80 more days

Life goes on even if we aren’t paying attention to it.  My life in Brazil is so full of new things that its sometimes hard to remember all the things I’m missing out on.  Sometimes it seems easier to believe that everything froze in Shelby, NC and its just waiting for me to come back.  But that’s not true.  Life goes on.  The world can’t stop just because I decided to study abroad for a year.  Next year, when I’m in college, everything will be different compared to this year too.  Everything that I’ve done this year has morphed me into a young adult.  I’m not sure that everyone in the States realizes it yet.  I’ve grown and changed in ways that I can’t even name.  That girl that got on the plan in August, she is not going to be the same girl coming back in July. 

            In about 10 days I will be traveling to the Amazons!!  I know, its very exciting.  Next week I’ll post more about exactly what I’ll be doing.  I will be sleeping on a boat in a hammock.  I can’t wait, I’m very excited for this adventure.  A few days after I get back from that I will be attending my Rotary District Conference.  Its about 5 days long, and I don’t know yet what events are planned for the exchange students yet.

 In 113 days I will have my first day of college.  I will be going to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.  I’ve wanted to go there for a few years and I’m thrilled to be going there this coming August.  I’m not worried about getting homesick.  I’ve been away for a year, and things have turned out fine.  And I will be able to come home and visit with my family.  I do worry about being homesick for Brazil.  From the date that I get back to the first day of college is about a month.  That’s not a lot of time. 

I know some things about Brazil will make me seem strange.  Like not flushing toilet paper, wearing flip flops everywhere, eating corn on everything, and being relaxed about everything.  I don’t think that some of these habits will go away as fast as some of my American habits have while I’ve been in Brazil.  I don’t flush toilet paper, I rarely rush to go places, I don’t eat fast food, and I certainly don’t drive anywhere.  Of course, I know that in college everyone is looking for a fresh start and I’ve already got a leg up since I won’t be homesick for my family and hometown.  In some ways I think that being I’ll have it worse though.  I’ll be homesick for a place I spent a year, most kids spend 18 years with their family before college.  I got a year. 

But college is the next big adventure for me in the States.  I’m looking forward to it.  It’s a four year commitment, and I know my family is glad that they will be able to drive and visit me and hug me.  I hope to study abroad with UNCW.  In my heart I know that I will travel far and wide.  The world is vast and I intend to explore as much as I can.  I want to do things that matter.  I’m interested in the National Guard and the Peace Corps.  I want to make a difference and travel and write.  These three things are my passion in life.  And if I can find a way to do all three of them, I would be so happy. 

My life seems to be a nonstop adventure recently and its all I can do to keep up.  The song I’ve chosen for this week is called Here I am.  Its in a movie called Spirit.  I first saw this movie the summer I broke my ankles, I don’t remember which summer, my dad and uncle took my to see this movie in the theatres.  This song is wonderful.  Its about standing up for yourself and not allowing yourself to be manipulated by others.

90 more days

If there is one thing that I take away from my year abroad it would be that no matter where you are there will be people you can count on.  Traveling to a new place is scary.  You don’t know anyone, the language is a mystery, and you don’t know how to act to fit in.  you become so dependent at the beginning.  Then, once you get into the groove of things you learn more about yourself than you could have imagined.  I have exactly 90 left in Brazil.  The thought of this makes me cringe on the inside.  It seems like such a short amount of time.  I know is actually a long time, but to me it feels like next week.  90 days.  I know everyone in the States is really looking forward to me coming back.  I am too, its just that it’ll be really different for me.  The States and Brazil are so different.  And leaving everyone here, not knowing when or if I’ll be coming back is a lot to handle.  When I left the States I knew I was coming back.  I hope and pray that someday I’ll be able to come back to my small Brazilian town.  But I don’t know for sure.

            My time abroad has also taught me how much I love to travel and meet new people and discover a whole new culture.  Paracatu is so different from Shelby.  I grew up in Shelby, and then I finished my journey into adulthood in Paracatu.  I love it here.  Through Rotary I’ve made friends from all over the world.  More than I could have ever imagined.  I hope one day to get to travel the world and I hope that it works out. 

            I kind of dread packing all my stuff up to travel back to the States.  My stuff has multiplied in ways I can’t fathom.  I have no idea how I amassed so many things.  But there are some things you can’t pack up.  I would love to pack my new kittens up and bring them back.  Or all my new best friends.  All the delicious food.  Certain smells.  These things can’t because they are intangible.  That’s the part of traveling that’s not so great.  Leaving a place you have come to love and call home.  At the same time its always nice to have a place you can always call home and always go back to.  My friends and family in the States have supported me through everything.  I wouldn’t trade them for anything.  Leaving for a year can really open your eyes to what is important and what isn’t.

            Lets skip to what I’ve been up to.  I ended up staying at my second house.  Woot woot.  I recently went to a concert for Henrique and Juliano.  They are semi-famous singers.  They were the Brazilian versions of country singers, so that was really interesting.  Also a few weeks ago, I went to a costume party.  That was fun.  As you all know, Brazil does not celebrate Halloween.  I know, that was really sad.  But this costume party reminded me so much of Halloween.  Everyone went all out with their costumes.  I went as a Native American Indian.  I’ll be posting pictures of both of these events later.  And this past week there was a big sporting event called, Jogos Escolares de Minas Gerais, or JEMG for short.  It was a three day long event where from 1PM until about 6:30 schools from all over MG came and competed.  My school wasn’t competing much, so I sat with kids from different schools.  Brazilians are very competitive about sports.  They take it so seriously.  My favorite Brazilian singer is coming to Paracatu in a few months, and I’m very very excited to see him perform.  His name is Naldo.  I think he is awesome.  One of my school teachers is moving, so later on this week my entire school is throwing her a party, I’ll be posting pictures of that as well.

            My life has been crazy and hectic recently.  It seems like every single day I have things to do.  I’ve finally gotten into a groove with things.  For those of you who don’t know, I got accepted into my dream school UNCW.  I think this is awesome and amazing.  I will be back in the States on the 21^st of July.  You can contact my dearest mommy, Sandra the amazing Yarbro, if you want to meet up with me J  I am really looking forward to telling everyone about my year abroad.  I also can’t wait to just hug everyone. 

I chose this song because I listen to it before I go to bed every night.  I really enjoy and the lyrics speak to me.  I can relate to feeling this way when I arrive back in the States.  The entire song just speaks to me.  I hope that everyone who reads this blog, takes the time to listen to this song.  Even if you’ve already heard it before.  It would mean a lot to me.  

Moving Day....

I’ve just finished packing up all of my belongings.  I am moving to my new house in mere hours.  Its kind of silly of me to be nervous about moving houses.  I already know my new mom.  I know where she lives and I’ve stayed at her house twice before.  I know I talked about saying goodbyes in an earlier post.  But I had to say goodbye to my best friend today, Ajay.  I only really knew him for about three weeks, which isn’t very long.  We lived close together and so we went out eating and hanging out a lot.  He left this morning to return to the Netherlands.  His dad is really sick.  And saying goodbye is hard.  I know I’ll see him again, maybe not in Brazil but somewhere.  And in a few hours I’ll be saying goodbye to my second family.  Everyone complains about having siblings, we all know its true and we’ve all done it.  But my three brothers that I have for the next few hours, I’ll really miss them.  When I was packing last night my brother Savio came in and saw my water pic thing.  He was really excited about it, so I let him try it out and stuff.  The next thing I know, he is yelling for help because he forgot to close the water thing.  I know they’ll be excited to all have their own rooms again, but I’ll miss them.  Waking up and all the crazy hecticness that happens when trying to get 4 teens moving and on track with everything is magical.  Someone almost always forgets something, someone is always in the bathroom, always eating, always being crazy and lunaticish.  But I can come back and visit them; they have told me that they expect me to return at least twice a week. 

I have about 115 more days in Brazil.  I know some people are crossing them off like Harry Potter does when he is counting down to September 1^st and to Hogwarts.  But I’m counting these days like Harry does when his third semester is ending and he has to leave Hogwarts.  Not that I would be returning and viewing the States as living with the Dursely’s.  Because the Dorsey’s suck, and I am not relating the States to the Dursely’s house.  Just to be clear.  But the time is flying by for me.  I ran out of the face wash that I brought with me from the States.  I’m no longer the new kid at school. 

I really like this song.  As it is in Portuguese, I don't know that many of you will understand it.  Its upbeat and I really like singing it.  I chose this version of it because it includes pictures that more or less explain what the lyrics are.  Its a bit like charades in song version with pictures instead of hand motions.  I've gotten really good at that game.  If anyone wants to challenge me, this is your warning.  Exchange students are the best and can kick some booty.  We spend about a month only using hand motions to communicate.... Bring it on :)

5 more months.......

So I still have about four and a half months left in Brazil.  This probably sounds like forever to people in the States, the people that I’m going to be coming back to.  To me, this seems like a week.  I’ve been here for about six months, and to me the time has flown by.  Some of the people that I’ve met I’ve known for a few days, or less, and everyone I’ve met has had an impact on who I’ll be when I return.  I know that people in the States think I’ve been gone for an eternity, but to me its going by so fast and I want time to slow down.  Everyday this month I’ve gotten up early and gone to bed late with all of the things that I’m doing.  I don’t want to leave anything out.  I want to do everything.  My return date is creeping up, closer and closer every time I check the date.  Some people pray for the time to go by fast, and yet I pray to take advantage of every opportunity that comes along.  I don’t want to go home and think, “Man, I should have hung out with this person more” or, “ I didn’t hug that person enough or tell them that I love them.”  I don’t want to go home and have these thoughts.  I want to live my life here and leave knowing that everyone knows how much they mean to me.  I may never come back.  It’s a scary thought to leave your life knowing you may never go back.  When I left the States, I knew I was coming back.  That made it easier to leave.  I think that when I leave Brazil a part of me will always be here, in my exchange year, in Brazil.  These memories that I’m making this year will follow me for the rest of my life.  My friendships will fade, as much as I hate to admit it, not all of them but a lot will.  I’ve lost contact with some people I used to see everyday, and the same thing will happen here. But family never fades.  Family is forever, through thick and thin.  I had such a large biological family in the States, a church family, and very close friends that I consider family.  These people, I could never picture myself abandoning them.  I have made family in Brazil in the same manner.  I don’t think I’ll ever forget them.  I can see myself at college, on skype yelling in Portuguese while watching soccer.  Some people you just can’t let go.  Family.  I’ll be seeing them all in less than five months, but I’ll also be leaving my family at the same time.  It’ll be harder and easier this time.  I know where I am going and I know who I am going to see there.  But it is harder in that I’m leaving people I may never see again.  I’ll know where I’m going and where I’m from.  

I love this song.  I was introduced to it while I was here, and I think its amazing.  I think about this song when I get homesick.  But home is where the heart is, and I have had so many homes here it is impossible to keep track.  My definition of home used to be wherever I had family.  Now, I view it as a place where I can go and feel loved and be comfortable.  And that is almost every place that I've been here.  

January

Its been a while, and I was talking with someone the other day and they mentioned that they would like to know some of the differences between Brazil and the US.  I know I spoke a little about this before, but as I’ve been here longer, more differences are evident.  The more time that I spend here, the more cultural differences are apparent. 

In Brazil, its understood that everyone eats rice and beans for lunch.  Its believed that if you don’t, you will get sick and that you are crazy.

In the US lunch food can be anything, its not one set thing.

During school in Brazil, its common for students to sleep and talk and be rowdy.

In the US school is a lot stricter and there are more rules that are enforced.

Driving in Brazil is crazy.  Its almost as though all the drivers drive like I do, which is very scary.  They don’t stop at stop signs, but I’ve never seen a wreck in the time that I’ve been here.

In the US drivers are aggressive and always wanting to get places.  I’ve seen wrecks often in the US, and I’ve had my fair share of driving scares.

My school in Brazil, in particular, has a uniform and other dress code rules.  We have to wear jeans with our school shirts, boys can wear shorts.  We aren’t allowed to wear flip-flops.  We can wear hats, and any kind of sweater, but girls aren’t allowed to wear shorts. 

In my high school in the US we didn’t have a uniform, but we still had a dress code.  It was easy to follow.  There were things like no hats, and no sleepwear.

In Brazil it’s incredibly hot.  Right now it’s in the rainy season, so it rain everyday in the afternoon. 

In Shelby we have different seasons, and it’s obvious that we have different types weather.

Clearly there are more differences than the ones that I have listed above.  Some of the differences I don’t notice anymore.  When anyone greets anyone, they say hello, give hugs and kisses, and ask how you are doing.  In the US we only really do that for friends and family, here we do that for everyone. 

Some things that are coming up include CARNAVAL , which starts on my birthday.  Its also the birthday of my Brazilian friend Marcos, he will be 16 and my American friend Chris Ku who will be 18.  I also will be getting my first haircut in Brazil.  I’m pretty excited about it.  I’ll post pictures of before, after, and during.  It should be an adventure. 

One of my close friends and I are going to all of the eateries here in Paracatu.  We have only been at it for about a week, and we’ve hit one of the most popular açai places, although all we got there was açai.  I’ve had their sandwiches and crepes and juices and other stuff before.  We also went to this place called Tribo do Guaraná.  This is the place with the famous pizza cones, picture is on facebook, they were delicious.  I had mine with a strawberry milkshake, which was also yummy.  





I love this song.  I think its a good representation of how exchange students start out.  We all start out in places that we are lost and don't know anything.  And its about how people change and, after being an exchange student, no one is the same.  Between stepping onto the first plane, and taking the last step off, our lives are thrown into full blown crazy.  Expectations are pointless and we change more than we will ever realize.  Going someplace without your parents, truly being alone, and growing up changes people.  Also, I just really like this song.  

Email me if you have anything you want me to answer, or just message me on facebook.

Happiness

Today someone asked me about what makes me happy and what my favorite things in the world are.  And, to be honest, it took me about 5 minutes of thinking before I even wrote down the first thing.  My list isn’t in any particular order, and it’s just what I thought of in this moment.  I’ll be the first to admit, my list has some silly things on it and it doesn’t include everything. 

1.     Harry Potter everything

2.     All cheese-related food

3.     Sleeping and cuddling and hugging

4.     Roller coasters

5.     The beach

6.     Chocolate

7.     Playing Spoons, the card game

8.     Traveling

9.     Laughing

10. My Grandparents, Bill and Carolyn Ross

If you look at my list, I’m sure it looks weird.  But, if you know me, you know that I do actually love EVERYTHING about Harry Potter.  Movies, books, songs, A Very Potter Musical, A Very Potter Sequel, A Very Potter Senior Year, and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  This one I think is self-explanatory.  The second one is about food, which naturally I love.  I seem to eat all the time, and I don’t gain any weight.  In the US I ate cheese pizza, cheese Quesada, cheese sticks, cheesecake, and string cheese.  Sometimes I would just eat plain cheese, I know it sounds gross.  And in Brazil, we have bread of cheese.  And it’s so delicious; I eat some almost every day.   I’m not sure why I grouped everything in the third section together.  Cuddling and hugging I can see being related, but sleeping really has nothing to do with those.  I left it together, because when I wrote my list earlier today that was how I wrote it.  Roller coasters.  Who doesn’t love them?  They have everything that I think is awesome.  There is suspense, fast paced action, and a sensation of flying.  They can be absolutely terrifying, but it’s totally safe.  The feeling of free falling is my favorite, and when you are on a roller coaster its hard to thing about what comes afterwards because you are so focused on the action and the jerking of the roller coaster.  I think the beach is pretty obvious.  I went to the beach a lot as a kid, and for the past few years my family has gone to the beach for vacation loads.  The only part that I don’t like is how sand gets everywhere and it seems impossible to get rid of.  I also think chocolate is obvious.  Its not very healthy, but it tastes so good.  The card game of Spoons is something that I haven’t played in a really really long time.  I can’t play it with just anybody.  If you have asked me to play with you, I probably gave an answer about how I play the Intense Spoons, not just regular Spoons.  There is a huge difference.  But every game I have played of this game has been so much fun and always results in laughing.  And speaking of laughing, that’s also another thing that brings me joy.  I love to laugh.  I’ve learned to laugh at myself, and that’s really important.  Laughing is a reminder to not take things so seriously all the time; in the end everyone is the same.  So, you might as well enjoy your time on earth.  Who wants to live a boring life without laughter?  Certainly not me.  Traveling.  Duh, of course you like traveling Emma, you are in Brazil for a year.  Duh.  I mean traveling to new parts of cities, to new places, to new ideas, and to new people.  Through traveling we discover things about ourselves that otherwise we couldn’t have.  If you knew me while I was in the US, you already know how much my Grandparents meant to me.  I spent time with them and loved it.  My Grandpa introduced me to my favorite summer camps, ARE and CCC.  My grandma has shown me how to cook and has always been there for me.  No one can imagine how much I cried when I heard the news that my grandpa died.  That was one of the hardest nights for me.  I stayed up all night and watched Up.  Which was incredibly sad, but it reminded me that he would have wanted me to love life and have fun.  Nothing can really follow the happiness that my grandparents bring me. 

The point of this is to think about what makes you happy.  It doesn’t have to be fancy things like your car or something that you think people want to hear like your job.  Different things make different people happy.  And you shouldn’t sacrifice your happiness for someone else’s.  Your happiness is something that only you can decide.  If there is anything that I have learned so far this year, it’s that only I can decide how this year is going to turn out.  It can suck or it can be awesome.  It depends solely on me.  And being happy is really important.  I know this blog doesn’t really have much to do about my adventures in Brazil.  I’m going traveling with my family soon to Patos for a few weeks before school starts.  And Carnival this year starts on my Birthday, so I’m really excited about that. 

I really like this song.  I know that its not the best, but I think it goes along with the theme of this weeks blog.  Happiness is important, and not everything is as it seems.  And you can't know true joy without having terrible things happen to you.  You need to be able to fully appreciate good things, and you can't do that without the bad.

                                   

New Years

First of all, Happy New Year’s and a Merry Christmas to all J

I spent the week of Christmas at my family’s farm.  My mom and I made cake and pao de queijo everyday.  It’s so delicious, when I return I will be making some for EVERYONE.  At the farm, I also got to hang out with my brothers, granted that they loved playing video games most of the time.  I filled my time with baking, reading, and making friendship bracelets for everyone there.  My brother Savio and I would go on walks around the farm and he would tell me about what things were and how things work.  They have so many cows, they had told me they had 300 but at first I didn’t believe it to be possible.  Having been there, I now believe it.  And if you know me, I really like cows.  I even have a dress that I call “my cow dress.”  It was really fun to get to spend a week there and get to enjoy good, quality family time.  I’ve spent the last week with my friend Mariane, from my school.  She and I used to speak English, but now we only speak Portuguese together.  I think this is so cool; it thrills me to know how far I’ve come with my Portuguese.  I still have trouble with some verbs, but its so much better and I’m excited to get even better.  The time that I’ve spent with her and her family has been really nice.  It’s always good to see how different people live.  They have a cute little dog, much like my first host family.  And we go and eat everyday at some of their other families’ houses.  The food is yummy, and everyone always wants to talk to me. 

New Year’s was terrific.  I went with my friend Lara, and my friend, Mariane, and her family to a party that most of Paracatu went to.  I saw my cousins there (My first host mother’s nieces.)  I didn’t even know that they were going to be there, but it’s been such a long time since I’ve seen them.  It was fun to get to see them and spend time with them. 

Since it’s the New Year now, lots of people are making resolutions.  I read about something a while ago that I am going to try.  I’m going to find a box this week, and decorate it.  Every time something happens that makes me happy or is insanely awesome, I’m going to write it down so next year I’ll be able to look at all of them and remember this year.  I wish this were something I had done last year too; it’s a great idea.  I love this song, and I think the Glee version is really good.  Everyone who has helped me get to where I am right now, I am so thankful and I know that there is no way that I can repay everyone.