Oi!
Well I´m off to a great start!!!
When my host family came to pick me up from the
airport, they were all wearing t-shirts that had
a picture of each person in my family and me in
the middle, they are WONDERFUL!!! When we got to
their house, they had set up a party so I could
meet everyone. They were all very nice. My host
family is so helpful with everything and
understanding of the language difficulty. They
even had another party for me on Friday so I
could meet everyone, I´m pretty sure the whole
city was there.
My host family showed me around Chapadao do sol,
it´s a beautiful city. They also took me to a
fiesta where they were having a Brazilian Idol
type thing. My host sister, Cinthia, sang there.
Then they all showed me how to dance, which I´m
an aweful dancer, but it was so fun!
I also went to church with my family, it was
gorgeous inside. Even though I had no idea what
the preacher was saying, it was fun. After that
Cinthia and I went to a church gathering for
just teens, that was good too.
My first day of school went well. I had no idea
what the teachers were saying, but all the
people are so nice and friendly. It makes it
easier to adjust. The only class I´m good at is
English, but other than that I´m lost. The
school is way different then in the US. They go
to school for half the day, then in the
afternoon they have a long break for lunch. Then
they go back until later that evening. I still
don´t know the whole schedule, but my sister is
helping me. Today my English teacher took me and
the other exchange students to another school,
so we could talk to the students there. It was
like I was a celebrity. All the students crowded
around me and were grabbing onto my arms and
legs asking me to sign their notebooks, it was
crazy. But all the people are sweet.
My first Rotary meeting was last Tuesday night.
The club is actually very layed back. There are
2 other exchange students here, one from France
and the other from Mexico, they are nice. Little
did we know, we were the program that evening.
After only being here 4 days my Portuguese was
not the best, but it went well. They just asked
us questions about our country. My country
officer here speaks English, so he helped me and
the other exchange students understand their
questions. Overall, it was good :)
I´m learning how to play soccer here. I love it!
I go with my little sister Raissa, 3 times a
week to practice. My first practice was awful,
but I´m getting better. I also went to
volleyball practice with the daughter of a
Rotary member here. It was fun, all the girls
were very nice and asked me a lot of questions,
but I couldn´t understand them most the time.
My host family also took me to a place called
Costa Rica. It was so AMAZING there!!! There
were water falls everywhere that you hike to see
and places to swim. But the best part was this
huge zip line that went across the whole park.
you could see everything and my host family let
me go on it. Absolutely incredible!!! I loved
it. They only bad part was some kind of insect
bit me 17 times all over my legs and I was
allergic to it. My mae had to take me to the
doctor and he gave me some medicine to help it
heal. Hopefully it works!
The food here is super!!! Everything tastes so
delicious!!! Brazilians eat all the time too. My
mae was worried at first because she didn´t
think I ate enough, but I explained to her I
wasn´t used to eating so much. Everything is
good now, I just eat a lot.
Portuguese... it is so difficult to learn. I´m
trying so hard to understand and speak it, but
it is hard. People are helping me, but I don´t
always understand them. But I have already
improved a lot from just being here. Hopefully I
will get it soon!!!!!!!
Thanks for everything!!! :)
Abracaos,
Cheyenne
