New Car/Fred

My family just bought a new car! It's a Fiat Palio Weekend. It's very nice. It even has a DVD player! Here's a picture:

Bernardo's aunt also got a new puppy named Fred. Here he is:

Me in the Local Newspaper

There was a short article about me in the newspaper today. They spelled my name Whitensell!! But here it is:

Marina Domeneghini's 15th Birthday Party

Last night was Marina Domeneghini's 15th birthday party. Here in Brazil when a girl turns 15 it's her coming of age and her family puts together a huge party for her. It's like a girls "sweet 16" in the US only here it's a much bigger deal. The party started at 8:30 at the town club called Soal which was the same place where the Cidadão Quem concert was. Almost everyone wore suits including me and Bernardo. When we got there we met up with Rafinha, Tib, Felipe (Rafinha's brother), Julio and Bruno. There was a huge security guard with a list of the people who were invited and we had to check in with him before we could go in. The walk up the stairs was amazingly decorated with flowers and lights and banners and many many more beautiful decorations all over the place. Then at the entrance to the main dance hall we were greeted with a kiss on the cheek and hug from Marina's mom and sister, and and handshake and hug from her dad. The whole greeting process was filmed by 3 or 4 different camera men. Then a woman with another list told us where our table was. The dance hall was so amazingly decorated I could never fully explain it here on my blog. It felt like I was at a royal ball at Buckingham Palace. There were candles everywhere with banners all over the walls and ceiling. There were plants set up everywhere and amazing lighting that set the mood like you were a billionaire at a billionaire gathering. There were tables set up on both sides of the dance hall with beautiful flowers, plates, glasses, chairs and table cloth. There was also a dance floor in between with lights, lazers, speakers and a disco ball. At the front there was a huge screen showing a slideshow of pictures of Marina with her friends and family. There was music playing from the huge speakers. The tables on one side were for friends of Marina and the ones on the other side were for adults close to Marina. We sat at our table and waiters in white tuxedos walked around offering us food and drinks. Then after a long wait Marina emerged onto the dance hall, or should I say the Royal Ballroom, in a beautiful white dress that looked like a wedding dress, everyone stood up and clapped as she walked over to her family and gave them all hugs and kisses. Then the huge screen started showing video testimonials about her given by Marina's close friends, and family members. They were very sweet and emotional and after each one Marina would go and hug the person who had been in the video that just finished. Two days earlier was Marina's dad's birthday so there were a few videos dedicated to him as well. After the videos they brought out two huge cakes, one for him and one for Marina. Then everyone ate, there were many little Brazilian things to eat, as well as small dessert treats. After that it was dance time. The lights went down, there were lazers, tons of artificial smoke, the disco ball was doing its thing and it was amazing. The music was blasting and the whole atmosphere was incredible. Everyone was in their fancy clothes and dancing amazingly like all Brazilians do. I was the only foreigner and I must have looked ridiculous trying to dance like a Brazilian but I had a great time. There were also these weird guys called "Barmen" who came out with these flame thrower things and started dancing, spraying their fire and serving drinks. They were like borderline strippers, it was funny. After a while it was getting late and me and Bernardo walked home in our suits at around 3:30 am. The party was amazing though. I've never been to anything like that in my life. I can't thank Marina enough for inviting me it was incredible. I will never forget it. Plus everything was free so I just want to say MUITO MUITO OBRIGADO MARINA, E FELIZ ANIVERSÁRIO!!

My Family!

I took this on my first full day here. My portuguese is pretty rusty in the video.

Haircut

Yesterday was a historic day. I had my first Brazilian haircut after years and years of getting my hair cut by Dan Berry at Bellus. It'll never be the same Dan!

My Videos From The Game

Geral do Grêmio

Independance Day Parade/School Play/McDonalds

Sunday we had the town parade for Independence day, and I was in the parade. The real Independence day is September 7th but it was too cold and rainy for a parade so the moved it to Sunday. The parade itself was pretty cool. I was surprised that this little tiny town could still manage to put together such a complex and impressive parade. There were many bands which played very well, mostly from each of the schools. And there were also different clubs and public groups that did something for the parade. I think the whole town was there to watch too. It was kind of like the procession of the species only smaller. I was with 9 other people from my class in a little group. We had this ridiculous little routine that was probably put together in 2 minutes by our dance teacher. It was so terrible. We dressed in all white with these white poles about 4 feet long and we marched down the street doing our routine. It was probably one of the most embarrassing things I've ever done. Everyone knows there's an American boy here in Veranópolis but many haven't seen me yet so I think that was many people's first impression of me which is not a good thing at all. Every once in a while someone would yell "Aee Americano!" or "Look it's Lucas!". It was cool. And then finally we finished and I could relax and watch the rest of the parade which included more bands (including Lala's school band which was very very good considering they are so young), some sports groups including the town volley ball team and futsal team, and a huge polluting caravan of tractors.

And today my class and the first year class went to a tiny little town called "Villa Flores" (Flowerville) to perform a play and some dances for the people there. It was very good and also very funny. The dancing was the best part. They were really good and they all had really elaborate clothes. It was just like Dirty Dancing. Then we went home for lunch and that was the school day! A pretty nice monday. Now my family and I will go to Caxias (a big city about an hour from here) to go shopping and most importantly go to McDonalds!! I'm so excited because I haven't tasted American food in so long and I really need to eat some. I'm not being stubborn or unwilling to try new things, I love Brazilian food but I just really need to eat some McDonalds and Caxias is the closest one. We'll see how it compares to McDonalds in the USA.

GRÊMIO VS. GOIÁS

Yesterday was the game. It was incredible. We left the house at around 1 with a van of Grêmio fans to Porto Alegre where Estadio Olimpico (Grêmio's Stadium) is. We got there about 2 hours early and walked into the complex of Estadio Olimpico, we weren't in the actual stadium yet but we were just outside where there were a ton of people and some food stands and a Grêmio store. Every single person was wearing Grêmio jerseys and hats and coats and scarves and pants and everything you can imagine. Probably 95% of the crowd was for Grêmio. I didn't see a single person rooting for the other team, Goiás, the whole day. I saw a Goiás flag and a banner at the other end of the field but that was it. Then we entered the stadium which surprised me because it looked smaller than from what I had seen on TV. It was really beautiful though. There are two levels. The top level has all seats just like a stadium in the US. The lower level has two big sections, one has benches and the other has cement steps because no one there is sitting. The sections are separated by a tall metal grating to hold back crazy fans. At the base of the stands there is a wall so people don't jump onto the field but not only that, past the wall there is a 15 foot deep cement trench which has barbed wire all along the rim so no one gets onto the field. We were two hours early but there were still a lot of people there. The stadium kept on filling up until it was almost completely packed, it was pretty incredible. Me, Bernardo, Guto, and Arthur were in the Geral do Grêmio which is behind the goal on the lower level and is where all the craziest fans are. No one ever sits down there. It was a crazy fanatical party the entire game, even before the players were on the field. The most amazing thing about Grêmio fans is that they are ALWAYS singing their team songs. They have so many songs and everybody knows them by heart. You are just surrounded by thousands and thousands of people all wearing the same jersey, jumping up and down in synch, waving Grêmio flags, and singing the same song all together. They also have a band that plays along to the music. This all creates the most unbelievable, empowering atmosphere and experience I've ever been a part of in my life. At first I only knew like two or three songs but during the game I picked up more. When it got dark people all around us started shooting off fireworks toward the field. The Geral is the most crazy thing in the world. But the single craziest thing about it is what they do when Grêmio scores a goal. They call it "Avalanche". Everyone in the Geral runs to the bottom of the stands in an "avalanche" of people. It doesn't sound that crazy but to be in one is insane. My friends kept telling me the whole game "as soon as they score, run. It doesn't matter who is in front of you or who falls over just run". When they finally did score it was at the other end of the field so it was hard to see what happened but it was easy to know that they scored when the avalanche started. It was like being in a mass panic attack and every single person had to get to the bottom of the stands or they were going to die. I was being pushed from the back like hell so I pushed the person in front of me like hell. I can't believe I didn't trip and fall but if I had I don't know what would've happened to me. Even when there wasn't any more room to go forward, the ocean of people collapsing down on you from behind pushed you even harder into the people in front of you. It felt like being in the worst dogpile of my life but I was standing up. A huge section of people next to me started sinking down and I was being dragged down too but I fought back and stayed on my feet. Then the climb back up the stands was almost equally as chaotic. I was just using people all around me to climb. And then the chanting and singing began all over again. It was indescribable. After the first half we moved to a less crazy section because we had been jumping the whole time, Arthur's shoulder was bleeding because someone stabbed him with a flagpole during the Avalanche, and we actually wanted to watch part of the game. Everyone was still standing up but there was no risk of Avalanche. We got a good view of the goal that Grêmio was attacking but sadly they didn't score in the second half. Goiás won 2-1 and everyone was very angry. But we didn't stop singing and we left the stadium singing "O Grêmio vai sair campeão!" which means "Grêmio will emerge the champion". It was amazing and I will never forget it.

Grêmio Game

Now I can officially say that I AM going to a Grêmio game. This saturday in Porto Alegre vs. Goiás. It's going to be amazing.

Virus

So since Sunday night I've had this really bad virus that completely drains me of liquids and sucks out my energy. All I could have the first day was small sips of water but even those made me throw up. Then the second day I tried juice with the same result. By the end of the second day I could successfully eat crackers and tonight I had my first real meal of rice and beans. By now I'm almost fully recovered but I haven't been to school or out of the house in the past 3 days. Apparently it's been going around the city and I was already weak from my sore throat so I got it. I'm all good now but it was an interesting experience because I've never had such a nasty sickness before. I'm really glad I got vaccinated for all those worse diseases like yellow fever and such.

Terço

Tonight is a horrible, freezing cold, rainy night, but we had an excellent Churrasco at Bernardo's grandparents house. But before dinner me, Nana, Bernardo, Paulo and Lala went to the house of one of their relatives for a Catholic ritual called "Terço". My family here is Catholic as is most of Brazil. There were about 20 family members there. We all sat together in kind of a circle and one by one people passed around the rosary beads and said prayers. I couldn't understand what they were saying but it was definitely important. There were all kinds of emotions from laughing to crying all at the same time. It was very cool.

Presentation at São Luis

Last friday I went to São Luis Gonzaga which is a public school here in Veranópolis. It is much larger, with about 1,600 students. I went there to talk with all the english students which was a lot because here in Brazil english classes are mandatory. So I had a crowd of about 100 students and a few teachers. At first they were all shy and there weren't any questions but after I talked a little about who I was and what I was doing here in Brazil people started to have questions. Nana told me afterwards that one of the teachers that was there told her that she was so nervous to ask me a question that she was shaking. I think people don't really understand that I'm just a regular kid that likes to talk and is very understanding and open. Nana said that many people are afraid to talk to me because I'm from so far away I'm almost like an E.T. and it's scary to ask. But since I know this now I try to make them feel comfortable asking questions and joking around with me. I ended up having to leave before I could answer all the questions so I might be going back sometime. I want to because I really like talking to crowds like that and sharing information about our culture and my life because every time I do, I learn tons of really amazing things about Brazilian culture, opinions about the US, cultural differences and many many other things. Plus at the end of the "speach" as a thank you present they gave me a basket of Pão de Queijo and a book of Brazilian poetry.

Beggining of Independance Day Celebrations

Independance Day in Brazil is September 7th and the week leading up to it is called the "Semana Da Patria". Today was the first day of celebration. On the seventh there is a big parade through the city and I will be in it too. Me and some people in my class have to do this awkward dance with these poles, it's so ridiculous and I really don't want to do it but I have no choice.

Today after 1st period we all went to the town square right in front of the church for a big event. All the local schools were there and each had a small group of dancers that performed. Everyone dances here in Brazil and almost all of them are good. CETEC danced Samba and Salsa. There was also a stage set up where a few important men and women stood and talked on microphones but I didn't understand what they said or who they were. They also had a flag raising ceremony and everyone sung the national anthem which is really beautiful. I think it's interesting that everyone was singing where as in the US almost no one sings the national anthem, or even the flag solute. After school there was a very nice birthday ceremony for our classmate Luana which included eggs and flour which is apparently a tradition in Brazil.

Concert

On Sunday me, Bernardo, Nana, and Lala went to a concert at the Cultural Center of Veranópolis. Like everything here in Veranópolis the Cultural Center is very small and so was the Orchestra. It had 23 people who were mostly high school students with a few adults. It was called "Orquestra De Sopros De Veranópolis". The concert was a "Concerto De Cinema" so they played the themes from some popular movies. The interesting thing was that 10 of the 11 movies were american just like many forms of media here. Almost all the popular movies here are american, same with TV shows like Lost, CSI, Gossip Girl, The Simpsons, and Prison Break. The orchestra started out by playing the "Century Fox" theme which was pretty funny for me because I thought I was going to a classical concert. They also played the James Bond Theme, The Circle of Life, The Lord of the Rings Theme, The Indiana Jones Theme, Pirates of the Caribbean Theme, The Pink Panther Theme, The Peter Gun Theme, The Theme from Titanic, The Good The Bad And The Ugly Theme, and the theme from 1492 - Conquest of Paradise. They played pretty well. It was kind of like a small high school band. While they were playing they had a screen showing a montage of scenes from the movie that the music was from.