first week

I’ve had such a good/busy few days! I went to a forró (a dance typical to the northeast of Brazil) lesson- way out side my comfort zone, but so worth it.

I had my first Portuguese lesson as well. The lesson plan is for little kids just starting Portuguese, so the teacher had no idea what to do with me. I have to trace the letters of the Portuguese words, and if I don’t dot an ‘i,’ she corrects it… hahhahah! It is useful though, the teacher says the word and I repeat it back to her, so I can hear how you pronounce certain letter combinations in Portugese. I can tell even in a week my Portuguese is so much better. In no way is it even decent, and I still have no idea what’s going on 97% of the time, but I can at least sometimes understand what I am being asked, and even answer occasionally.

I can’t say it enough, my host family is amazing. My host siblings are so helpful and fun. I watched Star Wars for the first time with them the other night. I also see my vovó (grandmother) a lot. She always has lots of questions about Canada which is nice. We go over to her house for lunch or tea quite often, and it is her beach house that we visit on Sundays.

I had so much fun playing soccer in the garage barefoot with my siblings, laughing when I tripped over the ball, or kicked it into a bush. It was explained to me that Brazilians are born to play soccer. In my city, there are designated soccer fields along the street and after dinner, each one has a game going. It’s crazy

It was Clara’s (my host sister who is leaving for her exchange in a few days) going away/birthday party on Friday. it was so different, but a lot of fun. I got to talk with so many people!

Even a banner for me!

We had no school on Friday or Saturday (yes, I will normally go to school on Saturday. What?) because of the massive event going on in our school. It was basically a competition between classes, with all kinds of sports, chess, checkers, and an opening ceremony. I even played volleyball on my class’ team! We lost by a landslide, but it was actually really fun, and I even got the ball over the net a few times.

 Coolest team.

Sundays with my host family are spent at the beach house, it’s unbelievable!

 Clara and Valentina on the quad.

On Sunday we had crab. They are still alive and moving when you put them into the pot of boiling water. Super creepy, but super delicious.

I love this country already!

Tchau,

Emily