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

Woo! Survived my first big holiday!

Alright, for starters, I want to wish everyone a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving (even if it is a couple days late:))! I know for me, I have an endless list of all the things that I am thankful for.

When I went to school, all of my friends that knew it was a holiday eagerly wished me a happy Thanksgiving; and then for a good part of the day we talked about all the food that we eat and the traditions we have in the U.S. on Thanksgiving. It was such a good day at school, and it made me realize how lucky I am to have such awesome friends here in Brazil. :)

Then, after school, to bring a little bit of Thanksgiving culture to Brazil, I made my first ever apple pie! I was kind of nervous about making it, because this was the first thing I made my family. But luckily, after about three hours of chopping, mixing, and baking, I successfully made a delicious apple pie! :) And now, I have been ordered to make one for Christmas too! :)

So while the apple pie was cooling, I skpyed with my family. I knew from the beginning that seeing them would be a little tough, but I was more than willing to shed a few tears just to see my wonderful family for a bit. It started off really great! Seeing everyone at my grandma's house; talking with my aunts, uncles, and cousins was so nice and I loved every second. But then, once it was time for them to go eat dinner, I could feel my chin start to quiver and tears welling up in my eyes. As I said goodbye to my mom and sister, they said, "Know that we are so thankful for you and we love you so much! We'll toast to you at dinner! Don't cry; enjoy the rest of your day and I am sure the apple pie will be delicious!" By this point, the tears were slowly rolling down my cheeks, and after a very quick and cracked "Goodbye. I love you all so much too." I quickly hungup and let it out! It really is amazing how much better you feel after a good cry and some chocolate. Afterwards, I headed downstairs for dinner, even though my eyes were puffy and I couldn't really talk without starting to cry; however, when my host mom, Lu, saw me she gave me a hug and later told me how thankful they were to have me in their house. But really, I think it's pretty obvious that I'm the lucky one here. My family here, both sides I might add, is absolutely amazing; and I can't even begin to describe how fortunate I am to be living with them! So after a delicious dinner and eating the pie, I was ready to call it a night.

Sure, my Thanksgiving this year didn't have a turkey or I didn't go shopping on "Black Friday", but I did have a lovely dinner with my family, and time to really think about what this holiday means and how incredibly thankful I am for all the wonderful things in my lfe.

So thank you to all of my family and friends, both here in Brasil and in the U.S., you've helped make me the person I am today; and I am so fortunate to have you all in my life! And thank you to Rotary! This has been the greatest experience, and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for all the hard work that you Rotarians do! :)

And now, it's almost one in the morning here. I just got back from a wedding, and I am exhausted! But don't worry, I'll write about the wedding and what I did today after a goodnight's sleep!

Boa noite!

Maggie

It's November? But I'm still wearing shorts!

Oi gente! :)

I've been here for three months already! It still amazes me how fast this is going! And I realize that I'm not very good at keeping this updated on a weekly basis, but I'm trying my hardest!

Here is what I've been up to for the past couple weeks...

The weekend before last (the 4th-the 6th of November), I helped with a music festival! One of my host fathers, Hudson, has a music school and his music school put on a music festival/competition. The type of music that was played is called "choro". Choro means "cry", so when you listen to this music, you are supposed to be moved to tears of joy. And I can't say that I cried during the weekend due to the music, but I did have an absolutely great time listening to this beautiful style of music. My friend Abi helped with it too; so for the weekend we took pictures of the event, but usually just ended up dancing in the back of the theatre. It was such a fun experience and something I will remember forever, especially because I've got a new genre of music to listen too. :)

During the weekend, I also had my first dream in Portuguese!! Although it was a nightmare, it was still pretty cool that it was in Portuguese. I'm definitely feeling myself improve everyday with the language. My host family pretty much only talks to me in Portuguese now, and I actually understand about 75% of it. After three months, I don't think that's too shabby.

Alright, now fast forward to this most recent weekend. The previous week, I wasn't feeling very good. I won't get into details about that, but it was enough for my host dad, Helio (who is an accupuncturist) to ask me if I wanted to try accupunture to try and solve my problem. "Why not?" I thought. So I had a wild and crazy Friday night filled with accupuncture and sleep! And I actually woke up on Saturday feeling 10 times better and ready for what was next.

On Saturday, I had a Rotary Christmas party! It was so early because some of the exchange students are going to the Northeast part of Brazil for a month long trip next week, and there would have been no other time for it. So Saturday, all of us exchangers (outbounds too) got together at our exchange coordinator's holiday house. It was such a fun day, and I wish I could have spent more time with these amazing people! While there though, I actually met a Rotarian who has been to Wenatchee!! He did an exchange to Seattle and had family in Wenatchee. And for part of the afternoon we talked about all the things at home; like the Apple Blossom Festival, or our favorite parts of Seattle. I definitely never thought that I would meet someone here who not only heard of Wenatchee, but has been there! It got me thinking about no matter how huge our world is, it's still small. :)

Then on Sunday, I went to Michelle's family's farm with Chiara (a girl from Germany) and Michelle's host parents. We had another holiday on Tuesday, and no school on Monday; so we stayed at their farm until Tuesday. We spent the days there relaxing, walking around the farm, and going to the nearby town and getting icecream. My host mom, Luciana likes to tell me that I have quite the spectrum of farms now. Because unlike the other farm I've been too, this farm had electricty and modern appliances. But I like to say that I've had to different experiences that were equally good!

This past week has been really good. I skyped with my parents on Wednesday (it was my dad's birthday on Monday). So I had to wait until Wednesday to tell him "happy birthday". By the way, happy birthday to the best dad any girl could ask for! I love you so much dad! Thank you for everything!

And last night, I went to Luciana's other school that she teaches at to talk to the students. And for many of them, I was the first American they have met and the first native English speaker that they have spoken with. I got some interesting questions though. Things like, "Do you have English classes in the U.S.?", or "Do you eat McDonalds everyday in the U.S.?" And I found it funny that every class asked me if I had a boyfriend. I had a really good time, and I look forward to going back and visiting them again! :)

I can't believe that it is already the middle of November. It most definitely does not feel like November here.
I don't feel quite right wearing shorts and a t-shirt to school; and seeing Christmas decorations on every corner now doesn't feel real either. And although, Brazil won't be celebrating Thanksgiving next week, I plan on baking some apple pies and sharing a bit of American culture with my family and friends here! Now, I just need to learn how to make an apple pie...

Tchau for now!

A vida e boa! :)

Maggie

So not a whole lot of new news, but who cares? I'm still in Brazil! :)

Oi Gente! :)

So last Friday and Monday were dress up days at my school! Halloween isn't very big in Brazil, but it's popular at my school; so they let only my class (the final year) dress up in costumes. Friday we had to dress up as some sort of character. I went as Captain America! Mainly because I needed something last-minute and all I had was an American flag. :) Then on Monday we had to dress up as monsters. About two thirds of my class went as zombies, myself included. We kept with a trick-or-treat theme as my classmates told the other students of the school to bring candy or we would definitley play tricks on them. By the end of the day, we had a lot of candy, but many students were also covered in silly string and their hair was painted (don't worry, it washed out :)). Even though my Halloween this year didn't have jack-o-laterns or candy corn, it was still a really fun day. It did make me miss home a bit as the thought of not being home for the holidays crossed my mind a few times. But it's ok, I'm still in Brazil. :) And I'll be spending my holidays with some pretty great people!

The rest of my weekend was good! On Firday night after hanging out with some friends, I took a taxi home for the first time by myself. I even gave the taxi driver directions! To some that may sound like nothing, but when you are learning a language, it's kind of a big deal. At least for me it was! After only being here about 2 1/2 months, I felt pretty proud about that :) Then on Saturday I went to a friends birthday party; and Sunday I went to a bridal shower. My host father's newphew is getting married in November. It was a nice party, and actually kind of similar to the ones in the U.S.

Today is another holiday in Brazil. I swear, it seems like there is a holiday almost every week here. Today is Dia de Finados (All Souls Day), so I don't have school today either! And last night, I went to a churassco with Abi and Michelle and some of Abi's school friends. All of her friends are really cool people. :)

Oh, I almost forgot! I met my next host family too! They are very nice and I look forward to living with them. I went to their house to meet them, and it was also my next host dad's birthday. So that was fun being able to celebrate with them. I met new aunts and uncles and cousins too! Yet again, I think I hit the host family jackpot. I'll be moving into their house at the end of January. :)

I think that's all for now. Like I said, not a whole lot has happened, but that it perfectly ok. I feel like I have finally adapted to living here and these past few months have been great!

Bejos,

Maggie

No way?!?!

I have been in Brazil for two months!!!!!! It really doesn't seem like that is possible! One minute I am stepping off the plane, and the next I am walking around the city and acutally knowing where I am, speaking fluent Portuguese. (Just kidding about the Portuguese...I'm definitely not fluent yet!) :) I have loved these past few months. And each day I feel so lucky to be here.

Here is my last few months in numbers :)

1.5 journals filled (I think I have enough material to write a book when I get back ;))

2 pairs of Havaianas purchased

2 pairs of new Brazilian high heels

About 2 kilos gained :/...however, my explanation is that in about 9 months I won't be eating this delicious food everyday....so I need to stock up now :)

716 pictures taken

6 Musuems/art galleries visited (thanks to my wonderful grandparents here. After almost every Rotary meeting, the three of us go to one)

Countless memories made :)

and....

1 extremely happy exchange student who has loved being here and looks forward to the next 9 months. :)

Just a quick update of what I have done these past couple days. On the 11th, I went to a jazz bar with my host parents and sister and some of their friends. It was a lot of fun! As we were walking in, I could hear the song "The Way You Look Tonight" (one of my all time favorites I might add), and from that point on, I knew that I would really like this place. The rest of the evening was filled with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and a couple Beatles songs. I think my family was a little surprised as I knew almost all the words to all the songs. I definitley want to go back. :) Then yesterday, more people came over to the house for another "jam session". Yesterday was a holiday (Children's day), so we had the day off, and I have today and tomorrow off of school too! Yet again, it was another fun afternoon filled with good music, good food, and fun people. Later that night, Lakshmi (my sister) let me go out with her to celebrate a friend of her's birthday. And although we didn't get back home at 5 a.m. like the last time I went out (thank God!), I had a really good time!

Life is good :)

Bejos,

Maggie

Indians, Hospitals and Clubbing...just a normal week in Brasil :)

Oi Gente!! (Hey everyone) :)

Alright, so experiencing native Indians, indian Hospitals and going clubbing is the farthest thing from a normal week here, but it is exactly what I encountered this past one.

The Indians...

I went with my school to a native Indian tribe in the state that I am in. We stayed with the Pataxos Indians for four days. We went at the time of their "Festa Das Aguas" (Water Party). It was so cool to be immersed into this tribe and see their way of life and rituals. One of their rituals, I might add, is a "purifying ritual" that all of us students got to experience. It's supposed to represent your spirit being cleansed. Which brings me to the first day...On Wednesday we left Belo Horizonte at 6 in the morning, and got to the tribe around 11, looked around a bit, watched some dances, had lunch, and then the celebration began! It started off with games, a wrestling match to be precise. A person would choose two people to go into the circle and whoever knocked down the bottle that was in the center first, lost. It began with men only and then they were choosing women. And was I chosen? You betcha. I think it's because they could see that I'm not from Brasil. :) I had to wrestle a girl probably about 15 years old; and as embarrassing as it to say, I lost within about a minute.

Then before I knew it, a women had literally jumped on my back, threw mud at me, and then threw me into the mud pit. And thus, this unique "purifying" ritual had begun. Everyone was throwing mud at each other, and getting absolutely filthy. And by this point, it was also pouring down rain. Then, the cleansing began as a guy picked me up and tossed me into a lake. It was freezing!!! It was the first time in Brasil (and I am pretty sure the only time) that I actually was able to see my breath. And once I was in the water, I dared not going out because there was a pretty good chance that I would get covered in mud again, and tossed right back in to the freezing "cleansing pool". So after about a 20 minute mud fight, it was safe to get out of the water. Yet still, I was covered in mud and my legs had some fairly decent cuts on them (I'll elaborate on that one later). Then, after walking 2 kilometers in the rain back to the school we were staying at, I was finally able to shower. But in order to get a semi-hot shower, we had to walk back out into the rain and ask the natives if we could use their showers. They were all really welcoming and more than ready to let us use them. And boy was it worth it! However, I never thought I would see orange water coming out of my hair. And although walking in the rain wasn't the funnest, the day was still so much fun and something I will defnitely not forget! Later that night after dinner, the wife of the chief talked to us, and then we participated in traditional dances, which think were some of the coolest things I saw there.

On Thursday after being woken up my some kids at 6:15 a.m. we started the day! After breakfast, some of us walked to a waterfall and hung out there for a bit; then we went to these lectures about the culture of the tribe. Luckily for me, most of my school friends speak English; so the things I didn't get, they could explain to me. Then came dinner, and afterwards and evening that was defnitely memorable. As most of us were sitting around the dinner tables, there was an old native man (about 70) who was playing the guitar and singing. He then looked at me and made up a song on the spot about my beautiful "blonde" hair (have I mentioned that I'm considered blonde here?!) and how I have captured his heart. Then the following day, he preceeded to ask me to marry him. I politely declined...We then moved to the bonfire where people began to tell horror stories. And here is the prime example of the saying "ignorance is bliss". Because as everyone was scared and couldn't get the stories out of their minds, me and the other exchange student named Benson (from China) just laughed because we had no idea what was going on and were the only ones who weren't terrified. :)

Then by about 12:30, I realized that my foot (the one with the cuts from the lake) was hurting a lot more than I thought. I saw that it was pretty swollen and I couldn't really move my toes (because it was swollen). So I asked the principle for something to help. Before dinner, he put some iodine on, and said he would try to find something to relieve the pain. I found him again, and he still hadn't gotten anything. So, I took a couple Tylenols to try and help with the pain. Once he finally came back with something, I told him that I just took something to help, then he began to yell at me and say that I have no idea what I am doing and neither of us are doctors, and he couldn't believe that I did something like that. And when I told him that I have no problems when I take Tylenol, he just yelled more and said that the pain is just superficial. But then asked if I needed to go to the hospital. (By this point, I was in tears, due to pain, exhaustion, not knowing why he was yelling at me, and just wanting a hug from my parents). So in the end, we went to the hospital at about 2 a.m. Two other students, Sarah and Isabella, came with me. Words can't describe how lucky I was to have them with me. I realized that I've got a couple good friends here :). After having some nurses check it out, they cleaned it, wrapped up the cuts, and sent us on our. We finally got back around 3; and went straight to bed. It was a very strange, eventful evening; but it in no way stopped me from having a good time there!



At the hospital...

In the ambulence back to the school...we were just a wee bit tired ;)

The rest of our time with the indians was very fun! We went to the waterfall place again on Friday and were taught games by the indians, which we played throughout our stay there. And before I knew it, Saturday had come and we were packing up our things. We spent the morning packing and buying things that the indians made, and then it was lunchtime. We had lunch, said our goodbyes, and started our journey back to BH. We got home around 7:30 in the evening. It was such a fun trip and something that I will never forget (mainly because I might actually have a scar to remind me of it), but it's all good. I wouldn't have traded going for anything! :)

This little girl's name was Yadirana. She would come up to me almost daily and say hello and ask how to say things in English. :)

Just a few pictures of what it looked like! :)



The Club....

Then by 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, (after a shower to get all of the dirt out of my hair :)) I was getting in a taxi with a friend named Julia, and a friend of hers named Carolina, and we were headed to the club. My first clubbing expereince! The name of the club we went to was Marriah (pronounced Ma-hee-ah). It was so much fun!! We danced the night away and had a great time! I was quite the dancing fool. But that's not very surprising. :) Before I knew it, it was already 3:45 in the morning and it was time to go. After waiting in the line to pay, we got out of there by 4:45 and I was home by 5 a.m.!!! But here, that's a fairly normal time to get home from a night from going to the club. How they do it, I have no idea. I was absolutely exhausted! I went to bed as soon as I got home, however, I only slept until 11 later that morning! It was still so much fun and I can't wait to go back out dancing again!



So, after waking up on Sunday, Luciana told me to get ready because people would be coming over for churrasco (a barbeque. Which is absolutely delicious!). It was such a fun way to spend my Sunday afternoon! Luciana's sister, Abigail and her family came; along with some of Helio and Luciana's friends. I found out that one of the friends even lived in New York for five years; and had just returned! That afternoon reminded me yet again of how lucky I am when it comes to my host family. They are pretty awesome! So awesome in fact, that on Monday (yesterday) Luciana saw how tired I was, and just let me stay home from school to rest. :)

So, sorry about the novel that I just wrote, but I don't think I left anything out! I still love Brasil, and look forward to all the adventures to come!

Bejos,

Maggie

p.s. Please feel free to send emails if you have any questions or want to hear any other stories! My email is m.smits93@gmail.com. :)

And they say it goes faster?!

So for starters, I am so sorry that I haven't posted anything for about a month! My time in Brasil has flown by and people tell me that it only goes faster! How this is possible, I don't know. :)

Anyway, I have been in Brasil for a month and a half now! I could easily write a novel about all the things I have done within the past month, but I will just summarize some of the high and low moments that I have experienced while on this adventure!

Here we go! About three weeks ago, Lakshmi, Lorencia, Abigail and I went to a small town called Ouro Preto; which means "black gold". There, we spent the day walking around and seeing what the city had to offer. The day we went was also Brasil's independence day. So when arived, there were marching bands in the town square, playing what sounded like Beatles music, and hundreds of people lining the streets. After a full day of seeing churches, museums, countless shops, a rock fair, and eating a couple bowls of acai, we we're ready to call it a day. I couldn't have imagined celebrating Brasil's independence any other way. :)

Lakshmi, Abigail, Me, Lorencia

The following week, I was in Sete Lagoas. A town about an hour and half away by bus for our inbond orientation. There I met all the other exchange students in the district. We were there for the whole week and took Portuguese classes; however, we still spoke English to eachother ;). We also did other things like going on a tour of cave, meeting the mayor, any many other things as well. It was such a fun week; and I had such a good time getting to know all of these awesome people. If any of the inbounds from 4520 are reading this, thanks for the best week ever! :)

And most recently, I went to Luciana's (my host mom's) family farm this past weekend. The farm or "fazenda", in Portuguese, is over 200 years old, has no electricity, and you get hot water by having a fire heat up water over a stove-like thing. However, being there for the weekend was one of the funnest things I have done in Brasil. With us was Luciana's sister, her sister's husband and their kids, a friend of theirs, and Luciana's English teacher. On Saturday, we took a hike around the farm (it's huge). OH! And on that hike, I saw my first monkey!!! We we're about 20 ft. way from a pair of monkeys! Unfortunately, they got away before I could snap a picture, but it was still really cool! Then, we hiked to a waterfall and hung out there for the afternoon. The evenings were filled with card games, lots of delicious food, and many laughs.

And now for a more serious note...I had my first bout of homesickness after returning from Sete Lagaos. It was the first time when it really hit me that I won't be going home for a year. I have realized that I won't be able to give my parents a hug (even though skype hugs help a ton, they just aren't quite the same), or I won't be there to celebrate Christmas with my family, or even go catch a movie with my sister. But by not having these things that we take for granted everyday, it has made me see how incredibly blessed I am; and has made me so appreciative of what I do have. And when I think of home here and how I miss it, I take a step outside and see so many people who don't have homes, but merely a carboard box over their head; and then it really hits me. We don't really know how good we've got it.

But during those really hard days last week, right beside me was a new family. Here I have not only two, but four host parents. *Quick sidenote* the mom and dad are seperated, and now remarried; and I live with the dad most of the time. Then with the mom every other weekend. Anyway, I have four host parents and a couple of siblings who were more than ready to give me a hug and let me "cry it out".

So now, that homesick feeling is for the most part gone; and I am as ready as I'll ever be to continue on with this journey. God sure has me in the palm of his hand, and I see that in more ways than one. I have loved being here, and I continue to fall in love with Brasil a little more each day. The past 46 days have been the best, and I look forward to the next 285 days to come.

Sending all my love from Brasil,

Maggie

p.s. I'll try and have an update sooner than next month ;)