymore. Now that finals are over, it's just review for all the students to stay sharp until the end their college entrance tests. But I'd rather be at school than be hanging out at home with nothing to do while my friends are in class. So I'll be at school for a few more weeks.

Also, I'm updating weekly now. Expect a new post every Sunday. This way I'll be obligated to write something and won't be able to put it off and put it off like I've been doing lately. So if you don't hear from me in time, send me angry e-mails! Or nice ones. Just get on my case if I don't keep up.

I'm going now. For real. I love you guys!

Até mais

Life, death, and lobsters (don't worry about the "death" part)

Hey everyone. Guess what! My cousin had a baby! He arrived right on time on Thursday while I was at school, and I went to see him at the hospital on Friday. The parents are Thais and Ricardo, and his name is Henry. Thais is my mom's cousin's daughter, so to me she's some kind of complicated cousin. But it doesn't matter exactly how we're related; the fact that we are related is good enough. Down here, family is family, and no one really takes the time to explain to me how it all works. The important thing is: Yay! New baby. Everyone is so happy and it feels great to be treated like a real part of the family. At first I was afraid I might feel intrusive and awkward, but I seem to be the only one thinking about that. Everyone is so loving and they always ask me if I really do have to change families after Christmas. The sad answer is "Yes! But I'll live nearby and we'll still see each other a lot!"

Another cause for celebration... our 44th President is going to be Barack Obama! I already feel so much more pride for my country. Most Brazilians are really happy with the election results as well. In the end, my absentee ballot never arrived. But I was able to print off an overseas ballot from the internet and send it in time to be counted. It can't tell you how great it feels to have voted in this historical election. I already had my bases covered if Sen. Obama lost though- Sandra said I would be welcome to live at her house instead of returning home. Fortunately however, I will be flying back to Seattle at the end of my exchange. Barack and Roll baby!

So last weekend was a traditional American Holiday. Halloween isn't officially celebrated in Brazil, but most English language schools have events commemorating the American tradition. And since nearly everyone studies English outside of the regular school day, everyone knows what it is. The decorations were scarce and a little strange (my school hung up gigantic ripped black banners in the main quad. Weird...), but people got the idea. Since Brazilians never pass up a chance to party, we had another celebration at my friend Nilton's apartment building. It wasn't a costume party, but everyone brought something pertaining to O Dia das Bruxas. There were lots of wigs, hats, and capes. I had been feeling a little homesick the day before, so I had gone out with my mom in search of a pumpkin to carve. Neither of us knew if pumpkins were even in season, but after a few fruitless visits to various supermarkets, we were a little discouraged. Eventually, we found a little bin with about 6 flat little Japanese pumpkins. I had never thought about different species of pumpkins, but apparent there are a lot in Brazil. But on that day, we had only one choice. So I took one home, gutted it, and carved a nice little Jack-o-lantern. I named him Toguchi, after one of my friends here who is half Japanese. At the party, everyone was really impressed, which I found surprising. Most of them had never seen a real Jack-o-lantern before and weren't sure if people actually made them. Unfortunately, the real Toguchi never showed up, so we never got to compare their faces side by side. In any case, the pumpkin was a short-lived novelty. After a couple hours of cheerful and innocent candle-flickering, my orange friend got chucked from the top of a fifty foot stair case. There was pumpkin everywhere. The humor of the situation helped me get over it pretty quickly, but the image of half his smiling face floating in the swimming pool still haunts me at times.

Yesterday (Saturday) I went to Santos again to hang out with all the Rotary exchange students and learn how to surf! The weather forecast was rather bleak all weak (rhyme!), but we lucked out and had a beautiful day of sun. We all arrived at the beach at about 9:30 in the morning and ate some breakfast. Everyone had brought some food characteristic of their own country, so we had a really strange and delicious feast. I had a hard time thinking of some particularly American breakfast items, but in the end I made a batch of Casey's wonderful banana bread. It turned out well, and it looked strange enough next to the qeusadillas and egg rolls that it even seemed a little exotic. After watching some Hawaiian dancers perform a short show for us, we ran into the water and just played in the waves for about an hour. The Mexicans were all freezing, but most of us were pretty comfortable in the cool water. The surfing lessons were in two parts: a theory session on the beach, and then an hour in the water. Not all the exchange students are speaking Portuguese yet, so the surf instructor asked me to stand next to him and shout out the English as he explained some things in Portuguese. Seriously, this language nerd felt like he had died and gone to heaven. Live language interpretation? So cool! I don't care if it was only a couple minutes- I felt like I was at the UN. Sometimes I can't believe that I'm living my life in a completely different language. I still have a long way to go, but I've come a long way since my first day. Portuguese is the coolest thing ever man.

So I wasn't that great at surfing, but I did manage to stand on the board a few times before I toppled over. It was so so SO fun. I can't wait to travel to the Northeast and surf on some of the best beaches in the country. The sun was strong and I spent most of the day with my shirt off, so despite my feeble layer of sunscreen, my skin was definitely affected. The good news? Goodbye farmer's tan! The bad news? I now resemble a bipedal lobster. Owww! Well, at least I learned my lesson. Next time I'll be sure to apply the sunscreen more than just once.

Well, that's it for now. I've got to get to bed. It just passed midnight and I have school tomorrow. This is my last week of school, did I tell you guys? Everyone else has a couple more weeks for testing, but the exchange students are out on Thursday for the summer holidays. Hooray!

Abraços!

PS: Comments, people. Comments!!

Enjoy the pictures.

Baby Henry!

Moments before the makeover

Meet Toguchi.

The exchange students, some hula dancers, and a few random people

Sean and I practicing our moves on our sand surf boards. Apparently it took great concentration...

Churrascos, barzinhos, and Kevin Costner

So the pizza here is really tasty. It's generally made with less sauce, yummier cheese, fresher toppings, and most importantly, a thinner crust. I never realized how much I treasured the perfect pizza until I ate it. There's a place here called Vero Verde that's generally considered the best pizza joint in town, and I went to a Rotary event there a few weeks back. Caramba, such good pizza! I was inspired, so Sandra helped me make a pizza at home a few days later. It wasn't nearly as good because we bought the crust instead of making it fresh. But still, the mozzarella here is superior. Above is a picture of the pizza I made at home about two weeks ago. It doesn't really have a specific name, but it's a pretty standard pizza here in Brazil: greek olives, corn, tuna, onions, mozzarella, provolone, and oregano. I don't mean to gloat, but seriously. Yum.

We also have these things called churrascos here. The best translation for the word would be "barbecue," but it still doesn't really say everything about it. Nearly every house and party space here in Brazil has a brick stove specifically for cooking as much meat as possible at one time. The churrasco generally starts in the afternoon, involves lots of skewered beef and chicken, pãezinhos (little loaves of bread), lots of conversation, napkins, and no plates. The main difference between a barbecue and a churrasco seems to be the fact that at a barbecue in the United States (at least the ones I'm used to), we cook a whole lot of meat and then all sit down and eat together. Sure there's a lot of conversation and walking around, but we usually have a designated time to eat our hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, steak, chicken, whatever. Here in Brazil, someone is constantly grilling and everyone is constantly eating and drinking. There's no table to sit down at. Just a counter that has a giant bag of bread and a dish of bread crumbs for rolling your kabobs in. It's pretty much the best social get-together imaginable. The one I went to earlier this month was with my friends from the cursinho. It started at 3:00 in the afternoon, which in Brazilian time means that no one showed up until about 4:00 (I didn't come until 4:30. I've been the lonely on-time bird once already, so I didn't want to risk it). We had lots of food and drinks, an amplifier to play music from our iPods, and it didn't end until about 3:00 AM. At that time, we all called our parents to pick us up. I couldn't imagine calling my real mom to pick me up from a party in the middle of the night in the US. She would probably just laugh at me and tell me to walk home! But the streets are really dangerous here, most kids don't have their licenses, and many of them are drunk anyway. So parents would really rather pick us up than let us figure out our own way home.

More common than the occasional churrasco is a night out at a barzinho. I've gotten used to this by now, but the idea of going to "the bar" was definitely strange at first. The drinking age here is 18, but anyone can go into a bar, and nearly everyone can order alcohol no matter what age they are. Consequently, these barzinhos are usually full of teenagers. There's a lot of pool and lots of smoking, and it's a pretty laid back atmosphere. It's common to have your birthday at a barzinho and just invite all your friends to meet you there. It's fun to walk around and hang out with other people you recognize, make conversation, and (though this doesn't apply to me) relax after a long week of studying. The downside is that I always smell like smoke when I get home. Gross! But generally, it's a really fun thing to do on the weekend.

On Friday, I was invited to the Festa Alemã (German Party) by my Rotary Club. It's an annual event that they host in order to raise money for charitable organizations here in Santo André. I was nervous when Takehara (a rotarian and my next host dad) told me I should wear something German to the party. Something German? What, like Josh's lederhosen? Then I just figured he was joking and wore something more... appropriate. Sorry Josh =). Well, I got there and was relieved to see that no one was sporting anything remotely Bavarian. However, I had come alone, and ended up spending an uncomfortable amount of time making light conversation with people I didn't really know. I knew the rotarians from my club, but they were all working the event. Eventually, I found my friend Sabrina- the daughter of a rotarian and recent exchangee to Germany- and a couple other exchange student friends- Dora and Jack from Taiwan (all the chinese-speaking exchange students get to pick the names they want to use here in Brazil because no one can say "爾亭"). Anyway, the party was definitely for adults, but it was pretty fun. We ate a lot of sausage and there were probably 50 kegs of beer for everyone. Needless to say, it didn't take long for all the rotarians and their guests to loosen up. There was a live band that played just about every style of music, Brazilian and American, and I had a lot of fun dancing with my friends. Occasionally, a rotarian would grab me and I would laugh and dance with them for a minute, and then slip away to go dance with my friends again. All in all, it was really fun. It started at 9 PM and ended at 3 AM. I learned that it's not just the teenage demographic here that loves to party.

Well, I'm about to go, but I was just reminded of something sort of funny/weird/interesting that I want to tell you about. No one here can say my name very well, so instead of introducing myself as "Kevin," I usually say something closer to "Keveeng." People usually look confused for a second, and then ask "Oh, like Keveeng Costner?" Yes. Like Kevin Costner. This is amusing enough that it hasn't gotten old yet. But what I think is really funny is that my name sounds a lot like "quer vir?" in Portuguese, which means "do you want to come?" It didn't take me long to figure out why everyone was saying "Kevin, quer vir?" and then cracking up laughing. It seems that Brazilians are nerds for puns and word play, which suits me perfectly! It's hard to translate all the funny situations where people take advantage of my name sounding so much like, "wanna come?" but just trust me. It's fun. I love these people.

So I still have more to blog about, but don't expect it to go up tomorrow! Hopefully I'll be doing something besides typing on my computer tomorrow evening. I love you all very much, and I'm still waiting for those dream interpretations!

Abraços

Nilton running the churrasco (I stole this off his Orkut...)













Spreading the cheese...















Ready to bake!

The word "accoutrements" makes me think of Mr. Burnett

September 27?? Oops. I let this get way out of hand. Well, I'm blogging today so that it doesn't make an entire month since my last entry. Speaking of months, Brazil and I are celebrating our two-month anniversary today! Yes, it's hard to believe that only two months ago was the first time I laid eyes on this beautiful country, ate my first pão de queijo (↑ check it out!), and... well, then slept for eighteen hours. But it was a beautiful beginning! Now we spend all of our time together and I think we have a very serious future. I love Brazil!

Ok, I don't really know where I'm going with this whole relationship metaphor, but I'm stopping now before it gets out of hand. I don't want it to get too mushy.

I hope you don't mind if this entry is a little more scattered than the others. It's been a while so I obviously have a lot to write about, and I plan on taking the train-of-thought approach. So here comes the first and most obvious topic: the climate. Yes, I'm starting to get used to the heat. It's not incredibly comfortable, but it's not relentless either. It's only spring, so for every few days of infernal heat, we have a day or two of cooler temperatures, rain, fog, or-- at night-- thunderstorms. By "infernal heat" I mean about 30-35º C (86-95º F) and "cooler temperatures" is just anything below 25º C (77º F). For a couple weeks we had REALLY low temperatures and it got down to 15º C (60º F). Crazy! My friends were all wearing scarves and gloves to school which seemed almost ridiculous to someone from Anacortes. But they all gaped at my bare arms and shorts as much as I snickered at their wintry accoutrements. Everyone says that I don't need to worry about it getting any hotter; I just have to say goodbye to those cooler temperatures. They say that by December or January, it's hot 24 hours a day, seven days a week. My mom (my Brazilian mom, Sandra) keeps commenting on how dry the heat feels, while I'm already feeling as if I'm drowning in the humidity. This cannot be a good sign.

But the weather isn't the only thing here that's noticeably hotter than the United States. I had my first night club-ish experience earlier this month and learned a little more about the warmth of the Brazilian culture (to put it delicately). The annual Festa Fantasia was put on by my high school, Colégio Singular. It was a huge costume party that took place in one of the gigantic party rooms at Aramaçan, the health club very near to my house. School dances here in Brazil are different from American ones in a lot of ways. For one, boys and girls don't go as couples which was such a relief to find out after I had spent a couple days fretting about who to ask, what I should say, and how I should do it. Creative homecoming proposals are fun in the Unites States, but the prospect of doing the same thing in a different country after being here for a little over a month was much more daunting. The other major difference was the sheer number of guests. Seniors were responsible for ticket sales (they got to go for free if they sold ten) and people came from all over the place. There were students from my school, kids from other schools here in Santo André, people who came from out of town, and people who don't even go to high school anymore. I guessed there were probably 2-3,000 people there, but I was way off. The number was actually closer to 5,000! The room was totally dark with flashing lights everywhere, a live band in the front, a DJ for between sets, and very little room to move around. It was great! There wasn't really any grinding going on. In fact, there really wasn't much of any "couples dancing" going on. Everyone just danced with everyone. It was so crowded that you just danced with whoever was next to you and once one of you got pushed elsewhere, you just start dancing with someone else. It was pretty crazy.

I said the dance was "hot" because of all the blatant macking. It's a difficult part of the culture to explain, but I'll do my best. Here in Brazil, teenagers can totally make out with each other at a party, and it doesn't have to mean anything. In fact, it rarely does. Many people ficar (literally that means "to stay" or "to be," but in this context it means "to make out," "to mack," or "to suck face passionately without any intention of a relationship or to even call each other the next day") with several people in the same night. The question I kept hearing was, "Kevin, quantas você já pegou?" which translates roughly to "Kevin, how many have you gotten so far?" I wasn't planning on "getting" anyone, but I eventually got tired of people trying to hook me up with someone, so I just lied and said I had ficared with two girls. Well, this was a bad idea, but a good lesson in honesty. By the following Monday at school, everyone wanted to know who the American kid had made out with. Dang it. I should've seen that one coming. So I just said I didn't remember their names (which is a sad yet completely feasible excuse). The next few days were somewhat of a hunt to figure out if the girls even went to our school and, if they did, to find out exactly who they were. I feigned indifference, and just hoped I wouldn't have to explain to everyone that I had simply been lying from the beginning. The funniest part was when one girl from my school actually stepped forward and claimed that one of the girls had been her, which was obviously impossible. The girl was either extremely confused, or more likely just wanted to be in the spotlight for a couple days. I was able to avoid situations in which I would've met this girl face to face, and after a couple of days, the gossip died down. Phew. So, by Friday I had learned two very important lessons:

1. Mom is right. It's always best to tell the truth; and
2. Teenagers are teenagers. Language and nationality are nothing next to hormones and a love for gossip.

So right now I'm watching the Brazilian elections on the news, so I figure it's a good time to tell you all a little bit about this stuff. Brazil has elections every two years and they alternate between federal and municipal. This year it's municipal, so people are voting on mayors and other people to represent and lead their cities. They'll vote for federal and state politicians in 2010. Since the day I arrived, there have been all kinds of campaigning going on here. Some of it isn't too bad. I can handle campaign signs and people waving flags at the corners of every major intersection. What I find nearly unbearable are the giant amplifiers on top of cars plastered with images of politicians, blaring jingles that don't say anything except the candidates names and some nonsense about their policies. The same little jingles are all over the radio and TV as well. I swear, if I hear one more stupid little song telling me to vote for Siraque or Aidan as mayor of Santo André, I'm going to do something awful. But luckily today is election day, which marks the end of all that porcaria. Other interesting fact: it's the law that all Brazilians over 18 MUST vote. Cool, huh? I don't think that would fly very well in the US, but at least they're getting a true majority opinion here. And did you know that Brazil was the first country to use a completely electronic voting process? Again, I don't think that's going to happen in the US anytime soon, but it's really clean and simple, and all the results are in by 9:00 in the evening. Brazilians are really proud of their voting process and how sophisticated it is.

Well, that sure made for an easy transition into the topic of the American election. For those of you who aren't already aware, the entire world is watching our election with almost as much (and in some cases considerably more) interest as we are. People love to ask me which candidate I'm voting for and who I think is going to win. In my writing class at school, we've had a lot of good discussions about both Brazilian and American politics. Isa and I have to be sure to listen carefully to what's going on in the discussions because the class always asks us what the Mexican and American points of view are. Well, I don't know what everyone in the US thinks, but I can usually give them my perspective and tell them what I think the general American opinion is. Most people are relieved to hear that I'm not an avid supporter of President Bush and that I will of course be voting for Obama. However, I've spoken with others who didn't like Obama's words about the Amazon rain forest. I didn't hear or read his statement, but apparently he said that it's the world's responsibility to protect the rain forest against deforestation because it's a highly unique and integral part of the Earth's environment and, consequently, belongs to everyone. Well, the average Brazilian is all for protecting the rain forest, but they don't quite agree that it belongs to everyone. Afterall, it is on Brazilian soil. A few people are suspicious of Obama's intentions. Anyway, it's humbling to see our election from a foreign perspective. It makes me feel really privileged to vote in this election. I arranged for my ballot to arrive down here in time for me to vote and send it back before election day, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. I'll probably be going to the American Consulate in São Paulo to cast my vote on November 4th. Cool!

Ok, I feel like this is getting dull, and I'm pretty tired of writing. So I'm going to post some pictures and call it quits for today. However, I'll post some more tomorrow because it's been a long time since I put anything up here and there's a lot more to say! Before I go, I want to tell you about a really weird dream I had last night. I was with a few Brazilian friends (I think it was Everton and Nathália? I don't quite remember...) and we were walking around my friend Sam's high school. Sam's American and lives on the Kitsap Peninsula, for those of you who don't already know. But anyway, it was passing time and we were looking for Sam, but we couldn't find him at all. So I went to the main office to ask the secretary (Cyndi Walters, the secretary at Anacortes High School) what his next class was. While she was looking it up, my fifth grade teacher, Ms. Sherwood, walked up and asked me in English how I was liking Brazil. I told her that I refused to speak in English as long as I was in Brazil (apparently Sam's school is in Brazil...) and that I was liking it very much. Then she started speaking Portuguese with me and asked me all the questions that people always ask me here: Where are you from in the US? What food do you like best here? What did you think about Brazil before you arrived? What do you think now? All those questions that I get really really REALLY tired of answering. Eventually she invited me over to her house to try some Brazilian pizza, gave me a hug, and mosied on back to teach her fifth grade challenge class. Weird. Then Cyndi told me which room Sam was in and I was heading there with my Brazilian friends when I woke up. Sorry I didn't get to hang out with you in my dream, Sam. But anyway, that's all an example of the weird culture mixing that's going on in my dreams. It was all in Portuguese (except for Ms. Sherwood's first line), but everything else was just majorly mixed up! I hardly ever remember my dreams, so I was really excited when I realized I had remembered this one. I would like to hear any dream analyses that you guys might come up with for me, because I have no idea what any of that is supposed so mean!

So I'm leaving for real now. Thanks for reading, and I'll provide another update tomorrow that includes some information about what I've learned to cook, my experiences at Brazilians bars, what exactly a churrasco is, and this cool German party I went to on Friday. See you then.

Muito amor!

Some of the exchange students in Santos!















My costume for the Festa Fantasia. Peace out.














My mom, Sandra, in my wig.















And my grandma, Paulina!
(Wigged as well)

Imersão

Hello all. My apologies for keeping you all in the dark for so long. I've been in touch with a few of you, so this post didn't feel quite so urgent. But that isn't fair! It's been over two weeks and many of you haven't heard a thing. So without further ado, I will begin filling you in on how my life has been playing out here in Brazil.

Generally, my weekdays consist of school in the morning, riding the bus home for lunch, then afternoons spent at the house while my friends are all studying for the Vestibular, a huge test coming up that pretty much decides the next few years of their lives. You could say that I use my time to study Portuguese, but when am I not studying Portuguese? Whenever I'm telling my mom about my day, watching TV, listening to the radio, or reading my book (Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix), I'm learning more about this strange new language.

And let me tell you, it is certainly strange. There are all kinds of words and rules in Spanish that are not at all the same here. Every once in a while, I try to say something that I've translated from Spanish, and I just get confused looks. And the thing is, the more I learn to say, the more mistakes I make. But this is all part of the deal, I suppose. If my friends didn't all laugh at my mistakes, then I wouldn't know what to fix! Sometimes it's embarrassing to be so linguistically challenged, but I'm starting to get over that. I've found that the more I talk, the more fun I have, and the more I learn. I can put up with some jokes about my accent. Brazilians are very sarcastic and love to make fun of everyone, and it's all in good fun.

My brain is starting to work more in Portuguese, which is pretty cool. My dreams are not fluent Portuguese, but it is interesting to hear my friends and family from home talking to me in Portuguese, and my Brazilian friends blabbing away in English. To keep things straight, I'm not dreaming in pure Portuguese. As I described, it's a mess of English and Portuguese and I never know who is going to speak what. In any case, it's interesting.

Weekends here are always a blast. Brazilians consider a weekend without at least two or three parties to be a waste of free time. It seems like there's always a birthday, barbecue, or feijoada to attend. It doesn't really matter what event we're celebrating or what kind of food we're having, the parties are more or less the same. They all involve a lot of rowdy conversation, a mix of Brazilian and American music, lots of beer (I still can't get used to the legality of my friends' drinking!), and a ton of kissing. But kissing is different here in Brazil. I don't mean that people are making out in the corner. I mean that every time you say hello to someone (a girl), you kiss each other on the cheek and share a few words of formality. Guys don't usually kiss. Instead they shake hands and either slap each other's shoulders or give a quick hug. It's all very warm and friendly and people are always surprised when I say that we don't kiss and shake hands so much in the US. Jaws drop and the next question is always, "But what do you do???" They all think that a simple smile and a "hello" is just plain cold and, to tell the truth, I'm starting to think the same way. I prefer the Brazilian way of saying hello.

A couple of weeks ago, Sandra took me out to the country to celebrate her niece, Joyce's, birthday. Much of the extended family was there at the barbecue on their jointly owned estate. It wasn't quite a farm, but there was lots of space, five dogs, a few chickens, and at least twenty birds in what was literally a bird house. They had a sizeable shed to the side of the patio set aside for their vibrant collection of avifauna. They were all different sizes and colors and they were constantly calling to each other. There was even a little one hopping around on the ground because it hadn't learned to fly yet. However, their water basin was empty because apparently one had just drowned in it that morning. After that I stopped looking at the birds. It's not as cool when all I can picture is each one of them floating belly-up in their own drinking water. Sick.

Last weekend I went to Santos for my district's exchange student orientation. We all live within about two hours of each other, São Paulo City being the farthest interior, Santos on the coast, and my city between the two. All the presentations were pretty boring because it was stuff that I'd already heard before I left (the four Ds: no driving, no drinking, no drugs, and no dating), but hanging out with the other exchange students was SO fun. We had ten students from Mexico, five from Taiwan, two each from Canada, The US, and Denmark, and one each from Australia, Germany, Thailand, The Philippines, Japan, Australia, Ecuador, and Turkey. We all spoke English pretty much the whole weekend because we all had varying degrees of skill in Portuguese. But I figured out that speaking English here in Brazil makes me a lot more homesick, so I was relieved when the Rotex kids (Brazilians who were on exchange last year) showed up and I was able to get back in the groove with my Portuguese.

I made lots of friends in all the exchange students at the orientation. Something about being so far away from our own countries establishes a bond pretty quickly. My roommate, Sean, was from Japan, but I didn't believe him at first. His dad is Canadian, so his flawless English combined with his tall build somewhat clashed with my perception of the typical Japanese appearance. He met Clara while we were Skyping and she got to see how goofy he is. The next morning we woke up at the time that we were already supposed to be downstairs for the meeting and Sean said something to me that I didn't quite catch. I thought it was just because I wasn't quite awake yet, so all I could say was, "What?" He repeated what he said, but I still couldn't understand him. We went back and forth about four or five times before I woke up enough to ask, "Sean, are you even speaking English?" Then we laughed because he had been telling me it was already 9:30... in Japanese. Anyone who knows me knows how freaking cool I found that moment. Anyway, I got to be particularly good friends with him along with the German girl, the two Danish kids, and a Mexican who all live in Santos. I'll probably be visiting them occasionally on the weekends.

On Sunday, everyone went home. Except for Dora and me. Dora is a Taiwanese exchange who lives here in Santo André. Her host father Takehara, a member of my host Rotary Club, invited me to go along with them to Guarujá, an island near Santos well known for its beautiful beaches. I know. Beaches! We got there on Sunday evening after touring around the practically ancient and historical parts of Santos and neighboring São Vicente. São Vicente is where the Portuguese first landed in 1500, so the two cities have a lot of interesting background. But Guarujá has a lot of interesting sand and warm water. That's what a Brazilian beach is like, for those of you living in the Puget Sound area. Yes, here the beaches are long stretches of white sand coming together with blue water (okay, it was actually sort of greenish-blue, big deal) in the absence of all things rocky, pokey, crawly, or otherwise charactic of a beach in Washington State. I was in heaven. It was a Monday in the end of winter, so there weren't too many beach-goers, and everyone there thought I was nuts to go swimming in the frozen water. But for me, it was a really comfortable temperature. Dora didn't want to get too wet, so I played in the water by myself for at least an hour. I would wade out to where the water was about to my waste, and then ride in on one of the huge waves that, when I was lucky, would break over me. Then we took a long walk down to the end of the beach and back and the wind blew my hair into a sandy statue. I wasn't really self-contious until we walked into a restaurant for lunch. Oh, well. I'm sure they've seen much worse. Dora and Takehara were great and the beach was fantastic. I can't wait to go back with some of my friends from school.

Okay, I really must go. It's taken me long enough to write this entry. I was watching a Corinthians game at the same time, but it's over now. We tied 2-2 to São Caetano =(. There were a LOT of exciting fouls near the end, but no one scored. Meh. We should have beaten them.

Abraços!!

PS: I'll post some pictures soon. I really have to go!

Last Week: Vol. II

So I have a friend named Sabrina. She recently got back from an exchange in Germany and I usually see her at the Rotary meetings each Wednesday. She's nineteen, very smart, talkative, and amiable. Potentially, a very good friend (and nothing more!). The problem is, we've tried to hang out no less than four separate occasions and something always gets in the way. We just take turns misunderstanding each other and showing up places at the wrong time. Really frustrating.

Well, there's a girl that just happened to be standing next to us at the Rotary meeting last Wednesday when we were making plans to hang out on Friday. We invited her along because we didn't see why not. She and Sabrina kind of know each other and could walk together from their school to come meet me at mine. Well, needless to say, this plan failed. But Natasha (that other girl) called me the next day and invited me to hang out with them again. Cool! The plan was that we would go to a frutaria to hang out with some people. Then maybe go to someone's house. And then probably go to a barzinho or a balada.

She came to pick me up at about 3:30 in the afternoon. The first thing she said was, "Oh, Sabrina's not here. She's traveling with her family or something." Well, great. It's not even 4:00 in the afternoon and I have an entire night ahead of me with this girl that I don't really know or particularly like. But I braved my way through it. We went to meet her friends, none of whom really noticed that I was there. Ages ranged from 15 to 21, and they were virtually all smoking the whole time we were on the outdoor patio of the frutaria. Natasha told me not to tell her mom that she was smoking because she was only 16, and her mom didn't know that she smoked.

Charming.

The hours passed in this way, leading to my discovery of a very effective defense mechanism. In order to avoid being drawn into their lame conversation, I just pretended that I didn't understand anything they were saying. This wasn't entirely dishonest. I didn't understand every word of their senseless chatter. But it was slightly amusing to feign stupidity when they asked me if I had ever gotten as drunk as they had at that "awesome party" they went to last week.

However, this plan did backfire at one point. I was playing the What? I Didn't Understand game when Natasha asked me if I wanted to spend the night at her house with everyone. And even better! The next day, they were all gonna go hang out at the health club her dad owns, and it's really close to my house! I could hang out with them all night. And all morning. And much of the afternoon. Oh gosh, what have I gotten into?

Well, while I was trying to figure out a way to preserve my perfectly crafted façade while evading this most unfavorable proposal, Natasha just decided to call my mom and ask for me. Someone in the sky must have heard my panicky prayers because Sandra, who knew I wouldn't want to do anything of the sort, declined on my behalf. Thank you, Mai!

I wasn't entirely out of the woods though. I ended up going with them to their friend's birthday party, where everyone just smoked and drank the whole time. After a couple hours of bitter tolerance, I crashed on a hammock in the corner. Natasha woke me up at about midnight so we could take a cab home to her dad's house. I called Sandra to come pick me up there, and she met me outside the apartment complex about 20 minutes later. I was finally free! And I had learned a valuable lesson about saying "No!" to overly forward Brazilian girls.

It's all really interesting to me because as an exchange student, I want to say yes to every opportunity I have to hang out with people both to "see the culture" and to just have fun. This requires an open mind and can get old pretty quickly if you're hanging out with the wrong people. But, during the whole ordeal on Saturday, I found myself wondering if the situation itself was unenjoyable, or if I simply had a bad attitude about it all. Well, I ran some tests and the results are in: it was just plain unenjoyable. I just don't want anyone thinking that I'm spending my time here loathing the people and wishing I were with my friends back home. I'm not! I do miss all my friends, but nearly all the people I've spent time with down here have been seriously cool. Saturday was definitely a fluke, and I'll do all I can in the future to avoid something like that in the future. Trust me.

Sunday was much less eventful, but far more enjoyable. I caught up on some much-needed sleep, then headed to São Paulo to visit "the largest green space" in the city. Ibirapuera Park was another one of my highlights so far. It was the first time I had seen trees, grass, and water all at the same time since I arrived here in Brazil. We had a heck of a time parking the car because it was Brazil's Independence Day, which actually didn't appear to be that big of a deal. But apparently people like to go to the park to celebrate the occasion, because it was full of people. (Other than that and the Brazilian flag on Google's homepage, I found no indication at all that it was Independence Day. How weird, right?)

As we walked farther into the park, the masses thinned out. We walked around a lake that played host to angry geese, black swans, giant ducks, and gaping carp, all battling for the attention and breadcrumbs of the park's visitors. It was pretty warm, probably up to 85º F, so we stopped at one of the refreshment stands and ordered some coconut milk. I know, right? I'm so Brazilian.

The whole experience was really refreshing. Besides people, the things I miss most about home are English and trees. Sure, the trees weren't exactly the same as in The Evergreen State, but I'll swap a boring Washington pine for an interesting Brazilian Ipê Amarelo anyday. I wasn't quite in the rain forest, but there was definitely a tropical feel to the place. Sadly, I left my camera at home, so a photo I filched off the internet will have to satisfy your curiosity until I'm able to go back.

Since Sunday, my week has been as normal as a week in a foreign country can be. On Tuesday night, I read Maddy's Spain Blog and felt sincerely homesick for the first time since arriving in Brazil. But I went on Skype and found my good friend Otto, which was exactly what I needed. We couldn't talk for very long, but it was the perfect dose of home to last me quite some time. Thanks ol' buddy :)

Luckily, Natasha wasn't at the Rotary meeting last night, but neither was Sabrina. Meh, maybe I'll see her someday.... Tomorrow, I'm going to a birthday party for a friend from school. Then on Saturday, I'm going to another birthday party for a friend from the cursinho. Friday should be cool, but Saturday will be awesome! On Sunday, my family and I will head for the interior to spend the day at a ranch in the country. I think they picked up on how much I like green stuff.

I love you guys!

Até mais

Last Week: Vol. I

I'd like to start this blog post with a short language lesson.

Ahem.

In Portuguese, there are many contractions. Por exemplo, the preposition em (in) combines with the definite articles o or a (the, feminine or masculine) to form no or na, depending on the gender of the word. Another interesting point that will seem familiar to all you romance language speakers out there, is that the name of a country is often accompanied by a definite article. In English we might say "I really like Brazil." In Portuguese, we say "Eu gosto muito do Brasil" (I really like the Brazil). Weird, huh?

Well, to those of you who are wondering where I'm going with this, I can assure you that I have a distinct reason for bringing it up. If you would take a look at the title of my blog in the top-left corner of this webpage (I'll give you a moment to do so... okay, you've had long enough), you might-- or maybe you wouldn't-- notice that I have quite clearly made an alteration. It no longer reads "Um ano em Brasil," but "Um ano no Brasil." To put it simply, I was wrong. Then I fixed it. The trouble is I can't very easily change the URL of this web address without leaving many of my fans back home very lost and confused. (By the way, anyone who reads this blog will hereby be referred to as "my fan." If you've got a problem, take it up with my secretary.)

So, I have changed the title of the blog, but the grammatically incorrect web address will stand forever as a monument to my once extremely limited knowledge of the Portuguese language. I hope that, in weeks to come, I will be able to laugh at the mistake rather than cringe at my ignorance. Wow, this has gone on long enough. Let the story-telling begin!

My first week of school was full of learning, and my teachers had very little to do with it. I've been put in a 3rd year class, so all my classmates will be graduating in December. They're all as rowdy and anxious to move on as I was in the last months of my schooling in Anacortes. As a matter of fact, they are quite a bit more rowdy. For instance, whenever anyone in the class stands up to throw something away, use the restroom, etc., every student whistles and woops in a very how's-it-going-sexy? kind of way. I can't tell you how hilarious this is. At first I was slightly shocked at this mild form of harrassment. But after they did it to me, I realized that it is all in good fun, and now I'm able to participate just like all the other students. The teachers usually don't react at all, except maybe to throw in a whistle of their own.

The school day starts at 7:00 and ends at 12:40, so it's nice to have the whole afternoon to do what I like. However, it's difficult getting up at 6:00 in the morning when I know that all my friends in college are starting classes much later. But before school and during our breaks, the cantina sells fresh pastries and coffee which help us stay awake. Our breaks are just like recess, but without the monkey bars. After two fifty-minute classes, we have a twenty-minute break. Then two more classes, a break, two more classes, and we're done. Simple, né?

All my classes are interesting, but some of them only because they're in Portuguese. It feels really different than in the US because the students stay in the same classroom all day and the teachers move around when the bell rings. Every day is a different schedule of classes. The 3rd years all take English, physics, geography, biology, Portuguese literature, chemistry, Portuguese composition, world history, math, and Portuguese grammar. Lots of work! But the weird thing is, I don't have to do anything. Really. Nothing. The teachers wouldn't mind if I put my head down and slept. According to them, exchange students are here to learn the language, not to study and take tests.

Needless to say, this gets pretty boring, especially because every class is just a big lecture. We never get up to do labs or anything, and there's only so much I can handle listening quietly or passing notes with my friends. Much of the time, I pull out my notebook and take notes. In a few months, I'll look back at these and laugh at my awful Portuguese, but it is helping me learn the language. When the students have an in-class assignment, I try my best to do it along with them, even though I don't have to hand it in. It keeps things interesting. It's nice (nice? Hell, it's the best thing EVER) that I don't have to worry about due dates, grades, and maintaining a GPA.

Oh yeah, and I'm making friends. Most of the people in my class (we have about 50 students, which is normal for this type of high school) are eager to get to know me and hang out on the weekends. The hard part is sorting out the ones who really like me as a friend from the ones who just want to be friends with the new exchange student. It usually doesn't take long to figure out who is whom, though. The ones who just want to be friends with the American kid are usually much more annoying and difficult to have a conversation with. But regardless of my secret judgments, I stay friendly with everyone. As an exchange student (and a citizen of Planet Earth) it's unwise to do anything else.

I also had a very interesting weekend. I'll post more about that tomorrow, but I'll tell you now that it involved a visit to a very beautiful and strangely tropical city park in São Paulo, and a very annoying girl tricking me into going with her to a drunken party.

Cliffhanger!