tchau meu amor

and so i'm here, the night before i leave. too tired and stressed out to feel anything. too numb.

i had moments and memories here too fond for words. had experiences that some wouldnt believe. i had perfect days that ended too sooon; and days that wouldnt end sooon enough. i loved all the horrible days becasue i learned and i hated alll the wonderful days because they passed too quickly.
i know some of the moments here i will never experience again ..but thats okay. because i've already experienced them. i had those moments here and they were perfect.
it was perfect.
everything was perfect.
tchau meu amor, brasil. nao vou esquecer de você.

tou indo

i leave in 3 days.
only 2 days left in ipatinga, my city
and it doesnt feeel like i'm leaving.

just like before, my suitcases are staring at me, with a big frowny-face, waiting for me to start stufffing everything into them. alll my ugly clothes that i have worn how many times, alll the foood im going to try to sneak into the country, all my brasilian presents. dont wanna pack.
i have an endlist line of post-it notes scattered everywhere. i have each day planned down to the hour because i know i'll forget something. never been this organized in my life. and its kinda scary.

i'm so stresssed about luggage, gooodbyes &squeezing last minute wax/nail appointments that it hasnt hit me. i hope it doesnt hit me until ..never that way i'll save the complete and total meltdown while going through customs in Chicago for later. save me the embarrassment.

i have literally forgotten so much about the US of A that i am going to have the worst culture shock immaginble. i'm going to hug and kiss people out of excitement and i'll get crazy looks. i'm going to speak português like it's everyones first language and i'll get crazy looks. (and give crazy looks back. how don't you understand "oi?!" or "beijos?!" what have you never heard português before?!) i'm going to look for the rice and beans on the table at lunch and i'll get crazy looks. i'm going to reply, "don't worry, i'll take the bus." and get crazy loooks. i'll talk about going to BH for the weekend, like everyone's beeen there ..and get crazy looks.
maybe i'll have reallly bad culture shock ..or maybe as soon as i enter pulaski, pennsylvania and walk into my house ..i'll realize everything is exactly the same. ..expect that barb has rearrange all the tuberware containers, although thats a weekly event.
this has been my life for the past year and now when everything is perfect, when everything fits, i'm expected to give it all up?

denmarkk.

sebastian, some crazy danish kid i call my best friend.
he left yesterday. he left everything he loved in brasil for the Land of the Danes.
i would say that i was somewhat composed at the airport ..but it was like getting the wind knocked out of me.
this kid has been with me throughout this entire year. same friends, same parties, same struggles, same language. along with mike, billie, and clare, we made vale do aço. the five, then threee, famous exchange students.
i would do anything for this kid.
cause i know he would do the exact same for me.
he found me napkins in jorge and matheus when i desperatly needed to wipe offf my face. i laughed at him when he took the bus for the first time and got lost. we helped each other learn a foreign language. i met his brasilian families, he met mine. he slept on the carride home from the airport while i silently cried because of losing my best friend. we created a language together called batman and spoke it fluently. we made a magical mixture with the frozen. he would tell me when guys were ugly. i learned about a country that, before, i could barely locate on a map. we had a legandary night in the land of seven lakes. when he thought i was sleeeping in sete lagoas, i wasnt &heard everything. i laughed until i cried when he told me about burger king and 9days of suicde thoughts. i ran "freeely" down the streeet, next to the walll. fell in love with the danish language. talked about going home and giving up; talked about staying here forever. met family and friends through photos. he told me when i needed to calm down at eleven and i saw him jump in a dumpster. we gave saúde to joao busco in cel fab. ate pastelys in the shopping ..and burnt his upper lip. on this last night, he fell asleep with caipivodeka in his hand.
now these are just memories.
things that make me smile; things that make me laugh.
one of the days i remember so vividly with him was the night before sete lagoas. i was spending the night at his house so we would travel early the next morning. we watched "remember me" and ate toast. then we sat on his balconey at 3am. 3am in timoteo on a wednesday night is completely silent. it was us and brasil. i dont remember what we talked about but it doesnt really matter. it was perfect conversation. i just wanted to stay in that moment forever. and i want to go back to that moment. i wouldnt change anything, nothing at all, i just want to feeel the way i was feeeeling that night.
he's my best friend.
and i miss him
and i love him
and i'll see him again.
te amo batman, meu melhor amigo. até mais tarde, ta.

odieo isso

i hate this.
i hate this feeeling.
i hate feeling nauseous just thinking about it.
i hate that feeeling of being punched in the stomach after it happens.
i hate that i cry all. the. time.
i hate saying goodbye.
i hate leaving people behind and being left behind.
i hate being so close to people and having them ripped away from me.
i hate that i won't be part of their lives anymore.
i hate knowing that soon, i'll say, "i was an exchange student" rather than "i am an exchange student."
i hate that when i come back "home" everything will be exactly the same, yet completely different.
i hate saying goodbye.

highlights of my year;

items that put a smile on my face that happened "só aquil no Brasil:"


*successfully learned the language of português ..and successfully forgetton english.
*had a picnic on top of a waterfall.
* became a local ..not just a tourist.
*been pampered and made into a princess
*had dreams in different languages
*celebrated an American holiday, Thanksgiving, with Brasilians, rice and beans.
*walked (climbed) 17kilometers within 2hours and later saw a sky full of stars.
*became best friends with a Danish boy, two American beauties, and an Austrailian mate.
*held a sleeepy sloth in the Amazon Rainforest.
*learned to become a futebol fan.
*saw the capital of Brasil, Brasília.
*became a human mosquito bite.
*lived off rice and beans.
*learned to sleeep in class ..so deeeply that sometimes i have dreams.
* had a picnic in the midddle of Belo Horizonte with 20 other exchange students.
*slept in a hammock for 5nights in the Amazon, falling asleeep to stars so big and so bright that i almost wanted to turn them offff
*had a "White Sandy Christmas."
*went (and didnt catch) piranha fishing.
*ran around Rio de Janerio, a week before my eighteenth birthday.
*tried every food put into my mouth.
*learned to not underestimate brasilian sun.
*repelled down a waterfall.
*held an alligator that looked mean enough to bite my thumb off.
*saw Rio Amazonas and Rio Silmões meet. (the meeting of the two rivers in the amazon.)
*skipped class with little concern.
*swam in the warmest ocean water in the famous & fabulous Salvador, Bahia.
*learned more than what they teach you at school.
*became a brasilian
*became "uma mineira." (a person from my state, Minas Gerias.)
*became part of my family: a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a niece, a granddaughter.
*became happy and content in life.
*learned about myself and to love myself.


the more i think about it, the more i cant leave this place. look at all these memories. to you, these are just fun stories to hear and cool adventures to read. this doesnt really mean anything to you and why would they? theyre my memories, my adventures, my stories that i want to remember foreverr. this is my life. i have a life here, everything that i could want and more. i just wanna stay in this moment, being young and freee and have everything ahead of me. all the world before me, all the possibilities...

rambling

i've beeen here for exactly 10months
10months of language barriers, cultural confusion, unusual food, new introductions, living out of suitcases, and jumping head first into situations.
in less than a month, this will be over.
i'm almost ready to go home. (i say this very losely and depending on the day)
i'm ready to be normal again!
i havent felt normal in the past 10months ..because of my accent, or becasue of where i've come from, because i'm not a typical brasilian or because i cant relate to my peeers. because i'm different.
i wont be called the gringa (foreigner) or the ameican or the exchange student.
just ariana.

and then theres a part of me that is holding on to each day ..because i know that each day that passes, is one that i wont get back here. my families here mean the world to me, without them i know i woulnt have fallen in love with brasil. they've shown me everything i know here and taught me the language and culture. telling me, "you probably shouldnt wear" and "dont say that to people" ..sparing me embarrassing moments.

but here in brasil, it has turned winter.
winter here is around 60F ..some days are warmer and some are colder.
a perfect example of "winter:" i went to my country clube on sunday afternoon with my dad ..it was cold in the early morning with the clouds hovering above but as it came closer to noon, it became reallly hot. i came home and later realized, that yes, i got sunburn. that stuff only happens here.
but i know in the south of brasil, it actually snows. yess, snow in brasil. you dont see shovels or school delays ..but there is a little frost on the ground.
houses here dont have heaters, why would they need it when it doesnt have negative temperatures and this cold lasts for only 2months. so ususally during the day ..i am bundled in clothes and layers and blankets, drinking tea and eating lots of soup.
i'm not sure in all of brasil, but in my houses here, all the water is solar heated. during the winter, you have to switch the knob so that you can have actually heated water ..because if the day isnt very warm, youll be taking a very freezing shower (i did that once before school and my teeth were chattering the rest of the day.)

another fun fact: there is another brasilian holiday this week:
Corpus Christi.
It is a Catholic hoilday that celebrates the Body of Christ or Holy Communion. It is celebrated on a Thursday ..giving everyone a four day weekend to travel or relax.
i asked some people why they celebrated this hoilday and a lot of them didnt know. all they knew was a four day weeekend was approaching and they were about to sleep in. although most of these people werent Catholic ..shows you how excited and much they love their hoildays even if they have no idea what it is.

other typical brasilian things: during the month of june and july (their winter months) all over brasil celebrates "Festa Juninha" or "Festa de São João" Wikipedia has told me that it was first introduced my Portugal during the colonial period. Men dress up with large straw hats and checkered shirts and the women have pigtails, freckles (with you rarely see here) and country-type clothing. The Northeastern part of Brasil is the most famous and has some of the most richest traditions. Among the schools, each class dances a form of squeeze dance with their partner.
i will be dancing this with my friend ..and embarrassing myself :)

another random fact: my family is leaving in less than two weeks for Germany to pick up their daughter, Laura, who went on exchange. Meaning i have to say goodbye to them soon..which i dont want to ..and i have to move houses, again. i'm either going back to my second family (good possiblity) going back to my third family ..or you know, living out of a suitcase somewhere on the streets. anything is possible.

just a little recap of whats going on :)

minha familia

somehow i managed to squeeze my entire life into two huge suitcases, one carry-on bag, a backpack and one purse. i don't know how it happened ..but it did. i had my fingers crosssd the whole time.
all the suitcases, spring cleaning and goodbyes only mean one thing: it's moving day.

i changed families, again. i came back to my first host family to spend my last month with them ..since i was only in their house for barely 3months.

i dont care how many times i change families, or how they live just down the road or how we promise we'll see each other soon ..it doesnt make it any less easier. of course it was raining that day (i swear it has to rain every time that i move) i sat on the sofa ..waiting, of course since brasilians are always late, and thought i want to get this over with. i want to say goodbye and i want to stay a little longer. i want to stay but i know i cant. i tried thinking of things to say, how to express my graditude, how to say i love you in a "host daughter/sister" kind-of way. how many times i could say thankyou without it becoming annoying. but when the time came, i didnt say much of anything ..just squeezed extra tight with my hugs and gave extra kisses ..and hope that somehow they already know how much they mean to me.

i felt like i just moved into this family ..i still remember what we had the first day for lunch (lasagna) and how my little sister took my hand, saying "vem ca" (come here) and showed me my room.
unlike all my other families, i adjusted really quickly here; within days i felt at homee. i moved in and the next weekend was Carnaval, the holiday i spent with my father's side of the family ..a family more out of control than "a bunch of clowns." we did nothing that weekend but bond ..i got to know my "new" family better. my brother took me to my first futbol (soccer) game days after ..and i realized how much i love brasil and their ridiculous fans (people literally had "tramp stamps" of their team's mascot.) for my sister's birthday, i watched as my father made homemade pizza ..and then later ate it the next morning for breakfast. all the weeekday nights with my parents going out to bars and all the sunday afternooons at the club in my bikkini. the weekend where i just spent with my mom, having our nails done and eating what felt like 3kilos of sushi ..how much our bellies ached afterwards and how we swore we would jog the next morning ..which of course didnt happened. that saturday afternoon by the pool with my sister and her friends, when i learned i could relate more to her than i thought. how often my mom embarrassed my sister and how often i thought my brother loved the dog, megan (pronounced meggie) more than he liked me. learning how my mom talks about food as if she is a culinary artist ..when she simply loves to eat and all the times i heard my dad snoring on the sofa. easter holiday was spent in the city of my mother and i felt at home at my grandma's house ..doing nothing but spend time with my sister. i dont know how many times i came home traveling and foundd myself being dragged along to this party or this show ..becasue here in brasil, it just doesnt stop. all the times i heard my mom speak english and know that her accent is the cutest thing possible. the week of school that i didnt go to class because of testing and i stayed up hours and hours just talking to my sister, showing her my world and learning more about hers. and i'll always remember how my mom promised to come to pennsylvania for my college graduation ..and then my wedding ..and then later to see her "grandchildren" ..i giggled in delight and knew that i would always have a home in 118 rua treze de maio, barrio dás águas and they'll always have a home in pennsylvania ..or wherever in the world i end up staying.

minhas americanas lindas

i find it quite funnny how i came to brasil expecting to find relationships &frienships from people from all over the world.

i didnt except i would have two bestfriends from the same country.

carly & grace

two american girls that couldnt be any similar than peanut butter &jellly ..but somehow it fits.

these girls have beeen my bestfriends since the beginning ..since our first orientation ..until now, until forever.

carly leaves this weeek and then soon after grace

shortly after, i have to pack my bags tooo

i could always imagine the beginning ..and all the struggles in between ..but never in my life could i imagine the end.

but now its here

it sits before me

and every goodbye i say, all the "tchau , beijos, até mais." seeem a little more hard each time.

sometimes impossible.

carly ..a girl from minnesota ..the grandmother of our group

we posed for "an american photo" on september 11, our first meeting and later ran around BH together. i had my first açai with you &your cousin in the shopping ..and cachaça that night too. you had your 19th birthday with 20 other exchangestudents by your side, something no one, especially fatima, will forget. i came to sete lagoas, met your city, your family, and your way of life. that friday night was full of laughter, luisa, & lucky strike.. its bettter left at that. in tiradentes, we explored the city together and felt at the same time, the perfect moment of the night, of the people surrounding us and of the city that glows inside out. araxá with the wedding & goodbye my loverr. we talked of college, our disappearing friends and our fears of going home. then i came back to the city of 7lakes for that one last time..

youre so american to me. you have confidence and knowledge of our country that i lack. i am positive that in whatever field you study, economics or international relations, you will be "having a meeting one afternoon in New York, and then the next day be off to Japan to meet with their prime minister."

like you said at the busstation, youre like my sister. youre one of my bestfriends that i have ever had. i know ill see you soon, carly. (and being 40minutes away from mall of america just gives me an excuse to do that ;D)

grace! amazing grace; amor da minha vida

i knew that when you told me the story of the alien and then later revealed "the face of grace" those few first days ..you would be my bestfriend. no matter what, fatima will always be our worst nightmare & that yellow rainjacket will always be in fashion with you. numbers dont matter to you in men or should i say boys, and frozen will never agree with me. teddybear& bernardo want you, dont worry. all the rotary conference would be utterly boring without you. your português is perfect because you just dont shout up, i say that with all the love. i laugh until i cry when i am with you.

bring back brasil to american high school. you have no other option but to study on the east coast so that you can be just a little closer to mee. and when the money is good, your house in michagen will be my home too; we'll be exchange students once again for that one weeek.

i'll be seeeing you sooon grace :)

the three american girls from district 4520

i'll miss you

i'll always love you

and God Bless America that we are in the same country

Amazônia

indescribable.

the maddening adjective that simply is used to describe something that one cannot describe.

because no other adjectives are significant

indescribable:10days in the amazon rainforest.

i dont know how to describe it for you ..dont know where to start even.

10days in one of the most indescribable places ..with 87 other people that i could never forget

87 exchange students from 21 different countries.

we literally had the world in one rooom

i learned a whole new meaning of, "it's a small world afterall."

USA. Canda. Mexico. Venezuela. Denmark. Norwary. Sweden. Germany. Austria. Holland. South Africa. Austrailia. New Zealand. India. Russia. Taiwan. Japan. Thailand. Hungary. Poland.

i have too many stories that i wish i could tell you ..too many emotions that i wish i could describe without using the same "amazing" and "wonderful" type adjectives ..too many people that i have learned so much from ..its too much for one single blog.

i wanna wait

i wanna wait until i get home

and i can sit down with you

and show you my photos (all 457 of them)

i promise i wont forget a thing

these places are too incredible for me to forget

these memories are too fond for me to forget

these people too wonderful for me to forget

ooh and i am really lazy at this point and cant be bothered. ( i know the amazon would take up atleast 15posts if i got into detail)

and plus, wouldnt you rather have ME telling you all the stories :)

so yess i will continue bloggging ..just saving the amazon for later.

i know you're horribly annoyed ..but you can wait a month.

yeah a month..

amor

you need to find the little joys in life.

i've come to learn this

whether it's a delicious meal shared with your mom, a seven minute nap before you catch the "van" for school in the morning, or deciding to buy that popiscle because you deserve it.

simple as that. it's what keeeps me going with a smile on my face.

the little joys in my life here in brasil:

i love catching the city bus ..taking me wherever.

i love wacthing american tv ..but not really watching it, more reading the portuguese subtitles on the screeen.

i love that i love rice and beans.

i love that instead of shaking hands, you give hugs and kisses when greeting perfect strangers.

i love how my "exchange student belly" (as i like to call my 5kilos that i have gained) shows off when i wear my school uniform.

i love the music here ..even if its probably 6months behind "popular" US music

i love my brasilerian friends that have stuck around since the beginning and bared my portuguese from the start ..and still stick around just to laugh at the american.

i love sundays at my country clube.

i love being able to know a team scores a goal during a futebol game: fireworks and shouts all over the neighborhood

i love playing tennis on monday afternoons

i love every single exchange student in my district ..every single one of them.

i love how out-of-control my school is.

i love that sometimes, people don't know i'm foreign from my portuguese accent ..they just believe i'm from a different state. best compliment in the world

i love when my parents introduce me to their friends or family as their daughter.

i love that brasilians wait/need/count down for their long weekends/vacations.

i love skyping my family each week; i look forward to that day each weeek.

i love that winter in brasil is high 80's.

i love when i feel like my português is out of this world ..that its amazing ..although i know i'm using the wrong tense of the verb and i dont know a noun of something..but i'm speaking it.

i love my dance class of forro and sumba.

i love how as time goes on, i forget things back home.

i love that it is perfectly okay to say youre sleepy during the day ..everyday. because really, everyone here gets a little sleepy from the heat.

i love that somehow, everyone in my city knows who i am ..and have met me even if i dont remember.

i love that between the two futebol teams in my state ..there is a passionate hatred that divides friends and families on sunday afternoon during the game.

i love being able to tell my other exchange student all the crazy secrets &stories and to find their reaction as laughter and agreement.

i love reading my history book ..i find that i am eating history as to learning it

i love how there is always something to do here, party, show, bar, resturant, always.

i love that somedays ..my heart just bursts with my love for this place and i try to think of leaving it behind, going back ..and i cant.

i cant leave this place, not now

and definatly not in 2months..

distrito 4520

Dia 28 de Abril até dia 1 de Maio = one of the most memorible times here in brasil.

we had the rotary district conference

meaning a fulllll weeekend in a 5star hotel in a gorgeous city with 40 other kids, all of my bestfriends in one place.

i left wednesday night and arrived the next morning pretty early. i went with my rotary and another club ..while the other 40kids went on their own bus. the other kids would arrive later that afternoon so i had the morning with mike, a boy from taiwan. i've never had the chance to talk with him, his english &portuguese has never been the best, but his language has definitely improved. you have to take your hat for mike because he is hundreds of thousands of kilometers from home, literally on the otherside of the world, a completely different place, with different customs and cultures and languages, were the differences outnumber the similarities..and the kid never stops smiling. he is so polite, so friendly and so funny, once you get through the language barrier. his english reminds me of my portuguese ..absolutley adorable.

anyway, me and mike explored this HUGE hotel. actually, it's not a hotel. a more accurate word would be creeepy castle. i dont know how many times we all compared the place to the movie, "The Shining." If it was in the mountains with a maze and Jack Nicholson sitting at the typewriter ..it would have beeen it. so when it was just me and mike, walking up and down hallways, peeking into rooms and hidden doors, we got creeped out.

everyone arrived later that day and we all knocked eachother over with our hugs and kisses. it's funny when we all get together. it seems like no time has passed between us. everyone is the same, the same obnoxious, out-of-control crazy exchange students, just with bettter português and more stories to tell. we become closer, revealing secrets that we might or might not would have wanted to know. we get in trouble all the time for talking too much and laughing endlessly but you have to realize ..we only have so much time together. it's funny to think that some of these people i have only met a handfull of times.. some this was the second time i have seen them, but that doesnt change the bond we have. being an exchange student automactially makes you best friends.

the purpose of the meeting was the presentation of our countries to prepare in front of hundreds of rotarians..we all entered the stage with our flags ..then did a typica dance of our country. (US did a little sports dance with High School Musicals "Getcha Head in the Game;" Taiwan had the best dance ..TYPICAL asian stereotype, at its greatest. trying to find the song on Itunes to download.so cute!) Afterwards we did typical brasilian dance, breaking it down and embarrassing ourselves in front of hundreds. then we all sang "We are the Children" bringing tears to the audiences eyes. really powerful song to end a perfect performance

the rest of the weekend, we attended dinner parties where we all had to answer the same question, country, name, etc (a few people said that i didnt look american which made me so.happy!) we usually just clustered together, refusing to leave each other's side. we laughed too much and stayed up way too late ..sleeeping til lunch and laying by the pool in the afternoon. we tell stories that only other exchnage students can handle, because they experience the same thing, daily. we hear brasilians speak english together and americans speak portuguese together, getting confused with all the languages.

we had a total of 10 language possiblities that could be spoken at once: english (american or australian whichever accent you prefer) spanish, portuguese, danish, polish, french, hungarian, norwegian, chinese and german)

now that is a beauitful thing.

that's exchange!

on the last night, we had a "baile," a huge dance. everyone put on their best clothes and rocked their body. we took hundreds of photos to try and capture the moment and danced to all the lame songs the band played.

me and mike had to leave after the dance, earlier than everyone else. so sebastian, being the crazy amazing danish he is, called everyone outside, grabbed his ihome and played every sad song he had.

this was the moment we had to say goodbye

this was the moment that i thought and hoped would never come

i blame it all on bien, my beauitful german. she came up to me and said, "ariana, it was so nice to meet you."

that was all she needed to say and i started crying.

"why are you saying goodbye?! this isnt goodbye, is it? not forever, atleast. how can we say goodbye when we just met. i dont believe this!"

and the tears didnt stop until i hugged and squeezed and promised to see them again ..each and every single one of them.

and then i saw all the brasilians crying ..and i just said: faz. faz tudo. e faz de novo

do it. do it all. and do it again.

i wanted to tell them all of my advice, all my dreams for them, all my hopes and worries and say that it's not going to be easy, everyday is a struggle, a challenge but IT IS SO WORTH IT. that it will be the best and worst thing you can do. that you will meet the best people in your life during this next year. dont be scared, dont be nervous, get excited! use everyday! dont waste a minute. i wanted to tell them this.

but there wasnt enough time

these people, these 40people that i have known for the past year, have scribbled their name onto my heart and left a lasting impression on me.

i left, with my heart full of love and happiness.

feliz páscoa!

this past weeek, brasil had another celebrated holiday, páscoa.

easter.

a few weeks before easter sunday, supermarkets and all grocery stores, had hundreds of thousands of "eggs" floating above customer's head. these eggs, of any and every various types of chocolate, 12inches in height, were nothing but a hollow "egg" of chocolate with a little surprise in the middle. the supermarkets were FILLED and i felt like i found the golden ticket and walked into wily wonka's magical land of every child's dream.

when my family went to select our eggs, i looked around for awhile, marveling at all this chocolate in one small area, saw the most beauitful egg, wrapped in gold foil which sprakled under the artifical lighting, it caught my eye. who cares if i didnt like the chocolate..it was beauitful nevertheless. i knew that was my egg. easy as that.

my sister on the otherhand. she wanted them all and she didnt want any. she decided on one and changed her mind later. i think she just enjoyed wandering the store and dreaming of how much chocolate she could store in her belly.

i was thinking of how many belly-aches she would be getting within the next few days.

for the easter holiday, my family would be traveling to my mother's city, Oliveira, Minas Gerais. Just a little over 6 hours of traveling, we managed to pull off the journey in around 9hours, due to crowded roads, getting lost, and highways being down. ohh the joys of traveling in brasil..

we arrived in Oliveira on Thursday afternoon, being introduced to my mother's side of the family ..her mom, my grandma, are the exact same person, smiles, laughter, and pure love, the only difference is that my grandma has a few more years behind her

we got settled in and then ran off to our first activity ..thursday evening mass. although brasil is a catholic country, that night was the first time i ever witnessed a catholic ceremony here. the place was crowded ..seemed like everyone from this small town came to that one church for the dedication of the last supper. we could barely find a place to sit ..we were in the back behind a pillar, i couldnt see anything, but i could feeel it. the service was long ..especially since it was also foreign to me. i'm not catholic and have been to very few services in my life so the sitting, knealing, chatting, is as strange in portuguese as it is in english. but it was a beauitful service and it meant a lot to me; my family isnt religious, they spend their sunday mornings at the country club reading the newspaper in their bikinis, so just that they took me, knowing how important church is to me, meant the world.

friday morning, the light spilling through the curtains at 7am, i woke early and walked with my mom through town. by 11 we were exhausted and dripping with sweat and ready to clean up for lunch. lunch was grilled salmon and shrimp as big as my fist ..my belly was really happy afterwards :)

later we all piled into the car and visited everyone from my mom's childhood. i met so many people, so many names and faces that i cant remember, that after we would meet someone new, ..i would turn to my sister and ask, who was that? she would shake her head, she didnt know either.

my sister's friend also came to Oliveira so we all just hung out ..doing nothing but talking.

i love my sister i really do. ..i remember being so excited to have a sister in this family. my first house, my sister was in germany; my second house, my sister studied in a different city ...so finally, finally.. i had a girl. someone to relate with and to tell secrets and ..a sister! i think i needed a sister more than anything because i miss my real sisters, those two crazy girls back home.

saturday afternooon was lazy in every sense of the word.

that night, there was a huge party in the city which i went with my brother &some of his friends.

i had nothing to wear, literally nothing. wasnt informed of bringing nice clothes. but my sister insisted that i loooked fine. she did my make up for me. she is 15years old and knows more about makeup than i do ..way more. i put a little eye liner on and she said ..let me help you ariana.

after she was done ..i looked like i was going out to spend some time on the road, if you know what i mean. i could only imagine barbara carr's look of disapproval because of all the black smeared under my eyes. she forced me to use lipstick and eyeshadow and blush ..telling me that i was just beauitful!

the party was banging, absoluety amazing, and lasted until 7:30

i got home, took a shower, changed my clothes, and got into the car to travel back to Ipatinga. i thought that i would definitely pass out in the car ..being that i didnt sleeep the night before. OF COURSE i couldnt fall asleep ..only person that couldnt sleeep. i got so car sick! it was horrible! i think it was because of not sleeeping and everything in my stomach ..but i was wrecked and had to pull over a few times. thankfully the journey didnt last 9hours ..just the "short" 6hours.

so easter came and went without much thought. i missed family

when i was sitting in the backsit, miserable, silent tears came rolling down my cheek without me even noticing at first. holidays away from home are the hardest ..anyone can tell you that. but when you are busy, and moving and meeting new people ..youre fine. but when youre not.

when you start to think of everyone ..of all the things you do each year, the same thing, the exact same thing each year ..that sometimes seem boring and predicable ..it makes tradition. and thats what you miss.

CSFX, sala 330

sometimes i forget that i go to a brasilian public school.

&then something competely out of the ordinary happens.

like how there was a huge grasshopper sitting peacefully on the curtains 2feeet away from me during class ..and eventually landed on a desk.

or when, for a straight week, the boys collected bugs and put them in girls pencil cases just to see them jump out of their desks during classs &interupt the lesson for a good 5minutes.

(i like how both of these examples involve bugs)

these things you wouldnt find in an american public schoool ..and sometimes that slipps my mind.

on the attendace sheet, there is a total of 45 people.

45 brasilians in one classroom with one professor ..actually 46 people becasue theres me :) litttle old american, ariana, who sits in the back corner, last row everyday

i observed the class one day and here was the results:

there were 7 little conversations going on at once, some from acrosss the rooom

there were 4 people sleeeping

there were 2 people drawing litttle creations on their paper

there were atleast 5 people using cell phones in some: charging, texting, calling their momma

there were 8 people daydreaming

and then there were a grand total of 6 people struggling through the lesson

of course this varies from class to class, subject to subject, but overall, this is typical

class starts at 7:15 each morning ..the teacher wonders into the classroom at around 7:20 each day so the lesson usually starts are 7:25 ..usually. people leave the classrooom to go to the bathroom, drink at the foundation, or grab some food down at the "cafeteria" all while the teacher has their lesson.

you look across the room and we are a sea of forest greeen and faded white with our matching uniforms ..but hardly does everyone go according to the rules. like me for example. do i wear tennis shoes like the school states. absolutely not. does anyone say anything besides my peers? absolutely not :)

they take their headphones and wire them under their shirts and turn the music down to a whisper.

there are a total of 4 classrooms of 3rd year ..all with the same amount of kids. mine, sala 330, is almost without a doubt, the worst. weekly, the teachers have to remind us to get more serious for the vestibular (the huge test they have to take to enter college) the students stay silent for the little lecture, pay attention, and then literally 5minutes later, the murmur of voices slowly, gradually, increasingly grows louder until the whole process starts again.

i asked my first question in class last week.

yes it has taken me a whole 7months to bring up the courage to actually say something during the lesson, but it probably will be the last.

it was during geography, a class that i love, and i was hard.core paying attention during the lesson. its hard for me to pay attention when EVERYONE is talking at once, throwing in their opinions & their conversations, but i was focused.

i always sit next to brian, (they call him cow, which is pronouced "cou") the smartest boy in my class that never pays attention and always lets me use his book &explains everything to me :)

the class was doing exercises in the book & i didnt hear the one answer, so i shot my little hand up in the air & asked.

the teacher made everyone be quiet so she could hear my question ..making everyone peep their head over to stare in amazement that i am paying attention, let alone, asking a question.

the class clapped.

i was embarrassed.

sometimes i have the strong desire to throw my whole classroom into an american high school. just take them all and put them in the same room with an american teacher and see the look, the shock, and the amazement of both parties.

yes, i would find that very amusing.

and just for laura:

they have these little cards that they have to swip to enter/exit the school. i dont have one which really upsets me so i have to exit a different dooor. so one day, laura let me use her card and felt SO COOOL !

my usually actitivies during school hours: sleeep. read. converse. pay attention.

de novo

back by popular demand:

thee bikinni wax of all bikinni wax

(this is when all men close the tab)

i've been back to the same place 2other times. the ladies all laughed until they counldnt breathe when they saw me walk into the salon.

"thought you had enough fun the last time, ariana?"

"thought you said you were never coming back, ariana?"

"you wanna do this again, even though last time you cried & promised that i would never lay my hands on you again, ariana?"

yeah well.. you do what you gotta do in hopes of becoming brasilian.

i went a good 3months without a wax and when i told my new mom, she insisted that they next time my little sister went to wax her legs, i was going too. "this lady works magic!" she exclaimed to me.

we went last saturday afternoon, just me and my sister, and i am full on panicking. Glancing around at the door, peeping in on other clients, watching the clock tick away the seconds until it was mine turn.

i confess to my sister that i am ridiculously nervous, palm sweating, nail biting, foot tapping, nervous. she doesnt understand why, she does this all time and it obviously doesnt hurt THAT much if i am willingly coming back.

the women calls her name and she happily goes into the room. the women, with the name tag of Adriana, doesnt even shut the door! she doesnt even introduce herself, she just starts waxing away!

this does NOT look very promising.

my sister comes out a few minutes later and leads me in. I give her a half smile and walk in, like i am on trail for murder.

i walk in, drop my pants and just start laughing. can this situation be away weirder?

i start to get onto the "doctor's table" and she looks at me strangely. "aren't you going to taking off your underpants, too?"

this is when i have to draw the line and say, listen lady. we americans arent like this. as much as i would love to claim to be brasilian, i will always have a part of conservative american blood in me.

i lay down on the table and she hikes up my underpants. i cannot stop my uncontrolable gigggles. she tries to tell me that this is totally okay. she has down this for years and i shouldnt be embarrassed.

yeah well i havent been doing this for years. i am this stupid foregin girl that just likes the results and would like this to be over as quickly as possible.

i suggest that we have a good ol' conversation to take my mind off the pain. she layers on the first wax and i ask her what is her name, although i already know the answer.

i cant hear the answer through my screams. yes it is that painfull.

now she is the one laughing at me. the people in the waiting room are probably thinking someone is having a root canal by the way i am yelping. i was waiting for her to peek her head through the door and ask someone for backup.

i ask if she has away kids. she does, a boy my age that would just love me. ..this is not the time or place when you set your son up on a blind date. she tells me that i have the cutest little accent, obviously foreign, but nevertheless, adorable.

she continues to wax and the tears continue to roll down my cheeks. after each wax, i would hold my breathe, holding back my screams, and she would come up to my face and say, "doí, né?" ..hurts, doesnt it? no, i am secretly a comedian that is just wanting to get a good laugh for you.

after all the waxing is complete, she comes back with my enemy: tweezers. i refuse her, i would prefer the wax, god forbid.

she then instructs me to flip over and now its time for my buttt.

excuse me, i think i misunderstood you. did you just say my butt?

yeah yeah, please flip overr.

lady, Adriana, MEU BEM, you are not, will not, can not, do that.

of course i can and i will now lets go.

she literally pushes me on my side and waxxes away.

i will not discuss this part.

she tells me that its over, i can put my pants on. FINALMENTE! it literally took 20 mintues of struggle and sweat. i jump off the table, which the paper sticking to my butt, buckets of water were escaping my pores, better than screams right?

i wanted to hug Adriana, i wanted to invite her over for dinnner, heck i wanted to bring her home with me to The States and meet my whole family cause she did THE BEST JOB POSSIBLE!

i walk over to meet my sister. she is laughing, who wouldnt be. she just heard the whole thing.

"did it hurt?"

ooh, minha irmã, you have no idea.

bikinni waxes, what an odd relationship i have with you..

três e meio..

eu sou intercâmbio (i am an exchange student)

eu era intercâmbio (i was an exchange student)

in less than three short months, this verb, to be, will change from the present, to the past.

i will no longer be an exchange student, no longer be the only american in vale do aço, the girl with the silly foreign accent, i no longer will be different from everyone else around me

the date: july 16th

the day i have to say goodbye to my families, the people that have taken care of me; have to bid a farewell to my friends, my school, that i have laughed and joked and smiled with for the past year; leave ipatinga, my city, my home, until my next return which might not even happened; and then i have to say gooodbye to brasil, my dreamland.

in a flash of my eyes, this year will be over. just a year that i spent in brasil, a collection of memories, of stories that no one will find funny, of pictures that try to hold a moment in time but fail, of experiences that have made me the person that i am.

then somehow i have to pick up my life, back into "reality"

go to westmini as a freshman and hit the books, hard. find a job, hopefully. and spend time with my loved ones, and try to make up for lost time.

but it was a year of separation ..a year of change ..a year of growing up ..a year of expereince that you dont find in Pennsylvania.

i am terrified to go home. i am scared outtta my mind to return. i'm afraid

but theres a part of me thats excited to come home:

i'm excited to go shopping in boardman with riss, try to sell our clothes at platos closet, sneak into girly movies with foood, have lunch at panera bread, steal her clothes & "ruin" them, take her car and have to pay for the gasss.

i'm excited to hear my mom yell at me for leaving hair in the drain, find a list on the counter with her handwriting, have tea in the morning on the backporch.

i'm excited to hear my dad's laugh, see his dirty (&ugly) boots, watch him roll his eyes at my mom, and see him purposely put meat into the pasta on sunday even though he knows i dont like it.

i'm excited to see how much natalie has grown up to a "litttle lady," tease her on teenage things, hear her attitude and watch her eyes light up while she plays with bunny.

i'm excited to go to grandma's house on sunday and family picnics!

i'm excited for bonfires with friends, MARSHMELLOWS, gossiping with girls, driving around just cause and then eventually saying goodbye as they venture off to college.

i'm excited for the litttle things.

but then sometimes, i think about things back home and through the gap of 7months, i have forgotten about things. like the thrill of driving with the window down and the breeze in your face; the smell of my house; the WAHS bell schedule that was always wired into my brian; why north-ers hate winter when allll i wanted was to feeel a snowflake on my tongue; how to flirt, ooh god how i wish i know how to flirt again; how i acted in high school, did i have an ongoing conversation? did i pay attention in every single class? what did i do on weeknights beside study?

so these next three &half months here, i am going to enjoy every last minute of it.. because before we know it, ill be at the airport, thinking ..i'm going back home? i thought i just got here?

tiradentes !

this past weekend, dias 19-20 de março, was rotary weeekend with all my other exchange students whom i loveeeeeee

(this weekend was also the weekend where president obama came to brasil. this was a REALLLY big deal here, all over the news, from his life story, to first lady, michelle and her fashionable style, to all the secruity procedures brasil was willing to go through to make sure "the most important man" was kept safe. Obama wants to strengthen relations with the brasilian government, because brasil has a new president, Dilma, and brasil is on the raise as a international superpower.)

the weekend began at the ungodly hour of 6am where we would all gather at the bus station to travel 3hours or so to a historical city, Tirandentes.

there were 40exchange students, or "exchangers" as i like to call them.

20brasilianns that are going to leave on exchange this summer and

20 "gringos" (foreigners) that have already been here for some time now

i hadnt met the brasilians yet so i was bursting with excitement for them: "where are you going?!" "do you know what city?!" "have you beeen studying the language?!" "i just cant tell you how happy i am that your adventure is just STARTING, this is such an amazing thing!!"

and i hadnt seen half of my "gringos" since september so i was bursting with excitement to see everyone, to have a litttle family reunion, although we were missing four of the "old" aussies that left in janeiro to be replaced with the four "new-young-baby" aussies. i felt like the coool older sister, translating for them since they havent mastered português yet, asking them how everything is and telling little anecedotes about my exchange here and there to let them know, babies, you are not alone and crazy in this world.

so my crazy girl obnoxious annoying laugh was heard from 6am and didnt stop until we alll hugged and kissed gooodbye the following afternooon.

saturday morning, after we arrived and got setttled into the CUTEST litttle "hostel/hotel" we did some rotary stufff, talked about our lives, if we had any problems, liking your family, going out with friends from school, that kinda stufff. afterwards, we had freee time of "adventuring" this litttle town of Tiradentes. this town is spilling with tourism, cobblestone roads, houses of all shapes and colors of the rainbow, and the most curb appeal ive ever seen. just fell in love.

there was a group of us wondering the streets of Tiradentes, some american, some aussies, some brasilians, a german, a danish, a mexican. alll friends.

it was the perfect time of day, before the sun descends over the mountains of minas but after the humid air lifts from your shoulders, allowing you to breathe easier. just perfect.

we didnt do that much, after i think about it. we took millions of photos, of the city and of each other, had millions of litttle conversations at once, in languages and accents all different from what we have always known. we walked up and down millions of little roads, admiring the charm and character of this historical town. walked on millions of litttle cooblestone, history under my feeet, more history than they teach you in school.

i walked into another church, yet ANOTHER chruch that took my breathe away ..where i just wanted to BREATH ..and take it all in. take in every moment that i have here. not digging into the past or poking into the future, but be present. right here, right now, with who i am with, and try to remember every detail of every moment. (amen)

later that night, everyone came back to this church which had one of the best views of the city, where we sat and listened to the guitar being strung, the laughter of our peeers, and the exchange of cultures being made.

the moon was full that night (as a "mineria" (people from minas gerias) we said that the moon looked like cheese, a full beauitful chesse. we love our cheese here in minas.)

if i learn anything from exchange, its that we are all the same. wherever you come from, whichever language your tongue speaks, whatever corner of the world youre from, we are the same. we all laugh at the same stupid jokes, have a common ground of boys, think that this world is wayy too beauitful and mysterious not to see every inch of it, and have the same desire to find love, excitement, and meaning in this life.

the following morning, everyone wake up, tired, and had to practice for our presentation. the next meeting, in april, we have to present for our district. so we start off with typical brasilian dancing: samba, forro, axé etc and finish with funk ..a dance that is for the nightclubes. you would think that the brasilians would take center stage for this one, since they are masters of this dance.

nope, ariana, americana, broke it down, dropped it like it was hottttt, did the stanky leg, everything! all.by.herself. ..thinking that MANY people where behind me.

embarrassing.

we left after lunch, already missing eachother, missing this city, and excited for the next and probably the last time we would all be together..

tou com fome, always

let's talk fooood :D

ooh, comida brasileira..

café de amanhã (breakfast)

on school days, my breakfast is always reallly quick, something easy and light. Usually a bowl of ceral(with their milk that sometimes is warm) oatmeal, or maybe some fruit. If my family has coffee, i will drink it. There coffee here reminds me something Lori Jones would like: forte (strong). You dont drink a whole cupfull of coffee like we do because its powerful and if you would, you would be bouncing off the wallls, for about 3days

when its a weeekend, holiday or i actually have time to eat breakfast, i usually have my little sandwich of fresh bread (delicious) with a little cream cheese. muito bom.

what brasileiros think of OUR breakfast:

that we eat alot and its too sweet.

they are thinking of the thick juicy saugage links (or patties, whichever you prefer) sizzled in grease, next to fluffy chocolatechip pancakes drenched in too-sweet maple syrup, whippcream on top, just for looks, with a side of hash browns and maybe bacon if you are feeeling extra hungry.

BUT i have been to places where they do serve cake for breakfast. yes, like birthday cake

almoço (lunch):

ooh meu almoço.. has my tongue literally hanging out in school just day dreaming what i will find on the table when i get home.

every family is different (obviously) and has different food (again, obviously) but there is somethings you can always count on: a salad (sometimes with fruit which i find a very nice addition) rice, beans (various types of beans, dark, light, black. the darker the better for me) and some sort of meat. always on the table.

(i always get the question: what do you eat everyday?)

i dont eat the same thing everyday. they have arroz e feijão everyday so they think we have a main dish tooo. but we dont. in american, with all our mixture of cultures and ability to have mexican one night, italian the next, the hateful "leftovers," something that is typical american foood, and then mediterranean on a tueday, we never have the same thing. they find this unbelievable. i quite enjoy it, all the variety.

special topics:

hamburgers. OMG. i could (already have) made out with a hamburger. I absolutley LOVE hamburgers here. ask my parents, i did not like hamburgers and would refuse to eat them at home. here, they throw just about everything on their sandwichs. a thing juicy pattty, lettuce, tomate, corn, eggs, things that are mixture between french fries and potatoe chips, alot of mustard &ketchup, cheeeeeeese = Nobel Peace Prize. I cant tell you how much i love their hamburgers..

Churrasco (BBQ) alot of parties here are BBQs. Depending on who is cooking, depends on the quality of the BBQ. I've had alot of BBQ that just wreck my stomach because alll the food is meat (alottttttt of meat) and bread, sometimes rice and beans if your lucky. you just get served little pieces of meat, after meat, after juicy greasy meat, after meat. we all know what happens to the stomach of ariana.. but i have had alot of goood churrasco ..or just alot of goood memories ;D

Pizza: Pizzza is realllllllllly gooood here. (also made out with pizzza) they dont normally put red sauce on their pizzzas, they just serve it on the side, oooh and when they do that.. I get the question: would you like more sauce for your pizzza? It's kinda riduclous. BUT at my schoool, they have a litttle "cafeteria" where they serve snacks during the break (just like school back home, the foood here is gross) and they have pizzza..and people put KETCHUP on it. i can already see peoples eyebrows raised and disgusted looks from many.

seafoood: i eat alot here (i am not complaining about it either) and have found the love of my life: sushi. i am considering going on an alll-sushi diet. donnt know how that will work out but MEU DEUS is it goood.

what brasileiros think of OUR lunch: McDonalds.

juntar (dinner):

dinnner usually depends on the family and the person.

my first family: we always had a litttle snack together late at night, 7 or 8. With fresh bread and a litttle George Foreman Grill, i made some beauitful creations. Fruit was always available or an extra goodie brought home from the bakery. just a litttle snack.

my second family: they usually ate a dinnner. an actual dinner. pizza, pasta, something leftover from lunch, they wanted me to eat something. I mean, i never complained about it when i was shoveling food into my mouth but i think that was the reasons i put some kilos on

my third family: almost the same with my first family, just a litttle snack, but i drink alot more chocoatle milk. dont know what has happened to me but i am OBSESSED with chocoatle milk. haha sometimes, on special occasions, we go out to a bar and have a litttle snack but usually its just a little sandwich, equalviant to our lunch.

what brasileiros think of OUR dinner:

that its our biggest meal and question why we eat our biggest meal late at night. i agree. at college i am going to try and have my biggest meal at lunch, just because of brasil :)

doce (sweeeeeeeeets!)

and now, dessert. goibana com queijo ..there are no words, phrases, NADA in the english language to describe this. its from the fruit of gobaia (we UNFORTUNATLY dont have it in US) with cheese. you just gottta trust me and believe me that if you ever come to my homeland of Brasil, you eat it and fall in love.

their ice cream.. i think its better than ours. Ofcourse there isnt our 9357847flavors but its more creamy, light, can i use the word suave here? muito muito bom

i eat alotalotalot of popiscles here. maybe cause its so hott here, maybe cause they are so cheap, maybe because they are so delicious, not sure ..but i always see a popiscle vendor and get my lose change and get myself something delicious.

this is when i talk about my maids and their specialities ;)

Dondora: Ofcourse being the oldest and wisest of them alll, her foood was probably the best. she KNEW how to make her juice. let me just name all the juice that i have drank: orange, strawberry, goiaba, melon, watermelon, passion fruit, grape, mango, apple, pinnapple. these are alll natual, squeezed freshly with the sweat and love only from Dondora. and that is why i love brasil

Betânia: this women knew how to make a salad. i love my salads and she never disappointed me. she always put in alot of weird stufff that somehow mixed perfectly

Evetech: i havent had anything AMAZINGLY goood here (not yet, anyway) but she always has just enough foood for everyone. its perfectly portioned that you dont eat SO MUCH but you also dont walk away from the table hungry.

the special ladies in my life ;)

have i made you hungry yet?

CARNAVAL..em mutum?

the first weekend in march was the celebrated weekend of CARNAVAL

if you havent heard/dont know what a Brasilian CARNAVAL is, i am insulted that you are reading my blog

..but not tooo insulted to describe it to everyone.

CARNAVAL is celebrated immediatley after Lent in almost all Roman Catholic countries. This festivial usually involves costumes, parades, masquerade, circus elements, and lotsssssss of partying. CARNAVAL in brasil is especially "grande" and referred to many brasilians as "the greatest show on earth." Rio de Janerio is one of the biggest cities to celebrate this hoilday, in all the world, and often attracts millions of people because of their "samba schools." In Rio, 12 schools of samba march in what is known as the Sambódromo where each school choses a theme and thousands of samba dancers join in with their elebrate customes. The customes are outt of this world; every color, animal print, wild design imaginable. Each night of CARNAVAL, the 4schools of sambas march and after all 12 show their best performance, the victor is announced and has bragging rights for the entire year.

Other cities that have famous CARNAVALS are: São Paulo, Recife, Salvador, Ouro Preto, and Diamante. Some of the smaller and historical cities, such as Ouro Preto and Diamante, have litttle "blocos" where a minature school of samba choses a theme and anyone can make their custome and join in. Whenever you go to a city where CARNAVAL is celebrated, you hear alot of Axé music, typical music from the state of Bahia; you dance a lot of sumba; and often "bebe bastante."

i knew CARNAVAL was almost here by the way it was constantly being advertised. A brasilian TV channel, Globo, had this commerical that had my eyebrow raised (being the conserative american and alll) a women, obviously from the northeast of the country, had absolutey no clothing on, her whole body was painted in a raindow-glitter-colorful fashion and dancing sumba the way i wish i could. the camera would zoom in on certain parts of the body where obviously paint was less likely to appear and i just had to laugh because this is sooooo brasil. i asked my brother one day, after seeing his eyes glued to the screen while this broadcast ran across the screeen, if this is allowed, i mean Globo is a family TV station.

he found absotutely no problem with this commerical, of course he didnt.

he asked if we have CARNAVAL is the US and after thinking for some time, we doo.

...

helllo, Mardi Gras? Lousiana? the famous beads?

that is our CARNAVAL ..although it is only celebrated in one whole city in the entire US.

I'm sure you are waiting to hear this crazy party that i went to for my CARNAVAL and see pictures of me dressed in a beauitful custome while dancing and rolling my hips to sumba.

unfortunatly, i cant say that i had a typical brasilian CARNAVAL.

i was in mutum

AKA the middle of nowhere.

being with my new family, we traveled around 4hours to mutum, a city with dirt roads and i can possibly say, more cows than people, in order to celebrate my father's mother birthday, my new grandma.

we left saturday morning and arrived later that afternoon to meet the entire side of my father's family. he is one of seven children, i think all are married with children and all where staying at grandmas housse (althought not alll the children came to mutum for CARNAVAL)

i remember when we arrived my father looked to me and was like, my parents are very simple. they live a very simple life.

simple: yes.

potential candadite for one of the craziest familes i have met: absoluetly.

we had a big party for grandma that saturaday night, with matching tshirts and alll and it was realllly a goood time. to be honest, family time is always bittter sweet for me. because if you get the right family, they will always welcome you with hugs and kisses and you feeel right at home (which usually happens) but more often than necassary, i start thinking about my own family which eventually leads to "saudades." but at this family, there were a lot of cousins my age and we had some extreme cousin-bonding-time. (one night i remember, we literally sat around the table for atleast 6hours and just talked. just talked. ive come to believe that i am extremely awakard in conversations esp. when they are talking about situations where i wasnt there and people i dont know, but my family always made sure i knew exactly what was happening and understood everything.)

i had one cousin who asked me, ariana do you miss your family? (i get this question a lot and have a hard time anwering it) i usually reply, "as vezes" (sometimes) becasue realllly, depending on the day, i miss you all back home. if im having a crap day, bad mood, and just hating everything, of course i miss you alot more when for example, i am having the time of my life here in brasil. my cousin, who is around 22, said i dont think i could do what you are doing. what if you are put into situations that you dont want to be put in, like if you have to sleep on the floor (thankfully i didnt) what if you dont want to? and i said, mann, i gotta be flexable, i have to be willing to do whatever and just suck it up sometimes. can you go home? she asked.

going home is never an option and never will be one.

the weekend of CARNAVAL brought horrible weather all over brasil. it rained alllllllllllll day, everyday, except in the northeast where it was sun bathing weather.

so we were stuck inside all day where we slept, ate, talked and just relaxed.

i had a cousin who lovesssss english, apparently he speaks it all the time at home with people who dont speak it.

usually when people speak english with me, i get somewhat annoyed. i can speak português, i am here to learn how to speak português, speak it. but my poor couisn, he just wanted to practice his english with a native speaker and although my other cousins gave him some crap about it, he spoke english and i replied in português haha

so that was my CARNAVAL. not the CARNAVAL of my dreams but it was a realllllllly nice time to get to know my new family.

ultima familia

i am all settled into my third, and basically, last family in brasil (although i will change another two times, returning to my previous families for various reasons)

litttle info on the marchesini familia:

meus pais (parents):

Raul e Lili

They are both in their mid 40s, work at USIMIAS, the local steel company as engineers. They live in a different neighborhood than my other two families, Barrio Das Àguas which is just residential and quite a way from the actually city of Ipatinga. Good thing: while everyone is at work or studying, it.is.so.quite.here. perfect for napping :) im telling you, when a car drives by in the afternoon, you are stratled by all the noise and wonder what it is until you realize someone is just passing by. Bad thing: because it is so far away from everything, i do have to either walk (a good long distance, up hillll) or take a bus (or two buses and we all know what an adventure that is)

i remember being riduclouslyyyyyy nervous to come to this family. riduclously nervous.

i remember asking if i could stay longer in my previous house, until this day or until after this hoilday. but of course i moved when the time was right

i dont exactly know why i was so nervous..

but i think it was because i didnt understand why they wanted me.

like my first family, already had an exchanger living in their house and their daughter IS an exchanger. my second family, my mom WAS an exchanger and i think she wanted to plant the idea of exchange in her childrens head. this family.. welll nothing.

but after being here and settling in (been here 10days and i am already adjusted nicely:D) they are amazing people that are willing to open their home and hearts to an american. simple as that.

..back to my parents, my dad likes to shoot guns. what a hobby that is.

there are countless trophies throughout the house; he has a real eye for the targent. he enjoys reading the newspaper at the clube on weekends and likes a tall glass of whiskey or beeer. meu pai :D

m mom is the cutest women, everrr. i remember first seeing a picture before meeting her and thinking, wow, she is brasilian.

and she is!

reallly litttle women with a latin american body frame (booty) with dark hair and creamy colored skin. the sweeetest women, always smiling, always laughing. minha mãe :D

i remember my last families saying that Raul e Lili are just really simple people.

And they are.

Simple and Wonderful

meus irmãos:

João Pedro e ViVi

my brother is recently turning 19 and just passsed his vestibular (acceptance into college) so he moved to another city about an hour away, Itabira, where i think he will be studying engineering of somesorttt. when you pass the vestibular and your a guy, you have to shave your head. ..and if you dont, someone willll. so he is recently without hair and almost always with a baseball cap on now. a really sweeet kid, sometimes odd? hah but i feeel like we are gonna become great friends! meu irmão :D

my sister is recently turning 15 and just got back from a 2wk journey in the wonderless land of America. she saw snow for the first time in NYC and held hands with Mickey Mouse in DisneyWorld. Saw her pictures: dediced that i MUST live in New York. She is shy, but realllllly sweeet, just like her momma, and always asking if i need anything. minha irmã :D

litttle info about minha mais nova familia

próxima: CARNVAL !

switching, de novo

tomorrow i am switching families
i dont know how i feeel about this
(and i havent started packing my life into my threee suitcases)

ofcourse there are mixed feeelings
i've beeen with this family for almost 4months, more than half the time i have beeen in brasil. i'm so close with them
but at the same time i am ready to move onn..

i remember people asking me if is weird moving families, is it weird eating alll their foood, is it weird laying around on their couch, is it weird waking up at 11 on a saturday morning with massive bedhead, is it weird calllling them mom and dad, brother and sister? i mean, it's not like they are "your" family. they are almost like strangers, right?

for me
they are my family.

this wasnt the case in the beginning.
it took me atleast 2wks to get settled in.
i remember thinking that my mom is intimadatingly smart; my dad is outtta control; my brother is trying too hard to please me; my sister isnt even in the picture.

and then somehow in betweeen they became my family.
.
i made them thanksgiving, a tradition they swear will be carried on becasue of my pumpkin pie. my mom toook me to her salon almost weekly to get my nails done and i somehow made a smalll family with the ladies there. i went jeeeping with my dad who had a smile on his face the entire time because he was so happy to have me there, just jeeepin'. they toook me to salvador with my sister which i remember laying next to her where the coool breeeze from the hot sea came floating in and she whispered, "what are your best friends names?" my brother sang whitney houston to me, making me promise not to telll anyone at school that he loves the song, "I Look to You." (sorrry ale) Christmas was especially different this year, with the absence of snow and my family and the addition of bikinnis and sips of champagne at midnight. we had a family beach vacation in espirito santos, kayaking with my dad and a hike with my brother. and when i got sick (from a chocoatle chepe mind you?!) my sister sacrificed her warm bed in place of a smelllly hospital bed so i wouldnt be left alone all night. and when i came home from the airport from saying gooodbye to clare, my dad saw my face and knew how i felt; if he could, he would have taken my pain and made it his own. the following day when things still didnt feeel right, my mom made an "attempt" at pancakes, something she knows that i love. i expressed my fear in returning to schoool to my brother and he told me how terrified he was to leave for the city. we went to brasilia, meeting my father's entire family, i learned more about him and his love of family. my mom allowed me to have dance lessons with her; i wish she would have allowed me to steal some of her natural rythem. i've seen my brother cry, he's seen me breakdown, and sometimes we cried together, huggging(we already know we are overly emotional.) i've held my father's hand while walking through the streets and had my other arm loooped through my mother's while laughing with my brother and sister.

if i leave brasil with nothing else, i know that i atelast have people here in the pires family that i can always calll mine.
eu amo vocês

difference, cont´

i reread my post about differences the other day and i realized i missed ALOT of differences that need to be addressed:

**their coins frustrate me. they are all different, two different coins for the 10centavos, maybe three different coins for 5centavos. this makes everything much more difficult when trying to look for change fast.

**Bugs. I know I have complained about this before but still. I sleep with my Off Spray. There is a time at night where we have to close the windows and bare the heat because of the mosquitoes. Right now, i just got attacked! by them (have around seven on one leg) but the "good" thing is that they usually last one day, usually.

**There is a brand of bags called Kipling, kinda like our Vera Bradley. Apparently its in the US but i have never seen it. Everyone has it, boys, moms, teachers

**Whenever i say that i am from the US, i always get, "I have a nephew's-neighbor who has a cousin that lives in Boston who just recently moved to Orlando." A lot of Brasilians are in Boston or Orlando. Why there? No clue. Especially Boston casue its realllllly cold there.

**everyone rides motorcycles here. everyoneeeeee. (always with helments too, alwayssssss) they are always in front of the traffic, zigzagging through cars and trucks, driving on the sidewalk, dangerous. but atleast they have helments, right.

**I have met very few people that have visited the Amazon. It is so far away and expensive and i think they would rather be on a beach somewhere then being eaten away by mosquitoes and possibly anacondas

**their milk is different. it's warm. until you open it, you can leave it sitting out, forever. my maid judges me because i dont like having my ceral with warm milk. i try to explain to her but she is just like, "you are crazy." and you never drink it. i miss having an ice cold glass of milk at dinner. they dont have that here. i tried to drink it here and its soooo grosss.

**alot of people here think that the Black Eyed Peas are the best band, ever, in the world. I have been listening to "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling" since i got here.

**There money is reallly coool! they are alll different colors and have animals on the front, because of their love for Amazon. the hundred reais (which i see allllll the time ;D) is a baby blue with a fish; fifty reais is yellow-orange with a jaguar; the twenty reais is yellow with a monkey; the ten reais is red with a parrott; the five reais is purple-blue with a beauitful bird; the two reais is blue with a turtle. (the one real is a coin)

**there are shoes here called Havaianas which are just flip flogs but EVERYONE wears them but you cant wear them out. I wore them to the movies with my brother (they matched my shirt) and my brother yelled at me "Ariana, you just wear those around the house, at the beach, or at school.")

**They are IN LOVE with Brasilian Soap Operas and evyerone watches them and knows what is going on. I know twenty-year old men that watch them RELGIOUSLY. "Passione" and "Ti Ti Ti"

**I have seen lizards in my home that crawl on the walls. And they are welcome guests! Becasue they eat the mosquitoes. They are not welcome within 4meters of me.

**Whenever i say that i am from Pennsylvania (in português, its spelled Pensilvânia ..it sounds much more beauitful) but they ask, "Are you a vampire?" Cause they think of Transylvania! "No, I am not a vampire, you can look at my teeth."

**everyone writes in cursive.

**They use the period and comma in different places than we do. For example, if you have $7.60 ..here you would write it $7,60 causes some confusion especially when we get into higher numbers.

**There are no canned food. None. I never realized this until a few weeks ago. They dont need canned fruits or vegtables becasue everything is so fresh. Imagine having fresh pinapple whenever you want, or juicy mango, or tomates whose skins are so tight. i.love.brasilian.fruit.

**hammocks are everywhere. you dont find a house without a hammock. i have slept on my hammock before (and woke sweating cause i was without air-conditioning)

**much like the US, every state/region has a SPECIFIC accent: the northeast speaks very slowly almost liek singing; the north (amazon) the indians have a different langauge and some dont speak português (its considered a different world up there); the south speaks more português of portugal, more formal; Português of Rio de Janerio is SOO ugly, its a lot of "shhh" sounds, i find it soo ugly; my state of Minas Gerais gets made fun of a lot because we say "uai" (in english its pronounced exactly as "why") it has NO definiton, dont look this up in your dictionary (ive already tried) you say this whenever/however you want.

**Brasilians are ALWAYS late. always. Class starts at 7:15, teacher doesnt get there until 7:20. Party starts at 7 ..the host of the party goes to the store at 7 to buy food and drinks. i remember my first brasilian party i told my mom that it started at 6 and she asked, welll what time does it reallllllly start. at first, this bothered me SO MUCH becasue i am always on time, and/or early. but i find myself slowly becoming like them. ariana, we are leaving in an hour. ..okay so that means i dont have to get ready for another hour.

..i'm sure as time goes on..theree will be more differences
or there will be differences of "estados unidos" that will completely blow my mind

ouro preto

on saturday afternoon, my dad asked me: ariana, you wanna go to Ouro Preto right now?
so just like that, we got into the car and left for a city named after its "Black Gold"

we arrived in Ouro Preto, just me and my father, and i instantly fall in love.
this smalll litttle adorable city nestled on a mountian side, stone streets that are so narrow that i am surprise we made it through. It was almost like Europe, almost like Greece (without the sea) but in Brasil so its obviously bettter
we drive through the city, bouncing around in the front seat with my mouth agap.
there are 22 churches in Ouro Preto
everywhere you look, there is a church to your left, to your right, behind you, beside you, in front ontop of the hilll. this made it diffficult with taking pictures cause i was like: "oooh! loook. how beauitful. woah, wait, look at that. can you stop for a litttle? no no, go i see another."
twenty-two historical churches that were built and dedicated from the inside out to honor a Christian figure that has changed everything, Jesus Christ.
amazing
we went into one where it was all gold.
the walls. the ceiling. the altar.
amazing
it was like the church in Salvador where i promised to get married in.
linda.linda.linda (beauitful)

we pass through the town square where, just like in the 18th century, it was used as social purposes. people sitting on the steps reading, mother's going to the bakery, children playing in the road. so cute !
in the midddle of town square is a monument dedicated to Tiradentes. i didnt exactly understand the story, but for whatever reason, this man was be-headed and his head sits in that monument. i found that rather odd and didnt want to ponder the issue much further.
while driving through town square, my father is stopped by a local tour guide, asking if he would like a guide of the famous Ouro Preto.
sure, come on in, stranger.
so the guys are talking and then my father (so proudly) says that i am from pennsylvania (my family/friends always introduce me that way, like all the brasilians know where pennsylvania is or something. why not just say US? no no, she is from pennsylvania)
the tour guide is in shock
"ohmygosh are you famous? you have been on a soap opera there, i know it. you have a face of a model. do you walk the runways with Gisele Bundchen?"
thankyou, mister, for your kind words, but no i am not famous.

we traveled to an even smaller city, Mariana, which was just close by but we passed through the local University. this university is famous for the parties, alcohol, and drugs. being a small town, of course things get a little outta hand.
we drove through around 5pm on a saturday afternoon, almost 80% of the young people had a cup of beer in their hand, just walking around, looking for the next party. i do not lie.
alot of the older people know and just kinda laugh about it. "Ohh, Ouro Preto. That place is crazy!"
but you would not send your child there to study.

while in Mariana, we went to this place where they mined gold, back in the days.
we put on hard helments and entered this tunnel where the walllls where short and narrow.
i now know that i do not like small spaces.
i couldnt enjoy myself as much as i wanted to cause i was silently planning my escape routine if things went bad.

we traveled back into Ouro Preto, wondering through the narrow streets, climbing up and down and almost twisting ankles cause of the sidewalk, realizing that Ouro Preto is amazingly beauitful and if (when) i come back to Brasil with family or friends with me, i would SO take them to this tiny town that is unbelievable.

i left Ouro Preto, loving Ouro Preto, loving Brasil (even more) loving this experience, loving this person that is standing next to me, and loving the person that i am becoming.

alguma coisas

just a little update

first week of febuary, start of a new school year. volta para aulas
i am in the third and final year here in CSFX which is good &bad.
this final year the students are preparing to take the Vestibular, a test that allows you to enter college. this and only this gets you into a university. no letter of recommandtion, no activitives. if you fail this, you spend a whole EXTRA year studying again to retake it so you can enter.
according to everyone that has taken it, it is the hardest thing in life. therefore in the third year, all the classes are designed to prepare the students to take this test. its all the students are stressing about, its alll the teachers are talking about, is all the pressure the parents put on.
everyone except me
third year also has classes in the afternoons on some days, meaning 7-12 (break for lunch) 2-6 ..then you go home and study..
guess what they study for? the Vestibular.
guess what these classes are about? the Vestibular.
guess who doesnt go to afternoon classes? ME cause i aint taking no "Vestibular"

third year is all new teachers and my classroom has grown to an unbelievable 50 (imagine 50 brazilians that dont stop talking..in one room)
it kinda "sucks" casue the teachers dont know that i am "the exchange student" and i feeel like i should introduce myself and be liek, "helllo, i am american and i dont do anything in class. hope its not a problem if sometimes i sleeep but usually i dont casue disturptions. nice to meet you!"
the one day i was sitting in class with my best friend (portuguese dictionary) just spending some time with him, we were separated for a long time. and the teacher was like, what are you doing? why are you reading?
i hold up my dictionary with a look of innocence.
the class: she's the exchange student!! she's american! she usually just sleeeps!!
teacher: OH MY GOSH! i am so sorrrry! do you understand?!??!
american: yess, but you speak realllllllllly fast.
she continues the lessson, speaking more slowly and talking more with her hands as if she is teaching kindergarden rather than teenagers and kinda directing it alll towards me. ooh CSFX..

so i went to school for a weeek..
then skipped a weeek to go to Belo Horizonte with my family :))
when my mom asked me if i wanted to go to BH with her, i was like, i would do anything, ANYTHING, to get outta school for a weeek.
my brother moved to BH to go to one of the best schools in Minas Gerais so my mom thought it be best if i stayed with her and my brother while he got adjusted to the city, his school, and the new apartment.
i wont bare you all the details of that weeek because it was mostly girly shoppping, buying you alll presents cause i love you so much!
while my brother was at schoool, we went to local fairs, markets, malls and various stores.
one day we went to this park, strollling along on the cooblestone streeet, taking in the fresh breeze that isnt in Ipatinga, having some "mother-daughter" bonding. it was nice :) we went to a museum of rocks which sounds LAME but was actuallly very interesting and beauitful and another museum of art that displayed brasilian history via pictures along with photography that had your head tilted to the side, pondering. the following day we went to a natural art museum which didnt have an actual theme, saw everything from dinosaur bones, a study on bats, and a HUGE monkey !
staying in BH for a wk, i'm not tooo sure if i could live in a big city. of course there is soo much to do, soo much to see, but man, when i am sleeeping at 3am and i hear the gargabe man almost screaming to the other man to "grab it and go!" ..i heard him until crossed neighborhoods.
or when the people in the building 2 streeets down is gettting a litttle rowdy with their BBQ.
also, who in God's name has a ROOSTER in the city? telll me why at at 5:35 EVERY morning, i woke up and sigh loudly, swearing that if i had gun and knew where that rooster was, i would be at it. (i am hitting the keys while typing this i am so angry, still!)
ooh BH..
that weeekend, me and my dad went to Ouro Preto, a place that i would go back in a heart beat.