Goings On

Since I last wrote, Luan finally uploaded all the pictures from his cellphone to the computer. So, here are a few:

once upon a time at an interact meeting
Hellen's front row center, holding the Interact T-shirt
Kyle's and Sven's heads are poking out in the back, behind mine

at Itacare- Hellen, Luan, me, and Kyle
Everyone thinks it looks like a band photo. So we joke that Hellen's on keyboard, Luan is base, I'm vocals and guitar, and Kyle is drummer (damn, I wanted to be drummer!).

Me wearing Sven's ridiculously large rain jacket

Also, I spent Christmas with my host family! Brazilians celebrate on Christmas Eve. So, all dolled up (dress and makeup and such), I went with Sandra, Paolo, Marcell, Luan, and Breno to the grandparents' apartment on the other side of Itabuna- and joined in with 60+ family members from all corners of Brazil.
No joke. The place was crowded. I imagine if you brought together every Thrumston in the history of Thrumstons, there still wouldn't be as many as there were Carvalhos on Christmas Eve 2008.
Brazilians, with their huge Catholic families, don't do gift giving the same way Americans do either. They do a simple secret santa- everyone has an assigned person to buy one present for. In turn, supposedly, they receive one present from their secret friend, or "amigo secreto".
I made Caro, a cousin from Sao Paolo, a scarf, and Sandra threw in some soap perfume lotiony thing from Victoria's Secret.
I received some Christmas bars of soap from Chris, another cousin from Sao Paolo.
I also made Sandra a scarf (she loves it.. ahem), I gave a book to Luan, made a scarf for Hellen, and gave a calendar to Paolo.
I received some more Christmas soap from my host mom. Huzzah for the spirit of giving!

me and a cousin.. whose name is (ready?) Dorris Day.

The Carvalho Brazilian christmas tree

Dorris' mom with baby Anton (not her baby, but the only one in the whole family, so he gets passed around and doted over)

Carol, my "amiga secreta", e Rafael, her fiancee
they're getting married in April. They just had a wedding shower at the beach house yesterday. Lots of food and party games and such. In one of them, Rafael and Carol had to dress up in each other's clothes.. it was some pretty crazy shit.

Tasty Brazilian food

DISCULPA DE NOVO

Hello, lovely blog.
I just found out that I have a follower! Count 'em! One!
But now I feel guilty that I haven't written for said follower since I moved to my new host family. Well, I've been doing the same things; reading and writing, hanging out with the Brazilians.. ect. ect.
I also got involved in the music program at David and Fatima's church; I have permission to practice piano/voice there whenever I want. I joined the choir there, and this Thursday is a recital- people are also performing solos. I'm going to be singing the Queen of the Night aria from Mozart's the Magic Flute.
Hells yeah. Anyway, a lot of major events have happened since I last wrote. I'll just take you through them:

Major Life Changing Event Number 1:

In November, shortly before the school year finished up, I attended an Anime Convention!!!!!! I'd always wanted to go to one of these events. It takes place every year right here in Itabuna. I met Hellen and Guilherme, another friend from school, and together we plunged into the great abyss of anime geeks and manga addicts.
It was one of those lifelong experiences that you absolutely never forget. There were games, music, food, one of those dance pad things, a 'Mangateca' (manga biblioteca), and KARAOKE. That's right. I didn't join in the fun, but Hellen spent most of her time singing the greatest hits from Naruto and Bleach.
But I must say, the most trippy aspect of this whole day had to have been the costumes. My group wasn't dressed up, but we got to witness a lot of people in the anime crowd who took their business very seriously.

Ruffy, from One Piece (Hellen's favorite Anime. I swear she was frothing at the mouth when she saw how many One Piece fans were here)

Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi, which I never really considered an anime as it aired on Cartoon Network when we were kids..

Rukia, from Bleach, and "Chubby Kid from Naruto (whose name I don't remember)"

Me and Hellen with Ulqiorra, from Bleach!!!!!!!!!
I know you're just jealous.

Me and Guilherme with sweet Bleach masks

Major Life Changing Event Number 2:

School got out for summer vacation in the middle of November. The last two days were spent partying in class. Remember in elementary school, when school got out for winter break, every kid was responsible for bringing something to eat? And then the class would go wild, singing and dancing and chowing down?
That's what Brazilian school is like. An elementary school winter break party. My class spent two days dancing to Brazilian versions of American music (instead of Rihanna's "Umbrella Ella Ella" it's "Amo, amo voce e" which means I love love you oo). We also have a strangely upbeat version of "Big Girls Don't Cry", and some James Blunt song that I would prefer not to remember.

Here's an attractive photo of yours truly on the last day of school (see? my hair's growing!):

Evellyn left yesterday for a mini exchange in Vancouver. She'll be studying the English language there until February, when the new school year starts. I miss her terribly.

Major Life Changing Event Number 3:

In the middle of November, the time came to switch to our second host families. All three exchange students in Itabuna were both excited, morose, anxious, and absolutely terrified. I came to love David and Fatima like my own family, and even though I definitely had my differences with them, we bonded; I really do miss living with them.
This is a picture of the flag that they met me at the airport with. I left it at my old host family's house because there isn't much of a way I can take it home with me.
Bem Vinda means Welcome.

The drive to my new host family (Luan and Hellen, and their parents, Paolo and Sandra Carvalho)'s house was at night. And driving through the center of the town that I had grown so familiar with, it felt like I was arriving in Itabuna for the first time; like I had only landed in Brazil a few hours ago, and my exchange year was just beginning. And that's when I got nausious and nervous and overcome with the familiar dread of "what if they don't like me?"
But we got to their house and I got to my room (I thought I would be sharing a room with Hellen, but this entire time, Luan had been secretly preparing a room on the third story of the house- the roof, so Hellen kept her room and I took Luan's old room while Luan managed to successfully isolate himself from the rest of the family XD), and I saw that they had adorned my room with a welcome sign, flowers (I love flowers), a big American flag, and a huge Brazilian one.

The American flag hangs over the window, and the Brazilian flag takes up the entire wall.

Sorry, I can't figure out how to rotate pictures on the family computer.

Life in the Carvalho house is pretty crazy. There's always something going on. Hellen works in the morning with her dad at his workplace, and Sandra goes to her elementary school in the mornings and the afternoons (she teaches a third grade class).
I'm the fifth exchange student this family has had. They've hosted a Swedish girl named Senna that Hellen absolutely adored (Senna this, Senna that), a Mexican girl that I've heard almost nothing about (apparently she didn't want to learn Portuguese and didn't bond very well with the family), an American kid from Illinois named David that has come back to visit them many times, and of course, Kyle.
Luan and Hellen also have an older brother, Marcel, who goes to university in Sao Paolo. They talk about him all the time.

People are always over at our house. Friends of Hellen, friends of Luan, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, Kyle..
Breno, a cousin from Salvador, has been staying with us since only a week after I got here. He's cool. He's been spending his days watching Naruto downstairs on the couch, in front of the enormous big screen TV that I still can't figure out how to turn on.

These are a few kids from our class, along with Song, a Thai exchange student that has befriended Hellen. She spends most of her days here watching anime with Hellen and Breno. I try to take part, but then my brain starts to melt out of my ears a little bit and I have to get up and read a book.

Song has a stuffed elephant.

Wubba makes a friend

I wasn't exagerating though, about how much family this family has. Right now it's 6 people living in this house (Breno is sharing Hellen's room). But Marcel is coming home on Thursday, and David is coming to visit on the 24th, and they say that Senna is coming to visit in January.
Breno's parents, Sandra's sister, is coming for Christmas as well, and Paolo's family is going to be spending their days at our house, too.
Hellen and I counted it up, and I forget the exact number, but by christmas, there will be more than ten people sleeping in this house! And that number doesn't count how many people will be here during the day.
I can't imagine how my host family manages to pull this off every year- 6 people is enough! This is a picture of weekly groceries as it is:

If this is what it takes to feed six people, what will it take to feed 10+?
This is bound to be the most exciting Christmas I've ever had. I'm thrilled to be a part of it, and I can't wait to see Brazilian and Carvalho traditions in action.

Ate Mais,
Zoe

SORRY OK?

You know, exchange is a busy time. I'm busy. I don't have time to write on my blog every single day, or even every single week! I have a life to live, here! Geez, people. :P

But to feed the dogs: since the Rotary Forum, my days have been kept busy. Obama got elected (thank Krishna); the cause of much celebration in my own classroom. It was 2 in the morning here when I found out, and I didn't get much sleep the rest of the night either. The following day at school was spent hugging, screaming, jumping, and a little crying. :)
I've been going to the beach more than ever before. Kallellan (Kyle, Hellen, Luan) have a beach house in Ilheus. Last weekend they invited me to go with them. It was a great time. I forgot my camera, though, so no pictures!
Ella, my German friend, also has a beach house in Ilheus, and her family invited me to go there about two weeks ago for the day. It was lovely.

Yay for blue eyes :P

Aguaviva- Jellyfish!

um. what is this called..?
"Sand Water Creature"
We named him Ricky.

swing set :3

Bad ass on a swing set :3

The inevitable swimsuit photo XD

This weekend, I've been told that Kallellan are going to the beach house again, but I'm not sure I should go. It's Kyle's last weekend with his host family (we're all switching host families on November 17- I'm going to live with Kyle's family, Kyle is going to live with our counselor, Noquniha, and Svenskie is coming to live with my current family. Good luck to him). And besides, I hear there's an anime convention this Saturday here in Itabuna..! That means Japanese Manga in Portuguese. I'm psyched. :P
I'll try to update soon, I promise! I have a billion things I want to write on here, when I find the time.

Until then,
Zoe

Mathilde's Photos

yep, I'm still on the Forum weekend. These are some of Mathilde's Photos.

that's sofie, a genuine crazy dane

Let's see, a general update, then? Nothing much has been going on. A few days ago, the three of us were invited to a Language Camp in Ilheus for a weekend. We never really wanted to go, as it was an English Language Camp, but it was in a nice looking hotel on the beach, and we had nothing else to do that weekend, so we signed up. Yesterday, however, we learned that Interact is going to volunteer at a hospital. So we made our way back to the language people and begged for a refund. It worked :)
I've been hanging out with Ella recently, too. She's a german exchange student with YFU. I can't tell you how good it is to hang out with a girl again. I love kyle and luan and (sometimes.. jk) sven like they're my brothers, but they're just that. Guys. And mature as I can get, I still need to hang out with girls, I really do. It's refreshing to be with my own kind again.
This weekend, I am intent on finishing Harry Potter 2 in Portuguese (I've been on it for.. two weeks? It's hard in another language, don't judge!), and I just bought a new journal, so I'll start on that too.
There's the update for ya. I'll write more when I have something to write about.

whoops

I read on Madisyn's blog that yesterday was Dia dos Professores, Teacher's Day. Happy teacher's day, mom and dad! :3

2 Month Anniversary

Congrats to me. To celebrate, I went to the pharmacy downtown that has one of those scale things (we don't have one in our house) and weighed myself.
I have gained 5 pounds. Don't worry, I don't care at all. I actually thought I would have gained more, Brazilian food is tasty!
Now, don't be surprised, exchange students always say they gain weight on exchange. We'll just see where the rest of the year takes me, ok? :P

Sandra's Photos

just some more of the party :)
sandra's an awesome german girl.
Alemanzinha :P

Capri's Photos

these are some of Capri's photos of this weekend.

This is when they announced that next year's big forum is going to be in Itauna! The crazy one is sven. I think he was frothing at the mouth.

pin exchange

we-are-so-cool. and you know it. :P

head start on photos

This weekend was great! All the Interact clubs met up in Salvador for a couple days for a forum. This meant that all the exchange students got to see each other again :)
I didn't take a single photo this whole weekend, but everyone else did, so I'm going to post everyone else's photos in increments. Here are some of Ivy (taiwan)'s photos. She got some good ones :)

we spent a lot of time in this room listening to lectures and just hanging out.

someone brought an american flag this time! yes!
I'm the one in the middle with the viking hat.

brazilian candy

the last night was a really-weird-clothing party. It had an actual theme to it, but I was never quite sure what it was. fun times, though.

before the party, I taught the girls some yoga.. they asked for it! I was nervous, I had never taught anyone before. But it was a lot of fun, and they liked it too :)
I had no idea that Ivy was taking photos of this, though, I fell out of my seat when I saw them on her Orkut (brazilian facebook) a few minutes ago!!!


left to right, Marieke (germany), Sherise (miami), Capri (bermuda), and Madisyn (oregon)

rocking out with the danish flag
marieke, mathilde (dane), me, Ivy, Sven, Sofie (dane), madisyn, and Kelsey (iowa)

XD


crazy danes!

By the way all of these photos are out of order. We were there for three days, and these photos are going to be scrambled. for fun. exercise your brains, people. I was doing it all weekend, learning german, refreshing my danish, always working on portuguese, of course, and trying to keep my english intact as well.. it's harder than you think! :P
that's it for Ivy's photos.. when others post their pictures on orkut or facebook, I'll be sure to get them on here in another post :)