Less than a week

So I have less than a week left until I go home. I'm feeling quite a time strain because I still have lots of things I need to do with my friends. I want to make sure I spend time and see all my friends one more time before I leave. I also have to pack my suitcase but I'm going to do that Thursday. No worried yet. It's weird to think after all this time my exchange is coming to an end. When I arrived, I had all this time and I thought it would take forever to pass but it actually went really fast.

Something else sad happened to my city. A girl from my city was living in the Kansas studying English. She went home for the new year and then left the 2nd of January and died on the airplane after experiencing discomfort. No one knows what the cause of her death is. People in my city think it was heart problems while stories from the US say that she was smuggling drugs but they are all just stories.To get her body back to Brazil her family had to raise R$21,500 or US$10,750. That's a lot of money. They were able to raise the money in 4 hours. Yes my little city of 23,000 people raised R$21,500 in 4 hours. That's pretty amazing and yet sad as well. My condolences go out to the family. I miss my mom and would hate for the last time we talked was on skype. My friends are all worried for me now to go on the plane. They keep saying to get up and walk around and drink lots of water and such.

All for now,

Cori

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas even though it might be a little late. My Christmas this year was quite different than what I'm used to. First of all, Christmas is really weird when your sweating because it's so hot and not even a snowflake in sight. Second, no real Christmas trees are put in houses. only little plastic trees. Third of all, very few people actually decorate their houses. It usually just includes a tree if that, although some people do put lights on their houses which I thought was the most festive thing yet. Really the only thing that felt like Christmas to me was going to church and being with family and well the commercial side to Christmas as well. 

I guess I should explain more so you understand a little more about Christmas. I'm used to lots of decorations, a large tree, lights and snow for Christmas. My host mom doesn't like decorations because there is no where to put them and she has to clean them. So no decorations and well right now it's summer so no snow either and it doesn't even snow in São Paulo even in winter. I did how ever go to a family party and my host mom's family is huge so there were lots of people. Monday or Christmas Eve we left for Candido Mota which is a city close to Palmital. We arrived at my aunts house where she was already setting up tables and chairs and warming up some of the food. At 7:00pm we went to church for mass. You don't have to go to church but it can be a good bonding time with your family and it's a good way to understand the culture of Brazil. After mass we went back to my aunts house. People had already started arriving. It was only 10:00pm and we weren't going to eat until 12:00am. We sat down and there was beer and soda passed around and little toasted bread to dip into different types of sauces. Everyone was talking and catching up. Santa Clause or Papai Noel made a vist to the kids and he brought presents. The kids were so happy and surprised. It was great. At midnight, we all cheered and and hugged and said Merry Christmas or Feliz Natal. It took awhile because there were so many people to hug. Then everyone got in line to get food. there were various types of food. I don't think there is one type of food for Christmas but there was rice and beans of course. As well as a couple different types of meat and a tropical salad and couscous. There was also lasagna. We stayed up until 3:00am when everyone left to go home and sleep. The next morning after everyone slept in late we had breakfast and then got prepared for a BBQ with some of the family. BBQ's are great and delicious. I think I'm going to miss going to Brazilian BBQ's. Anyways, there was more salad and rice and beans and beer and soda and talking. It was a great time.

A week later, like usual, is New Year's Eve. I went and celebrated with my friend Bianca. First we went out to eat which was very busy. Almost everyone went out that day. My host family went to Candido Mota again while my host brother and sister and I went to Dub's for a New Years dance. I went with my friend Bianca like I said. I went and had dinner with her family but it took until 12:30am until we could eat. While we waited we were super close to where the city had a fireworks show set up. I was so close to the fireworks I could see all of them. A friend of Bianca brought other fire works that Bianca's dad blew off. It was this carboard tube and you hold it up towards the sky after you light it. these weren't tiny fireworks either. They were the big coloful fireworks that you usually see in shows too. It was kind of scary and one time a piece of wick blew off and landed on Bianca's sister's shirt and burned a hole in it as well as burning her hair as well. There was also hugging and happy new year wishes and champagne. She was mad. After we ate, Bianca, her boyfriend, a couple other friends, and I went to Dub's to go dancing. It was great. I saw a bunch of my friends and the music was great too. It started off with a DJ who played house music and then there was a band that played Axé (pronounced a-shay) music. It's kinda similar to samba but it's not samba. Afterwards there was another DJ who played more music. Some people stayed until 6:00am but I only stayed until 3:30am. 

I went to sleep at 4:00am and woke up and 11:00am to go to Candido Mota to have lunch with some family. We stayed for a little bit before going home. When we got home I fell asleep because I was still tired from the night before and took a nap. It was fun to experience the holidays in a different country.

I'm a Graduate!

On the 20th of December was my class's graduation. At 7:30pm everyone arrived at my school to participate in the graduation ceremony. They all had on their caps and gowns which looks different than what we are used to in the US. To be honest I didn't think I was going to be walking because well I didn't think I was going to graduate. This past year I wasn't an actual student but I was a person who came to sit in and listen to the classes. This is actually common in Brasil for kids who need to repeat a year. So I didn't think I was going to get a canister with something inside or dress in a cap and gown. Well, I was quite surprised when I was asked when I was asked where my cap and gown was. I hadn't gone that day to get fitted for one because I had left the night before to travel to Foz do Iguaçu. So they had an extra ready for me. I had arrived late so I quickly got into the gown and there were two ladies who were there with the company that lends the caps and gowns so they got me ready. Everyone got lined up outside the auditorium and they called every one's name and they walked and sat down. I was last because that was where my name was on all the lists ever made with my name on it. After I sat down, we started with a time capsule that was going to sit in the library for 10 years and then everyone is going to come back and read what they wrote. I was asked to write a letter too so in 10 years they are going to send to me but I told them to keep in contact on facebook and tell me if they are going to have a party. They said they would. Afterwards, we all took a picture with the time capsule. Next, after we a sat down again, they started calling names to receive diplomas. There was clapping and cheering and tears and photos. Mine didn't have a diploma in it but instead had my declaration of participation in school I had asked for. Oh, by the way, their diplomas come inside these tubes that usually say something like High School and/or graduates. We also got a rose and also a mug with a little matching spoon. It was really nice. Afterwards, a girl received a certificate of merit and two students in my class spoke a little and then the coordinators Antonio and Angela both spoke as well as our principal, Randal. It was an emotional time for some people. Next, we all stood up and through our caps in the air and cheered. It was really fun and it made me kind of sad that everything was ending so soon. It felt like I had just gotten started and now I'm winding down and preparing to go home. Before we went home, we all signed the outside of the time capsule.

Now everyone rushed home to change and fix makeup and hair to go to the party. This is where the lovely dress I bought comes into play. I showed my family my canister and my host mom opened it. There was also a note to read. I didn't have time to read it because I had to get ready because the party was going to start soon. So I got my dress on and my host mom helped with the zipper. We took some pictures and then my friend Thais arrived to take me to the party. The party was really nicely done. The DJ played really great music. It was just one type but various types so it didn't get boring. The only problem was the food. No one really like the food and to be honest me neither. It just didn't seem very proper for a graduation. Maybe more for a wedding. Anyways, everyone had fun and enjoyed themselves. My class even did a silly dance and preformed for everyone. It was a great night and I really enjoyed it. It made up for the fact that I missed my graduation in the US.

If you get a chance to go to a graduation or graduate with your class, you should. It makes great memories.

Com Amor,

Cori

My dress for the party!

Cap and gown!

This is a picture of the things I got from Graduation. The blue tube is my declaration.

Iguaçu Falls and More

So to start where I left off and my 8 week post. I went to my orientation in Jaú. Well, its more like I was fashionable late for my conference in Jaú. So after having a complete misunderstanding on times about the bus I completely missed the bus. And since there is only one bus to Jaú during the day I was out of luck arriving on time. I completely thought the time was at night. I have to this day no idea why I thought the time was at night. So i get a text at school at about 8:30 in the morning. Where are you?! I didn't have any credits to respond so I just left it. Well at noon my host mom called me asked me why I didn't get on the bus this morning. And I was like oh crap! Lucrezia and I were going to arrive the night before and sleep over at the presidents house because of the bus schedule. Well, I totally missed that. And to make matters worse, I would arrive after most of the stuff was over. So I got there the next day, way after everyone else and had to do all the activities alone. Boo. Afterwards though, we all got to hang out together and we went to the center of town where there is this plaza and goofed off and I think everyone thought we were crazy but its cool. We're exchange students. Its normal. ;) so after a little bit one of the ladies helping with the meeting drove us all to this bar where we could dance. They had a live band playing forro (pronounced fo-houa) and there were guys that work for the bar that go and dance with you and well teach you if you don't know which was what we all need. So just to let you know, I am the worst dancer in the history of the world. I honestly can't dance to save my life. Now forro is like the most difficult dance ever because it involves two people dancing together to fast paced music. Now I love listening to music and watching my friends dance because forro is really cool to see. But one of the dancers came over and asked to dance and I was like "não não. Eu não sei dançar." but all my friends were like "go go!" so I went because of peer pressure because I was thinking "maybe this time is different..." totally wasn't. I felt so bad for the guy. I kept tripping over his feet and I couldn't hear what he was saying because the music was so loud. So I kept nodding my head and saying "uh sim...?" after a while I thanked him for teaching me to dance and I'm sure he was relieved but he was a gentleman and thanked me for dancing and then kissed me on the cheek. We then hung around until about 1:30am when the band stopped playing and went back to the place we were staying to sleep. The next day we only slept until 7:30am when we got up to say good bye to some of the people that were leaving early. My bus wasn't leaving until 2:30pm so Lucrezia and I had lots of time until we needed to be at the bus station. Now, Jaú is kinda famous for its shopping and especially shoes because they are super cheap and there are lots of styles to choose from. Lucrezia asked if we could go to the mall to look around because she wanted to buy a pair of shoes. The lady that took us to the bar said sure so she took the rest if the students to the bus station and then took the rest of us who had buses at 2:30pm to the mall. When we arrived all I could think about was shoes. There was so many! And they were really cheap compared to Palmital, Assis, or Ourinhos. I still needed a pair of heels for my classes graduation and what better place than a mall full of shoes. We walked all over the mall but neither me nor Lucrezia could find anything. We were just about to give up hope when we saw this shop right before leaving. I bought a pair of silver heels for less than $20 and Lucrezia bought a pair for $25. It was great and I was so happy! We returned home about 7:40pm in Palmital. That night there was going to be a play in the church plaza. They had this big stage set up. It was suppose to start at 8pm but of course it was delayed almost 3 hours. It didn't start until close to 11:00pm. I had school the next day. Actually, I had an exam the next day but it doesn't really matter for me because my grades don't count for the school but it was much more difficult for me to concentrate. It was a great show with acrobatics and a cute comical story about two clowns. I love it! The only thing is that I arrived home at midnight and still had to take a shower and didn't end up falling asleep until around 12:45am. But that was how my weekend was.

The next Saturday I went to Assis to look for a dress for the graduation party. Everyone dresses up in these amazing dresses like for prom and then go and eat and dance and drink all night long. But anyways I'll tell you more about that later. So anyways, I went to this dress shop and well was kinda overwhelmed. For all that know me, I'm not a dress person and find it hard to find a dress that makes me happy. This room wasn't very big but there were a lot of dresses in so many different colors. I already thought up some colors that I knew would look good on me but when I saw all the dress, I was like "OMG so many dresses!" There are always people to help so a lady came up to me and said what are you looking for. I was like a long dress for graduation. Then she asked what color and well I said blue. Blue looks good one me because of my eyes and hair. She pulled out a few dresses from the bunch and put them on a rack for me to see. I did like two of them and she put the others back. Them she asked about other colors so I looked into purple and multicolored prints as well. In total, I had about 5 dresses to try on. I went into the changing room and I tried on one of the blue dresses. It was beautiful but it had a long train in the back and I didn't like it. Afterwards, I tried on a red dress but it just didn't look good at all so I went to the other blue dress. It was great. It looked really great on me. I decided not to finish all the dresses. Then the lady did some arranging and fixing and she marked down to add some straps because I didn't want to be pulling up my dress all night long. So I would have to go back the day before the dance to pick it up but everything was set with that.

Now that Monday I left for my final trip in Brazil. I went south this time to Foz do Iguaçu. To start, Lucrezia and I left for Ourinhos at 6:50pm. Then we got on another bus that would take us directly to the city Foz do Iguaçu. Now this bus ride was incredibly long. 11 hours to be exact. I brought my pillow and tried to sleep but I just couldn't get comfortable like normal. I don't know it was difficult. So when we arrived I was running on like 4 or 5 hours of sleep. To make matters worse, our bus arrived 45 minutes late. Someone from Belo Tours was there to meet us. We then waited for another bus from Barra Bonita to arrive and it was a great reunion with some old friends. We the left for the hotel which was a 15 minute ride in a van. We were the first ones there so we just sat down and started talking because our rooms weren't ready yet. It was still only 9 am so it kinda made sense. After a little bit the coordinator of our group and the president of Belo Brasil Tours brought us together to fill out papers and then we got out trip shirt which fit much better than the shirt from Pantanal. After awhile no one else arrived and a few people had their rooms ready so we decided to go to the pool. Well, the pool was being cleaned so we couldn't sit there.

Our next idea was to go to the shopping mall for lunch and then afterwards we saw a movie The Guardians. It was a great movie and I understood everything about the movie. Yes it was all in Portuguese without subtitles. But that's the beauty of children films. The language is easy to understand. Oh and the movie was in 3D and I only paid R$10 or about US$5 because of my international student ID card. It was a great day so far. Afterwards we walked back to the hotel and meet some new students that had arrived. There were lots of AFSers from Thailand. Almost half our group was from Thailand. Yeah that's a lot. The thing is too that they automatically group together and they talk a lot really fast. But Thais' are great friends and really nice people. Befriend thais' okay?

So anyways, everyone was saying hi to new and old friends and getting rooms and talking and filling out papers. I still didn't have my room yet. Actually, I didn't get my room until 4 pm. So when I finally got my room I went up and changed my clothes into my bikini and went down to the pool to join everyone else. The pool was nice and big and the water was warm which I didn't like. It was so hot but no relief came from the pool. I still stayed and talked with my friends and made new friends as well. Lucrezia had 5 other Italians to talk to in Italian so she was happy. There were two other Americans coming on this trip as well. First I met Sam who is from California and then I met Chelsea from Texas. They were really cool and I became really good friends with Chelsea and I talked to Sam a lot as well.

That night we ate dinner and afterwards had a meeting about what we were going to do the next three days. We met out chaperons and the next day we met our guides. Bernardo, our coordinator, told us about needing passports and that entering Argentina was going to be a long process so we had to leave early Friday. Other than that, the meeting wasn't very long so we had free time to do what we wanted. A group of my friends went to play a card game so I decided to join as well. I'm not very good at cards because I don't have luck and generally lose. Everyone decided to play a game called assassin which is when everyone gets a card and if its an Ace then you're a killer who winks at people to kill them, a king is a detective and tries to guess who the killer is, and a Queen is the prostitute and she blows kisses and brings people back to life. If you are a number card then you are a towns person who tries not to die. I lasted playing for an hour before I got tired from lack of sleep and went to bed.

The next morning we were leaving at 8 am to go to the Parques das Aves or the bird park. It was a walk through the park with a trail that passed by bird enclosures. Some of the enclosures even offered a chance to go inside and be super close to the birds. I got to be within 5 inches of toucans and macaws and other birds of Brasil and other countries. It was really interesting to see different types of birds from around the world. It goes to show you that our planet is very diverse. Next we went to the Brazilian side of the falls. It was a wonderful view and the waterfall was amazing! There was this walk way where you could walk right up to get right in front of the falls. You even got a little wet from the spray. I'm pretty sure Iguaçu falls is much bigger than Niagara. The waterfall was a little dry this time of year but there was still so much water falling down. It was incredible. Definitely worth seeing. We then went and had lunch. There was an optional activity where you could take a boat ride into the falls but it cost extra so I didn't bring the money to do this trip. So we went back to the hotel and hung out at the pool and talked. That night we all got dressed up and went to a Folk dance and a dinner. I had originally thought this was going to be some cheesy dance with a bunch of people doing something crazy but it wasn't. It was actually really cool. They had an Indian dace of the natives of Brasil, a dance from Paraguay, a dance from Argentina, Salsa, a couple other dances and to end it a samba with girls dressed in Carnival style clothes. There were even a group with drums that did a samba. This group of drums is called a bateria. I really enjoyed it and the dancers did a great job. The food was good too. It was buffet style and they had tons of different types of food and then you could go pick out some meat cooked BBQ style. To finish off dinner, there was an area with lots of Delicious looking desserts like pies, cobblers, ice cream and more. It was really busy and really hard to get stuff because there was so many people so I only ate a piece of lime pie and some papaya ice cream which was really good and I hadn't tried it before.

Wednesday we went to Paraguay to do some cheap shopping. To Brazilians, buying stuff in Paraguay is much cheaper because they don't have a duty tax. So many Brazilians travel there to go shopping. We left at 8 o'clock and passed over the Bridge of Friendship. It's an agreement between Paraguay and Brasil about letting people cross without need a visa to enter and no duty tax either. The plan was to start at this shopping mall and then we would have the ability to walk through shops on the street and even go to another shopping center about a 15 minute walk away. Well that plan was gone when the sky opened up and it started pouring down rain with thunder and lightning. So there was no chance to walk outside. And to make matters worse, the mall didn't have electricity so it was dark in most of the stores and some stores were closed. So after and hour and a half we left early and went back to Brasil. We went back to that mall that I had gone to the day before to eat lunch and we had an hour to look around. I found a store that sold Hershey bars so call me crazy but I bought one because I hadn't eaten Hershey's chocolate in so long. I like the chocolates they have in Brasil but it just isn't the same. It was one of those king size bars too. It was so good. I did share, so no, I did not eat the whole thing by myself. Afterwards, we left together to go to the biggest hydroelectric plant in the world, Itapu. When we arrived, we watched a short film about Itapu and then afterwards we got to go on a bus ride to see the whole plant. We stopped twice to take pictures. It had become cold and windy and was still raining a little so some people chose to stay on the bus and lots of people fell asleep. I didn't but the hydro electric plant was huge! I think it is definitely something the United States should look into more. Itapu generates electricity for many parts of Brasil and it is completely clean energy. Right now though, Japan is building a hydroelectric plant that is bigger than Itapu but the most out put of electricity is still Itapu. Itapu is also shared between Brasil and Paraguay. Afterwards, we went home

Friday, and our last day in Iguaçu, we left at 7:30am to go to the Argentina side of the falls. This process is long and you need your passport stamped and some people even needed visas to enter. Some people weren't allowed to go because they didn't have a visa so the Argentinean police took them off the bus and they had to go back to the hotel and wait for us to return. After waiting about an hour, we were finally off to the National park. When we got there we got our tickets and then rode a train to the trail that leads to the falls. The train takes right to the top of the trail and it's a nice ride because you get to see some nature and wildlife as well. The first trail we went on took us over the river that leads straight into the falls. It's about a 20 minute walk until you reach the waterfall. Before you arrive, you can hear the roar of the waterfall. Then you arrive to be right on top of the waterfall. It's an amazing experience being right over top and see the thousands of gallons of water falling over and crashing down below. The spray was refreshing as the wind blew over Iguaçu carrying water with it. I took some picture quickly and then put my camera away because I didn't want it to get to wet. We then took a group photo with one of the men who work for the park. All 60 or so of us joined together and we got a lovely picture together with the waterfall in the background. The picture was actually really cheap so I bought one and it turned out great. A great souvenir. Afterwards we walked back to the train and it took us back to where started. We went and had lunch, which was really expensive because we ate inside the park so they put the prices higher. So annoying but hey I was hungry from all the walking. After lunch we went to another trail called the upper trail. It takes you past all the waterfalls from a different view and you even go over some of them. We started off and got a lovely view of all the waterfalls in Argentina. It was great to see them all from such a great point. We walked a little more and they had a little area cleared for you to take good photos. We all got together and took a quick group photo because it started to rain. This time it was short but still it was a lot of rain so everyone who had brought their rain coats put them on and shared with people who didn't. Most of us got wet but it wasn't a problem because we arrived at an area that got super close to this waterfall where you can literally get like two yards away. So everyone got wet again so really we just took a whole bunch of baths that day. We took more pictures and enjoyed the spray from the waterfall before continuing on the trail. The next part took us up even higher that we actually walked over top of some of the smaller waterfalls. At this height we were able to get a full view of the entire area of waterfalls. It is quite a lot of area and water. It was really beautiful. Afterwards we walked back down it was late afternoon. We had one more stop to do before we would go back for dinner. We went to the Tres Fronteiras or the Three Borders. This is an area where you can see the countries of Brasil, Argentina, and Paraguay that is divided by the River Parana. It was cool to see all the countries I had been to the past three days and of course my new home Brasil.

Before entering Brasil we had to go back through the Border control where they had to stamp our passports again. This took less time thank goodness. To make up for the day before in Paraguay, we went to the Duty Free shop for an hour for anyone who wanted to do some shopping. Lots of people bought candy and was eating it on the way home. When we got back to the hotel it was time for dinner and even though we were some what dirty and sweaty, we ate dinner. Afterwards Bernardo had a meeting with us and he talked about exchange and the trip and what we thought. Some people spoke a little and then we filled out reviews of the trip. It actually takes awhile because there is like five pages. Next we had some time to say good bye. There was lots of hugging and crying. Something you should know about exchange students is that we become really attached to each other because who knows what you feeling then someone who has experienced the same thing. So yes, the end of trips usually end with crying because we don't know the next time we'll see each other because we are all scattered all over Brasil and some students like me will be going back their home countries in January. The next day we would all be leaving to go home at different times by different means. I woke up and had breakfast at 9 am. Some people had already gone. My bus was at 2:30pm so I had some time still. We were going to leave at 1:30 because there was a girl in my group who had a bus at 2:00pm. Well 1:45pm came and the van driver hadn't arrived yet. The girl was like freaking out because she had to catch that bus or she would miss the other bus to her city. So they ran outside and found another van driver. He called the other guy who was still at the airport. So he took us to the bus station. We arrived with 2 minutes to spare. the girl bought her ticket and said good bye then got on the bus. Our bus arrived a little later and we left but just like the first bus, this bus arrived in Ourinhos an hour late. We ended up arriving at 2am. We took a taxi to Lucrezia's sister's house (and the president of our committee) and fell asleep. At 9am we took another bus to Palmital. It was sad that our trip had ended so soon but it was worth wild.

So that is all I'm going to put in this post because it ended up being longer than I thought so I'll be writing about graduation and Christmas in another post and of course expect a post about New Years as well. Hope you enjoy my posts and my blog and that you learn something about Brasil and that you find Brasil to be different and better than what you thought and that future exchange students consider Brasil as their first country because it is a greater experience than you can imagine.

Cori

This is a picture of me in front of the Brazilian side of the falls with my new friends from the US and Thailand.

Tucan!

Lucrezia amd I in Argentina

The Brazilian Side of the Falls

Look how close I am to the Tucan! Crazy right?

Blue Macaw. These are such beautiful birds.

This was taken in Brazil

This was taken in Argentina

This was also taken in Argentina

This is the Argentinean part of the Tres Frontheiras...

This is Brazil...

And this is Paraguay!

My Pantanal Experience

Sorry in advance for any errors. I haven't practiced English in a while and this was a rather long post. I hope you enjoy.

 So two days after I arrived home from Bahia I went on the Pantanal Side trip offered by AFS. I have to say that so far it's been great! It is definitely worth the money. If you can, go on this trip or one of the trips. They make them an unforgettable 10 days.

The first couple days were really boring and consisted of mostly sitting in a bus. I first had to drive to São Paulo which is about five hour but it took longer to arrive because another bus broke down and so we waited a half an hour while the driver made sure everything was okay. We finally arrived in São Paulo at about 2:50 where we were met by one of the staff of Belo Brasil who took us in a taxi to the hotel we would be staying at for the night. The first night at the hotel I had to pay for because it wasn't included in the cost. I did get to meet many of the other exchange students while I was there that night. The next morning we started for Campo Grande by bus together. It was a very long day which included sleeping, eating junk food, bathroom breaks, talking, and movies. We left at like 9 in the morning and we arrived at like 10 at night. We didn't go straight to Pantanal that night because it would have taken longer and we needed so rest from the bus.

The next day we left early in the morning and arrived at the lodge we would be staying at in Pantanal in the late afternoon. The only way to get to this lodge though was to get on another more simple bus (without our precious air conditioning) and drive for an hour on the bumpiest road ever. Actually, it was more of a dirt trail. That's because most of the year the road is submerged under several feet of water. I the spring you have to go the lodge by boat! Pantanal is one of the largest wetlands in the world.

After all of our stuff was put in our rooms and we had a short meeting everyone went straight for the pool because it was so hot!!! I mean it was close to 40 degrees Celsius (over 100 degrees far.) and had high humidity. We swam until it got dark then got ready for dinner.

Dinner was so good. The food everyday was delicious. There was salad and boiled yucca and there was beans that were so good. I normally don't like beans that much but these beans were seasoned and had some other vegetables. There were usually two different types of meat. For dessert there were different types of candied fruits like apple, banana, and pumpkin. There was also doce de leite and a sweet rice soup. Afterwards we had some free time to explore the area more before a presentation about pantanal and the lodge we were staying at. There was this deck that lead down near the river where all these crocodiles were sitting in the last of the sun. You could get so close to them and take pictures.

The presentation was very informational. They explained the different times of the wet lands and about the different animals and plants that we'll be seeing. This is also when we split into our different groups to do our activities the next day. My group was called tuiuiú (pronounced to-you-you). This is a very tall bird that is the symbol of Pantanal. Its all white except for it's head and neck which are black.

The next day started all the activities. My group started off with the safari trip after breakfast. At 7:30am we all got into the truck and drove off. We saw so many animals especially birds. We saw the tuiuiú, red and blue macaws, vultures, cafezinhos and so many more. The best time to see animals is in the early morning or late afternoon because its not so hot. Animals don't like the heat either. It was hard to take pictures because my camera wasn't made for speedy pictures or pictures which require lots of zoom. Lots of times we would be driving around and it would be bumpy and then the animal would take off and so it was getting farther away so I didn't take as many good pictures as I wanted to. After 3 hours in the truck though, we finally arrived back at the lodge. We had some free time until lunch so we all hung out in the games room because there was air conditioning and it was really hot even in the morning.

After lunch we had some free time until 3 o'clock. At 3 we went fishing for piranhas! You know the fish that eat meat and have lots of sharp teeth? Yeah we actually did catch some too. I didn't but a couple people in my group did. Their teeth are very scary looking. Eek! Something else you should know. All of our fish attracted crocodiles to be sitting literally a foot away! It was crazy how close they were. One was even bathing in the sun on the shore of the river waiting for the fish we caught. Also, because we were fishing with meat to attract the piranhas, a couple people accidentally caught crocodiles instead. Oops! In the end, I only caught two little fish that didn't have any teeth, but it was still cool.

After fishing, we went on a nature walk through the wetlands. Right now they are dry so we could see more of the animals. We were able to find a monkey up high in the trees that had a baby monkey. It was so cute and how they jump from tree to tree is incredible. We also found a footprint of painted jaguar. Jaguars only come out at night but just the idea that they had passed through was amazing.

Afterwards was dinner and getting ready to go camping. We split into two groups. The first group left right after dinner and my group left an hour and a half later.packed all of our stuff for the night and went to the truck and drove for an hour. The drive was great because it was kind of like a night safari. There was a guy with a very powerful flash light that scanned around the car for animals. We did encounter some animals but nothing that we hadn't already seen. We stopped a little bit before the camp. All of our guides we talking so we figured something was up. Turns out during the day, a group of buffalo got really curious and destroyed six tents. So our guides decided that with not enough space for everyone and the chance that cattle or more buffalo arrive during the night was too risky so we loaded up as many people of the first group into the truck and went back. We arrived and 12:30am. The rest of the first group was suppose to arrive an hour or so after us but they didn't get back until 2:30am! Turns out that the truck got stuck in the mud so they had to wait for another truck to get the first truck out of the mud. They all arrived tired. Luckily, they got to sleep in more because the guides bumped up the time for their activities.

So my last day I got up early and we rode horses! This, I might add, is my first time actually riding a horse. I was kind of nervous that the horse wouldn't like the idea of me sitting on his back, but these horse were very calm and used to be ridden. To get on I used these steps they had. After everyone was on a horse, we left on our walk. My horse did not like be behind anyone but the guide and always went faster to pass all the other horses. I think that all the other horses were too slow for him. Well we through the different parts of the farm seeing more birds and beautiful landscapes. During this one part we walked through an area that filled with water and mud. On one side there was this tree that had a whole bunch of branches sticking out. One of the guys in my group wasn't able to properly steer his horse around the tree so his horse took him straight through the branches. He got a little scratched but was otherwise fine. A girl also wasn't able to do this but the branches ended pushing her right off the back of her horse and she landed on her butt in the mud. She was okay but her butt was now wet and covered in mud. We continued on and passed by this tree where a red macaw landed. It was on a lower branch and was a brilliant red. The macaws here are beautiful birds and there are so many of the here. I kind of understand why people steal and sell them. But remember these birds belong in the wild so if you see one of these birds for sale NEVER BUY IT! Save the beautiful wildlife of Brazil.

When we got back we ate lunch and then loaded everything on the bus. One quick group photo and then back to our original bus before heading to the city of Bonito. Another several hour bus ride later and we arrive at the hotel. This hotel we will be staying for the next five days. There we met the second Pantanal group. So many people go on this trip that they had to split us into two groups to go at different times so we wouldn't over flow the the activities. Everybody met even more exchange students from their country and there were happy reunions. I met another boy from the US and met up with Johanna again. She was one of the exchange students I met in Bahia. Everyone collected around the pool to talk and some people went swimming. The second group will be going to Pantanal and do the same things we did in two days. Our curfew is 11 o´clock because tomorrow we have to get up early to go to Estância Mimosa.

After a quick breakfast our group gets on the bus and heads to the farm Estância Mimosa. Here we got to go swimming in this river at different parts where there were waterfalls. Many parts of this river were very deep so we had to wear life jackets. I didn't mind because the water was extremely deep and therefore made swimming much easier and relaxing. The first part we went to had this really tall waterfall that had a part where you could swim behind the water. This was one of the deep parts and also hard a strong current from the waterfall. After about 30 minutes we moved onto the next part. Oh I forgot to mention that we also had these boots on so that way we could enter the water and afterwards hike to the next part of the river without changing shoes or being shoeless. The boots were kind of awkward to swim in because they expanded a bit when they were in water and therefore flopped around a bit when you kicked your feet. The next part of the river we went to had two parts you could go in. One part was more shallow and you could sit on these rocks under the small waterfall and the other side was much deeper and had this cave that was eroded from the waterfall where you could be behind the waterfall. There was also this little ledge where a bunch of people were sitting. The third part had a very tall waterfall and was also the deepest part of the river. It was 5 meters (16.40 Feet). There was also this ledge that was 6 meters (19.68 Feet) up where you could jump off into the water. I'm not going to lie. It was sooooooooooo scary and tall. Especially since everything is in meters here I forget how many feet that is so I was like 6 meters, psh that's not tall. So when I get up there and realize its almost 20 ft I was like crap this is really high up! I think almost everyone in my group jumped. I ended up jumping twice. The worst part was when you landed in the water and the force was so much that you get a huge wedgie. We went to one final part which was my favorite. It was a calm part and under the waterfall there was this ledge where everyone could sit on. It was really nice and relaxing especially after my 20ft jump experience.

Afterwards, we all changed into dry clothes and went to eat lunch at the farm. I was really hungry and a lot of food. I think we all did. It was really tiring swimming in the river all morning. We had an hour and half before we would go to our next activity. There were hammocks we could lay in and chairs and benches we could sit on. I bought a nature guide of the animals and plants of Pantanal and enjoyed reading that until it was time to leave.

Our next activity was the Snake Project. He is a local man that lives in Bonito. He went on an exchange in Australia and there he found his love for snakes. Now he is trying to help preserve the snakes by giving presentations about snakes everyday. It was really interesting to hear the importance of the snake. Like we don't realize how much importance to the food chain a snake has. If snakes were to disappear, the rat population would grow tremendously. In turn, rats need to be feed to so they would eat all our food leaving us hungry. As well, other predators who relied on snakes for food would stave and die off leading to more imbalance to the food chain. Basic biology but very important to know. Afterwards, everyone was allowed to hold a snake that the guy brought to show. It was calm snake that was used to humans so it would most likely not bite anyone. Lots of people were excited but I was freaking out. I don't like snakes. They are great in zoos and to learn about and to see but, for me, touching was not something I had planned. Ever since you are little, you are told don't ever pickup or touch snakes. It's for your safety and plus the feel of their body just doesn't pass well with me. I did it but it was not something I enjoyed at all. Lucrezia cried and freaked out as well as a couple other people so at least I wasn't alone.

We went back to the hotel and had free time until it was time for the BBQ/dance/pool party. This was also the night that we celebrated Jorge's birthday. It was great we had great food and then we sang happy birthday in like 15 different languages. Then we went dancing until like 11:30. During the last part of the party, a whole bunch of people got into the pool. Some people even got in with their clothes on. It was crazy. I didn't go in because I didn't have my bathing suit and also I need the shorts I was wearing for the next several days.

The next day we got up early once again, ate breakfast and loaded up on the bus. To start off our day we went a little hiking to this giant cave. I mean this thing was massive. It was dozens of meters deep. All and all it was simply amazing. Walking down to it was kind of difficult and scary because the stairs were oddly angled and some what slippery and to top it all off very steep. This cave didn't appear to be the usual cave. You usually see caves that stick out of the side of rocks or mountains but this cave was more like a giant hole in the ground. But that's not what makes this cave famous. What makes it something to remember is the beautiful clear blue lake when you reach the bottom. This lake was so incredibly beautiful. The trick of the lake is that it's not actually blue but completely translucent but because of the lighting all the colors except blue are lost when entering the water therefore making our eyes see a lovely blue color.The guide said that it is several meters deep and that deep inside is the skeleton of an ancient animal. Although this lake is extremely clean almost no life exists except a few special species of shrimp. This cave and the lake in started off as a large hunk of rock that when the rain drained down through the grass and trees, slowly eroded away the rock. After 5 million years later the water continues to drip through creating stalagmites and staglagtites. Water even dripped through the ceiling onto us while walking down to see the lake. The name of this amazing cave is called Gruta Lago Azul or Blue Lake Cave. This is definitely worth seeing!

In the afternoon, our activity was rafting. It was great except for the cloudy skies that had taken over our once sunny day. We went anyways of course because how many times will you get a chance to go rafting in Mato Grosso do Sul? So we all split up into our groups from Pantanal and headed for our boats. To start of, we only went on level 1 rapids because this river is a much calmer river but it was still scary to go over the waterfalls if you've never done this before. So to start out our adventure was the first waterfall. Everyone got into position and we rode over with several screams. Afterwards, we got ready to row the boat. 4 people row at a time plus there is a guide at the back to steer us in the right direction. On the calm parts you could go and splash the other teams with the oars and they also give you a bucket to. Everyone got soaked and we lost our bucket so the camera guy had to go retrieve it for our group and even threatened to sell it to the highest bidder on the other teams as joke. We ended up loosing it two more times. We just didn't have good luck as well as we were behind the other teams. So we paddled and paddled to catch up. We came to the second waterfall and everyone got into position. It was about the same as the first waterfall but everyone still screamed a little. Afterwards we all went back to sitting on the sides except when my friend sat down she slide off and fell out of the raft. It was funny and she was laughing too. The guide pulled her back in and she was fine but now more soaked than we were. Afterwards another long stretch until the next waterfall. We were far behind the other teams and trying to catch back up only the cloudy skies were getting darker and the wind was picking up. Then started the thunder and lightning. Then it was threatening to rain and 10 minutes later it did rain. No more like down poured. The rain was just beating down in huge heavy drops And it fell into our eyes making it hard to see. Also there was lots of lightning and thunder. We paddled on in the rain which made it much more difficult. Right before we reached the third waterfall the rain slowed down to a sprinkle. Lucky for us because the third waterfall was the steepest one yet. This one was much different and I know for sure I screamed this time. When we landed at the bottom they let us all jump out of the rafts and swim in the river. With my body and hair now accustomed to river water we all jumped right in. We didn't stay long because we still had a little more to go on the river before arriving. After arriving completely soaked we got on the bus and went back to the hotel to change and shower. It was still raining a little bit but out coordinator had already said he would take us out to ice cream. There was this place that sells ice cream made from fruit only grown in pantanal. I choose to flavors but I don't remember what they are called because the names were very regional and were not a name I had seen before. They were good and the taste was different than anything I had ever eaten before. Afterwards, we were allowed to explore the town a little bit and buy souvenirs. It was raining still but of course it was fun to run around in the rain. After a little shopping, we went to the hotel and had an hour of free time before curfew and bedtime.

Thursday we went to this adventure place that offers archery, a canopy walk, and tubing. Other people who wanted to could pay an extra $100 dollars to go scuba diving. I chose not to do this because I still have another trip to go on before the end of the year and the next day we were going to go snorkeling.

To start of the day, my group went and did archery. I've never practiced archery. I've only done it a couple of times at camp for a fun experience and always did really bad. This time though, it was a different story. Not only did I win in my group with 80 points from 10 arrows but even the instructors said I did a good job. Everyone got to go twice, each time with 5 arrows, but afterwards before we moved on to the next activity, me, our two instructors , the boy in second place all went up against each other. I lost this time but not by much. I scored a 39, the boy from France scored 42 and the instructors scored a 44 and 45. It was great and I have to say it was a lot of fun.

The second activity was the canopy walk. They had an adventure course up in the canopy of the trees. There were different types of ways to get across. Sometimes there were these sticks in the style of a ladder buy weren't connected to each other so they wiggled a lot, other times there was only a wire. One time there was a netting that you had to cross like you were a spider. Its was hard and required a lot of arm muscles. At the end of the course was a zip line. It was short but fun. The other part of the zip line was where you got to zip line into the river. The water was freezing so I didn't stay to swim like a few others decided to do. After everyone had gone, we went back to the main lodge and changed into dry clothes for lunch.

After lunch we returned to the same place and my group went and did bóia cross (tubing). It was so much fun. So you get on the tubes by laying on your stomach. We started by nicely floating down the river until we arrived at the first waterfall. Then you flip over and sit in the tube. The first waterfall, which we didn't know at the time, is where everyone falls out the tube. So we all went down and fell but the guides caught us and helped us back into the tubes. As we floated down the river the guides would spray us with water or push our tubes up and down. We splashed each other too because it was fun. Sometimes when we were going down the waterfall they would spin us so as you were going down it could possibly be backwards. We went down 4 waterfalls in total. Right before we got out of the tube and onto the deck to walk back, they flipped everyone of us out of the tube. So when we headed back we were soaked. So we changed and got dry and then waited for everyone else to finish their activities.

Later that night after dinner, we went back to the city and were allowed to roam the town for a little bit. It was fun to just hang out and talk with friends and be all touristy. We did get lots of weird looks from people because of the fact that we were all speaking a mix of English, Portuguese and other languages. Lots of people asked where we were from of course knowing that we were not from Brazil. People can always recognize my accent even when I talk Portuguese.

After returning back at the hotel, we had a little free time but I went to bed because I was so tired from all the activities that day.

Our last day in Bonito we went snorkeling. This was one of the best snorkeling experiences ever. I went snorkeling in Florida once in a clear river but it doesn't compare to the experience I had here. The river is called the Mimosa river. Yes, it is the same river that I had gone to earlier in the week but this is a different part of it. This river was simply magnificent! The water was so clear and beautiful. There were tons of fish that just swam right in front of your face. This 100% spring fed river was so beautiful. It was colder than the other rivers I'd been too but that's normal in spring fed rivers. It was an absolutely incredible experience. As we slowly drifted down the river in our wet suits and crocks, I felt so relaxed and calm just staring at the fish and plant life. For people that know me, I love studying oceans and rivers. I spent 4 years competing in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl. My senior year we finally won regional and got to go to nationals but I couldn't go because I would be in Brazil. So this experience reminded me of why I studied all that time and that's because rivers (and oceans) are beautiful.

Afterwards, we got to experience something really cool. There is this part where 4 rivers join together in one location. It's very deep so it's perfect to put a zip line. Thus zip line was a little different in which you go on it for 7 seconds and then you let go from about 5 meters up and drop into the water. I did it twice and it was so much fun. Afterwards we went back ans changed out of out wet suits and crocks into dry clothes to eat lunch. We ate lunch at the same place we went snorkeling. We had a little spare time before our next activity so I went to sleep in a chair with a few of my friends. I was tired from a week full of activities.

For our last activity we went to a day care full of little kids. Thus day care is full of children who come from poor families and the government pays for the children to go for free. This was a social/community service project. We were to bring one or two small toys or gifts to the kids and then play with them. Of course I love children and so this was the perfect activity. I brought a little makeup kit and the girl I played with loved it. We played on the play ground together and on the swings and talked. We ended up playing for an hour and a half with the children. A lot of people liked it and the kids had a great time. At the end, we took a group picture together. It was a great way to end a great week in Bonito and Pantanal.

After dinner we had free time to pack our suitcases and then went to bed early. The next day we were allowed to sleep in an hour because we weren't going to get on the road until 9 o'clock. We ate breakfast and loaded up our suitcases on the bus. Another long drive ahead until Araçatuba, São Paulo. We drove all day. Once again the day consisted of sleeping, watching movies, listening to music, and a little dancing. Lots of photos and hugs and the making of final memories. We arrived at the hotel around 9 o'clock at night and had two hours of free time. Some people had bought flags and had everyone sign them. A few people were leaving tomorrow so there was crying and hugging and goodbyes. It took a lot longer to get to bed than expected because everyone was saying good bye. Eventually our monitor got everyone upstairs to bed.

The next day was pretty much the same as the last. We got up some what late, had breakfast and then left on the bus to head back to São Paulo. The same activities. There really isn't much to do on a bus. A couple people were playing cards. When we arrived in São Paulo everyone started crying again and hugging. It was really sad. Because weren't likely to see each other again. We had all made good friends with each other. So people were then lead away to the airports and lucrezia and I went to the bus station for another long bus ride. We arrived at the bus station at 5:30pm. Our bus wasn't suppose to leave until 10:30pm. It was such a long boring wait. The bus station has even less stuff to do than the bus and it's crowded with lots of people. Finally, it became time to leave. I got comfortable in the seat and promptly fell asleep. I had an alarm set for 3:30am and woke up enough to get off the bus in Palmital at 4:00am. My host mom came to get me and it was so nice to sleep in my own bed again.

Overall it was a great experience. I had a great time. I learned a lot about Brazil and about other countries as well. I met many new people and I'm glad I got to go. It's deffinetly worth it to go.



Até Mais,

Cori

Piranha fishing. This is my non-deadly catch.

This is some of the landscape and the typical farm animal ox.

One of the many wildlife that we saw in Pantanal. this was one of the better photos I took of animals.

This was the horse I rode on our  little horse backridding outting.

One of the many waterfalls we encountered. We swam up in the area far in the back.

Lucrezia did not like holding the snake.

Me neither. I respect snakes but prefer to keep a distance from them.

We were really far down in the Blue Lake Cave. This is the opening.

The blue lake inside the cave. Yes it does look very blue, doesn't it?

Me by the Blue Lake.

Me dominating in Bow and arrows

See I did do really good. There was one more arrow in the yellow and another in the red to give me 40 points the first round of five arrows.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving and Brazil does not celebrate this holiday either but I still think about all the things I'm thankful for.

For example my mom. My mom in the US has been such a help through the whole process from beginning to end. She was so willing to let me leave for 11 months in a foreign country even if it meant we would be apart. She has been so supportive and loving through all the stress of this adventure of a lifetime for me. I love her so much and can't wait to see her in January.

I would also like to thank my host family for being supportive as well. It's not easy to allow a stranger from another country live in your house. They put aside their fear and I'm so thankful for everything they have done. They are deffinetly my second family.

I'm also thankful for all the AFS volunteers because without them there wouldn't be AFS. All the work they do makes for an amazing experience for all the exchange students all over the world.

I hope everyone has an excellent Thanksgiving and don't for get to be thankful for everyone and everything you have.

Com Amor,

Cori

Only 8 Weeks Left?!

So I had a thought pop into my head last monday. Cori you realize you only have two months left, right? Then it like hit me like a brick what that means because it means I have to go back. You might be reading this and thinking "Yeah but your going back to your family and friends. How can you be sad about that?" Well it's not that I'm sad it's more like a weird sort of feeling. Only exchange students really understand this type of feeling. It's derived from the fear of leaving your new life here in Brazil and not knowing when your going to return. I have become so comfortable here. I feel apart of the community and my family. I have friends and we hang out and go out on the weekends. It's hard for me to imagine leaving here after everything has become perfect.

I admit I didn't really think I would get so attached to my friends and family here. When I left my mom in Ohio 9 months ago it was easy because I knew when I was coming home. It was only 11 months and then I would be back and everything would return to normal. But that's exactly it. Everything will be "normal". Only that I have changed so much as a person on this exchange. I'm not talking about a physical change (all though of course I look a little different) but an internal change. The way I see myself and others and the world. It's all changed for me. I feel going back to my "normal" life would be all wrong for me because I'm not the same girl who left Ohio 9 months ago on a crazy idea of living in another country.

I'm not going to go any deeper than that because those feelings are hard to describe and it's not worth explaining them because it's only something you can feel and experience for yourself. Future exchange students you'll understand when your time comes as well.

I also recieved my return flight information from AFS-USA. My international flight leaves 11:30pm January 11th, 2013 and I arrive in Miami International Airport at 4:55am. Hopefully I'll be in Cleveland by noon if my mom can get a domestic plane ticket for me a couple hours after I land in Miami. I'll also be having my return meeting with AFS-BRASIL on 1st and 2nd of December in Jáu.

It's really real everyone. I'm coming home finally.

Até Mais,

Cori

The Start of a New Adventure

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.

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!