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...