These last couple of days have been so cool! On Tuesday (June 17th), I went to the Belgium/Algeria game that was being hosted by my city.
The game started at one so Sandra and I had to leave super early to get to the stadium on time. We caught a normal city bus that took about an hour to get to the stadium but it was not even close to a normal bus ride. As more and more people got on the bus, more fans came on the bus. Next thing you know, the whole back of the bus is filled with screaming Algerians with air horns and waving flags. For the whole bus ride everyone was filming the back of the bus and laughing hysterically. I even learned how to chant with the Algerians! And of course since they came all the way from Algeria, they wanted pictures of everything and everyone! Every 5 minutes they were asking to take another picture with us.
After the bus ride, we had to walk another 25 minutes to the stadium with thousands of other people as well. There were so many colours and flags I couldn't believe it. Since I was wearing a Brazilian jersey, everyone thought I was Brazilian so they kept saying "Picture with the Brazilian!!"
It took us so long to walk to the stadium because every 2 seconds, there was another group that wanted a picture! The excitement of the crowd was phenomenal. It was impossible to not get happy and excited in that atmosphere.
Luckily, since Sandra and I arrived there early, we didn't have to wait in any line! We literally just walked right through and into the stadium.
Even inside the stadium there were people asking to take pictures. Everyone wanted pictures with everyone.
Another cool thing that happened once everyone was seated was the wave! There was a 56000 person wave that happened; it looked so cool.
I can't even begin to explain the excitement whenever someone scored. The crowd went crazy and the chants were so loud.
Since there were so many more Brazilians in the crowd, the Brazilian chant even started a bunch of times. (Brazil wasn't even playing)
Belgium ended up winning, which is great because all of our friends who went are from Belgium. The excitement continued the whole night.
Right after the game we had to rush out of there because the Brazil/Mexico game was about to start so we had to get to a TV as fast as possible.
When we got off the bus, we ran to the nearest TV and squished between people to watch it. Every single game that Brazil plays is emotional because 99% of the people around you are Brazilian. Brazil and Mexico are both really great teams so the game was so intense. I couldn't stop biting my knuckles! It ended up being a tie.
That night there was a peaceful protest that was happening in the same area where everyone watches the games. Hundreds and hundreds of police officers were there with guns, shields, gas masks, and bats. They didn't harm anyone but they were super scary. They made a wall around the area and marched around looking scary. It was literally buses and buses full of policemen.
The World Cup is seriously so incredible. Everywhere you look there are flags from all over the world and chants in every language. I've already met so many cool people and cheered for random countries. At this point in the World Cup, everyone is happy and is cheering for everyone. Once it gets closer to the end, it's going to get pretty emotional...
I am 100% team Brazil though! I am so lucky I get to stay for the whole thing!
About Me
- Hailey in Brasil
- This blog is for anyone to follow me on my journey to Brazil on the Rotary Exchange. I am from British Columbia and I will be living for a year in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.
Friday, 20 June 2014
Monday, 16 June 2014
Festas e Despedidas
Another month has slipped by since I last wrote (in English) so I'll do a little summary of what I have been up to. To be honest, the last month has been just a bunch of parties-for many reasons though!
What I will have to explain about Brazil is that in the month of June, they have parties almost every week called a 'Festa Junina' or 'June Festival'. It's also known as Festa de São João for their part in celebrating the nativity of St. John the Baptist. They also celebrate rural life and feature their traditional clothing (almost how you would dress for square-dancing), food, and music. Every school does a 'Festa Junina' and the little kids dress up as old fashioned cowboys and square-dance. So like I said, every weekend there is a party. I was lucky enough to have the chance to go to the best Festa Junina in Belo Horizonte. An amazing couple from my Rotary club brought me with their family. It was the coolest party ever! There were ribbons strung all along the party making the lights even more amazing. The food and drinks were all included so by the end of the night I couldn't stand up because of how much food I ate! Every type of typical Brazilian food was there; it was incredible. The music, of course, was my favourite part because there was a live band playing all my favourite Brazilian songs (which I know the words too). It was a really cultural experience that I am so glad I got to take part of.
Festa Junina!
Another reason for all the parties lately is because exchange students are starting to go home. Every week there are goodbye parties/dinners/get togethers being held. It's super hard because it's basically just a count down now. I already went to the airport to say bye to one of best friends on exchange. It was a really weird feeling being there saying goodbye because it didn't feel real. No one cried because it just felt like I was going to see her soon. I've already said goodbye to more than half of the exchange students.
One of the goodbye parties I went to was really cool because the family hired a group of people to come to their house and make crepes. So for the whole night there were endless crepes; it was amazinggg!
Now for a little more recent news. As I am sure you are all aware: The World Cup has started!! Holy it has been a long time coming and now that it is here I am so excited! There have been many riots in the streets against the World Cup so we all have to be careful more than ever now. I thought the traffic was bad before but now it is literally insane. It takes hours to get across the city now.
So last Thursday (June 12th), was the first game of the World Cup. Every single bar/restaurant was packed and the streets were nuts. A couple of friends and I went to a neighbourhood called Savassi to watch the game. In Savassi there were 3 huge stages all with huge TV's. Before the game started, there was a band on one stage, and a DJ on the others. Basically it was just a huge party. They closed off the streets so they could fit everyone in there. It was so full of excitement that even someone who hated soccer would get hyped up.
Every time Brazil scored, the city just exploded. Car horns, whistles, air horns, cheering, fireworks, etc. In the end, Brazil won! So the party on the streets continued all night. It was such a great day!
I forgot to mention as well that the other day I went to a showing of this really old film called 'Humberto' with one of my friends from school. It was being showed in this huge theatre on a projection screen. It was a black and white silent film and it had a huge live orchestra playing the music for it. The music was incredible, I had goosebumps the whole time. It was not like anything I have ever seen before. My friend was always looking for someone to go with that appreciates that kind of music so I was really happy to go; I really loved it.
Since his dad plays the piano in the orchestra, we got to go back stage after the show.
And sadly last week was my last day teaching English to the little kids from that public school. We had a goodbye party with cake and everything. At the end, the kids all lined up to give me hugs! It melted my heart. I'm really glad I had that experience, I learned so much from those kids and I learned a lot about myself. That's one experience I know I will always remember.
So tomorrow is the day I will watch the FIFA World Cup live!! I will be going to the Belgium/Algeria game with a bunch of my exchange friends! That will be quite the experience!
xoxo
What I will have to explain about Brazil is that in the month of June, they have parties almost every week called a 'Festa Junina' or 'June Festival'. It's also known as Festa de São João for their part in celebrating the nativity of St. John the Baptist. They also celebrate rural life and feature their traditional clothing (almost how you would dress for square-dancing), food, and music. Every school does a 'Festa Junina' and the little kids dress up as old fashioned cowboys and square-dance. So like I said, every weekend there is a party. I was lucky enough to have the chance to go to the best Festa Junina in Belo Horizonte. An amazing couple from my Rotary club brought me with their family. It was the coolest party ever! There were ribbons strung all along the party making the lights even more amazing. The food and drinks were all included so by the end of the night I couldn't stand up because of how much food I ate! Every type of typical Brazilian food was there; it was incredible. The music, of course, was my favourite part because there was a live band playing all my favourite Brazilian songs (which I know the words too). It was a really cultural experience that I am so glad I got to take part of.
Another reason for all the parties lately is because exchange students are starting to go home. Every week there are goodbye parties/dinners/get togethers being held. It's super hard because it's basically just a count down now. I already went to the airport to say bye to one of best friends on exchange. It was a really weird feeling being there saying goodbye because it didn't feel real. No one cried because it just felt like I was going to see her soon. I've already said goodbye to more than half of the exchange students.
One of the goodbye parties I went to was really cool because the family hired a group of people to come to their house and make crepes. So for the whole night there were endless crepes; it was amazinggg!
Now for a little more recent news. As I am sure you are all aware: The World Cup has started!! Holy it has been a long time coming and now that it is here I am so excited! There have been many riots in the streets against the World Cup so we all have to be careful more than ever now. I thought the traffic was bad before but now it is literally insane. It takes hours to get across the city now.
So last Thursday (June 12th), was the first game of the World Cup. Every single bar/restaurant was packed and the streets were nuts. A couple of friends and I went to a neighbourhood called Savassi to watch the game. In Savassi there were 3 huge stages all with huge TV's. Before the game started, there was a band on one stage, and a DJ on the others. Basically it was just a huge party. They closed off the streets so they could fit everyone in there. It was so full of excitement that even someone who hated soccer would get hyped up.
Every time Brazil scored, the city just exploded. Car horns, whistles, air horns, cheering, fireworks, etc. In the end, Brazil won! So the party on the streets continued all night. It was such a great day!
I forgot to mention as well that the other day I went to a showing of this really old film called 'Humberto' with one of my friends from school. It was being showed in this huge theatre on a projection screen. It was a black and white silent film and it had a huge live orchestra playing the music for it. The music was incredible, I had goosebumps the whole time. It was not like anything I have ever seen before. My friend was always looking for someone to go with that appreciates that kind of music so I was really happy to go; I really loved it.
Since his dad plays the piano in the orchestra, we got to go back stage after the show.
And sadly last week was my last day teaching English to the little kids from that public school. We had a goodbye party with cake and everything. At the end, the kids all lined up to give me hugs! It melted my heart. I'm really glad I had that experience, I learned so much from those kids and I learned a lot about myself. That's one experience I know I will always remember.
So tomorrow is the day I will watch the FIFA World Cup live!! I will be going to the Belgium/Algeria game with a bunch of my exchange friends! That will be quite the experience!
xoxo
Thursday, 29 May 2014
Por Que o Brasil?
Durante o meu intercâmbio eu sempre tinha pessoas me perguntando como estou gostando do Brasil. Quando eu falo pra alguém que estou amando e que não quero ir embora, eles ficam chocados. 'Mas... por que o Brasil?' Eles perguntam. Bem, nesse blog tentarei explicar algumas perguntas comuns.
'O que você achava do Brasil antes de chegar?'
A maioria das pessoas acham que estrangeiros só sabem das praias, da Amazonia, e da pobreza.
A primeira coisa em que eu pensava, era a cultura linda. Brasil é um pais muito diversificado com uma cultura muito amigavel.
Estou no Brasil há 8 meses e cada dia estou aprendendo uma coisa nova sobre o Brasil.
A comida é uma delicia. Apesar de comer arroz e feijao todos os dias, eu ainda gosto muito. Comida mineira é a melhor, sem duvida. Brasileiros comem demais! Temos um almoço grande com todas as comidas possiveis e apenas duas horas depois, comemos de novo e ainda tem jantar mais tarde!
Vou passar fome quando eu voltar!
Eu adoro que aqui a familia é tudo. Eu juro que cada pessoa que eu conheci tem uma familia enorme!
Eu acho que esta parte da cultura brasileira é muito linda. A familia é mais importante de tudo.
Antes de eu cheguei, eu fiquei um pouquinho com medo que eu não faria amizades rapidamente. Mas graças a Deus, eu vim pro Brasil! Por isso que eu acho que sua cultura é maravilhosa. Fazer amizades no Brasil é muito facil porque os brasileiros sao muito amigaveis. Todo mundo fala com todo mundo. Vocês me fizeram sentir muito bem vinda e muito especial quando eu cheguei. Eu realmente acredito que Brasil tem as pessoas mais simpáticas que eu já conheci na minha vida.
Eu nunca tinha conhecido pessoas tão animados na minha vida. Nas festas, nas ruas, em casa, até nas escolas! Sempre tem alguem dançando ou cantando uma musica. As festas são legais porque todo mundo está dançando, sempre tem música boa, e as pessoas parecem alegres.
Quando chegar na festa, você cumprimenta todo mundo com um beijo e abraço. Mesmo se você nunca tinha conhecido de alguém. Culturalmente, isso é muito diferente pra mim mas acostumei rapidamente.
Uma coisa que eu gosto muito é se voce precisar de alguma coisa, os brasileiros sempre te ajudarão. Mesmo se você não precisa, eles vão te ajudar. Nem precisa se preocupar.
Brasil tem açaí, tem pão de queijo, tapioca, frutas maravilhosas, Guaraná, sertanejo, gente boa, uma cultura bonita, e muito mais.
Eu consigo falar por horas e horas sobre Brasil mas acho que isso dá pra entender.
Eu sou muito patriótica para o Brasil e cada dia o amor que tenho só continua crescer. Estou apaixonada por Brasil e por isso que eu quero ficar.
'O que você achava do Brasil antes de chegar?'
A maioria das pessoas acham que estrangeiros só sabem das praias, da Amazonia, e da pobreza.
A primeira coisa em que eu pensava, era a cultura linda. Brasil é um pais muito diversificado com uma cultura muito amigavel.
Estou no Brasil há 8 meses e cada dia estou aprendendo uma coisa nova sobre o Brasil.
A comida é uma delicia. Apesar de comer arroz e feijao todos os dias, eu ainda gosto muito. Comida mineira é a melhor, sem duvida. Brasileiros comem demais! Temos um almoço grande com todas as comidas possiveis e apenas duas horas depois, comemos de novo e ainda tem jantar mais tarde!
Vou passar fome quando eu voltar!
Eu adoro que aqui a familia é tudo. Eu juro que cada pessoa que eu conheci tem uma familia enorme!
Eu acho que esta parte da cultura brasileira é muito linda. A familia é mais importante de tudo.
Antes de eu cheguei, eu fiquei um pouquinho com medo que eu não faria amizades rapidamente. Mas graças a Deus, eu vim pro Brasil! Por isso que eu acho que sua cultura é maravilhosa. Fazer amizades no Brasil é muito facil porque os brasileiros sao muito amigaveis. Todo mundo fala com todo mundo. Vocês me fizeram sentir muito bem vinda e muito especial quando eu cheguei. Eu realmente acredito que Brasil tem as pessoas mais simpáticas que eu já conheci na minha vida.
Eu nunca tinha conhecido pessoas tão animados na minha vida. Nas festas, nas ruas, em casa, até nas escolas! Sempre tem alguem dançando ou cantando uma musica. As festas são legais porque todo mundo está dançando, sempre tem música boa, e as pessoas parecem alegres.
Quando chegar na festa, você cumprimenta todo mundo com um beijo e abraço. Mesmo se você nunca tinha conhecido de alguém. Culturalmente, isso é muito diferente pra mim mas acostumei rapidamente.
Uma coisa que eu gosto muito é se voce precisar de alguma coisa, os brasileiros sempre te ajudarão. Mesmo se você não precisa, eles vão te ajudar. Nem precisa se preocupar.
Brasil tem açaí, tem pão de queijo, tapioca, frutas maravilhosas, Guaraná, sertanejo, gente boa, uma cultura bonita, e muito mais.
Eu consigo falar por horas e horas sobre Brasil mas acho que isso dá pra entender.
Eu sou muito patriótica para o Brasil e cada dia o amor que tenho só continua crescer. Estou apaixonada por Brasil e por isso que eu quero ficar.
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
The 'Farm'
I am just going to start by saying that yesterday (May 13th) was my 8th month mark here in Brazil. Where has the time gone?
One minute you're getting off the plane onto a strange land, not understanding anything but trying to put words together in a language you have never really spoken out loud before... and the next minute you're out with your best friends, speaking that language more often than your natural language. Before you know it you're calling that strange land your home. The home you eventually have to leave to go home...
What a weird series of events.
They always warned us that this year will go by faster than you can believe... I am really seeing that now.
So now back to what I have been up to.
The week after the conference in Caldas Novas, I spend 4 days out at my family's farm about 2 hours away. Now, I call it a farm because it has horses and chickens and fields and stuff but really it's a beautiful property they own with a pool, gardens, 3 houses (a main house for sleeping, a house for cooking and eating lunch, and a house for hanging out with a sauna and a pool table)
It is soo beautiful there!
I got to ride a horse! actually this horse preferred to run so that was cool.
I brought my friend Sandra to come along as well. It was a really relaxing weekend of just tanning by the pool, listening to music, riding horses, and more tanning. Another nice thing was that there was no internet connection out there so there was no distraction by technology. We also got to go fishing in this big pond that was about 20 minutes more in the middle of no where. I caught nothing but it was a nice evening.
I forgot to mention that the food is amazing. They have avocado trees, tangerine trees, they grow their own everything! Fresh tangerine juice is super amazing.
This past weekend I went to a 'Churrasco' with my Rotary club. Churrasco means BBQ but it's not just any ordinary BBQ. When there is a churrasco that means that there will be steak, pork, chicken, sausage, other kinds of beef, and more. All at once...
The churrasco we had this weekend was soo amazing because they slowly smoked the meat. There was so much food and a live band. It was another Rotary club who put on this event to raise money to help send someone on exchange who can't afford it.
That night I went to that nightclub 'Swingers' I seem to always talk about. Each time I go there I meet more and more people, it's awesome!
One minute you're getting off the plane onto a strange land, not understanding anything but trying to put words together in a language you have never really spoken out loud before... and the next minute you're out with your best friends, speaking that language more often than your natural language. Before you know it you're calling that strange land your home. The home you eventually have to leave to go home...
What a weird series of events.
They always warned us that this year will go by faster than you can believe... I am really seeing that now.
So now back to what I have been up to.
The week after the conference in Caldas Novas, I spend 4 days out at my family's farm about 2 hours away. Now, I call it a farm because it has horses and chickens and fields and stuff but really it's a beautiful property they own with a pool, gardens, 3 houses (a main house for sleeping, a house for cooking and eating lunch, and a house for hanging out with a sauna and a pool table)
It is soo beautiful there!
I got to ride a horse! actually this horse preferred to run so that was cool.
I brought my friend Sandra to come along as well. It was a really relaxing weekend of just tanning by the pool, listening to music, riding horses, and more tanning. Another nice thing was that there was no internet connection out there so there was no distraction by technology. We also got to go fishing in this big pond that was about 20 minutes more in the middle of no where. I caught nothing but it was a nice evening.
I forgot to mention that the food is amazing. They have avocado trees, tangerine trees, they grow their own everything! Fresh tangerine juice is super amazing.
This past weekend I went to a 'Churrasco' with my Rotary club. Churrasco means BBQ but it's not just any ordinary BBQ. When there is a churrasco that means that there will be steak, pork, chicken, sausage, other kinds of beef, and more. All at once...
The churrasco we had this weekend was soo amazing because they slowly smoked the meat. There was so much food and a live band. It was another Rotary club who put on this event to raise money to help send someone on exchange who can't afford it.
That night I went to that nightclub 'Swingers' I seem to always talk about. Each time I go there I meet more and more people, it's awesome!
Monday, 28 April 2014
Just a Bunch of Exciting Things
There are so many things to tell in the blog post so brace yourselves.
I will start with a few weeks ago it was exciting that I finally got invited to do something with my Rotary club. They invited me to a German themed party at this really fancy place. The food was so good and the music was great. There weren't any other exchange students but it was cool because I got to get to know more about some of the Rotarians. We danced, talked, and ate a lot. (There was even apple pie!!!!!)
The next day (Saturday), I went to another city outside of Belo Horizonte to where all the outbounds were having their orientation. Me and 3 other exchange students went there to talk about our countries and our experiences abroad. I even met a guy who will be doing exchange in my district in Canada next year.
It was really weird being there because it feels like just yesterday that I was the outbound at my orientation in Canada...
Time really flies.
That night I went out to that night club called Swingers for my friend's birthday party. I went there with the new Argentinian exchange student and the rebound Mariana. We dressed up in costumes and danced on top of the bar; it was excellent.
On the Sunday I just chilled at Mariana's house for the whole day and watched Cruzeiro (my soccer team) win the big game against Galo (the other team of this state). It was a big deal because Cruzeiro will move on and Galo won't.... HAHA!
That night I got a phone call from my club president saying that I will be switching families on the upcoming Tuesday... 2 DAYS!? First of all... I didn't really know I was going to have a 3rd family and so it was a surprise... and I had one day to pack up everything. It was a really rushed goodbye to Sofi's family but I know I will still be seeing them so it's okay.
I moved into my 3rd and last family on that Tuesday night with 6 bags. They all laughed at me because I had 2 huge suitcases and an extra 4 other bags of random crap. (I really don't have a clue what I will do when I go home)
The reason they wanted to me to move so soon was because my new family wanted to take me to Rio!!! So on that Thursday I went to Rio for the 3rd time. It was amazing. We spent all day on the beach and then I went out with my host siblings every single night with their friends as well.
Oh yea, I have two host siblings living with me: a sister, Barbara, 19, and a brother Lucas, 23.
My other brother is 27 and doesn't live at home.
My host parents are really nice as well! My host dad is from my Rotary club so I already met the two of them beforehand.
I have my own room here with a TV and a computer. They have already hosted exchange students and Barbara has already done exchange in Belgium. She just got back last June so it's nice to have someone who understands me. They all speak English and they all love traveling, it's perfect.
After we got back from Rio I had two days of relaxing before I went to my big year-end Rotary Conference in Caldas Novas (12 hours from BH).
I took a bus with 30 other exchange students from around BH on Wednesday night. As always, the bus had blaring music and all of us dancing and goofing around. I barely slept at all.. and it was an overnight ride.
It was so awesome when we got there because all the other exchange students started arriving as well so it was a huge reunion. There were some exchange students that I haven't seen since the first orientation in September so it was really cool to reconnect with them. That day we had a test on Brazil... everyone failed pretty much hahaha it was on the history and geography of Brazil. I did pretty bad I think. The person who did the best got a medal. That person was not me.
The thing I loved about this weekend was that we had so much free time to spend with each other. Did I mention that the place we stayed at had like 8 hot pools? Yea, Caldas Novas is famous for their hot natural pools. On the Friday morning, we had our conference so we all had to dress nicely with our blazers and flags. A few people from my Rotary club went and cheered as I walked down the isle. They even chanted my name and I felt pretty special.
We walked in with the song 'Waving Flags' then on the stage all of the exchange students had to sing a song called 'Tempo Perdido' which means 'Time lost'.
Then a kind of unexpected thing happened...
One of the Rotarians called me aside with 5 other exchange students. We were called to the front of the stage to receive medals for being 'destaque' which literally translates to 'spotlight' so essentially the exchangers that stood out for them this year. When the chairman put my medal on me, my club all stood up and started chanting my name again. I had the biggest smile on my face, I can't even explain.
It was a really special moment.
After that, we got some more free time at the hotel then all 54 of us went out for acai. Imagine over 50 foreign people walked down the street at once then standing in line at a little acai shop. The workers kind of freaked out a bit but they handled themselves well.. haha
That night we went to a Rotary party but only stayed for like an hour and a half because everything was super expensive and it was all Rotarians.... hahaha no offense! No one (except me) wanted to dance in front of them.
So instead, we went back to the hotel and had our own party with music and danced outside.
The next day (Saturday) we went out to the huge waterpark with all the slides and hot pools, cold pools, wave pools, indoor and outdoor pools. It was sooo huge! We spent the entire day there. It was hilarious because even though it was super full of people, it was always easy to spot the exchangers. Just a bunch of super white kids.
After the waterpark, we went back to the hotel to get ready for our ball. Everyone was all dressed up so beautifully. We had the ball with all of the Rotarians and the families in a big hall. There was a huge stage and a really good band that played almost every genre of music from classic rock to samba to funk!
I danced so much with the exchange students and the Rotarians! It was nice to see everyone getting out there and dancing together.
When they played the song 'Lepo Lepo' (a super famous song right now in Brazil), me and my friend from Finland, Anni, went and danced on the stage with the singer. Now.. this already sounds quite funny but what makes it funnier is that that song is actually super inappropriate and has really inappropriate dance moves... but did we dance inappropriately on the stage at a rotary function anyways? Of course we did! Everyone was laughing so hard at us and even some of the Rotarians were getting into it. The older Rotarians were giving us that 'I'm watching you' look but overall we were a hit.
You would think that the party would have ended once we got back to the hotel at 2am.... but nooooo! We had another outside party that lasted literally all night. We had the Brazilian music going and everyone was dancing all night. Some people started going to sleep but others stayed up and danced, and others (cough *germans*) went swimming.
I didn't sleep that whole night. At around 6:30 me and Stian (my best friend from Norway) went looking for breakfast... I was so tired that I was started to speak in a slow and slurred 'portingles' that not even I understood.
After breakfast it was time to say goodbye and get on the bus... except this time we had to actually say goodbye goodbye to some of them... I cried and cried because I really have no idea when or if I will see them again. It was really sad but I guess I at least still have a couple more months with the ones I got especially close to.
To be completely honest, I don't know what I am going to do when I say bye to the ones that I call my best friends... There are a couple of them here that I can honestly call my bestest best friends and I hate the thought of leaving them...
Então eu vou aproveitar estes últimos meses aqui no Brasil e tentar não pensar em despidos ainda. Eu ainda tenho mais 3 meses cheio de coisas novas e boas experiências. Eu já sei que eu vou sentir muitas saudades do meu intercambio e todas as pessoas que fizeram uma parte dele. Eu sou muito grata pela essa experiência e essa vida bonita. Espero que esses últimos momentos sejam muito felizes e memoráveis. Eu ainda não estou pronta pra voltar mais quando chegar a hora, vou ficar destruída.
I will start with a few weeks ago it was exciting that I finally got invited to do something with my Rotary club. They invited me to a German themed party at this really fancy place. The food was so good and the music was great. There weren't any other exchange students but it was cool because I got to get to know more about some of the Rotarians. We danced, talked, and ate a lot. (There was even apple pie!!!!!)
The next day (Saturday), I went to another city outside of Belo Horizonte to where all the outbounds were having their orientation. Me and 3 other exchange students went there to talk about our countries and our experiences abroad. I even met a guy who will be doing exchange in my district in Canada next year.
It was really weird being there because it feels like just yesterday that I was the outbound at my orientation in Canada...
Time really flies.
That night I went out to that night club called Swingers for my friend's birthday party. I went there with the new Argentinian exchange student and the rebound Mariana. We dressed up in costumes and danced on top of the bar; it was excellent.
On the Sunday I just chilled at Mariana's house for the whole day and watched Cruzeiro (my soccer team) win the big game against Galo (the other team of this state). It was a big deal because Cruzeiro will move on and Galo won't.... HAHA!
That night I got a phone call from my club president saying that I will be switching families on the upcoming Tuesday... 2 DAYS!? First of all... I didn't really know I was going to have a 3rd family and so it was a surprise... and I had one day to pack up everything. It was a really rushed goodbye to Sofi's family but I know I will still be seeing them so it's okay.
I moved into my 3rd and last family on that Tuesday night with 6 bags. They all laughed at me because I had 2 huge suitcases and an extra 4 other bags of random crap. (I really don't have a clue what I will do when I go home)
The reason they wanted to me to move so soon was because my new family wanted to take me to Rio!!! So on that Thursday I went to Rio for the 3rd time. It was amazing. We spent all day on the beach and then I went out with my host siblings every single night with their friends as well.
Oh yea, I have two host siblings living with me: a sister, Barbara, 19, and a brother Lucas, 23.
My other brother is 27 and doesn't live at home.
My host parents are really nice as well! My host dad is from my Rotary club so I already met the two of them beforehand.
I have my own room here with a TV and a computer. They have already hosted exchange students and Barbara has already done exchange in Belgium. She just got back last June so it's nice to have someone who understands me. They all speak English and they all love traveling, it's perfect.
After we got back from Rio I had two days of relaxing before I went to my big year-end Rotary Conference in Caldas Novas (12 hours from BH).
I took a bus with 30 other exchange students from around BH on Wednesday night. As always, the bus had blaring music and all of us dancing and goofing around. I barely slept at all.. and it was an overnight ride.
It was so awesome when we got there because all the other exchange students started arriving as well so it was a huge reunion. There were some exchange students that I haven't seen since the first orientation in September so it was really cool to reconnect with them. That day we had a test on Brazil... everyone failed pretty much hahaha it was on the history and geography of Brazil. I did pretty bad I think. The person who did the best got a medal. That person was not me.
The thing I loved about this weekend was that we had so much free time to spend with each other. Did I mention that the place we stayed at had like 8 hot pools? Yea, Caldas Novas is famous for their hot natural pools. On the Friday morning, we had our conference so we all had to dress nicely with our blazers and flags. A few people from my Rotary club went and cheered as I walked down the isle. They even chanted my name and I felt pretty special.
We walked in with the song 'Waving Flags' then on the stage all of the exchange students had to sing a song called 'Tempo Perdido' which means 'Time lost'.
Then a kind of unexpected thing happened...
One of the Rotarians called me aside with 5 other exchange students. We were called to the front of the stage to receive medals for being 'destaque' which literally translates to 'spotlight' so essentially the exchangers that stood out for them this year. When the chairman put my medal on me, my club all stood up and started chanting my name again. I had the biggest smile on my face, I can't even explain.
It was a really special moment.
After that, we got some more free time at the hotel then all 54 of us went out for acai. Imagine over 50 foreign people walked down the street at once then standing in line at a little acai shop. The workers kind of freaked out a bit but they handled themselves well.. haha
That night we went to a Rotary party but only stayed for like an hour and a half because everything was super expensive and it was all Rotarians.... hahaha no offense! No one (except me) wanted to dance in front of them.
So instead, we went back to the hotel and had our own party with music and danced outside.
The next day (Saturday) we went out to the huge waterpark with all the slides and hot pools, cold pools, wave pools, indoor and outdoor pools. It was sooo huge! We spent the entire day there. It was hilarious because even though it was super full of people, it was always easy to spot the exchangers. Just a bunch of super white kids.
After the waterpark, we went back to the hotel to get ready for our ball. Everyone was all dressed up so beautifully. We had the ball with all of the Rotarians and the families in a big hall. There was a huge stage and a really good band that played almost every genre of music from classic rock to samba to funk!
I danced so much with the exchange students and the Rotarians! It was nice to see everyone getting out there and dancing together.
When they played the song 'Lepo Lepo' (a super famous song right now in Brazil), me and my friend from Finland, Anni, went and danced on the stage with the singer. Now.. this already sounds quite funny but what makes it funnier is that that song is actually super inappropriate and has really inappropriate dance moves... but did we dance inappropriately on the stage at a rotary function anyways? Of course we did! Everyone was laughing so hard at us and even some of the Rotarians were getting into it. The older Rotarians were giving us that 'I'm watching you' look but overall we were a hit.
You would think that the party would have ended once we got back to the hotel at 2am.... but nooooo! We had another outside party that lasted literally all night. We had the Brazilian music going and everyone was dancing all night. Some people started going to sleep but others stayed up and danced, and others (cough *germans*) went swimming.
I didn't sleep that whole night. At around 6:30 me and Stian (my best friend from Norway) went looking for breakfast... I was so tired that I was started to speak in a slow and slurred 'portingles' that not even I understood.
After breakfast it was time to say goodbye and get on the bus... except this time we had to actually say goodbye goodbye to some of them... I cried and cried because I really have no idea when or if I will see them again. It was really sad but I guess I at least still have a couple more months with the ones I got especially close to.
To be completely honest, I don't know what I am going to do when I say bye to the ones that I call my best friends... There are a couple of them here that I can honestly call my bestest best friends and I hate the thought of leaving them...
Então eu vou aproveitar estes últimos meses aqui no Brasil e tentar não pensar em despidos ainda. Eu ainda tenho mais 3 meses cheio de coisas novas e boas experiências. Eu já sei que eu vou sentir muitas saudades do meu intercambio e todas as pessoas que fizeram uma parte dele. Eu sou muito grata pela essa experiência e essa vida bonita. Espero que esses últimos momentos sejam muito felizes e memoráveis. Eu ainda não estou pronta pra voltar mais quando chegar a hora, vou ficar destruída.
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
Inglês é Difícil !
I feel like I say this every time I write a post but man it's been a while!
So now I am going to take it way back and talk about Carnaval. For Carnaval I ended up going to a city called Bom Despacho with my host parents because that is where they are from. A very large part of both sides of the family live there so I got to meet some new people again. We stayed in a very nice house on a farm. It has a pool, hammocks, BBQ area, etc. We left Saturday morning of Carnaval and returned on the Tuesday. Since it's a small town, it doesn't have a huuge Carnaval but it was bigger than I thought it would be. Jane (my host mom) and I walked around the town so I could see a little bit of what Carnaval was like. There was a band in the park and everyone was there dancing, singing, and drinking with really funky costumes. We participated in the parade around the city which was super upbeat and fun. The rest of the weekend was mostly just relaxing at the farm.
The following weekend there was a party with a bunch of the exchange students which is always fun. We hang out a lot but every time we get together, it's as though we haven't seen each other in ages!
On the Saturday, I went to the wedding of Sofi's cousin, Gabi. To be honest, we just went to the party but that counts right? It was a really nice party with really awesome food. I was amazed, once again, at how big my host family is. I met about 30 more of Sofi's relatives and they kept telling me that that wasn't even everyone! The funny thing about meeting new people is the shock when they figure out that I speak Portuguese. They always start out asking a bunch of questions about me to my family because they don't realize I understand everything they say. It is really quite entertaining.
So like every wedding party, we danced and ate a lot. It was really great.
The last couple weekends have been pretty chill, I've gone out to a couple different places around the city with some friends. It's been really cool. I went to this one club called 'Mercado das Borboletas'. It's called 'Mercado' because it is literally located on the top floor of the supermarket. It is huge! It has a couple different bars, a huuuge dance floor, stage, restaurant, lounge area, etc. It's really ghetto looking but it hosts some really awesome parties.
Oh I forgot! Some time in the last two weeks I went with my first host family to my 'uncle's house for his birthday. He lives about an hour outside of BH in the middle of a forest. It is one of the coolest houses I have ever seen in my life! If you have ever seen the movie Twilight, the house was kind of like the Cullen's house in the woods how it was literally in the middle of trees. It was so neat! There were so many windows, it was so open. They said normally they have monkeys around the house but of course, there weren't any when I went.
So, that brings us to last week. I have been very busy in the past week. Last Wednesday I went out with some friends to a rock bar where they had a live band playing covers by tons of awesome bands (The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, ZZ Top, ACDC, Boston, etc). It was SO GOOD! This band was honestly amazing. The voices were perfect! Even when they played ACDC songs, the guys voice was identical! I haven't listened to that kind of music in a really long time so it was so awesome to be there. I kept thinking the whole time how much my parents and sisters by in Canada would LOVE it.
Thursday, I spend the whole day with the Inbound Coordinator of our district (Ivone). We went to her house, had lunch, and then went to this public school that I will be teaching at. Earlier on in the month she asked if anyone was interested in teaching English to public school kids and I said yess!!
So now I am all signed up to teach between the ages of 11-15. I am teaching alongside Ivone's son, Matheus, who also did Rotary exchange and has experience teaching English. It will only be two times a week for 2 months but I think it will be a very cool experience for me.
Friday! Ohhhh Friday. After school, I went to one of my friends house's to bake cookies with a group of my friends. None of them have ever baked cookies or even eaten homemade cookies. We make chocolate chip/M&M. It was so cute how amazed everyone was at how easy and fast it is. They were also really amazed at how good the dough was. At first they thought eating the dough was a weird concept but I convinced them that it is the best part!
That night I went to a concert with my friend, Luisa, from my class. The show was a cover of the Beatles and by that I mean IT WAS IDENTICAL! I am not lying! The clothes, the hair, the faces, the voices, the intruments, even the way they played the instruments! Everything about this band was identical to a show of the Beatles. I couldn't believe it. If I didn't already know that many of the Beatles have passed, I would have believed I was at their concert. It was the coolest show I have ever been to in my life. I wish I could watch it over and over again. They even spoke English during the concert instead of Portuguese.
It was incredible. My words don't do it justice.
Anywho, Saturday I went to a party for one of the exchange students who left today :( Tchau Mateusz, I will miss ya bud!
Sunday I went to my first Cruzeiro game!! Finally I got to go to Mineirão (the huge stadium in BH). For those who don't know, there are two teams in my state: Cruzeiro and Galo. My team is Cruzeiro and we won on Sunday! I went with one of friends, Victor. I loved it so much; Mineirão is amazing. It's rounded so you are able to see the whole stadium from anywhere you sit.
Yesterday (Monday), I went to the school my host mom teaches at to talk to some kids about Canada and about rotary exchange. I honestly felt like a celebrity... Everyone just starred as I walked down the hall and into the classrooms. A few girls widened their eyes and waved excitedly when they saw me. It was really funny actually. It was a really neat experience hearing what other kids had to say about Canada and abut Brazil. Everyone was so anxious to hear what I had to say. I have already talked at 2 other schools about Canada and my experiences. I really love talking to kids about it because they are always so curious and always ask super hilarious questions.
It was super funny whenever the classes would ask me to speak in English for them because I actually had a really hard time! I tried to speak slow and with simple phrases but I kept saying phrases wrong. It was honestly way easier for my brain just to speak to them in Portuguese. My English is getting really bad. I am constantly second guessing myself or spelling things wrong. Sometimes I will say a phrase in English that is the exact translation from Portuguese but in English it doesn't make sense. To be honest, I had a little trouble writing some things in this blog post... yiishh!
Today I had my first day of teaching English. My first class is only about 11 people so it's really nice and small. Everyone there is really into learning so it makes it easier. We started off today just with simple introduction phrases and little games. I had a lot of fun and I can already tell that I am really going to enjoy it. I have been waiting to do some volunteer work here so I am happy to finally be doing something!
So that was a quick and very brief explanation of the last month. Obviously I am forgetting a ton of things but that is what happens when you are busy!
P.S Today is exactly 200 days in Brazil! :) :) :) Loving it!
So now I am going to take it way back and talk about Carnaval. For Carnaval I ended up going to a city called Bom Despacho with my host parents because that is where they are from. A very large part of both sides of the family live there so I got to meet some new people again. We stayed in a very nice house on a farm. It has a pool, hammocks, BBQ area, etc. We left Saturday morning of Carnaval and returned on the Tuesday. Since it's a small town, it doesn't have a huuge Carnaval but it was bigger than I thought it would be. Jane (my host mom) and I walked around the town so I could see a little bit of what Carnaval was like. There was a band in the park and everyone was there dancing, singing, and drinking with really funky costumes. We participated in the parade around the city which was super upbeat and fun. The rest of the weekend was mostly just relaxing at the farm.
The following weekend there was a party with a bunch of the exchange students which is always fun. We hang out a lot but every time we get together, it's as though we haven't seen each other in ages!
On the Saturday, I went to the wedding of Sofi's cousin, Gabi. To be honest, we just went to the party but that counts right? It was a really nice party with really awesome food. I was amazed, once again, at how big my host family is. I met about 30 more of Sofi's relatives and they kept telling me that that wasn't even everyone! The funny thing about meeting new people is the shock when they figure out that I speak Portuguese. They always start out asking a bunch of questions about me to my family because they don't realize I understand everything they say. It is really quite entertaining.
So like every wedding party, we danced and ate a lot. It was really great.
The last couple weekends have been pretty chill, I've gone out to a couple different places around the city with some friends. It's been really cool. I went to this one club called 'Mercado das Borboletas'. It's called 'Mercado' because it is literally located on the top floor of the supermarket. It is huge! It has a couple different bars, a huuuge dance floor, stage, restaurant, lounge area, etc. It's really ghetto looking but it hosts some really awesome parties.
Oh I forgot! Some time in the last two weeks I went with my first host family to my 'uncle's house for his birthday. He lives about an hour outside of BH in the middle of a forest. It is one of the coolest houses I have ever seen in my life! If you have ever seen the movie Twilight, the house was kind of like the Cullen's house in the woods how it was literally in the middle of trees. It was so neat! There were so many windows, it was so open. They said normally they have monkeys around the house but of course, there weren't any when I went.
So, that brings us to last week. I have been very busy in the past week. Last Wednesday I went out with some friends to a rock bar where they had a live band playing covers by tons of awesome bands (The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, ZZ Top, ACDC, Boston, etc). It was SO GOOD! This band was honestly amazing. The voices were perfect! Even when they played ACDC songs, the guys voice was identical! I haven't listened to that kind of music in a really long time so it was so awesome to be there. I kept thinking the whole time how much my parents and sisters by in Canada would LOVE it.
Thursday, I spend the whole day with the Inbound Coordinator of our district (Ivone). We went to her house, had lunch, and then went to this public school that I will be teaching at. Earlier on in the month she asked if anyone was interested in teaching English to public school kids and I said yess!!
So now I am all signed up to teach between the ages of 11-15. I am teaching alongside Ivone's son, Matheus, who also did Rotary exchange and has experience teaching English. It will only be two times a week for 2 months but I think it will be a very cool experience for me.
Friday! Ohhhh Friday. After school, I went to one of my friends house's to bake cookies with a group of my friends. None of them have ever baked cookies or even eaten homemade cookies. We make chocolate chip/M&M. It was so cute how amazed everyone was at how easy and fast it is. They were also really amazed at how good the dough was. At first they thought eating the dough was a weird concept but I convinced them that it is the best part!
That night I went to a concert with my friend, Luisa, from my class. The show was a cover of the Beatles and by that I mean IT WAS IDENTICAL! I am not lying! The clothes, the hair, the faces, the voices, the intruments, even the way they played the instruments! Everything about this band was identical to a show of the Beatles. I couldn't believe it. If I didn't already know that many of the Beatles have passed, I would have believed I was at their concert. It was the coolest show I have ever been to in my life. I wish I could watch it over and over again. They even spoke English during the concert instead of Portuguese.
It was incredible. My words don't do it justice.
Anywho, Saturday I went to a party for one of the exchange students who left today :( Tchau Mateusz, I will miss ya bud!
Sunday I went to my first Cruzeiro game!! Finally I got to go to Mineirão (the huge stadium in BH). For those who don't know, there are two teams in my state: Cruzeiro and Galo. My team is Cruzeiro and we won on Sunday! I went with one of friends, Victor. I loved it so much; Mineirão is amazing. It's rounded so you are able to see the whole stadium from anywhere you sit.
Yesterday (Monday), I went to the school my host mom teaches at to talk to some kids about Canada and about rotary exchange. I honestly felt like a celebrity... Everyone just starred as I walked down the hall and into the classrooms. A few girls widened their eyes and waved excitedly when they saw me. It was really funny actually. It was a really neat experience hearing what other kids had to say about Canada and abut Brazil. Everyone was so anxious to hear what I had to say. I have already talked at 2 other schools about Canada and my experiences. I really love talking to kids about it because they are always so curious and always ask super hilarious questions.
It was super funny whenever the classes would ask me to speak in English for them because I actually had a really hard time! I tried to speak slow and with simple phrases but I kept saying phrases wrong. It was honestly way easier for my brain just to speak to them in Portuguese. My English is getting really bad. I am constantly second guessing myself or spelling things wrong. Sometimes I will say a phrase in English that is the exact translation from Portuguese but in English it doesn't make sense. To be honest, I had a little trouble writing some things in this blog post... yiishh!
Today I had my first day of teaching English. My first class is only about 11 people so it's really nice and small. Everyone there is really into learning so it makes it easier. We started off today just with simple introduction phrases and little games. I had a lot of fun and I can already tell that I am really going to enjoy it. I have been waiting to do some volunteer work here so I am happy to finally be doing something!
So that was a quick and very brief explanation of the last month. Obviously I am forgetting a ton of things but that is what happens when you are busy!
P.S Today is exactly 200 days in Brazil! :) :) :) Loving it!
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
The 'Not So New' New Kid
I'm slacking quite a bit with updating this thing, eh! So now I guess it's time to write a little bit about the last few weeks.
After a couple relax days when I got home from my trip, I started up school again. A new year and a new semester. Since all of the friends I made last year graduated, I got to be the 'new kid' again with the year younger. My first day of school this year was much different than it was last year. Last year I arrived later so I got the 'this is our new exchange student' introduction. This year was different because I was dropped off, pointed in the direction of my classroom, and walked in with all the other kids. Normally the students are put in the same class every year, but this year they mixed everyone up so they had the chance to talk to new people. So since everyone was pretty much new to everyone, I didn't stick out as the 'new person'. In fact, I am almost certain that no one actually realized I was foreign until the teacher went around asking for everyone's names. When I said my name, everyone immediately looked over at me and started whispering. The teacher then said 'Oh right, the Canadian! Welcome back!' I guess that was my introduction.
After everyone realized I was foreign, more and more people started to talk to me and it became more comfortable. I must say, it was really cool to see how far I had come since last year! On my first day of school last year I was only really able to say a few things in Portuguese and I didn't understand anything the teachers said. This year, I only speak Portuguese at school and I understand almost everything the teachers say (except my physics teacher but it's cool because none of the students understand him).
I've made a bunch of new friends and I feel super comfortable in the class with them. I get bored easily in the class though because I literally don't do any work. I started reading a novel in Portuguese though; it is a little bit hard because I don't know all of the words but when I see one I don't know, I write it down. It is a really fun and interesting way of learning a new language.
The weekend after I got back from my trip, a huge group of exchange students went out to our favourite night club to celebrate some birthdays. We danced and danced all night long. The club was pretty much taken over by exchange students.
The weekend after was the birthday of one of my host dad's brothers. Like all Brazilian parties, it was very fancy with decorations, catering, amazing food, and a huge guest list. There were about 40-50 people there (probably more actually) and they were all family. My host dad is one of 14 siblings and my host mom is one of 8. The majority of the family lives in another city about 3 hours away so that wasn't even half of my dad's side. I met so many people, it was insane. It was a really cool experience though, I enjoyed it.
Aaaand the weekend after that there was another birthday party! This party was super cute! Everything was decorated in pink and white, there were caterers again with awesome food and drinks, a huge fancy cake, homemade decorations, and tables and tables of sweets. Did I mention this was a 1 year-old's birthday? Yea. This fancy party was for my 1 year old host cousin. She had family travel from 3 hours away to celebrate with her. It was very cute. She was even wearing a tutu.
Brazilian parties never cease to amaze me. Every event is fancy, and every event is another reason to go shopping and get your nails done.
I am actually just learning how to do my own nails... who am I?!
Also, shout out to the Canadian Olympic hockey team! I rolled out of bed Sunday morning (not as early as those of you in BD ;) ) and cheered Canada on with my flag wrapped around me. So impressed by the men AND women's teams! Canada sure looks good in gold.
So some more recent news: Carnaval is this week and I am so excited! I will be staying here in BH with a bunch of my friends to celebrate. It starts on Friday and goes until Wednesday! People have already started celebrating in the streets like last week so it should be a really great experience.
I am also sitting here writing this instead of being at school because the city buses are on strike this week so looks like getting around the city won't be an option for a while...
After a couple relax days when I got home from my trip, I started up school again. A new year and a new semester. Since all of the friends I made last year graduated, I got to be the 'new kid' again with the year younger. My first day of school this year was much different than it was last year. Last year I arrived later so I got the 'this is our new exchange student' introduction. This year was different because I was dropped off, pointed in the direction of my classroom, and walked in with all the other kids. Normally the students are put in the same class every year, but this year they mixed everyone up so they had the chance to talk to new people. So since everyone was pretty much new to everyone, I didn't stick out as the 'new person'. In fact, I am almost certain that no one actually realized I was foreign until the teacher went around asking for everyone's names. When I said my name, everyone immediately looked over at me and started whispering. The teacher then said 'Oh right, the Canadian! Welcome back!' I guess that was my introduction.
After everyone realized I was foreign, more and more people started to talk to me and it became more comfortable. I must say, it was really cool to see how far I had come since last year! On my first day of school last year I was only really able to say a few things in Portuguese and I didn't understand anything the teachers said. This year, I only speak Portuguese at school and I understand almost everything the teachers say (except my physics teacher but it's cool because none of the students understand him).
I've made a bunch of new friends and I feel super comfortable in the class with them. I get bored easily in the class though because I literally don't do any work. I started reading a novel in Portuguese though; it is a little bit hard because I don't know all of the words but when I see one I don't know, I write it down. It is a really fun and interesting way of learning a new language.
The weekend after I got back from my trip, a huge group of exchange students went out to our favourite night club to celebrate some birthdays. We danced and danced all night long. The club was pretty much taken over by exchange students.
The weekend after was the birthday of one of my host dad's brothers. Like all Brazilian parties, it was very fancy with decorations, catering, amazing food, and a huge guest list. There were about 40-50 people there (probably more actually) and they were all family. My host dad is one of 14 siblings and my host mom is one of 8. The majority of the family lives in another city about 3 hours away so that wasn't even half of my dad's side. I met so many people, it was insane. It was a really cool experience though, I enjoyed it.
Aaaand the weekend after that there was another birthday party! This party was super cute! Everything was decorated in pink and white, there were caterers again with awesome food and drinks, a huge fancy cake, homemade decorations, and tables and tables of sweets. Did I mention this was a 1 year-old's birthday? Yea. This fancy party was for my 1 year old host cousin. She had family travel from 3 hours away to celebrate with her. It was very cute. She was even wearing a tutu.
Brazilian parties never cease to amaze me. Every event is fancy, and every event is another reason to go shopping and get your nails done.
I am actually just learning how to do my own nails... who am I?!
Also, shout out to the Canadian Olympic hockey team! I rolled out of bed Sunday morning (not as early as those of you in BD ;) ) and cheered Canada on with my flag wrapped around me. So impressed by the men AND women's teams! Canada sure looks good in gold.
So some more recent news: Carnaval is this week and I am so excited! I will be staying here in BH with a bunch of my friends to celebrate. It starts on Friday and goes until Wednesday! People have already started celebrating in the streets like last week so it should be a really great experience.
I am also sitting here writing this instead of being at school because the city buses are on strike this week so looks like getting around the city won't be an option for a while...
Thursday, 6 February 2014
Tuesday, 4 February 2014
Northeast Trip
If you thought any of my other blog posts were long well then prepare because this is going to be a novel. I am about to explain the last 3 weeks, day by day, hour by hour. There is so much to tell so get comfy, grab some popcorn, maybe a hot chocolate, and enjoy. :)
Day 1: Everyone met up in Contagem at the same place we had our inbound orientation. It was really awesome to see everyone that I haven't seen in months! This northeast trip was only for my district (4760) but not the whole district went. There were 42/56 of us there. 42 exchange students, 18 different countries, 2 chaperones, 10 hotels, and 2 leaders. The first day was really chill, it was just basically a reunion. Every night of the trip, we had a meeting to discuss what would be happening the following day. This first meeting, we introduced ourselves to the leaders, Nina and Lulu. Nina explained the game 'Jegue Porreta' to us. Basically if someone does something funny or stupid that day, someone tells what they did and everyone votes which story is the best. If your story wins, you have to wear a giant pacifier (Chupetao) around your neck for the entire next day. Doesn't matter what we do that day, you have to wear it. The best part is that at some point during the day, the person with the "chupetao" gets to yell "Jegue Porreta" and everyone else has to lay on their backs, flail their arms and legs in the air while screams nonsense. And yes, this happens in public places. Some people really who watch us think there are bombs going off or something so they run away. It's really quite hilarious.
Day 2: Everyone had a medical exam, then we had a 4 hour lecture on the rules of the trip. The rules were basically the same as the rotary rules. Last year apparently 8 people got sent home from this exact trip so they were really stressing the rules this time. Spoiler Alert: no one during this trip got sent home! That isn't a common thing...
Anyways, we went grocery shopping for the 16 hour bus ride ahead of us and then after dinner we had forro and funk dance lessons. Funk is basically shaking your butt with technique.
Day 3: Everyone was up early, packed the bus, and headed on a 16 hour bus ride to a hotel in Bahia. I barely slept on this bus ride because I was just way to excited. We watched some movies, had a dance party on the bus and just talked with everyone.
Day 4: Up early again for another 6 hours to Lencois. We had lunch in the city and then walked to this natural pool with a waterfall. It was right in the middle of the forest so we had to hike there. The water was so refreshing, I could have stayed there all day. We walked back to the hotel, swam in the pool, and just hung out. The food at that hotel was fantastic! I ate waay too much but it was so worth it.
Day 5: Took the bus to a place outside of Lencois where all of us went snorkeling in these fresh water caves and zip lining into the water. After, we bussed to a different spot where we hiked down a mountain to explore in some huuuge underground caves. The air was so fresh and it was so isolated that there was almost complete silence. It was truly amazing to experience. We then went back to the hotel, stuffed our faces, swam, and slept.
Day 6: Early onto the bus to go to Morro Do Pai Inicio. It was a long hike up the mountain but luckily it wasn't hot outside yet. The unfortunate part about the weather was that it was very foggy so by the time we climbed all that way, there wasn't a lot to see because everything was white. We stayed up there taking pictures with all of our flags and by the end, it started to clear up. The view was absolutely stunning, I couldn't take my eyes off of it. We then went o another natural pool in Lencois that we also had to hike to. It was so cool because it had cliffs and a giant natural slide. It kind of hurt sliding down it because it was just a huge rock but it was so amazing! We stayed there until the sun went down and then hiked back to the hotel. After dinner we had a Capoeira presentation. Capoeira is a very famous kind of dance fighting here in Brazil. The presentation was really neat to watch because they also brought in little kids who have started training as well. They got many exchange students to participate as well. At the end, they busted into some Samba!
Day 7: Woke up early to head out to Maceio but after 4 hours on the bus, the bus broke down. It broke down basically in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, a 20 minute walk away had a truck stop with a few little stores to buy snacks. We all ended up staying there for about 6-7 hours waiting for the bus to be fixed. The nearest city was 2 hours away for the bus drivers had to go there and back to get the parts they needed. Did I mention it was also suuuuper hot and no air conditioning? Yea, it was pleasant. We finally made it back on the bus and arrived in Maceio at 3:30am.
Day 8: We took little sail boats to a sand bar way off the shore of Maceio. There were people selling things from floating coolers or off of their boats. We played frisby and other water games. By the end of our time out there, everyone was staring at us. We made a scene everywhere we went. When we got back to the shore, we got to do some shopping on the beach. Sandra and I were so excited that we didn't really listen o the instructions of where to meet up with the group again. Long story short, we thought we had to meet in another place and we were already late so we began to run like idiots down the street, flailing our arms for the bus to wait for us because we thought it had left without us. In actual fact, we were supposed to meet up right outside the 'street mall' but instead we finally caught up to the bus only to find out that no one was on it, the bus was actually about to pick up the whole group. So needless to say, we won the Chupetao for the next day. The later afternoon was spent at another beautiful beach down the street from the hotel. We stayed there until the sun went down then went and had dinner.
Day 9: Took a huge boat to this amazing beach with perfect white sand and filled with palm trees. The sand was incredible, the water was so clear. and I got to enjoy it all with a glass of freshly made passion fruit juice. It was the exact definition of paradise. The boat had a top floor where we blasted music and danced. The view was stunning, I couldn't believe that I was actually there. The other group of exchange students from the other tour company was there on the same day so I got to meet up with Karin from my district back at home. I haven't seen her since our outbound orientation in Canada so it was really cool to catch up about life in Brazil. What a cool place to meet up, eh?
After our wonderful day at the beach, we went back to the hotel to get ready for a night out at a forro place. This place was so authentic and so cultural. We danced all night long and lucky me, I had to wear the chupetao while we danced. I even got to go onto the stage and sing with the band.
Day 10: 10 hour bus ride to Natal! We all went out for dinner, had to do the Jegue Porreta at the restaurant... with everyone staring. Sandra and I ordered room service that night. It was so awesome because we got fresh juice at midnight. I love Brazil.
Day 11: Visited the largest cashew tree in the world. I am telling you, it was huuuuge! We were able to walk all around through it. It felt like it never ended. I got to try fresh Caju juice from the tree as well. After, we went to the beach, shopped a little, took lots of pictures. I also held a blow fish right from the ocean! It was blown up while I was holding it but then began to deflate because I think it was dying. My bad. I also found some sand dollars! After dinner, the leaders put on a nice dance party for us at another hotel right on the beach. There was a DJ, a pool, a table full of fruit, and a cake. We danced a ton and took lots of pictures. It was so cool because everyone dressed up so fancy.
Day 12: This day was such an amazing day. We got into groups of 4 and got to ride on these dune buggies all over the sand dunes in Natal. It really looked like a desert actually with an ocean in the background. The sand was so soft and the hills were huge. Our driver was a maniac! He drove off the trail, almost hit the other buggies, went really fast over bumps and down hills. It was great. We got to stop a lot of the time to take pictures of the scenery. It was gorgeous! I got to take pictures riding a donkey on the top of the sand dune! It was a little random at first but I was definitely not about to pass up an opportunity to ride a donkey in the desert. After that, we drove up to this one place where we got to go sand boarding! I completely failed but it was a lot of fun. We then took the buggies to the beach where we relaxed, got beach tattoos, drank coconuts, and tanned. We met up with the other group of exchangers again which was really neat! On our bus ride home the traffic was really bad so we eventually had to get out and walk to the hotel. The cool thing was that we got to watch the opening of the new stadium in Natal. We watched the rope cutting and everything. That night we had an all-you-can-eat pizza dinner. HOLY I am telling you, it was amazing. The waiters went by with every kind of pizza you could imagine. There was no end. There was even dessert pizza with bananas chocolate, strawberries, everything! My goodness that was amazing.
Day 13: From Natal we took off on another 14 hour bus ride to a city that I am not really sure the name of... it was just to stay one night then get up to travel again so we didn't really stay there long. We stopped in Recife for lunch at this really fancy restaurant with really good food. Then someone yelled 'Jegue Porreta' and all 41 of us fell to the ground and started screaming. In the middle of this fancy restaurant. So that happened..
We arrived at the hotel at about 11:30pm. Now. All of the hotels on the trip were good, clean and reasonable for the price...except this hotel. This hotel was creepy, smelly, and basically falling apart. Our hotel room didn't even lock for one thing, the fan looked like it was going to fall and slice someone in half and the bathroom door didn't close either. It looked like an orphanage basically. The only thing in the room were beds; we literally kept the keys on the floor because there was no table or anything. But thankfully it was just for one night.
Day 14: We drove another 4 hours to a small city outside of Salvador. We went to a beach called Praia do Forte which is famous for its sea turtle exhibit. I got to see all sorts of different sea turtles, stingrays, sea urchins and lots more sea creatures. I held the sea urchin and pet the stingray. It was pretty neat. I ate subway for lunch which of course was just an awful choice. I'm not going to go on my subway rant right now because this blog is supposed to be about the trip. I will just say it was bad...I got a ham.
Anways... we bussed to Salvador, ate supper at McDonalds, and then had a talent show. Everyone had to do something so the two other Canadians and I sang Canada's anthem. Everyone had something really random to show which was pretty cool. Then the boys took it a little further and did a strip tease. They shouldn't have called that a talent...
Day 15: We did a bus tour of Salvador then got to see the famous church with all the 'Fitas' in front. Fitas are these little ribbon type things that you tie onto the outside of the church. There are all sorts of different colours that mean different things. You tie 3 knots and make one wish for every knot. You can basically tie them anywhere and make 3 wishes. While Sandra and I were walking around, we came across these funny dressed guys holding a basket of a bunch of leaves. The guys approached us friendly and asked our names. They then began to brush the leaves on our faces, throw rice and grains on us, spray kind of a mint scented perfume and then finally powder us a little with this flour type substance. The were saying prayers while they did it and then at the end they said we were blessed by God. So I guess we accidentally got blessed in Salvador.
We took the bus to this other market where we got to shop for quite some time. We took an elevator up to a really high point in Salvador where we could see the whole city and the ocean. After lunch we had some more free time to shop and explore a really neat part of the city before we had to meet up for this show at 7:30. In Salvador that day there was a concert going on but the area was blocked off with police. Sandra and I got to go in and check it out. We left all of our things with some other exchange students so nothing would get stolen. The concert was soo packed with people and actually kind of freaky at times. There were people throwing drinks, grabbing our arms, touching our hair, doing drugs right next to us all on the way into the concert. It was freaky but once we got in, it was amazing! The singer looked like he was 65 but he was still rocking the stage. It was a really chill reggae concert and I loved it! The singer was giving away CD's near the stage so I ran there but the first round I didn't get any because everyone was crowding. I waited again and still didn't get a CD. After waiting, the singer looked at me as I held my hands out and he went and got a CD just for me. It made me so happy even though I have never heard of this band before. It's a good souvenir now.
We then left the concert to meet up with the group so we could watch an authentic dance. The dance was so amazing and so cultural! I really wish I could have taken pictures or videos. The dresses were amazing and the singing and instruments were live as well. It was a really cool cultural moment that I am glad I got to see.
Day 16: Another 10 hour bus ride to Porto Seguro! I'll tell you a little bit of what the bus life is like because we spent a lot of time on there. Basically, everyone sleeps, we watch movies, we play the CD of the music of the trip, and mostly we just converse with one another. I really got to know a lot about people after spending that much time on the bus. When we arrived there, ate dinner, and started designing our shirts for the following night. They gave us shirts and told us we had to wear them to the party the next night but they said we could cut them and tie them how we wanted to so all the girls got together in one room and helped each other. It was pretty cool.
Day 17: Woke up, went to the beach which was across the street, tanned, swam, etc. I held one of those cool sand crabs that walk sideways. It didn't pinch me which was a plus. We headed over to the stage because they were calling up people to dance. I would've gone too but I was too late getting there. There was a crowd in front dancing as well. After the volunteers, they had a group of professional guys and girls dancing. It was amazing. Amazing because they were good dancers but mainly because I have never seen so many abs all at once. Brazilian abs dancing. Holy.
We were supposed to dance along with them but to be honest I often found myself just standing there staring...maybe a little drool, I'm not sure.
Anyways, after that we went out for lunch then visited an old part of Porto Seguro. This was the first city founded by the Portuguese way back in the 1500's. There was so much history and culture there, it was really cool to learn about. We got to do some shopping, I tried a really authentic food called acaraja. It's kind of hard to explain because it had a bunch of unknown things in it but I liked it. And if you know me you will know that I generally will try things before I know what is inside.
We then got to do some more shopping near the beach, I held parrot who then began to climb me which was not okay so I kind of freaked out. I also tried to teach it to say Canada but it ended up saying something like 'rararaaa' which I think is pretty close.
After supper we all got ready and headed out to the club with our cut up T-shirts. We danced and danced and danced until our feet hurt and we couldn't dance no more. Twas an excellent night.
Day 18: Aaaand another 11 hours to Guaraparas which was another temporary stay hotel just for the night. It was a shame though because that hotel was so nice! Each room had a hammock outside! After dinner we basically all just hung out in the hammocks, talking and such.
Day 19: Another 8 hours to Rioooo! Once we arrived in Rio we went shopping on the beach, ate all-you-can-eat pizza again (OMG), then just relaxed because no one could move after all that pizza.
Day 20: One of the most memorable days of the trip. In the morning we started off with a tour of the most famous soccer stadium in Brazil called Maracana. The cool thing about this is that none of the other trips got to do this tour because the stadium wasn't ready until now. It was so new and shiny, I couldn't believe it! We got tours of all the different levels including the VIP room, the dressing room of the players, the practice room, and the actually grass itself. That stadium is huuuuge I tell you. Whenever you get the chance, look up Maracana on Google Earth, then zoom out and see how huge it is. It's crazy.
From Maracana we went straight to go see the Christ. I've already been so I knew the excitement of the others. Even though it was my second time, the view still didn't lose it's value. It truly is one of the most amazing views I have ever seen. The only unfortunate part was that it was full of tourists and also 40 degrees out. We rushed to get a bunch of pictures in then relaxed. After lunch we went to another super famous tourist point called 'Pao de Açucar'. This was another mountain that you had to get to by a gondola. You could literally see everything from up there as well, including the Christ. We stayed up there and watched the sun set over Rio. That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. The colours were outstanding; I wish I had the perfect words or even pictures to do it justice. Ever have those moments in your life where you look around you, everything goes silent, colours become brighter, time stops, and your breath seems to be completely taken from you? I have. Watching the yellows, the reds, the oranges, and the darkness behind it all mix together behind the famous mountains, the same mountains I have seen in many pictures, then watch it all fade away slowly; that was when my breath was taken. I had a moment of realization that I didn't want to ever sleep because finally my reality was better than any of my dreams.
Day 21: I woke up early to go on the tour of the Favelas. For those of you who don't know, favelas are the area of the cities where the poor people live. If you look at pictures of big cities in Brazil, you will see the outskirts are made of those torn but colourful looking buildings. Those are favelas. Rio has the biggest favelas in the world so I really wanted to take a tour to see what their life is like inside those small houses. We went all the way up the mountain, did a tour between the houses, on the streets and in one of the schools. I have never seen anything like it. These houses were so small, so torn, and so close together, I couldn't imagine what it would be like living there. Whoever is reading this, take a look around the room you are in right now and just know that it is probably bigger than most of the houses in the Favelas. An interesting thing is that 90% of the people who live there, work. The construct buildings, roads, etc. The use that money to build onto their houses, sometimes they use it to buy TVs, phones, etc. It appeared that they didn't really use that money for the things that you would think. They all wear normal clothes, use cell phones, watch TV, but they have the TV in the kitchen which is generally their living room too. It was interesting because these people didn't appear unhappy at all, they were all actually very friendly and upbeat. Even though they don't have as many things as we do, they lived a happy life. I loved that tour because it made me appreciate even more the life that I live and the things that I have.
After the tour we had some free time to get some lunch, walk around Rio, etc. We all met up after and headed to Copacabana beach. We spent the afternoon just relaxing on the beach, taking pictures, did some more beach shopping. We went out for dinner again at a really good restaurant. We all hung out at the hotel after just talking and laughing. It was a really relaxing night.
Day 22:The last day of the trip! Okay the last day of doing things.. We took a 3 hour bus ride to Angra Dos Reis where we ate lunch, then boarded the big boat. Angra Dos Reis is famous because it is surrounded by tons of islands. They say there is one island for every day of the year. That day we got to visit 5 of them. The water was so clear and beautiful. We were constantly surrounded by beautiful islands. You know the stereotype islands you think of where it's just a small island with palm trees and nothing else? Well, that is exactly what these islands were. After our island hopping, we headed back to our last and final hotel right on the water. My room was on the top floor and had a great view of the water. There was a pool, a dock, a pool table, and a lounge area outside. After dinner we had our last meeting where the leaders said their thank you's and everything. We then did a little awards ceremony. I won 'Most Brazilian', 'Funniest', and 'Best Dancer' for the girls. It was a nice surprise! After the ceremony, the DJ arrived and we had another dance party. There was a light show and everything. Our curfew that night was 3am but we danced for so long that Nina (our leader) said we can stay up if we want to. Tucker (my friend from New York), Stian (Norway), and I stayed up until the sun came up. Tucker and I ended up not going to sleep at all until the bus.
Day 23: As I said, I didn't go to sleep. I stayed up talking with Stian, Tucker, and Nina. It was really nice to relax and have some good conversations. We ate a quick breakfast then boarded the bus for one last trip: Belo Horizonte. It was supposed to be another 8 hours but the bus broke down we didn't end up arriving until 8:30 at night. I slept pretty much that whole time so it didn't really matter much for me. We arrived in BH, said our goodbyes and our hellos and headed home.
I anticipated this trip for over a year and I can't believe it's already over. Every day was filled with fun, laughs and surprises. It exceeded my expectations. Thank you so much Terra Brasil for making my dream trip come true.
If I could, I would've liked to have written every small detail about it but I think it is long enough. This trip will always be looked back on with great memories.
Thanks for reading :)
P.S The rest of the pictures are on another post.
Day 1: Everyone met up in Contagem at the same place we had our inbound orientation. It was really awesome to see everyone that I haven't seen in months! This northeast trip was only for my district (4760) but not the whole district went. There were 42/56 of us there. 42 exchange students, 18 different countries, 2 chaperones, 10 hotels, and 2 leaders. The first day was really chill, it was just basically a reunion. Every night of the trip, we had a meeting to discuss what would be happening the following day. This first meeting, we introduced ourselves to the leaders, Nina and Lulu. Nina explained the game 'Jegue Porreta' to us. Basically if someone does something funny or stupid that day, someone tells what they did and everyone votes which story is the best. If your story wins, you have to wear a giant pacifier (Chupetao) around your neck for the entire next day. Doesn't matter what we do that day, you have to wear it. The best part is that at some point during the day, the person with the "chupetao" gets to yell "Jegue Porreta" and everyone else has to lay on their backs, flail their arms and legs in the air while screams nonsense. And yes, this happens in public places. Some people really who watch us think there are bombs going off or something so they run away. It's really quite hilarious.
Day 2: Everyone had a medical exam, then we had a 4 hour lecture on the rules of the trip. The rules were basically the same as the rotary rules. Last year apparently 8 people got sent home from this exact trip so they were really stressing the rules this time. Spoiler Alert: no one during this trip got sent home! That isn't a common thing...
Anyways, we went grocery shopping for the 16 hour bus ride ahead of us and then after dinner we had forro and funk dance lessons. Funk is basically shaking your butt with technique.
Day 3: Everyone was up early, packed the bus, and headed on a 16 hour bus ride to a hotel in Bahia. I barely slept on this bus ride because I was just way to excited. We watched some movies, had a dance party on the bus and just talked with everyone.
Day 4: Up early again for another 6 hours to Lencois. We had lunch in the city and then walked to this natural pool with a waterfall. It was right in the middle of the forest so we had to hike there. The water was so refreshing, I could have stayed there all day. We walked back to the hotel, swam in the pool, and just hung out. The food at that hotel was fantastic! I ate waay too much but it was so worth it.
Day 5: Took the bus to a place outside of Lencois where all of us went snorkeling in these fresh water caves and zip lining into the water. After, we bussed to a different spot where we hiked down a mountain to explore in some huuuge underground caves. The air was so fresh and it was so isolated that there was almost complete silence. It was truly amazing to experience. We then went back to the hotel, stuffed our faces, swam, and slept.
Day 6: Early onto the bus to go to Morro Do Pai Inicio. It was a long hike up the mountain but luckily it wasn't hot outside yet. The unfortunate part about the weather was that it was very foggy so by the time we climbed all that way, there wasn't a lot to see because everything was white. We stayed up there taking pictures with all of our flags and by the end, it started to clear up. The view was absolutely stunning, I couldn't take my eyes off of it. We then went o another natural pool in Lencois that we also had to hike to. It was so cool because it had cliffs and a giant natural slide. It kind of hurt sliding down it because it was just a huge rock but it was so amazing! We stayed there until the sun went down and then hiked back to the hotel. After dinner we had a Capoeira presentation. Capoeira is a very famous kind of dance fighting here in Brazil. The presentation was really neat to watch because they also brought in little kids who have started training as well. They got many exchange students to participate as well. At the end, they busted into some Samba!
Day 8: We took little sail boats to a sand bar way off the shore of Maceio. There were people selling things from floating coolers or off of their boats. We played frisby and other water games. By the end of our time out there, everyone was staring at us. We made a scene everywhere we went. When we got back to the shore, we got to do some shopping on the beach. Sandra and I were so excited that we didn't really listen o the instructions of where to meet up with the group again. Long story short, we thought we had to meet in another place and we were already late so we began to run like idiots down the street, flailing our arms for the bus to wait for us because we thought it had left without us. In actual fact, we were supposed to meet up right outside the 'street mall' but instead we finally caught up to the bus only to find out that no one was on it, the bus was actually about to pick up the whole group. So needless to say, we won the Chupetao for the next day. The later afternoon was spent at another beautiful beach down the street from the hotel. We stayed there until the sun went down then went and had dinner.
After our wonderful day at the beach, we went back to the hotel to get ready for a night out at a forro place. This place was so authentic and so cultural. We danced all night long and lucky me, I had to wear the chupetao while we danced. I even got to go onto the stage and sing with the band.
Day 11: Visited the largest cashew tree in the world. I am telling you, it was huuuuge! We were able to walk all around through it. It felt like it never ended. I got to try fresh Caju juice from the tree as well. After, we went to the beach, shopped a little, took lots of pictures. I also held a blow fish right from the ocean! It was blown up while I was holding it but then began to deflate because I think it was dying. My bad. I also found some sand dollars! After dinner, the leaders put on a nice dance party for us at another hotel right on the beach. There was a DJ, a pool, a table full of fruit, and a cake. We danced a ton and took lots of pictures. It was so cool because everyone dressed up so fancy.
Day 12: This day was such an amazing day. We got into groups of 4 and got to ride on these dune buggies all over the sand dunes in Natal. It really looked like a desert actually with an ocean in the background. The sand was so soft and the hills were huge. Our driver was a maniac! He drove off the trail, almost hit the other buggies, went really fast over bumps and down hills. It was great. We got to stop a lot of the time to take pictures of the scenery. It was gorgeous! I got to take pictures riding a donkey on the top of the sand dune! It was a little random at first but I was definitely not about to pass up an opportunity to ride a donkey in the desert. After that, we drove up to this one place where we got to go sand boarding! I completely failed but it was a lot of fun. We then took the buggies to the beach where we relaxed, got beach tattoos, drank coconuts, and tanned. We met up with the other group of exchangers again which was really neat! On our bus ride home the traffic was really bad so we eventually had to get out and walk to the hotel. The cool thing was that we got to watch the opening of the new stadium in Natal. We watched the rope cutting and everything. That night we had an all-you-can-eat pizza dinner. HOLY I am telling you, it was amazing. The waiters went by with every kind of pizza you could imagine. There was no end. There was even dessert pizza with bananas chocolate, strawberries, everything! My goodness that was amazing.
We arrived at the hotel at about 11:30pm. Now. All of the hotels on the trip were good, clean and reasonable for the price...except this hotel. This hotel was creepy, smelly, and basically falling apart. Our hotel room didn't even lock for one thing, the fan looked like it was going to fall and slice someone in half and the bathroom door didn't close either. It looked like an orphanage basically. The only thing in the room were beds; we literally kept the keys on the floor because there was no table or anything. But thankfully it was just for one night.
Day 14: We drove another 4 hours to a small city outside of Salvador. We went to a beach called Praia do Forte which is famous for its sea turtle exhibit. I got to see all sorts of different sea turtles, stingrays, sea urchins and lots more sea creatures. I held the sea urchin and pet the stingray. It was pretty neat. I ate subway for lunch which of course was just an awful choice. I'm not going to go on my subway rant right now because this blog is supposed to be about the trip. I will just say it was bad...I got a ham.
Anways... we bussed to Salvador, ate supper at McDonalds, and then had a talent show. Everyone had to do something so the two other Canadians and I sang Canada's anthem. Everyone had something really random to show which was pretty cool. Then the boys took it a little further and did a strip tease. They shouldn't have called that a talent...
Day 15: We did a bus tour of Salvador then got to see the famous church with all the 'Fitas' in front. Fitas are these little ribbon type things that you tie onto the outside of the church. There are all sorts of different colours that mean different things. You tie 3 knots and make one wish for every knot. You can basically tie them anywhere and make 3 wishes. While Sandra and I were walking around, we came across these funny dressed guys holding a basket of a bunch of leaves. The guys approached us friendly and asked our names. They then began to brush the leaves on our faces, throw rice and grains on us, spray kind of a mint scented perfume and then finally powder us a little with this flour type substance. The were saying prayers while they did it and then at the end they said we were blessed by God. So I guess we accidentally got blessed in Salvador.
We took the bus to this other market where we got to shop for quite some time. We took an elevator up to a really high point in Salvador where we could see the whole city and the ocean. After lunch we had some more free time to shop and explore a really neat part of the city before we had to meet up for this show at 7:30. In Salvador that day there was a concert going on but the area was blocked off with police. Sandra and I got to go in and check it out. We left all of our things with some other exchange students so nothing would get stolen. The concert was soo packed with people and actually kind of freaky at times. There were people throwing drinks, grabbing our arms, touching our hair, doing drugs right next to us all on the way into the concert. It was freaky but once we got in, it was amazing! The singer looked like he was 65 but he was still rocking the stage. It was a really chill reggae concert and I loved it! The singer was giving away CD's near the stage so I ran there but the first round I didn't get any because everyone was crowding. I waited again and still didn't get a CD. After waiting, the singer looked at me as I held my hands out and he went and got a CD just for me. It made me so happy even though I have never heard of this band before. It's a good souvenir now.
We then left the concert to meet up with the group so we could watch an authentic dance. The dance was so amazing and so cultural! I really wish I could have taken pictures or videos. The dresses were amazing and the singing and instruments were live as well. It was a really cool cultural moment that I am glad I got to see.
Day 16: Another 10 hour bus ride to Porto Seguro! I'll tell you a little bit of what the bus life is like because we spent a lot of time on there. Basically, everyone sleeps, we watch movies, we play the CD of the music of the trip, and mostly we just converse with one another. I really got to know a lot about people after spending that much time on the bus. When we arrived there, ate dinner, and started designing our shirts for the following night. They gave us shirts and told us we had to wear them to the party the next night but they said we could cut them and tie them how we wanted to so all the girls got together in one room and helped each other. It was pretty cool.
Day 17: Woke up, went to the beach which was across the street, tanned, swam, etc. I held one of those cool sand crabs that walk sideways. It didn't pinch me which was a plus. We headed over to the stage because they were calling up people to dance. I would've gone too but I was too late getting there. There was a crowd in front dancing as well. After the volunteers, they had a group of professional guys and girls dancing. It was amazing. Amazing because they were good dancers but mainly because I have never seen so many abs all at once. Brazilian abs dancing. Holy.
We were supposed to dance along with them but to be honest I often found myself just standing there staring...maybe a little drool, I'm not sure.
Anyways, after that we went out for lunch then visited an old part of Porto Seguro. This was the first city founded by the Portuguese way back in the 1500's. There was so much history and culture there, it was really cool to learn about. We got to do some shopping, I tried a really authentic food called acaraja. It's kind of hard to explain because it had a bunch of unknown things in it but I liked it. And if you know me you will know that I generally will try things before I know what is inside.
We then got to do some more shopping near the beach, I held parrot who then began to climb me which was not okay so I kind of freaked out. I also tried to teach it to say Canada but it ended up saying something like 'rararaaa' which I think is pretty close.
After supper we all got ready and headed out to the club with our cut up T-shirts. We danced and danced and danced until our feet hurt and we couldn't dance no more. Twas an excellent night.
Day 18: Aaaand another 11 hours to Guaraparas which was another temporary stay hotel just for the night. It was a shame though because that hotel was so nice! Each room had a hammock outside! After dinner we basically all just hung out in the hammocks, talking and such.
Day 19: Another 8 hours to Rioooo! Once we arrived in Rio we went shopping on the beach, ate all-you-can-eat pizza again (OMG), then just relaxed because no one could move after all that pizza.
Day 20: One of the most memorable days of the trip. In the morning we started off with a tour of the most famous soccer stadium in Brazil called Maracana. The cool thing about this is that none of the other trips got to do this tour because the stadium wasn't ready until now. It was so new and shiny, I couldn't believe it! We got tours of all the different levels including the VIP room, the dressing room of the players, the practice room, and the actually grass itself. That stadium is huuuuge I tell you. Whenever you get the chance, look up Maracana on Google Earth, then zoom out and see how huge it is. It's crazy.
From Maracana we went straight to go see the Christ. I've already been so I knew the excitement of the others. Even though it was my second time, the view still didn't lose it's value. It truly is one of the most amazing views I have ever seen. The only unfortunate part was that it was full of tourists and also 40 degrees out. We rushed to get a bunch of pictures in then relaxed. After lunch we went to another super famous tourist point called 'Pao de Açucar'. This was another mountain that you had to get to by a gondola. You could literally see everything from up there as well, including the Christ. We stayed up there and watched the sun set over Rio. That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. The colours were outstanding; I wish I had the perfect words or even pictures to do it justice. Ever have those moments in your life where you look around you, everything goes silent, colours become brighter, time stops, and your breath seems to be completely taken from you? I have. Watching the yellows, the reds, the oranges, and the darkness behind it all mix together behind the famous mountains, the same mountains I have seen in many pictures, then watch it all fade away slowly; that was when my breath was taken. I had a moment of realization that I didn't want to ever sleep because finally my reality was better than any of my dreams.
Day 21: I woke up early to go on the tour of the Favelas. For those of you who don't know, favelas are the area of the cities where the poor people live. If you look at pictures of big cities in Brazil, you will see the outskirts are made of those torn but colourful looking buildings. Those are favelas. Rio has the biggest favelas in the world so I really wanted to take a tour to see what their life is like inside those small houses. We went all the way up the mountain, did a tour between the houses, on the streets and in one of the schools. I have never seen anything like it. These houses were so small, so torn, and so close together, I couldn't imagine what it would be like living there. Whoever is reading this, take a look around the room you are in right now and just know that it is probably bigger than most of the houses in the Favelas. An interesting thing is that 90% of the people who live there, work. The construct buildings, roads, etc. The use that money to build onto their houses, sometimes they use it to buy TVs, phones, etc. It appeared that they didn't really use that money for the things that you would think. They all wear normal clothes, use cell phones, watch TV, but they have the TV in the kitchen which is generally their living room too. It was interesting because these people didn't appear unhappy at all, they were all actually very friendly and upbeat. Even though they don't have as many things as we do, they lived a happy life. I loved that tour because it made me appreciate even more the life that I live and the things that I have.
After the tour we had some free time to get some lunch, walk around Rio, etc. We all met up after and headed to Copacabana beach. We spent the afternoon just relaxing on the beach, taking pictures, did some more beach shopping. We went out for dinner again at a really good restaurant. We all hung out at the hotel after just talking and laughing. It was a really relaxing night.
Day 22:The last day of the trip! Okay the last day of doing things.. We took a 3 hour bus ride to Angra Dos Reis where we ate lunch, then boarded the big boat. Angra Dos Reis is famous because it is surrounded by tons of islands. They say there is one island for every day of the year. That day we got to visit 5 of them. The water was so clear and beautiful. We were constantly surrounded by beautiful islands. You know the stereotype islands you think of where it's just a small island with palm trees and nothing else? Well, that is exactly what these islands were. After our island hopping, we headed back to our last and final hotel right on the water. My room was on the top floor and had a great view of the water. There was a pool, a dock, a pool table, and a lounge area outside. After dinner we had our last meeting where the leaders said their thank you's and everything. We then did a little awards ceremony. I won 'Most Brazilian', 'Funniest', and 'Best Dancer' for the girls. It was a nice surprise! After the ceremony, the DJ arrived and we had another dance party. There was a light show and everything. Our curfew that night was 3am but we danced for so long that Nina (our leader) said we can stay up if we want to. Tucker (my friend from New York), Stian (Norway), and I stayed up until the sun came up. Tucker and I ended up not going to sleep at all until the bus.
Day 23: As I said, I didn't go to sleep. I stayed up talking with Stian, Tucker, and Nina. It was really nice to relax and have some good conversations. We ate a quick breakfast then boarded the bus for one last trip: Belo Horizonte. It was supposed to be another 8 hours but the bus broke down we didn't end up arriving until 8:30 at night. I slept pretty much that whole time so it didn't really matter much for me. We arrived in BH, said our goodbyes and our hellos and headed home.
I anticipated this trip for over a year and I can't believe it's already over. Every day was filled with fun, laughs and surprises. It exceeded my expectations. Thank you so much Terra Brasil for making my dream trip come true.
If I could, I would've liked to have written every small detail about it but I think it is long enough. This trip will always be looked back on with great memories.
Thanks for reading :)
P.S The rest of the pictures are on another post.
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