Back in Business (in Brasil)

Wow it has been a REALLLLY long time since I've posted a blog! So sorry! i doubt i have any readers left!!

Lets see.. a fast recap.
Thanksgiving was filled with pizza as i changed families for the first time the next day, leaving me very homesick. I survived and got out of school in early december for vacation. After a week or so in São José my host sister and I and her grandma headed back to Guarujá Beach where we stayed for a week before going to the next beach town over, Santos for another week. Our time was mostly spent watching bad brazilian MTV, taking sun, and shopping at Carre Four-- a brazilian version of Wal Mart. haha. After the beach we came back and I was able to spend Christmas wtih all 3 of my host families, all in different ways. It was really fun and weird and didnt feel like christmas at all, considering the hot temperatures and being with people I didnt knwo too well. Besides the circumstances I enjoyed it alot. Then i had a week to relax a little before New Years. New Years here is odd because we arrived at the party after the new year had rung in. It was kind of disappointing but I had fun nonetheless with the other exchangers in my city. On January 4th i met up with 4 Rotarians, Belo Brasil (brasilian travel agency) 2 big 2-story buses and 90 other exchangers were we started a month long tour of the Northeastern coast of brasil. It was probably the best month in brasil so far. i Loved it and miss it dearly. We spent about 3 days in each city, not to mention endless hours on the bus as we drove about 10000 km all together to reach our 11 destinations. We started in Paraty, then went to Rio de Janeiro, a city i loved so much I'm going back in March when my mom and brother come visit me down hurr. I loved Rio and the beaches and the beautiful people--- then we headed to Porto Seguro where my big toe was infected and tehy had to pull it off! OUCH but its all good now. THen we went on to Itacaré everyones very favorite little tiny dirt road beach town where we spent a day at 4 dif beaches, all practically deserted and themost beautiful places ive ever seen in my life. It was breathtaking and soooo fun. We spent nights wandering the streets bargaining with the locals and went on a rafting trip as well. it was excellent. Next we went inland to Lençoís where we did a lot of hiking and saw many waterfalls and a cave. Then we went to Salvador, the most popular city in the northeast. it was gorgeous there and i reallllly love the people. Then we went to Recife, worldwide known for it shark attacks-- needless to say we didnt do a lot of swimming--- then we went to Natal-- it was great and our hotel was riiiight on the beach. it was gorgeous. next we went to Jericoacoara and did some sand buggying. it was reallly fun. Then we went to Fortaleza, did more Buggying, ski-bunda, which islike sleddingon your butt on the sad into a lake, and then we rode horses on th ebeach and got massages. it was greattttttt. pure heaven. then we took a plane to Brasilia, Brasil's capitol. then we said our goodbyes. :(
Now im back in sao Jose back in school and anxiously awaiting CARNAVAL which starts Friday! im sooo excited!!!!!

Well i hope thats a good enough catchup. Stay tuned to hear about Carnaval!!!!!!!!!!

beijos always.
<3 Katie

Brasileira Birthday Bash

I promise I'm not ignoring my blog, even though it looks like I am! So sorry!
My time in Brazil is going quickly and it's going very well. I had an awesome, very different birthday and my family and friends both here and in the US made me feel very special haha. My birthday was Oct. 20th and it was a really fun day. My classmates and I traveled to another, larger city called Riberao Preto for a college fair and then we went shopping at a big mall where we ate a lot of pizza and ice cream and we went to this American import store and we all bought a lot of chocolate. I had a reallly good time! When we got home that night I spent some time onthe phone with my family and opened the package mymom sent(thanks mom) and then i met some friends at the disco where we had a really good time. I came home around 3am and slept only a couple hours before i got up around 5am to catch a bus to Sao Joao do Boa Vista to meet some other exchangers and then travel farther to Campinas, a big city where we met some more exchangers to take our first portuguese test. dun dun dun. The test went pretty well; the written portion was fairly difficult as i kept trying to write everything in spanish-- whoops-- but the oral portion was a breeze and i got a kick out of the woman evaluating us asking me if i was a cheerlearder inthe states. haha. The rest of the day, we exchangers went to a really big mall, the 2nd largest in south america, where we ate a lot more pizza, more ice cream and just hugnout. It was really fun and it was great to see that all of the exchangers can now speak to each other with much more ease as we are beginning to pick up portuguese. Before, when we all go together, we were kind of divided between Asians, Latinos and European/Americans because of the language barriers. However, this time we were all able to speak to each other, making it a lot offun. I really like speaking with exchange students because they dont speak 100 miles perhour! haha
At the end of the day i took a bus home and just slept.. On sunday, my family had a big birthday party for me at the athletic club where we swam (first time ever to swimon my birthday) and had a big Shohashko--- brazilian bbq where the best food ever is eaten! haha It was a really good birthday.

Not tooo much else has been goign on. Just going to school and reading a lot of english books my mom's been sending. I hang out wtih my friends a lot and have been trying to work out a lot and i really want to play soccer, gosh! haha I think maybe this week, or next week. We dont have school on Thursday and Friday because of a holiday but i think i'll jsut stick around town or maybe make it up to Sao Joao do Boa vista to see some exchangers-- but probably not. haha.

This last weekend I went to a halloween camp with some other exchangers and the english school, PBF, in my city where i hang out. We went camping at a little camp ground thing and it was really fun! There were like 40 of us campers, mostly really little kids, and the idea of the camp was to practice english and celebrate Halloween because Halloween in Brazil is not a big deal--- and merely considered an American holiday. The camp was a lot of fun, we ate a lot, played alot of games, swam and just enjoyed the nice weather. I had a realy good time getting to know a few other exchanges from my city that i hadnt previously spent much time with. We also had a halloween party, of course, and i dressed up like a brazilian soccer player because im really original. haha. It was pretty fun and the food was good so of course i liked it! I didnt get a lot of sleep though so i spent most of yesterday (sunday) catching up and then today actually, we dont have school because people are ust working on the Science fair which is tomorrow, but i dont go to meeting because the only ting i have to do for the science fair presentation is give a short talk about Terrorism in america. I've already written it and so i just need to practice it now. The science fair is more like a Fair fair becuase none of the topics are really related to science-- which i find odd but thats okay. haha

I really havent been up to too much--- just enjoying myself and learning the language more and more. Today, maybe later i might play some basketball and then go to an aerobics class. I dont have many plans for the rest of the week besides going to teh science fair so I'm looking forward to reading Harry Potter #4 and catching up on my Novelas haha.

I'll try to stay in better touch from now on----
thanks for reading.
Beijos!

When in Rome...

Well hello!

I recovered from my tonsilitis (spelling?) on Saturday with enough time to enjoy a normal saturday night - a relief to all, i am sure. I dont know what hit me last week but i was very sick and stayed at home all day and watched random american movies on tv and watched a few that mymom rented and just did a lot of nothing. I went to the doctor though, and he gave me some antibiotics and so I was better in no time. This week is another short week at school because Brazilians sure do know how to have long weekends..... 3 is just not enough so seems like we always have 4 day weekends! horray! this means that i dont have school tomorrow or friday. Im disappointed that i couldnt escape to the beach for my small break but am actually looking forward to some good fun in town with friends and shopping and the works. I may also be going to a concert festival on saturday with my mom and herboyfriend but am not clear on the details yet. On Monday i started off the week on the wrong foot when i chose to take part in a dance class. This dance class was a special one as it was the 2nd of many classes the girls from my school will take part in to prepare for our Science Fair that apparently includes more than just science! we will perform some random hiphop/modern dances along with many other girls from school for the parents later, at the end of this month.. Now if you know me very well you know that i am one fantastic dancer (oh wait) and so this class came natually. and by naturally i was like not on count and didnt know the steps and felt very very stupid--- but thats not new to me as mcuh of my time in brazil is spent wearing the wrong thing, doin gthe wrong ting speaking the wrong thing-- so it was nothing new! haha it was a lot alot of fun and my other exchange friend is doing it as well and we are seeing it as something we'd neverrrrrrrr do back home so we will do here! haha I was actually able to get the dance down for the most part by the end of the class--- but i still was kind of off... i think its bcause i didnt understand the teacher and had to do everything based on watching the other girls which puts me a step or two behind them. It was really fun thougha nd i felt like it was a dream come true as when i was in like 6th or 7th grade--- when Center Stage was popular (maybe just to me and Kerry) i watned to be a ballerina. so there i go, one step closer. haha

I had a great bonding moment with my family yesterday when i gave them gifts id brought from Yakima that i hadnt given them. They reallllly liked them and realllly love Chukkar Cherries! whew! and so itw as lot of hugging and kissing and it made me realy happy. so horray for that.

Later today I will go to my school to watch some playoff games of soccer, basketball handball and the likes, yet im not sure if i will be playing or not. it should be fun though, and then later after that i think i will go to the cinema because movies are in english.. yessss.

Portuguese continues to be the hardest thing about Brazil but i feel like im understanding a lot more and can speak okay---- but i still have a hard time with questions and when people say too much too fast.... so i guess i still have al ot of problems but have been feeling pretty good about it lately. I also juuuust found out i have a portuguese test put on by rotary later this month. Whyyyyyy are they doing this??? I seriously think its a bad idea--- its not like thee xchange students are trying not to learn we all just learn at differetn paces and to test us like we are all the same is kind of stupid. BOOO im just worried because ill probably fail! but what can you d0--- whatre they gonan do --- send me home? NO haha or will they give me a teacher--- okay good because i want one! haha

whew anyways

Its time to go.. Im at an internet cafe again because a thunder storm knocked out the internet at my house :(

beijos, thanks for reading!
Katie

For some crazy reason...

... my right tonsil is ridiculously swollen and the right side of my ribcage is bruised... WHATS HAPPENING???? hahaha

Seriously.. strange problems down hurr in Brasil. Either way, I stayed home after lunch and have just been catching up on my computer habits and am chatting with an aussie as we speak, a fellow inbounder/intercambista who always thinks im canadian so i always ask if hes from new zealand and he seems to understand the difference. haha. Anyways...


yesterday brasil voted for president, governor, senator and ect. As far as I can tell, Lula didn't outrightly win the primarys--- so there will be another election which brasil will be so happy to have! Even if he still wins the elections when we vote again in November, i believe, he will get the picture that Brasil is unhappy with the (little) progress he has made after promising so many things for so long. Apparently, Lula never went to college, and he basically gets the brazilian vote from the poorest people because he gives them a lot of money (instead of jobs) so that they can keep surviving in the poorest parts of the country. I had this whole conversation with my mom last night.. and its really interesting because i think the more i learn about Brasil, the more i learn about America in comparison. Another interesting fact about Brazilian voting is that it works like this: when you are 16 you can vote, but when you turn 18 you HAVE to vote.. That idea is crazy to me. Other news in Brasil.. im sure you all read or saw on tv about the plane crash in the amazon. Soooo awful!


Today, school went well as i was able to recount the weekend with my friends which includes mostly a lot of giggling--- its really entertaining. My weekend went really well and I had a reallllly great time at my cousins birthday party!

Well, i need to be givin the computer to my broham now...
Hope all's well!
Take Care,

beijos,
Katie

Countdown to summer vacation: 2 months... sigh

Hello everybody!

Wow, so sorry for not blogging--- i always put it off because it takes the longest... but today I will do it!

Things in Sao Jose are going pretty well. Life is life; normal with a tedious routine of school, lunch, athletic club, lan house (internet cafe), eating, showering, sleeping. Repeat. School is so dull, and it's probably the hardest part of my day because it makes me miss home the most as I sit reading a book (in english you know) and think about Eisenhower and long for any class in english where i can participate and feel accomplished to soooome degree. School also really makes me miss my friends. But at the same time, school gets better each week as i learn to speak more withmy classmates...

Going to the athletic club makes me sound like im workin out all the time--- buuut im not. i spend a lot of time there, but my friends and i are lazy so we dont do too much. but i guess its better than nothing. I played tennis again finally, after having not played for like 3 weeks,.... and then i broke a string. :( and it costs $R2o to fix so I'm bummed about that, considering i still havent gotten my money from myrotary club! oops! The good part of breakin my racket was having this very handsome guy say, in english, "too hard" and pointing ot my racket. i was so shocked he knew any english i couldnt respond, just let my jaw hang open. this guy is someone my friend and i always talk about as being so good lookin and we always are speaking english in front of him in thefitness center but hes never said a word to me more than Oi. haha. well it was a big deal to me... haha

So since my last blog i've realy just been hanging out. Well, one sunday my family and I went to a nearby city where we did this thing where they tie you up to ropes and stuff and you lower yourself down through a waterfall to the bottom of a cannon, about 80 meters, or 300 ft. it was scary as hell but soooo fun with an amazing view. the following weekend we had a Rotary retreat thing in a city called Holambra. Holambra is a holland-inspired tourist locale where people come to see what holland is apparently like. it reminds me of what i would imagine Levenworth, Washington to be like, but i haven tbeeenthere os i dont know exactly. But , the main attraction of Holambra is the flowers. it is a huge garden with flowers everywhere and it was so so beautiful, somethingmy mom, grandma and paul and barbara and i guess a lot of our family would realllly appreicate. it was so fun to be with the other exchange students. oooh i love most the exchangers--- so fun! I spent my day with a girl from Czech and a gril from Swedin. I really wish i had more exchangers in my city!! This weekend Im goin to Mococa, a city nearby for my cousins birthday party--- so im really excited to see the cousins and to meet some more people i cant really speak with. yay. haha

Portuguese is getting better. I speak pretty poorly but im really trying to practice.. I can follow conversations for the most part until they are directed at me and then i slightly freak out and babble something that i usually regret. Everyone thinks i dont need classes so i guess ill just continue to battle it out. However i went to an english school yesterday because someone from Rotary told me to go there and help, andi met some realllllyy cool and fun brazilians who are fluent in english! i had a greattttt time there! they are realllly funny and were sooo interested in america and my view on things and speaking with me. They offered to help me with my portuguese anytime I need it, so i will probably be taking them up on that offer next week.

Its been pretty hot lately, and so yesterday Jenny(germany), Pri(brasil) and I (EUA.. estados unidos americano.. cool huh) spent the afternoon by the pool at the club. Its a really pretty two level pool with a REALLLY high high dive. Pri and i mustered up the courage to jump fromthe high dive with a bunch of boys from school and it was sooooo fun. It was crazy because you have sooo much time to just hang out in the air and wait to hit the water. The first time i jumped i yelled DESCULPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! reallllllly louddddd. and screamed. later i felt really stupid because desculpe is the word for Sorry. Why i chose this word in mid air i dont know. haha. the second time i jumped i more or less lost my top and decided not to go again that day. haha.


My bad hair cut is beginning to grow out--- but reallllly slowly, and quite oddly. so thats good.

In other news, i received two packages last week.. one from my momma and one from aunt amy and i was soooooooo happy to get both. my mom sent me M&Ms, an expensive treat hear if you can find them, so i have been hoarding themin my room not wanting to share. haha.

Im looking forward to going to Sao Paulo in October for another rotary get together, as well as Riberao Preto, a biigg city (found on maps so you should look!) northeast of my town for a career fair at aunversity. Im not especially interested in brazilian careers, but the field trip is on my birthday, my classmates are all going, it was only $R12, you get free-dress, and just the 2 oldest classes in school are going, adn we are going to go shopping and when we getback, its a friday, were going to have a festa (party) for my birthday! yay!!!!!!!!! brigaderos for everyone!! A brigadero is a chocolate bite-size candy eaten on birthdays that is similar to a ball of frosting. i love them and can eat like 20 of them in liek 5 minutes. did i mention ive gained 5 pounds? haha

Other things im looking forward to is going to Sao Paulo 2 times in November for 2 soccer games! yayyyyyyy! im sooo excited. Pri's dad is a futebol referee, and he just ref'd a game in Sao paulo, a huge rivalry, and he gave someone a red card and now the Sao Paulo paper is calling their house asking for an interview! craaazy. Just to put it into perspective.. the soccer league we watch is professional and can be compared to American football. or NBA or MLB or anything that americans are obsessed with sports wise. its really fun. and im learning more and more that although some of the players from the national team go to europe to play--- the people who play here are just as good. its awesme.

and then in december i get to go to the beach for 10 days with Pri and her grandma and probably my family too! yayy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! everyday i wish we were going to the beach. haha. and then in January im going to the northeast for a month to see all the best beaches in brasil, where the weather can reach up to 115 degrees! ay caramba! and then april i hope to go the amazon for 10 days. yay. thining about these things make school bearable knowing ill spend a month at the beach.haha.

well, id love to get emails with questions or anything else. Not sure what elseim leaving out.... I really like brasil. the people are amazing and the foods great imjust trying to stay busy aand trying to learn to speak.
thanks for reading. miss you all so much.

beijos,
Katie

Vamos para priar!

Wow, its been forever since Ive posted a blog! My apologies! Things are going well, Im staying busy and learning more and more each day. Lets see, last I wrote i was planning on going to Sao Paulo with my fam for a wedding, so Ill start there.

Sao Paulo with the family was really fun. We ate at an athletic club that has over 80000 members! SO MANY PEOPLE! hahah i was in shock! After we ate, I did somethign totally crazy. First of all, let me just warn everyone--- if you are living in Brasil, Portugal or any other portuguese speaking country--- and you dont actually know how to speak that language-- you reallllly shouldnt get a hair cut! What was I thinking? I mimed my way to REALLY short bangs and i lost about 3-4 inches off my hair hair. GAHHHH how awful! my bangs are starting to grow out but for the most part it is jsut not a cute look. My best friend here, Pri, told me that i was lucky Im not ugly or the hair cut combined with my looks would be catastrophic. I guess i took that as a compliment? haha. After the hair cut, I went with my family to a comedy play where I understood very little of what was actually being said but still laughed really hard-- i gues theyre really good actors when they can make you laugh at their actions and facial expressions alone. The next day I went to a wedding. It was pretty small, but the family is huge because my host father has like 12 siblings so there were like 30 first cousins! ahh so many people to meet! My host mom was like "im going to introduce you to people now and you wont rememebr their name tomorrow".. or try 5 minute later. I had a good time tho, and the dancing was pretty dang fun as well. Brazilians throw a great party-- thats for sure. The food was also very good. The reception was in a beaaautiful building that was just recently built and the view was very pretty.
So that wa smy weekend in sao paulo--- slightly crazy!

Since then I've been enjoying myself here in Sao Jose where I pretty mcuh know my way around.. at least to eh ice cream shop! My friends and i like to go shopping-- but its more like browsing because the clothes are expensive and Im not ready to dish out the big bucks for some clothes i dont really know if they wear yet. I went to the discoteca for the frist time t00.. which was really quite the experience. It was more like a bar,, it was really loud, i cant understand portuguese and i dont especially like 30 year old guys grabbing my hand saying something in portuguese. the whole night my german friend and i battled the guys and it was slightly exhausting. Overall, i dint really enjoy the experience too much--- but i think thats because no one from school was there. Im going there again tomorrow night i think-- but this time ill probably go with more friends so i think well have a better time.

School drags on but Ive had a lot of opportunity to read-- mostly babysitter club books tho, because thats all my school has, ahah for the most part. I also read Tom Sawyer, but it was the simplified version, whatever taht means, thus it wasnt as good as it probably could have been. I really like my classmates and friends at school but it is soooo boring. today i slept for like 3 hours. gaaah. I do anything to stay awake but ran out of gum so yeah. haha. It makes me apprecite school at Ike more, because even tho i complained so much about Ike and classes, they are way better than here! I successfully entertain my classmatesby trying to speak portugues and by relaying messages back and forth between friends.. i think im mostly saying bad things but its still pretty funny and i appreciate that they talk to me! haha.

Last weekend i had the joyous pleasure of going to the beach for Brazilian Independence day--- take that portuguese! yessss... We went south to Guarujá, which is about 1.5 hours south of Sao Paulo--- a whopping 5 hours from my city. Ooooh i looooved every minute of the beach! It was my host mom, my grandma, my best friend Pri and Pri's grandma. We had such a great time. We stayed in my grandmas apartment, just a block from the beach. We were there from Thursday to Sunday. Pri and I had so much fun. I forgot ot mention i bought a brazilian bikini before i went and boy is it small. Pri liked to help me wear it by pulling it up my butt haha saying it needed to be higher. ahhh sooo high! Pri called me "bunda branco" which is white butt and i called her "bunda gostaza" which is like, big butt. haha. We spent the mornings laying in the sun or walking on the beach and spent the afternoons at little shops along the water. I drank alot of coconut water (the best thing ever) and i even got a tatoo! a HENNa tattoo that isss.. so its almost gone now. Its pretty tho, its of a flower on my right hip bone. haha. it was only 5 reals so i couldnt resist. my mom got a tat on her back too. it was fun. The people watching at the beach was so good it rivaled the gorge, id say! There were many many pretty boys as well. muahah

On thursday night we had quite the experience when our car was towed! A few hours later and a hundred reals later we had the car back. too bad it was pretty damaged by the towtruck and my family was really angry. they kept saying "this is brazil, katie, this is brazil" talking about how complicated it was to get the car back and how there is basically no way we can get the car damage paid for. it was a major bummer but it taught us to watch where we park!

On both Friday and Saturday night Pri, my mom and I hit the local bars/discotecas! both nights we went to a place that is a whole bunch of restaurants in one small area.. kind of reminded me of a fair becaus there were restaurants but the seating was only outside and there was alwalkway in between and loits and lots of people. and one bar had a dancefloor. so on friday after getting nachos at the mexican food restaurant we went dancing kind of at the other bar. it was really fun and we made friends with a few gjuys who spoke english. the one guy who spoke english realy well was pretty fun and cute so it was a pretty good time.. On saturday we had a much better time. We went back tot he same place and the same guy from the previous night got us into the good dancing bar without having to wait the 40 minutes for a reservation. Pri and i had a good time trying to find cute boys to hang out with. which was easy as we were pretty well surrounded. haha. I eventually found a cute guy named Diego who might be my husband. haha. Hes very cute a futebol player who lives at the beach. very very very beautiful. too bad he doesnt speak englihs. oh well! We had so much fun at the beach and ate so much we both gained 2 kilos (4 pounds) and got a tan and gosh, i just had a great time i didnt want to leave and i miss it so much!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha

This week has gone so slow since the beach but tomorrow is my sisters bday so we are going to celebrate and then saturday i might be traveling with rotary and on sunday we are celebrating her birhtday again with family and then on monday my friend jenny from germany is having her birthday! whew so many birthdays means sooo much cake! i cant wait!

I went to my frist rotary meeting last night and the peopel were so sweet and welcoming. The club is tiny as tehre were only like 12 peopel in attendence! oh well!

Well this is my update...
i had a harder time earlier this week what with 9-11 (being here was very very weird) and i dunno just kind of a crappy beginning of the week when i was really really missing home but im feeeling better today and am really happy tomorrow is friday!!!!

i miss yak and the usa so much but am liking things here very well overall.

thanks for reading. Beijos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (love you fam!)

Internet cafe: Godsend

Oi todos!!

Things are continuing to go well, although i am realizing i am forgetting the english i once knew-- grammar and spelling i mean! oh well! Thins in Sao Jose are going well. I am staying busy, spending a lot of this week and the athletic club in our city with friends either playing tennis, futesol or doing aerobic classes. My friend Jenny from Germany and I quickly found we stood out far too much thsu today we hit the stores looking for spandex pants. thats right, in brasil all females wear spandex to work out in. its not a pretty sight. i mean-- they all look fine, and its so normal here, but on me? its not pretty. So today jenny and i found some really cool, (really cheap) spandex so that we stand out less. I think it will work. But they are really tight. they are actually pretty comfortable. My uniform pants also came in, but they arent the ones i thought i would get, most of the girls wear looser warm up pants, but mine are the spandexy ones also. its like living in the 80s but im enjoying it because maybe ill come back to the USA and start a new/old trend! haha. My red soccer shorts are soo masculine at the club! haha. School is still school. A teacher showed me a drawer full of books in english in the library and thus so far i have read 2 babysitter club books. yay. hah they are really entertaining and easy reading.The books i the drawer are so random but there are a few that i will probably read in the next few days. I send some mail home to the states today, so my family should be looking for that in... 3 weeks? i have no idea how long it will take, actually! It was quite the process tho, because apparently no one has envelopes so i had to go to a special shop to get enveloopes then to the post office and had to use glue to close them. quite the ordeal. haha. oh well. its fine. ta bom. The language is okay. its really hard an slightly frustrating. but i take refuge in knowing that ive only been here for barely 2 weeks and that things will get better. I understand a few things and have asked that my friends and host famly only speak in portugues to me from now on. its going okay. im not really a quiet person but the situation here has forced me to become one. when i find someone who speaks english as their first language i have a hay day. there is a boy in sao jose from south africa but i cant hardly understand him between his accent andmumbling and then my german friend is not completely fluent. but its all good. Im goign to sao paulo on saturday with the mesquita host family for a wedding and i am really excited. but before that on friday night im goign to the local discoteca for a smashing time, i hope. i ve never bee to one, anywhere. the closest is a dance at ike. but i dont think that compares. Next week i look forward to seeing my friend Kuba from Poland who lives a town over. He will probably come visit or I will go to see him and then next weekend we have a rotary meeting function for just local exchangers, i think there rae 8 of us in my area. im really excited. Today while i was shopping i also bought a new notebook to match the other kids at school and some pencis and colored pencils, hoorray! yesterday i got some haivaiana flip flops too. the most popular thing in brasil, besides soccer id say. they are pretty cheap for american dollars as well. oen pair is actually a ronaldo pair with his number and brasilian colors. eu gosto! i like! haha. well im in an internet cafe and im down to ust only a few minutes. things here are good... the days are long but im staying busy and am really trying hard with the language so i stop feeling so stupid. haha. hope all is well with everyone else, i miss everyone so much!!!!!!!!!!


by the way, the weather here is quite cold between 8 at night and 11 in the morning. but i survive and look forward to summer, kinda, except the humidity! haha

beijos!
Katie!