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March 27, 2010
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The past
month has been great, like all the other ones :)
but this month I can say that I fully understand the language. It
feels good to finally say i know Portuguese, instead of the earlier
months when we were busy trying to find English speakers. Now ,its
actually annoying when people speak English with me. Even if I respond
in Portuguese, they continue to talk in their English. It feels almost
as if they're using you, and if you tell them "its ok, you can speak
Portuguese with me", they get all "no, I'm practicing my English on
you". I'm trying to learn Portuguese, that's why IM here doing MY
exchange. but whatever.
so ive been in my first family 8 months now. my host brother came back
from Germany, so i had to switch into the guest room. but he's a real
cool guy. So im moving into my next/final family in 2 weeks.
My mom might be coming soon! It would be great to see her. Travel
around with my one and only woman :)
I think I want too show her Foz do Iguacu. the waterfall that i went
to about 4 months back. It had to be the most beautiful thing i'd seen
in my life, and i have to show it to my mom.
I'm going to sao paulo in 2 weeks with my Mexican friend alejandro
ortega. The main reason is too actually go to hooters. besides the
fact that i miss buffalo wings so much, its the girls hahah. i mean,
think of all the beautiful hooters girls in America, and imagine the
same thing, but with the Brazilian bronze and curvey girls hahah.
after that, the rio trip is coming up! and everybody knows how
beautiful rio is, so you know how excited i am.
well...ill write more after i change families, meet my mom, go to sao
paulo and hooters, and rio ;)
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March 1, 2010
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SEE SEGAH'S
RECENT PICTURES
CARNIVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!
I finally went on my first rotary trip.
A place called Florianapolis, Santa Catarina. It was so beautiful, by
far, the most beautiful beaches IVe seen in my life.
Not to mention those girls in the famous brazilian bikinis. it was
awesome. we went with my district of about 30 exchangers from all
around the world which makes it so exciting. the bus ride took about
12 hours, but its all good.
When we got there i couldnt believe my eyes. I had missed the beach so
much, I live in hallandale beach, so im used to seeing it everyday.and
ever since ive been in londrina, ive been without a beach for 6
months.
I have to be honest, that the brasilian beaches are much much much
more beautiful than thosse of FLorida.
The way that theres mountains covered by trees along the sides of the
beach, the crystal clear water, the beautiful girls, the vendors
selling eveything from tropical juices to melted cheese, the giant
waves and surfers.
speaking of waves and surfers, one day my whole district almost died
at sea. we were all so excited to enter the water so we didnt care
about all the "warning, extremely high tide" signs in the water. so we
all entered and went as far out to see as we own way.could because it
was all sound dunes. we litterally went about half a mile out to see
and the water was still at our waste and then all of a sudden there
was just a big hole in the ground and we all just dropped. then came
the 5 footer surfer waves that hit and pulled us in. we were all so
tired and nobody had the energy to swim back. my friend greta from
germany, got hit with a surfboard of a surfer while she was drowning
so she was almost knocked out. evryone was literally gasping for air
with there hands reaching out for help. the life guards came and saved
the female intercambistas while the guys had to struggle for there .
finally we made it out, thinking about life and death for the next 2
hours.
we had an hotel right by the beach, so in the mornings we would swim.
come back for lunch, and party at night.
carnival wasnt as cool as i expected, but it was alright. there is two
types of carnival, one of dancing on the street to loud samba music,
and one of watching the parade go by. we went to both types. i
realized that after the first 15 minutes, samba loses its taste. all
it is is banging drumbs and tamborine, and thats all that brazilians
dance to in carnival. it wouldve been much better with techno music,
but its ok.
another cool thing that we did was sanboarding.next to the beach there
were huge mountains of sand.
i had never seen something so cool. it was one of the most fun things
i ever did.
everyone learned how to do it the second they got on so we got the
hang of it fast. it would hurt wo much when you wipeout because of all
the sand crashing into your face. it sucks especially when you have to
climb back up the steep of the sand mountain with sand blowing in your
eyes once you did your turn of sand surfing.
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February 1, 2010
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Nothing has changed much this past month and a
half. It has been raining everyday for about a month so nobody is
able to go out.
Everyone says that this is the first year that
it has rained so much. This makes it a little hard to go out.
Im still in the first family after 6 months of
my exchange. This family is so great that they negotiated a deal
with the chairman to let me stay an extra 3 months. Ive been with
them so long and have grown so close.
Carnival is comming up, which is one of the
biggest festivals in the world. Im going on a trip to
Florianopolis, Santa Catarina. Five days on the streets of Brasil,
partying with half naked chicks dancing to samba music.It seems to
be a beautiful place.
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December 16, 2009
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I spend
most of my days going to the gym and a local sports club on the
weekdays.
School
is already out, summer break, so I basically sleep in every morning
and then hit the gym.
One day
I was walking home from the gym alone and I got RoBBeD. Everyone
told me that Brasil could be dangerous but I took it lightly. 3 guys
came up to me and cornered me on their bikes. I was stupid enough to
tell them that I was an Intercambista and I didn't speak the
language so I basically made it even easier for them. They took my
cell phone and my money. But its all good.
November 14 was my birthday. It was a sad day for me.I went out and
all, but I couldnt stop thinking about my friends in the states. I
miss having fun with my friends, and driving around town. Lets just
say it wasnt my best birthday. But on the bright side, my host mom
made a bbq for me and bought me a shirt :)
There
was a HAIL STORM. I had never seen hail before! it was so weird and
exciting. It was so big, and hurt so much. Everybody rushed outside
when we saw it and started throwing it around. It was much bigger
than i expected. It was so coooooooooool
lets
see... what else....
well, i
went to a soccer game. It was so exciting.
It was
one of the biggest rivalry teams. palmeiras vs. corintias.
it was
so fun, i went with 3 of my good friends on a bus to sao paulo.
Unfortunately, it was a tie.
My team
is Palmeiras. It was such a good game, the fans went crazy. I got to
see two of the most popular soccer players in the world. Ronaldo,
which is like the former best player of the world, and Marcos, who
is the best goalie of the world.
Christmas is coming up. It was time to change host families but I
grew so close to this family that they asked me to stay an extra
month and a half for christmas and new years. It made me feel so
good. I really like this family. The house is all Christmas
decorated and the tree is up. The house is so beautiful. Now I just
have to go out and buy some gifts to put under the tree.
I love
the Christmas family atmosphere. I hope the big Christmas will make
up for the small halloween and no thanksgiving.
A
really big thing I didnt tell you is that I went to the border of
Brasil, Argentina and Paraguay. In the border, there is the most
beautiful thing Ive ever seen in my life. Foz do Iguacu. It is one
of the biggest and best waterfalls in the world. It was the
magnificent. There is actually places that they built within the
waterfall where u can stand on the edge of the waterfall and look
down as the water drops. It was crazy. I actually filled a bottle of
water from the water of the falls as a souvenir. You could here the
pressure of the waterfalls from miles and miles away. It had to be
one of the best experiences of my life. wowwwwwwwwww.
After
we saw the waterfall, we went to Paraguay.
Paraguay is not a country the people of Brasil go to for fun. The
only reason Brasilians go there is to buy stuff for cheap.
Basically you can find the same shoes in Paraguay for $50 when they
re about $150 in Brasil. It was so different. The poverty. All the
people on the streets. The tangled power lines. But it was so fun.
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September 10, 2009
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SEE SEGA'S
RECENT PICTURES
BRassssssssssssssssssil.
I've been here for a little over a month.
Im starting to get accustomed to the culture and way of life.
The people here are the friendliest people ive ever met.
For the most part, I walk around a lake and take pictures. the lake is
so beautiful and its right by the house.
I couldn't of asked for a better host family, I love them. My host
sister is the next carlos santana. The sound of her guitar always
echoes through the house. But I think my host sister hates me,
hahahaha
I went to my first "15" party. When a girl turns 15 in Brasil, its
apparently the biggest deal in the world. It was pretty cool. We
dressed up in suits all formal and what not and then we were off to
the party. There I met another intercambista, Mustafa, he's from
India, one of the coolest guys Ive met here. We danced our socks off
that day, it was crazy. The party started at 10 pm and ended at 5
am!!!
The funny part is that the next day, we had our 1st orientation.
Mustafa and I, couldn't help but reminisce on the night before as we
dazed into a tranquil sleep as the speeches went on for hours hahaha.
I met alot of cool intercambistas there. I met some guy from
Australia, Joel Jackson. He's a bit older than me but he quickly
became my wing man, the partner in crime. haha. At the orientation we
learned about all the trips, they all cost about $2000(im sure my mom
will be happy to hear that)
At school I have a friend named Alejandro. He is one of my better
friends, but he is very shy when it comes to the ladies.
Everytime he would see a pretty girl (which is always, since we're in
Brasil) he would whisper in my ear "omg this girl is so pretty". And I
would shout and point at the girl from across the room to put
Alejandro in an awkward position. Its hilarious.
ohhhh. I havent mentioned this, but I have a mustache. well its more
like fur, above my lip, but none of the girls in brasil like it.
Everybody makes fun of it, even my host mom. Everyone pressured me
into cutting it, but I refused. I love my fur.
But then I met this girl at school called isa banks. She's amazing.
The first two weeks before I met her, I couldn't stop talking about her
(and i still dont). Her hair, her style, her fat cheeks, her smile.
Finally I grew some balls and decided to talk to her. It was so
awkward. I didnt understand a word she said. I just nodded my head up
and down as I stared at her beauty. Shes adorable. So after I started
getting to know her, she told me I was cute, but my moustache had to
go.hahahah noooooo!!!!!!!!!! but I shaved it, just for her.
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August 14,
2009
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A week has past and I already feel like
a brasileirao.
I arrived on the 1st of August. As soon as I arrived at the Londrina
Airport I found about 20 people awaiting my arrival. From Rotarians,
to my new family, to the kids from the block.(we took about a
bajillion photos)
Then to the house, before I could unpack, my family rushed me to the
neighbors house, where I found a rock band! They were amazing. The
house is huge!!! There is 5 bedrooms and a huge backyard with a hamack
and pool and a dog. They also have a maid. The house is next to a
beautiful lake called Igapo.
After my arrival, I quickly made many friends. Brasilian people are
very friendly. My sister takes me everywhere. We always have movie
nights.I love movies nights. The movies are always in english with
portuguese subtitles so I can understand something for once :)
Ive been here a week and I already been to 2 Churrascos, brasilian
bbq's. I cant explain how much better it is than American bbq's. While
we eat, one of our friends always have a guitar and tamborine handy so
we listen to live music rather than a radio :)
The other day it was my friends birthday,we went to a resturant were
they had a pizza buffet. It was quite different. they had every pizza
imaginable, from corn pizza to ice cream pizza.
The day after that we had a huge family/friends party where they
cooked feijoada, which is the national dish. It was OK, actually
better than I expected. It's basically a stew of black beans, suasauge,
pig ear, pig feet, pig skin, pig nose, pig tail, etc. yummmmmmy
Yesterday I had my first sleepover with my friend Gustavo. He's the
drummer for the band I mentioned earlier. We stayed up all night
listening to music, playing mortal kombat, and eating foooood.
Today I was at the local sports club. I go there often. Theres a huge
swimming pool, tennis court, basketball courts, suanas, soccer courts
and feilds, and a cafeteria. Its pretty cool. Its a place where all
the kids go to hang out, its way cooler than a mall. Well my friends
asked me to go to the suanas and I thought "why not", when I entered,
I saw about 50 old hairy naked men. It was a huge place filled with
hot air, sweat, steam, and old hairy naked men. We also had to strip
down. But after it was over, it actually felt quite refreshing and
relaxed.
My portuguese is getting a little better. Everybody speaks english
with me. I guess I'll learn when I start school. Speaking of school,
it is shut down for 3 weeks due to an influenza outbreak.
boa noite
tchau |
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