My First Few Days

On Saturday (sept 14) was my host sister's birthday (Clarice). The party took place at the bottom floor of our apartment building where there's a lounge with couches and chairs, a place to dance, and a stereo for music. Our family supplied all of the food and drinks for the party (WHAT). That's a lot of beer and wine. There were waiters to bring the food and drinks to you throughout the whole night. I met tons of new people and spoke tons of Portuguese. I also learned how to dance like they do here... it's different.. hahah
Honestly though, the people here are amazing. Everyone talks to everyone and are so nice.
One thing about arriving at a party in Brazil: you must say hi to everyone. What I mean is, when you arrive, you have to go to each person at every table and kiss them on the cheek to let them know you arrived. If you do not greet everyone, it is considered rude. It was really nice because I spoke with almost everyone at the party. Most of them speak English but our conversations were portingles (Portuguese/English). Everyone was so friendly and really wanted to know about my life in Canada and why I chose Brazil.
I had so much fun!

The next day (Sunday), my family took me to a city about an hour away called Ouro Preto which means "Black Gold". I only ever saw pictures of this city and oh meu Deus... it is amazing. The streets were all cobblestone and super narrow, the walls were all stone and they buildings were so old! It was really one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. We walked around, I learned a lot about the buildings and the history. We had lunch in a really cool place were you just walk in take a plate, take some food, and sit down. Rice and beans of course ;)
We arrived back home after spending the whole day there and when we got home, I tried on my uniform for school because today was my first day of school!

Monday (Today) I woke up at 5:45am to go to school for 7:00. My host father drove my mom and I to school where we walked around and they showed me to my class. My mom left and I stood at the door of my classroom where EVERYONE stared at me. I personally don't like when people stare at me so I started smiling too much and looked away. The teacher introduced me to the class and asked the students where I can sit. When she said that, there were so many people pointing to me saying "aqui, aqui!" (here!). I felt so good haha.
There was already a chair open near a couple people so I took it. The teacher began to teach the class. The thing about schools in Brazil is that the students stay in the same classroom the whole day with the same people but the teachers change rooms. For the first two blocks we had Portuguese class. I understood barely anything but it was okay because I didn't have to answer any questions.

Another thing about schools in Brazil... the classes are crazy! Everyone is so energetic and so is the teacher! It's normal to yell your opinion in class, I never saw anyone raise their hand. After Portuguese, we had gym class. In Canada it's pretty organized I would say. You are split into teams and the sport changes every couple weeks. In Brazil, everyone goes outside to the court yard, the teacher gives you a ball and says "go". So for an hour I just played a game with my whole class but I forget the name. Basically you pass a volleyball around the circle and on the third pass, the person spikes it as hard as they can on another person to get them "out". It was very interesting! I love the people here because everyone is so close since they have been in the same class for a long time.

The best part about school here is the people. It is so easy to make friends here, it's crazy! Everyone likes to know why I'm here, where I'm from, stuff about Canada, why I chose Brazil, and how I learned Portuguese. I spoke with many people today in Portuguese and no one could believe it was only my third day here. Our last block of the day was English but the teacher never showed up so it was a free block. Everyone stayed in the class and talked in circles. The circle I was in kept growing bigger and bigger because everyone wanted to ask me questions. I felt like such a celebrity. By the end of the class, I talked to everyone. It was so nice to make friends to quickly because that was one thing I was a little more nervous about. After class I had friends ask me to go for lunch with them, and hang out during our breaks. It made me really happy :) So if anyone from my class is reading this, Obrigada! ;)

After school, Clarice's cousin Natalia and I went to the mall to buy a chip for my phone so I can use it. (it didn't work though but we will figure it out). At the mall I met up with my friend Rui who did an exchange in Canada last year. We stayed at the mall and ate acai for the first time. It's kind of like ice cream but it's made from acai. I looooved it. I don't know how I will return to Canada without it. After the acai we went to a really awesome place in BH but I forget the name. It was like a giant park with a fountain and a bunch of really cool things! It's a great place to relax, read, run, apparently it's a good place for couples to go to show PDA because I saw that everywhere. Before arriving to this awesome park type place, we walked past this coconut stand where you buy a coconut, the guy punctures it and puts a straw in it. Rui was so awesome and bought one for me because it was my first time drinking it. It was so good! It was really cheap and you get a lot of coconut milk from it. Rui and I then met up with Clarice and Nina and we all went for more acai (don't judge me it's good).

These past few days have been the best start to my exchange that I could ever ask for. I am loving every second of it. It's hard to write in this blog because there's so much to say but I don't want to ramble.
It's also difficult at times to write in English because I'm focused so hard in Portuguese.

Tchau por agora, ate a proxima vez xox