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.