Not Much Stuff

28 September 2017
12:34 BRT (EST + 1 hour)

Throughout this week, not much has happened. It was my host dad's birthday on Sunday, as well as Paulo's. I went and hung out with Paulo on Monday while he cut his hair, which was a hilarious process. I managed to get a few pictures of his hair half way through, because it looked really funny, but I promised him I would show them to anyone. The next day, I got my hair cut! I also, went to Cipex on both Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday I stayed a bit longer to talk to Andrea about different things. On Wednesday, yesterday, I talked with her some more about a project some of the teachers at my school were wanting to do, and they wanted my help. And so now I will be doing that.

Also, throughout this week, all the exchange students have been trying to figure out a design for our own sweatshirt/hoodie! Multiple of us made our own designs and then we ended up combining two of them and we all voted to say we like it. We had to do all this quickly because we are hoping to get them all made so that when we meet in October, we can hand them out! I kind of can't wait until this next meeting, everyone is going to be here in Santa Barbara, in my "home turf." I can partially show them around and introduce them to the friends I have made here!

Another also! Earlier this week, Odete's sister came over and she has been hanging out here for while. She brought her dog with her! He is seriously a living MARSHMALLOW!!!

I also took some more pictures just last night to show just how fast and how early it gets dark here. It's insane to me!

At 18:10 (6:10pm)

At 18:35 (6:35pm)

At 18:45 (6:45pm)

At 18:50 (6:50pm)

Potato... Batata...

20 September 2017
13:49 BRT (EST + 1 hour)

First off, I think I'm going to change how often I blog. Uploading almost every other day is first off boring and second off, very, very repetitive. From now on, I'm going to just try and upload about once a week and unless something interesting happens at school, no one cares that I read during school. So, yeah, only the interesting things because interesting things are INTERESTING!

Turns out, Friday wasn't a normal school day. They had some sort of tournament going on and so the students that were there ended up just playing a card game that is popular here and just relaxing. I was actually aloud to leave early and did so, I walked home by myself, and didn't get lost! YEAH!!

On Saturday, for the first part Odete and I just relaxed. Then towards the end of the day we ended up heading back to Carazinho because there was going to be a rodeo show that weekend, and Christiano was going to be in it. We left and arrived there towards 21:30 (9:30pm) and had some quick dinner and then went to bed.

Sunday, we got up at.... *inhale* *exhale*.... 05:00, yeah, that's right. Five o'clock in the morning. I even warned Odete the previous night when she told me we'd have to get up then that I'm not a morning person and that I would be like a zombie. We got up, I had some yogurt and about 15 till 06:00 (6am), we headed out to pick up a friend of Christiano's. Oh, also, we stayed at Christiano's house that night as well as when we got there he wasn't home. Of course Odete had a key, but also, Christiano got home during the night and so was there in the morning. I believe this friend was a fellow lasso-er. I don't know what you call someone who lasso's... And then we drove just under an hour to the rodeo place. Odete had shoved most of the blankets we had brought for bedding into the back seat of the car we took and so once we arrived, while Christiano and his friend got all their stuff ready, we snuggled up under all the blankets and fell asleep for about 2 hours. After that, once we exited the vehicle I realized I was very happy I had decided to wear my boots. We had been having tons of rain for the past two days and so all the dirt and grass that made up the area was now completely made of mud! We got to hang out there and see all the people lasso and had lunch and then around 22:30 (10:30pm) headed home. We had to take Christiano's horse back to the stable on the way and then drove the rest of the way home.

Now the plan for this next morning was to get up and leave around 07:00 (7am) so that we could get home, I could grab my school bag and then go to school. We threw that out the window the previous night and I ended up not going to school, because we were all tired. We ended up leaving around 09:00 (9am). Then we relaxed for the rest of the day!

Now, Tuesday. After school, around 15:00 (3pm) I was told that Camila had my allowance at Cipex. Due to walking home from school the previous week as well as Paulo showing me the way home from both school and Cipex before, I managed to walk to Cipex, pick up my allowance and walk home! Also, I should note, this is the allowance that I'm suppose to get at the beginning of every month. No other words. Shortly after that, Odete and I went to the market and picked up a bunch of different things, as well as more Guanana! Then after that, around 19:00 (7pm), mãe had a volleyball game! I got to go and watch! After that, we came home!

Today so far, not much has happened. I had no school as well as I don't have school tomorrow. I also slept in a LOT more than I meant to this morning. I set an alarm for 08:30 (8:30am) and woke up at 10:00 (10am). I have no idea how. That's about it so far. I might go to Cipex at some point, but I'm not sure. My Portuguese lessons are on hold at the moment so if I went it would just be to hang out...

Someone asked for some pictures. Tada!

It's Been A Week

14 August 2017
15:55 BRT (EST + 1 hour)

Oops, time got away from me. Well besides the extended weekend there hasn't been much happening. Soooooo, continuing!





On Friday, my mom's parent's came over in the morning and we all, the grandparents, parents and I, all piled into their truck and drove an hour to a city named Carazinho. It's where Christiano lives, I found out. Once we got there we went around to different places that I'm guessing were buy wheat from Odete's parents and so we delivered the bags to them as well as got to see their horses. After that we had lunch at a buffet place and went to a smaller market as well as a few other shops because the gparents were looking for a new light fixture. Also, we went to a big market! While there we got two watermelons and I got a glass litre of Cocoa Cola! I'm going to try and collect glass bottles while I'm here. I'll figure the technicalities out later. Forgot to mention, while we were in one of the stores looking at light fixtures, we found a GIGANTIC SPOON!!!












Next, on Saturday I got to go back to Carazinho again! This time with just Odete and Christiano, as well as we didn't leave until later in the day. First we went to Christiano's house because he had to grab something, then we went to where he works. He rode around on the horse I believe he is going to use in the rodeo and then let me ride for a while. However, while going to where I was going to ride around my knee got scraped on a wooden fence and now there's a small patch of skin gone and it's all bruised, but I'm fine! I've had plenty worse while riding horses. Later, we went to Christiano's sister's house and had dinner with them! It was 23:30 (11:30pm) when we got home.




(Somehow, Odete managed to get a picture right before I hurt myself.)




Happily, it was Sunday and so I didn't have to worry about not getting enough sleep. We got to just sit around and relax on Sunday. We had leftovers for dinner as well as I made mac and cheese!

Then the dreaded Monday came. Joking, it wasn't really all that bad. I went to school on the bus for the first time and started a new book during class. I rode the same bus home for lunch, then back to school and then Odete picked me up at the end of the day.

The next day, seeing as it was a half day, I didn't have to ride the bus back to school after lunch. As well as, since I had been reading this certain book that I started the previous day non-stop at school since I started it. I finished it not long before school was out on Tuesday! I have to admit, it was really good!! Also, I went to Cipex that evening and made everyone pancakes again! They were a bit different because I don't think I put enough sugar into them, but they were still good! Also, Camila, Andrea's coworker at Cipex, invited me to a CTG that night! I got to go and have some traditional food along with watch part of the performance. We ended up leaving part way through because it was almost 23:00 (11pm).

Next, Wednesday, school came and went, nothing really interesting happened except that once the bell rang to signal that the second class was over, everyone in the school started getting out of their chairs and leaving the school to some unknown location, or at least, it seemed that way to me. Turned out that there was a performance that we were going to watch preformed by some of the students in the school. Also, I went to Cipex again and finished gathering everything that I needed to get my Brazillian ID! As well as finished off my Sour Patch Kids candy. I ended up dumping all the sour sugar that was left over into a cup and (along with another student.) persuaded a different student to try and eat it all at once. He failed. Alsoooo, we may have told him it was regular sugar... By the way it wasn't only my idea, everyone who had been in the room agreed it was a good idea, there were four other people!

Paulo and I at the police office.
I just realized we were both wearing our Rotary sweatshirts.

Finally, today! I had to get up at 06:00 (6am) this morning so that Andrea could pick me and Paulo up at 06:30 (6:30am) to drive to Santo Angelo. This is where I was going to have my police "interview" to get my Brazillian ID. The drive was just under 2 hours and we got lost along the way and were a little be late to our interview at 09:00 (9am). About 20 minutes late, but Andrea had called and told them the situation and they were okay with it. My interview went smoothly, had to get finger printed again and the person doing it didn't somehow get the dye under my finger nail this time, qudos to him. After the interview was over, we headed back and along the way took a snack break and then continued on our way! This time, we didn't get lost! Now, depending on if I'm able to find the ingredient I need from the market later, I will be making Stuffed Shells for dinner!!!

Dois Bobas, E Um Louco No Carro

7 September 2017
22:00 BRT (EST + 1 hour)

Well, Monday I got to start school here! It's waaaay different than school in the U.S. Paulo, the rebound, showed me around and introduced me to all the teachers and staff as well as hung out with me throughout the school day.
Now to explain how different school here is. First off, since Santa Barbara Do Sul is so small, it would make sense that the school is small. It only has 15 classrooms! Also, the students aren't the ones that move between classes, it's the teachers that do. School starts at the same time everyday but can end at different times depending on the day.
On Monday you have three classes, 20 minutes for a snack, then two classes and then an hour and 20 minutes for lunch. Of which you can go home to eat, which is why it's such a long time. After that, you have two more classes, another 20 minute snack break, and then one more class. However, for my first day, Odete picked me up for lunch and said I didn't have to go back. On every other day of the week you have everything the same until after lunch, as there is no school after lunch. Also! The classes you take aren't the same everyday, as well as you could have multiple classes of the same subject in the same day!
After that, Odete took me to Cipex! Which is where Andrea, my counselor, and her friend Camilla work as teachers, kinda. They give English lessons to students as well as Cipex is just a kind of place for the exchange students in Santa Barbara Do Sul to come and hang out. Since it was my first day there, Andrea introduced me to Camilla and some of the students that were there at the time. Also, in one of the rooms, students have written stuff on the walls, and its nice, silly stuff. Like "#Canada" and stuff like that, and so I decided to add my own! I put "Caitlyn wuz here" with a big, partially accurate American flag behind it. The reasoning for it being partially accurate is because after a while of trying to figure out how to do 50 stars I gave up and just kind of lightly filled in the area with blue.

On Tuesday, Paulo met me at school again and after school ended Odete and I dropped him off near his house and headed home. We had lunch and sat around before heading to Cipex at 14:00 (2pm), bringing a box of mac n' cheese! And so, after hanging out there for a while, we gathered what I needed and I made mac n' cheese for everyone there to try! They surprisingly REALLY liked it.

Yesterday, Wednesday, I followed just about the same routine except instead of mac n' cheese, I made sure to pack the bottle of syrup for the club and the one for Andrea! I, with the awesome culinary help of Paulo, made PANCAKES!!!!! Once more, they surprisingly came out quite well, even though I had to eyeball some stuff due to the measuring systems being different as well as the fact that I tripled the recipe so that everyone could have a few. There were a lot of students there that day. Also, at one point while we were cooking the pancakes Andrea disappeared and reappeared later with a bottle of Guanana for me, as well as some other things, but I don't know what they were... too focused on Guanana... By the way, Guanana is a juice, I want to say, here that is AMAZING!! It's kind of like a type of pop but made like a type of juice, because its from a fruit here. The running joke is GUANANA and BRIGADERO, because those are my favorite food and drink at the moment. Along with pastels... those are REALLY good.

Finally, today! I actually had today off of school as it was the Independence Day of Brazil, as well as I have tomorrow off! And so I got to sleep in, have coffee and around 10:00 (10am) we headed on out to the avós (grandparent's) house! Both grandparents were working of different things on their farm and so we first went on a walk through a patch of woods far behind their house, because they have fields in between. On our way we bumped into Odete's mom, and once we reached the woods we ran into her dad. He walked around the woods with us and showed me where a tornado had torn up and bent some trees!
After that, we walked back and I made pancakes! As well as her mom made multiple different types of food, one was a rice and chicken dish that is really popular, but I don't remember what it is called. So, we had lunch with pancakes!... and GUANANA! After that, Odete and I painted our nails! And shortly after that I got to ride their horse again! We, me on horseback, as well as Odete and Christiano, walked down to a lake that is nearby, about as far away as the woods but in the opposite direction. Then we came back, sat around for a short while and then headed home! Also, we didn't use all the batter I made, which was only a double batch and so, for dinner we had pancakes, which Odete cooked, as well as a beef dish!
Tomorrow we are going to another city where there is a sort of stable, I believe, and we are going to look at all the different types of horses and a bunch of other stuff!

(P.S. The title is essentially "Two silly people and one crazy person in a car." The two silly people being female, because they were Odete and I, and the crazy person being male, and so it was Cristiano.) YEAH :D

Host Family!

3 September 2017
16:24 BRT (EST + 1 hour)

The next day, Thursday, I got to go to a formal Rotary dinner with all the exchange students and Rotarians from the club that was hosting us at the time. Then, on Friday, I got to come home for lunch and I made my family mac n' cheese! Before leaving to go home, I had told Maggie this (She is from Canada.) and she said that if I brought her back even a noodle or two that she would start crying of happiness. I made two boxes of mac n' cheese as well as my family had made other food and so there was a good amount left over (Good amount for a one person meal.). And so my host mom found a disposable container and I brought it to Maggie. Upon handing it to her, she actually did start crying, I didn't realize that she had been serious. She was missing Canadian food so much.
While getting ready to go back to school, we packed all of my suitcases into the trunk and headed back. At the end of the day, Cris' (The previous inbound coordinator.) father picked both Maggie and I up and drove us back to Panambi (3 hour drive.). We both thought that we were going to stay the night there however about half and hour after we arrived, Odete, my host mom, came to pick me up and not long after that, Maggie's family came to get her. Odete and I then drove about a half hour to her house in Santa Barbara Do Sul.
At this point it was 21:00 (9pm), Odete let me unpack all my bags and then around 22:30 (10:30pm) I had a shower and go to bed around midnight. I don't remember it perfectly, but I was tired.

The next morning I got up around 08:30 (8:30am) and made waffles with mãe (Mom) and she got to try the syrup I had given to her! Then around 10:00 (10am) we left to drive almost an hour to her parent's house. They own a farm (sorta)! I got to ride on their horse!
I will say it was a LOT different, they don't have a saddle like we do. Their saddle was just sheep's wool. (I'm not saying that it's the same across the Brazil, but just that the one they had was sheep's wool.) It was actually really comfortable. I wasn't trotting or doing anything fast so it was ok. However, at one point she started to probably canter and I didn't have anything to grip on and so started to fall off. Before falling though I managed to just pivot and dismount. It was actually really fun!






Today, I got to go to a rotary conference in Panambi that was the president and other rotarians passing their "mantle" onto the next person. (I don't know how to explain it well.) After that, I got to go back to Cris' house and we had lunch there. I got to meet a rebound who went to Mexico as well. He lives in Santa Barbara so when we left to come home he came with us. We got to make brigadeiro together and I got him to try Pringles, the sour cream and onion flavor!

This is brigadeiro. You have to heat it up and stir it while making it and then after it has a good consistency you let it cool. After that, you can sometimes eat it with a spoon, roll it up into balls and then roll whatever topping you want onto it, or many other things. It could be sprinkles, coconut or anything else. Then you chill them so they keep their shape.