One Month Babyyyyy

I can't believe I have been here for a month! There was a point when i didn't think a week was possible!

Many people told me exchange would fly by, and to be honest i never quite believed them all. I mean how could time possibly move at a faster pace! Buuuut I must admit I was wrong, although i look back on my 4 weeks here and think, 'boy have i not been home in a while', the time in between has passed surprisingly quickly and i swear i arrived just a week ago! There have been ups and downs along the way, exchange is not easy! You've left your home, comforts, family, friends, language all behind and have to adapt to a new routine, friends, family and language! But the insanely credible moments definitely outway any shaky ones!

So time to let you all know what I've been up to in the couple of weeks!

The 9th - 12th was Carnival here in Brasil and it has been a weekend i will never forget! I left for a little town, Porto Ferrira on Saturday to celebrate and had no idea what to expect! It all sounded so crazy, and as a foreigner, rather strange! My family had been telling me about bulls, and cows and crazy street people, and when these were mostly the only words I could understand in the sentence of Portuguese it sounded terrifying!

That first night was spent going to a club, a country club not a nightclub, I was surprised when we arrived at the location because as far as I knew there was only one type of club! :P Going with the Brazilian way it didn't start until 12am, which made it a rather late night! There was samba music, a cow dancing in the middle of the dance floor, and then me looking like an idiot trying to Samba :P

The days were spent relaxing by the pool and on Monday many of my families friends came to the house we were staying in. They call the house a farm and it has taken me a looooong time to get my head around hahaha because it doesn't actually have any animals, instead it is called a farm because it has lots of 'land' i guess you could say. It was so much fun just hanging with everyone and HAVING NO SCHOOL! :D

Theeeeeen my favourite part of all! That night we went to the 'bloco do boi' which i rightly nicknamed in English 'the bull thing'. There is this fake bull made out of thick iron rods and pretty much the aim of the game is for people to hold the bull up, drunk locals i might add, and to run around crazily, and aimlessly, bringing about a certain element of suprise and therefore more casualties and hit as many people as possible! At first little me from good ol' NZ was terrified! These people were crazy! But as the night went i gained more confidence, and then before I knew it aaaand because I'm an exchange student and all, I found myself riding the bullll!!! Gotta live life right? ;)

It was back to school on Thursday, and i've decided to make those 5 hours useful and use my 'Portuguese for Dummies' book to help me learn the language faster! The other exchange students have been here for 6 -7 months and i can't wait to be as fluent as them!

The weather is so hot here i literally can't do anything but swim and do nothing hahahahahah they have air conditioning but never use it! although the weather is hot there's just about one thunderstorm a day! and the other night it was so loud the whole house shook and the lightening looked like it was landing on our roof! i was terrified!

I am super excited for my trips! and my next one is in 3 weeks! I can't wait!



I swear I am taking exchange eating to a whole new level! The first week i was here i didn't eat much and cruised along, but now that my family are introducing me to all these nice foods aaaand my mum sent me some NZ food including peanut butter, I just want to eat aaaaaaaall the time! On Saturday night I went to a Japanese restaurant which was a very interesting experience! I went with just my host sister and translating from Japanese to Portuguese to English proved a little too difficult! Instead we told the waiter to bring us something and he brung us this magnificent boat of every different style! Along with a plate full of spring rolls, and two other plates of something else! Much too our dismay we found out for every one piece we didn't eat we had to pay 1 real (60c)! Lets just say I ate allooooooot! However i keep telling myself....your only an exchanger once ;)

I will leave here for now and talk to you all lateerrrrr :)

Tres Semanas down!

Ola Amigos! :D

I have named my sentences with portuguese and english portuglish much like the title! :P

The day marking three weeks away from home has now been and gone, I now also have 11 months left to start living life here in Brazil!

The language barrier is becoming fustrating! i want so much to be crack a joke every now and then or enjoy the jokes other people make! But instead all i know how to say is 'I can't speak portuguese', 'i didn't understand' or 'i want......'. That reminds me! I often feel so rude here when asking for things at shops or from my host family because it is normal to say 'I want a coke.' compared to the New Zealand version of "Could I please have a coke"and when you don't here what some says 'what' is the normal reply rather than 'sorry' or 'pardon'.

It is interesting to not only learn the culture of Brazilians but also of the other exchange students here! Alyssa, the American exchange student here and I, are often noticing massive differences in our vocabulary! No one here understands when i say SWEET AS! :(

I started school, and honestly its the most boring 5 hours of my life! Mainly because the work is comparable to that of year 12/13 in NZ and then on top of that its in Portuguese! hahahahaha in my heads it's like going to a church service, already boring right, and then listening to it in chinese. I'm not sure how many classes i'll have but so far i've had Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Maths, English, Another class where the teacher just talked, History and Geography. I start school at 7.15, finish at 12.15 and have 3, 1 and a half hour classes a day! Between each class is a 15 minute break. On two of the afternoons and Saturday mornings there are classes aswell but i dont have to go! :D :D The beauty of being an exchange student :D


So far I have had 4 days of school and the other kids are slowly starting to warm up to me! haha there is this great photo which explains perfectly how the other exchange students see me!

 Not being able to speak portuguese makes me a lot more reserved, and now i sympathise so much more with all the exchange students who were at Freyberg! You can't force yourself to speak because you literally don't know how to! haha and i don't think anyone can fully comprehend until they've been an exchange student themselves!

I have put my name down for a couple of trips coming up and i'm super duper exciteeeeeeed! there was a mix up and the trips got changed a little but i won't go into it because i had a bit of cry and what not :P but thats Brazil for you, nothing is real until your actually doing it! So the trips, one is to Foz do Iguacu (the Iguassu Falls) for 5 days in March! :D I couldn't come to Brazil and not seen this amazing attraction! The next is a trip with my school to the beach near Sao Paulo I think, they told me this in half English/half portuguese so i'm a little hazy on the deets, and the next is a trip to THE FREAKING AMAZON BABY in May! This will be so cool! I also have my first encounter with the other exchange students in March which will super fun :D

Carnaval is starting on Saturday! It sounds craaaaaaazyyyyyyy! We are going to a place called Porto Ferrerira on Saturday, i'm not sure what we're doing but it should be fun! and then on Tuesday to Broa! School starts again on Thursday :( I want to do everything i can to get out of school but i know going is the only way i'm going to make friends :P hang on, I have friends :P I'm not that lonely hahahahaha but they're all exchange students and leaving in June!

Broa is so much fun! Its a lake about 20 minutes from my house here and I went last Sunday! The houses there are amazing! Huuuge with pools and everything! Just imagine Seth Cohans house and your set ;), the only thing is i feel bad, they have maids! we're not at a restaurant, i am able to take my plate to the sink and get my own drink! These people also only earn about $500 a month! Aaaaaaany way we went biscuiting and knee boarding and kayaking! it was just a great day spent chilling by the lake It really reminded me of home and going on the biscuit with my sister!

My host sister here is in love with New Zealand! She really want to go on exchange to NZ but its alot harder here because you are put on a list and bumped up or down depending on how many points you have earned by going to meetings etc. I wish I could someone how make her come to NZ! because there is only one thing that makes you realise how beautiful NZ really is and thats leaving! Most of the exchange students here end up going to Mexico and Denmark I think, but don't quote me on that! Its just very common! Rotary in NZ if you read this, MAKE MY HOST SISTER MARINA COME TO NZ PLEEEEEEEEEASE! her second choice is Australia, so ya know, Aussie, we love you, she would love to experience some good old oz culture too ;)

Here is a few fun facts about Brazil to round up this post

• Brazilians eat with their knife and fork in the other hands
• They drive on the opposite side of the road
• They don't use calculators at school
• The school desks are joint to the chairs
• You can buy a bottle of Smirnoff at the supermarket for $15
• Brazil is earning lots of money from me because all I want to do is eat. All the time.
• Clothes are expensiveeeee but foood is cheap
• They don't have toasters! 

Tchau for now! and I shall let you lovely people know how i'm going after CARNAVAL! btw if you haven't seen my pictures of the Samba dancers, look them up on youtube or something, in NZ the costume would be classified as R18 but boy oh boy are the amazing to watch! :D