The Day I Helped Donate Toys For Christmas

I spent the day sorting toys into groups and then distributing them to the orphanages within my city…I think I did enough to get on Santa’s good list this year >.<

Within my city there is a train that is driven by father Christmas; okay so it’s not the real father Christmas ( cause he lives in the north pole so brazil would be too hot for him right? >.<) but all the children though he was real. But this was no ordinary train oh no, this train was spreading Christmas cheer to the less fortunate children. Because this train was being driven by Father Christmas obviously all children wanted to ride the train. But unlike other trains you couldn’t just buy a ticket, you had to donate a toy and or / some type of Christmas food. Upon donating the toy you were given a ticket to ride the Christmas train. All of the toys / food donated by the children who wanted to ride the train were donated to the local orphanage. So it was my job as a willing volunteer to sort through all the toys to see which enough condition to be given to the children was in a good.

There was a room full of boxes packed to the brim with toys for children. It was my job to sort through them all and put the toys into their designated boxes. There were boxes for Barbie’s for girls; cars for boys and little soft toys for babies to play with. There was also a massive box full of footballs ( because you know how the Brazilians like to play football) 



me and the boxes



 After about three hours of unboxing and re-boxing I had finally separated all the toys, which my fellow volunteers then put in separate bags and marked them ready for delivery. The first stop was “casa da crianças” (children’s house) they are full of children who don’t have parents or relatives able to look after them. We dropped off three boxes full of toy cars, toy aeroplanes and toy trucks to the house. As soon as the toys were on the table all the children crowed round and calling me “tia” (it means aunt but that what all younger children call people older than then) trying to get the best presents that were available. After all the children were given their presents it was time to move onto the next house. This house is a place children can go if they have problems which means they can’t stay in their own house anymore. We dropped off another three boxes full of toys for the children living there and a box full of Christmas cakes.

me and the children :)

 A day of playing Santa made me realise how another’s man rubbish can be another man’s treasure. This kids have had such a hard time with their lives and the smallest Christmas present made them very happy, which in turn made me happy :D defiantly think I’m going to keep up the charity work once I return back home.

The Day I Went To A Graduation...Of A Six Year Old

“So what is she graduating from?”  
“Kindergarden”
“…I’m sorry, what?!”

Living in brazil for nearly four months had made me realise a lot of differences between my host country and my home country. One of these things is the education system. For one they have to study EVERYTHING, until university level, they study more subjects out here that I did back home for my GCSES, AND they have to study it for longer! Second thing is that different year groups study at different times of the day. 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd college years (which is years 11, 12 and 13 for people reading in the UK) have to study from 7am to midday. The younger year groups all study in the afternoon from 1:30PM till 6:00PM. For me who is used to studying from 9AM till 4:30PM, trying to get to school every day for 7AM was close to impossible. The third (and secretly I think the coolest) difference between British schools and Brazilian schools is graduation. In the UK. You graduate ONCE, from university and that’s it. But here in Brazil, woaaaaaaaaaaaaah, over here they graduate FIVE TIMES, yes that’s right five times, the first time when they are just 5/6 years old. My host cousin had just graduated from kindergarden (yes they get a party from graduating from kindergarden, how unfair is that?!?!?!) and I just had to see what this was all about.

When I think of the graduations, I think of teenager’s / young adults people wearing long gowns with those square shaped hats jumping in the air with massive grins on their faces, (like the people you see in the movies? ) and this graduation ceremony similar. It started as each child was called one by one to walk across the stage while wearing a royal blue gown with a frilly white bib. Once all the children had been seated, various teachers took it in turns to explain what the children had been learning and what achievements they had participated in over the past year. It was then time to thank the teachers for their hard work and endless support over the year. No surprises so far…until this, all the mother of the children who were graduating were called forward and asked to sit in the seat of their child. The children then started to sing a song about how much they love their mothers and how they appreciate them. The fathers were then called forward and the same song was sung just replacing the word “mae”(mother)  with “pai” (father) By the end of the songs there was not a dry eye in the audience seeing as all the mothers and fathers (as well as aunts, uncles and cousins who were watching) were on the verge of crying.  After the song presentation came the awarding of the certificates. Each child was called separately and collected a huge white envelope with their name written on it. After this it was time for one final parade as they were led out. As soon as they were out of sight there was a massive cheer and I could just imagine them all jumping in the air in slow motion with massive grins on their faces ( I’m such a day dreamer >.< )

You would have thought that was the end of the ceremony (don’t worry I did too; I was ready to go eat and everything! >.<) but no, it was just an interval; seeing as there was a part two! All the newly “graduated” children came back into the main presenting area wearing different arrays of gymnastics costumes. Half of the girls were dressed up as watermelons while the other half were dressed up as little sweets, and the boys were dressed as little Christmas trees (well that was my interpretation of the their costumes =]) They did a cute little gymnastics presentation with some pretty impressive pyramids and everyone gave them a massive round of applause at the end. Their ceremony ended with a homemade video made up of pictures demonstrating their final year of “infant education” While this was going on a massive shower of confetti fell from out of the celling which sent the kids running and screaming as they tried to collect the flying confetti, while all their family members stood watching them and crying. And in the middle of all this hullaballoo the only thing that could come out of my mouth was “how can she graduating? She’s only six! I have to wait until I’m like 20 something!” (okay I admit it; I was a little jealous :p)  but I guess that’s one of the weird things I will never understand while staying here in Brazil. :’)

The Day I Went To Baile Do Hawai

Started at midnight, ended at five in the morning; this party was going to be somewhat interesting….

Baile Do Hawai is an event that happens every year in Sao Pedro (the city I’m staying in) People dress up in fancy clothes and go and listen to a band play…well that’s what I got told beforehand. I thought it would be some kind of graduation ball but really I had no idea what to expect from this day. People had been talking about Baile Do Hawai for WEEKS  before hand, planning what clothes they were going to wear, what shoes to buy, how they were going to do their hair, and naturally I got caught up in that. I decided that I wanted to wear a dress, but instead of going to buy a new one I used a dress I bought back home in the UK and got it taken in to my size (totally LOVE the fact I’ve lost weight since I’ve arrived in brazil, bad side is I have to spent money getting the clothes taken in >.<)



my semi- new dress



I also went shopping with a few of my class mates so I could buy the perfect shoes that went with my dress. After all the shopping, the taking in and the countless hours of talking about Baile Do Hawai the big night finally arrived. I kind of forgot about Baile Do Hawai due to the fact of the whole moving house thing that was going on. But as soon as my (old) host parents had left my attention turned to Baile Do Hawai . It started at 11:30 at night, so my family was going to turn up an hour later. After a quick nap (I get tired reaaally easily…or I’m just lazy >.<) a shower and dressing session I was ready to party. The party was going to be held at the local club which had a swimming pool. I had only been there once and I was egar to see what they would do with the place. The theme of the party was Hawaii and they really did pull it off!  As I entered the floor had been covered with sand.

the sand covered entrance

As you walked in you had the option to have a wreath of flowers given to you, I choose to accept :) They had Hawaiian belly dancers and a massive water fountain. Once you had entered the main area you could see everything. There was a massive table full of fruit that people could eat when and how they pleased. There was a big main stage and a smaller stage. The main stage had a band and was playing all types of music; they even attempted to sing in English. However the smaller stage was playing a type of Brazilian music called Pagode.

I spent most of the night dancing with my school friends to Pagode and only left at four in the morning when my mother decided to go home.  After taking a shower after I had gotten home, it was time for me to sleep in my new bed in my new room with my new separate bathroom. I guess this means that a new chapter of my exchange was starting. :)

The Day I Got A New Family

New house, new people, new rules, new family…bring it on! :D

As much as I refused to believe it, the reality was that four months had passed since I first arrived in Brazil. This meant a couple of things; I was kind of getting used to the whole  having to kiss people on the cheek to greet them AND to say goodbye, my Portuguese was getting so much better and it was time for me to move families.

my first host family <3

I was extremely lucky with my first family; they were and still are an amazing host family and treated me like their daughter, even making me do some chores! (my host mum made me collect water for the house, but I didn’t mind =]) I bonded really well with all three of them and they made what could have been the hardest months of my exchange a wonderful experience. So naturally when I got told that I was going to be moving, I protested. Not because I didn’t think my new family would be nice, but because I was so happy and content with my life in their house. ( I also think I didn’t want to move because of the effort needed to pack my suitcase and actually physically move but we won’t linger on that thought for too long >.< ) But despite my best efforts, I still had to pack my suitcases and leave my first host families house. :(

Before I moved in I knew little about my new family. I knew that my new host dad worked and lived in Sao Paulo City during the week and came home at weekends, I knew that my new host sister went on an exchange to India and she knew how to speak English (thank god!) but she also lived in Sao Paulo City during the week so she wouldn’t be around to help translate during the week (dammit! >.<) I knew that I would have a new host brother who was reaaaaaaally tall and I knew that my new host mum didn’t speak English. That scared me a little, because I could just imagine us trying to talk and it not working out because of the language barrier. (I know we could simply use a dictionary and it would all be okay, but when I’m scared all rational thinking goes out the window! >.<) It was even more of a worry because I had spent the past four months speaking in port-a-glese (a mixture of the English and Portuguese language) seeing as my host mother and my host brother were both fluent in English. I had never really needed to speak complete Portuguese and the idea of having to do that really freaked me out! However I decided the grab the bull by the horns and enter this new house with a positive attitude.

My host mum drove me to my new house in the middle of a thunderstorm. It was only five blocks away from my old house and I could easily walk back and forth between the two whenever I wanted but at that moment in time, my old house seemed to be on a completely different planet to my new house. As I walked in I saw a group of new faces (that I now recognise to be different members of my new family) all smiling, waiting and watching me. I kind of felt like a goldfish >.< I was shown around the house and shown my new room, which included my own separate bathroom and shower (I was very surprised at this, I mean I don’t even have a separate bathroom and shower back home!) and before I knew it, it was time for my old host family to leave me with my new host family.  I suddenly felt a massive rush of sadness and I realised that this chapter of my life with current (now old) host family had ended. No more trying to hide as my host father woke me up at six in the morning to go to school, no more waking up to the sound of my host mum playing the flute on the weekends, no more listening to my host brother and father screaming at the T.V as they watched their team play football every Sunday afternoon and most important, no more trying to speak Portuguese and knowing that if I didn’t make any sense, I could just speak in English and they would understand. My sadness must have registered in my face because my host father called me over to sit next to him and we sat their hugging as my old host mother talked to my new host mother. All too soon, my old host parents were driving away and I was being left behind with a new family. But there was no time to mope around and be sad, because I was going to a ball the very same evening…

Read my blog post; “The Day I Went To Bailie Do Havwaii” to find out what happened for the rest of the night :)

The day of the leaving party at school

Four teachers, three different year groups, one classroom, a lot of Brazilian food and no lessons…sounds like my type of day (Y)

So the day had finally come! The final day of school! I just had to sit through three more lessons in school and then I would be free for the summer holidays! However today was not my final day because I, along with my classmates would be returning back to school after the holidays.  However a member of our school family wouldn’t be returning, our Portuguese teacher, due to the fact that she is pregnant! Everyone was pretty upset to see her leave, even I was and I had only known her a few months! Because of this, everyone decided to throw her a leaving party, but not just any leaving party, a WHOLE SCHOOL leaving party! This means that all the three year groups that would be in school in the morning were invited to celebrate her pregnancy.

The planning started weeks in advance, with everyone in the class donating 10 reias so that they could buy food and buy a meaningful present for her. In my mind I thought this meant a card and some flowers but the students wanted something way more special for her!

my class with the  portuguese teacher :)

The last day of school came and we finished out first lesson early so we could set up for the party. It was going to be held in my classroom because it was the biggest of all three. Everyone was told not to tell the Portuguese teacher that there was a party being held for her, we all wanted it to be a surprise :) we drew a picture of a baby on the chalkboard and wrote her a little message as well. It was finally time for our lesson and all three year groups ran and hid in our classroom (not an easy task!) As soon as she opened the door she was greeted with a massive round of applause! She instantly burst into tears which made most of her students well up…it was all very emotional!  After she had composed herself it was time for her to open the present we bought her, everyone has put enough money together to buy her a new pushchair and 10 packs of nappies for her unborn child!

the note we left for the portuguese teacher

This made her well up once again; she thanked us all and said that we always had a place in her heart forever. That was it, everyone started to cry!  After the crying had stopped everyone’s attention turned to the food table. It was full of Brazilian savoury and sweet snacks (my diet sooo went out the window at that point!) that everyone fully indulged themselves in. And in addition to that there was Coke, Fanta and Guaraná (the BEST soft drink invented ever!) for everyone to enjoy.



my portuguese teacher
 with her leaving gifts!

After about an hour, everyone had eaten as much as they could have and was sitting around chatting with each other. The bell rang to signal the end of the class so the other two years groups left us to clean up the classroom, what fun(!) we said our final goodbyes to our Portuguese teacher (which started another round of tears) and bless her heart, she even came and gave me a hug and said it was lovely to teach me, how sweet!

Oh, just as a bit of fun, we drew a little face on her tummy, and the name of her unborn son on her forehead…just cause could >.<

The Day I Went To My First Churrasco

Fresh meat, live singing and friends around me, what could be better? :)

It was the birthday of one of the Rotarians at my club so he invited us all to his house for a churrasco. A churrasco is a Brazilian – style barbecue and I guarantee I have never seen anything like it. It includes every type of meat that you can think of. One meat that I got to eat that you wouldn’t find in the UK is “linguca” it’s a Brazilian type chorizo-style sausage. I wasn’t too fond of linguica so I stuck to chicken for most of the night. There was a man who was hired to cook the meat so the family could enjoy the evening. Another thing that we don’t get back in the UK is “farinha” It’s basically flour that you dip your meat into before you eat it, strange huh? The family also hired someone to sing and play the guitar while everyone was eating and socialising. Just like when people are hired to sing back home, Brazilian singers have a book of standard songs they play so everyone there knew all the songs…apart from me of course! While all the adults sang and danced the songs that were being played I sat quietly and listened to them sing while watching the stars.  It would have been such a perfect night if it wasn’t so cold! While the adults relived their childhood days, all the children had gathered inside of the house. The house had a karaoke machine so obviously we had to have a go! After a few hours of very loud singing (from adults and children alike) it was time to sing happy birthday. However what I didn’t realise was there was three birthdays that we were celebrating. This meant that there were three MASSIVE cakes, and we sang an extra-long version of “parabéns para voce" (happy birthday to you) at about midnight my host mother decided to go. I don’t know if it was because it was a school night and every child there did have to sit an exam at 7AM the next day (but this is why I love Brazilians, they didn’t let a small thing like exams get in the way of their fun!) or because her husband had just started singing into the microphone >.< after a long round of “thank you for coming” and “goodbyes” we finally managed to leave. As soon as I got into the car and I was away from all the loud music and good food I was suddenly exhausted. But it was worth it, I got too eat some of the best meat Brazil has to offer AND I spent the night with some of the nicest people in Brazil :)

The Day Of My Presentation In Portuguese

Talking about my host country…no problem! Speaking in Portuguese…I’m getting there :) speaking about my host country IN Portuguese…ha ha ha…you are joking right?

So seeing as I’m an exchange student I am expected to write and deliver a presentation about the culture, the differences and basically the interesting facts about my home country. Seeing as exchange students from England have become almost non-existent everyone was VERY excited to see what I would produce…no pressure then. >.< The designated date of my presentation was the 21^st November. I didn’t really like the idea of having to stand in front of a group of people who could speak Portuguese fluently and attempt to speak Portuguese, but my rotary club were like elephants…they never forgot! A week before the 21^st I had to accept that I was indeed going to have to give this presentation so I might as well stop complaining and start writing. As the 21^st got closer and closer I felt myself getting more and more nervous. I tried to explain this to my host family but they told me there was nothing to worry about and I should just stay calm, easy for them to say, they didn’t have to give a presentation in a language they are not fluent in!

The morning of the 21^st came and it felt like judgement day. My host mother was nice enough to let me have the day off school to finish my presentation and squeeze in some extra practice. My presentation was going to be during the rotary meeting in the evening. The day seemed to fly by, one minute it was eight in the morning and the next minute it was half seven at night and I was being driven to the meeting. In true Brazilian style I turned up late to my own presentation >.< The bad thing about this being that everyone was already there waiting for me. As I walked in and was greeted by everyone I realised there was no going back, this was it, it was now or never. I know I’m making it seem like I was being walked to my own execution but that’s what it felt like, I was sooooo nervous!

the brazilian and
 british flag together <3

During every rotary meeting they have the flags of Brazil and the Sao Paulo state hanging, and because it was my presentation I was asked to bring my flag along so they could hang it up with the Brazilian flag. I felt a pang of pride as I watched my British flag flying next to the Brazilian one. >.<

After a brief introduction about Rotary Youth Exchange and how people in our community could get involved it was my time for my presentation, it was my time to shine! As they set up my laptop to my projector I asked my host father if he could read out my presentation for me. He laughed but what he didn’t realise was I was being deadly serious!

I kept my presentation short and sweet, it lasted about ten minutes, but only because I had to wait for people to finish oohing and awwing as I showed them the wonder that is my country. I talked about the differences between England and Brazil. Oh and I had to let them know that people in England don’t drink tea every day at five o’clock. That was a big disappointment for them! >.< 

the lovely people who
listen to my presentation

Looking back I think I made a mountain out of a molehill when it came to my presentation. I only had to use the phrase “como falo…” (how do you say…) once and the rest I spoke completely in Portuguese and everyone seemed to understand. One English teacher was so impressed with my Portuguese (or the fact that I came from the UK >.<) he invited me come and share my story with his students at the school he teaches at. So when school starts again in February I shall be going to different schools attempting to speak in Portuguese, so I have all the nerves to look forward to again…great!




two mums, a dad and the president of
 my rotary club and her husband :)

The day volley ball was played with water balloons

Playing volly ball in the rain with water balloons? Only in Brazil: p

It was a dark grey day in brazil, ( hard to believe I know :p ) It was a Thursday morning which meant we had physical education (P.E) Here in Brazil they only have P.E every other week for an hour which is different to back home in England. They also don’t have standard uniforms for P.E which is another difference between my school here in brazil and back home in England. But the major difference between school here and back home is while back in England we played tennis, football and did athletes, here in Brazil they play volley ball…with water balloons strange or what? >.< it looked like it was going to thunder storm so I made the sensible choice not to play this week along with several other students, however the majority of the class into t-shits and shorts ( some didn’t even bother to change and got their school uniforms soaking wet!) and spent the best part of twenty minutes filling up water balloons. With that done it was time to play. I don’t know what I was expecting to see but what I did see was twenty something students throwing water at each other while desperately trying to hide behind their fiends so they wouldn’t get wet. It was one of the funniest things I have seen since I have arrived in brazil and it confirms that the people in my class are just as crazy as me, so I think we are going to get along just fine. 

Sao Paulo, one of the biggest cities in the world, and I got the pleasure of getting a tour round it… 

The weekend actually started a day early for me, there was a music festival being held in sao Paulo on the Friday and seeing as my host mother is a music teacher, we had to go, not that I’m complaining or anything, I got to skip a day off school :D after a much needed lie in and late breakfast my host mother, father and I were on our way. The music festival was held in a massive auditorium with hundreds of little stalls selling everything musical. I found a cute little stall that sold little musical instruments trinkets. I bought myself a necklace with a treble clef and a little clarinet pin to add to my blazer of badges.

me and other exchange 
students at the music festival

The tour of Sao Paulo was on a Saturday and because it took so long for me to actually get to Sao Paulo, I was going to be having a sleepover with a fellow exchange student. We met her and her family at the music festival and I left with them. Us being typical girls we stayed up late doing hair and talking about all things girly. It probably wasn’t the best of ideas but it was a great sleepover.



We met all the other exchange students at the tube station, we had to get the tube to get to the start of the tour,  it was pretty funny because I started to panic because the women only have me two tickets. Me coming from England and used to having the put a ticket into a machine to get both IN and OUT of a station didn’t realise that you only have to put the ticket in the machine once in brazil. A lot of people laughed at me because of that :$ 

after managing to get though the metro system alive we arrived at our first point on the tour, it was a huge church, and inside it was so beautiful. They even had a shop selling gifts specifically from that church.

the huge church

 We walked and walked through Sao Paulo, being shown all the weird and interesting things the city had to offer. One of the most amazing things we saw was the Sao Paulo skyline. We went to the top of a massive building, with about 34 floors and I have to admit, it was actually breathtaking. Sao Paulo is soo hugeee!!! It looked like it was went on forever.



sao paulos amazing skyline

The rest of the day went on with us being shown more and more wonderful things. At about five o’clock it was time for us to go home, saying goodbye was especially hard because we knew we wouldn’t be seeing each other in a while, but it was okay because absent makes the heart grow stronger right? I’m kidding!! But it will definatly be more special went I finally meet up with the other exchanges again :’)

Oh and I nearly forgot to say, this day was extra extra special because I saw my fellow English exchanger Millie! I hadn’t seen her since the day we parted at the airport, and I didn’t know I would be seeing her until the day before the actual tour. As I got to the train station I heard a scream and saw this little bundle of English-ness running towards me which was Millie! I think we stood their hugging and screaming each other for like ten minutes!

me and millie!

So yeah, that’s what happened on the day that I went to Sao Paulo city :D

The day I joined the dance academy...

Just like every other little girl I used to do ballet when I was younger,  what I didn’t realise was that I would be needing to use these skills in Brazil…

a couple of weeks back I went to a talent show hosted by my rotary club, it was pretty amazing, they had everything, from magicians to singers and of course they had dancers. There were these incredible dancers from a dance club called Apollo. They offer classes for hip hop, jazz and ballet. Because so many of her students were taking part the dance show the principle of the dance academy was there. She bumped into my host mum and I and we got chatting. She was amazed that I was an exchange student living in the area for a year. My host mum mentioned that I did gymnastics in the area and that I was into dancing, she then offered to let me train at her academy free of charge! The following Monday I went to the academy to see if any of the classes were for me. After a couple of sessions I made friends with a lovely group of girls who invited me to join them in their dance classes, thy danced all three disciplines, ballets, jazz and hip hop. It seemed like the perfect idea so I accepted the offer. They also invited me to take part in their Christmas presentation in December so in order to learn the new choreography I train Monday to Thursday in ballet and jazz :’)

The day I went to Holumbra...

37 exchange students, 5 Rotarians, 3 Rotex chaperons and 1 very beautiful city, sounds like an amazing day? It so was! 

exchange students from
 england, america and canada :)

The day started when all the exchange students got together again, after a lot of excited hugging and catching up with each other it was time for a quick breakfast. After a quick breakfast all the exchange students were treated to a talk from a guy from “belo brasil” belo brasil is the tour company that i'm travelling with in January and may. The guy who was talking was pretty special. There were five girls sitting in the front row, two Americans, me, a girl from Denmark and a girl from Austria. The guy went around the room asking us our names and what country we can from. He greeted me and the two Americans in English of course, but when it came to the girl from Denmark, he spoke to her in Danish! He then when on to talk to the girl from Austria in her native language. But he did not stop there, he spoke to the girl from France in French, the girl from Russia in Russian, the boy from Germany in German and the kids from Mexico in Spanish, he even spoke Taiwanese to the kids from Taiwan. I don’t know about you but someone who can hold a conversation in more than four languages is a PRETTY amazing person >.<

after the talk it was time for the tour around Holumbra. It’s the city that people from Holland migrated to when they arrived in Brazil. They even have phone boxes shaped like shoes!? After the tour it was time to take part in the parade. Every year the exchange students bring their countries flag and every year the exchange student’s march in the parade. And with over 15 countries trying to prove that their country is the best it was a pretty loud parade to be part of!

on our way to the parade

the platform with the flowers

The end of the parade finished in a large field. In the middle of the large field was a massive platform and from that platform, it rained flowers, like actual rose petals!! There was also flowers be thrown from a helicopter which was flying above us, it was sooo pretty! I managed to catch a rose petal and take it home with me, sad I know >.< the day ended with all the exchange students having the biggest flower petal fight EVER!

a very fierce petal fight
 between england and canada >.<

me and my petal :)

all of the exchange students

Oh and just something a little funny, the flag I’m holding actually isn’t mine, someone bought it and gave it to me because I’m British! How thoughtful of them >.<

The day I turned eighteen

The fiftieth of September two thousand and eleven, the day of my eighteenth birthday…


I woke up at 5:30 in the morning, not because I was excited for my birthday, but because I had to get up for school. As I dragged my body out of bed a smile crept onto my face as I realised that it was my birthday :) after showering and brushing my teeth it was time to open my cards from England. They had arrived two days before but because I knew they were for my birthday I decided to wait to open them.  I had recognised one of cards had my mum’s handwriting on, I opened it first. Out fell a pink card with the words “with love for you daughter, on your eighteenth birthday”. Inside was a poem wishing me love and happiness on my birthday. As I read the card a few tears fell from my eyes, not because I was sad but because I was grateful to have a little piece of my family with my on my big day, I know I know I’m a biiiiig baby >.<



the cards from england



nothing else special happened until I got to school. I sat down in class in my usual space without saying a word; I didn’t expect anything because I didn’t tell any of them that it was my birthday. the fist class started so I begun to read my book, the class finished and I continued to read my book, only half listening to what was going on around me. all of a sudden a girl in my class stated clapping while singing *parabeins para voce* the Brazilian version of happy birthday while I just sat there with my mouth open, how did they know it was my birthday? I think facebook told them ^.^ anyway the whole class sang happy birthday while singing and clapping pretty loudly and it made me smile because they bothered to make the effort to wish me a happy birthday. The day continued without any mention of my birthday until I got to gymnastics where my teacher promptly shouted as I walked in, its Alison’s birthday, in Portuguese of course. The whole gym club stated a chorus of parabeins para voce while taking pictures and clapping.

my cake with 18 candles :)

My next surprise was when I got home after gymnastics. My host mother had asked her mother to bake me cake for my birthday, so I thought it would be like one of those little cakes that you get in mars and spensors, but no, this cake was maaaaaaaaaaaaassie. It was chocolate and tasted amazing. I got presents from my host parents and brother, which I really wasn’t expecting and made that day extra special. Presents included jewellery, money, clothes and shower set. All in all I have to say it was a petty good day.

my brazilian family <3

The day i bonded with my host family

I didnt think it was going to be anything other than a normal weekend in my timetable, but it turned out to be a fun filled day bonding with my new host mother :)

The day began with my host mother and i playing in an orchestra in a near by city. Three hours later we were getting ready to leave the weirdest thing happened...when  i am in public, i usually stick b my host mothers side because i can speak fluent portuguese yet and i tend to panic if someone i dont know talks to me ^.^ however my host mother needed the bathroom so i was left to fend for myself. Now i dont know if it cause i look interesting to talk to or if the woman thought she knew me but for some reason or another a lady in a green dress started to walk towards me and i knew she was going to start talking to me. I had two options, to either run into the bathroom after my mother or to stand there and attempt to communicate with this woman in portuguese...i picked the first one. >.< so i turned around to pick up my clarinet and run away but before i could take one step she was standing in front of me, looks like i would be having a conversation in portuguese then >.< i heard her say " oi, tudo bom?" which i knew meant, "hi everything well?" so mabye this conversation wont be that hard i thought to myself. i replied "tudo, e voce?" meaning " everything, and you?" but the next thing i knew the lady was talking at top speed as if her life depeneded on it, occassionally pausing to look at me. at the end of her little speech she looked at me as said "sabe ne?" meaning "you know right?" i had no idea what she was talking about but me not wanting her to repeat what she said just said "eu sei" ( i know) and wished that she didnt want a longer answer. but she seemed happy with that response, she smiled at me, said "tchau" and walked off while i was thinking how ould she not noitce that i wasnt brazilian?! which means that either my portuguese is amazing or she just wasnt listening... i like to think that it is the first one >.< after leaving the orchestra i mentioned to my host mother that i needed to buy a new school bag, biiiiiiiiig mistake because my host mother is a shop-a-holic! we started shopping round about 4 in the afternoon and we didnt get home until quarter to 11! we started shopping in the outside markets, then moved onto to wal-mart and finally ended in the massive shopping centre. everywhere we went, people asked my host mother " ela nao brasileira?" meaning " she is not brazilian?" and when my host mother replied that i was from london they would always say, "ohhhh muito chique!" i guess brazilians think people from london are amazing :) one of my favourite stores that we went into was Wal-mart, as soon as you enter there are loads of little stalls waiting for you to buy their goods, obviously i went to the food stall first and bought a massive looking doughnut for 1 real - which is about 40 pence. i also drank coconut water out of a real coconut for the first time and the women laughed at my facial expression when she hadned me the coconut, i really thought she was going to pour the water into a glass for me! after about three hours of shopping we finally ended up in a bag store. there was the cutest "hello kitty" bag and i decided that was the bag i wanted, so my host mother bought it for me for my 18th birthday :) when we finally returned home i showed my host brother my bag with pride, only to have him ridicule me for having such a childish bag but i think he was screctly jealous because his school bag wasnt as cool as minee xD to whoever reading this it might seem like a boring day with the parents but to me it was special because it made me feel alot less homesick and more part of their family. eu amo minha família brasileira! ( i love my brazilian family!)



my new amazing bag <3



The day I met other exchange students from around the world

From the 2^nd to the 4^th of September I got the amazing opportunity to meet and greet other exchange students from around the world living in my state as me. I knew I would get along with them, I just didn’t realise how much…

After running around the house and trying to pack and leave on time, my host mother, my host father and I finally left for Aticibia. Two house late we arrived and the hotel that I would be spending the weekend with the other exchange students. Upon arriving I found all the other exchanges talking in the lobby. I checked in, put my bags in my room and went and joined them. There were students from all over the world, from Canada to Japan and all the counties in between. I introduced myself and naturally I expected myself to have a British accent. What I didn’t expect was a crowd of people to suddenly crowd around me and ask me to repeat the words “harry potter” and “bloody hell” over and over again. But something that did make me laugh was, when I said that I am from London, one of the students asked me if it was in France or America! After a couple house of socialising we had a meeting with the international contacts from out host counties. We also met Rotex; a group of students had already been on exchanges and returned to Brazil. We played a few games to get to now each other better and after a very intense game of musical chairs with all 34 students participating we finally went to our room. I shared a room with two other students from the United States and Taiwan. We spent ages talking about each other cultures and finally got to sleep at lie one in the morning, which wasn’t the best idea seeing as we had to be up at 6 the next day :/ 

The second day included more talks and meetings with various different people who explained the dos and the donts of being an exchange student. They shared their personal experiences and we gave some of ours. By time everything was finished it was about 10 in the evening. The Rotex group put on some music for us to listen to but it turned into a nightclub type disco with lots of singing, dancing and picture taking. Unfortunately it was cut short at 1 in the morning because the head of all inbound exchange students told us that we had to go to bed.

Sunday came and we had one final talk in the morning and then we had free time for about five hours. We used this time to check out the hotel swimming pool. Before we knew it, it was two o’clock and time to check out. After a final round of badge swapping, picture taking and “oh Alison, say hay potter again!” (You would have thought they would have gotten bored of it but no, they were still mesmerised as ever >.<) I was ready to leave. I was sad to say goodbye to people who could speak fluent English but it was great to know that people were feeling exactly the same as me, it mean I was a normal exchange student!

The day of my one month anniversary in Brazil

Well a few days ago it was the 27^th August 2011, and to most of you that’s just another day but to me it’s my one month anniversary in Brazil! yaaaaaay :) now I don’t know if it was planned or if it was just a coincidence but some pretty interesting things happened this weekend…

My weekend only really began at about five o clock on Saturday evening when myself, my host mother and host father headed down to Pirascaba (a nearby city) to watch a strings quartet from Sidney, Australia. They played three pieces, two composted by Mozart and one by Shubert. Most of the audience was adults but nevertheless *eu gostei o concerto* (I liked the concert) The concert finished at around 9:30 so we went out for dinner. And I found out that in Brazil their normal time for dinner is around 8 o’clock in the evening because most people have tea and a snack at around five, as apposed to London, where people usually have dinner round about six, I thought it was pretty strange to eat so late but I was hungry so I didn’t complain. We arrived back in Sao Pedro about quarter past eleven but my night was far from over because I was going to dance the night away at a * balada*

A balada is basically the Brazilian version of a nightclub in England. The balada was called password and the idea was you was given a “password” when you entered the club. There were two copies given of every password, one to a boy and one to a girl. If you found the guy who had the same password as you, you won a prize. The balada was so much fun and I met some really nice Brazilians and only managed to get away at four in the morning! You would have thought that I would be able to sleep all Sunday seeing as I got home so late but that was not the case. I had six hours sleep before I had to be up because on Sunday I was going to visit the city on the top of the mountain.



Renta and I



The city was about 20 minutes drive up the steep mountain but the view was more than worth it. It was a clear sky with no clouds, just brilliant sunshine and you could see the whooooole of sao pedro. I went with my friends named Renta because her family owns a farm at the top of the mountain and she invited me to see it. Ela tia* (her aunt) lives at the top of the mountain and insisted that *eu como com ela e ela familia* ( I eat with her and her family) They fed me *pastel de banana* which is basically flour with fried banana inside, it is one of the most delicious things I have even eaten! After lunch I went to the farm, as I approached the farm I could hear little chirps, as I walked into the room I saw what looked like millions of baby chicks! They were soooo adoreable! They were so small I could hold them in my hand. Renta also had cows, roosters and pigs. On the way home we stopped off and one of the many waterfalls in brazil. It was *muito bonita* (very beautiful) and we watched the sunset. Definitely one of the best weekends in Brazil so far :)



These baby chicks were sooo cute!



Me and my new best friend >.<





      









the family from the top of the mountain



The beautiful waterfall