Starting to Notice a Language Improvement and School

Òla, tudo mundo! (Hello, everyone - literally 'all the world.' I like that phrase.) I hope that everything is well in the Northern Hemishpere. Down here it is still very hot, the toilets are still flushing the normal way, and I am still just lovely...

As always, a lot is going on. It's really weird for me to think that it is almost October already! Time here is sort of strange for me; I tend to feel restless and in a rush if I am not doing something, but at the same time that I really have all the time in the world. I figure one of these days, or one of these months, it's really going to hit me that I don't have all the time in the world - just like it did before I left - and I am going to freak out, but for now it's all good. I am getting concerned, though, because my mom sent my new bank card like 3 weeks ago and I have yet to receive it, and I need my insurance card in my hands by November 9th or I don't go on the trips and we don't get our money back. I am trying to be as on top of those things as I can, but really all I can do it wait. It's sort of frustrating. No, it is frustrating, period.

I have tended to feel a little bit more in limbo these past few weeks than I did before, and I think worrying about that stuff has a lot to do with it. Whereas for the first month I felt pretty much 100% disconnected from my former life, now that I am settled in here, I tend to dwell on it a little more, especially when something here is bothering me. I have some trouble here because I do not like living under such strict rules. I really like my host family, and I am grateful to have gotten them - It's all just luck, and I know some people with pretty bad families - but I do not necessarily like all the rules and the curfews. They try to treat me like a member of the family, which is what I want, but it also means that I don't get to live this year as I would like because I have to conform to their schedule and their concerns. I understand the rules and why they are there, and because I don't want to cause problems with my family I accept them, but I really don't like them. I have said all I can, though, I think, so I just have to live with leaving the parties early. I found out that I have 2 more host families following this one - both in the same neighborhood, so it will be interesting to see the change in family dynamic. I am very fond of my current family, but I think I will like the change, and since it is close I can/will still see them if/when I want.

Hmm, what have I done lately? I have hung out with the usual people, for the most part. The last exchange student finally got here (we have 10 in my city, now, which is all we will have until January when we get an Australian - they run on a different schedule because of their school year). He is from Taiwan, and his name is "Jack," which pretty much doesn't resemble his real name at all (he told it to me, but I forget what it is, exactly), so I am wondering how they came up with it, haha. I don't think I have mentioned that it is common for exchange students to have nicknames because it is hard for the people in the country to remember/pronounce the names. For instance, Johanna's family just calls her Jo ('yo'). We all have relatively simple names, here, though. My name is the same, but they pronounce it differently - it is very nasal. I can't really reproduce it - it's kinda like al-uhna. I actually think it's weird now telling people my name becaue I am not used to hearing it said like I say it, if that makes any sense, haha.

We watched a really good movie the other day called "If Only". I forget what the name was in Portuguese. It's funny, we are in Brazil, but the best thing we can come up with to do sometimes is watch a movie. It's really all a matter of transportation, though, and we try to get out and go to the park and stuff as much as we can. It's actually good for us to watch movies, though, because it helps with the language. When we are all together we watch them in English with Port. subtitles so that we can read along. It really should be the other way around, but they have too hard a time reading the English so fast, and I really have no room to talk so I give them a break, haha. When I am alone, though, I watch movies in Port. with Port. subtitles, and I understand them, yay. I have a hard time without the subtitles, but it's getting better. The other day, though, I was watching Mission Impossible 3 without subtitles, and I had like no idea what was going on, haha. I still don't cheat, though, and I think it helps to at least be paying attention.

I have noticed an actual difference in my ability to talk to people, lately, which is encouraging. One afternoon last week the teacher didn't show up for the last class of the day, so we were allowed to leave, so Gerardo and I went to the little place across the street where a guy sells churros he makes at his little stand (they are like fried, hollow, bread with caramel cream - dulce de leite - or chocolate in the middle, covered in connamon sugar, yum). There was another guy there, and he talked to me for like 15 minutes, and I actually pretty much understood all of what he was saying to me, and sort of talked back (he, like most Brazilians, didn't need much encouragement to keep going, haha). I had no answer when he was asking why the women's U.S. soccer team is really good and men's isn't, though, haha, so I told him it was because women are just always better than men :-D. A friend of mine told me that once I can cut out all the Spanish I will be one of the best speakers here, and that made me happy. I have been here for less time than a lot of them, too.

Last Thurday the other ex. students from here (excluding 2), a few rebounds, and I went to an English school to talk to a class about our homes and show them some stuff. I think they only understood about 30% of what we said, but they were really excited anyway (they were like 5-14 yrs old) , and the teacher translated the harder stuff. I took my WV flag, some large versions of coins that I have, and a map of WV, and they all really liked the coins in particular. I had to go around and show them to everyone and explain them. Oh, hahaha, this was so funny, I was showing them on the map that we live close to Washington D.C., and after I showed them the border states one boy asked where Count Dracula's Castle was because he though I said Transylvania, not Pennsylvania. I felt bad for laughing (we were all laughing really hard), but it was seriously one of the funniest things I think I have ever heard. I am laughing now, actually, just thinking about it. Poor guy, he was like 6 and 100% serious, but he took it well. They had all made Brazilian desserts for us, so after we talked for like 2 hours we ate for like an hour. It was a good time. The pic I put up is from the class - I guess I will name the people, just in case you care... ok, left to right on the top row is Jack (Taiwan), Ryan "Shaggy" (like from Scooby Doo, haha, from California), Gabriel (went to Lake Tahoe, CA last year), the teacher, Tania (Mex.), Diego (went to Thailand last year), Gerardo (Mex.); second row is Iván (Mex.), two Brazilian girls whose names I forget (they both went to the US last year), Johanna (Germany), Annia (Mex.), me, Guilherme (went to South Africa last year - Gabriel's twin). The rows kind of merge, but I think you can figure it out...

Last Friday I went to one of the other schools here, it was called Christo Rei (Christ the King), and was, obviously, a Catholic school. It was quite a bit different from my school, and I actually liked it a lot better. My friend Dayna (Canadian) came in Thursday night, and we stayed at a friend of her's house. Dayna stayed with me for the whole weekend, actually, because she lives in a tiny little town with a crappy family, which was cool. Her friend Adrielly, who we stayed with, and her friends are really cool; I liked them a lot. They are a little younger than me, but that doesn't matter so much here. School itself was school, but we got to go meet the principal and take a tour, so they, naturally, wasted as much time as possible. It was a nicer building, and it had a better atmousphere, I though, than my school. When I started school they never bothered to show me around or introduce me to anyone, they just sent me to class with my cousin, which, to me, was very rude. Gerardo didn't care, but I did. Plus, our class doesn't really care about us, and the class at Christ Rei was a lot more friendly (partially because they had a group English test that day, haha, so they kept whispering to us for help).

After school we ate at Adrielly's and then went back and has a little surprise party with her friends for their theatre teacher. It was just nice, clean, fun. There were some nuns there, which was kinda weird, but they were cool. They have a pool there, so her friend went and got us some shorts, and all the girls played water polo in the pool. We were all locked in the pool area and walled off, which made it more fun - very giggly and all that, haha. After that we watched the guys play basketball for awhile, and then went home. Did I mention that Brazilians can't play basketball? They can't, haha, but they kill us in soccer, so it's ok.

Saturday we went to Tania's and swam for the afternoon, and then Gerardo came and made everyone Mexican food. We were planning on having a party, really, but more people kept showing up, so we did. Tania's mom tried to teach her and me to Samba, which was somewhat successful, haha, but it's very difficult. Tania is better than I am, and Annia is better than both of us. She got there later, but picked it up a lot quicker. I am just really stiff, so I need to practice. Hopefully I will get it by Carnaval. Tania's mom is an excellent dancer, so we will have to practice some more. The Mexicans also taught us a dance of theirs, which is kinda like their version of the electric slide, but a lot faster, and you can do it with two people instead of just one. They also taught us how to dance 'banda,' the typical, trumpety Mexican music. We basically had a goofy traditional dance party, and ate food, and hung out. I had to leave earlier than everyone else, of course, but it was really fun. By about 10 it was Tania, Annia, Gerardo, Tania's parents, her sister, Johanna's sister, Julio, his friend Julianna, Dayna, and me, and the next day my feet were sore from dancing, haha. I got a bunch of videos, but my camera doesn't record sound, so it didn't really capture the effect.

I went to the neighborhood churrasco Monday, and I met one of my next host brothers, and he seemed nice. I think we will get along. In my next family I have 2 brothers, who are 17 and 18 (I met the younger one), and in the one after that I have a sister who is 17. I am moving to the next house after Christmas, and I think I will be there for like 3 and a half months. Sorry, I am thinking of random things to write on here - It's hard to keep everything straight.

Friday of this week Gerardo made us Mexican food again at my house (we are trying not to waste the tortillas his mom sent), and Tania, Johanna, Julio, Ryan/Shaggy, and the twins (his host brothers) came over to hang out. We played cards for a fwe hours and then went to their house and hung out for awhile with some more people. Playing cards is funny because we teach eacother games, and we are trying to explain in a mixture of 3 languages, haha. It took me a few hands to finally understand the Brazilian game we played, but I got it eventually.

Julio's birthday was Thursday, and last night he had a party at his friends house. I could only stay until 9, but it was fun nonetheless. He works for his uncle's company as a full time job, but he organizes parties professionally on the side. This wasn't one of his big parties, but he still knows how to do it. His last real one was in August before I got here, and it was almost 900 people at $15 a head. They, of course, had to buy ridiculous amounts of beer, but that's still pretty good. He has friends in London and Madrid who do the same thing, and he is planning to move in with one of them within the next year or two when he can get it together. I'm pushing fo Spain, myself, since I fully intend on sleeping on his couch, haha.

This week has been kind of weird because my host dad and most of my host mom's family have been in São Paulo for a big music festival thing. It's a musical instrument festival, really, and their business is selling musical instruments, so they all went to try and do that. My host mom said that my host dad was very pleased with the amount of sales, but that it's a very long weekend. The festival itself lasts for 4 days, I think, the first two are just for shop owners, and the last two are for the public - those are the bad days. My host cousin, Gustavo (Gu), who is 6, has been staying at our house some days, and at my host mom's parents with her mom the other days. He is fun, I like him a lot, but he is a little tiring, haha. We went to the mall the other day, and he told me like 5 ghost stories - it was really adorable, but I only understood about half of it, and by the end I was really tired, haha. Kids are so hard to understand, it's crazy. He's very patient with me, though, and if nothing else he's usually happy with a smile and a "nossa!" ("wow" - noh-sah). It's fun to have him around, though, I like him a lot.

Okay, I think I have hit all the high spots, haha, now I am going to explain the school system in more detail, which is very, very different.

School is only compulsary until, I think, the age of 14, and after that they can quite if they have to or want to. The publis schools are not very good at all, so most families try to send their kids to private schools. The one I go to is part of a system that is rather widespread, I think, it is called Anglo, and it is like $150 a month, I think, although for me it is free. My host mom said that they have a very good secondary school system, but it is not so good for the younger kids because they just started a year or two ago, so Gu goes to a different school. They don't have separate elementary, middle, and high schools here, all ages go to the same school, although I think a lot of the time the schedules are slightly different. The private schools are independently run, and, as far as I can tell, don't really work with one another in terms of scheduling and whatnot. They are similar, though.

My school starts at 7:20, and ends at 12:20. We have 6 classes, with 5 minute breaks between them, except for the long break in the middle, which is about 15 minutes. They do not have any options when it comes to classes - they all take the same things with the same teachers. Instead of changing classes we all stay in one room, and the teachers change at breaks. I honestly can't even tell how many subjects we have because the schedule is somewhat erratic. We have each subject 2x/week, so, lets see, if I have 3o classes then I have 15 subjects, right? It might not be. I'm really bad at math, haha. Speaking of math, I would say that math and science are about 75% of the curriculum, and history, geography, economics, literature, and Porttuguese share the rest. Monday is my favorite because it is almost all fine arts.

They don't have textbooks here, they have workbooks that are distributed and bought at various times during the year; I think we are on the 7th one right now. They have all the subjects in them, and the lessons are layed out for each day, including the homework and examples. The teachers do not spend more than two classes on one subject before they are moving on, which means that school here is harder. They have to cover all the material at the pace of the entire system, rather than their own class, so they can't afford to waste time. The students are largely responsible for making sure they inderstand what they are being taught, so they usually study for at least 3 hours after school if they are in their final year of school, because looming at the end is the dreaded Vestibular...

The Vestibular is the test every Brazilian has to take to get into college, and it is, from what I have heard, very very hard. The Vestibular determines whether you get into a public universtiy, which is what you want, because they are not only better, but they are free. The private schools here run at about $2,000/month, and they are not all that great, but anyone can go. The public schools are very competitive. I think only like 24 people from Anglo get to go, and there are proabably about 100 who will graduate. It's even harder if you have been an exchange student because you leave halfway through your second to last year and return in the middle of the next year, so you miss a year's worth of material. I don't think I would want to do that - not with so much at stake. If you don't pass a particular subject, though, you can re-take it the next year, so sometimes we have people i random classes because they have to test again on the subject. When you do get accepted to a public school there is a big party, and if you are a guy your friends shave your head for you. My cousin Pedru, for example, has his head shaved because he took the test early and passed.

My school is relatively large compared to a lot of them, and my grade is divided into 4 classes, which are A,B,C, and D. I am in the D class, which is the class of people who have the lowest grades. I don't like my class particularly well. There are some cool people in it, of course, but for the most part people sleep and don't bother to talk to me. I guess it's my job to talk to them first , but it would be nice if I were in a class like Tania, Annia, and Johanna, where everyone wants to know them. Oh well, I have made other friends, and I will be gone for a month anyway. When I get back this school year will be almost over, and we will have vacation then a new class, so I am looking forward to that.

They have some sports after school, I think, but school spirit really isn't a big deal, and the building is very austere. They have a sheet that everyone signs during the first and second classes to do attendance, and a hall monitor who is always there to keep track of people. She's mean, haha. They call the teachers by their first names, and they dress in nice looking jeans and a blouse or t-shirt and cuss in class (depending on the teacher). Needless to say, it is less formal. Whether a class is boring or not still depends on the teacher, but almost all of them just ignore people who sleep through the class. There is one guy, though, who just screams randomly throughout the class; like he'll be teaching and yell a word really loud to wake people up then laugh and keep going. Oh, and there is this other teacher, named Ademir, who says, "bom dia" like 10 times at the beginning of class (good morning), and he kisses girls on the hand or the head (namely ex. student girls, as the others and I have figured out), and he is always using people's arms or heads or whatever to talk about geography. He carries around this metal stick that he uses as a pointer or to whack desks with when he makes a point, and he is always punching the board while he talks. He is really weird, but I like him. He is like 5'3" and has a very impressive mustache. They even have a group on Orkut, which is the Brazilian and Asian/Middle Eastern version of Myspace and Facebook, for people who "love Ademir's bom dia." I'm in it, haha.

We don't have to do anything in school, and it's unsufferably boring. Gerardo has the newest workbook, and I asked him to give it to me so that I can have something to do other than pass notes/stupid drawings with him, read, write letters, and sleep. It took me awhile to get used to sleeping in school since I have probably only slept in school like 5 times in my life (all of which during Latin, haha, oh, no, I remember falling asleep in science in 10th grade once too), but all the people in my class sleep too, so oh well. I don't blame them, either, because all it is is lecute and note-taking. There is no class involvement and almost no interaction unless it's one of the cool teachers who teaches half the time and just hangs out with the guys half the time. I always pay attention in the calsses like geopraphy and history because I can understand them almost all of the time (they write the notes on the board while they lecture, which helps), but the physics and chemisty looses me, haha.

I think that's about it. Oh, quick funny story:

Today I went to the bakery with my host mom, and when we got back she got out first and yelled to me not to get out of the car. I was like all worried because I didn't know why, and she told me there was something there that I didn't understand (I didn't know the word), so I was all nervous. I looked and didn't see anything, so I asked her what it was and she said a little animal (uma animalzinha, haha), so I got out slowly, and there was this tiny little frog stuck on the wall by the door. I thought maybe it was poisonous because she told me to come to the other side of the car with her quickly, so I asked if it was dangerous, and she said no, it would (some word I didn't get), and then started making hopping motions with her hand, and I figured out that she was just really scared of frogs, haha. Then she threw rocks at it, but it didn't move, so we had to spray it with the hose out of the garage so we could go inside. It was really funny, I thought, but she was feraked out, haha.

Oh, and another thing. Rain - or a severe lack thereof. It has finally rained a little, but only a little. It hadn't rained for almost 3 months, and in a week or two they were going to start rationing water. It is so dry, and sometimes I wake up with a soar throat because the air is so dry. We need a really big storm, so hopefully we will get it; as of now it's just been a few drizzles. It has been cooler this week too, which is nice. They keep telling me to wait until summer when I complain about the heat, but I don't even want to think about summer. I am sad that I will come home to more heat next year, haha - I want some snow!

As always, I hope you are well. I have to go because I have school tomorrow. Blahhhhh. Being here makes me feel bad for people who always hated school. I have hated it for a month and a half and it's very tiresome to wake up and go do something you hate... It makes me want to write research papers.... Well, kinda. I write my fill on here, haha.

Muito Amoooooor!

Alanna