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.