The Past Month

Yes it has been a long time since I have written a blog post. I know. I just have been beyond busy that after I get home, sitting down and writing seems like a chore and so I have more or less avoided this moment for a long time. But I can't leave you in the dark forever, so here I am finally giving you a view into my life the past month or so.

Let me start at the beginning of August. If you remember from my last post, I broke my computer screen rendering my computer useless. Well, my replacement computer arrived in Palmital and I was so excited to go get it from the post office. Little did I know that there was a small fee that went along with it. Well i knew there was a fee but when I saw the number, I almost fell over. R$500!!! Which let me tell you is about $250, the same amount as the what I paid for the computer. After much thought and conversing with my mom, I decided to let them send back to the USA. I was quite sad because it was nice having my own space where I could put my photos and have all my favorite pages already marked. My host family lets me use their computer so it's not a problem entering the Internet and talking with my family but sometimes you just need your own  space.
So lessons for future exchange students:
1. If you bring a computer, DON'T BREAK IT!
2.Don't ship electronics to Brazil

But some good did come out of not having a computer. I use the computer less because I have to share with my host brother and mother which means I use the computer less. The AFS rule 1 hour a day is not to stifle you but to help you so really, only stay on the computer 1 hour a day.

The second week of August I got to meet Lucrezia the Italian girl who lives in my city. She is really cool and we hang out a lot because she is still learning the town so she needs my help find stores to buy things she needs. When she first arrived she spoke like no Portuguese and even less English making communication very difficult. I have learned a lot of Italian from her as well because she mixes Portuguese and Italian when she speaks. She is really nice and out going and loves to go out and dance. We have become really good friends and she has become friends with my friends as well so it's great hanging out together.

I also joined a gym with two of my friends and go almost everyday. I'm working on building muscles so who knows. Maybe when I return home, I'll be super strong...Hahaha Not! But it is a good idea to join a gym because living in Brazil, it's easy to gain weight which I have learned the hard way but don't use that as a reason not to go here. All my friends go to gyms in my town and it great because there is a trainer who helps you on what exercise you do. For example, at my gym, the trainer writes you a schedual for you to follow depending on what you make to work on for each day of the week. She is also really nice and super funny.

The third week consisted of me doing things normal which includes school, helping Lucrezia, going to my Portuguese class, going to the gym and oh, traveling to Ourinhos to cook traditional Brazilian food of Jorge Armado! It was a two day class and Lucrezia, Elie (Exchange student from the French speaking part of Belgium who lives in Ourinhos) and I. We were split into two groups in which one day you cooked and the other day you learned about Jorge Armado. The cooking part was great because the food was from Bahia in which they use a lot of spice making the food super spicy compared to food here in São Paulo. Lots of people there didn't like it too much because of the spice but I enjoyed it because eating non-spicy food for so long made me miss it a lot. I'm so glad I'll be going to Bahia soon. I can't wait to try the food. All in all it was a great two days of getting to eat and meet new people.
Sunday I again went to Ourinhos. This time we saw a comedy play. It was one man playing the sound effects while a women was speaking. I enjoyed it because I actually understood the jokes because my Portuguese has become much better. I was laughing a lot and hanging out with friends and another great day of memories.

Monday, Lucrezia and I went to Marilía because she needed to give her documents to the Federal Police. I went too because I needed to tell them I changed addresses and to see if maybe my documents were done. 5 months later and they are not done. For exchange students only staying for a semester, you probably will leave without you identification card like Lucrezia. It wasn't really an adventurous day but Lucrezia had all her documents and is official now.

The fourth week of was not very eventful. Just the a normal as I stated above but busy none the less.

The first week of September (this past week) I played futesal with my school for the a competition between all the schools in my city. I only played a little because of course they wanted to win but it was still cool to be apart of the team. They won second place after a close final round. Everyone got a medal but was happy to be in second. I was happy too for everyone. It was a great few days.

Today, Sept. 7th, is Independence day in Brazil. In my city we had a parade with all the schools and different organizations and different cars. I was in it with my school. We went as strikers. We made signs and painted our face with two lines and we yelling and cheering. It was a lot of fun being with my friends. It was a short walk but we waited forever to start. We were just standing around waiting and after a while the sun started to come up so it got really hot. We all went and hid in the shade. When our turn finally came to start, we were all running to get together because we weren't ready. We took lots of pictures as well and I got sun burned on my forehead, nose,and arms.

Also in the past month I have gotten really close with my family. We get along really well and I feel really comfortable living here. I don't have any problems and it's just been great. I'm so happy now. My host brother and I joke around a lot and he helps me with my Portuguese. We get along really well.

So that's been my life for the past month. Fun-filled and crazy and amazing. I also plan on going to Pantanal in October next month and doing a min-exchange. I'll be going to Bahia. I don't know when yet but it will be soon. I'm super excited to be traveling a little father than normal and Lucrezia will be going to Pantanal too. AFS students from all over Brazil will be going too so I'll get to meet people from all over the world. Ah, I can't wait.
For exchange students: AFS trips are expensive but I have heard are worth the money. if you can't go on the big trips, do mini-exchanges! You'll get to live with another family and go to school in another part of Brazil for 1 or 2 weeks. It's a great to get to experience another part of Brazil because Brazil is so big that each state can be different than another.

Hope you enjoy this post. Sorry I don't have pictures. I don't have the USB cord yet to my camera and my host family's computer doesn't have an SD card reader so it makes it kind of difficult. If you want to see some pictures though, go on my facebook and view my photos. There's lots of photos from my exchange that other people took of the things I have been doing.

Cori

P.S. Sorry for any errors. I have lost some of my English while living here. I even had problems reading a fairly easy paper during and English class mostly to my embarrassment but it's true that you loose some of you natural language when you learn a new language but now with my Portuguese I can communicate and understand well. I can joke and ask questions and carry on conversations now with everyone. So loosing some of my English is a small price to pay for learning Portuguese!

Olympics: Brazil or the USA

Once again the Olympic games has come and cheering for two countries has been so cool! I get so excited when Brazil wins games and so far they have been doing great! I don't often get to see the USA play but they show the satistics and what not online. During the opening cerimony and watching Brazil walk out made me feel so much pride and happiness for my new found home. I was so excited to see all the people competeing for this lovely country. So far Brazil has been dominating in men's soccer and the women's soccer team just recently lost a few days ago to Great Britain but I think it was jut a lucky shot. But the ladies still did an awesome job! The USA has been doing great as well, just recently getting another gold medal for women's artistic gymnastics. Congradulations ladies on a job well done! I do have to say that when Team USA walked out during the opening ceremoney (150 or so countries later...) I cried because I was filled with joy for my home country. The hardest part is when Brazil and the USA play against eachother and I'm like "Oh! Yeah! No, eh! wait err..." Quite difficult to cheer when you don't want either player to lose. My host mom thinks this is funny.
I have a funny story too:

My host mom: "Silver for Brasil!"
Me: "Woo Gold for the United States"
My host mom (Smiling): "Ehhh..."
Both of us: Laughing!

This place feels like home now and it's like weird to be thinking about "going home" in less than 6 months. So I'm going to make the best of the time I have left.

Good luck to all the new exchange students coming to Brazil in the next few days. You are going to fall in love with this country for sure. I hope the experience is rewarding and that you go home with tons of memories of the best semseter/year of your life.

Cori

School Life

I went back to school this week and I have to say it's really hard getting up in the morning. Today I think was the hardest day because of the lack of sleep and I was just really comfortable and it was still dark out this morning when I got out of bed. Luckily, today my history teacher lets us watch Schindler's list for the entire school day! My class got to miss all of our classes. We took a break to eat a snack at interval like usual but other than that, no classes!

School in general has gotten easier. I can actually comprehend what is going on in my classes. The most difficult part still is when a teacher say the notes to write down. They speak faster than I can write so I usually have to ask to copy the notes from someone but no one really minds because they know that I can't do everything yet. I looked back at the first notes I took in class and realized how horrible they were and I couldn't understand a lot of what I wrote but it's a great memory.

Since all the new exchange students are going to becoming to soon (August I think), I'll give you a run down of what to expect at my school and the schools in my city:

• You will stay in one classroom with the same students all day
• You don't switch classrooms
• Only teachers switch classrooms
• You will have different classes each day
• You might have to buy books for your school (Don't worry though, AFS pays for the books you need. They will explain it when you arrive in Brazil)
• Teacher's use chalk boards with grid lines
• There may not be a clock in your room but there is a bell system to tell you the end of the periods
• You go home for lunch
• You will get a small break in the middle of the school day for talking with friends and eating. The school will have a place called a "Cantina" where you can buy food but some schools have free food to eat in case you don't want to buy food. My school doesn't have this but other schools do.
• There is no air conditioning in classrooms but they do have fans.
• Some schools have projectors for teachers to show power points for lessons
• You are not allowed to use your cell phone during school (same in the US) but generally teachers just ignore students unless it's obvious that your using it or they will just say "Please put your cell phones away."
• If a teacher doesn't come to class there is no substitute teacher. You just don't have that class period.
• Students and teachers write in cursive but don't worry you can write in print.
• Students use different colored pens to write notes and homework assignments. (Don't worry you can use pencil except on tests)
• You could be in a large class (30-40 students, my class has 41 including me) if you go to a public school. Privet schools have smaller classes.
• Your notebook will be some cartoon character or a nicely decorated cover divided into sections for you class with stickers.
• Some schools have a gym area with a indoor soccer/basketball court with a covering over it (my school doesn't )

So hopefully this helps you a little understand how schools are. Remember that every school is different depending on what state, how big/small the city, public/privet school, and other various differences but the best part of school is that you will make lots of friends there!

Good luck on your adventure future exchange students. It will be the best semester/year of your life!

Até Mais

Cori

5 Months in Brazil and Counting

My fifth month mark has passed today as you can tell from above. Nothing amazing has happened this past month because it's been the holidays and mostly everyone just hangs around the house and sleeps, watches TV or plays on the computer.

I did switch families successfully two days ago. All my stuff except my bike which I have to go get before I start school. I was going to go today but it looked like it was going to rain (and then did rain) and I ended up falling asleep for three hours (oops!) My new family is nice though. I have an older brother and sister. My host brother, Murilo, likes to tell jokes and plays the guitar really well. He plays like all day long and he knows lots of songs. My host sister is quiet and tends to keep to herself. She is on break from college but she wil be returning there at the end of the month. She goes to college in the state south of São Paulo which is quite a long ways away. I haven't met my host dad yet because he works in a city far away as well and only comes home on the weekends. My host mom is nice and calm. She works as a teacher for one of the local elementary schools. She still works during the day even though there are no students. Tomorrow is her last day of work until August when classes start up again. We also have a maid that comes and cleans on mondays and thursdays. Her name is Lucilia. She loves to talk about anything and everything. She was really excited to meet me mostly because I bring a new chance for talking about new and different things. She is really nice  though and a great conversation partner which is good for learning portuguese.

Sadly my classes start up early this year. I go back to school on the 23rd of July. I think it's a good thing because there isn't really much to do in Palmital. None the less, all my classmates will groan about going to school even after a nice three week break. But I guess everyone at Medina High school does the same thing after a shorter two week Christmas break. haha

I wish I could share some recent photos but sadly my computer had a little accident and now I can't see anything on the screen. Just a few black dots, a black line down the center of the screen and smaller colorful lines that blink. My mother nicely enough got me a replacement computer but still waiting for it to ship. So far it's been three weeks now. Which is a good lesson for any exchange student who has stuff being sent to them. Depending on the country and contents of your package it can take a while for your package to reach it's destination. Always account for the longest amount of time that the post office says or even longer. Always plan for a few weeks delievery.

Ate Mais,

Cori

4th of July

So just like I said, I'm writing a post from a normal day but today in the United States is an important day in history when we became the United States of America and not the colonies of Great Britian. It's a day we remember our history and of course have parties and fireworks to celebrate. Thinking about a great day in U.S. history made me have a lot of pride for my country. I really enjoyed remembering the U.S. flag waving and the national anthem being sung and played. I missed it a lot but I sang it in my head all day. And luckily enough for me, I even got to experience fireworks as well. Lots of people in Palmital just light off fireworks at night for fun and there happened to be some people near my house lighting them off.

Today was also the start to the winter holidays so I didn't have school today and I won't for the next three weeks. It's time to relax and hang out with friends. Many people have off work as well. July is known as the month of breaks here in Palmital. Of course a three week break is nothing compared to the summer break you are having right now but its better than nothing.

I also find out the I'm going to be switching homes because my host grandfather is sick and will be coming to live in my host family's house. So there wom't be room for me as well and so sadly my family has to give me up. I'll still be living in Palmital so I can still visit them. I'll also be going to the same school as well which is good because I'm already used to the teachers and the materials and I've made friends. It would be difficult to start over again.

Tchau,

Cori

4 months

So I've been in Brazil for 4 months now. It's crazy to think how time flies. I also have learned that I'm really bad at keeping blog posts. Sorry about that. The semester is almost over and all the semester kids will be going home next month while new exchange students will be arriving in August. There is going to be an Italian girl coming to my town and I'm pretty excited to meet her because I'm really the only exchange student in Palmital. Elke is going back to Belgium and Julian is going back to Germany at the end of the month. I'm going to miss them but I'm sure they'll be happy to see their families agaim even though it means leaving their families here.

On a better note, life here has become normal. I realized it a few days ago when I was thinking about everyone going home. I saw how comfortable I was here and how I wasn't ready to leave Brazil yet because there is still so much I want to do and learn yet. There are still places I want to go and I'm so glad I decided to do the year program instead of the semester. I feel like kids who only do semesters because of school or parents only get to scratch the surface of their host country. A year is so much better and so much more worth your money. Go for a year!!!

Events in Palmital: Festa Juninha! The June Festaval is a big celebration where every week during June a different catholic saint is celebrated. On the weekends there is a party called a kermesse at this large church with music, dancing, and food. People will dress is country style clothes also. There are special banners made and are hung all around the festeval. They look similar to the flag of ohio only shorter. There are even small parties in schools as well, usually celebrated on fridays.

Other than that school has been pretty normal. The weather has finally become "winter" weather. It's nothing compared to a Cleveland, Ohio winter but it got pretty cold. Equal to around 40 or 50 degrees farenheit which is really cold when there is no central heating or heaters at all to make your house warmer. Usually it will only be cold in the morning but by 11 or 12 oclock it will get up to 70 or 75 degrees with the sun shining. I know it's odd for some people to think of Brazil being cold but in Rio Grande do Sul it even snows sometimes! But I should also mention that people in Rio de Janiero typically don't own coats because it never gets cold enough for one. It just depends on the region of Brazil.

I also started playing futesal like I said before. It's a lot more difficult than I thought! It's much faster than I'm used to. I've gotten much better but still need some improvement. I have also been dubed the nickname Americana. Mostly because Cori is too difficult to say and the first time I went they thought I didn't speak or understand any Portuguese. So everyone there just calls me Americana. It's fine by me though. Its's kinda cool having a nickname.

So that's all for now on my life here in Brazil. I'm going to try and write more posts more often but it's hard to find the time to just sit down and type. If you have anything you want me to specifically write about, leave a comment.

Ate logo,

Cori a.k.a "Americana"

3 months already?

So I'm a little late but my three month mark for living in Brazil was May 12th. I also understand why it's so difficult to update blogs. You just don't have time, but I can't believe how fast time is going. I'm already a quarter through my program. And what a better way to celebrate than going dancing! Because Palmital is so small, Dub's Disco Club is the place to go and hang out with friends and to go dancing on the weekends. Each week there is a new band that comes and plays. No it's not disco music like you think. Disco clubs are what Brazilians call dance clubs. They play all sorts of music. This weekend there was a rock band playing so my older sister Bia invited me to go with her and her friends. It turned out to be great and I got to meet new people as well as see some of my friends as well. I've been to Dub's two other times and only stayed on the floor where it's packed with people but this time we bought tickets to go to the camarote. The Camarote is this balcony above the floor and it's less crowded and there are more places to sit and enjoy the music if you don't want to dance. It cost a little more but it was cool and I really enjoyed it and getting a chance to hang out with my sister. We have gotten very close but she is always working or going to college so I don't get to see her that often. It was a Saturday to remember for sure.

The following day was Sunday, of course, and it also happened to be Mother's Day as well. After trying to regain some of the sleep I lost from the night before, I woke up to wish my host mom a Happy Mother's Day and then go to my grandmother's house for a big lunch. Afterwards, I went back home and skyped with my mom to wish her a Happy Mother's Day as well.

This week I have made so new friends. I really enjoy seeing them in school and there is always something to talk about. They try and teach me words in Portuguese and in turn I teach them some words in English. I have also started sitting with them in my classroom and they help me understand some of what is going on because the teachers all talk really fast and sometimes I don't always catch what they are saying.

I also got to experience my first futebol celebration. Santos, one of the favorite teams here, won an important game on sunday. Of course Brazilians are known for their crazy soccer fans but from what I have seen its pretty similar to what us American football fans are like. They are just excited about their team winning and in turn celebrate. My town celebrated by driving around in cars blaring the favorite music of the Santos team players and honking their horns, waving flags, dancing in the streets, blowing off fireworks and fire crackers, and wearing their favorite teams sports gear. My sister and I walked around town and watched all this and I have to say it was really great to see how spirited everyone was. They are not the crazy fans that you think and from what you see on TV but they are happy when their team wins and celebrate! Who doesn't love a celebration? I was happy for Santos as well because my family cheers for Santos but Palmeiras is my family's favorite team.

Also this coming month I'm going to start playing soccer on the team here in Palmital. I won't be playing on an actual field like I'm most used to. Instead it's more common to play on an indoor field similar to a gym floor used for basketball except the lines are made for soccer. I'm excited because I have missed soccer so much and seeing so many people playing soccer makes me really want to play. My host parents and AFS are going to talk to the team and see if I can join. Hopefully I can start right away. I really want to play and hey, maybe I'll learn some cool new moves.

Tchau & Beijos

Cori

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