Oi americanos!

The computer in my house is very slow but i feel blessed to be able to use it! I tried to post a blog last night and it was too slow to finish and today I am in a hurry because i am going to a friends house in about 50 minutes and believe you me it will take that entire hour to publish this blog. Brazil is everything and nothing of what i expected. Portuguese is so difficult. some words are very close to spanish, and the otehrs are no where near. It sounds very much like french, very italian, a little spanish and kind of chinese? haha its crazy. I have been learning quite a bit as how could i not? many people know english which is helpful but also makes it hard not to just speak english but i have been doing well to say `que falo?´ to ask how to say words. Okay after i arrived in sao paulo with gabriel my cute brother, i was joined by a cute cousin joaquim and a cute cousin helena haha and then we drove together through sao paulo to Tubaca, a beautiful farm outside of my city Sao Jose do Rio Pardo. It is a small city of about 60000 people and it is very very hilly with a small replica of Cristo Redemptor on the hillside above the city. I dont understand my whereabouts yet but am beginning to understand slowly. Okay, so Tubaca is the farm of the Mesquita~s grandparents who are very very wealthy-- one of th emost wealthy in the town. They have a huge huge huge hundreds of acres of coffee (cafe) and cattle. It is gorgeous as it is on a hill overlooking hte city. It is a huge mansion with many maids all in a row and just a wonderful place. I met some 30 family members all who are soo kind and so brazilian and so welcoming and many of the cousins have been on exchange to america, canada and many to germany andmany know english which is so helpful. This family reminds me of ours how kind and how well i felt i fit in? Maybe i dont but i like to think i do. haha. So we all sat around and ate great food, much meat, rice and beans and fruit and had coke and guaranlos or something, the famous brazilian soda that is much like mountain dew and i do not prefer it. i think it tastes kind of like strait alcohol? haha i dont know. So we sang and talked and watched telenovia. afterwards we had cake for teh grandfathers 67 birthday and then i joined the cousins going to Mococoa-- a city nearby about 10 miles from Tubaca and the next city from Sao Jose. We went to a party for a cousin moving to Canada. The party was great-- much music, (country music-- brazilian country music, they love it hear) and they had drinks and food. It was very fun and i met so many people--- so many people who have been on exchange it was great. One german called America Shitland because he thought iw as german too. and then i beat him up ahhhh WW3. very much joking of couse.. he felt really bad when he realized i was american as i responded in pure english WHAT DO YOU MEAN?: haha no it was all in good fun and i assume he was a few sheets to the wind or so they say. The next day, sunday, i spent with the family and then met my new host family. They are Luciena and her son Kevin and daughter Sevena. They are 15 and 12 respectively. We have spent much time together and i love them all very much- so weet. The kids know very little enlgihs so it is great to learn with them, Luciena (Lou) speaks fluent english as she lived in boston in the 1980s. we went to a friend of hers home and i liked them too and then we camehbome and slpet. (this keyboard is hard to type on... and i am in a hurry --- so descupa{sorry} for the errors) . On monday i stayed home from school and awoke when my family came home for lunch -- the big meal of the day. I then played volleyball (volley) with kevin and his friend marcello and then Lous family came over for dinner. We had pizza that was great, and coke, claro! Her family is a mother (her father died) and a brother and her brothers wife and 3 kids. Her brother lived in Portland and knows great english and her mother knows gerat enligsh too. i really really enjoyed her brotehr as he was especially helpful in teaching portuguese-- as they all are.. Sometime i learn too many words in a row and forget them all! But my vocabulary is expanding and i feel as if there is hope for me yet. :) The family lloved the aplets and cotlets i think, but i dont really like them! haha. They also really enjoyhed the book on washington and lous Brotehr read it aloud and translated as he went--- very impressive. I will do those things from portuguese to english for you when i am home. they also loved the pictures of our family.. so when i figuer out my address, anyone can send me pictures of the family-- i forgot im blogging not emailing, nevermind.
Today was my first day of school and it started at 7 where i joined 2nd years (outta 3) in their classes at the same school as my siblings and my other host mother is the director of this school. I liked it a lot--- so many nice people and everyone so excited to meet me. I am one of 2 excahnge students in the whole school-- as it is a small school and my class is only 35 in the entire grade. they are 16 or 17 and are very impressed that i can drive in america and are really excited to take me to teh discoteca. the other exchange student is from Germany on ASI. She is very cute adn very fun. So today in a little bit ia m going to a friend from schools house to hang out. I am excited. haha. The schooling was very hard- obviously as i understood nothing. They had math class-- some kind of algebra i probably wouldnt understand in english followed by physics, then a break --- then we had writing class--- and then we had math and physics again. i mostly looked at pictures of a brazilian magazine and am constantly amazed at how much it seems american culture affects adn has influence on brazilian culture. but i liked to look at the soccer pictures. My entire class had a good laugh at my portuguese in 10 minutes a day book, so i porbably will be leaving that at home from now on. School began at 7 and ended at 1230 where i came home and had lunch with LOu and the kids and lous mother. All so so kind. Which brings me to now.

I enjoy brazil so much but am missing home a little bit. Sao Jose is full of slugbugs--- the cheapest car--- and very rocky cobblestone roads. Thank you for reading. Please keep emailing even when i dont have a ton of time to email you back!! Oi Beijos! i love you all....

Katie (Kayche) is what they call me here