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.