Three Weeks Disconnected

Oi!
I apologize for not posting for the past two weeks! I have been super busy! But I have so much to tell!

I'll begin with talking a little more about the food here. Almost every day for breakfast I have a Panini-esque ham and cheese sandwich with some coffee and yogurt. It's interesting because here, eating sausage or bacon or even eggs for breakfast seems not normal by any means. The coffee is a lot stronger here so I can't just inhale a 16 oz. cup of coffee here like I could back at Blue Monday and the Hideaway. For lunch, it's always juice, rice, beans, a salad or some greens, and the days choice of meat. The meat here is FANTASTIC. I live in a very agricultural area so I am pretty sure there is a lot of fresh meat readily available for purchase. We eat pork, lamb, beef, steak, ribs, chicken, and a bunch of different cuts of all of those things that I really don't understand when they explain it to me in Portuguese. Lunch is always freshly cooked by my host mom when I get home from school around noon, and is a big step from the greasy cheese pizza I would always buy in the lower caf at NHS. Dinner is the meal that varies the most out of the three. Since lunch is the biggest meal of the day here, dinner is usually fairly small, which has taken a little getting used to. We go out for pizza sometimes, have left overs from lunch, or cook a little bit more meat but it's really not a huge meal and a lot of time we are eating dinner at Rotary meetings or at the houses of family friends.

I thought that May 25th, 2012 would be my last day of high school. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Here I go to a school by the name of Colegio Cristhiane Archer Dal Bosco, or CAD for short. It the best private school in my city and most of the kids who attend are pretty wealthy. Because both of my brothers are unable to give me a ride to school in the morning, I have to wake up at 5:30am in order to catch the van to school after a shower and a little breakfast. I live about 10 minutes away from my school by car, but the ride in the van is about 45 minutes because of all the stops we have to make to pick up other kids. On Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, I have school from 7am until 11:30am, which is really not too bad. But on Wednesdays and Thursdays I have school from 7am to 11:30am, then a lunch break and then more school from 1pm to 5:30pm. My school day on Wednesdays and Thursday is essentially 12 hours long because I have to wake up at 5:30am and I finish school at 5:30pm. The reason I have so much school is because I am a third year student here, which is the equivalent of a senior at a high school in the USA. At the end of their third year, students here have to take a big test called the Vestibular which will determine which college they are allowed to attend, etc, which is why they have so much school. In my mind, I don't see the need for me to go to all this school because I have learned it all before in English and have already been accepted into college in the USA, buuuuuuuut Rotary and my school here think differently. I'm not a huge fan of school here at the moment, but I think once I learn more Portuguese and can understand a bit more, I'll enjoy it more. For those of you that know me well, you know that I was never a huge fan of math class back in good ol' MN. But here I can't get enough of it! Because my Portuguese is still coming along, it's still different for me to understand what the teachers are explaining a lot of the time. When it comes to math class, when the teacher is writing an equation on the board or assigning problems as homework for the next day, I CAN ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND IT! I am probably the best at math in my class here and helping other people in class with the problems is the best part of my day some days. It's hard to be seen as intelligent when I have the Portuguese vocabulary of a two year old, but when it comes to math, I can actually understand and explain a lot of things with numbers, which I really enjoy.

Although I'm not really enjoying the "school part" of school. I LOVEEE the people I have met. They are constantly asking me if they can help me, whether it's with understanding what the teacher said, or completing the assignment for the next day. Every school day they ask me if I can hangout with them after school or during the upcoming weekend. They are always smiling and laughing together and have been so hospitable towards me as they have invited me into their little groups of friends. It's impossible to better my best friends from back in Northfield, but here in Brazil, all my new friends are fantastic and I don't think I could have asked for better :)

I have started going to the gym to work out a couple days during week, which is paid for by Rotary. I really enjoy the gym. Along with playing soccer, it's a good way to relieve stress and get some exercise. I have to thank my trainer back in Northfield, Jeff Woods, for teaching me how to create a sensible work out schedule because otherwise I would be completely in the dark. I am still playing soccer a couple times a week as well, both Futsal (inside on a court) and Futebol(outside on the grass).

I have also had the pleasure of meeting the other two exchange students in my city. Barbara Mendez from Mexico and Domenica Toro from Ecuador. They are both amazing and speak Spanish, Portuguese and English very well. They have been so helpful both in helping me learn Portuguese and helping me learn what the Rotary people are actually telling us when they are giving us important information. They are both super nice and funny and make great company at the gym. Unfortunately we all go to different schools, so it is hard to share that part of our experience. Although initially I wish we went to the same school, I think in the long run it is a better choice because it forces us not rely on the comfort and company of other exchange students and make more Brazilian friends. Below is Domenica (Left), Barbara (Middle) and Me out on the river.

If you haven't yet seen pictures, I had my first experience on a Brazilian river last weekend. A client of my older brother at the bank owns a boat and took us out to swim and have lunch. It was a great time and a great way to meet some more people and connect with the other exchange students. The river looked very "Amazony" with a bunch of crazy vegetation, etc. I can't even imagine what the Amazon river is going to look like!

This past weekend was pretty eventful. On Friday we had a very fancy Rotary dinner with the Governor of our Rotary district and his wife. On Saturday, I was invited to my friend Talitha's house for lunch and a day by the pool. I honestly don't know if I have ever laughed so hard and so much over the course of 6 hours. The company at her house was fantastic and I had a great time. I had a wonderful, long conversation (in Portuguese! yay me!) with her father, a journalist here in my city, about his experiences traveling the United States. It is really interesting to speak with people here about their opinions about the USA, because they have a completely different understanding about the US because they grew up in Brazil.

After Talitha's house on Saturday, I went to this festival thingy at a school in my city with my host mom and some family friends. I met up with Barbara ( the exchange student from Mexico) there and had a good time with her and some of her friends from school. I learned a lot more about Brazilian culture at the festival and also just a lot more about the Brazilian way of life. After the festival, I went to a super fancy black and white dance which started at midnight. Yes, STARTED at midnight. Here in Brazil, parties and social events start late at night and end at five or six in the morning. I really enjoyed the black and white dance. I met up with some friends from school there and got a few quasi dance lessons (which I desperately need). On Sunday, my family spent the day at the house of a family friend on the river. We played soccer and went swimming and had a nice relaxing day.

A scary little tid-bit. I learned yesterday that in Castelo de Sonhos (the city to which I traveled two weeks ago to visit my father at work), a man killed his son and drank his blood and was then lynched and burned by the townspeople. Kinda nuts huh?

On a happier note. I have become a lot closer with my little host nieces and nephews here. They LOVE Photo Booth on my computer. If you aren't familiar with it, it is a picture program that distorts your face and makes it look all funny and stuff. No one in my family has ever seen something like that before and they could not stop laughing at all the funny pictures we took. Below and left is me, Gabriel, and my host niece Isabella. Below and right is me, my host nephews Joao Peter and Helluan, and their friend from down the street.





As usual, my host family is amazing. I get closer and closer to them every day. I now feel like a true part of the family instead of someone who is just very welcome in their home. I think sometime soon, I'm going to attempt to make omelets for them. We'll see how that goes. I'll be sure to tell you about it.

Apparently my family back at home doesn't miss me too much because they already replaced me with an exchange student from Japan :) I'm kidding of course. Mizuki Oeda arrived in my house a couple of days ago and is in very good hands! I wish her the best of luck on her exchange in Northfield!

Make sure to check out my Flickr page for some more pictures!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/averynelson/

I will try and post more frequently from now on!

Tchau!

A Weekend in Pará

Friday night I played soccer with some friends from school. We played a type of soccer called “Futsal” which is played with a smaller, heavier ball and on a court (a little bigger than a basketball court) instead of a grass or synthetic turf field.  After I came home and had a bite to eat, I went out with Gabriel and some of his friends. The “thing to do” is to go downtown Sinop and park your car and just hangout on the streets. It is called “Avenida” and it is sort of the main street of Sinop, which has all the clubs and bars, etc. We got home around 1:00am. 

After about three and a half hours of sleep (~4:30am) we began our drive to Pará. Pará is the state directly above Mato Grosso. Fortunately, Rotary does not allow me to drive while on exchange, so I got to sleep in the car while Graciano drove. I rode shotgun (leg room! Woot woot!) while Gabriel and my host Mom rode in the back. The drive to Pará was about six hours long including a stop at a beautiful waterfall by the name of Cachuera de Curua (“Cachoeira” is “Waterfall” in Portuguese). The waterfall was in the middle of nowhere and was everything but a popular tourist location. We hiked down to the base of the waterfall on a sketchy trail through amazon-esque vegetation.

Our final destination was a town called Castelo de Sonhos (Castle of Dreams). The town really didn’t live up to its name. There wasn’t a single paved road besides a major highway, which divided the town down the middle. We arrived at our hotel and I experienced a very important introduction. My host father works up in Para, driving large machinery for a lumber company. This was the first time I had met my father since I arrived. I guess it has only been a week, even though it has felt like a month. I wish I could understand more of what my father was saying, because he is constantly making everyone laugh and smile. Since my host father works six hours away from Sinop, my host siblings only get to see their dad maybe three times every month. This made me realize how fortunate I am that I get to live at home with both my parents all year long.

After we ate lunch, we took a quick nap and headed to the beach. We are wayyyyyy inland, so going to the beach meant going to the side of the river. We went on a walk as a family up the river a ways, jumping from rock to rock and trying not to fall in. Then Gabriel and I went for a swim, which was super fun and a good test of my swimming abilities as the current was fairly strong. The sun went down shortly after we dried off and we went back to the hotel room to shower before dinner.

Dinner was fantastic. We ate at a small restaurant in Castelo do Sonhos, where the only thing they served was fish. I really do not know what kind of fish it was, or what was on it, or anything about it really besides the fact that it was fish. Although I probably spent 15 minutes picking little tiny fish bones out of my mouth and food, I still enjoyed it and it was extremely tasty. After that, we dropped Gabriel off at the hotel because he was exhausted, and the four of us (Mae, Pae, and Graciano and I) went to watch some live music and experience some more of the nightlife.

This area of Brazil (rural Pará) is completely different than anything I had ever seen before. The people appear to be very poor and live in tiny little houses that look like they could fall apart at any moment. But they all seem happy and content with their lives. Everything is dirty and dusty and most everyone drives little dirt bikes as their mode of transportation. It is very different from Sinop, the town I live in, which is very different from Northfield and most of the United States. This weekend I realized that I am definitely in a different country, with different people, different places, and a different way of living.

We also visited the place where my host father works in Castelo de Sonhos. He works for a lumber company, driving large machinery and cutting down trees. Castelo de Sonhos lies on the south edge of the amazon, so deforestation is somewhat of a popular profession. 

The following morning, we said goodbye to my host dad and headed home to Sinop. On the way back, we saw a little white car that was all smashed up on the side of the road. It had been in a terrible accident. We learned a little more about the accident once we got into cell service. It turns out that the woman driving the car was the mother of a friend of Graciano’s fiancé, and had died in the crash. Below is a picture of the car.

After our trip to Pará, I feel even closer with my host family (have I mentioned how much I like them?) and feel more comfortable with my Portuguese as well.

I added a bunch of pictures to my Flickr page from this weekend so check those out!

Until next post!

Tchau

A Basic Understanding

The past week has been full of new sights, places and people that I never could have imagined!

My Portuguese has gotten much better. When I landed in Sinop, I knew very little. Now, I have had countless dreams in Portuguese and can converse with my host family and others using basic vocabulary and sentences, etc. I am able to make conversation with kids at school, even though they laugh as I mispronounce word after word. It is still very overwhelming when a bunch of adults are spitting question after question at me in Portuguese at the dinners I attend. My family and friends have been very patient with me since the second I landed. They repeat things for me all the time and have to tell me multiple times how to say certain things.

Let me tell me about my family. My mother Milanea is fantastic and very understanding and helpful. I have yet to meet my host father, Adimir, as he is currently working in the state of Para. I have two host brothers. Graciano, my older brother, is 26 and works at a bank in town. He is very helpful and is always driving me places and helping me with my Portuguese. My younger brother Gabriel is seventeen and is the only one that lives at home with me and my host parents, the rest live elsewhere in Sinop. Gabriel has taken quite a liking to Ultimate frisbee, which is not a popular sport down here. I doubt there are any for sale in Sinop. I have three host sisters. I had dinner last night with my oldest sister, Gisele, who has the cutest little daughter named Mariana. My other older sister, Grasiele, has three children. The oldest, Helluan (above) is 12 and is the featured in many of my flickr pictures. She then has one younger boy and another cute little girl named Isabella. My youngest host sister is named Giane and is currently on exchange to Mexico through Rotary. --- I couldn't have asked for a better host family. They are above and beyond what I expected. 

Futebol-Graciano learned a while ago that I enjoy playing soccer and brings me to play with his friends from work multiple times during the week. It gets dark here around 17:30 so when we play at 18:00, we have to play under the lights. We play on a smaller 6v6 field that is covered with synthetic turf. Playing soccer with these Brazilians has been one of my favorite parts of my exchange so far. If you know anything about Brazilian soccer, you will know that the coined phase is "Joga Bonito" or "Play Beautiful". They definitely play beautifully. Their passes, their tricks, and their laughs all contribute to the understanding I now have of Brazilian soccer.

Escola-I had my first day of school today, and it didn't go without judgement from some of the students. Apparently they had two students at their school last year from the United States who acted like they were "all that" and really didn't gain the respect of anyone at the school. I go to an expensive private school in Sinop, so most of the kids that go there are fairly wealthy. What I learned from current situation is that not only do I represent myself and my family, but also my rotary club and the USA. People from Sinop and greater Brazil will use me as an example for all the the people in the USA, and I need to conduct my self accordingly. 

Travel Plans-This weekend I am traveling to the state of Para with my family to visit my host father. We are planning to stop at some beautiful waterfalls on the way up there. That is all the information I know about this weekend but I will blog about it after!
My mother is taking a trip to Sao Paulo is the middle of September and has just informed me that I will be accompanying her! I am very excited to go to Sao Paulo! It is supposed to be HUGEEE. 

I have had a little taste of Brazilian night life, but not enough to blog about. Not much goes on at night during the week. After soccer tonight (Friday) I am going downtown with Gabriel and will hopefully experience a little more. 

Food-I will wait to tell you about the food until I know a little bit more about what I have been eating :)

Thanks for reading! 

Until next time!.... Until next post?!

A long day

Here is the story of the longest day of my life--

p.s. you might want to grab some popcorn

I woke up on the morning of August 4th and began to finish my packing. It still hadn't really hit me that in only 30 hours I would be in Brasil. My parents helped me finalize my packing and paper work and then we picked up Grandma and headed out to the airport as a family. We made it to the airport with plenty of time and were checking my bags when we ran into Laura Kuehn's parents, who had just left her as she went through security. We then continued up to where I would have to pass through security and ran into the Hanson family. If you did not already know, I was on the same flight out of MSP as Laura Kuehn and Annika Hanson. We then went through the security line as a family and as we were reaching the end of the line, it was time to say goodbye to my family. I think we handled the goodbye as a family pretty well, but who knows what went on after I went through security ... *cough*cough*mom*cough*cough* I made it through security fine and walked down the terminal to my gate where I met Laura. We chatted for a while and waited for Annika to show and then we all boarded the plane together. Unfortunately, we were not able to get seats next to each other. 

I found 30A, put my wallet and book into the seat pocket in front on me, and settled down into my seat. After that, the flight went by quickly. I was lucky enough to be sitting next to a kind old man by the name of Doin (which is a name I have never seen/heard before). Doin and his wife had just finished a cruise which ended in Alaska. I spoke with Doin about my plans for exchange and after a while he began to tell me about his experiences as an ROTC participant right out of high school or college. He said he really needed the money, so he was sent to Germany and was getting paid $27/month! I took German for a couple of years in high school so it was fun to exchange a couple of phrases with him as we compared his experiences abroad to what we though mine would be like. Not only was Doin a well traveled fellow, he was also very thankful for every thing that he had. He wouldn't go five sentences without saying "...and I'm just so thankful that....". Listening to him be so appreciative helped me settle my nerves a little because I began to realize how thankful I am for all the support and help that I am getting with my exchange. Unfortunately, my conversation with Doin had to come to an end as we landed in Atlanta. Annika, Laura and I exited the plane and began our walk over to the tram station where we are going to catch a tram to Terminal E and the food court. 

We had probably been walking for ten minutes when I did the casual "feel up my left butt cheek" maneuver, just to check if my wallet is there. I froze as I realized my back pocket was empty, which means I had to have left my wallet on the plane. "WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DO STUFF LIKE THIS" I screamed to myself inside my head as I skipped steps back up the escalator to try and get back to my arrival gate as fast as possible. I did the best speed walking I could as I raced back to Gate A3. Just as I got there, a lady walks out of the "plane exit walkway" or whatever it's called, with a wallet and a book. OOFTA, I thought. She smiled and chuckled softly at me as she handed me my things. By this point, I was dripping with sweat and had already endured enough embarrassment to last me a couple of days. I found Annika and Laura and they giggled at me as we walked our way to Terminal E (again) and then the food court. My last meal in the United States was a $7.95 burrito with a bag of chips and some apple juice. After almoço (lunch), Annika and I had to say goodbye to Laura because Laura's connecting flight brought her through Sao Paulo and Annika and I would be traveling through Brasilia.

After saying goodbye to Laura, Annika and I found our gate for our departure to Brasilia (E14 maybe?). We were hoping to get seats together, and Annika still had not received her boarding pass for that flight out of Atlanta. Apparently, we had some good karma coming our way because after speaking with a man at the check-in counter, he got us seats 35A and 35C, with no one in between us. What this means, is that on a full flight, Annika and I had somehow managed to get 1.5 seats each. We had the back right row of the plane all to ourselves. It turns out that we had to sit on the plane an extra hour and a half because there had been too much baggage loaded onto the plane (an extra 2700lbs). As we were sitting on the plane, the flight attendant announced that they would be unloading some baggage because the plane was overweight. That was just an added stressor because now we don't know if we were going to meet our bags in Brasilia or if they were going to arrive in our cities MAYBE within the next couple of days. Finally our flight departed from Atlanta and we were on our way to Brazil! It was a looooong flight and I got little to no sleep at all. Annika helped me with some of my portuguese and we played some sudoku and eventually we made it to Brasilia.

Now that we were in Brasil, we had to re-check our bags, and since we were using different airlines for our connecting flights, Annika and I had to say goodbye to each other. After a little bit of confusion as to which company we were each supposed to be with, we said goodbye and went our separate ways. FUN FACT: Because the flight from Atlanta to Brasilia was delayed 1.5 hours, I now only had 25 minutes to make it through a long baggage check line, security, to my gate and onto my plane (while speaking Portuguese). After skipping ahead in line and rushing through security, I made it to my gate with less than a minute to spare and got a nice scowl from the woman at the Gate 1 information desk. This flight was only two hours and went by quickly because I just drank sprite and watched "Crazy Stupid Love" the whole time. Go ahead, laugh. Maybe I enjoy romantic comedies, maybe I don't, you'll never know.

I got off the plane in Cuiabá and had to re-check my luggage again. I got to the desk and showed the woman my passport and itinerary and after a while she looked at me and said "Não". She then mumbled some Portuguese that I did not understand and I came to the conclusion that she could not find my name on the flight list. So she called a supervisor over to give it a try. Meanwhile, I'm freaking out on the other side of the desk because I had no idea what I was going to do if they came to the conclusion that I am was supposed to be on that plane. To my relief, they eventually figured it out and I began to my luggage on the scale. First bag-good. Second bag-BEEP BEEP BEEP. Apparently, I had not looked at the luggage restrictions close enough and when traveling with TRIP, your second bag is only allowed to be 18kg, mine was 20.5kg. So after more broken english on their part and terrible Portuguese on my part, I ended up having to pay an extra 74 Reais (about 34.5 US Dollars). I had plenty of layover time so I waltzed through security and grabbed some Pao de Qeuijo (Brasilian cheese bread), which was absolutely delicious.

I boarded my last flight of the day and ended up sitting next to a wonderful, attractive, Brasilian woman by the name of Valquiria. She was flying home to Sorriso from Rio de Janeiro and had been doing some lab work on genetically modified cattle. She was extremely nice and smart and helped me with my Portuguese as we talked about Rotary Exchange and how her father owned a bunch of land in Mato Grosso (the state in which I am living). The flight was only about 50 minutes so we had what felt like a quick conversation and we were already in Sinop. We walked off the plan together and into the baggage claim area. I found my bags and as I was exiting the area, I was confronted with a huge sign that read "AVERY Bem Vindo ao Brasil" or "Avery Welcome to Brasil". Not only was there a huge banner with my name on it, but a bunch of smiling Brasilians waiting to hug me or shake my hang and say hello.

I hopped in the car with my host mother, Milanea, my oldest host brother, Graciano, and his wife. We drove to a churrasco (barbeque) and had a wonderful meal with fantastic meats and a bunch of lovely people. We then drove home, or to what I will be calling home for the next few months. A small green house, half of which is essentially outside. I immediately loved the place. They showed me into my room, which included a bunch of little gifts laying on my bed, then the shower and the bathroom, then the wifi, etc.. By this time I must have said "Obrigado" or "Thank you" enough for an entire army. Partially because people had been doing things for me all day and partially because it was one of the only words I knew. We hung out at home for a while and drank some Brazilian pop. After that, Graciano too me on a tour of my city, Sinop. We drove past the church, my school, downtown, and eventually ended up in a town square-ish area where we sat on the grass and drank Terere, which is an infusion of yerba mate prepared in cold water, and must be drank out of something similar to the size of a regular coffee cup. After that we went out to dinner at a local pizza joint and then headed home to rest. Finally. I had a wonderful conversation with my younger host brother, Gabriel, where he told me all about the family and showed me a bunch of family pictures and videos. After that conversation ended, I began writing this post.

I have now been awake for almost 42 hours. I have met so many great people and it has been one of the longest days of my life. It has also been one of the best days of my life.
But this day has really taken it out of me. I'm off to bed.
Thanks for reading! Boa noite! Obrigado!

T-minus 24 hours

"A sorte favorece os audazes" is a Brazilian proverb meaning "luck favors the bold". I chose this as the title for my blog because I think it is going to be a good fit for the experiences I will have in the upcoming year. My travels will take me far outside my comfort zone, with people and places that I cannot even imagine. 

The adjective "bold" can be defined as: Willing to take risks; confident and courageous.

I believe that if I am bold and can push myself outside my comfort zone, my experience will be far better than if I stay where I am comfortable and make my year in Brazil as easy as I can.

It seems like a couple days ago that I got home from school and received a letter in the mail informing me that I have been accepted into the Rotary Youth Exchange program and will be traveling to Brazil 2012-2013. It has been almost nine months since that day. My spring and summer has flown by and the day I have been awaiting for years is upon me.

I leave for Brazil tomorrow. Wow. The past few days have been filled with feelings that are not familiar to me at all. I have lived comfortably in Minnesota my entire life, but in almost 24 hours I will be boarding a plane that will take me to a country I have never been to, where they speak a language I don't know how to speak, where it is hot and humid all year long, and where a different type of people reside.

Honestly, the past week has been difficult. How do you prepare for a year in a completely different country? I have been saying many goodbyes, but I am not too worried about losing contact those with who I really care about, especially with the technology at our fingertips today. I have been packing my suitcase, making sure I have money in the bank, talking to rotex (people who have previously been on Rotary Youth Exchange) about their experiences abroad, but I still dont think any of this is going to truly prepare me for what lies ahead. Here in Northfield, my life is without too many challenges. It is kind of hard for me to say, but I am excited for the difficulties I will encounter during my exchange. I figure that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I want to learn as much as I can. 

I have been in contact with my host family over Facebook. They will be meeting me at the airport when I arrive in Sinop and we will be going out to lunch at "um delicioso churrasco brasileiro" which means "a delicious Brazilian steakhouse/barbecue". I am very excited to meet them and become part of their family. My oldest brother Graciano has already invited me to play futebol (soccer) with him on the weekends, which I am very excited for!

My flight leaves tomorrow at 3:20pm and I will be arriving in my city the following day at 1:00pm. 

Stay tuned, I will be posting again soon!