Holidays are the Good Days

I guess I last left off on my 3 month anniversary with Brazil (Friday, Dec 13). That Saturday morning I woke up and my Aunty Monica asked me if I wanted to go to a wedding with her that night. It was really last minute but I mean, I had a dress so I said ' of course!' I've barely been to weddings in Canada let alone Brazil so it was a really cool opportunity. So basically the whole day was spent deciding what everyone is going to wear for Christmas, the big birthday party the following week, and the big engagement party also the following week. Mae, Clarice, and Monica raged my closet and started giving me ideas of what to wear on what day with which shoes and accessories. It was great because I probably would have had no idea what to wear otherwise. After lunch my mom did my nails for the wedding (I felt so fancy).
I wore the same dress I wore to my prom earlier that week so it worked out perfectly.
The wedding was at this really beautiful church in BH; I will never get over how amazing it is.
The wedding was of a friend of Monica so I didn't know anyone except Clarice and Monica obviously but everyone looked stunning. The wedding had basically the same traditions as they do in Canada but I think this one had more things about God. My favourite part was watching the Groom's face; he had the most sincerely happy face I could have cried. After the wedding we went to the after party! There were waiters bringing amazing food and drinks all night. It was so fancy that the shellfish was literally served on a shell. The best part was singing along to the English music and people looking at me funny because they don't know what I'm singing.
Okay I lied, the best part was when the bride went on the stage to throw the bouquet. All the single ladies gathered around, pushing and shoving. The bride throw up the bouquet (of 7 flowers), and all of the flowers dispersed into the air. If you caught a flower, you will be the next to marry. The best part about this little story is that yes, I caught one of the flowers. I was so excited, I always wanted to catch the bouquet at a wedding!
Sunday afternoon I went out to lunch with my family at a nice little 'self-serve' restaurant. (those are my favourite)
Sunday night I went with my mom to the 'Graduation' of Beatriz's (my host sister who is in Germany) school. It wasn't really a graduation though, it was more like a church service dedicated to the grads from that school. It was really interesting to go to, everyone was dressed up, the priest gave out those cracker things, everyone sang, and everyone prayed. It was completely confused the whole time but it was nice to spend time with my mom. At the end she gave me a huge hug and told me how much she really liked having me. It was so sweet!

Monday I walked to the center of the city to drop off my dress. I was proud because I barely got lost this time. I walked around for a bit by myself, went window shopping, took some new roads, etc. I feel like when I get lost, I get to know the city a lot better!

Tuesday, after lunch I went to the mall with Eli and met up with Sofia and her friends. We all bought tickets to the Galo game. After the mall, Eli and I went back to my house, made coffee, and decided to go out to a Forro bar with some friends. For those who don't know, Forro is famous dance in Brazil. It is a somewhat easy but also complicated partner dance. It was free for girls to get in so we thought, why not!
After the dance, we went and got some pasteis (of course).

Wednesday after lunch I quickly ate lunch then headed out to Sofia's to watch the Galo game with her and her friends. They got me a jersey to wear since everyone was wearing them and then we literally drove around the city screaming 'GAAALOOOO' waving the flags and beeping the car horn. It was hilarious. Everyone on the street went nuts as well. This Galo game was extra special because since Galo won this big championship in June, they got to go to Morocco to play in another championship from around the world. All the Galo fans gathered in the 'Independencia' (the Galo Stadium) to watch the game on a huge television screen. People were going absolutely insane. There were TV cameras everywhere and unbelievably crazy fans. When Galo got a goal, people cried, everyone threw their beer in the air, and I had someone get pushed on top of me from behind. Then the other team got another goal... and another. Next thing you know it was the last 5 minutes of 'overtime' and people where on their knees literally praying and crying. The other team got the last goal, leaving the score 3-1. The whole stadium was silent except for crying. Some walked out immediately and others stayed in their seats crying. I've really never seen anything like it.
After the game, all of us went and ate some snacks to calm ourselves down. Galo isn't even my team but it was still devastating to see.

Thursday morning I got dressed up and went to my mom's work to sing at their Christmas party. They had many speeches, mini presentations, lots of awesome food, and then played a game kind of like Secret Santa. I sang two songs 'the Christmas Song' and for those of you who know me really well I sang 'Art Thou Troubled'. It's been such a long time since I have sang so it felt really nice to just let it out again.
That afternoon, I went back and sang for the afternoon staff. Afterwards, everyone wanted pictures with me and to ask about Canada. I met one lady who is obsessed with Cirque du Soleil and when I told her that I have never been to a show, she was appalled because every Canadian has been apparently... so okay my bad then..
Thursday night a huge group of exchange students went out to this club called 'Mercado' to celebrate my friend Mariana's birthday. This place was so ghetto because it was literally above a supermarket or something. It's so big and has a huge dance floor. I actually really enjoyed myself!

Friday I went out and had a nice girl's afternoon with Eli and Ashley. We went to this little hipster café called 'Café com Letras'. We drank coffee, ate appies and talked for about 3 hours. I really enjoyed catching up with everything. After that we decided to go to this fancy Rotex Christmas party. There were about 30 or 40 exchange students from both my district and the other district there and other rebound students who went on exchange before. It was so cool to talk to everyone and meet more exchange students. I seriously always have the best time when I am with exchangers.

Catchup

This is going to be a catch up post about what I have done in the past few weeks. Sooo where to start? I guess I will start with when I got back from Rio. I went to school the next day burnt as heck and all my friends laughed at me of course! I started peeling that week which was really attractive! Sadly that week was my last week of school until February. Why is that sad? Well I was put in the equivalent of grade 12 and right now is the end of the year for them so I will be starting over again in February making new friends. I am excited to meet new people again but I am also sad because I won't get to go to school with my other friends anymore.
That week of school was spent just basically talking all day during class. The last couple days of school I got everyone in my class to sign my Canadian flag (which is now hanging on my wall). That Friday night (the 29th of November) I went out to a club with a big group of exchange students. The theme that night was Mexican. All of the people who worked at the club were dressed up as Mexicans; it was fabulous. That was honestly the best clubbing night I have had so far. We danced all night without stopping. Since we didn't get home until about 6am, the next day was spent basically doing nothing. That Saturday night there was another party because it was the birthdays of two exchange students. About 15-20 exchange students got together at one of the houses and had a really great time dancing and talking amongst one another. Being with exchange students is always a good time. That weekend was one of the best I have had so far.

Monday (December 2?) was nice because since I didn't have school, I got to sleep in! After, I went out shopping with Eli and Sandra and bought a new dress for new years. On new years everyone wears white so all the clothes in the mall right now are white, I love it!
Tuesday I spent the day shopping in the center with Clarice. We went looking for a dress for my formal dance with my school. I found one that I really liked and I could rent it for really cheap. We basically spent the whole day walking around and shopping. That night I made French toast for my family. Everyone was really impressed how easy it is to make and how delicious they are.
Wednesday...I actually don't remember what I did on Wednesday. I think it probably had something to do with Sandra and Eli coming over.. We probably ate a lot of food and walked somewhere to get more food. That's usually how it goes.
Thursday I got up 'early' and took the bus to my school to pick up my ticket for the formal. I took the wrong bus so I ended up on the complete other side of BH but I got to see a lot of the city so I guess I can't complain. After almost two hours of riding the bus, I finally made it to the school. Oh yea, two hours on the bus in 35 degree weather... I was stinky. Thursday night I walked to my Rotary meeting for the first time. Apparently it is close to my house and really easy to get to but because it's me, I got lost. I took the wrong road and ended up really far away from where my meeting was. Luckily, I ended up finding it right on time! I thought I was going to be super late but because we are in Brazil, I was early. After Rotary I met up with some exchange students in Savassi, grabbed some pastels and just hung out. Always a good time.
Friday I went back to the dress place to get my dress fitted. Again I had to walk there because it was really close to my house and again I got lost. I am actually not quite sure why I am allowed to go anywhere by myself... I am awful with maps. Anyways, once again, I found it. After I got my dress fitted I decided to explore some more of the center (in other words, I got lost again).
Friday night was a really chill night, I stayed home and watched novelas (soap operas) with my host mom.
Saturday I hung out with Eli, went for walks, back to my house, made pao de queijo, coffee, and just talked with my host mom for a while. After I went to Eli's for a sleepover and we just had a movie/ fat kid night with chips and chocolate.
Sunday I really didn't do anything until the night time. That night I thought I was going to a dance class of 'Forro'. Instead, we ended up going to an actual bar just with Forro. Forro is famous dance in Brazil that you do with a partner. It is a skilled and kind of sensual dance but also very fun. When done properly it looks very beautiful. When done by me it looks very... well actually just don't go by what I do.
Monday (this past Monday) I met up with more exchange students and had acai.. of course. After, Eli came back to my house and we made French toast again. It's a crowd pleaser for sure.

Tuesday I went back to pick up my dress only to find out it doesn't actually fit me because they made it too small... I wasn't a happy camper but I got my money back and thankfully found another dress the day before the formal... Holy, am I lucky or what!

Wednesday Sandra and Eli came over again, we did some last minute shopping before my prom, then came home and started getting ready. Sandra curled my hair for me and I did my makeup all fancy. My classmates have never seen me with makeup or my hair done so I was really excited to get all fancy. My host mom got all excited when I was ready and she took tons of pictures of me.
The formal was so much fun, I am so glad I got the opportunity to go. I got to see all of my friends looking beautiful and take lots of pictures with them. The prom here is very different. For example: you don't bring a date, you bring your entire family. Basically you are given 6 extra tickets and you can bring your family or friends from outside of school. There were fancy waiters with food and drinks all night, there were photographers, a live band, a bar, another bar for more snacks, a table set up with people making customized pasta dishes, etc. It was the most amazing night! I stayed there and danced with all of my friends until 6am! My feet were killing me because I wore high heels the whole night. Truly a great way to end the school year.

Thursday (yesterday) I was so tired, I literally did nothing. I slept in until 3:30 because I didn't get home until 6am. I seriously stayed in and out of bed all day until it was 7:30, I was curled up watching a movie in m pajamas and then my host mom comes in and says 'Aren't you going to Rotary?' CRAP! I completely forgot so I threw on some jeans, a T-shirt and ran downstairs. Little did I know, that night was the fancy Rotary Christmas Party...
I am such a good exchange student... I didn't even know there was a party.
No one cared that I looked like crap though so it was fun.

Friday (today!) I wrapped presents for Christmas! After lunch I made an ice cream cake that my mama makes. I think I burnt the crumble part a little bit but everyone seemed to enjoy it so phew!
Sandra and Eli came over again... we went for a good walk, came home and my mom taught me how to make pao de queijo. It was indeed a very good day.

I forgot to mention, my care package arrived finally!! Man my family knows me so well. They put chips, chocolate, peanut butter, curry paste, more stuff to make curry, a bunch of nice smelling things, makeup, clothes and Christmas presents! I am so thankful to have such a thoughtful family. Thank you so much everyone! You know me waay to well. I am so excited about everything I received!
Update real quickly, I will be going to Patos de Minas for Christmas with my family and then once I get home I will be changing families on the 27th. I will be moving in with Sofia and her family.

(Also, sorry if my grammar is bad now, I am no longer as fluent in English as I once was.)

Merry Christmas!