Everything is going just great down here. I only have two more weeks of school before our summer holiday, which is really exciting. My Portuguese is coming along just fine, I can understand basically everything, and can say just about everything I need or want to say in Portuguese. Even though I mess up the verb tenses sometimes, as they are a lot more complicated than English verbs, I know when I say it wrong, and I can correct myself. When ever I leave the house I leave a note for m host mom, and when I get home I find it in the same place that I left it, but with pencil markings on it, as my host mom has corrected the spelling and grammar for me and left for me to look over, and that really helps me learn. It feels really nice to finally feel comfortable with the language now, it doesn’t sound strange or foreign anymore, it sounds just as familiar as English. Now it is easier for me to talk to my host brother in Portuguese than it is to speak in English, which I think really shows me how far I’ve come along.

I only have a couple weeks left of the University corses I was taking, and I was very pleaed to find out that I am going to get a certificate from the university, for my Portuguese for foreigners class (given that I pass the last exam, haha). Not too much else has been going on, on the days I don’t have classes in the afternoons, I usually go down town with friends, or we just hang out at each other’s houses.

I think this exchange really teaches us the definition of the saying "small world"! Just this afternoon I was sitting at a juice stand at the park beside my house, talking with an exchange student named Evan, from Australia. We were talking about exchange students, and he brought up Bjorn who he had met since Australians exchange from January until December, a different cycle than us, and I told him I had met Bjorn’s mom, Billie, at my first orientation, and that I had talked to Bjorn online before I arrived. And just then, like a light bulb, his face light up like something had just clicked in his head, and he said "Oh yeah! Bjorn mentioned that there was a girl coming from the Bahamas a really long time ago" But he hadn’t realized it was me until just then, it was really funny.

Well thanks so much Rotary, this year is so amazing in so many ways. I can’t believe I’ve almost been here three months already! The days just slip by! I can’t wait to travel during the summer holidays, and the northeast trip in January! Muito Obrigada!

Lindsay

Ps- It’s really funny to read Max’s reports and see his pictures! I hope all is well in Freeport and I send my love!