Oh my god, Avery cooked something?

Well hello again.
I know I titled my last post "Settled In" but I have been here for almost two months (doesn't that just automatically make me half Brazilian?) and am even more settled in and very comfortable with my situation. Life is pretty normal here so there isn't too much to talk about, but I'll try and hit on some things that I haven't told you about yet.

Life here is a lot simpler than my life back in the United States. I say this for a couple of reasons. Here, people aren't constantly running around trying to cram as many things into their day as humanly possible. Most nights, at about 6 or 7pm, we decide what we want to eat for dinner and then one or two of us walk about a block down to the little market to buy just what we need for dinner and breakfast the next day. We live on more of a day by day basis. Here, I spend more time at home, more time reading, more time doing simple things that I didn't leave time for while I was in the US.

Speaking of reading, I used to be quite the reader. I probably read all of the Harry Potter books at least three times each, and if you go waaaaay back, I used to be a huge Magic Tree House fan. Unfortunately, when I entered High School and started filling my free time with friends, girls (shhhh), soccer, and all the other freedoms that come with being older and having a car, I stopped reading for pleasure. Here in Brazil, my downtime has increased exponentially compared to the downtime I left for myself back in Northfield and I use a lot of this downtime to read. I am really glad I have this opportunity because I absolutely love it. I forgot that when I read while laying on my back and holding my book above me, my hand gets sore after a little while. I forgot how my contacts get dry after about 50 straight pages. I have been reunited with my love of reading, and I am fairly certain that this wouldn't have happened if I had moved straight from my busy lifestyle in Northfield to a busy college lifestyle. Just another fantastic thing about Rotary Youth Exchange.

IT FINALLY RAINED. So, after about five weeks of living in sauna-esque heat all day every day, I was about ready to evaporate. But one day, I think it was a Saturday, it just started POURING. It was fantastic. It was super windy and stormy and finally a little bit cold. My favorite part was later that night when the air was so wonderfully fresh and brisk. Now it rains a little bit every couple of days and I am pretty sure the average daily temperature has dropped a little.

My family here is still fantastic. As always. I have created great bonds with my family, especially my host mother and two host brothers. They are always super willing to help me with my Portuguese and are just very helpful in any and every possible way. Another great party of my family is my unbearably cute little niece. I a box of brazilian chocolates in my room and every time she comes over to our house she pays a visit to my room to have a little chocolate and listen to some music.

I went to an american football game here in my city. To be honest, it was quite hilarious, and i'm pretty sure our good ol' Northfield Raiders could give both Sinop (my city team) and Sao Paulo (opponent) a good whoopin. There was no admission cost and there were only about 50 people at the game. But it was a good experience and I am glad I went. It gave me a chance to practice my Portuguese while trying to explain all the rules to my two host brothers.

Last weekend I made Pao de Queijo with my host mom and host sister. Pao de Queijo is a very popular brazilian food. It's like a little cheesy, doughy ball of goodness. Anyways, it was super fun and it was a fun way to help out and build more of a relationship with my host sister who I don't get to see very often.

Just a little background information about myself. I'm pretty much useless when it comes to cooking anything besides cereal or a cheese tortilla. BUT last Sunday, I went outside my comfort zone (YAY! Rotary!) and made ham and cheese omelets for my family. I cut the ham and the peppers, mixed the eggs, shredded the cheese and to my surprise, actually succeeded in making three, edible omelets. My next adventure in the kitchen will be to make chocolate chip cookies with the little bag of cookie mix that I brought with me from MN.

I leave for Sao Paulo on Monday for a short trip with my host mom and sister. Sao Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the Americas, and the southern hemisphere. We have an 8 hour bus ride to Cuiaba starting at 11pm on Monday night and then on Tuesday we fly to Sao Paulo where the adventure begins!

Until next post!
Tchau

Settled In

I can now confidently say that I have settled into my life as an exchange student here in Brasil. I have a pretty basic daily schedule of school and then after school either soccer, volleyball or the gym.

The daunting task that is my mission to learn Portuguese is coming along slowly but surely. I learn a little more every day. My friends from school who speak both English and Portuguese are my most useful tool. The most difficult part of Portuguese for me is the phrases in English that don't have a direct translation into Portuguese or vice versa.

My host father visited last week and it was really amazing to see the whole family together. The whole family came over for dinner and we all skyped Giane (my host sister who is in Mexico with Rotary). It was really a fantastic moment, everyone was so happy as they gathered around the little laptop and skyped their sister/daughter/aunt in Mexico. Not gonna lie, it made me miss my family a little bit :) Below is a picture.

Last Friday was "Sete de Septembro" or Independence Day here in Brazil. This day celebrates Brazil's separation from Portugal which occurred on September 7th, 1822. Unlike in the United States when we see american flags everywhere and hear fireworks going all through the night, nothing really changed here except we didn't have school. I guess my city is a considered fairly small by Brazilian standards, so maybe we just aren't large enough to have a big celebration, but I was still kind of surprised at the lack of national pride. Many Brazilians that I have met seem to be filled with national pride, but I think the thing that is slowly taking away from that pride is the discontent many people have with the government here.

Tomorrow(September 14th), we will celebrate the founding of my city, Sinop. The city was founded in 1974. Yes, that means that my city will turn 36 tomorrow, which is not very old at all. Not only is tomorrow the birthday of my city, but it is also the birthday of my host sister Grasiele. I've been to a couple birthday parties while i've been here, but they have all been for kids turning three or four years old. I'm excited to go to one for someone a little bit older. My host father's birthday was yesterday, but it is kind of a sad topic because he was planning to make the 6 hour trip down from the state of Para to celebrate with us here at home, but work got in the way and he was unable to make it down. I could tell that my family was excited to see their father, since they only get to see him a couple times a year. It helped me realize once again how fortunate I am, not only to live with both my parents at home, but also to be able to celebrate holidays with them.

Unfortunately, my host nephew is sick, so my trip to Sao Paulo that was I planning to take with my host mom and sister next week has been postponed until October. I signed up and paid for the trip I will be taking for about 22 days in January, traveling the North East coast of Brazil with other exchange students. I also plan on traveling to the South of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay in March with other exchange students. Meeting and getting to know Brazilians has been a whole new adventure for me, so I can only imagine how interesting it will be to meet people from all around the world and be forced to ride on a bus with them for a month.

What else... Oh, did you know we have a maid here? Everyone has a maid to do laundry, clean the house, and do other household chores every day. My room is cleaned and my bed is made for me every day when I come home from school. Clean clothes just seem to appear in my closet all nicely folded and organized. My shoes are washed on a regular basisThis is something I definitely enjoy, but I'm trying not to get used to, as I'll be on my own at college next year.

This week it has been SUPER hot here. It's honestly like living in a sauna. Right now it's 5:03pm and it is 40 degrees Celcius (104 degrees Fahrenheit!). When I sleep, I am literally sprawled out on my bed like I'm making a snow angel, trying to let as much air from the fan touch me as possible. The scary part is that the months of September and October are considered the Spring months, so Summer is still to come!

I finished another book while bored in school! Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer. I really enjoyed it and it gave some interesting insight into the corruption within the United States Army. I recommend it to anyone looking for another one of Krakauer's best sellers. I'll tell you more about the book I'm reading now in my next post!

But yeah, as I said before, I feel pretty settled into my new life here. Nothing too exciting happens on a day to day basis, but I've got to save some exciting days for later right?

Until next post. Tchau

Traffic, Monkeys, and Siri

As usual, the past few days have been filled with some exciting new experiences! But before we get into the fun stuff, I want to tell you a little bit about regular life.

Everyone else has spoken a little bit about traffic in their city, so here is my evaluation of driving in Sinop. To be honest, it is not as crazy as I was expecting it to be. Most people follow normal traffic rules and I don't see very many accidents. A large difference between transportation here and transportation in Northfield is that almost half the vehicles on the road at any given time are motorcycles or mopeds. It doesn't even come close to getting cold here, and there will never be snow in a million years, so why not drive a cheaper vehicle that gets a lot better gas milage? Makes sense to me. Anyways, there are very few stop lights and mostly just roundabouts. Stop signs are obeyed most of the time, but are ignored if there are no cars around. Most cars are very small, hatchback type vehicles, as the bigger cars are not really necessary are mostly just owned by wealthier people. Most of the time, I am driven around by my older brother in his Volkswagon Golf, but from time to time I ride on the back of my younger brother's motorcycle. I really enjoy cruising around town on the motorcycle, and yes Mom, I ALWAYS wear a helmet :)

Last night I played volleyball with my younger brother for about two hours at this local volleyball court. You just show up and play with random people. We played on a sand court, which was actually a really good work out for my calfs and ankles. Volleyball or "Volei" is very popular here in Brazil and holds a pretty strong second place position after soccer or "futebol". For the past two summer olympic games, the Brazilian women have earned the gold medal.

Today I gave my presents to my first host family. Victoria Secret perfume for my host mom and Twins Baseball shirts and caps for my two brothers. Also, some peanut butter for the entire family and a promise that I will eventually TRY and make them chocolate chip cookies and omelets. I think they really enjoyed the presents and it was really nice to be able to give them something in return for all that they have done for me over the past month and all they will continue to do for me in the future.

After lunch, presents and a little relaxation, my two brothers brought me to the "Parque Florestal" here in Sinop. I was able to walk right up to a bunch of amazingly colorful parrots, see a bunch of turtles, get relatively close to some monkeys (my favorite part), and walk around in some very amazon-esque underbrush. -- I want to thank my parents for my wonderful graduation present of my new camera because I had such a great time taking pictures of animals today!

School has been getting a little better as I am continuing to understand more and more Portuguese. Wednesday in class I read an entire book, A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard. It is about how Jaycee, the author, was abducted at the age of 11 and held captive for 18 years. It was a fantastic book and and I recommend it to anyone looking for a quick but moving read. Not that my situation here is anything like Jaycee's 18 years of captivity, but it really helped me understand that I need to make the best of my year here in Brazil, even when times are hard and things aren't going exactly how I expect them to. 

My older brother got his new iPhone in the mail today, which really isn't helping me get over my withdrawal from my addiction to my old one (here I have a simple, "non-smart" Nokia phone). But honestly, it is really surprising how addicted I was to my iPhone! I can't believe I am saying this, but I am glad I didn't bring my iPhone here. I spend a lot more time reading and just sitting outside in the hammock. This is time that, if I had my iPhone, I would be spending swiping my way through FaceBook, Twitter, or Instagram. No hard feelings though Siri, I still miss you. 

Thinking about electronics makes me think about how much I adore Skype and the ability to connect with people via internet. I don't want you to think I spend all day cuddled up in my room on the computer, as I am rarely even home here. I really enjoy reading the blogs my friends write, but being able to see them face to face and hear about the experiences is something that I am really thankful for. Not to mention being able to skype my family and friends back in the US. Whether it's Mom and Sophia telling me about Mizuki, Ethan telling me about his first Varsity soccer game, or Mats telling me about how it feels to be under 24 hours away from his departure to Italy!

Today marks one month exactly since I departed from MSP on my adventure to Sinop, Mato Grosso, Brazil. Thank you to everyone who has made this year possible for me, especially Vicki, Rick, Christine, Katie, and most importantly my Mom and Dad.

Until next post!
Tchau