Just a Bunch of Exciting Things

There are so many things to tell in the blog post so brace yourselves.

I will start with a few weeks ago it was exciting that I finally got invited to do something with my Rotary club. They invited me to a German themed party at this really fancy place. The food was so good and the music was great. There weren't any other exchange students but it was cool because I got to get to know more about some of the Rotarians. We danced, talked, and ate a lot. (There was even apple pie!!!!!)
The next day (Saturday), I went to another city outside of Belo Horizonte to where all the outbounds were having their orientation. Me and 3 other exchange students went there to talk about our countries and our experiences abroad. I even met a guy who will be doing exchange in my district in Canada next year.
It was really weird being there because it feels like just yesterday that I was the outbound at my orientation in Canada...
Time really flies.
That night I went out to that night club called Swingers for my friend's birthday party. I went there with the new Argentinian exchange student and the rebound Mariana. We dressed up in costumes and danced on top of the bar; it was excellent.

On the Sunday I just chilled at Mariana's house for the whole day and watched Cruzeiro (my soccer team) win the big game against Galo (the other team of this state). It was a big deal because Cruzeiro will move on and Galo won't.... HAHA!
That night I got a phone call from my club president saying that I will be switching families on the upcoming Tuesday... 2 DAYS!? First of all... I didn't really know I was going to have a 3rd family and so it was a surprise... and I had one day to pack up everything. It was a really rushed goodbye to Sofi's family but I know I will still be seeing them so it's okay.

I moved into my 3rd and last family on that Tuesday night with 6 bags. They all laughed at me because I had 2 huge suitcases and an extra 4 other bags of random crap. (I really don't have a clue what I will do when I go home)
The reason they wanted to me to move so soon was because my new family wanted to take me to Rio!!! So on that Thursday I went to Rio for the 3rd time. It was amazing. We spent all day on the beach and then I went out with my host siblings every single night with their friends as well.
Oh yea, I have two host siblings living with me: a sister, Barbara, 19, and a brother Lucas, 23.
My other brother is 27 and doesn't live at home.
My host parents are really nice as well! My host dad is from my Rotary club so I already met the two of them beforehand.
I have my own room here with a TV and a computer. They have already hosted exchange students and Barbara has already done exchange in Belgium. She just got back last June so it's nice to have someone who understands me. They all speak English and they all love traveling, it's perfect.

After we got back from Rio I had two days of relaxing before I went to my big year-end Rotary Conference in Caldas Novas (12 hours from BH).
I took a bus with 30 other exchange students from around BH on Wednesday night. As always, the bus had blaring music and all of us dancing and goofing around. I barely slept at all.. and it was an overnight ride.

It was so awesome when we got there because all the other exchange students started arriving as well so it was a huge reunion. There were some exchange students that I haven't seen since the first orientation in September so it was really cool to reconnect with them. That day we had a test on Brazil... everyone failed pretty much hahaha it was on the history and geography of Brazil. I did pretty bad I think. The person who did the best got a medal. That person was not me.

The thing I loved about this weekend was that we had so much free time to spend with each other. Did I mention that the place we stayed at had like 8 hot pools? Yea, Caldas Novas is famous for their hot natural pools. On the Friday morning, we had our conference so we all had to dress nicely with our blazers and flags. A few people from my Rotary club went and cheered as I walked down the isle. They even chanted my name and I felt pretty special.
We walked in with the song 'Waving Flags' then on the stage all of the exchange students had to sing a song called 'Tempo Perdido' which means 'Time lost'.
Then a kind of unexpected thing happened...
One of the Rotarians called me aside with 5 other exchange students. We were called to the front of the stage to receive medals for being 'destaque' which literally translates to 'spotlight' so essentially the exchangers that stood out for them this year. When the chairman put my medal on me, my club all stood up and started chanting my name again. I had the biggest smile on my face, I can't even explain.
It was a really special moment.
After that, we got some more free time at the hotel then all 54 of us went out for acai. Imagine over 50 foreign people walked down the street at once then standing in line at a little acai shop. The workers kind of freaked out a bit but they handled themselves well.. haha

That night we went to a Rotary party but only stayed for like an hour and a half because everything was super expensive and it was all Rotarians.... hahaha no offense! No one (except me) wanted to dance in front of them.
So instead, we went back to the hotel and had our own party with music and danced outside.

The next day (Saturday) we went out to the huge waterpark with all the slides and hot pools, cold pools, wave pools, indoor and outdoor pools. It was sooo huge! We spent the entire day there. It was hilarious because even though it was super full of people, it was always easy to spot the exchangers. Just a bunch of super white kids.

After the waterpark, we went back to the hotel to get ready for our ball. Everyone was all dressed up so beautifully. We had the ball with all of the Rotarians and the families in a big hall. There was a huge stage and a really good band that played almost every genre of music from classic rock to samba to funk!
I danced so much with the exchange students and the Rotarians! It was nice to see everyone getting out there and dancing together.
When they played the song 'Lepo Lepo' (a super famous song right now in Brazil), me and my friend from Finland, Anni, went and danced on the stage with the singer. Now.. this already sounds quite funny but what makes it funnier is that that song is actually super inappropriate and has really inappropriate dance moves... but did we dance inappropriately on the stage at a rotary function anyways? Of course we did! Everyone was laughing so hard at us and even some of the Rotarians were getting into it. The older Rotarians were giving us that 'I'm watching you' look but overall we were a hit.

You would think that the party would have ended once we got back to the hotel at 2am.... but nooooo! We had another outside party that lasted literally all night. We had the Brazilian music going and everyone was dancing all night. Some people started going to sleep but others stayed up and danced, and others (cough *germans*) went swimming.
I didn't sleep that whole night. At around 6:30 me and Stian (my best friend from Norway) went looking for breakfast... I was so tired that I was started to speak in a slow and slurred 'portingles' that not even I understood.

After breakfast it was time to say goodbye and get on the bus... except this time we had to actually say goodbye goodbye to some of them... I cried and cried because I really have no idea when or if I will see them again. It was really sad but I guess I at least still have a couple more months with the ones I got especially close to.

To be completely honest, I don't know what I am going to do when I say bye to the ones that I call my best friends... There are a couple of them here that I can honestly call my bestest best friends and I hate the thought of leaving them...

Então eu vou aproveitar estes últimos meses aqui no Brasil e tentar não pensar em despidos ainda. Eu ainda tenho mais 3 meses cheio de coisas novas e boas experiências. Eu já sei que eu vou sentir muitas saudades do meu intercambio e todas as pessoas que fizeram uma parte dele. Eu sou muito grata pela essa experiência e essa vida bonita. Espero que esses últimos momentos sejam muito felizes e memoráveis. Eu ainda não estou pronta pra voltar mais quando chegar a hora, vou ficar destruída.

Inglês é Difícil !

I feel like I say this every time I write a post but man it's been a while!

So now I am going to take it way back and talk about Carnaval. For Carnaval I ended up going to a city called Bom Despacho with my host parents because that is where they are from. A very large part of both sides of the family live there so I got to meet some new people again. We stayed in a very nice house on a farm. It has a pool, hammocks, BBQ area, etc. We left Saturday morning of Carnaval and returned on the Tuesday. Since it's a small town, it doesn't have a huuge Carnaval but it was bigger than I thought it would be. Jane (my host mom) and I walked around the town so I could see a little bit of what Carnaval was like. There was a band in the park and everyone was there dancing, singing, and drinking with really funky costumes. We participated in the parade around the city which was super upbeat and fun. The rest of the weekend was mostly just relaxing at the farm.

The following weekend there was a party with a bunch of the exchange students which is always fun. We hang out a lot but every time we get together, it's as though we haven't seen each other in ages!

On the Saturday, I went to the wedding of Sofi's cousin, Gabi. To be honest, we just went to the party but that counts right? It was a really nice party with really awesome food. I was amazed, once again, at how big my host family is. I met about 30 more of Sofi's relatives and they kept telling me that that wasn't even everyone! The funny thing about meeting new people is the shock when they figure out that I speak Portuguese. They always start out asking a bunch of questions about me to my family because they don't realize I understand everything they say. It is really quite entertaining.
So like every wedding party, we danced and ate a lot. It was really great.


The last couple weekends have been pretty chill, I've gone out to a couple different places around the city with some friends. It's been really cool. I went to this one club called 'Mercado das Borboletas'. It's called 'Mercado' because it is literally located on the top floor of the supermarket. It is huge! It has a couple different bars, a huuuge dance floor, stage, restaurant, lounge area, etc. It's really ghetto looking but it hosts some really awesome parties.

Oh I forgot! Some time in the last two weeks I went with my first host family to my 'uncle's house for his birthday. He lives about an hour outside of BH in the middle of a forest. It is one of the coolest houses I have ever seen in my life! If you have ever seen the movie Twilight, the house was kind of like the Cullen's house in the woods how it was literally in the middle of trees. It was so neat! There were so many windows, it was so open. They said normally they have monkeys around the house but of course, there weren't any when I went.

So, that brings us to last week. I have been very busy in the past week. Last Wednesday I went out with some friends to a rock bar where they had a live band playing covers by tons of awesome bands (The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, ZZ Top, ACDC, Boston, etc). It was SO GOOD! This band was honestly amazing. The voices were perfect! Even when they played ACDC songs, the guys voice was identical! I haven't listened to that kind of music in a really long time so it was so awesome to be there. I kept thinking the whole time how much my parents and sisters by in Canada would LOVE it.

Thursday, I spend the whole day with the Inbound Coordinator of our district (Ivone). We went to her house, had lunch, and then went to this public school that I will be teaching at. Earlier on in the month she asked if anyone was interested in teaching English to public school kids and I said yess!!
So now I am all signed up to teach between the ages of 11-15. I am teaching alongside Ivone's son, Matheus, who also did Rotary exchange and has experience teaching English. It will only be two times a week for 2 months but I think it will be a very cool experience for me.

Friday! Ohhhh Friday. After school, I went to one of my friends house's to bake cookies with a group of my friends. None of them have ever baked cookies or even eaten homemade cookies. We make chocolate chip/M&M. It was so cute how amazed everyone was at how easy and fast it is. They were also really amazed at how good the dough was. At first they thought eating the dough was a weird concept but I convinced them that it is the best part!
That night I went to a concert with my friend, Luisa, from my class. The show was a cover of the Beatles and by that I mean IT WAS IDENTICAL! I am not lying! The clothes, the hair, the faces, the voices, the intruments, even the way they played the instruments! Everything about this band was identical to a show of the Beatles. I couldn't believe it. If I didn't already know that many of the Beatles have passed, I would have believed I was at their concert. It was the coolest show I have ever been to in my life. I wish I could watch it over and over again. They even spoke English during the concert instead of Portuguese.
It was incredible. My words don't do it justice.

Anywho, Saturday I went to a party for one of the exchange students who left today :( Tchau Mateusz, I will miss ya bud!

Sunday I went to my first Cruzeiro game!! Finally I got to go to Mineirão (the huge stadium in BH). For those who don't know, there are two teams in my state: Cruzeiro and Galo. My team is Cruzeiro and we won on Sunday! I went with one of friends, Victor. I loved it so much; Mineirão is amazing. It's rounded so you are able to see the whole stadium from anywhere you sit.

Yesterday (Monday), I went to the school my host mom teaches at to talk to some kids about Canada and about rotary exchange. I honestly felt like a celebrity... Everyone just starred as I walked down the hall and into the classrooms. A few girls widened their eyes and waved excitedly when they saw me. It was really funny actually. It was a really neat experience hearing what other kids had to say about Canada and abut Brazil. Everyone was so anxious to hear what I had to say. I have already talked at 2 other schools about Canada and my experiences. I really love talking to kids about it because they are always so curious and always ask super hilarious questions.
It was super funny whenever the classes would ask me to speak in English for them because I actually had a really hard time! I tried to speak slow and with simple phrases but I kept saying phrases wrong. It was honestly way easier for my brain just to speak to them in Portuguese. My English is getting really bad. I am constantly second guessing myself or spelling things wrong. Sometimes I will say a phrase in English that is the exact translation from Portuguese but in English it doesn't make sense. To be honest, I had a little trouble writing some things in this blog post... yiishh!

Today I had my first day of teaching English. My first class is only about 11 people so it's really nice and small. Everyone there is really into learning so it makes it easier. We started off today just with simple introduction phrases and little games. I had a lot of fun and I can already tell that I am really going to enjoy it. I have been waiting to do some volunteer work here so I am happy to finally be doing something!

So that was a quick and very brief explanation of the last month. Obviously I am forgetting a ton of things but that is what happens when you are busy!

P.S Today is exactly 200 days in Brazil! :) :) :) Loving it!