Time doesn't stop

I have now passed the one year mark of my return New Zealand, and rapidly the two year mark is approaching. I always thought that I would never be able to fully integrate back into New Zealand again, however eventually it happens without the realisation. I am currently my second year into a psychology degree and absolutely love it, I work extremely hard academically, but also have great friends who I can go out with on the weekends.

I'm so excited to be returning to Brazil for two weeks only in November, time I have off between university and work.  I spent the last hour or so reading my blog posts, and so many emotions were brought back. Brazil holds so many awesome memories for me, and I am so lucky to have been able to experience them, I will always shed a tear or two when I think about just how amazing a year I had. However I am scared about returning, that a lot won't be the same, and although I don't have the expectation that it should, it will be a shock that people live different lives to that i experienced. I know my once closenit school mates have seperated and hardly ever get together, this was a huge part of how much i enjoyed my exchange. I have to be prepared to not re-live my experience, but create new ones. Don't get me wrong though, i am super super excited.

I always said after my exchange that I would never do another exchange like that, rather instead travel place to place for a short time only. Not because i didn't love my exchange, but because I loved it so much that coming home was so difficult. However I have somehow healed from this, who knows how, I remember being so distraught, and have applied for a university to exchange Montreal. I am still undecided if I want to go for 6 months or a year, i know my last 6 months in brazil were the best of my year, however they were also the months I got more emotionally attached, so I have somethings to consider.

I don't necessarily feel 'home' still anywhere, and rather than trying to make a home, move from place to place, constantly travelling back and forth between places. Maybe one day i'll stop doing it but at the moment it works for me.

All in all, life post exchange has its ups and downs as does life with or without an exchange. I would never take it back and reccommend it to absolutely anyone :) i am who I am today because of it.
I love reading my blog everynow and then and getting to relive the moments just for a short while.

6 Months Back!

Its still seems so strange to think I have now been back in New Zealand for 6 months! I often find myself comparing to my life last year, "this time last year I was in school, or in the Amazon, or right about now I was actually in Rio de Janeiro!" 

I have slowly stopped blurting portuguese words in the middle of a sentence, and now my thoughts have returned to English. I don't walk along the streets anymore thinking every bad thing about NZ as I once did when I first returned. I guess that means I'm starting to adjust to life back here again. 

However I still have that aching for Brazil whenever I watch the world cup, or here Samba, or eat pastel at the brazilian restaurant in my city. 

One thing i don't thing i was ever prepared for was the lost of the feeling of 'home', that just never quite comes back. Nothing is the same as before i left for my exchange and because of that the feeling of 'ahhh home' just can't be found. I've learn what its like to live, love and feel, in more than one place therefore i could go searching my entire life but home is now going to be where the people are that i love, not where i grew up. Its hard to concept and harder to explain but all the other exchange students will know what I'm on about!

Obviously in my last blog i wasn't too happy about coming home! And the day I left Brazil was the most upset I have ever been! But thats a good thing, it just goes to show how amazing my exchange was! I would recommend my experience to everyone, and hopefully i'll keep updating here every now then, especially when i do make it back to my fave country in the worlddddddd! 

Life After Exchange

What i wrote 10 days after i got home...

"Life Sucks. Its as simple as that. I can easily say, the worst part in this whole process is coming home. Who ever said time makes everything easy, was clearly wrong. As each day passes it only makes the homesickness worse!

I feel bitter and angry towards pretty much everybody, even though I know its not their fault I came home, but also because know matter how much I could try to explain, they would and could not ever understand exactly how strange, and unsettling this process is.

Questions like "Are you relieved to be home", and statements such as "It must be nice to be home", leave me without a reply. How do i reply to that? These people clearly have never stepped out of their comfort zone, lived life, been on an adventure, tried something new, if their prospective on life is such that one could not find equal, or even more happiness away from their home country.

I must admit, I did realise how lucky I was to come from a country like NZ, but because of the good economic status, school system and health care. So then why, if we have such a great running country, are the people in Brazil 100000000 times happier, 100000 times more willing to help others, especially those who are in the lower income bracket.

I know that my year had massive ups and downs, but I fell in love with my host country, fell in love with people, and my classmates literally are the best people that I have ever met! I can't describe how it is, finding best friends on the other side of the world, and then having to say goodbye, without it being your choosing to leave, not knowing when you'll see them next.

I'm not saying I don't love my family in NZ, or enjoy hanging out with my friends who I haven't seen in a year, it is definitely amazing! I am so thankful for the people I have in my life in NZ.
However, a year away allowed me to find myself, find out what i was interested, be a little crazy, push the boundries. Because of that, I was able to surround myself with like minded people, people who shared the same interests and most importantly, knew me for who I am.

I also have a family over there, who I am so thankful and grateful for such an amazing year. I couldnt put it into words, I grew to love them. "



And i can't really say after now having been home for almost two months, that i feel any better about it. I often wonder what Im doing with my life,

Two of my flatmates lived overseas for many years and after a lot of discussions with them i realised just why its so much harder for me. A year is enough time to make all these connections i previously talked about yet not enough time to take them all in, experience them, enough time to feel satisfied and fulfilled by them. The way in which my flatmates came home was their choosing, they chose to, it was time to have a new change for them and start a new chapter in their lives.

I almost feel like someone snapped my exchange out of my hands just like you would an ice cream from a child. I wasn't ready to come home. I know that nobody wants to hear it but i didn't want to come, i still don't want to. I would drop everything just to go back right now.

Having lived at uni for two weeks, i feel homesick. But homesick for Brasil. And i think its going to take a very very very long time to feel at home in NZ again. But one thing i know for sure, is a part of me is always going to think of Brazil as my home. I know that one day i'll end up living there again, whether its forever i don't know, but nobody can keep  me away. And as much as people keep thinking that i will 'just get over it', i won't, they can keep on thinking that, keep on judging, because that will just make me more determined,

 and i will prove them wrong.

"Time is precious, waste it wisely"

I sit here writing this in the airport on my way to a three week holiday in the north of Brazil. I know I’ve been rather slack on the writing front the last couple of months but I can’t even begin to describe the wirl  wind of a ride I’ve had and just really couldn’t bring myself to write anything due to the fact I know I have to face that this year is coming to an end!

Going all the way back to my birthday, it was a pretty interesting day! The fact that my birthday wishes started a day early since time is a little behind was the first strange thing!! I couldn’t figure which day my birthday was – my brain really was confused.

Then the 18^th came about in Brazil and nobody said anything, literally. I had been sending messages to the exchange students over the days before hand asking if we could organize something to do, and no one had been responding, to the point where I sent them a message asking if they were angry at me!!! Their simple reply was ‘no’. 

So the non-existent happy birthdays were really upsetting. I was close to tears in class, and sent a message to mum in NZ saying, ‘ This is probably the worst birthday I have ever had in my life, no one has said anything  to me, I’m probably not going out tonight because no one is replying, we’re just going to have to celebrate in NZ’.

the worst part followed shortly after, my mum here sends me a message and says, “I’m having some problems at work and I won’t be able to pick you up at school, your brother and sister will have lunch with their father and Romiltom (her boyfriend) will pick you up”. I’m pretty certain I cried a little. With a few sniffles on the way to lunch we arrived after Romiltom did a few errands and to my complete surprise, my host mum had organized a small surprise party!! All the exchange students and my family were there with presents, a birthday cake and my favourite food!! I had gone through all that suffering because of this, and the day turned out to be one of the best days of my life! I went out to a restaurant that night with all my school friends and the exchange students!!! Literally I could not have asked for a better day!! 

Exchange Students

Sursprise party!!

Best birthday cake I have ever tasted

I had my school graduation and dance on the 6^th and 7^th of December! It was so completely new which meant I was utterly nervous about every tiny detail! Especially because we had to try and look presentable not just for one day but for two! Its moments like these when I really wish that I was a guy! The Friday was the actual graduation ceremony where everybody received their diplomas! It was a little bit more important for the others considering they had managed to make it through 12 very difficult years of school, however i was still pretty chuffed that I managed to complete 13 yrs of school too! 

Receiving the diploma

The Saturday night was a dinner until midnight generally with the familly of whose graduating, and then a dance until 4am. Bruna, one of my really good friends at school invited me to sit with her family for the dinner! I was super glad I wasn't going to be orphaned for the night! However when it came to the time for the graduates to dance with one of their parents, i was overcome by probably the most homesick I have felt in a while, just to see everyone celebrating with their parents, so I spent a lot of the night with the guys from my class who were all sitting at a table together rather than with their families. Kindly too, a guy in my class asked me to dance the waltz so i didn't have to feel too disheartened i didn't have my family there!  

School Friends! 

The last pretty big moment I have had was a week or so ago! My mum here in Brazil rung and said Andre, the district youth officer of rotary wanted to have a word with me! Obviously I was freaking out a little, you know how it is, even if you know you haven't done any thing wrong. Eight comes around and i all ready to leave, we drop my brother and sister off at a friends house, go to look at some lights, waited for a while for them not to turn on, all the while my hearts freaking out more and more. Finally we arrive and he goes 'you can sit here, so do you know why your here', and of course i really had no idea so kind of just squeaked ou 'lets see'. At that moment everyone from rotary jumped out and yelled SURPRISE! turns out, it was my early leaving party! we ate pizza, i got a couple presents and some people said a few things! it was really lovely but one thing i have learned this year is 1. I am really way too gullable and 2. trust too much of what people tell me.

This passed weekend I spent the whole time crying! I swear that after this year it really can not be possible to have anymore tears left in my system!! Friday was my goodbye party with most of my school friends but then Saturday goodbye to a couple of others! They are the most amazing bunch of people I have ever met! It was difficult to be welcomed into the group in the beginning, but the really are the most carefree, do whatever, have fun bunch of people ever! Its been so hard to leave, especially since half of them are begging me to stay! But I know they’ll be here forever which just means I’m going to have to return super soon! Because I don't know if I really can say goodbye to these amazing people! <3

I know that this will not be my last post yet! I still have three weeks to get crazy in Brazilllll! So expect to here from me again! 

P.s I will return to NZ with huge welts all over, my body really does not like mosquito bites -_-  and they love me. 

300 days!

I wrote this post at 300 days and never posted it so here goes!
This is a post i wrote a month ago and never ended up posting!

To think that I have now been living this crazy life is a little mind boggling! I have managed to learn another language,, find another family on the otherside of the world, and find the best of friends in a corner of the world i didn't know anything about 1 year ago!

I am going through a strange stage at the moment and i can't quite figure out why! I think its the fact that I am completely a different person and terrified to go home!  I now can't say I am as close to my NZ fam as I once was, I'm going to be a big old adult in a couple of days and I don't like that so much! the year of being 17 has been pretty darn fantastic and I'd be quite happy to be 17 forever! and I have made a new life with new friends and family! For once in my life I can't change something that i really want to, going home. I'm pretty use to being able to work hard and achieve something I want or beg and grovel until I get it, however this time there is literally nothing I can do.

School is nearly over! two weeks to go! and very few people have been going to school each day! except for me! I have been making the most of my last days there!!!

I've been thinking about a couple of things that I once thought were strange but never wrote on here! One thing especially is cleaning!

Cleaning the dishes is a strange task! Rather than filling the sink with water and adding dishwashing liquid, they add a little dishwashing liquid to the yellow sponge thing  and scrub each dish individually with this. They then leave the dish aside aside with the foam still on it whilst cleaning all the other dishes, and at the end rinse each dish leaving it to dry! Most people here also don't have a dishwasher, they wash everything by hand!
Then it comes to washing the floor! Th first time i saw this it was absolutely hilarious! As they don't have carpet all the floors are brick, or tile, so completely waterproof!
Th first thing they do is chuck a little bit of antibacterial solution on the ground, and then scrub it with some scrubbing thing to make it foam up ( i can't think of the name of it right at the moment)
They literally than chuck jugs of water on the ground causing a little flood which is followed by a thing to wipe the water into a drain (like the thing they use at the car wash to wipe clean the windows) and then they wrap a cloth over the wipey thing and dry it. However if they are feeling lazy they let it dry. Just the fact they have no problem chucking buckets and buckets of water onto the ground is rather funny.

I arrived in the hotel and there was carpet! I took of my shoes and couldn't figure out why my feet felt so strange! and then I realised that I hadn't felt carpet under my feel for 10 months!

LOVING LIFE!

Life is has been pretty normal these past couple of months I didn't realise how fast time flies!

I've been living with my family for 3 months now and will be living with them until i go home! My older host sisters have been staying here for the last couple of weeks which definitely changes the dynamics of the family! I even feel a little intimidated by them, not sure why though!

This past weeks have been pretty crazy busy! I have kind of a little routine going on now Monday is our lazy day, pretty much just catching up on lost sleep, because the weekend is just so jammed pack! and Friday is also sleep day in preparation for the weekend! Actually I do anything I can to assure myself its okay to sleep! I still can't explain it but I am so tired all the time!  The rest of the afternoons we spend doing different things in the centre, at the moment usually just sunbathing by the pool because its so hot, 30 degrees or more usually. But i also keep telling myself i'll go to the gym one day...

I have been trying on black dresses for my graduation lately and was super excited when my host sister showed me a really cool one she has...and then it didn't fit! I have never had this problem in my life before! I really don't know what to think of it!

So going back a couple of weeks! I had my first encounter with the new exchange students on the 27, 28th and 29th of September. They are such a cool bunch of people but i still counldn't help but miss the oldies! At the moment in my district we have 8 exchange students from Mexico, 4 from USA, 2 South Africans, 2 from France, 1 from Denmark, 2 Taiwanese, 1 columbian, 1 from Holland, 1 from Germany, 1 from Japan and 2 Venezuelans. It was so interesting seeing how everyone was coping with language, and it also bought me back to my own days trying to understanding even one word! Those the speak one of the 'romantic' languages definitely find it a little easier to cope with learning portuguese. I think its because the structure is similar, and how sentences are put together. However there were also cases where two were from the same country but at very different levels in-terms of how much they understood or could speak.
Anyway, pretty much that whole weekend we just chilled and got to know each other! the encounter was also to teach them about the rules of rotary! It was extremely funny to here the rotex scaring the kids into not breaking any rules, when in fact us who have been here 9 months know that nothing they said was true at all!

After this encounter my host mum organised a trip for me to Hopi Hari, the biggest theme park which they have here in Brasil! I was so super excited to the point where i literally did not sleep the night before, since we only have Rainbows End in NZ. However I was little let down at the start that half the rides were closed so there was around a FOUR HOUR wait for all adult rides! Turned out to the bets thing though because i and Luisa, from Germany, decided we didn't want to wait that long so we chilled on all the little kids ride, i felt like i was 5! and then at night while the others were waiting 5 hours for the roller coaster we lined up for the 2 haunted house attractions! literally i have never been that scared in my life! I swear I almost peed my pants! and all I could hear next to me was Luisa saying 'Please, please, no", "leave me alone" :don't do that!!!" I wish i could go back to hopi hari just for those two attractions!

I know have only one more months of school and i don't want it to end! Not only is the last months I am going to say goodbye to my best friends, but its also my last month of school! I'm turning into a big university kid! However I'm more frightened about what i will think about my 'new life' in Palmy than starting all over again down at Dunedin.

I have become to notice that Brazil has a ridiculous amount of public holidays! Literally i feel like every week someone says tells me we have a 'feriado' (public holiday). Its great for how much time i get off school! Especially if it falls on a Tuesday or Thursday because then i get Monday or Friday off too! Such a sweet like I am living!

I am trying so much to think of a way to come and live here! Since i decided that ditching my plane ride home is not such a fantastic idea I have been looking a lot into university exchange! I have certain that I want to do an exchange just not sure if I want to return to Brazil or start over again in a completely new country! I guess i'll just have to see where life takes me!

I am also starting to see how much of a different person I am now! definitely a lot more chilled! The cliche saying 'everything happens for a reason' is a such a darn good reason for everything i never worrying about much!

I finally hitch hiked the other day! My sister and I caught the bus to my house, except that this bus doesn't go all the way to our neighbourhood so we hitch hiked a ride the rest of the way! I was so tempted to take a photo, but i couldn't bring myself to be that strange. However i managed to grab a video of just how jam packed the bus was!

I had an small trip with 3 of us exchange students here in my city and it was again, one of the best weekend ever! We went and stayed with another exchange student in his city called Santa Rita Passa Quatro. His dad is one of the best rotarians I have met here who really cares for us exchange students! He organised a tour for us around the city taking us to the small jesus christ there, two waterfalls, a house on a lean which was so much fun, it left me feeling nauseous! We also met the governador of my district at there rotary meeting! and the coolest part was the rotary went from 9pm to 3am!!!

Here is a photo of my school friends too!

This month I have a trip coming up to Sao Paulo, MY 18 BIRTHDAYYYY!!, and then in December I will have my school graduation, where i actually get to recieve a 'diploma' and the dance. I don't have many free weekends left so I am trying to enjoy every single minute! I have decided sleep is just not important anymore.

Anywho, I really will try to write a little bit more frequently, but I mean lifes great!

Tchau!

P.s Its super hot already here! I am dying, can not wait for the cool in NZ! and where the norm is to have houses warmer than outside! all though the contrary is rather good here.

A vida louca!

This picture really describes how i feel about my exchange right now! I don't want to go hooooome! The other day I even had a nightmare that i had to rush home and didn't get to say goodbye to anyone! I'm still four months out but can feel this year coming to end and just wish time would stop, i don't think i will ever be ready to say goodbye to all the people who have made this year so fantastic!

I'm realising how lucky I have been with the families I have had and the friends I have! I must admit the start of my year in class was not the easiest! all my the people in my class are super close and it was hard to break into their circle! But i am so glad i stuck it out, because even though the guys are completely and utterly immature a lot of the time, they are still pretty cool people! and the girls are some of my closest friends here in Brasil!  I had a new exchange student in my class and she found it too hard, as the people in my class expect the exchange student to talk to them first not the other way round and she decided to switch classes the other day! I remember the first day I spoke to the whole class! They were all a playing the brasilian game, truco, and i mustered up all the courage I had to walk up to them and ask what game it was! 

I have now been living with my third family for three weeks now and I am really enjoying it ! My host mum is so lovely! The other day I was saying to her how I wanted to learn to cook some brasilian meals, especially strogonoff, my favourite food here! So today she called me into the kitchen and spent her time teaching me how to do it and explainig why she does each thing! I can now say I have atleast one brasilian dish down pat! I even managed to write down the recipe from what I remembered afterwards in portuguese! In my first week here she also rung to my first and second host families asking which food i liked, and asked me which things i liked! I was so happy to be leaving with some mangos!!! They are so delicious here and will definitely be a food i miss the most! Along with acai and strawberry juice! 

The next four months are going to so fun which will mean the time is only going to go faster! This month i have a rotary encounter on the 26, 27th and 29th of September, than October i think there is an optional trip planned for us to Sao Paulo which i definitely entend on taking up, November is my birthday, wohoooooooo, and than December my school graduation (which the kids in my class are currently debating whether i can take part or not) and also the formal! This is a sit down dinner until midnight and then a dance until the morning!  The mum of my best friend at school was so lovely and said i can sit at her table and enter for free! When usually it would cost more than $100! My final weeks I'll be spending in Recife which is on the northeast,  (15th december until 4th of January) with the family I am living with now! They keep telling me how hot it will be and I think i will probably spend most of my time in any water that I can find!

The new exchange students here are really cool, how it is different because they are all bonding over arriving, missing family etc and for me its so normal that it can get so tiring to listen to! The families are also trying to invite us to barbecues all at the same time and I'm constantly having to choose between things with my school friends and these barbecues! Which is also getting fustrating! The new exchange students are here for a whole year! So much time for all these barbecues hahahah i feel like everybody needs to take a breath!

I am really understanding a lot more at school now and have started enjoy some classes! Surprisingly chemistry is my favourite class! I really did not like it in NZ! Physics and maths are still super exhausting! I don't think i will ever be able to do physics and maths is so different here! As they don't use calculators the formulas are also changed to make equations easier to work out without a calculator and i just can't wrap my head around it!

I think i have finally decided in University! I applied for both Vic and Otago because i wanted to have more than one option incase anything went wrong. but if it all works out I want to study health science at otago! Although i am not aiming to do medicine, i like the sound of biomedical science and health science is a more broad year so i have can find out what i am interested in and choose from there rather than just limiting myself to one degree like i would be at vic. 

The other day my host sister woke late for school so my host mum left for school and told her to meet us for lunch. After school when i asked my mum how my sister had arrived at lunch she simply said 'she hitched a ride'. I thought that was a pretty funny joke and laughed along but turns out it was true!!! I live in a neighbourhood out of town and apparently its normal to hitch a ride into the city! Lets just say I have added it on my list of things to do here!

I also have eating a whole chili on my list, i dont know why but i feel like i wont have lived life until i have done so. 

I'm pretty sure thats it! tchau!!! 

Videos!

I thought it was about time to share some videos I've taken along the way! I dont have many as my camera managed to make its way to the U.S with one of the exchange students and I'm still waiting for it to come back to me! Lucky I have a reeeeally old camera lying around so excuse the really terrible video quality! From top to bottom, 1. Rope swing in a freezing cold waterfall in Ubatuba, 2. Boat Ride on a super slow boat in Ubatuba! 3. The Christ Redeemer 4. again the christ redeember and lastly A very small protest in Petropolis

Exactly why my blog is called 'Brazilian Antics'

Today has been a bit of an interesting day to say the least and i must say i think i've done pretty well to recover!
School was school and lunch was lunch and then cleaning my teeth and plate wasn't just cleaning my teeth and plate. I really haven't had much luck with my plate at all! I've gone from having the creepiest lisp, to losing the thing at school on Monday - the call to the guard on the gate to go and retrieve it is close to one of the most humiliating things I have to do here - and then today...I managed to snap it in half! I really have no idea exactly how it happened, one minute i was scrubbing away and then next there was a piece in each hand! I literally stood staring at it for 5 minutes and all i kept thinking was how many mothers I now have who were going to kill me if they found out! I quickly shoved both halves in my mouth so no one would see, and luckily enough had organised for to go into the centre with the new exchange student Austin, except our shopping plans were replaced with visiting the dentist!

I stopped by my first host mums work to ask for directions to the dentist and she literally had so many questions I swear she wouldn't ask if I didn't have something to hide! "Don't you have to wear your plate today" -  my best answer was " no not today", hahaha yeah she looked a little confused. "Why do you have to go to the dentist?" "Just for a visit". But there was no way i was letting her know I had ruined a tiny $1000 thing, I had owned for two weeks and hadn't even paid for yet!

Thankfully Austin didn't understand anything I was saying to her and since she can't speak portuguese was keeping my secret very well!

Anywho, after about 20 minutes of trying to find the dentist on google map, and another 15 looking for the place ( last time I tried to walk there with her we didn't find it...) I arrived and hadn't exactly figured out how i was going to explain my situation, so i kind of just burst into the place, said in very broken portuguese "ha ha I ah haha have a problem ha I haha broke this haha" and held it up to show her! Thankfully she assured me it was a very common problem and sat me down to wait for the dentist!

Once we saw him he really was so nice! The first thing I said was "so ah, no one really needs to know i did this right??" He was very understanding and fixed it for me with this disgusting something, a nod of his head and the day was sweetened with a little acai ;)

Moral of the story - I really am a big girl and can sort things by myself now!

P.s Hey mum! ;)

7 Months!

I have just spend the 20 minutes reading over my blog and its crazy how much my mindset has changed over the last 7 months here! Things that were once strange have become normal, I now enjoy going to school rather than absolutely dreading waking up every morning, and once always feeling hungry due to the complete difference of meal times, I've now come to enjoy eating a good sized meal for lunch and not having to worry too much about dinner!

Also as I write this many words that I want to write come to me in portuguese first and I have to translate into English, which at one time I really did not think was possible! 

All of this thinking back in time is because we now have a new exchange student who arrived from the states yesterday! I remember being in her exact position and am so glad i'm past that! A year is really too short! The time in which i really started living here was probably around the 4 -5 month mark and since then time has just gone way too fast! She was a little nervous because her family doesn't speak much English but i told her it really is the best thing she could have got because she'll pick up the language that much faster! 

 We have also had two mexicans here for a week or so, but because they are with my club I don't know there families and routine so its harder to just 'invite' myself over the family to say hi! Instead i've organised to get to know them better by organising an exchange outing next Friday for us all which should be fun! 

I have now changed families which although i know is for the best and because its always good to learn new things about Brasil, I still miss my old family a crazy amount! I feel a little homesick for their house rather than in NZ! Mainly because I was treated like one of their children! I'm super close to my host brother there as he is the same age and we had a lot of the same friends! But i'm sure they will keep seeing me regularly! I'm just glad i didn't stay with them until the end of my exchange because it would have been super sad to leave brasil than! Well even more sad than its going to be! Its strange to explain to people, but i now have a life here! I have friends, ALOT of family and am in the loop like I would be in NZ. I'm invited to parties, can invite myself my friends houses or invite them to mine, ask them to things! When I imagine returning to NZ its the strangest thing because at the start of exchange i felt like i would be living here for ever, so acted like it, but actually its so far from that! I can already smell the end! 

I managed to acquire my own room and bathroom again in this house! what a luxury way of living! I also feel like my increase in body mass should slow down a little as they eat more healthy and less here, i'm so far away from any shops to buy anything, and i now have my plate, so i'm too lazy to snack and then brush my teeth again. 

   

I learnt to take the bus a couple weeks back and it was so nice to gain some independence! I could go to the centre, the shopping and return home whenever! I didn't have to wait until my host parents finished work at 6 or 7. It took me a while to learn as there is nothing at the bus stops or on the internet telling you which to bus to take to where, and no one in my family really knew so it wasn't until I asked the maid that I found out! The bus's also works so much more efficiently than in NZ. First you hop on and rather than paying to the bus driver, there is a turning thingy in the front of the bus with someone sitting there and you pay to him, once you pay he lets you through the turning thing. Its efficient because sometimes there can be 10+ people getting on, so once everyone is on the bus driver can keep n going while the people line up to pay! The only down side is you have to make sure to secure both your hands to something as the drivers are crazzyyy, drive super fast and don't really slow down for corners so whilst your waiting to pay it can get a little scary! 

I was thinking the other day i have been managed to achieve many ordinary things here that I wouldn't in NZ!

- I haven't lost one bit of stationery!

- I haven't lost a pawpaw!!! (usually in NZ I would go through one a month)

- I keep my room so tidy I haven't had to spend more than a couple minutes tidying this whole year! I've kind of turned into an organising freak

- I have never run out of shampoo, conditioner soap etc simply because i have to rely on myself for this so have a huge stock of it! 

- I have managed to live without a straightener this whole year due to mine breaking in the first month, and me not wanting to spend my money on a new one!
- I managed to wear a pair of brand new jandals down to the ground in only 4 months! 

- aaand lastly, the amount  times of i have shifted i have only lost one piece of clothing! 

anywhoo tchau for now!

July Holidays!

These were my first holidays here in Brasil! And with 6 and a half weeks off I am starting to appreciate the NZ way of school holidays! What turned out to be a nice breath of fresh air has turned into a long road of boring days! with all the other exchange students having left, my siblings gone on an adventure and class mates all travelling! I hate to say it but I am itching to get back into the routine of things and the 5th of August really couldn't come any sooner! Although i can't complain as I traveled a lot in the school term, i feel sorry for all my classmates who have to stick the term out for so long (February until July)! New Zealand definitely has the right idea allowing us to take a break and restart our brain regularly!

So my trip along the coast was absolutely amazing! Our first stop was a little town Ubatuba, and because the city has acquired the name Uba- chuva ( chuba being rain) i definitely didn't have high hopes for this small town! However once we arrived I was taken by surprise. This city took on the 'small cute beach town' kind of look but actually had 365 different beaches! One for everyday of the year, my dream town! Aaand it didn't rain once! Our first two days were in the high 20's and the last day 34 degrees! In the middle of winter I might add.

After this we drove along to RIOOOOOOOO! I have been waiting 6 months for this moment but was disappointed when we got there and had hit the rare bad weather! It was pretty cold (20 degrees which I now feel as cold!) but we still enjoyed a bike ride along Copacabana beach and managed to visit the Christ Redeemer which was absolutely beautiful!

 And our last few days were spent up in the mountains in Petropolis and Teresopolis, it was about 13 degrees and I was wearing nearly all the clothes I had bought! Petropolis which appeared to be a poor city turned to out to hold some great history! We visited a museum which was one of the summer houses of the royals back in the imperial times! All the furniture, artwork, everything was preserved so much we had to wear special shoes and couldn’t take pictures! The museum held an original crown and robe which was absolutely beautiful to look at! The crown had 639 diamonds and 77 pearls! This house is one of my favourite things I have seen in Brasil.

Biking along Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches!

Me and the Turkey Exchange Student

Being an adventurous kiwi at the waterfalls!

Island beach we went to, was a 3 hour boat ride!

The water was so clear! Paradise!!!

Paraty, Original 15th century street, no cars allowed

There is no carpet here in any houses in Brasil, just because its usually not cold enough for it to be needed! But because of this, brazilians wear shoes all the time in the house! When they wake up, the first thing they do is put shoes on, even if they aren't going out! For me this is so strange! Who thinks when they first wake 'oooh shoe time!', instead i'm more like 'oh food time!'  Its been such a hard habit for me to get into and my host parents are having to remind me all the time to put some shoes on! Luckily my lovely mother sent me a pair of slippers to use but I mean everybody knows kiwi's love to walk around in bare feet!

I thought it was about time I showed you my room and family since I will most probably be moving families in a month! I have been so lucky with my room, i have a walk in wardrobe which than continues onto my own bathroom! Most of the rooms here in Brasil have there own bathrooms, it will be strange returning to a communal one in NZ! aaand the thing i find most strange is all doors have locks, suspicious! Just so you know, my family isn't always this funny looking ;) but i love this photo!

I have been busy telling everyone back home that I haven't really had a winter here yet, apart from the beginning of June most days are atleast in the low 20's. However i'm pretty sure I've now screwed that good luck up for me! these past three days have been absolutely freezing! Brazilian homes are made to keep the cool out and heat in, which is absolutely fantastic in the 35 degree summer heat! But when the the 8 degree whether hits, I don't have much love for the brick walls! There are no heating devices and I've resulted in leaving the bathroom door open when I have a shower to help let some sort of heat into my room (i don't think it really works but i'm going to keep on hoping). I'm pretty sure tonight i'm going to be making a homemade hottie to help warm the bed!

There are three new exchange students coming to my city at the beginning of August, one from the states who will be in my club and the other two from Mexican joining one of the other rotary clubs. I have only spoken to one of the girls but she seems lovely! I can't wait to have some new company! However they have some pretty big shoes to fill because my last exchange friends were pretty damn cool! All three of them will be going to my school which will be so strange since it was just me for 6 months! And i am a little nervous because it took so long to make some great school friends I don't want things somehow changing because they are arriving! However I am pretty certain  they are going to be in the year below me and everything will work out! I have definitely learnt along this crazy road 'Everything happens for a reason'.

I have recently been having some problems with my jaw here and it has probably been one of the hardest things to go through without family! Just being able to explain everything in English and therefore have people to understand exactly rather than 'kinda'! But long story short, I have a displaced disk on both sides of my jaw, however the right is more severe and most of time held in a locked position, so will require surgery when i get back to NZ. At the moment I will be fitted with a plate to help alleviate some of the pressure on my jaw, and  which also means I can go back to enjoying the last half of my exchange! Still feels so strange to say that!

I gave my first public presentation to an English school here which I really enjoyed! I was so nervous at the beginning as I was then told i had to talk for 30 minutes but i had shortened my presentation to only 15 minutes! It turned out well though because everyone asked questions for the next 45 minutes! It just showed me how little people know about our good old country! Most of the people didn't even know NZ was made of two main islands! It was really cool to see how interested people were in NZ ranging from where I live, to how the government works to the relationship between pakeha and maori people.

I think that is all for now! and update soon! 

Saying Goodbye

This was a draft i did a while ago but never posted so here it is anyway!

This past week has been one of the saddest weeks here as I said goodbye to my two best friends on Tuesday and Wednesday! Although I only new them for 5 months of my life, they probably know and understand more about me than those friends I have back home who I have known for most of my life. I found this amazing quote on an exchange student group on facebook and couldn't help but share it with you all!

"I am an exchange student. How do you know what is a dream if you never accomplished one? How do you know what is an adventure if you never took part in one? How do you know what is anguish if you never said goodbye to your family and friends with your eyes full of tears? How do you know what is being desperate, if you never arrived in a place alone and could not understand a word of what everyon......e else was saying? How do you know what is diversity if you never lived under the same roof with people from all over the world? How do you know what is tolerance, if you never had to get used to something different even if you didn’t like it. How do you know what is autonomy, if you never had the chance to decide something by yourself? How do you know what it means to grow up, if you never stopped being a child to start a new course? How do you know what is to be helpless, if you never wanted to hug someone and had a computer screen to prevent you from doing it? How do you know what is distance, if you never, looking at a map, said “I am so far away”? How do you know what is a language, if you never had to learn one to make friends? How do you know what is patriotism, if you never shouted “ I love my country” holding a flag in your hands? How do you know what is an opportunity, if you never caught one? How do you know what is pride, if you never experienced it for yourself at realizing how much you have accomplished? How do you know what is a friend, if the circumstances never showed you the true ones. How do you know what is a family, if you never had one that supported you unconditionally? How do you know what are borders, if you never crossed yours, to see what there was on the other side? How do you know what is imagination, if you never thought about the moment when you would go back home? How do you know the world, if you have never been an exchange student?

I am now on 5 weeks holiday, woohoo, first holidays of the year, and guess what!!!! I'm off to Rio babyyyyy! My old host mum a short term exchange student from Turkey who she taking to travel up the coast of Brasil and she asked me to go with her! Ten days of travel, four of those which will be in Rio! I am so excited, and can't wait for the 5th of July.

I had my first cultural disagreement with my family the other day! Here in Brasil it is normal for students to stay living with their parent for a very long time. My family said it would even be considered normal for kids to stay until they are 40 if they haven't married yet! I felt like I had walked into a country set in the mid 1900's. It was so strange for me to think children here rely on their parents for so long, they don't learnt to live off their own money, make their own decisions, and be able to rely on only themselves until such a late age. Unlike NZ where a lot of us move out of home for university, here it is more usual for children to stay in the same city for university. This is partly to do with cost, but even those working full time will not find their own place to live and are not required to help out in anyway at home. One thing my host parents said to me is 'but we like our children, they will always be our babies and we want them living at home'. It was as if they thought that when we move out of home at 18 it wasn't to learnt to live on our own two feet but instead  its because 'our parents don't love us'. I had to stop myself telling them everyone needs to let go of their children and let them live life independently. However I knew they weren't going to understand or agree with this and in the end is just showed my how diverse cultures are over the world!

June!

June has arrived, and has certainly bought some interesting cards to the table!

My teacher on the right dressed as a girl!

Fetsa Junina (a celebration held at the start of every winter where people where traditional clothes, eat traditional food and dance to traditional music) was recently celebrated here, and we had a big party in my school. True to being a good old exchange student I turned not realising what was going on at all! The guys in my class had set up a way to make money where they made a 'jail' and people paid 1 real to incarcerate and unsuspecting people who then either had to wait 30 minutes!!! or pay two reais to get out! Apparently no one had to pay for me to be chucked in, and i found myself stuck there for a good 15 minutes before pleading to be let go ( I was not going to pay anything, as an exchange student even the smallest of change is needed) and i found out after they made 800 reais anyway, which is about $500!!!

Last Thursday night I attempted to wash my clothes as a big pile had started to appear, and its not like I had never done the washing in NZ! Anyway I wake up Friday morning having forgotten to hang my washing out and begin this conversation with my host mum
 'Did you wash some clothes yesterday?'
'Yes sorry, i forgot to dry it',
'ha ha ha',
 'why?'
 'they are all rubbish'
For once in my life I had no idea what to say, in English or Portuguese. She then begins to tell me I had put house cleaner, one to make the house nice and white (which actually appears pink) in my washing instead of washing stuff, and then brings me a pair of my pajama pants. I'm not sure why she choose the worst effected item of clothing to show me because at the point I had a meltdown. Buying clothes here in not an option as one, i'm so much taller than everyone else not only are pants not long enough but also the sleeves on jerseys, and two all the clothes are so expensive! I've had a few days to think of how to acquire some new clothes and still haven't really come up with a good plan yet!


I seem to be able to say things in portuguese a lot more, but hilarious instances still arise!
The other day when i was deciding what to wear for Festa Junina I somehow said 'Do i have to wear clothes'. This is because I often forgot that in Portuguese you have to be a lot more specific about how you say things. For example in NZ if someone asks 'when are you coming?' you could reply, I'm on my way, be there in 10, give me 5, etc. All of these examples are very unspecific. But in Portuguese it doesn't make sense to directly translate this, instead they say 'I will arrive in 10 minutes' or just 'arriving'.

There is only 9 days left with my best friend here on exchange and I am definitely not ready to say goodbye! It so strange to have been at a different part in my exchange the whole way through, and at times i wished I had someone who arrived at the same time as me rather than hearing the usual 'we went through that too'. However due to this i have become good friends with the people in my class at school which when i first arrived would have never imagined happening!

Other than that i think everything else is the same! Only 20 more days of school, wohhhoooo, before the break! I can't wait :D

Minha vida no Brasil!

I can already say my exchange is flying by way too fast considering one third has passed already! The last four months haven't been easy, there have been numerous moments when I've wonder what I got myself into, but in the light of it I know that i found myself a pretty awesome opportunity!

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 :)

April fools!

March is over and sometimes I have to give myself a little pinch to realise that I'm actually in South America! In Brazil! :D

I am trying to speak Portuguese at every moment possible, but that also means there are many more opportunities for a few mistakes to occur here and there! numerous words in Brazil are so similar its easy to mix them up, which can result in some rather hilarious sentences!
Freshly squeezed juice is more common than water here and my family found it very strange I always chose to drink water instead! When I tried to reply 'I like water better' my reply became 'Eu gosto água mulher'. Which translates to I like water woman! My family thought i had randomly changed the topic and started talking about mermaids! The actual word for better is, Melhor.
Another example is the word bread which translates to pão. The word for penis is pao. The ã sound is very nasally and besides the fact its very hard to make also sounds like a rather awkward moan. On the few occasions I would attention this word I would without a doubt say instead, 'Eu quero (I want) pao by mistake. Now I just never ask for bread.

A couple weekends ago I went on my first district orientation here in Sao Carlos! another district joined us which meant there was a mass of crazy cool, exchange students hanging out for three days! Nothing beats a like minded exchange student! The first night we stayed in a hostel close to the university usually intended for male soccor players which therefore wasn't the cleanest of accommodation. Needless to say it was an experience!

We were lucky enough to visit a coffee factory and Tam museum - one of the best museums in Brasil. But my favourite day was the last! In the morning we mere given the opportunity to milk a cow which I obviously took up! It was surprisingly fun, and I did the good old exchange student thing and tried the milk after! I can't say it was amazing, but if in need its definitely drinkable!

After this we went to a natural lake where the sand was a metal which meant the water bubbled underneath it! When you put your free on the ground it wasn't solid, instead you sunk through and it felt like air! When I tried to pull my feet it felt like they were being pulled on!

Lastly that day we walked to a waterfall and got to dive in! I was really nervous at the start, the water wasn't deep at all so you had to skim on top rather than diving deep! But after a couple tries I think I had it mastered!

Its always so sad saying goodbye to the exchange student, you never know who you will see and won't see again! But luckily we have another encounter in May before all the oldies leave! :D

My host sister on the left and I! 

I am moving families today! I am excited but so nervous! It was nice to have settled into another family and know how everything worked and what not! But I'm sure now that I can speak a little Portuguese I will become familiar with everything a lot faster. I will be living in a different condomino (this is like a residential area with security gates and guards). I will have a 19 yr old sister who went on exchange to Germany, and two brothers aged 17 and 12. I'm sure moving families will make time fly by even more so I am trying to live everyday here to the max! I have looked into taking some extra activities outside of school and think I am going to take water aerobics, tap class, various rhythm class which teaches the samba, salsa, tango etc and I am trying to find a Portuguese class! This will surely keep me busy and hopefully surround me with some cool locals ;)

It was Easter this weekend and I must say so different to NZ I felt a little homesick! Here Easter is really only aimed for the little children, whereas in NZ its the day where I can become a child! We went to Porto Ferreira again and I'm sure half the town turned up at the house! It was nice to just chill, relax by the pool and meet new people but by the second night I was absolutely exhausted from all the translating and I went to bed at 9 and didn't wake up until 9.30. Somehow as an exchange student your always tired, no matter how much sleep you get!

I have my school trip coming up in ten days, the amazon trip in a months, and another encounter three days after so the next two months are going to be filled with fun and I will surely have a lot to update you all with!

But Tchau for now! :)