A new beginning from an end

Brazil has now been my home for 1 week! My brain is telling me it has been the longest week of my life, but then again, i only left NZ 5 minutes ago?

I'm not going to lie, before I left New Zealand, I pretty much compared exchange to making daisy chains in a field! Boy was I naive! It's haaaaaard and I think if i had been able to see a futuristic video of my first three days here I would have glued my butt to my bed back home and tied all my belongings down! In my description of this blog i describe this year as a 'rollercoaster' and at the time i had no idea how right i would be! But as the days roll by I am slowly coming to appreciate this opportunity a little more and enjoy my year!

The first three days are a blur of crying over skype, not understanding portuguese and trying to take in all the 'bizarre' differences at once! And believe me, this was a task! hahahahaha there have been so many moments where I've tried not to laugh, or sometimes cry, because the cultural differences are so massive! I will include a few now, and keep in mind that many of these i have to live with! hahahahaha

• The driving. I'm not sure it deserves the word driving. haha no, its not that bad, but I did come to realise rather rapidly that even the slightest need to go toilet does not lead to a pleasant ride! The 'legal' age to drive is 18! so parents are playing taxi pretty much the whole day! Especially since there is no such thing as public transport in my town :( palmy guys, its worse than there! Buuuuuut the parents start teaching there kids to drive around 10! I'm not sure if they think there kids are a little slow and will take 8 years to learn! or if its because there is no such thing as indicating or looking before you change lines, tailgating is okay and the speed limit is really only a 'lower guide' so in in this case they like to give their children plenty of practice to ensure they live past 18yrs and 2 days. 

• Everytime i cross the road i just about call my mum and tell her i love and she'll be alright without me! There ARE pedestrian crossings, well thats what they look like, but no one actually stops for pedestrians hahahaha so its a bit like 'ruuuun and hope i dont get killed'

• Hair. Woman wax absolutely everything exceeeept the hair on there heads and their thigh hair. The wax their arms, so i am yet to understand what makes thigh hair so sacred??? 

• Nudity. There is no such thing as body issues or embarrassment.

• Meals! Everything here is very different when it comes to food! I'm not really sure yet how breakfast works, but there is no toaster, and i haven't come across cereal, just bread rolls! This is delicious enough however the Brazilians don't eat the inside, and most delicious part of the bread because they are scared they are going to get fat, so its mostly crust! Lunch is a full on meal! I am slowly getting used to it! and they always drink juice with every meal, never water! BUT I LOVE WATER!!!! and then dinner is 'get it yourself'. I do miss sitting down and atleast having two meals a day together to talk about the day, but i think because i understand zilch, i don't even feel like I have one!

• They don't flush their toilet paper down the toilet. Enough said.

• I had my first rotary meeting on Friday at lunchtime. There are 10 people in my club! I was laughing about it the whole half an hour. It only had to be half an hour because there were only 10 people who had to speak! It made me miss the homely feel of the rotary clubs back home though! 

• There is a massive divide between wealth and poverty! Never and my life have i seen such a vast contrast between living conditions in such close proximity. The wealthy live in private condo areas, which have security gates and the security is so tight they don't even need to lock their doors when they leave! The less fortunate live in tiny houses with numerous people living there. Because i live in a more rural area it is normal for most people to be living in houses. However the poor aren't what we would call sensible with there money and spend it on looking rich and parties. 

• Every room has a bathroom attached! 

Soooo i'm pretty sure thats it for now. On one of my first days here I tried something called acai! Its like a fruit frozen yoghurt purple thing and in the bowl they put melted chocolate around the outside, and chocolate balls on top!!! :D it so delicious! There is a picture on here!

The most hilarious things that has ever happened in my life was when i was shopping with the other exchange students and the ladies at the story asked if we could model some of there clothes so they could take pictures! Purely because my legs are 5m too long i have been attempted to recruit as a model three times :P

My name here means she. Whyyyyyyy. I am starting to feel so sorry for people with names like diamond and shabolly - haha i made that one up, but i would feel sorry for that person! I tried to make myself a nickname but ellie, sounds like ele and = boy, el sounds like eu and = I, bella =beautiful sooo i am stuck being she all year. Thanks mum.

The parties here are not half-assed! They start late and end late and then you do it all again the next night! They are also hilarious because the adults always get tipsy! Last night i went to a masquerade ball that was run by the 'country club' i am a member of and it was so incredible! I will put some pictures up! It started at 11 and went until the early hours of the morning!

I will start school in a week! I love vacation here! But the routine will become school from 7.15 to 12.15 and then going to the club (country club) after school for a swim or to go to the gym, or just to go to town! I will let you know how that goes and will update when i sometime in the futureeeee!

Beijooos!