Resting Weekend

I just got home from a relaxing weekend. I spent time with Sarah and Felipe good friends of mine from school. They took me to Felipe's uncles farm where there is a huge orchard of tangerines and other fruits such as bannanas and oranges. From the house the orchard is seen in every direction, a really beautiful place it is. A swing set is set out in front of the driveway, as well as a huge advocado tree. The house was built for many visiters which is shown by the length, filled with large corridors and rooms to serve the abundant family. While I was there many other family members of Felipe came as well, like a bus full of 10 year old boys. They spent most of there time playing soccer in the back yard. I enjoyed my time by learning how to make carrot cake and orderves special to Minas Gerais, as well as conversing with Felipe's family. Most of all just soaking up pure quality time to relax. I read books and ate a ton of tangerines. Saturday night Felipe let me help him do the barbecue which is one of the most popular traditions in Brasil. Churrasco (barbecue) is usually made by the chief of the house but as I was the guest and wanted to learn, they let me throw in my own spice as well.
It was a short trip of two nights, and we had a lot of fun.

Activities

The priorities in my life are school and various other activities that I am participating in such as Portuguese lessons, oil painting, drawing, ballet, forro ( a Brazilian style of dance) and guitar. The school day is from 7 a.m. until noon everyday besides the weekends.
Recently I began studying Portuguese at the Federal College in Belo Horizonte. This is a very drawn out five month course with an professor who teaches Portuguese to foreigners. I am preparing for a final exam which will show my level of communication skills, whether they are beginner, intermediate or advanced. Only three weeks into the rigorous but valuable course, I have come to the conclusion that the participation and knowledge that I am getting out of the course is tremendous. Definitely one of the better choices I have made this year.
My oil painting class is quite fun. I would describe the setting as old Italy, with a small house and a large garage full of various oil paintings, black and white pictures of World War II and the reflection of a life carried out by a husband and wife through pictures hung on the walls. In one corner of the garage rests an old typewriter that has been used to the bone, which rests so heavily on a hard dark wooden table. Aromas of sweet brasilian coffee,laquer from oil paints, acetone and sweat releasing from us students. The class consists of three older women pushing their seventies, a man around sixty years old who is a professor and is jazzed by the spirit of the Italian beat, and myself, a young spirited exchange student who doesn't have the least bit of a clue how to paint. All in all it is fun and I have the opportunity of using the right side of my brain instead of the left!
Drawing is another class that I have been involved in. Studying at an art school, I am learning the technical part of art design. For me, the area that has been most difficult to draw has been the drawing of the perspective of objects. With taking this class I am learning how to draw from different points of views and the technical part of drawing 3D objects.
When I was six years old I started playing the piano from one of my favorite teachers, Carol Comfort, and I played until I was thirteen. But, by then I was ready to do other things with my time, like playing sports, and I quit playing piano. Now that I am in Brazil I feel that music is something that I ought to bring back into my life. So I have begun playing the guitar. It is an instrument that where ever I happen to find myself in the world there will always be someone who can teach me a little bit more about strumming the guitar. I will be able to take it with me on my journeys from here to there and it won't be a huge hassle to move around, such as the piano. I also enjoy playing because the guitar makes me feel good, the rhythm of the music changes my heart (mood?), and it really pulls me in. What's even better is my music teacher is exchanging guitar lessons for English lessons, so I don’t have to pay one dime.
When I arrived in Brazil eight months ago, I came with a bare-slate. As I have progressed through the year learning life's lessons, experiencing a new culture and social values, I have discovered that this year’s experience has lead me to a inner happiness that I can't describe into words. All I can share is that now I now have a burning eagerness to want to continue on with my subjects and to put into practice what I have learned here in Brazil and use these lessons for the rest of my life. The moments that were the hardest about my exchange I have found to be my motivators in life. The hardest barrier of my exchange has been broken, in the aspect of the language, and now it is a clean ride out, until I find myself home again, full of new desires for the upcoming years.

Feliz Pascoa

Traditions of the Easter holiday in the United States are similar to those of Brazil although Brazil does not celebrate this day with large stuffed bunnies, colored eggs and the once a year big event of the Easter egg hunt.  Instead the children receive a large plastic egg that can be separated in two and is full of chocolate treats.  The similarities that I noted were families coming together to celebrate the day of Jesus's resurrection, the many party's with delicious food, favorited beverages and dancing. After 40 days of lent, the time to celebrate is warmly accepted.

  This Easter weekend I was invited by Jaquim, a member of my Rotary, to share the holiday with his family on their farm in Iguatama, Minas Gerais, which is located six hours northwest from Belo Horizonte.  I gladly accepted the offer with a smile and a willingness to leave my house the minute he called.  The excitement rushed through me having had already met his family and had been to the land on
which his family's farm is located.  We arrived on a Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday.  The most exciting part of the whole weekend was when we went on a "cavalgado" (a long horseback riding trip).  An hour before sunset, I rode with 22 others on horseback for two hours, from Jaquim's farm to a small home in the middle of a matted forest. I was greeted by children laughing, couples dancing the traditional Forro dance and young people enjoying the company of one another.  The core of the party, in my opinion, is the meat. Brasilians love a good barbecue!  The other exciting part was Jaquim's father playing the accordian. He is about 87 years old and is an incredible player. The whole evening was a great time.  When the moon was it's highest above the sky and the clouds were overhead and the landscape was barely visible we started our journey back to Jaquim's farm. The sound of the horse's hoofs, walking along the grass/dirt mixed in with the cricketing sound of the bugs was rather stimulating as the warm breeze blew across my face.  Oh what a night!  One I will treasure forever!

*Piedade de Nossa Senhora+Esmereldas*

I have been living with my second host family in Belo Horizonte, Brazil since the 28th of January.  My host parent's names are Denise and Eugene.  They have two sons named Phelipe' who is 13 years old and Marcos who is 17 years old.  I have yet to meet Marcos since he is on his student exchange in Sequin, Texas but we have visited through the contact of the handy dandy internet and the use of skype.  I will most likely continue to live with Denise and her family until I finish up my year here.  Towards the end of my exchange I look forward to meeting Marcos when he returns to Brazil in the beginning part of July.   I am very excited to find out how he likes my country and if he would like to live there when he is older.  Passing a few weeks with him at home in Brazil will be a good pre-step in returning back to the United States especially because in the eyes of a foreigner everything is a whole lot more grand.

 

The home I am now living in is in a small neighborhood on the outskirts of the city and it has the warm feeling of a small community.  I have been very welcomed in this neighborhood which helps me feel more at home.  My neighbors are tremendous people.  From every corner of the street, neighbors come to visit our home and are interested in meeting a student from the United States, let alone Alaska.  What truly intrigues them is that I speak their language and can carry on a conversation.  The people that have influenced me the most in this community are the little girls that live in front of our house.  Their names are Isabella 8, Dislandia12, and Vao15 years old.  Since the day I got here they have embraced me and welcomed me in all they do.  They include me in all the games they play, conversations about their lives, including boys. But best of all, we have Portuguese lessons which include learning the slang language from the city.  After six months in Brazil I have grown more and more accustomed to the language and life of the Brazilian people.  I am beginning to feel less and less like a foreigner. 

 

In the past two weeks I have visited multiple places of importance to my family.  We have two more homes in other areas of the state of Minas Gerais.  Due to this I have been traveling a lot throughout our state.  My mother's home, where she grew up, is located on a hill over looking a valley in Piedade de Nossa Senhora (The City of the Virgin Mary).  The town is very small and we spend most of our time in the valley below her home.  In the valley there is a community of firm believers in Jesus Christ.  Selling goods is prohibited but trading one product for another is the path preferred by the people. A keen ear and the will to hear our Lord's messages is the ticket to enter this sacred place. Doors are open for everyone who pass through.  Appearances of the Virgin Mary and religious phenomenon that occur day after day are what bring people from all parts of Brazil together celebrating Christ and his glory.  These people who pass out the words of Mary and give feedback to their communities concerning doubts of Jesus, life and our world are truly messengers of Christ!  Piedade is incredibly a beautiful place.  There is no way to enter there without the sense that God is with you.  It is an indescribable sense of JOY!

 

I also visited my father's farm in Esmeraldas, (The Emerald City).  The name describes the place magnificently.  In every direction there is a forest of lush green plants, trees, grass, lakes with ducks, horses, cows and other farm animals.  In the distance under the matting of the forest is a riverbed with a large waterfall.  Depending on the season the lucky people that have discovered this mystical land can swim while listening to the sounds of monkeys playing in the trees and birds chirping and passing overhead.

 

Today it is sunny here.  My mother is washing clothes, Phelipe my brother is playing video games (just like any other typical teenager in this day in age) and my father is cleaning grapes in the kitchen.  If I am lucky I will go to the soccer game today, but this possibility is dim and I will settle to watching the game from TV.  It's a normal typical day in my life here in Brazil and I love it.  

*The Vacation of My Life*

Last month, 42 exhange students and I  took a 4 week bus tour organized by the Rotary District 4760, along the coast of Brazil. From all corners of the world my fellow exchangers came. The Unites States, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden,Thailand, Taiwan, Belgium, Denmark, France, Hungary,Brazil,RussiaGermany,Equador,Canada, Finland, Norway, and Mexico. Today I can literally say that I have connected with every single exchange student that went on the trip with me and although we came from different regions of the world our similarities are much stronger than the differences, as this is what has been revealed to me. Through similarities of experiencing a new part of the world, missing friends and family back home and starting a new life with out the people that we have loved, makes us one big family. During the trip we were also accompanied by a lovely pair of chaperones and their Brazillian daughter as well as two coordentors, Rotary International and our district 4760 formed a trip around the essence of Brazil to show us how the rhythm of life really is lived in some parts of Brazil.

Our trip began in the famous city Rio de Janeiro where we stayed for three nightsin a hotel overlooking the Avenue Copacabana as well as Ipanema beach. There we played volleyball on the scorching sand and bought trinkets from the venders. We were aroused by the the sights of Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf mountain) as well the statue Jesus Christo Redentor the largest standing statue of Christ in the world.What was particularly interesting to me was the(Favela Rocinha )the largest shantytown in Latin America and if I am not mistaken in the world. A favela is not known under legal entity as the land has been squatted on and there is no such thing as a structural goverment.The society is plagued by tight living quartersand live with poor hygeine caused from the lack of a sewage system and running water. In most any of the Favelas in Brazil whether or not in Rio de Janeiro or Belo Horizonte it’s typical that there is only one avenue to enter and to exit for the sake of traffic control.  

After Rio, we went north up the coast, stopping along the way at many exotic and  historical sights.Vitoria, was impressive because there was a chocolate factory, and we also visited a convent on top of a hill. Arraial D Ajuda, had a beautiful beach with native children dressed up in their traditional clothes with faces painted. They had bright decorative feathers laid at the sides of there skirts and pinned in there hair. Itacaré, was breathtaking if I would decide to live in Brazil for part of my adult life Itacaré would be the spot, it is a small hippy town on the coast where the nights are vivid with people playing music, and singing around bonfires. Life can’t become more real than that, it was sublime to the utmost peak of extasy. 

On our trip, there was a five star hotel awaiting for our arrival in Lençois. It was surrounded by natural scenery of plants and large trees the sight overtook us. We stayed there for two nights and in that short sum of time a variety of splendor sightseeing  was taken advantage of. From exploring caves, swimming in a lake with a waterfall, and discovering a mud hole. Every second was worth while play time. Salvador, was a very large city. One of our destinations was the (Marcado Central)Central Market this is where we did most of our shopping since everything could be found at affordable price. Maceio, Porto de Galinhas, Recife, Natal, and Canoa Quebrada, were also places that we visited. Last on our tourof the Northeast  was Forteleza, a beach from Paradise as well as the last crystalline brazillian beach that I will be seeing for quite some time. I treated myself to a pinapple fruit cup full of delicous juices and for a small pain of 4 reais($1.70). 

From there we caught a plane and flew southwest to Brasillia the capital of Brazil and then back to Belo Horizonte by bus.

Rotary really offered us a memorable experience to treasure the marvalous views of Brazil. A trip that wouldn’t have been half as fun without my family of friends. A journey that ended in tears of sadness and joy. For the best friends that I have had in my life were made on this tour. A new journey of friendship has begun in my life with 3 splendid young lady’s with lives completely different than my own, but yet with more understanding between one another about who we are as individuals than with people we have known all of our lives. Through the obvious parts that link us together at the hip and the not so obvious we are one family and their presence in my life has changed my opinion on friendship and how a healthy relationship should be.

Christmas ( Natal ) e Papai Noel

Brasilians don’t celebrate Christmas by opening presents on the morning of the 25^th.  Instead, it all begins the night of the 24^th, when the presents are unwrapped and everyone gets to examine what they have been given.   This may seem superficial, but this is what I see when I witness how people in my country celebrate the holy night.  As for my last Christmas Eve experience, it was very fun.  My friends, family, and I spent the night drinking and enjoying each other’s company.  There was laughter, joy, and cheer. We spent the night at my aunt’s apartment, which can normally fit 12 people, but a large exception was made—we fit 20!  That night, a present exchange took place while Madonna played on the slideshow projector and people ate cracked nuts. 

On Christmas morning, I waited for my family to get up and go to mass since I thought this was a very special part of Christmas for every region of the world, but my family never got up to go. The afternoon of the 25^th, we went to my grandma’s house with all the cousins, aunts, and uncles. I can hardly describe the amount of food present! Lord o Lord, that was a present in itself: turkey corn pudding, salad, mashed potatoes spaghetti, a real show of fabulous dishes!  All and all, it was a great time, consisting of family, fun, and food.

After Christmas was over, I stopped to think about our Christmas celebration.  I was a little confused because I know that the majority of the Brasillians are Catholic.  I discovered this through research before coming to the country, but the understanding as confirmed throughout my six-month stay.  Still living in Brasil, I believe the Religion is very strongly practiced.  In the United States, even if you’re not a practicing Catholic, you go to church on Christmas, so the fact that we didn’t go was a little funny for me.

       With no snow on the ground, I’d call my most recent holiday season the opposite of a winter wonderland! But I was in a house with people who loved me, and when I think of Christmas this way, the day was ideal. This year I realized that the holiday season passed by without really much hustle and bustle. For this reason, I never really came to grips with what was happening.   Actually, it was five days before Christmas when my sister told me that we were going to put up the Christmas tree. Enthusiasm rushed through her face as all the glorious memories of her past Christmases rushed through her head.  She is 12-year-old who knew she would be getting a new cell phone for Christmas, so her excitement is certainly understandable. As we put up the tree that bright Brasilian morning, the aroma of pine trees stoked my memories: the tradition of cutting down the Christmas tree with my parents near our house, and then laying it down in the garage to dry while with anticipation for the next day when we would arrange all the ornaments from my parents’ childhoods as well as Clinton’s and mine. 

       Every place around the world celebrates Christmas differently, so I was happy to have had the chance to see what Brasilians do for the day and night.  But if I say so in my own words, Carnival is the Brasilians’ best Holiday, not Christmas. The reality is that the people don’t have snow or gingerbread or warm hot fireplaces to hang the stockings by. This is the type of Christmas that I know and love, and anything less than that is a little odd, and a bit sad from my perspective.  In America, Christmas isn’t Christmas without your family, and the smells and customs that you are accustomed to are the sugar cookies with sprinkles and a dollop of icing that usually tastes better than the cookie itself.

       Truthfully, as I write this blog with a few faded memories from the season of ginger bread and snow, it’s hard to remember how the days passed by in Alaska. But all the same, life is Good and the holidays were fine.