Music!

I am loving Brazilian music!

The main type of music in this area is Sertaneja (country music), but lately I have been finding out about other types of Brazilian music too!

Who knew that I would find Brazilian Rock I like?
This song is called "Memórias" by Pitty:


I kept hearing cars passing, and really liked it, and I finally managed to remember enough lyrics to find it on Google!

I'm not sure what type of music this is, but Banda Dejavu took my city by storm about 3 weeks ago! Some people find them extremely annoying, but I like it. There was going to be a show in the next city, but when they became popular, the prices went up and the show was canceled. :(
This song is called Novo Amor:




I'm not quite sure what type of music this is either, but I saw it on the TV commercials. It's called "Ai, Ai, Ai" by Vanessa da Mata:



I also feel like I should include some American country music, because it's a whole lot more famous here than it is where I live in the US! This is "Better Together" by Jack Johnson:


And of course, when you live in Mato Grosso do Sul and are talking about music, you cannot forget to include sertaneja! This is "Voce de Volta" by Maria Celcilia e Rodolfo

Another Update

So I've been here for almost 3 months, so I guess it's time to blog again... And this time we have a special friend! I call him "Giant Ant!"

I've been pretty much chugging along as normal. I think my Portuguese reading, writing, and understanding verbally have improved a lot (but do notice that I didn't mention speaking), which is really good. I can understand almost everything people say to me and movies and stuff... which makes Brazil a lot more fun. I've been making better friends and enjoying life here, etc etc etc... Ooh, and I took a picture with "famous" singers :

A Normal Day for Me:

6:00- Waken up by host parents for school. get dressed, eat breakfast (normally bread with cheese or honey and tea), and go to school with mom and brother. '

7:00-12:00- School- everything you could imagine and more! wW've reached the stage in the year where nobody tries anymore (because of the brazilian school system, you can pass a class before the end of the year and then you dont have to really try) so there's still a lot of talking. But my class has moved upstairs to the room with air conditioning, so that's pretty exciting. ;D But no, schools not so bad. :]

12:30- Eat lunch with the whole family. Normally we have salad, beans, rice, potatoes, and some sort of beef. And there's almost always cake in the house! :O

12:30-4:30- The house is pretty quiet at this time of day, so this is watch TV/ computer/ homework time, normally.

5:00-5:45 Jump! (Jump is excercise on trampolines, and it's pretty fun!)

5:45- 11:00- Go drink tereré, use the computer, hang out with my sister, eat dinner, watch movies, etc!

Lately, the interesting things that I've done were to go to Dourados (another, bigger, city about 4 hours-by bus- from here), celebrate my father's birthday, have a week off of school, and have 5 days of parties in a row (it was a cow based festival thing with shows every night)! :)

So, Dourados is a larger city about 4 hours by bus from where I live. I went for the AFS Regional Orientation of Mato Grosso do Sul. The other exchanger in my city and I rode alone on the bus, which was pretty cool because we got to see a lot of other cities on the way! We arrived at night, and went to our host-host family's house to relax and watch movies. The next day all of the exchangers went to a mini-farm/ retreat center for "orientating." Then, at night, all of the exchangers went to a party that was happening that night! I liked this party, because i was really different than the type of party they have in my city (we normally have sertanja- Brazilian country music- at ours, and this one was electronica, funk, reggaeton, etc)! Then, on Sunday, a few of us went to the mall (my city doesn't have one!) but most of the stores were closed. So we went to an outlet store and bought things we missed like Twix and Nutella. Then, later we returned to the mall to eat hambugers (I've missed those!). Finally, we took the bus back! A very fun weekened- and great to make new exchange friends!

To celebrate my host dad's birthday, we had a small party at our house with lots of his friends, torta, and cake! It was really delicious!

During my week off of school, I slept a lot, hung out with people, and looked forward to summer vacation! (One more month!) And I even took a trip to the town museum! :)

The 5 days of parties was a festival like thing called "Exponan" that happens every year in my city. Some people said it wasn't very good this year, but I had fun still! The festival had cow auctions, food, a mini amusment park thing, rodeos, a dance, and shows every night! We took lots of photos, danced, hung out, and had lots of fun, etc etc....

So yes, this is life in Brazil! It's exciting sometimes, but really it's becoming normal life! :)

Until Next Time,

Ale

1.5 months in Brazil... já :(

Oi!
Let's start with this: I rode a horse! :)



Oh, and here's another thing before I get to the real blog entry:
There are a lot of cows here.
Yes, I knew this before I came.
But wow. There are a lot of cows.




Oh, and one more thing, before I start!

I am proud to say that I no longer get excited and long to pull out my camera when I see a horse and cart go down the street. It's normal here.

Okay, the real thing:

So, the time has flown just like everyone promised, and I have been in Brazil for a month and a half already... In some ways it seems like I've been here forever, but in the good way. In the, "I fit in and I don't feel awkward anymore." In some ways, it feels like I've been here forever in the bad way. In the "How has the time been moving so slowly?" But mostly I feel like I've only just arrived and the time is passing much much to quickly.

I think my Portuguese is really coming along. Everyone says that I speak really well (I don't really believe this). It's not so much of a struggle to say things, and I don't have to plan out in my head what I'll say. It's a pretty big deal to me that I can now randomly interject (when I understand) without having everyone stop and hold their breath, waiting for what I'm going to say. However, I think that my grammar and writing skills are much worse than my speaking, so I think I'm going to start studying those at home.

School is pretty good. Still really boring, as I don't understand the professors or much of what my classmates say, but eveyrone is nice. The format of school is so different here, (we don't change classes, there's a lot more "note taking," and the students talk a lot more). My school is also really small, which in some ways is nice (I know everyone), and in some ways not (limited number of people to know).

I'm already finding things here that I'll miss. I'll miss being able to walk places (padaria, downtown, post office, school). It's good bonding time, walking home from school with your classmates. I've found some foods that I like (brigadeiro, pão de mel, suco de maracuja com leite) too. And I will defintely miss always going to people's houses and drinking tereré

I've joined a gym, so that keeps me busy three days a week. I also go out with my exchange friend from Germany. I've also gone to some birthday parties, barbeques (love the churrasco!), and every Friday night, all the teenagers go to the cachaçaria (it's a restaurant like place). I really like to hang out with my sister's friends, but it's nice to finally have friends of my own.

Okay, so being an exchange student will be very hard at times. You've just moved to a place where you don't speak the language and you don't know anyone. I understand why everyone says not to have expectations, because you can be really let down. I'm not trying to sound negetive, but it's reality that it's difficult... But when you get through all that you have many more good times than bad! :)

PS. Everyone really loves the brand Kipling here. All the purses have this little monkey on them:

Pictures

Oi a gente! Here are some random pictures from my first two weeks in Brazil:



My school notebooks: Sleeping Beauty and Polly Pocket


View from the highway on the way to Ivinhema (a nearby "city"). It's very flat here.



My class!



My Street:



Brazilian money: Reais:

We went out for ice cream:

Orientation, Arrival, First Days, etc.

Oi Everybody!

I have arrived in Nova Andradina, safe and sound. Everything is going well etc.

It was so sad to leave everyone etc. The orientation in Miami was okay, but pretty boring. It was fun to meet all the other AFSers and the 7 other USA to Brasil people. There was lots of waiting and wandering around in the hotel. We played sardines and spyed on drunk people.

The flight to Sao Paulo was delayed 2 hours because of a broken part, which sucked. It was one of those big planes with the TV's so I guess that was good. I watched 27 dresses and slept very uncomfortably. The customs form was only in Portuguese, so that was difficult.

Immigration and customs were easy etc. I waited in the airport with some other AFSers from BFL, Germany, and the US for only about 20 minutes, then me and about 15 other people went to the flight to Campo Grande. That flight was pretty short and I looked at all the farms from the window. There were lots, and it's veryyyy flat!

When we got to Campo Grande (they have the fun kind of airport where you get out of the plane from stairs and walk across the runway) my host family was there to meet me! It was so exciting!! Then we drove to Nova andradina (so long!) and stopped to get Pao de Queijo with the other girl going to Nova Andradina's family on the way. Yum!

When we arrived I was so happy! Then we went out to somebody's birthday party for a short while and then to get pizza. It was different. There was no sauce and the topping was cheese, ham, and fried potatoe things. And the crust had gooey cheese in it.

The next day, I met my host sister's friends and we took a walk. There are lots of motorcycles here! Then later we all went to the cachacaria (this is my new favorite word!!! So fun to say)!

On Sunday we hung around the host for the most part. The TV show I saw was so funny with people doing an obstacle course etc. Sort of like those Japanese game shows.

For breakfast we eat bread with cheese and ham (a sandwhich) and this juice stuff. Also, they don't really drink milk straight, just with chocolate or coffe etc. Lunch is beans, rice, meat, and other stuff and dinner is pretty much the same as breakfast. And I've had so many sweets! :/

But yeah, tommorrow I start school, so that should be interesting!

Bye!

PS. I'll add pictures when I get around the uploading them
PPS. Portuguese is hard! I understand a whole lot, but it's hard to speak.

1 Day

Well, I leave for Miami tommorrow!

Everything has worked out well, I got my visa on Saturday, packed on Saturday too, and done everything to get ready. Now, I'm just sitting around and worrying that my bags are going to be overweight.

I'll be in Miami until Thursday for an Orientation, and then all the kids from the US fly to Sao Paulo together. I'm not quite sure what happens after that, but I'll probably fly to Campo Grande with a bunch of other AFSers and then to my host city! :) I'll be there on Friday or Saturday.

I've talked to lots of people going to Brazil and people who live in my city and it's going to be so weird to actually meet them!

Soooo... hopefully everything goes well and I'll update this later!!

Bye Everyone!! :)

Travel Itinerary!

I just received my international travel itinerary!

I leave Miami on July 30 at 11:20 PM, and arrive in Sao Paul at 8:40 AM on July 31!!

This means I'll be leaving home on July 28 for a red eye!