Alot has happened since my last post and i'm not even sure where to begin!
I moved house on the 1st of April and have now been living with my new family for almost two months (the same amount of time I lived with my old family)! I was so upset moving and having been on the otherside of the world felt like my 'new family' was deserting me! But I've come to realise moving families is just one of the many fantastic opportunities Rotary gives us! I absolutely love my new family and I don't think at the moment I could be any happier anywhere else! Hopefully i'll be living with this family three more months meaning I only have to have one more family. By now we all know good old Brasil and I probably won't know the family until much closer to the time!
One thing i love a giant amount about my new family is when i wake up in the morning my host mum has a huge breakfast waiting there for everyone! My brother and sister wake up late and skip there first class in school, i'm pretty sure they have actually never been to the first class ever! So I usually eat alone which does not bother me one bit since i get to eat mango, and peanut butter with bread every single morning.
School is trucking along although I'm still not use to the early morning starts! What began as a 6.20am relaxed start to the day has now turned into a very rushed 6.45am-wake-up-and-leave-the-house-in--20-minutes. I have a formal thing sometime this year and a graduation in December however I am still undecided whether I will go as both these events require long ball gowns as such and a ticket for entry. Since my school is a private school, these events are usually very extravagant and therefore not cheap!
I got my school transcript back the other day and was extremely surprised to see i have passed every single subject! Especially considering i don't go to school on the test days as the principal told me it was pointless. Some of the subjects I passed I wasn't even aware i was taking. Also the strangest thing I've found about how kids receive there grades is they can get points (faults) taken off them for pretty much anything! The amount of homework you hand in, days you come to school and behavior is all calculated into the final grade. Rather than like in NZ where if you use your phone its taken off you, here your given a fault.
We've started painting the solar system in class on the back wall in art class! its so much fun and makes every Friday go by so fast :D
My portuguese is coming along and although i don't think i'll ever really feel like i can say I am fluent, I am now able to understand most 'common' things people say to me. Sometimes an odd conversation will arise and I still have no idea whats going on.
I"M ALSO PRETTY SURE I HAD MY FIRST DREAM IN PORTUGUESE THIS MONDAY!!! hoooraaaay! I can't be 100% certain but i remember having a rather irritating restless sleep and having to try so hard to speak in my dream. However I know for certain I dreamt in portuguese again on Tuesday because i woke up in the middle of my dream! It was the strangest feeling. Now when I think things to myself sometimes I also think it in Portuguese, which I know i should be happy about but instead i find a little creepy.
Brazil has been insanely cold these past few days and i have been sorely reminded of what i will return to in New Zealand! As I write this I am covered in three blankets, wearing merino socks, sweat pants, a merino top and giant hoodie yet as I check the temperature it tells me its 20 degrees...I regret to say I have acclimatized to the usual 30 degree days.
I think i was one of the few exchange students to underpack! In my head I imagined Brazil as this wonderful city that never had cold weather and therefore simply packed for a summer season. This would have been fine had I been able to afford clothes here! $100 for a t-shirt is not in my budget! So my good ol' mother in NZ has sent me a couple of boxes of clothes not without some classic kiwi kai of course :D I really don't know how Brazilians live without salt and vinegar chips!
I recently had a big district conference two weekends ago in a place called Aguas de Lindoia. It was four days long we were not required to do anything on the Thursday and Friday so played mini golf in the hotel, had a look around the city and just hung together since it was our last every time seeing each
other! Most of the exchange students leave between now and the end of July.
We did a thing called 'fair of nations' where each of us had to organise items from our country, display them on a table and people would come around and have a look. I was so nervous about having to answer questions in Portuguese and almost had a mental breakdown before hand! but it was so much more relaxed than I anticipated! They were so fascinated by the koru's as a lot of people get them incorporated into tattoos here not realising what they are.
( I only had vegemite hahah)
We also had to prepare an item to show to everybody attending and two girls in my city wrote a song in Portuguese for us to sing! For a while I was less than thrilled as anybody who knows me, singing and I don't go together very well at all. However we sung this on the Saturday afternoon and all went well! One of my close friends from here gave a speech and i realised just how much i'll miss the exchange students in my city when they leave! Most of them only have three weeks left!!!
I think that is all for now, I only have 1 more month of school before i get the whole month of July off!! wohhhhooo! I can't wait! I will try be less slack and update more regularly! :D
Tchau for now :)
One thing i love a giant amount about my new family is when i wake up in the morning my host mum has a huge breakfast waiting there for everyone! My brother and sister wake up late and skip there first class in school, i'm pretty sure they have actually never been to the first class ever! So I usually eat alone which does not bother me one bit since i get to eat mango, and peanut butter with bread every single morning.
School is trucking along although I'm still not use to the early morning starts! What began as a 6.20am relaxed start to the day has now turned into a very rushed 6.45am-wake-up-and-leave-the-house-in--20-minutes. I have a formal thing sometime this year and a graduation in December however I am still undecided whether I will go as both these events require long ball gowns as such and a ticket for entry. Since my school is a private school, these events are usually very extravagant and therefore not cheap!I got my school transcript back the other day and was extremely surprised to see i have passed every single subject! Especially considering i don't go to school on the test days as the principal told me it was pointless. Some of the subjects I passed I wasn't even aware i was taking. Also the strangest thing I've found about how kids receive there grades is they can get points (faults) taken off them for pretty much anything! The amount of homework you hand in, days you come to school and behavior is all calculated into the final grade. Rather than like in NZ where if you use your phone its taken off you, here your given a fault.
We've started painting the solar system in class on the back wall in art class! its so much fun and makes every Friday go by so fast :D
My portuguese is coming along and although i don't think i'll ever really feel like i can say I am fluent, I am now able to understand most 'common' things people say to me. Sometimes an odd conversation will arise and I still have no idea whats going on.
I"M ALSO PRETTY SURE I HAD MY FIRST DREAM IN PORTUGUESE THIS MONDAY!!! hoooraaaay! I can't be 100% certain but i remember having a rather irritating restless sleep and having to try so hard to speak in my dream. However I know for certain I dreamt in portuguese again on Tuesday because i woke up in the middle of my dream! It was the strangest feeling. Now when I think things to myself sometimes I also think it in Portuguese, which I know i should be happy about but instead i find a little creepy.
Brazil has been insanely cold these past few days and i have been sorely reminded of what i will return to in New Zealand! As I write this I am covered in three blankets, wearing merino socks, sweat pants, a merino top and giant hoodie yet as I check the temperature it tells me its 20 degrees...I regret to say I have acclimatized to the usual 30 degree days.
I think i was one of the few exchange students to underpack! In my head I imagined Brazil as this wonderful city that never had cold weather and therefore simply packed for a summer season. This would have been fine had I been able to afford clothes here! $100 for a t-shirt is not in my budget! So my good ol' mother in NZ has sent me a couple of boxes of clothes not without some classic kiwi kai of course :D I really don't know how Brazilians live without salt and vinegar chips!
I recently had a big district conference two weekends ago in a place called Aguas de Lindoia. It was four days long we were not required to do anything on the Thursday and Friday so played mini golf in the hotel, had a look around the city and just hung together since it was our last every time seeing each other! Most of the exchange students leave between now and the end of July.
We did a thing called 'fair of nations' where each of us had to organise items from our country, display them on a table and people would come around and have a look. I was so nervous about having to answer questions in Portuguese and almost had a mental breakdown before hand! but it was so much more relaxed than I anticipated! They were so fascinated by the koru's as a lot of people get them incorporated into tattoos here not realising what they are. ( I only had vegemite hahah)
I think that is all for now, I only have 1 more month of school before i get the whole month of July off!! wohhhhooo! I can't wait! I will try be less slack and update more regularly! :D
Tchau for now :)
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