Goin' to the chapel, and we're gonna get married!

Alright, so I went to my "cousins" wedding on Saturday; and it was so much fun! The wedding was supposed to start at 5; which in Brazil, that is incredibly early for a wedding. My host mom was telling me that most weddings usually don't start until 8 p.m. or even later! But in true Brazilian fashion, it actually didn't start until about 5:30. :) It was such a lovely wedding. The bride, Sita, looked stunning; and the groom, Rafael, had a permanent smile on his face. The ceremony took about an hour, and then we headed to the reception around 7:00. And coincidentally enough, the bride was a Rotary exchange student to the U.S. and her host family was there. So I was able to meet some cool Americans too! It was such a fun night! From the dancing to almost catching the bouquet to the family and friends there; it made for a memorable evening! And I wish all the very best to the happy couple! :)

Lakshmi, Me, Husdon, and Teresa (Part of my family)

Helio, Me, Luciana (The other part of my family)

Some "cousins" :)

So, before I tell you what I did yesterday, I did something quite familiar and close to home on Saturday. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I was in a play! And for those of you who know me, you know that I was very involved in theatre during high school. So when I found out that my drama class was going to be putting on a play, all the memories of the previous plays and musicals I was in came rushing back; and I got so excited! So the play on Saturday was about a doctor that goes to a city and decides that everyone is crazy and should be put in the hospital; but in the end, it turns out that the doctor is the true crazy one. I played a tourist who had no idea what was going on. I think they may have just added the part for me. ;) But anyway, the play went great and everyone said I did a great job; even though I actually missed some lines, but oh well. Here in Brazil, I have a list of all the things I want to do and see during my year, and being in a play was on that list (and ironically, so was going to a wedding! Who would have thought that I'd do both in the same day!). :)

While embracing my "tourist" role, I took pictures of everything! Here are some of the photos :)



Alright, now for yesterday (Sunday). I was at Teresa and Hudson's this weekend, so yesterday morning, we went to a bazar with my grandparents. We were there for about 4 hours; and as we were leaving, a girl came up to me and asked me if I was an exchange student, and then she told me that she was an exchange student in Belgium last year! See, this is what I love about exchange; when you meet another exchange student, you have an instant connection because you both have this one thing in common and you can pretty much talk about anything. So now, I have a new friend named Izadora, and we're planning to hang out next Sunday!

And after the bazar, we had lunch and watched the soccer game. One of the teams from Minas Gerais was playing. Even though it wasn't the team that I cheer for, it was still pretty fun. I don't know if I have mentioned this either, but the team you cheer for is kind of a big deal here. You can either have life-long friends or enemies depending on which team you are. Ok, I'm kind of joking, but kind of not at the same time. Here in Minas, there are two major teams: Atlético or Cruzeiro. I myself cheer for Atlético, and yesterday Cruzeiro was playing; but I didn't mention that because I didn't want to get "booed" out of the restuarant. Yet again, kind of joking, but kind of not at the same time. :) So after lunch, we went and did some more Christmas shopping! And we didn't get home until about 11:30 p.m.!

So even though yesterday was a very full day, it was such a fun day! I had such a great weekend, filled with so many different things; and I loved every second of it! :)

Happy Monday to everyone! Have a great week! :)

Tchau!

Maggie