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...