More Things To Say

School has been really awesome, I am just now starting to understand what the teachers are talking about. Thursday (September 19?) was the first and only time so far that I slept in class. In my defence, I went out the night before with Clarice and Nina to watch some soccer and have a good time so I wasn't going to pass that up! Thursday night I had my first Rotary meeting where I got to meet most of the Rotarians and the other two exchange students in my club. Everyone there were so nice and just came up and hugged me. I didn't really understand what they were saying in the meeting so I just kind of zoned out (oops) but then all of a sudden I heard my name and everyone just stared at me. I sat there like an idiot not knowing what to do until someone said "Stand and speak!" HAHA oh sure, why not?! So I stood up and they told me I could speak in English if I wanted so my reply was "nao, nao, eu nao falo ingles, so portugues" (no no, I don't speak English, only Portuguese). Everyone laughed after I said that but they were happy that I wanted to speak Portuguese even after just arriving in Brazil. I gave my speech about where I come from, that I am happy to be here, thanks for having me, blah blah. Then they wanted to know what I did for the last week since I have arrived so I told them all about school, the food I tried, everything. Everyone was very impressed that I spoke to them in Portuguese instead of English. It made me really happy.

The next day (Friday), I went to Pampulha with Clarice and Nina. Pampulha is an area that is part of BH but it is on the outside of it so we had to take a bus for like 30 minutes to get there. It actually seemed like it was its own community. It had a really nice lake with a famous church near it. AND I SAW CAPYBARAS! Okay it was really exciting for me even though some may think it is not a big deal but it is. Apparently they have diseases so I couldn't pet them.
Anywho.. we walked around the lake and as we were walking, every.single.dang.car. that drove by honked at us or yell things like "Que Lindas!, Meu Deus!" (Oh my god, beautiful girls!)
I was not used to it so apparently my face was really funny to look at when that happened.
After, we toured in the really nice church which was really cool. Then we went and bought coconuts again. OMG so good.
Later that night, we all got dressed up like we always do, and headed out to meet some friends.
I got to meet another exchange student in my district who is also from Canada. She is living with one of Clarice's friends. Another one of her friends showed up with his exchange students and one of them happened to be Adri from my district back home! WHAT!?
So that was cool haha.
We didn't get home until about 3:30 in the morning so I slept in quite late. Since my parents were out of town for the weekend, Clarice and I went out for lunch just the two of us to this awesome buffet. And when I say "awesome buffet" I am not lying. It was a buffet of Chinese, sushi, Italian, and Brazilian food. MEU DEUS.
Later that night I got dressed up again and went out with some friends. It was soo much fun but my feet hurt sooo bad because of dancing in heels.
We got home at around 4 in the morning! Once again, I slept all day sunday hahah.
Tough life of the exchange student.

Sunday night, I went out and met up with some people from rotaract. They met in a cute café with live music outside and fresh food inside. It was on this certain street where no cars were allowed to pass through, only pedestrians. It was really nice to meet younger people in Rotary as well because they know kind of why I am here and they know perfect places to take me. It was nice hanging out with them because they only really spoke in Portuguese so it was good for me to listen and try to understand.

So far I am absolutely loving Brasil. I couldn't be happier with the place I chose or the people I've met or the things I have done. I truly believe that I am in the right place and exactly the right time. I've made many friends, gone to many places, learned so much Portuguese, surprised myself, and completely fell in love with this culture...and it has only been a little more than a week :)