Christmas in Brasil
..what an interesting holiday it was.
since the beginning of november, theree has beeen christmas decorations like this was the north pole which troubled me because before christmas, its always thanksgiving but considering this isnt north america, they skipped straight to natal.
it never felt like christmas to me; no snow, no snow days, no snow angels, no hot chocolate, no sledding, no christmas caroling, no sneaking into my parents room to have a litttle peak..
instead, it was replaced by bikkinis, swimming everyday, sweating like i have never before, going to the beach and seeing one of the most beauitful cities ever, hearing american christmas music in stores and finding all of this rather oddd
in my family, cant speak for every family in brasil, we had a big dinnner late on christmas eve night, gathering at 9pm, eating at 12, leaving at 3am; woke up to open presents on christmas morning with my family then had a small lunch on christmas day with everyone from the night before.
dia 24 de dezembro:
around 25 people on my mothers side of my family gathered at my grandmas house to have dinner. it was catered, meaning we had a full-on service of a waitor &alll. it was niceeee :D
before dinner, we played white elephant and i actually got a sweet present, cosisas de bahia !
then my 8yr old cousin, marie vitora, said, "everyone, i would like to sing you a song."
she started singing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" in english and then translating it for everyone in portuguese.
it was the sweetest thing everrrr
then my mom started to play the piano, Silent Night & Night in Bethlehem.
Right then and there, i started struggling to be there.
I dont know if it was the music or if because i am a girl therefore emotional, i just wanted to be back in Pa, just for one night.
in my head, i was having a full on argument with myself, trying to stay positive &failing.
positive: come on, ariana, youre fine, relax, breathe, everything is all right.
negative: no it's not all right! i dont want to be here right now. who am i kiddding, i dont know these people?
positive: yes, you do. they're your family and you just neeed to get through this and you will be just fine, be strong.
negative: shuttup, i wanna be in pennsylvania. i wanna be with my grandparents, eating grandma judys sweet potatoes and getting a card from uncle norman without his name in it and exchanging presents with my cousins. i cant do this.
positive: no, you shutup. you only have one christmas in brasil, enjoy it! next year, youre going to be wishing you were in brasil rather than Pa.
guess who won the argument?
the negative side, ofcourse.
i started crying, getting emotional and irrational. im the kinda person who hates when people see me cry so i quietly went to the bathrooom to have a moment to just let it all out.
my brother, being the bestbrother in the world, saw my eyes get red and came looking after me, trying to comfort. he did and i love him for that.
we had dinner, salmon, steak, chicken, potatoes, and ooh who could forget the rice&beans!
it was reallly goood foood :D
Dia 25 de Dezembro:
since we came home so late the previous night and none of us are under the age of 10, we woke up at the beauitful hour of 10am, had breakfast and went to open presents. i got a lot of things, a lot of special things and it was reallly speical time with my family. since my presents that my parents where sending me from Pa didnt arrive on time, i wrote them a card (in português) and they looked so touched :D my sister even got a car ! wowowow
we went to my grandmas for a late lunch that was left overs from the previous evening, everyone showed off their presents and we just hung out all day long.
so even though it wasnt a white christmas and even though i misssed my family so much, i had a christmas in brasil, a christmas that i will never forget..
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
sorriso, vc está em bahia :D
Dia 17 de Dezembro (continued)
friday night we had tickets to this axé show, a type of brasileria music.
before i went to the show, i was anticipating crazy loud drums, live dancers that know how to shake their hipps, a beauitful singer that is sweating like no other because she is going crazy with energy, and a crowd full of people dancing.
thats excatly what it was.
it was awesome.
and after the show, we even got to meet the singer :D i felt so special !
i love when my family or friends introduce me to people, they always say with such pride, yeah, this is my american daughter/sister/niece/friend.
and i love the reactions of people: people are either overwhelmed and so excited that they are talking to someone other than brasilerios, and start asking a million and three questions about me and how they know someone who had a daughter that had a bestfriend that lived in the US. thats typically the response. or there are always the people that are liek, sweet, dont care.
Dia 18 de Dezembro:
Saturday morning, the girls woke up early to go to the beach :D
i was reallllllllly excited.
because we are in the north of brasil, the waters are supposed to be realllllly warm. after cabo frio, the coldest waters of brasil, i was reallllly excited to seee how warm this was.
it was the most perfect temperture for water. wasnt too hottt, wasnt tooo cold. was justttt right :D
being the tri-state swimmer that i am, i ofcourse got in the water while everyone else stayed under the umbrella to avoid the bleaming rays of the sun. i made friends with a dad and his 4year old daughter."made friends" meaning we secretly had an agreement that if i got took under by the current, he would pulll me out. there arent any lifeguards on the beaches here, atleast none of the ones i have beeen at, therefore you bettter be careful. there was a gooood couple times where i found my bottoms around my ankles and my top, i dont even know what happened. i was getttting wrecked. BUT IT WAS SO FUNNN. and i could stay in forever cause the water was warm :D
after lunch, i was so tired for swimming and the sun, i toook a nice long nap until i was awoken around 930, saying that we were going out to dinner. it being brasil, we didnt leave the house until 11 where we went to this wonderful japanese resturant, had sushi again, i LOVE it so much.
Dia 19 de Dezmbro:
Sunday was spent by the poool because alll the girls wanted to work on our tans. my family has a big beauitful poool with a fountain and so i stayed in it allll day long.
they said we were going out for lunch that day (everyone usually goes out for lunch on sunday cause no one wants to cook) and so i was thinking we would have a late lunch at 2, the latest at 3pm ..we didnt eat until 5pm.
i was straving and not feeeeling so goood cause i neeeded to get food in my stomach so when we went in the resturant i was like, give me alll the fooood you have, now!
it was a self-service restuarnt where its kinda like a buffet but you weight it by the plate. so you could go up the the buffet which i went nuts cause it was alllll seafooood and then when i got back, there were people that kept circling that tables, with huge legs of meat, asking if you wanted to have any. literallly a leg of meat in your face, they had a carving knife and would slice it on your plate. they also would just start bringing us fish and rice and beans (ofcourse) and frenchfries, i was like, did we even ask for any of this cause i definatly didnt hear anyone ask for it. i asked for orange juice and they gave pitcher, just for me. it was so weird but let me say, i ate alot
Dia 20 de Dezembro:
after lunch, we went to a huge malll for some major shopping. the shopping in my city, which i go to on a weeekly bases to hangout because it is a walking distance from my house, is pathtic compared to this malll. it was huge and overly expensive and fabulous. because its so hott here, i usually just throw on a summer dress everyday cause its easier that way so i bought 3beauitful dresses and they were surprisingly cheap (clothes here are so expensive, i considered buying a dress for R$200, 100dollars, cause i was desperate hah)
we also went into a book store and i was kinda annoyed cause i wanted to see a barnes & nobles where i could smell the fresh-ness of newly printed ink of english words, not some português novels. BUT i found a whole aisle of english books.
i was in heaven.
i wanted to buy everything in sight, wanted to go nuts. i wondered the aisle atleast 20times, just touching all the boooks, smiling all over, until my grandfather said it was time to go. i could have (wanted to) stay there all day.
Dia 21 de Dezembro:
you know on the last day of vacation, where you are sad & happy.
youre excited to get home, tell everyone all your stories of vacation, show offf your new tann, and send out all your postcards.
but youre sad cause you dont want to leave the place that you just staying loving even more than your own home?
thats how i felt on my last day in Salvador.
my grandfather asked me what i wanted to do on my last day in the city.
i wanted to to go the beach again :D
we spent the morning on the beach, drinking coconut water, getting sunburn, and having my bikinni bottoms riped from my body. good time !
our flight was at 9 so we left around 6. again, we went from a taxi, to a plane, to a bus, to a car.
even though we didnt get outta the airport until midnight, my father insisted that we go straight home from BH, a three & a half hour drive, one of the worst drives ever, in the history of drives. i just wanted to sleeeep so.freaking.bad but as everyone knows, the drive from BH to Ipatinga is wheree your head bangs against the window every time you JUST fall asleeep.
lets just say when i got home, i slept until noon.
next post: christmas in brasil ! unusual event..
friday night we had tickets to this axé show, a type of brasileria music.
before i went to the show, i was anticipating crazy loud drums, live dancers that know how to shake their hipps, a beauitful singer that is sweating like no other because she is going crazy with energy, and a crowd full of people dancing.
thats excatly what it was.
it was awesome.
and after the show, we even got to meet the singer :D i felt so special !
i love when my family or friends introduce me to people, they always say with such pride, yeah, this is my american daughter/sister/niece/friend.
and i love the reactions of people: people are either overwhelmed and so excited that they are talking to someone other than brasilerios, and start asking a million and three questions about me and how they know someone who had a daughter that had a bestfriend that lived in the US. thats typically the response. or there are always the people that are liek, sweet, dont care.
Dia 18 de Dezembro:
Saturday morning, the girls woke up early to go to the beach :D
i was reallllllllly excited.
because we are in the north of brasil, the waters are supposed to be realllllly warm. after cabo frio, the coldest waters of brasil, i was reallllly excited to seee how warm this was.
it was the most perfect temperture for water. wasnt too hottt, wasnt tooo cold. was justttt right :D
being the tri-state swimmer that i am, i ofcourse got in the water while everyone else stayed under the umbrella to avoid the bleaming rays of the sun. i made friends with a dad and his 4year old daughter."made friends" meaning we secretly had an agreement that if i got took under by the current, he would pulll me out. there arent any lifeguards on the beaches here, atleast none of the ones i have beeen at, therefore you bettter be careful. there was a gooood couple times where i found my bottoms around my ankles and my top, i dont even know what happened. i was getttting wrecked. BUT IT WAS SO FUNNN. and i could stay in forever cause the water was warm :D
after lunch, i was so tired for swimming and the sun, i toook a nice long nap until i was awoken around 930, saying that we were going out to dinner. it being brasil, we didnt leave the house until 11 where we went to this wonderful japanese resturant, had sushi again, i LOVE it so much.
Dia 19 de Dezmbro:
Sunday was spent by the poool because alll the girls wanted to work on our tans. my family has a big beauitful poool with a fountain and so i stayed in it allll day long.
they said we were going out for lunch that day (everyone usually goes out for lunch on sunday cause no one wants to cook) and so i was thinking we would have a late lunch at 2, the latest at 3pm ..we didnt eat until 5pm.
i was straving and not feeeeling so goood cause i neeeded to get food in my stomach so when we went in the resturant i was like, give me alll the fooood you have, now!
it was a self-service restuarnt where its kinda like a buffet but you weight it by the plate. so you could go up the the buffet which i went nuts cause it was alllll seafooood and then when i got back, there were people that kept circling that tables, with huge legs of meat, asking if you wanted to have any. literallly a leg of meat in your face, they had a carving knife and would slice it on your plate. they also would just start bringing us fish and rice and beans (ofcourse) and frenchfries, i was like, did we even ask for any of this cause i definatly didnt hear anyone ask for it. i asked for orange juice and they gave pitcher, just for me. it was so weird but let me say, i ate alot
Dia 20 de Dezembro:
after lunch, we went to a huge malll for some major shopping. the shopping in my city, which i go to on a weeekly bases to hangout because it is a walking distance from my house, is pathtic compared to this malll. it was huge and overly expensive and fabulous. because its so hott here, i usually just throw on a summer dress everyday cause its easier that way so i bought 3beauitful dresses and they were surprisingly cheap (clothes here are so expensive, i considered buying a dress for R$200, 100dollars, cause i was desperate hah)
we also went into a book store and i was kinda annoyed cause i wanted to see a barnes & nobles where i could smell the fresh-ness of newly printed ink of english words, not some português novels. BUT i found a whole aisle of english books.
i was in heaven.
i wanted to buy everything in sight, wanted to go nuts. i wondered the aisle atleast 20times, just touching all the boooks, smiling all over, until my grandfather said it was time to go. i could have (wanted to) stay there all day.
Dia 21 de Dezembro:
you know on the last day of vacation, where you are sad & happy.
youre excited to get home, tell everyone all your stories of vacation, show offf your new tann, and send out all your postcards.
but youre sad cause you dont want to leave the place that you just staying loving even more than your own home?
thats how i felt on my last day in Salvador.
my grandfather asked me what i wanted to do on my last day in the city.
i wanted to to go the beach again :D
we spent the morning on the beach, drinking coconut water, getting sunburn, and having my bikinni bottoms riped from my body. good time !
our flight was at 9 so we left around 6. again, we went from a taxi, to a plane, to a bus, to a car.
even though we didnt get outta the airport until midnight, my father insisted that we go straight home from BH, a three & a half hour drive, one of the worst drives ever, in the history of drives. i just wanted to sleeeep so.freaking.bad but as everyone knows, the drive from BH to Ipatinga is wheree your head bangs against the window every time you JUST fall asleeep.
lets just say when i got home, i slept until noon.
next post: christmas in brasil ! unusual event..
Friday, December 24, 2010
salvador, bahia :D
lifes crazy, sorrry for the delay.
again, going to divide my time in salvador into many parts.
here we go:
Dia 15 de Dezembro:
Awoke early to travel to BH, slept most of the time except when my head would be slammed against the window.
when we arrived, we met up with my sister who would be going to salvador with me, just me and her :D we had lunch and wondered through the huge and riduclously expensive mall. our flight wasnt until 10pm so we chilled in her apartment after my mom left. Amalia went to US this summer for a month just to pass through, staying in Chicago & Michigan. she showed me her beauitful photos, just having some sister bonding time :D
the airport is really annoying for me. i have to travel 3hrs from ipatinga to BH. then you have to take a taxi in the city to the bus station. from the bus station, takes you another 50min to actually get to the airport.
chato. bagunça.
chilled in the airport, had a snack of pao de queijo (classic snack of "cheese bread" of MG) all the flights were delayed cause of the hoildays and cause it poured down rain, so we had to wait and wait and wait.
eventually we did get on our flight and it took another hour and a half to get Salvador, Bahia.
after all this traveling, i realized how much i LOVE to travel. you think i should already know this, ariana you travel all the time when youre in Brasil, you TRAVELED to brasil. but i realized i LOVE it so much.
i love the overpacking cause you dont know what you want to wear each day; i love falling asleeep on the long car rides, listening to my ipod; i love getting a taxi and literally flying around the city, unless we are stuck in traffic; i love going through secruity in the airport, afraid that i accidentally have a pocket knife in my pocket like Dad had when we went in the empire state building, remember?; i love being placed next to some random person on the plane and feeeling as if they became like a father figure to me; i love the fear of losing your luggage but the fear instantly dissapears when you see it turning the corner.
i love traveling.
anyway, we got into Salvador, 12midnight there time but it is an hour different so my body thought it was 1am so alll i wanted was a bed, soon.
we were staying with my mother's brother, his wife and daughter. i feeel completely horrible but cant remember their names cause they are really unusual names,and i just called them, Tio, Tia, Menina (uncle, aunt, girl which is okay here haha)
Dia 16 de Dezembro:
i wake up in the morning, completely lost: where am i, who am i with, what time it is, what am i doing here.
then i remember i am in salvador, bahia.
i'm awake now, no time for sleep.
i roll out of bed and wonder through the house, trying to find my family.
there are around 20workers throughout the house, because my family is redoing their house, making it even more huge.
jim allison can tell you, that after a rough night of sleeep, i am not looking presentable, at all, and there they are, 20men, saying, ooh ola bom dia.
..maybe i should go change and take a shower?
my grandfather comes over and takes my sister, my cousin and i around the city, showing us everything.
little info about Salvador, Bahia:
Bahia is in the north of Brasil, one state above me (MG) Salvador is the captial city of Bahia, on the coast, therefore huge, beauitful and full of history. when portugal settled in brasil, they brought over many slaves from africa therefore more than half of the population is of african descent. you can tell who are the tourist or foreigners cause if you are white, you are not of Bahia.
we are driving through the city and i am just falling in love little by litttle
we stop the car and my grandfather says, okay get out, we are gonna eat some food of Bahia.
just picture the south of US, african americans who love fried food, in brasil cause that excatly what is was. i think it was ground up beans that were fried then they threw some spicy flavor then shrimp. dont know but i liked it.. knda.
ooh and Bahia LOVES spicy foood. they ask you if you want it hot or cold, meaning do you wannt to live afterwards cause of the spicy-ness or would you like to experience the flames of Bahia in your mouth.
we went to this lake people, still today, wash their clothes in the water, old fashion way. and where people swimm in, even though my grandfather said there were SNAKES !
we went to a few musems, some lighthouses, all taking wayy too many pictures, trying to capture the culture of Salvador.
we drive and drive and i fell asleeep a litttle (i realized now that i can fall asleeep WHEREVER)
that night we went out to this hotspot in town having a nice late night dinner (it was 11when we sat down, 12 when we actually ate) i had this delicious shrimp wrap ..seafood :D
Dia 17 de Dezembro:
after lunch, we headed out to this market where they sell classic things from bahia, where i bought everyone presents :D
we then went to the "upper half of brasil" where it's all the history. we had to take this elevador up to the top and i thought of when we went to Pittsburg this summer and went up the incline, one of the hottest day of the year in PA (that was NOTHNG compared to brasil, nothing) and everyone was struggling to breathe.
the elevador took us up and we walked out into this courtyard with historical homes and buildings. it looked like i walked into europe. we walked through narrow streets of stone, betweeen shops, between churches. it was so beauitful !
we wondered into this church and somehow got a grand tour of it alll. it had a courtyaard that had beauitful blue handpainted artwork of stories of the bible on the walls. then we went inside.
my mouth is still open in amazement.
i have NEVER seen something so beauitful, more beauitful than Leo Dicaprio.
every.single.inch of the church was in gold. everywhere you loooked, it had gold. i feeel like i neeed to find other words than beauitful but seriously, it was BEAUITFUL.
it almost had TOO much gold, like they went OVERBOARD. but you cant really go overboard when you are creating God's House.
I've decided that i am gettting married in this church. I dont care what my husband says or that it was a catholic church and i am not catholic, when i saw that church, i knew, i KNEW that i would have my wedding ceremony there :D
to be continueddd..
again, going to divide my time in salvador into many parts.
here we go:
Dia 15 de Dezembro:
Awoke early to travel to BH, slept most of the time except when my head would be slammed against the window.
when we arrived, we met up with my sister who would be going to salvador with me, just me and her :D we had lunch and wondered through the huge and riduclously expensive mall. our flight wasnt until 10pm so we chilled in her apartment after my mom left. Amalia went to US this summer for a month just to pass through, staying in Chicago & Michigan. she showed me her beauitful photos, just having some sister bonding time :D
the airport is really annoying for me. i have to travel 3hrs from ipatinga to BH. then you have to take a taxi in the city to the bus station. from the bus station, takes you another 50min to actually get to the airport.
chato. bagunça.
chilled in the airport, had a snack of pao de queijo (classic snack of "cheese bread" of MG) all the flights were delayed cause of the hoildays and cause it poured down rain, so we had to wait and wait and wait.
eventually we did get on our flight and it took another hour and a half to get Salvador, Bahia.
after all this traveling, i realized how much i LOVE to travel. you think i should already know this, ariana you travel all the time when youre in Brasil, you TRAVELED to brasil. but i realized i LOVE it so much.
i love the overpacking cause you dont know what you want to wear each day; i love falling asleeep on the long car rides, listening to my ipod; i love getting a taxi and literally flying around the city, unless we are stuck in traffic; i love going through secruity in the airport, afraid that i accidentally have a pocket knife in my pocket like Dad had when we went in the empire state building, remember?; i love being placed next to some random person on the plane and feeeling as if they became like a father figure to me; i love the fear of losing your luggage but the fear instantly dissapears when you see it turning the corner.
i love traveling.
anyway, we got into Salvador, 12midnight there time but it is an hour different so my body thought it was 1am so alll i wanted was a bed, soon.
we were staying with my mother's brother, his wife and daughter. i feeel completely horrible but cant remember their names cause they are really unusual names,and i just called them, Tio, Tia, Menina (uncle, aunt, girl which is okay here haha)
Dia 16 de Dezembro:
i wake up in the morning, completely lost: where am i, who am i with, what time it is, what am i doing here.
then i remember i am in salvador, bahia.
i'm awake now, no time for sleep.
i roll out of bed and wonder through the house, trying to find my family.
there are around 20workers throughout the house, because my family is redoing their house, making it even more huge.
jim allison can tell you, that after a rough night of sleeep, i am not looking presentable, at all, and there they are, 20men, saying, ooh ola bom dia.
..maybe i should go change and take a shower?
my grandfather comes over and takes my sister, my cousin and i around the city, showing us everything.
little info about Salvador, Bahia:
Bahia is in the north of Brasil, one state above me (MG) Salvador is the captial city of Bahia, on the coast, therefore huge, beauitful and full of history. when portugal settled in brasil, they brought over many slaves from africa therefore more than half of the population is of african descent. you can tell who are the tourist or foreigners cause if you are white, you are not of Bahia.
we are driving through the city and i am just falling in love little by litttle
we stop the car and my grandfather says, okay get out, we are gonna eat some food of Bahia.
just picture the south of US, african americans who love fried food, in brasil cause that excatly what is was. i think it was ground up beans that were fried then they threw some spicy flavor then shrimp. dont know but i liked it.. knda.
ooh and Bahia LOVES spicy foood. they ask you if you want it hot or cold, meaning do you wannt to live afterwards cause of the spicy-ness or would you like to experience the flames of Bahia in your mouth.
we went to this lake people, still today, wash their clothes in the water, old fashion way. and where people swimm in, even though my grandfather said there were SNAKES !
we went to a few musems, some lighthouses, all taking wayy too many pictures, trying to capture the culture of Salvador.
we drive and drive and i fell asleeep a litttle (i realized now that i can fall asleeep WHEREVER)
that night we went out to this hotspot in town having a nice late night dinner (it was 11when we sat down, 12 when we actually ate) i had this delicious shrimp wrap ..seafood :D
Dia 17 de Dezembro:
after lunch, we headed out to this market where they sell classic things from bahia, where i bought everyone presents :D
we then went to the "upper half of brasil" where it's all the history. we had to take this elevador up to the top and i thought of when we went to Pittsburg this summer and went up the incline, one of the hottest day of the year in PA (that was NOTHNG compared to brasil, nothing) and everyone was struggling to breathe.
the elevador took us up and we walked out into this courtyard with historical homes and buildings. it looked like i walked into europe. we walked through narrow streets of stone, betweeen shops, between churches. it was so beauitful !
we wondered into this church and somehow got a grand tour of it alll. it had a courtyaard that had beauitful blue handpainted artwork of stories of the bible on the walls. then we went inside.
my mouth is still open in amazement.
i have NEVER seen something so beauitful, more beauitful than Leo Dicaprio.
every.single.inch of the church was in gold. everywhere you loooked, it had gold. i feeel like i neeed to find other words than beauitful but seriously, it was BEAUITFUL.
it almost had TOO much gold, like they went OVERBOARD. but you cant really go overboard when you are creating God's House.
I've decided that i am gettting married in this church. I dont care what my husband says or that it was a catholic church and i am not catholic, when i saw that church, i knew, i KNEW that i would have my wedding ceremony there :D
to be continueddd..
Monday, December 13, 2010
activities*
while everyone else fills their afternoons studying for tests, preparing for the Vestibular, I have other activities that i do to fill my time.
Tennis:
as you all know, my first family was really into sports so they gave me the opportunity to take tennis lessons. ive always had this secret desire to learn tennis so i was reallly excited.
i have lessons once or twice a wk and i always look forward to them (which isnt ususally something common for me in the sports department, ive always dreaded going to practice and sweating) I have my own litttle cute skirt and racket which i find adorable.
my professor is the nicest man. he is really curious about me, constantly asking me questions about the US, a land he has never seen, only on TV. his questions always leave me baffled, "whats the biggest difference that you first noticed in brasil?" "do you think that teenagers are different in the US?" and he is reallly amazed at how cold it gets in PA, coming from someone who has never seen snow in his life before except (again) on TV
tennis is something that i want to keep with and maybe challenge haley deli when i get back ;D
Dance:
in my current family, my mom takes dance lessons and also gave me the opportunity to take sumba and forró classes. ive always had this secret desire to be a prima balleria in preschool but obviously that never happened so i was thrilled when i had my first lesson. i take sumba and forró lessons.
sumba is all about your hips and fast feet work
forró ( a dance from the north of brasil that means a dance "for all") is more about your relaxed shoulders and lots of twirling. i like forró most :D
my professor is ver patient with me and my two left feeet but i love it so much. it makes me feeel so brasileria, beauitful and sexy and confident.
hopefully i learn enough to be able to teach everyone back home how to dança
Swimming:
i am really fortunate in this family that i have a pool to visit on a daily bases because, yess i do go to the pool everyday. it is so hottt here that if i didnt have a pool i would probably dig myself my own pool and just sit, trying to escape the heat.
my grandma, who lives just up the road, has a pool. so everyday after lunch, i call her and ask the question, "posso nadar hoje, avó?"
everyone thinks that i am crazy cause i swimm so much. i am growing fins and becoming a mermaid. its okay, i love it.
i swimm, i read, i listen to my music, i just relax and take in the delicious strong sun of brasil.
this post has kinda been boring, sorry but dont worry,
i am leaving wednesday for the beach, Salandor, Bahia, so after 21st of December be ready for lots of more interesting postsss.
p.s i have sweat on my upper lip
everyone back home has turltenecks &longuderwear on
haah
Tennis:
as you all know, my first family was really into sports so they gave me the opportunity to take tennis lessons. ive always had this secret desire to learn tennis so i was reallly excited.
i have lessons once or twice a wk and i always look forward to them (which isnt ususally something common for me in the sports department, ive always dreaded going to practice and sweating) I have my own litttle cute skirt and racket which i find adorable.
my professor is the nicest man. he is really curious about me, constantly asking me questions about the US, a land he has never seen, only on TV. his questions always leave me baffled, "whats the biggest difference that you first noticed in brasil?" "do you think that teenagers are different in the US?" and he is reallly amazed at how cold it gets in PA, coming from someone who has never seen snow in his life before except (again) on TV
tennis is something that i want to keep with and maybe challenge haley deli when i get back ;D
Dance:
in my current family, my mom takes dance lessons and also gave me the opportunity to take sumba and forró classes. ive always had this secret desire to be a prima balleria in preschool but obviously that never happened so i was thrilled when i had my first lesson. i take sumba and forró lessons.
sumba is all about your hips and fast feet work
forró ( a dance from the north of brasil that means a dance "for all") is more about your relaxed shoulders and lots of twirling. i like forró most :D
my professor is ver patient with me and my two left feeet but i love it so much. it makes me feeel so brasileria, beauitful and sexy and confident.
hopefully i learn enough to be able to teach everyone back home how to dança
Swimming:
i am really fortunate in this family that i have a pool to visit on a daily bases because, yess i do go to the pool everyday. it is so hottt here that if i didnt have a pool i would probably dig myself my own pool and just sit, trying to escape the heat.
my grandma, who lives just up the road, has a pool. so everyday after lunch, i call her and ask the question, "posso nadar hoje, avó?"
everyone thinks that i am crazy cause i swimm so much. i am growing fins and becoming a mermaid. its okay, i love it.
i swimm, i read, i listen to my music, i just relax and take in the delicious strong sun of brasil.
this post has kinda been boring, sorry but dont worry,
i am leaving wednesday for the beach, Salandor, Bahia, so after 21st of December be ready for lots of more interesting postsss.
p.s i have sweat on my upper lip
everyone back home has turltenecks &longuderwear on
haah
Monday, December 6, 2010
ônibus
because i can't drive here (a tragedy that i miss terribly) i have to rely more on the busing system here. which as you are about to find out, is an adventure in itself.
i remember the very first time i took the bus with the brother (it was my third day in Brasil) and i literally thought i was going to throw up everywhere. from the typical driving style of brasilerios and from the constant stopping and going, i had to switch seats with him so that i could put my head out the window, just in case..
after some time in Brasil, I wanted to learn how to take the bus, alone. I have friends in the other cities, Timoteo & Coronel Fabriciano, so i wanted to take the bus whenever i wanted to so i could visit. my wonderful mother Flavia helped me, looking on the internet for the timing schedule and waiting with me at the stop. she would write down what i should say to the man who collects the money so that he would help me get off at the right stop. I was suppose to say this to the man, read it maybe, but instead, being shy at my new-found love of português, i would just hand the man the paper, with a sheepish look on my face and say, sorry but i dont really speak português.
after getting used to the system, i started taking the bus more and more.
once, when i was going to Timoteo, i was sitting at the busstop, waiting and waiting (i forgot to tell you but brasilerios are ALWAYS late, everyone is always late) i had been sitting there for atleast 15min. i turned my head for literally 2seconds and i see a bus flash by, on the front reading, "Ipatinga - Timoteo" Thats my bus! I start running, flagging my arms up and down, looking like a moron, thinking, "please please please stop for me because the next one doesnt come for the next 2hours." ofcourse it stops for me and i stumble onto the bus, out of breathe, and just say over and over, "obrigada, obrigada!" (thankyou thankyou.)
another time, i was in Fabriciano late at night and realized i should probably start going home. i needed to take two buses, one from clare's house to the Center then from the Center to Ipatinga. I was fine when i was on the bus but i didnt exactly know where i was suppose to get off at so i was slightly nervous. i saw this one girl get off, so guess what, i got off too hah. not knowing where the next bus stop is, i start panicking. i am sweating and have no idea where to go. i call clare, she isnt answering. i try my brother but he is in class. its dark out, late at night, and i am not in a good part of town. i'm slightly scared (i guess this isnt something you should be telling your mom, huh?)
i need to ask someone for help. if i ask a man ..well that just isnt a good idea. i see this women walking, obviously working out. i say in my best português possible, "can you please help me, im lost." she ofcourse helps me and leds me to the busstop, talking and congraduating me on my fine português. i wanted to ask her for a picture and maybe her address because i know grandma judy and aunt lou would like to see this women and maybe send her a thankyou card for helping out their favorite granddaughter.
i know that taking the bus is part of this crazy experience and i just roll along with it and always laugh at what always happenes to me..
i remember the very first time i took the bus with the brother (it was my third day in Brasil) and i literally thought i was going to throw up everywhere. from the typical driving style of brasilerios and from the constant stopping and going, i had to switch seats with him so that i could put my head out the window, just in case..
after some time in Brasil, I wanted to learn how to take the bus, alone. I have friends in the other cities, Timoteo & Coronel Fabriciano, so i wanted to take the bus whenever i wanted to so i could visit. my wonderful mother Flavia helped me, looking on the internet for the timing schedule and waiting with me at the stop. she would write down what i should say to the man who collects the money so that he would help me get off at the right stop. I was suppose to say this to the man, read it maybe, but instead, being shy at my new-found love of português, i would just hand the man the paper, with a sheepish look on my face and say, sorry but i dont really speak português.
after getting used to the system, i started taking the bus more and more.
once, when i was going to Timoteo, i was sitting at the busstop, waiting and waiting (i forgot to tell you but brasilerios are ALWAYS late, everyone is always late) i had been sitting there for atleast 15min. i turned my head for literally 2seconds and i see a bus flash by, on the front reading, "Ipatinga - Timoteo" Thats my bus! I start running, flagging my arms up and down, looking like a moron, thinking, "please please please stop for me because the next one doesnt come for the next 2hours." ofcourse it stops for me and i stumble onto the bus, out of breathe, and just say over and over, "obrigada, obrigada!" (thankyou thankyou.)
another time, i was in Fabriciano late at night and realized i should probably start going home. i needed to take two buses, one from clare's house to the Center then from the Center to Ipatinga. I was fine when i was on the bus but i didnt exactly know where i was suppose to get off at so i was slightly nervous. i saw this one girl get off, so guess what, i got off too hah. not knowing where the next bus stop is, i start panicking. i am sweating and have no idea where to go. i call clare, she isnt answering. i try my brother but he is in class. its dark out, late at night, and i am not in a good part of town. i'm slightly scared (i guess this isnt something you should be telling your mom, huh?)
i need to ask someone for help. if i ask a man ..well that just isnt a good idea. i see this women walking, obviously working out. i say in my best português possible, "can you please help me, im lost." she ofcourse helps me and leds me to the busstop, talking and congraduating me on my fine português. i wanted to ask her for a picture and maybe her address because i know grandma judy and aunt lou would like to see this women and maybe send her a thankyou card for helping out their favorite granddaughter.
i know that taking the bus is part of this crazy experience and i just roll along with it and always laugh at what always happenes to me..
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