Eric's First Report

August 20, 2005

Well here goes nothing,

It was the morning of the 23 of July, i woke up early to finish up the
last of my packing, and as soon as i got that done my dad came
knocking on my door, we loaded my stuff into the car, and i gave my
friends and brother a mushy good-bye. After a sleepy ride to the
airport, we checked me in, and said another long and mushy good-bye :)
I dont remember much of the flight because i was asleep the whole
time, but i perked up when i got to Washington, because i realized i
had a 10 hour wait ahead of me, so i took a nap till other exchangers
got there. We just walked around the airport for a while, so i will
skip that bit.
So we got on another comfy airplane ride, and once again i fell asleep
though the majority of it. But when i woke up........I WAS IN BRAZIL
woooooohoooooo  :-)
We arrived in Sau Paulo, and had to high tail it to another airport
cause the next flight was soon, but when we got there we found out it
was late, but o well.
On the flight to Londrina from Sau Paulo i met an exchange student
from Canada who was going close to my city so i chatted with him for
the plane ride and exchanged pins and stuff.
Upon arrival in Londrina, my family was waiting there for me with a
big sign with my name on it.  My father, Paulo Lopes, is a doctor who
speaks a little bit of English, my mother, Angela Lopes, is also a
doctor and she is very sweet (and i think she is trying to fatten me
up), my older sister, Ana Carolina Lopes, went on exchange to Canada
and goes to the same school as i do, and finally, my little 9 year old
sister, Isabela Lopes, she is the cutest little red head i have ever
seen with freckles and all :-)

After a couple of days of adapting, i started my first day of school,
and here is how it went......My first class turned out to be history
(i thought it was math, but i felt a little better that i couldn't
figure out the calculations). In the school that i attend all the
students stay in their classes and the teachers move around (and dont
do the best job of teaching). During any given week of school we take
about 13 different subjects all for about 45 min, because the school
starts at 7:30 and ends at 12:30 (still too long for my taste). After
school everyone in the family goes home and eats lunch together (in
Brazil lunch is the main family meal) which is nice, alot of rice and
beans, but nice :-)

My house is a very fancy one,  and my family is a member of the
country club. We have 2 maids that come to the house everyday and do
everything from doing the laundry to cleaning the kitchen and bathroom
to washing the cars. The country club is a very nice thing to be a
part of, every Mon/Wed/Fri they have volleyball that i play in and
then i go to one of the Olympic sized pools and do a bunch of laps,
and just the other day, they had a Beatles and Elvis cover concert
that was actually REALLY fun.

But i gotta go now, the rotary club is taking me to go vaccinate some
little poor kids downtown.

~Eric Newman

P.s. BRAZIL ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!