Amazônia

Imagine this, waking up in a hammack on a boat after an exosting day in the amazon forest the day before, surronded by 78 of your friends, watching a beautiful sunrise. Being excited by all the new wonders you will see and all the things you will learn about this amazing place. Not only is the landscape amazing but also what lives inside of it; monkeys, butterflies of all colors, fish, dolphins and almost every kind of bug imaginable. This was what it was like to spent 10 days in the amazon. We started in the in a city about 2 hours from Manaus, the capital of the State, where we spent 2 days hicking in the rainforest. We saw 3 waterfalls and some pretty incredible things in the forest. We got pretty wet and dirty since it rains about every day in the amazon forest. Then we headed to Manaus where we spent 2 days. We went to some zoos, some parks, one which included the largest leaf in the world, and we got to eat some delicious fruits, typical to the amazon forest. Then we went straight into the amazon forest. All 78 of us boarded a boat and spent 5 days all together on the Rio Negro. We saw the meeting of the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimões. It is an amazing sight because one of the rivers is black and the other is brown and they do not mix for about 5 kilometers after they meet. We saw a tribal ritual preformed by a still existing tribe of indians. We swam with pink dolphins, had a survival course in the rainforest, fed monkeys, fished for piranas, caught some aligators, visited an idian city and got to play soccer with the locals, slept in hammacks and had plenty of time with all of the other exchange students. These were just some of the things that we saw. It was an experience like no other. Every time I think that my exchange can't get any better, I keep getting surprised.

Now I am back home and the fact that I will be going home soon has hit me at full strengh. As of today I only have 40 more days here. I am so torn in being excited about going home and sad about leaving everything behind. It is just as scary thinking about going home as it was thinking of coming here before my exchange. Things will have changed, my friends will have different jokes and some will have differnet interests, but most importantly I have changed. I don't see it very much now but I'm sure when I get back home I will realize that it's me who changed the most. Although I am enjoying every last moment to the fullest and I am looking forward to seeing everyone back at home and being able to eat Tim Hortons again.

March

One part about being an exchange student is that you get asked a lot of dumb questions about your country. Sometimes it's funny, but sometimes it just makes you wonder where these people live. I've heard all sorts of things, some of the normal stereotypes about Canada like: 'Do you have summer in Canada?', 'Is it always cold there?', 'Do you get rain?' but some stuff have been as ridiculous as 'I heard that Canada has a whole underground city because it's too cold for the people to live on the above ground..' Also for some reason a lot of people think that Canada is in Europe. beside Germany, or is a state in the United States. But of course, the only thing to do is to correct them and hope that they remember.

The month of march went by so quickly! I went to a city called Itauna to visit my Brazilian cousin for a week. We then went to Belo Horizonte when I stayed with my other Aunt and Uncle and met another Brazilian cousin who had just come back from Canada. It was really cool to meet him because it was just like having a piece of Canada in Brazil. Also, I love to travel with my family because it allows me to just speak Portuguese for the entire time, where as in Bom Despacho people constantly want to practice their English with me even though I have asked them several times to stop, and I  get to see different places in Brazil. I will be moving on Sunday, which is a good and a bad thing. I am excited to meet a new family and for the new experience but I will miss my current family a lot. I have gotten to know the family that I live with now and their extended family as well, which was not really the case with my last family, and I have grown very attached with them all.  Not only that, but this family is my 3rd family, and I'm just beginning to realize that my exchange is quickly coming to an end. My count down has already started and today marks 87 more days here. :(

Northeast Trip

At the Cristo in Rio! 

The amazing shoes we had to wear before our cave adventure.

The cave.

Right before we went snorkeling. 

It was very cold.. ;) 

Salvador

In Brasilia. 

Praia do Forte, first beach on our trip. 

Salvador

At the very top of a mountain we went hiking on. 

Our costumes for the talent show. We went as the Justing Beavers, we danced and sang :) 

In Natal, in the dunes. 

In Natal. 

Rio!

Rio again. 

What it looks like during the day. 

View of a Favela. 

Other view of a Favela. 

February

About a week ago our Northeast trip ended. Saying good bye to everyone there was really difficult. We all got off the bus to be picked up by our parents and it just turned into a big tear fest.
This month I've definitely felt a little home sick. Coming home after maybe the best month out of the whole exchange was really difficult. Also school started again so all of my Brazilian friends are busy studying and doing homework so it's getting hard to find stuff to do again.
On another note Carnaval is coming up in about 2 days. We got a glimpse of what it would look like when we were in Rio. The Rio version of Carnaval is there is a huge parade with everyone dressed up in these fantastic costumes. Unfortunately I will not be going there because it's very dangerous and quite expensive, but I'm sure there will be something on the TV :) I think I will be spending my Carnaval with my family at a farm. It'll be nice and peaceful and I'll get the opportunity to get to know them better as well.

Northeast

Finally one of the most exciting parts of my exchange arrived : the Northeast trip!! On our trip, we started off in the mainland and worked our way up all the way to Natal and now we are coming back down on the coast of Brazil. We are unfortunately almost done our trip, but we have visited so many amazing places! Some of them are : Brasilia, Praia do Forte, Reciffe, Natal, Maceio, Salvador. Tomorrow we are going to go to Porto Seguro and then the famous Rio de Janeiro. The weather is very hot here and the beaches are beautiful. We are 48 exchange students all together and everyone is very nice and we all get along very well. We have become like a big family!
The culture here is quite different from the mainland of Brazil. They have different music, more with drums  and hand made instruments because earlier, instruments were expensive and a lot of people couldn't afford them and they made their own. The food is a little different as well. They eat more of a variety of foods, rather then rice and beans every day like they do in Minas Gerais. Also, Northeast is actually a lot poorer then any of the other parts of Brazil that I have seen. It really opens your eyes to how lucky we are in Canada to have what we have; even the poorest of people in Canada have more then some of the people here. One of the saddest stories I have heard here, is the children you see begging on the streets for money have an opportunity to go to school and learn and to have a future because the government gives money to the mothers to make sure that they can go. But what the mothers still do is take their children out of school and make them beg for money on the street so they can get more, while they are still receiving the money from the government. It's like a big circle, because these really poor people don't get an education so they can't make any money so they can never get out of their situation. Fortunately it's slowly getting better, but will still need some time.
I am having a blast and this is definitely one of the best times of my life. Thank you to everyone who made this whole exchange possible.

Christmas Time

A couple of days ago I changed host family's and we traveled to Uberlandia, a big city in Minas Gerais, to spend Christmas with the family. This year is not only my first Christmas without my real family but also without cold and snow. The truth is that it doesn't feel at all like Christmas. Although I am loving my new family and they make me feel like I am part of theirs, I am still missing some of the regular Canadian traditions. Also with some of the cultural differences it's hard to relate what Christmas is for me in Canada with any of the traditions here. One of them is everyone does a Secret Santa with each other. Families are very large here and always come together at big holidays. So what they do is put everyone's name in a big bucket and everyone picks a name. Afterwards you\re supposed to buy a present for the person that you picked out of the bucket. Then on the night of the 24th/morning of the 25th everyone trades presents. There isn't really any difference in the seasonal food and the everyday food and they don't use real Christmas trees because not very many grow here. The one in my current house is a small pine tree which you can buy at the grocery store during December. But my family before used a small regular tree (the kind with leafs) and decorated that with the decorations you would usually find in Canada. Santa Claus does exist here for small children but he's not as popular here as he is in Canada.
Hoping everyone has a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year :)

Month 4

Everything here is still well, nothing too exciting to report on. The language is going good and my friends are well. My friends and I are still trying to find some things to do around the town and our creativity is lacking a little :P Today was our last day of school and the summer holidays are starting :) I'm definitely enjoying the nice hot weather here.

A couple of weeks ago I finally got to go one of the famous 15's party here. It's part of the brazilian culture to have a big party to celebrate a girls 15th birthday. Turning 15 is like the age that you are considered to be entering womanhood. It kinda reminded me of the parties on the TV show 'My Super Sweet 16 Party' but for a 15 year old. They rented a huge room with a dance floor and a DJ and had tons of food. Everyone dressed up really fancy and had a good time. So much that we ended up leaving at 4 AM and the party wasn't even over yet.