First of all, this first month has been
wonderful. Like I tell you all when we have those quick facebook chats. Let me start of by saying, my name is no longer “Jade.” In Brazil, it is pronounced either “Jay-Gee” or “Jah-Gee.” It just depends on the person. At first I was a little uncomfortable just because people would be saying my name and yet I had no clue who they were talking to. But now, I introduce myself by saying, “Oi, meu nome e “Jah-Gee.”” Cute right?
My host
family consists of 5 members and a maid. My maid is such a nice lady who comes Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s from about 9:00am until like 5:00pm. My mom and dad (mãe and pai in Portuguese) are great. Neither one of them speaks English, but they are very helpful in my Portuguese learning. Some nights my mom will sit on the computer with me as I study and say the words aloud so I know how they sound, while other nights, my dad will read children's books with me. I also have a 20 year old brother, Rafael, who is only home sometimes. He goes to college and lives in another city, so he is only home for holidays. I'd always wanted a big brother, and now that I have one, I don't think I could have asked for a better one. He speaks very little English, a few words here and there, but he is very nice and only laughs at me for my poor pronunciation sometimes. :) My sister, Anaís, is 17 and literally one of the coolest girls I have ever met. She is fluent in English so she helps me a lot. We also share...well shared, I guess, a room, therefore we got mad close. The past tense in that last sentence was because she recently left for Venezuela because she, too, is going to be a foreign exchange student. I miss her...a lot, but, she did promise she would come to the United States and visit. :) (When I arrived, there was another girl here from Ecuador, Penelope. She’s 19 and another one of the coolest girls I have ever met. She went back to Ecuador only 2 weeks after me getting here. The most sad.) Lastly, I have a little brother who just turned 13. Another family member who speaks no English, so we don't communicate that well, but we do laugh together a lot when I try to talk to him, and when we play soccer together. He is a soccer God, basically. He is never without a soccer ball, which I guess is what you would think when a Brazilian comes to mind. He and I often go outside and pass/kick the ball at each other as hard as we can just to get a laugh. He's cute. I also have other family members, grandparents, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, and a few cousins that I see often. I just love them all. :)
School here is very different. Our first class starts at 7:15am. The teacher shuts the door then, but kids casually walk in after. I mean, there haven't been any drastic tardiness’s, but still, teachers at Gettysburg tend to close the door while the bell is still ringing forcing you to go get a late pass. Rude. We have 6 classes a day, each lasting about 50 minutes. We have 2 classes, then a 10 minute break where we are free to roam the school, eat, play in the gym, and do whatever we want. Then, we have 2 more classes, and after, a 20 minute break which consists of like I said earlier, whatever we want. Lastly, we have two more classes and we are dismissed from school at 12:50. They don't feed us lunch at school, but there is a little concession thing during breaks that's got all sorts of Brazilian foods. Our school is also outside. Not the classes, alone, but the buildings are all separated in an enclosed area. It's not like college, but in a way it is a mini campus. I'll have to post pictures soon. Here, we don't change classrooms...the teachers’ just switch. Because of this, I am with the same like 28 kids all day. It's actually enjoyable. Since these kids have been classmates since they were young, they are all very close. Everyone is friends and it is a very fun environment. The teachers to student relationships also differ. Most teachers are referred to by their first names, and students don't raise their hands. It is sometimes like a zoo in my classroom because everyone talks at once and laughs and goes crazy. It's quite entertaining. To take tests, all 3 of the high school classes, yes, here, there are only 3 years of high school, but anyways, we all go into a large room and are given our tests which last as long as any regular class would. I don't understand much of the lessons in my classes, but I do amazing in English class. Thank you Mrs. Chronister for forcing me to stay awake in your class. :) Haha.
Of course, I am playing
sports here. The school doesn’t offer sports like we do in the United States. Instead of each school having a team and competing, we have just afternoon hour and half classes once or twice a week for most given sports. On Tuesday’s I play basketball at the school. Not to be cocky, but since it is a once a week thing, the kids I play with aren’t the greatest. Fortunately, most of them are pretty athletic so running up the court with them is still a good workout. On Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s, I play basketball at my parents club with a group of 17 year old guys, who play almost daily…therefore, they are realllll good. Why am I playing with guys, you may ask…my mom thought it was for girls. Turns out the club where they are members has no girls’ basketball program. My mom offered to look at the other city clubs so I play with girls my age, but I decided to stay with the guys. I mean, yeah, they are good. But we don’t have games like in the United States, so I don’t have to worry about sitting the bench. I do everything that the guys do… run, push-ups, sit-ups, use a guy’s ball, and so forth. It’s challenging, but fun. It’s also pretty funny because when I box out and get physical, all the boys apologize for even touching me. I obviously don’t care, I just want to play the game. Only one boy in the gym speaks English, so I have been forced to learn a few basketball phrases. Thankfully I’ve got a decent basketball brain and understanding of the game so when the run complicated drills, it only takes me a minute or two to catch on. When I don’t catch on, the guys are all quick to help. They’re just great. :)
The
celebrations here are so fun. For birthday’s in my family, all the family goes to the house of the person’s birthday it is for a meal, cake, and just to hang out. I’ve been to about 4 or 5 family parties so far and I have loved them all. At one of my classmate’s birthday parties, all of her friends were there, plus her family, plus her family friends. It had to be more than 50 people. The best part though, everyone talks to everyone because the people are so nice. I think every house I have been too has a thing in the back for churrasco’s which are like barbeques. Instead of hotdogs and hamburgers though, they grill steak. It is amazing! The environment is just so warm and welcoming at all these family/friend parties, I love it. The most common birthday present I have seen is just a t-shirt. My little brother got like 9 for his birthday from his friends.
The
food here is different yet still similar in ways as well. They eat lots and lots of bread and cheese. It kind of sucks that I don't like much cheese...but it's whatever. Almost every day for breakfast, I eat some sort of bread with cheese (like a grilled cheese,) or a grilled ham and cheese. It is a very rare occasion that I eat cereal. When I do, it is usually just granola…the healthy stuff too. They also eat a lot of rice and beans. We eat it almost every day for lunch, and some days for dinner too. It’s actually a lot better than I thought it would be. Maybe I am just used to it. Another food I have had a couple times is pizza. Their pizza is different than ours. The first time I had it, I was very surprised to find the pepperonis under the cheese, and I don’t really know if there was any sauce on it. It doesn’t taste bad, but I could definitely go for Tommy’s pizza. :) The fruit here is dank. Like I am so in love with it…especially the pineapple. It is fabulous. They also have a few other fruits that we have; I just forget what they are called. They have a lot of ice cream shops here in my city, though I have only been to one once. It was self-serve, so basically you pick whatever and however many ice cream flavors you want and load it with whatever and however many toppings you want and at the end of the, I guess buffet line, they weigh and price it. For dessert, they tend to eat brigadeiro. Talk about heaven in my mouth. It’s a chocolate type thing eaten in different forms, but it really isn’t normal chocolate…it is so much better. They also eat a lot of “doce de leite” which tastes a little like caramel, but like the brigadero, is better. It can also be eaten in different forms: right out of the jar on a spoon, in a fudge-like texture, as pudding…you name it! Here, spoons are not used often. I have used a spoon only for cereal, soup, and ice cream. I don’t know about you guys, but in the United States, there is no way I would have tried to things like rice with a spoon. Maybe that’s just me and Jasmine though, we love spoons. Ha. They have this soda here called “Guarana.” It is simply the best invention ever and original to Brazil.
They listen to a lot of the same
music as we do. I was very surprised when we were leaving the airport and “Ego” by Beyonce was on the radio. Rap isn’t very popular, so when they ask my favorite musician and I say Lil’ Wayne or Drake, they often give me a confused look. The most common songs on the radio are “Ego,” “Down,” “Do You Remember?,” “Replay,” and “Tik Tok.” Almost everyone knows who Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber are. Most of my friends like Lady Gaga, or at least the song “Alejandro.” Almost none of them, though, like Justin Beiber. Kids at school will come up to me and say “Hi, Jade! Do you like Justin Beiber?” When I respond, “yes!” they almost look disappointed with my answer. I will keep reppin’ my girl Lady Gaga and give them Beiber Fever until the day I get on a plane to come back to the United States. (This should make you proud, Wes Pyron.) They do have their own music as well which I love. Their funk is so epic. Like I’m literally dancing in my seat singing a song called “Creu” in my head. Youtube it. It’s got a dance to it which consists of pelvic thrusting. It’s pretty funny.
The
people in Brazil are very different from most Americans. First of all instead of the common head nod and "hey" we Americans great each other with, they give each other big hugs and women kiss everyone on the cheek. When I walked into school the second day with my friend Isabelle, I was unsure what to do when I say her go around a circle of about 10 of our male classmates and kiss them all on the cheek. I was thinking…”am I supposed to do that too?” Luckily, I did because clearly, I was. They were all impressed with my understanding of how they do things. This is their culture, and it is beautiful. I absolutely love it. Everyone is just so, nice and loving.
I'm sorry this is such a long blog. I will post weekly instead of monthly to avoid this! Enjoy and come back soon! Also, I have pictures on my facebook. Feel free to look!
