Rodeio Weekend

So last weekend here in Palmital we celebrated the city's 92nd birthday. To celebrate such a wonderful occasion we have Rodeio (Rodeo). I have to say that it is most similar to county fairs. Nothing but fried food, candy, ice cream, and junk food. There are rides and games but the main event happens on the weekend. That would be the rodeo of course. There are two contests. One is where two people on horse back have to rope a sprinting calf on the head and one of the feet and bring it down. The other is the bucking contest. You have to see how long you can stay on a bucking bull and let me tell you, most of them don't last long. Everyone gets really into the spirit of everything. Most of the people that go to the rodeo get dressed up. Like I'm talking plaid shirts, cowboy boots, jeans, hats and even fancy belts. It's a big deal and they talk about it weeks before it happens. They even have a queen and king of Rodeio. To go along with the country theme, música sertaneja (country music) is very popular. They have performers everyday. I have to say though that it is not my type. Besides the music it was a lot of fun. I did dress up as well because why go if your not going to participate? I would have stuck out like a sore thumb if I didn't anyways.

This is was a week long celebration so there were cultural things at different times during the week. There were films you could see and demonstrations to watch. One of the days my sister Flavia, my host mom, and I went to watch Capoeira. It's a Brazilian martial art. It was very cool to watch. They put a lot of work into perfecting it. I give them an A+.

Hope you enjoyed reading,
Tchau
Cori

 This is me and my host sister Flavia on the first day of Rodeio

 This me and my sister and her friends on the big opening night of Rodeio

 This is us at the Rodeio watching the contests. Lots of people showed up to see it as well

 This was the contest where you had to rope the calf. It's much harder than it looks.

 This is the stage at the front of the ring.

 This is the other side of the ring in which the contests took place.

This was the starting place for the bucking contest

Here is a video of the bucking contest. My camera refused to take a good picture and besides you get more action from a video. Enjoy!

 These two pictures are of Capoeira. Pretty cool right?

What is Easter without chocolate eggs?

Today was a great day. Today I learned how to make homemade chocolate eggs or Ovos de Chocolate. My host mom showed me how and I have to say I did a great job. Of course there was a little bit of taste testing involved too which I took part in as well. First we melted chocolate in a pot. Next we took the egg molds and spooned in enough chocolate to cover the sides of the mold and put them in the freezer to set. After a few minutes in the freezer we took them out and repeated the process two more times. Afterwards we wrapped them in tin foil and filled one half with candy and covered it up with the other half. Finally, to finish of the work, we put another layer of colorful wrapping and sealed it with a bow. We had to make a lot for the family we will be visiting tomorrow for Easter and it took all day but overall it was a lot of fun.

Feliz Pascoa Todo Mundo!

Cori

This is what the eggs look like before and after they are finished.

 Above: My nephew wanted to help but more or less wanted to just eat the chocolate.

Below: My Host Mom making a chocolate egg

Above: My nephew with the egg my grandma bought for him. These eggs are common to buy for your family members. You can buy them at like any store.

Below: Bis are these wafer chocolate bars that we filled the eggs with. They are very good.

 Above: Again my host mom making chocolate eggs.

Below: This is me helping make a chocolate egg. I did pretty good for my first try. :)

And of course the finished product. Tomorrow we get to eat them. Yummy Yummy!

Life in Brazil

I have finally had a few weeks break from traveling which has been a great relief. Traveling all over the state of Sao Paulo can take a toll on you, but on the bright side I learned how to sleep on a bus.

I have almost reached my two month mark. (April 12th!) and am finally starting to fit into life here. I have my school schedule worked out and what I do at home. Everyone comments on how much better I speak but I'm still so far away from being considered fluent. While I have been learning my new language though, I have started to forget some of my English speaking skills. My Portuguese teacher thought it was hilarious. I have gotten so used to Portuguese that I speak English the way everyone here does which is not very well and with an accent. I have also started to talk/think to my self in Portuguese as well. I don't say "I need my notebook". Instead I say "Eu preciso minha caderno". I have also been using my dictionary a lot less as well but still carry it around to important places just in case I need to look up a word.

Here is my Horario (Schedule) for a typical day:

6:10 Wake up and get dressed
6:30 Eat breakfast of bread and butter
6:45 Leave for school on my bike
7:00 Arrive at school and walk to get ready for class
7:10 Teacher arrives and get class going. I have three periods each 50 minutes long before intraval. I'll have one class for no more than two periods.
9:30 Go to interval and eat a small snack and chat with classmates
9:50 classes start again. I have two more 50 minute class periods
11:30 Ride my bike home for lunch
11:45-12:30 eat lunch with my family before my sister's and dad leave for work
12:45 Start the afternoon. I usually sleep, read, do homework, watch TV, go on the computer, go out with friends or help my mom bake. On tuesdays I go to my portuguese course and Tuesdays and Thursdays I do dishes.
5:00 Everyone comes home from work. They do the similar things I do like watch TV or go on the computer.
6:30 My nefew comes home from school. He likes to play with me. This is also when my older sister and my dad leave for college.
7:30 Time to eat dinner that my mom cooks. Afterwards is free time spent with my family.
9:00 Take a shower, brush my teeth and get ready for bed.
9:30 Time for bed. I go to bed early here because I get up so early for school.

So that's pretty much what I have been doing the past few weeks.

Cori