Northeast Trip 2011 + Family #2

Hello again followers! I realize it's been a while, but I've been out doing all kinds of things over the past several weeks, and I'm just now getting a chance to post. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday/New Year!

In my Rotary district, I heard a lot of stories with mixed emotions about host families. I heard that while some students had amazing experiences with their host parents, some also had some difficulties. One of my friends from Germany told me about when she came to America, she had dreamed of being able to see at least some of the wonders that America has to offer. New York City, Boston and Washington DC were just some of the ones I remembered specifically.

Sometimes though, things can turn out differently than you'd expect. I spoke with her again after 6 months and asked her how things were going. She told me that after all this time, she had not had one opportunity to go to any of these places. She seldom even traveled outside of the city!

After hearing this, I couldn't help but think what my first host family would be like. I was concerned that I might not have opportunities to travel or explore what my city would offer. I was concerned that, like my friend, I might not have the best experience.

That fear was utterly razed the day I met Henrique Berger. From that moment to right now, he has been an ideal host Father, filled with charisma, care and a formidable sense of humor. I instantly bonded with their family and became instantly comfortable staying with them. He and the family have provided me with tons of opportunities to do everything from travel to the beach, to stay on a farm. I owe a lot of my incredible Brazilian experience thus far to him and the Bergers. In short, I couldn't have possibly been happier with any other family.

The next two days mark two big things in my career as an exchange student. One is hugely positive, while the other is rather negative.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the World Renowned: Northeast Trip. Every Rotary exchange student who's been to Brazil knows all about this baby. In short, it's a month long voyage of the Northeastern region of Brazil, with some stops along the way. Tomorrow at 8:30 me and my friends will hop on a bus in Londrina all the way up to São Paulo. From then on, the awesomeness is non-stop. We'll be driving all around the country stopping in all sorts of places: Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Fortaleza are just some of the many.

So after much effort, my travel bag is finally packed completely (YES). I am proud to say that I am completely ready to go tomorrow. I beyond excited and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to sleep tonight. I'm practically counting down the minutes.

Though today marks a great victory - as my bag is finally packed - it also marks something a little depressing. After almost 5 months here, I'll be switching families. I've bonded heavily with the Bergers and I'll definitely notice the void in my bedroom without André by my side.

That aside, I'm going to make the best of what's ahead. If being abroad has taught me anything thus far, it's that you have to seize every opportunity presented to you, despite initial doubt or fear. I have done all kinds of things here that I never would have imagined myself doing and now that only more await. So though family #2 will be different, whatever unique opportunities present themselves should prepare themselves; I'm coming for them.

Internet access will be sporadic over the next month, so I can't guarantee any blog posts for a while. I'll be keeping a journal with me so that when I get back, I should be able to write at least one or two posts about the trip.

Stay faithful followers! I'm still here!

Parabéns Giovana e Rafael!

On November 27, 2010, my host-cousin Rafael and his beautiful wife Giovana were married.

I have been to a wedding before (which admittedly I can hardly remember) and have heard many stories about how beautiful and timeless they are. Those re-tellings however, pale in comparison to this absolutely incredible event.

The ceremony itself was hosted in a church of German origins, where some of my host family's members now rest. Excited family members filed into the candlelit church just as the last traces of daylight fizzled out. The ceremony itself was filled with tears of joy, music and the unmistakable presence of unconditional, unwavering love. It was truly beautiful.

I did not cry, I swear.

Moving on, the ceremony's awesomeness was only matched by the reception. Though the ceremony had around 100 people, the reception itself held around 500 people. Too accommodate all of these people and their desire to eat delicious things, a massive table near the entrance to the reception was complete with over 20,000 candies. I died of happy.

After shamelessly gorging myself on chocolate, I noticed that the buffet table, there was steaming, succulent Brazilian lobster. So many tasty things, so little time. I think I ate my weight in food that night.

I can't even begin to do the rest of the wedding justice. The only way to truly appreciate it, is to see it for yourself. So, I found the website to the Wedding Photographer's blog, which you can find at the bottom of this post. I encourage you to check it out and be jealous of the awesome delicious things as well as the brilliant atmosphere.

Anyway, congratulations to Rafael and Giovana! Years of happiness to you both, both in and out of this lifetime.

http://www.mmarinho.com/blog/default.aspx?id=174

Thanksgiving in California, in Brasil.

As any American would know, today is Thanksgiving...or yesterday I suppose (1:09 AM here in Brasil). It's a day to remember and be grateful for those things people sometimes take for granted.

Since I've been born, my memories of this day are filled with the familiar sight of golden turkey and the sweet aroma of freshly baked pie. Though today was the day of feasting, today was also the day to toast; to pay tribute to those integral, yet often overshadowed elements of life. Friends, family and time together.

For Brazilians however, today is just another day.

I woke up today assuming that I would not see the familiar golden breast of a turkey, nor would I see the freshly baked pies. I've thought about today, so that when I actually realized that what I'd been accustomed to for 18 years was about to change, it wouldn't come as such a shock. However, it was still peculiar. I sat down at my dinner table with my two brothers, hungrily devouring my pão de queijo, while my host mother went to pick up my host father from the airport.

After dinner, I logged onto Skype. I spoke with my family, who then went off to have their Thanksgiving dinner. Just after I had accepted not doing Thanksgiving, something changed everything.

Lily Watson, one of my friends living in California, was about to have her Thanksgiving dinner with her family. Knowing that Brazilians don't celebrate Thanksgiving, we (with parental permission of course), arranged for a virtual Thanksgiving via Skype. Now this I didn't expect waking up.

So there I sat at midnight in my bathroom, watching the flickering of soft candlelight at Watson Manor. Despite being a continent and 1000 miles away, we could still laugh and make jokes at the Thanksgiving dinner table. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about elephant ear sandwiches, vibrating mattresses among other things.

Today, the thousands of miles separating me from American culture were rendered to the thickness of my laptop screen. You never really are alone after all, are you?

Happy Thanksgiving readers.

2.2C: The End of a Dynasty.

Friday was my last day of school at Colegio Marista in Londrina, Brasil.

I started there only a couple days after I arrived, when I spoke virtually nothing outside of "Oi" and "Tudo bem". My memories of my first day are clear: I was ushered into class by the Principal of the school, in the middle of class. I stood in front of over thirty kids silently and awkwardly while she made a brief speech, telling all the kids not to embarrass the school or Brazil. As they laughed, I sat down in front of Fernanda Torres, one of the few students in the class who speaks English well.

Fernanda (Fer) helped me with a lot, though she may not have known it. Though many people were interested in me at first because I was new, she was one of my few real friends at Marista. Though I had a basic idea of what their school was like, there were a lot of things things that I never would have known about had it not been for Fer. Whenever I needed help or guidance with something we were doing in or outside of class, she was always happy to explain. When I didn't know anyone in the class, she was always happy to introduce me to her friends. Had it not been for her, I'd always mix up the words Saudades and Saude and say negrão instead of Nagao.

Marista holds a lot of memories, both hilarious and embarrassing. There though, my language skills really skyrocketed. I started from basically nothing; I had had difficulties with everything from asking to borrow a pen, to trying to buy a can of mango juice. By the time I left, I was able to talk to almost everyone and understand about 50-60% of what everyone was saying. Considering that, I'm really proud but most of all, I'm grateful.

My experience at Colegio Marista is one that I'll never forget and carry with me for the rest of my life.

Obrigado Fer, e obrigado 2.2C. Vocês me deram um lembrança que vou levar com mim sempre.

Other photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050558&id=1088161372&l=5dd44a546d

Elizabeth VII Video Awards: The Event of the Century

There was quite the spectacle at the Rolândia country club tonight.

The hard-working students of Colegio Bom Jesus, a local high school, submitted music videos into an epic clash of artistic wits: The Elizabeth VII Video Awards. My english teacher, Marluce, invited me to be a judge in the contest.

To be completely honest, at first I didn't expect much. After all, at Staples High School (outside of Westport Youth Film Festival - or WYFF - to my knowledge), people never took these school videos that seriously. When I imagined the scene at first, I thought of when I made a class video for my AP Environmental class. Most of the composition consisted of joking and last minute scrambling. The final product was alright, but I tend to use that term loosely.

I couldn't have been more wrong in this case.

I go to the country club often to play tennis, and often walk by this common room. When I played tennis yesterday, the room was completely empty while the walls were painted with an exquisitely dull decaying beige. Tonight however, it had undergone a complete transformation.

The scene mirrored that of an !E channel movie premier. The spectacle had filmed interviews with the actors/actresses and visitors, a red carpet, a judges panel, a live DJ among countless other accessories. The atmosphere was utterly electric; nothing like I've ever seen.

When the show was getting underway, the other judges and I moseyed our way upstairs to the judges table. As I sat down and organized my ballots, I was served a bottle of water and a box of peach juice. Bottled water and ballpoint pen in tow, I felt ridiculously important. André of course, sat with me in the Judge's section.

Not only was the scene itself brilliant, but every one of the films were spectacular. The video editing and special effects were incredible and in my opinion, they rivaled the original music videos in quality. I was completely blown away.

The applause waning and the votes cast, my deed was done. I left the event feeling completely full. Every aspect of the event was magical.

Too bad I forgot my camera :(

I'm going to start to bring it with me everywhere. I'm determined to get blogworthy photos in the future for you guys.

Então, é tarde aqui, e estou com sono. Vou escrever mais amanhã ou mais tarde.

Tchau gente!

Why everyone should love Paraguay.

As some of you readers may remember, buying foreign product in Brasil is costly. Depending on what you buy, you can face enormous taxes forcing you to pay 150% more than you would be paying elsewhere. Books, are a perfect example of this. For more details, see the previous post.

Before I learned how to shop in Brasil, I paid almost US$50 for two $15 books. After however, I bought three $15 books for R$19. That's about US$15.

How is this possible, you may be asking?

The answer, is Paraguay.

For those who are unfamiliar with South American geography, Brasil is enormous. It literally dominates the continent of South America in size with a whopping 8,514,877 square kilometers, landing itself as the 5th largest country on the planet. Because of its enormous presence in South America it makes sense that it would have many neighbors, one of which is Paraguay.

Paraguay is appealing to many Brazilians for holidays and vacations for many reasons. However of all the people I've asked, the biggest reason by far is this:

No tax!

That's right. Paraguay can buy things from the United States for muuuuccchhh less money than Brasil because of a much lower importation tax. So some ingenius people buy these desirable products and simply cross the Brazilian border. Same product, much less money.

Paraguay is a great shopping destination and this exchange student's favorite loophole because things are cheap! Paraguay is Brasil's one stop shopping point for all things American. In the South at least. Clusters of these small marketplaces intertwine to make one colossal network of shops. In cities like Londrina, there are sectors of the city completely dominated by this Paraguayan market.

Rivaling New York's Chinatown (in my opinion), anything from electronic equipment to tennis balls can be found at a heavily discounted price! After playing with tennis balls that are as pressurized as Jack Johnson, finding new balls was a breath of fresh air. You have no idea how relieved I was to find this place.

In summary, I love Paraguay. If any of you folks ever go to southern Brasil, be sure to keep Paraguay in the back of your mind if you need anything.

Isso é tudo! Tá mais!

Dilma is the New President of Brasil.

The presidential elections were today. The two main competitors were José Serra e Dilma Rousseff (Chuck's mother). The Southern Region of Brazil was in favor of Serra, while the northeast was unanimously in favor of Dilma.

Dilma has won. Dilma Rousseff is the President of Brazil.

According to my host Dad, Dilma was involved in the kidnapping of an American ambassador. Seriously. That's one of the many things to add to her colorful track record.

I'm kind of scared.

Last night though, I ate the most delicious hamburger of my life. Besides "Manga", the name of deliciousness is X-Tudo (Sh-ee-ss Two-dough). It was a double decker burger complete with eggs, ham, bacon, calabresa, linguiça, cheese, lettuce and tomato. That, and it's size is only beaten by Alex Nitkin's monumental Sombrero Burger. I ate it in five minutes.

Anyway, I'm going to hide in my bomb shelter. Até logo!