I realize that this post is quite over do but I the past month, not a lot has happened worth writing about. The coolest thing that happened in Septembrer was that I went to a comedy theater with my friends from school. It was funny but they spoke a little too fast for me to understand the jokes so it was only okay for me. All my friends thought it was hilarious. Afterwards we went and ate hotdogs. While we were eating the sister of one of my friends came over to us and said that her parents were sitting with the actors. So we all went over and got to sit and talk with the actors. They were really cool and we had a great time despite the fact that that night was extremely cold! Also, a man was taking pictures and I got my picture in the newspaper with my friends. But other than that, nothing interesting happened.
That is until now. As I've told you before, I planned on doing a mini exchange in which I go to another part if Brazil for a couple weeks. I arrived yesterday in Brumado, Bahia very late at night. I think it was like 10:30. I was so tired after a long day of riding airplanes. It was overall, I think, an almost 10hr ride with 3 stops and two plane switches. Our last plane flight was delayed 20-30 minutes. I also almost missed the bus from Palmital to Assis. Like literally I got to the bus station and the bus arrived. The reason for this is because my family tried to call a taxi but no one picked up the phone and my host mom didn't have a car and my host dad wasn't home and I had a big suit case so my host mom didn't want me walking to the bus station like I normally do. So she called a friend and borrowed her friend's car and drove me. We arrived there 10 mins after the bus was suppose to arrive but for some reason it was late today so I happened to make it on time.
After that everything went smoothly. I arrived in Brumado after another two hour bus ride and was greeted by an AFS volunteer Regina. I would be staying at her house temporarily until my other host family returned from vacation. So for anyone who doesn't know much about Bahia, It's in the northeast part of Brazil. Bahia does have a coastline. The difference is that Bahia in the interior part is very dry and arrid. Almost like a desert. It only rained one time during my stay and barely. There are also beautiful moutains that are all over. Being that right now Bahia is in the dry season, so there wasn't a lot of green to look at but the mountins were still amazing.
During the first week after arriving was a holiday so all the kids were off of school. Children's day is actually a very celebrated holiday. Of course there are presents from parents and lots of parties. For the holiday we went to the country club and went swimming all day. Like literally all day. 9am-5pm. They were having a party as well and so there was lots of things to do. Afterwards we wnt on the edge of the city to go visit the family of the AFS volunteer I was staying with. It was great because they cooked a BBQ. For everyone that doesn't know about Brazilian BBQ they are so delicious! Afterwards we slept there and woke up and watched movies and just relaxed. Sadly, though, I got really badly sunburned. My back hurt to the touch and was bright red. My nose, front of my thighs, back of my knees, and the tops of my feet were also burned but not as badly. My arms were sore and it hurt to move them a lot because my back was burned. So I was good with just relaxing for the day. Someonw helped put lotion on my back which did help a lot. Now, I know what your thinking. Why didn't you use sun screen?!!!!!! My answer is of course I used suncreen! I put it on every two hours and made sure to wait a little before going into the pool or sun but Bahia is very close to the equator so the sun is like 10 times stronger than in Palmital. Even using 50 spf. I would have liked to have had a higher spf but 50 is the highest or you get a little bottle that cost way too much. For the remainder of the trip, my back and thighs peeled and peeled and peeled. So take notice: The sun in Bahia is not equal to the sun in Ohio. Always use Suncreen! On the bright side of that day, I made some new friends that would be going to my school so I went in knowing some familiar faces.
Sunday, Regina arranged a trip to a local river with an amazing waterfall that people can swim in. All of the exchange students went except one came. I had already met Sai (Tailand) because she lives with Regina. On the trip I met Alice (USA), Johanna (Germany), Berk (Turkey), May (Tailand), Marianna (Italy), Tomas (Italy) didn't go and Lucrezia also lives in the same city as me. It was a two hour drive so we were suppose to be leaving the house at 6am. Well we all woke up at 6:15am. So after rushing around getting things organized and eating a quick breakfast, we went and got all the other exchange students and then set off for our journey. After al long boring car ride, we arrived and it was really cool. The waterfall was amazing and the water was super cold. The neat thing about this river is that no matter how hot it outside, the water is always cold. and I mean like 75 degrees cold. The only thing that makes it dangerous is that the rocks there are super smooth so when they are wet, they are extremely dangerous. My foot did slip one time and it hurt a little but other than that, no one got hurt. One thing we did do was go under one of the waterfalls. There was a part that had been erroded away and you could go and stand behind the waterfall. It was incredible. Afterwards, we took a break and dried off and then went and had lunch. After lunch we went back and swam some more. Not everyone this time but a few including me. I made sure to apply lots and lots of sunscreen this time and so I didn't get any more burnt.
After the weekend, School did start and that's when I met all my new classmates for the next two weeks. Regina teaches at my school on Mondays so she walked me and Lu to school with her daughter Lara and Sai. Regina told Lucrezia and I to go to a class and everyday we can switch rooms because we are only going to be there until the 29th of October. The first day I went to the second year and Lucrezia went to the first year. School is school anywhere you go in Brazil so it was kind of boring after doing all sorts fun things over the weekend. I switched to all the different classrooms and made many friends. The school here is slightly different to what I'm used to in Palmital. In my school I only go until 11:30am but here I go to until 12:20. Also, they have classes in the afternoon on some days which my school doesn't have.
Monday is also the day I went to meet my new family that I would be staying for the next two weeks. Luisa, my host mom came and picked me up after school. I also met Alberto, my host dad, and Juliana, my host sister. They are really nice and Juliana went and lived in Canada. We talked a lot and I really felt at home. Luisa made different types of food of Bahia which I really liked. She also showed me the city and took me to Victoria da Conquista to go o the mall there after her doctor appointment.
I got to pick a mango right off the tree and then eat it. It was the best mango I had ever tasted.
During the rest of the two weeks, I went to the club many more times. I watched Lucrezia play volleyball. I hungout in the the plaza near my house with my classmates and tried Açai for the first time. Açai is a berry that grows in the amazon and when made in to an ice cream style is this super dark purple color. You eat it with granola, bananas, condensed milk, and sometimes strawberries. I ate so much açai because there is not a place in my city that sells it.
I have to say that this was a great idea and that if you think the afs trips are too expensive this a good alternative.
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