Going to the Beach!!

Today we all woke up "early" to drive to the beach. We are going to a beach called Capão da Canoa and we will be staying at our aunt's house and then later at our uncle's house. We will stay with members of our family and the trip will last about 11 days! I'm very excited. Right now I'm downstairs writing this while Bernardo is still upstairs sleeping and the rest of the family is out shopping I guess. At least that's what the house cleaning lady (Iní) said. Anyway I'm very excited, this is like my dream come true. I'm finally going to a Brazilian beach in the middle of summer.

Here's a map:

Exibir mapa ampliado

Obrigado Mãe!

Hoje o pacote chegou. Muito obrigado! Era muito bom para ver as coisas e ler as cartas. Minha familia gostou da carta para eles também. Eu precisava todas as coisas então eu quero te agradecer muito e falar que eu te amo e tenho muitas saudades.

Beijos e um abraço bem forte!

Christmas In Brazil

Merry Christmas Everyone!! Today was a fairly normal day, we woke up late, had a Churrasco lunch, and went to the club. Christmas Eve is when Brazilians celebrate and it's a little different. They don't put up stockings or put presents under the tree. Yesterday we had lunch and dinner at Paulo's parent's house with his side of the family which is quite big. After we ate, Santa Claus himself actually came into the house and gave presents to everyone one by one. I got a pair of sandals and some deodorant. Afterwards, as a family tradition, almost the whole family stripped down to their underwear and dove in the pool. They even dragged unwilling family members in with them. I was very close to being dragged in too but luckily I escaped.

After that we went to Nana's sister's house to visit with her side of the family which is equally large. There we all got in a circle and played secret santa. My person was one of Bernardo's cousins Sílvio. We had to bring an object that represented the person and then everyone had to guess who it was. Sílvio works at the "Caixa Federal" which is like a bank, so my object was a box (or "caixa" in Portuguese) with $5 in it. My present for him was a buttoned shirt that he could use at work. My secret santa was our cousin Mario who gave me two really nice shirts. One was perfect for me because it was a Veranópolis shirt and the other was a normal t-shirt. I really liked them. We all had a lot of fun there and it was a great family experience. That ended around 2:30am. Then we went home, and then to the club for a special Christmas party that lasted until the sun came up. Literally.

Here are some photos:

Paulo's Parents

More Christmas Photos

Gramado

Canela

Natal Luz

Yesterday me, my family, and a few other people from Veranópolis took a bus to two cities about 4 hours away to see their christmas decorations and a parade called Natal Luz. The first city we went to was called Canela. It had a huge catholic church, and many many christmas decorations all around town. We got there around 4 and just walked around exploring the church and the town. We got to see Santa and he even speaks Portuguese! I felt bad for him though because it was very hot and he was all dressed up in his heavy red suit. After about 2 hours we got on the bus again and went to the other town, called Gramado. It is a really stylized town that looks like the set of a christmas movie. It was very beautiful and there were decorations everywhere. We walked around, took pictures, and ate Brazilian hot dogs which are really different. The actual sausage is the same but the bun is gigantic and rectangular. Plus they put in not only ketchup and mustard, but corn, peas, mayonnaise, sauce, and small crunchy french fries. We also bought some chocolate because Gramado is famous for it's chocolate. Then at 9 the parade started with a big light show and some fireworks. The parade itself was really extravagant. There were people skating, dancing, on stilts, on floats, and everything. There was also artificial smoke, snow, and lights. The streets were crowded and we had to stand up the whole time but it was worth it. It ended with Santa on his sleigh and a small fireworks show. Over all it was a really cool experience. It felt like being at the north pole, except it was in the 70's. We got back on the bus and arrived at home around 2am.

The drive up was actually really nice though. I got to see the Brazilian landscape which is really beautiful. I took many many pictures.

The trip to Gramado and Canela

The trip to Gramado and Canela

Gift Package!

Dad the gift package came today! I'm very very happy. My family really liked the card you sent and I REALLY love all the food. My family thinks the Jalapeño chips are WAY too spicy and that I'm crazy to actually like them. Bernardo and Lala are afraid to try them after they saw Nana's reaction. Lala really likes the Fruit By The Foot though. It's so funny, she treats it so carefully, like it's a small bomb. She carefully unwraps it and rips off the tiniest little piece. Then she carefully places it on her tongue and stares at me like it's a prank I'm playing on her. She asked me if she was supposed to chew and if it was ok to swallow. haha. It's something new that none of them have ever seen. Nobody in my family likes spicy foods and they can't understand why I can stand eating those chips, let alone actually like them. Thank you so much Dad! I love you!

Final of the Brazilian Championship

The last round of games in the Brazilian league championship or "Brasileirão" was today. Grêmio was in 2nd place with 69 points and São Paulo was in first place with 72 points. For Grêmio to win the championship they needed to win their game against Atlético-MG and São Paulo needed to lose their game against Goias. This would give Grêmio and São Paulo 72 points each but since Grêmio has more victories they would be the champions. Grêmio won 2-0 but São Paulo beat Goias 1-0 from a goal that was clearly offside. (that's the player from São Paulo in white about to receive the ball)

The championship is over with Grêmio in second place but they still qualified for the Libertadores tournament which has the top teams from all of South and Central America. (The top 4 teams in the Brazilian league qualify for this tournament). Unfortunately the bottom 4 teams are lowered to the "Serie B" or B league. We were watching the end of all the games and a fan from Vasco, one of the teams being lowered, was so upset that he climbed to the roof of the stadium and was threatening to jump. He had both legs off the ledge and was only hanging on by his hands. His friends and the police were up there trying to convince him not to jump. This was all live on the tv. No one knew whether he would jump or not. Finally the police got close enough to pull him back fully onto the ledge, but it was pretty scary for a minute or two. That's how much people love their teams here in Brazil. Soccer is no joke. Click here to see a video of the guy.

Thanks Grandma!

The advent calendar came today and my family really liked it! Especially Lala. She's really excited to open the 6th window tomorrow. We put it up on a window where everyone can see it and it looks great. Nana also wants to show it to her english students. Thank you very much grandma. This is a very unique and special cultural object that a lot of people here will enjoy.

And thanks for the deodorant too!

Pool Pictures

Here are some pictures of the Club we go to. Today it was about 85 degrees. This is only the pool though, the club also has a futebol field and beach volleyball.

From Left to Right: Gico, Bernardo (on bottom), Nicolas, Me, "Ale" (Alesandro).

More Pool pictures/Veranópolis

From Left to Right: Bernardo, Gico, Ale, Nicolas

Christmas Decorating

Yesterday we did our christmas decorating. We set up a little artificial tree, and decorated the rest of the house. Lala set up a small manger at the bottom of the tree. The whole town has already been decorated. It's so weird for me to see all this christmas stuff when it's sunny and hot outside. Plus it seems very early for christmas things right now. But it's nice. Here are some pictures.

SCHOOL'S OUT

I was wrong about 3 days left. School got out today, and it doesn't get back until March. I'm very happy.

Life Story/Summer

I just finished a big assignment for Philosophy class and it was all in Portuguese! It was short story of my life and it was about 13 pages long. I'm very proud of myself because I didn't think I could do it. I did get a lot of help from Nana though. We spent a lot of time translating and editing so I'm very thankful for her help. It was our final assignment for Philosophy class since the school year ends on Tuesday! I'm really happy. Summer here is going to be amazing.

My Health 2

Now I am feeling totally normal again. The doctor says that it's ok to go back to playing soccer and everything. The only problem is that I hurt my foot today tossing around a football at Guto's. I hurt the bone in my heel, but I think I just bruised the bone so it shouldn't be too long before it gets better.

Summer!!

Today felt like a real, legitimate summer day. It was in the high 70's Fahrenheit, around 27 Celsius, blue sky and sunny with a nice breeze blowing in the palm trees. We woke up at 11 and then went to Guto's house for a Churrasco lunch. We ate, played with Guto's dog Pongo, tossed around an American football and finished editing a movie for a school project; all in Guto's garage with the garage door open. Then we went to a place called "Clube Caça e Pesca" which is sort of like a small country club with two pools, one outdoor and one indoor, a waterslide, futebol fields, churrasco pits, volleyball, futsal, and a snack bar. In the summer everyone goes there almost every day and today was the opening day so it was filled with people. The weather was perfect. Later we walked to the town square, relaxed in the shade and had some water and a plate of french fries. Veranópolis is so beautiful in the summer and everyone tells me it will only get better from here.

Halloween Party

Over the weekend New Age English had a Halloween party. Here are some pictures: