i arrived home on my birthday after a week of pure bliss in Cabo Frio and various other towns. we had a long nights travel and when we arrived home, we went back to bed, sleeeping until 10in the morning.
i didnt except to do much on my birthday. it was a sunday and we did just travel 8hours on a bus, so i thought it would be a typical sunday: go to the clube, play some tennis, swim then maybe go out to dinner to celebrate my turning of age.
my parents didnt have that in mind.
i woke up and literally fell into the shower because i think Dondora waxed my floors while i was gone. when i went into the kitchen to eat breakfast, i opened the fridge and found piles of meat for a bbq, a beauitful huge cake and lots of food.
whats going on?
i went outside to find Dondora working. Dondora is never here on Sunday.
whats going on?
outside there were tables and chairs, fancy china and a man starting up a bbq.
whats going on?
i asked my parents "what was going on?!" and they causally said that some people were coming over for lunch and i should probably go change. I looked down at what i was wearing: the clothes i had on yesterday for the bus ride here. ..yeah i think i should change.
it occured to me that maybe they were throwing me a birthday party but how? we werent home all week and i couldnt have invited my friends. my sneaky little parents planned this all by themselves without me finding out. cleverr
i realized that everyone who came to my party, they are my "family" here: all my host families, my rotary counslor, my friends from school and my bffff exchangerrrs. i hadnt even known these people 2months ago but now, they are my "familia brasileria," the people that i can run to whenever i need to, my bestfriends. at that moment, i felt so loved, so accepted, so.. happy! i never would have thought that i would feeel this way with total strangers, but they arent strangers, they are my family.
the party wasnt anything big or grande. it was just a small bbq where we ate way too many sweets and laughed way too much. but it was one of the most special days here in brasil :))))
