What is going on?

                                    Typed Time   -{}-   Posted Time

                                   3 June 2018   -{}-   7 June 2018

                                      14:48 BRT   -{}-   10:56 BRT

                                     13 C (55 F)   -{}-   6 C (42 F)

Well, hello everyone. I've been putting this off just because I haven't wanted to do it. However since there is now less than a month until I return I guess I should write out at least one more.


So, over the past two months, I've been to a city named Iguazu, and the Amazon. While there were many problems that ended up happening while we were on our way to, in, and on our way from Iguazu, I still had fun.

To go into detail, our bus kept breaking down due to an overheated engine on the way to the city. The trip that should've only taken thirteen hours by bus ended up taking twenty-four. Due to the delay in arriving in the city, the schedule for our activities got changed and not exactly for the better. Lastly, on the way home, we had a new bus, our bus lost a wheel. Now what I mean by 'lost a wheel' is just that. We were driving down a regular country road and our rear, passenger-side wheel came off of the car. We ended up having to stay on the side of the road for about three hours while it was fixed and then got the rest of the way home. However having been forced to stay outside for three hours, I had laid down on the road, in front of our bus, and due to that and the cold temperature, I got a fever after arriving home. However, with some awesome care from my host family, it went away in the next three days.

Only a few days after that I was headed to the Amazon. I met up with five other exchange students at the airport and we all flew to Manaus, Amazonas. Due to our district being the furthest away from the trip, we left and arrived earlier than all the other students. On the first two nights, we all stayed in a five star hotel in the city. It had a pool and so we were able to relax and get to know the hotel's layout.
With over sixty other exchange students, we stayed on the Amazon River. We were seperated into three different groups to go with the three boats we would all be staying on. The first was Jacaré (Alligator), the second was Bicho-Preguiça (Sloth), and the one I stayed on was the Anaconda. Each boat had about twenty-five students and two coodinators, along with one sort-of activity leader. While on the boat, we slept in hammocks and during the days we got to do many different awesome activities. On the very first night in the forest everyone went on a trek through the forest. It was quite beautiful. On the very last night, my group got to sleep in the forest with our hammocks. We had a roof to keep the rain out, but no walls.
Overall, the Amazon was amazing.

That all happened in April, however there have been a few awesome parts of May as well. Such as my friend's birthday, my birthday, my half-sister's birthday and even my host-mom's birthday! I ended up calling my friend and talking to her for about an hour in the morning since it was a Saturday.
For my birthday, my host family actually ended up throwing me a surprise party the day before. The next day, I didn't have to go to school, simply because it was my birthday!
The next big thing was my host-mom's birthday. I made fettuccine alfredo for lunch and Texas sheet cake for dessert! Though I definantly couldn't have done it without the help of my host sister and my host family's maid Soleni!
Lastly, though today isn't anything special besides it being a Sunday, which is a day to be with family here in Brasil, I made French toast for everyone's breakfast!

Everything, All At Once

29 March 2018
Written at 01:18 BRT (EST + 1 hour)
Location: Unknown

Hello everyone!
At the current moment that I am writing this I am on a bus with almost every other exchange student, almost because Ngwale has already gone home, and Maru didn't come with due to bad timing.
Why am I on a cramped, not entirely made for long distance travel bus writing this at one in the morning?
Well, at three o'clock in the afternoon, March 28th, I left my house with my host dad Nilo to pick up another exchange student named Marian, she's from Mexico.
From there, we left for Santo Angelo, an hour drive if the traffic is with you. Shortly after our arrival, three other exchange students arrived, another from the US, another from Mexico and one from India.
Now, we waited until about 18:30 (6:30pm) when a small, eighteen seat bus arrived. Being the first onto it, we picked our seats and before departing another exchange student, from Belgium, arrived and joined us.

At this point you're probably confused about why everyone is slowly meeting up. Well, we're all taking a thirteen hour (for me, shorter for others who got picked up later along the route.) ride to a place called Foz de Iguacu, or Iguazu Falls.
We'll be staying there and enjoying the sights and attractions until Sunday, when we will all be headed home the same way we arrived.

The reason I'm writing this at now 01:27 in the morning is because we stopped for dinner and hour and a half ago. That lasted an hour and we've been on the road for half and hour again.
After eating, everyone is VERY awake and there are two other people in the space of one seat next to me due ta a card game that's being played despite the bumpiness as well as the girl in front of that seat wanting her hair braided.
While it sounds like I'm typing that as a complaint, it's more funny to me as over the time we've all been together we've become our own small family so it doesn't really bother me much anymore.

Oh another thing I should probably note. I mentioned the Amazon last time didn't I? Well, if you know much about the Amazon you probably know that it is (maybe just suggested) required that every person who goes gets the Yellow Fever vaccine at least ten days before going.
Well, I got the Yellow Fever vaccine this morning and should be arriving in the Amazon on the 7th of next month. CUtting it close I know.
However, one thing that was interesting about that circumstance is my bodies reaction to the shot.
Since having two shots of medical dye and a shot of cortizone in my wrist, the pain of shots doesn't bother me much anymore. However, as it turns out, getting a vaccine you've never had before can cause your body to get sick for a least a little bit after getting it.

As told by my host sister Cris, who took me to get the shot, apparently I had gone very pale, including my lips and I got dark circles under my eyes, except they were green. Strange reaction, however the only thing I felt was dizziness and lots of buzzing.
A few minutes later, I was drinking a cup of water and beyong being a bit shaking and tired was perfectly fine. Quite an interesting reaction.

I'll be trying to take plently of pictures and videos while in Iguacu so be excited for that!

6 April 2018
Written at 21:19 BRT (EST + 1 hour)
Location: In the Skies on the way to Manaus

Hello again! The reason I'm putting this in the same one is because I never quite finished the other blog.

--Back in time to 07:00/08:00 March 29--
Well, the bus started beeping. At the time we weren't sure why, but we we're suppose to arrive in Iguazu at 09:00 and we were already no where near Iguazu.
After stopping on the side of roads, and at one point we even stopped at gas station sort of place to pour water on the engine because, apparently it had started to overheat!
We stopped multiple times and at one point, one of the other students pulled out her duffel bag from under the bus, only to find that it was soaked in an unknown liquid.
At noon, we stopped at a proper garage which, happily, had a building nearby that served lunch. So while I, the other exchange students, and the Rotarians ate lunch, the bus was getting repaired.
Three hours pass and we finally get back on the road. Only to have it start beeping an hour later.

As it turns out, when the bus was being repaired, it wasn't the engine that was getting repaired but rather the onboard toilet we had. It had apparently been leaking into the undercarrage where everyonce suitcases and in one special case, duffel bag, was.
Which means, that the girl whose bag was soaked through, had a very unhappy start to our trip. However lucky for her, she had a host family member who lives in Iguazu and so she was able to go and get her clothing cleaned.

Continuing on, we stopped on the side of the road once more where we waited an hour for a mechanic to come to us. While he was looking at the bus, some of us hung out outside and some stayed on the bus. Half an hour after the mechanic arrived, those off the bus comprised of two Rotarians, me and five other exchange students, and one of the two bus drivers.
At this time, the bus started, the door closed, they pulled off into traffic and drove away. Leaving the nine of us on the side of the road.
Turns out that the mechanic had told the driver onboard to start it and drive to test if he had fixed the engine, however they didn't tell us this before doing so. We waited on the side of the road for almost another hour until another bus under the same company name pulled up to us, picked us up, and took us to another gas station where the old bus was.
Apparently they were halfway back to us when it started beeping again and so they stopped, called for another bus and had it pick us up.

After tranfering our luggage onto the new and SO much better bus, we drove a single hour, and arrived in Iguazu at 19:00... 24 hours after I first gotten on the bus the previous day.
We got settled in our hotel, showered and freshened up and then we went to a mall for two hours. We had food and shopped for a bit before heading back to the hotel and going to bed.

7 April 2018
Written at 21:06 AMT (EST + 0 hours)
Location: Manaus, Amazonia

The next day, we got up, got ready, ate and headed out by bus to go to the Iguazu Falls. We walked along a massive mountain area on the other side of the falls and still got wet from the fall's mist.
At the end of the giant walking path, you are right up against one of the falls meaning that even if you have a rain coat, your shoes are going to be soaked on the way up to above the falls.
We finished the trek and then waited an hour in line to get to the buses to go back to the main entrance area. Once there, our clothing almost or at least half dry, but our socks still soaked through, we went down the street to a restaurant and had lunch. Did I mention it was about 16:00 in the afternoon?
Just before 17:00, we managed to get into the Bird Park nearby just before the doors closed. We walked through the entire park, traveled back to the hotel by bus, got cleaned up and once more went out to a mall for the night, though a different mall this time.

Sunday was the day we were scheduled to go home on, however due to us missing the first day it was decided that we would go to Itaipu, one of the world's best water powerplants. We went through the entire tour and picked up a few souvenirs and than sat down to talk.
The other thing we would have done was go to a very popular budist-type temple. We put it to a vote, and it was decided that we all just wanted to go home.
And so we started the drive home. We stopped for lunch at the same place we had on the way to Iguazu and continued driving afterwards. With the route we were taking, I would arrive in Palmeira das Missoes (where I was going to be picked up) at midnight, and then after the hour long drive to Panambi, arrive home at 01:00.

At about 16:30, we were driving down a road in the middle of no where when suddenly pulled to the side of the road and stoped, a strange smell of smoke coming into the bus.
Turns out we had lost a tire. Not just popped a tire, but lost a tire. The entire tire came off while we were driving.
For the first half hour, we were told to stay on the bus. However, soon they needed us off because they needed to raise the bus to get to the wheel well better.
And so, fourteen exchange students sat on the ground with a few sitting on a giant wheel at the front of the bus, for a total of three hours.
At one point during that time, the Rotarians called the police because we were on a two lane road that didn't have shoulders and so in order to avoid more accidents, they had a officer come out and direct traffic if it was coming from both directions at once.

I ended up arriving in Palmeira at 05:30 and Panambi at 06:30. Upon arriving home I walked into my room, set down my backpack and, wearing my sweatshirt and all, collapsed onto bed and fell asleep.

While overall, the Iguazu trip was fun for the activities and company we had, our luck could've definatly been better.

Continuing, when I woke up later on Sunday, we figured out I had gotten a fever. So I spent most of the next few days bundled up and resting.
On Monday however, I still had my Portuguese class at Cipex that I went to, though I still kept my jacket on.
Later that night however, I had gone into the bathroom to use the bathroom of course. Shortly before standing up from the toilet, I found out that I had a 'small' friend sitting less than half a foot away from my feet.
A spider.
BIGGER THAN MY HAND!!!!
I bolted out of there, and just stared at it from outside the bathroom until Cris returned home from picking her mom up from Cipex.
Let's just say I stayed upstairs on the couch that night.

Oh, I might've forgotten to mention. While I was on the Iguazu trip, my family had me change bedrooms in their house. My new room was downstairs (across the hall from the bathroom where the spider was), double the size, with a double bed (rather than a single) and an AIR CONDITIONER!!! YES!
Though at first I wasn't allowed to use it because I was sick.

--Present Time: 21:44 AMT (EST + 0 hours)

Well, I left Rio Grande do Sul (my state) yesterday on the path to the Amazon.
Yesterday, at 05:00 I woke up, finished packing a few more things, and traveled to the bus station.
At 06:00, I left on a six hour bus ride to Porto Alegre where my flight was going to leave at 15:20 towards Sao Paulo. I arrived at the airport two and a half hours before the plane, and an hour and a half before the other students from my district (who were already in Porto Alegre.).
Our plane was a bit late, and so at about 16:30 we were off and on our way. When we landed in Sao Paulo, we had a plan.

First, we were going to find where our next gate was, then, we were going to find the Starbucks. If you didn't know, the international airport in Sao Paulo is one of the only, if not the only, place that has a Starbucks in all of Brasil!!!
Upon finding our gate we headed to the Starbucks, which was mostly on the other side of the airport. When we found it, it was right next to a ramen-type restaurant as well as a TGI Friday's. Definantely the kind of american food I've been looking forward to.
Jan-Philip [Germany], Nicole [Austria] and I ended up having dinner at TGI Friday's while everyone else went to the other restaurant.
We finally arrived in Manaus yesterday at 01:30 our time, however 00:30 their time.

We were the first exchange students here, as everyone else was going to arrive on the next day.
Now the trip has begun, there won't be any cell reception and no wifi during the trip from tomorrow onwards so wish me luck and I'll be sure to take many photos!

Chaos!! But not?

8 March 2017
10:52 BRT (EST + 2 hours)
Current Location: Panambi

Well, not much has been happening over the past three weeks when explained in a week-to-week format. However, over the entirety of those three weeks a LOT has happened.

The reasoning for why I did not post or even pre-write out a blog for the 21st is that not much had happened during that time. I had been sketching a bit, and had managed to get a beautiful picture before it got too dark outside.
However, it might also be because that Wednesday, at about 14:00 (2pm) I was told that I was going to Panambi once more, and that I needed to pack about ten days worth of clothing and such. As it turned out, a family in a different city wanted to host me for a while and it fit into my nonexistant schedule perfectly!
So I managed to shower and pack everything I thought I might need in an hour and a half, which was half an hour before I was going to the bus station to take the bus to Panambi. I took the bus and arrived in Panambi at about 16:45 (4:45pm), where Ester picked me up. I spent the night at her house, and the rest of the crazy adventure began the next day...

So the next day, I woke up at 08:30 and got ready. Shortly after, Estar drove me almost an hour out of her way to a city called Palmeira das Missões. Fun fact about this city, they have a population of 38,000 people, only 1,000 more than what is recorded for Elkhart!
We met my host family at the shop that they own, they sold traditional gaucho/gaucha wear as well as many other things that are heavily inbedded in the culture here in Brasil. This place was called Rancho Gaúcho. (Look it up if you want!)
I stayed with them for the next six days, and during that time, I was able to get into contact with another exchange student who lives in Palmeira! She's from Canada and her name's Maggi. We ended up going out quite a bit and hanging out. One day Maggie, a friend of her's and I all made lunch for my family! With their awesome help as well as their other ideas, we made stuffed shells into a lasagna (we only had lasagna noodles), as well as a salad that Maggie has made multiple times for her family in Canada.
My family also had a swimming pool in their backyard that I took advantage off multiple times. I am a fish!!
When it had been time to leave, it was actually earlier than I thought it would be. As I had been told to pack for ten days, I thought I would be staying for exactly ten days. Instead I was simply told one day that I would be leaving on the following day in the afternoon.

Thus, I spent the day, after packing up, just laying around as it was too hot to go out and do anything. At around 19:00 (7pm), my host parents came and picked me up before driving me back to Panambi. It was quite a bumpy ride, as their car didn't handle bumpy roads as well as every other car I've been in so far.
Either way, we managed to arrive in Panambi in one piece, and after a short stop by Cipex to drop me off I was on my way to a slightly stressful next few days.

After having packed the essentials for one night into my backpack due to that being how it was on the way to Palmeira, I found out in the not so vocal way that it was not going to be that way. I ended up staying another day and another night, which ended up being okay because I had an extra shirt in my bag.
However, then on Saturday we thought that Andrea would be able to pick me up around noon. However, as was the reason for the delay before-hand, it had continued to storm throughout the day. As it turns out, it had been storming heavily over the few days before and had managed to do some damage to the major store in town, to a few homes that I know of, as well as a bit of flooding.
After a few more days of waiting, on Monday I found out as a surprise that I was going to my next host family. However, it wasn't anyone that I had thought it was going to be. I was going to be staying with Ester and Cris and their family. (Cris was the previous Inbound Coordinator, and Ester was the previous Club President.)
They are going to be my host family from now until I leave, along with quite a few other families in different cities who want to host me for a week or so each.
My next four months are going to be quite busy.

Oh, and did I mention the Amazon?

Maaaaagic!

14 Feburary 2018
10:54 BRT (EST + 3 hours)
Current Temperature: 19 C (66 F)

Well, these past weeks have been sorta busy and it looks to me like I'll be keeping myself busy for the foreseeable future. I spent over a week in another town taking Portuguese lessons almost every day, and I now have an almost everyday schedule for at least one thing to do.
Since being back, I have finished painting the walls at Cipex and almost everyone who went on the Canada trip are back. Andrea, my counselor, is actually arriving back in Santa Barbara today as she had stuff to take care of in another city.
Now, my daily schedule it going like this, I'm getting up at 08:30 EVERY morning. On Monday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's I'll be going on an hour and a half walk around the city to start off the day, and then on the off days of Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, I'm going to be going to the gym at around 19:00. Sunday's will be my free day.
Besides those everyday scheduled things, I'll be trying to find other stuff to do outside of the house so that I'm not at home all the time.
Soooo, if you guys have ideas for stretches, or anything I could do outside the house shoot me a message! I'd love to hear them!!

Kiiiiiinda Late

31 January 2018
23:25 BRT (EST + 3 hours)
Current Temperature: 30 C (86 F)

--Thursday
Thursday was a pretty relaxed day. It didn't rain at all!! YEAH! So, since it didn't I managed to take some time, about an hour and a half, to relax outside on the hamock. Though while I was trying to relax, I had to police Nero who continually kept jumping into one of Odete's plants.
Not long ago, Odete put a rule in place for Nero, and me mostly, that at 19:00 (7pm) Nero has to go outside and stay outside until the morning. Which is understandable, so we do so. However, Nero doesn't like it very much, he tries to bolt inside at any chance he can get. So, this day, I decided to play with him for a bit outside. I figured out a while ago that if I roll a small pink ball up the driveway, let it hit the garage door and start rolling back down, Nero LOVES to chase it. It's actually hilarious!

--Friday
For the first part of Friday, I relaxed. However, I had plans! But in the meantime, I had a cute little sleepy kitten with me.
For the second half of Friday, aka after 17:00 (5pm), I went out to Cipex to meet up with Marky! Though we sorta met partway to Cipex and so walked together. Once we arrived there, Paulo showed up at the exact same time! Marky and I were going to go get some icecream and Paulo ended up coming along while we got it. Then we went back to Cipex and hung out for an hour or so. I may have doodled a bit on the white board.

--Saturday
Saturday... it rained again. Like, the road is now a river, rained again. (Almost)

--Sunday
Sunday was a day of travel, birthday party, and lots of rain once more.
I got up at 07:15 in order to be ready by 08:00 to go to Odete's sister's house for her son's birthday party. We ended up leaved at 09:00 when we were picked up by Odete's parents and all drove together to their house. I got to hang out with Odete's sister's daughter and I had quite a bit of fun while there.

--Monday
On Monday, nothing too big happened. I got up at a reasonable time, showered, had lunch and then went to Cipex! I began painting a bit more on the 'brick' wall. I've begun painting the bottom part, that doesn't have bricks, over with white, to try and lessen how visible the scrapes are on the wall. Then I began putting on another coat of blue paint on the bricks! I'm about a third of the way done with the bricks, but I do need to put on a few more coats of white for the bottom of the wall.

--Tuesday
Once more, I have successfully woken up at a good time! Though it was sorta funny timing, as I got up, could hear Odete outside my room, I went to the bathroom, and went I got out she was gone. It seems she hadn't even realized I had gotten up at that time, because she had unplugged the wifi, which is normal for when I'm alseep or no one is going to be at the house. I simply found it funny.
Well, when she got back about an hour or so later, she told me that at 19:10 that afternoon I was going to be taking a bus to Panambi, and that I was going to be staying with my Rotary Officer Cris for about a week... maybe. So, I made sure to pack what I needed for a week and by 19:10 I got to the bus station, got my ticket and waited for the bus. It was almost a half hour late...

-Wednesday
I'm in Panambi now. As it stands, I'll be here until at least next Thursday, which would mean that you guys would get another blog about the week before then. However, I'm think I'm going to skip that week. I will be writing everything down at the end of the day, however I will be waiting until this is over to update everyone about it.
Wish you all a nice week!

PS Sorry if this gets posted late. My internet situation at the moment isn't the best. I will post this as soon as possible!
(I'll be adding the pictures later.)

HELLOW!!!

24 January 2018
18:30 BRT (EST + 3 hours)
Current Temperature: RAIN RAIN GO AWAY

--Thursday
Well, I chose to take another day off. If I remember correctly, it had continued to sprinkle down rain throughout the day and so no Cipex for me. However! It did stop for a while when it started getting dark, and I managed to get some A-Mazing pictures of the sunset.

 


--Friday
Friday, I FINALLY managed to get over to Cipex for about five hours in the evening! I got the entire first layer of all the bricks down. Now I just need to go over some of them with another coat, paint the wall below it with a fresh coat of white and make sure all the pencil sketching is erased!

--Saturday
Saturday, I relaxed once more. However, with a single look at the week ahead, in reference to the weather, I didn't really have a choice but to relax. Starting Sunday, we were going to have constant rain and thunder storms. Lots of fun...
ADORABLE KITTEN!!!

--Sunday - Wednesday
It has really be storming everyday. However while it has rained everyday, it ranges between complete and utter thunderstorms and just calm sprinkling of rain. However, it's made the ability to walk anywhere very scarce.
Even as I'm writing this, it's thundering outside. It has only been sprinkling rain all day but I've heard thunder every once in a while, the main storm is probably farther away.

1 AM Update Time = Success

18 January 2018
01:11 BRT (EST + 3 hours)
Current Temperature:

So the worst thing about this is that I had managed to have everything written out and ready besides today so that I wouldn't have much to do... I still managed to totally forget until I was about to go to bed... Whoops...

--Thursday
Well, I went back to Cipex once more for a few hours. Paulo ended up coming as well because he had work he had to do, so we ended up hanging out while doing our own stuff. I finished sketching out where I wanted all the 'bricks' to be, and had started filling in the larger ones with a paint roller. However, as it turns out, they don't look too nice when you use a paint roller. So after already filling in about 10% of the bricks, I decided to go back through and neated those up by hand, with a brush that is about an inch wide. After that, I simply filled in about half of the rest of the bricks by hand as well. So far, I think it's coming out quite well!

I'm still waiting to get the putty spatula so I can fill in some scrapes and such, however I might just end up painting over them. Most of the scrapes and such are really small and at the base of the wall, so they aren't super noticable.







--Friday
I was planning on going to back Cipex again on Friday, however the temperature got in the way. According to the weather station, it was only 24 C (75 F) but it seriously felt like it was at least 34 C (93 F)! So, I decided to stay home and not die of heat.
The worst part of Friday, was that my fan stopped working! So even though it was a little cooler inside the house, it was still REALLY hot, and I didn't have anything to cool down!

--Saturday
It had been raining off and on all Saturday evening. Quite annoying when I wanted to go out and do stuff. However, I did manage to get an adorable picture of Nero!

--Sunday
Once more, my plans to go to Cipex were foiled. I had checked the weather forecast, and while it said that it wouldn't rain until the evening, I didn't want to be stuck at Cipex when I wanted to leave.
Normally, when I go to Cipex, I go later in the day and then leave around 19:00 to 20:00 (7-8pm). As the forecast had said, it was going to begin raining around 19:00 (7pm), so I really didn't like my odds.

--Monday
I had been awake for less than an hour and already had more than three new mosquito bites on my legs... HOW?!
Well, while I had planned to go to Cipex and work some more on the bricks, it was sprinkling rain off and on throughout the day. I probably would have been fine to just go, however I chose not to.

--Tuesday
Started off the day right! I went outside and picked up Nero, who had been laying under a bush, and brought him inside to hang out with me. I'm not sure what he got into, and I'm pretty sure it's not because of the bush, but I ended up getting a few small spots of a rash on my arm. I know it was from Nero because they showed up exactly where Nero's front paws and head touched my arm. Odete put some stuff on the spots and they have disappeared now, but I'm still curious what he got into that caused me to get a rash.
Also, while Odete was out doing something I had a mini-vistor! Sadly I only took a video and no pictures, so the picture I have is sorta bad quality, but apparently it was just a regular lizard here. It was just strolling through our yard to hide under a giant flower bush Odete has. She said that they can get really long when they grow up, so the one I saw is probably still a baby.

If you can't see him, look closely at where the grass and the green base of the fence meet.

The rest of the day went by slowly and around 21:00 (9pm) my time, I FB called with my parents for about an hour and a half.








--Wednesday
Today went by like normal. I really wanted to go to Cipex and work more, however the weather had another plan. Odete and I had a late lunch, and shortly afterwards it started pouring. It kept doing this off and on for a few hours, however later at around 18:00 (6pm) I managed to go outside and lay out in Odete's hammock for an hour or so. It was actually really relaxing and nice, I'm definitely planning on doing it more in the future.

Pintura, Pintura, Pintura

11 January 2018
11:54 BRT (EST + 3 hours)
Current Temperature: 29 C (84 F)

--Friday
I managed to finish taping up the hexagons on Friday. However, planning to only be at Cipex long enough to put up the tape, I didn't bring my phone charger and came with only half battery on my phone. Taping everything took a bit longer than I thought it would and so my phone ended up dying before I left. No music for me on the walk home. Also my luck with cockroaches once more. Cipex doesn't usually get cockroaches because it's not lived in like a house. However my luck said that there would be one sitting outside the front door to greet me... No pictures, but at the end of the day I did get to hang out with my kitty!


--Saturday + Sunday
I decided to take this weekend off, though I don't have a proper job to actually take time off of. I don't have any pictures from Saturday but I did managed to take progressive pictures of Nero's laying position on the couch with me. At one point he even fell asleep with his tongue sticking out, most adorable thing ever!

 

 

Sorry for the quality of this last one, I had taken a video and just screenshot one frame from it.
Also, yes, in the second to last picture he managed to steal my hand as I was trying to pick him up.


--Monday
Monday I started and finished painting in the hexagons! I took off the tape from around it and started repainting bits that needed to be white. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures yet.

--Tuesday
However on Tuesday, I finished painting over the little bits of misplaced blue as well as I started sketching out where the 'bricks' are going to go on another wall. I do have a picture of the hexagons, however the sketching was too light, as sketches are suppose to be, to be caught on camera.

I should also mention, that before going to Cipex, I went to the store on my own and bought myself stuff. Unsurprisingly, it was terrifying, however I managed.
If you are wondering why it is terrifying for me it's because I don't like going into big crowds of people I don't know on my own.









--Wednesday
Yesterday, I didn't really do anything. I actually had plenty of time to write out the blog and upload it but managed to completely forget. Soooo, yeah. Sorry about that. Now I'm scheduled a pretty busy day ahead of me so wish me luck!

Painting!!!!.... And Torrada!

January 4 2018
10:40 BRT (EST + 3 hours)
Current Temperature: 22 C (71 F) Forecast of lots of rain.


--Thursday
Well, not much happened on Thursday, however the highlight of the day was..... drum roll in mind.... I got my hair cut!! Woohoo!

 

--Friday
The next day I began the long project of repainting one of the rooms at Cipex. The room in particular being Andrea's "classroom!" Students are allowed to draw on certain parts of the walls, however it was time for a change, and so I started out by simply painting over the drawings with white. I spent about three hours at Cipex on Friday doing this.

--Saturday
On Saturday, I got into contact with some Brazilian friends and tried to set up a time when I would be painting at Cipex and we could all hang out. Sadly in the end, everyone had been busy, but I still got quite a bit of painting done! I was at Cipex for... six hours!

--Sunday
Sunday, I had a busy night ahead of me. My host mom left at about 21:30 (9:30pm) to go to church to celebrate the New Year. I stayed home and hung out with my kitten who was being surprisingly cuddly.

 

At about fifteen minutes until midnight, I started making myself some macaroni and cheese while doing a short FaceBook call with my friend and her mom. Shortly after the Brazilian New Year, we ended the call and I sent messages out to all my friends here in Brasil.
I then proceeded to have a plate of the macaroni and stayed up another three hours. Why? You may ask. Well, Brasil is three hours ahead of Indiana. Meaning in order for me to celebrate with my US friends and family, I will stay up until 03:00 (3am). This I did, I stayed up, and at 02:00 (2am) started another FaceBook call with the same friend along with a few others who had joined her for New Years. We played a very silly game of Apples to Apples and once 03:00 (3am) or 00:00 (12am) came around, I sent out messages to my US friends as well as my family.
After that I was quite tired. Oh, and did I forget to mention I had to get up at 08:00 (8am) the next morning?

--Monday
Well, even though I had set an alarm to wake me up, I must've turned it off in my sleepy state because at 08:30 (8:30am), the time we were going to leave, my host mom came in and woke me up.
I might want to mention what we were doing, we were going to a family member's house to celebrate New Years Day. The car ride was two hours long, and it was a packed car. (Odete's parent's picked us up and they had another person with them.)
It was actually quite nice, we hung out there for the majority of the day and had lunch. Around 18:00 (6pm) or so, we headed home!
Annnnnnd, here's a silly out of context picture from the day...

--Tuesday
On Tuesday, it was another relaxed day. I spent part of it hanging out with the wild Nero kitten when he came inside, and at one point made myself a torrada I am quite proud of.
If you don't know what I mean by torrada it is this... A torrada is a sandwich you can put anything in, and then you grill it. Imagine a grilled cheese, but you can put anything in it and it's MUCH less greasy. Torradas... are... amazing.
This particular one I made with some chicken and cheese.

--Wednesday
Wednesday started off slow. However once about 16:00 (4pm) rolled around it was time to go. At this time, I went to Cipex and began painting once more. With all the work I'd done before, I only had to do a few more layers over certain parts of the walls to finish with the drawings.
Once it was about 17:00-17:30 (5-5:30pm) Paulo as well as Ana came around. Paulo was doing a quick review lesson with her before she left for Canada in the next few weeks. (I will mention, there were suppose to be two other boys with her, however they went to another city for the day.) Ps. These boys kept teasing me with pictures of Subway.
We all hung out and by the time I left at 19:00 (7pm), I had finished painting over the drawings, had created paper cut-out frames for the diamond and hexagon designs and had started taping out the hexagons!
Wish me luck!

Ps... Sorry for the delay... only realized I had forgotten about the blog when I had curled up in bed...

Kinda Busy... But Not at the Same Time

27 December 2017
17:51 BRT (EST + 3 hours)
Current Temperature: 31 C (87 F)

--Thursday
Thursday was actually quite busy once the afternoon came around. I slept in until about ten o'clock and then at 14:00 (2pm) I walked down to Cipex. After that, Andrea and I went out to the market to get paint, paint tools and tape and anything else we needed! Plus we dropped by the grocery area and I bought some snacks.
Anyways, we got two cans of white paint, and one can of blue paint. Plus some spackle for any holes in the walls left by the crazy students we all know go to Cipex. After that, an hour or two had gone by and Andrea dropped me off at home.

--Friday + Saturday
Nothing much happened on both of these days. However I do believe it was on one of these days that I had the pleasure of seeing another cockroach just relaxing on the wall up by the ceiling. It seems I've gotten used to it, at least partially, because I just calmly said, "Mãe, barata." (Mom, cockroach.) and pointed it out.

--Sunday
Sunday however was partially crazy, as it's Christmas Eve! We left the house a few hours after lunch and headed to Carazinho. We stayed with some family members for an hour or so before going to Cristiano's house for him to get into more formal clothes. While there we were greeted, or at least I was as I was the last one to walk in through the door, to a cockroach scuttling by and crawling under the fridge. He sprayed a bunch of pest spray under and around the fridge but it seemed to not have done anything because later it just crawled out and ran across the floor. Odete just kinda walked over and stomped on it. Normal Brasil in the summer for you.
Anyways, after this, we headed to Cristiano's sister's house where we had dinner! She set up her table very prettily and I ended up having to take a picture.

--Saturday

When I had asked on Sunday if we were doing anything the next day I was only told that there was a chance we were going to Odete's parents house. We didn't however. We just relaxed for the full day at home. Odete got me a present. A towel with my name and flag and inbound year stitched into it!










Also, I got some pictures I had asked for from my family back in the states! I asked for pictures of our Christmas decorations to show my family here.

I finished the night by watching The Santa Clause with a mug of hot chocolate. Before it got dark, and before I had started the movie however I took a cool picture.



--Monday - Wednesday
Nothing much has happened over the past few days except LOTS of rain. Especially today. There was even a mini pool in our backyard because of all the rain!

I may have exaggerated but there was SO much water!

Again?!

22 December 2017
21:48 BRT (EST + 3 hours)
Current Temperature: 24 C (75 F)

SUPER sorry for the delay. I only just realized how I hadn't even started working on the blog and how it was supposed to go up two days ago.

--Thursday - Saturday
Nothing much happened over these days, we had a slow and relaxing week for the most part.

--Sunday
However on Sunday we did do stuff. We went to the host gparent's house! (Which is actually where I am right now while writing this, and at the moment they do not have the wifi turned on and so I cannot actually post this.) Well, we arrived at their house shortly before lunch and had lunch with them. Shortly after the wind, that had already been sorta strong all morning, started to pick up. We had a rainstorm!
At first it was just the super strong wind, but later it did start raining. Also, by super strong wind, I'm not exagerating. It was picking up dust from the dirt road and you could see the wind that way. Just as it started raining, we (Who had been sitting on the porch watching the wind, because the porch was shielded by the house.) noticed that there was a small bird hiding behind the fence out in the wind and rain.
As it turns out, the wind probably knocked the chick out of its nest and now it was stuck in the storm. Happily, Odete's mom went out and grabbed it. We kept it in a drawer in the bathroom until the wind calmed down enough. Then we released it for the parents to watch over.
After the entire storm calmed down, which was an hour or two later, Cristiano, Odete and I headed home for the day.

 


--Monday
Now, Monday, stuff was scheduled. At 10:00 (10am), my counselor, Andrea picked me up and we headed out to go do some Christmas shopping! (Though it was technically just shopping.) I managed to find a new summer dress, as well as two pairs of leggings. After that, we went to Cipex where they were having a sort of celebration for the students who had graduated their class (Sorta, don't know how to explain it.). Though they had cake and such, and I hung out there for a short bit longer and then headed home.




--Tuesday + Wednesday
Not much happened over these two days, Andrea and I were going to go out again on Wednesday but some complications came up so we put a rain check on it. However I did love wearing the new dress, it made not feeling like I was going to melt a LOT easier.


PS Now again, super sorry for how late this is. Time has gotten away from me like crazy it seems. Also, for the people who I have learned get to ready these blogs as a sort of preperation for your own blogs, just remember you don't have to use the same style as everyone else. Find one that works for you. If you compare the first blog I put up to one from a few weeks ago then compare those two to this one, you'll notice I've sort of figured out my own way of organizing these blogs. As for the title, don't think too much about it and just write a silly or serious title for whatever happens during the week.
Good luck on your exchange years everyone!

I'm not late... you're.... late?

14 December 2017
11:44 BRT (EST + 3 hours)
Current Temperature: 29 C (84 F)

--Thursday
Well I actually got to do something Thursday! I hung out at Cipex for most of the afternoon, and then went home with Camila who had invited me over for dinner! I got to hang out with them until almost midnight, and her son got me to play Freddy Fazbear: Pizzeria Simulator. (Not to be confused as FNAF 6.) I did good, and then he persuaded me to salvage an animatronic... I died many times...
Anyways, it was really nice and I got to meet her daughter as well, and learn the layout of her house. Which is nice because she may be my future host family.

--Friday
Just about nothing happened on Friday. I just relaxed in my puddle of sweat.

--Saturday
Now, this was the time that everything started getting busy. I woke up at  09:00 (9am) to my alarm, and shortly after I was told we were going to the gparent's house again! So I got ready in record time while still managing to have coffee. We drove over, had lunch and I got to meet their new horse! They had a mare now and she was very beautiful. Cristiano rode her around for a bit and then let me ride her. To me it seemed like she had a bit of a lopsided gait when she walked but I got used to it. Later, everyone got to work with a couple of sheep. Though this time they weren't going for the wool... I very happily, kept my distance because I wasn't sure how my stomach would react.
Then later once more, we had dinner and I got to try a ice cream dish that Odete's mom had made. IT WAS DELICIOUS!!! It had BIS chocolate bars and it was just so stinkin' good!

OH I FORGOT TO MENTION!!! While driving to their house we may have seen an ostrich crossing!!!

 





--Sunday
Sunday was just as busy. However this time, I was woken up being told we were going over again. We left a little later in the day however, more towards lunch. We had lunch, relaxed for a little bit and then we went swimming! After we had swum for a while we went to a lake area and hung out along the coast of it, just relaxing and having a few snacks when all of a sudden... THERE WAS A BABY Komodo Dragon!!!

It was kind of scary but REALLY cool!!
After we were done with everything, we drove back to the gparent's house and then drove home for the night.

--Monday-Wednesday
Nothing really has happened to be honest. However I was notified about my Dad getting injured at work because of the ice. He's okay now, just recovering. So, now I think it's time for a picture from home!

It must always be warm in our dryer because if we leave the door open too long then our cat Boomer loves to climb in and lay down!

WHY IS IT GETTING HOTTER?!?!?!?!

6 December 2017
15:21 BRT (EST + 3 hours)
Current Temperature: 36 C (96 F)

--Thursday (Written on Friday)
Well, the day went fine through school and for the majority of the night. Most of all the students were at school again and due to the Gremista game the previous night, during our break, all the Gremule fans were all cheering and it was quite entertaining. After school ended, and late at about 22:00 (10pm) I had just finished showering and settled down to watch netflix for an hour before going to sleep.
In one of the inbound student chats we were all talking about random topics and at one point, towards 23:00 (11pm) I had opened Snapchat (Because everyone was talking through both Snapchat and Whatsapp, it was kind of insane.) and my phone froze. It was half way through opening the app and so I tried pushing the home button and sort of reset the process. That didn't work, and so I tried to lock the screen. This worked... Sort of. I had pressed the button a few times when the screen finally turned off. Except after that I couldn't get it to come back on.
After a while of trying to figure out what was wrong with it, meaning hitting buttons, I realized that when I pushed  the power button the screen did come on, but it was still black. The only difference that made me notice was that the screen part turned lighter than the black trim around it. The other thing I realized was that if I tried to use Siri, the screen would flash on for a millisecond and then turn back off.
My phone was still working fine, just the screen mostly had a coating of black on it. I asked on Facebook asking for suggestions but ended up resorting to just letting it run out of battery overnight due to it being 23:00 (11pm) by then.
Now this, is where the true fun begins. My phone had stopped working at say 22:45 (10:45pm), and for a little while before then and afterwards I had kept hearing a sort of skittering sound. I had ignored it until I started getting ready for bed. I then finally noticed out of the corner of my eye, that in the window that is above the head of my bed was a cockroach. A BIG ONE.
I took a video about it as well as just other random stuff on my GoPro and I'll try my best to post it onto here before Wednesday so that I don't have to explain more.
(By the way, when I say it was stuck in the window I mean between them. The windows in my room have a glass layer and a 'shutter' layer. It was stuck between the two.)

--Friday (Written on Friday)
I ended up not going to school today. Communication between people was getting confusing and I thought suddenly not being able to communicate would make things worse. Not much happened today except a lot of confusion for me about this weekend. At first, as I had been told for the previous few days, I believed that I was going to stay home alone for Saturday because Odete had to go to Carazinho and Cristiano's house didn't have room again.
Then suddenly today at 22:00 (10pm) I was told that suddenly I am going with her. Except I'm staying at either Cristiano's sister's house, or his mother's house... You can see where I got confused. So suddenly I had to shower and pack my suit case while still having questions about how long we were staying, when we were leaving and coming back, who was going to take care of Nero and more. The thing was, just after being told we were leaving in the morning, I took my shower. And when I got out I sent a text to Odete asking about Nero. When I got out of the bathroom, I realized that she had gone to sleep while I was showering.
Soooo, I am kind of concerned that stuff isn't going to be organized properly and that I'm going to end up needing something but not having it because I wasn't warned beforehand that I was going to need it and I'm just really hoping that which ever place I end up has WiFI because not being able to communicate with Odete directly is a NIGHTMARE. (It's happened before.)
Wish me luck... Even though by the time this is posted it'll be over. Either way... wish my past self good luck!

--Saturday (Written on Wednesday)
Well, I woke up at 08:00 (8am) to make sure I was ready by 09:00 (9am) when Odete had said she wanted to leave. After being up for about twenty minutes and getting completely ready did I finally find out that she had meant 21:00 (9pm) and not 09:00 (9am). Well, even so, we started off the day and actually did end up heading to Carazinho before 21:00 (9pm). We left not long before lunch and once we arrive, had lunch at a place there, and then went to the rodeo for the rest of the day. It was really cool, because when Cristiano wasn't lassoing (Meaning he wasn't riding his horse.) he let me ride around the area. The one downside to it all, was the heat. Even so, we survived and it was still fun!

--Sunday
The next day was about the same. The nice thing was that we didn't have to get up at 05:00 (5am) this time. I might've forgotten to mention that the rodeo grounds we went to this time was a different place from the last. It was only about a fifteen minute drive away instead of an hour. Continuing! We went to the rodeo at about 09:00 (9am) and stayed for the entire day until about 22:00 (10pm). During the time I got myself a new hat, a gaucho hat! I also got to ride around more and at one point I got some ice cream. It was probably around 14:00 (2pm) but it felt like we were on the sun! It was hot enough that while I was eating my ice cream I could see it melting if I watched it for only a few seconds. After the day was done, we went back home and relaxed for the rest of the night. (I again forgot to mention that I was able to stay at Cristiano's house after all.) Odete planned to stay another night and to just relax for most of Monday before heading home in the afternoon.
OH! I almost forgot! When we got home from the rodeo for some reason Odete's car battery had stopped working! We managed to get a hold of some jumper cables and got the car restarted! (I managed to help because of having my driver's permit, aka I knew how to start a car.)

--Monday
It was nice being able to sleep in after a while of not doing so. I may have sleep until about noon...
Anyways, during the afternoon, Odete and I went to a car dealership! (She was already planning on going because she wants to get a new car it seems.) Sadly after being there for probably about an hour in the blazing heat (Even though we were inside in front of a fan.) we didn't find the car she would like. And so, later, we headed home to Santa Barbara!
I should also mention that I'm getting back into drawing a bit. One certain thing I finished drawing while in Carazinho. I would show it, but it's a secret!

--Tuesday
I didn't go to school yesterday, knowing that I wanted to get some stuff done that I couldn't do in Carazinho. As well as at about 14:00 (2pm) I went to Cipex with nice clothes and my blazer. The reason? Our (Our as in Andrea and I) club president was coming to pick up the donations of bottle caps and can tabs that we had collected. THERE WERE SO MANY!!! All of the containers of caps and tabs didn't even fit in the car they brought! Anyways, after they picked up the donations and we took a few pictures, I hung out at Cipex for another few hours before heading home for the night.

--Wednesday
Well today has been quite relaxing. Though not so much at the same time. I made sure that I got up at a reasonable time because I do have stuff to do today. My first course of action once I got up was to take a shower, already done. After we had lunch, I ended up deciding to draw some more and somehow ended up finishing it in about two and a half hours... I'm happy with the result... just really confused on how I managed to do it so quickly...
Anyways, my goal right now of course is to make sure that this blog is ready even though the day isn't quite done. Not much is going to happen the rest of the day that I don't really know about so I'ma just talk about what I'm planning. Later, if available, I'm going to be doing a FB call with Amanda and the kids. We were going to do one on Saturday however then I was actually going to Carazinho and stuff got confusing really fast.
Now one thing I haven't addressed. Why didn't I go to school again today. Yesterday while I was at Cipex with Andrea she told me that she was going to be talking with the principle of the school to figure out something I could write or create over their summer vacation because going to school wasn't doing much. Especially these last two weeks of school were just about everything is done and I'd just be sitting there all day. So, I didn't go.

The Chillest of all Weeks

29 November 2017
22:06 BRT (EST + 3 hours)
Today's Average Temperature: 35 C (95 F)

--Thursday (Written on Thursday)

Not much happened at the beginning, however my class did get out about 15 minutes early at the end of the school day!After I got home, I relaxed for just under five hours and packed a couple bags. One had a change of clothes and a few other things. The other just had my phone, sunglasses, headphones and my water bottle.At about 16:30 (4:30pm) I headed to Cipex. Since it was Thanksgiving, Andrea was doing a sort of celebration for it. (They don't celebrate it here, which makes sense.) I dropped off the bigger bag, and headed to the gym with the smaller one.My plan was to drop off a change of clothes and stuff so that when I go back to Cipex after going to the gym, I could change out of my sweaty clothes and into clean ones.I did this, and hung out for the last few hours with everyone who came.Now to just plan out paint ideas.....

--Friday through Tuesday (Written on Wednesday)
Really, nothing happened. I would have gone to the gym again on Tuesday however it was 32 C and I thought it might not be a good idea to exercise it that much heat. However it seems the week ahead is only going to get hotter so I might just have to suck it up and go.

--Wednesday
Well, tonight (Right as I'm writing this) there is a Gremista game going on. A few students at school this morning were wearing their team wear due to it. Also, it seems that the school year is ending here. Apparently (I didn't know until after the school day.), all the tests everyone had been taking yesterday and the day before that were the end of year tests. So the system here is, if you have good passing grades you don't have to go to school for the rest of the school year. However if they aren't good, you stay and try to improve them until the school year is finished. Either way, I still have to go to school.
Anyways, after the school day Odete and I went to the market to have lunch. (They have a buffet style lunch area.) Immediately afterwards, we were headed off to her different clients houses for her work. They lived in more rural areas I guess I could say. We did this while on our way to her mom's house. When we arrived, I got to pick a bunch of oranges to make juice out of while she and the person watching over the animals (Her parents are out of town atm.) made cheese! I got to see how she and her family makes it, it's really interesting.
Next, when we had everything we needed we headed back home. However, another exchange student was in town today. Mariana from Russia! She had been hanging out at Cipex and Andrea really wanted me to come by as well, so on our way home, Odete dropped me off at Cipex and I spent the rest of the evening there.


Random Note:
It actually is forecast to get hotter as the week goes on. By next Wednesday it's suppose to be around 37 C (Almost 100 F). So wish me luck!

Note Thy Text Sarcasm!!!

22 November 2017
19:26 BRT (EST + 3 hours)

--Thursday + Friday
Nothing much happened both Thursday and Friday. Had school then relaxed for the rest of the day. The only thing that would stand out is that on Friday I went to the gym, sort of. One of the Rotarians from my district, as a gift, is paying for a years worth of gym membership for me. So, Friday I went, introduced myself (With Andrea's help.) and got to know any rules I'd need to know, their hours and so on. From now on, I hope to go every Tuesday and Thursday at 18:00 (5pm).

--Saturday + Sunday
Saturday and Sunday both, I ended up not doing anything. It was nice, just relaxed again.

--Monday
Monday, I may have woken up to my alarm, turned it off, and fallen back asleep for two hours. I ended up just not going to school that day. Seeing as I had already missed half of it. Thus, Monday became another relaxing day like Saturday and Sun.

--Tuesday
Tuesday...
Was soooooo...
Fun. (Note text sarcasm)
I woke up, just a few minutes before my alarm was suppose to go off to a buzzing noise. It sounded like a beetle flying against the wall so I just ignored it and continuing trying to sleep the last few minutes. Except the buzzing continued, a bunch. It was weird. My alarm turned off and I looked towards where the sound had been coming from, and was continuing to come from.
Then I saw it, it looked like a giant beetle. It was crawling around on the closet compartment that is in my room.

(Here's a picture of the closet from where I was sitting on my bed. It was crawling around the top area, it's dark in the picture.)

I, of course, partially started freaking out. I grabbed my phone, and while continuing to stare at it as it crawled around, managed to grab my glasses and bolt out of the room. I was debating whether I should wake Odete or not, and ended waking her up. (The other option was text Andrea and tell her I couldn't go to school because there was a beetle thing in my room and I couldn't get to my school stuff with it there.)
When she went into my room, the bug had spontaniously disappeared. I then super nervously went about grabbing everything for school really fast and exited the room.
When I got home, I learned that Odete had found it and killed it, and so she told me that it wasn't a beetle at all. But a cockroach! Seeing as how I know it couldn't have gotten into my room throughout the night due to my window being closed and the crack under the door being too small, it had to have been in my room throughout the WHOLE NIGHT. WHILE I WAS SLEEPING!!!! So that was suuuuuuper fun. (Note text sarcasm.)
ALSO! This one is actually good. I went to the gym the first time since arriving! There is one guy at the gym who speaks a little English and is helping me figure out a sort of work out plan. He led me through different machines and different exercises, seeing what I needed to work on and everything else! By the time I left the gym an hour later, I felt like my limbs were a bit of jelly.

--Wednesday
Finally, today. Well it started out good and continued to be good. Since I went to the gym yesterday, I'm super sore and kind of stiff, around my shoulders particularly. School went by mostly normally and I went to Cipex for a few hours. Tomorrow, after school and the gym once more, I'll be going and hanging out at Cipex again because they are having a Thanksgiving sort of dinner. Due to it being an American tradition, I get to talk about the culture around it and what we normally do on this holiday!

Wait... it's already Wednesday again?

15 November 2017
21:24 BRT (EST + 3 hours)

--Thursday
Well... "Aerith" had "her" first day of running around the house. I closed off all the other rooms and let "her" run around for a while. However then I realized something that a "her" wouldn't have...
So yeah... The cat is a he... The awkwardness was funny when I had to explain to everyone at Cipex.
Later that same day, I was talking with my sister and she figured out a new name! (Sorry, didn't hold a vote this time.) The kitten's name is now Nero! (Near-o)

--Friday
Friday was just as relaxing. Once school was over, I ended up relaxing on the couch for a while, just watching videos on my phone with a sweatshirt swaddled kitten napping with me.

--Saturday
Saturday, was when stuff actually happened! Odete was going out of town for the weekend, and due to sleeping arrangements, I couldn't go with her. And so I ended up staying with a friend of Odete's for the weekend. I packed up a bag, along with a kitten, and at 14:00, got taken to the other house. However, once I was there, it went back to the normal nothingness. The nice thing was, shortly before then I finally decided to read the Divergent series. I've had all three books for probably over a year and haven't read them. So while I was there I read a bunch.

--Sunday
Also, on Sunday, I went out and hung out with Paulo for a short while. Other than the random thing, it was a pretty normal weekend. Just relaxing.

--Tuesday
So, Tuesday night. There was a football game going on. (I'm talking about international football, not American. I'm trying to get used to saying football.) Andrea, my counselor, invited me to go with her to a sort of restaurant/bar place to watch it with her and a bunch of others. However, she did say that if she felt it was unsafe or anything at all (Because there was alcohol.) that she would take me home.
Once we had arrived, a quick glance didn't show any other girls there. Andrea asked one of the guys she knew and he confirmed that no other girls were there. (It was just Andrea, a friend of hers, and me.) Due to this, Andrea didn't feel it would be safe and so we called it off.

--Wednesday
Nothing much happened today. It was Republic day and so we didn't have school. Cristiano came home and so the cat never came inside. The only mildly interesting thing that happened today was that I took all the clean laundry and hung it out to dry. I think I did it pretty quickly by how surprised Odete was when I said I was already done! (I also got to have chocolate because Odete got some!)

Other than all that, it was a pretty uneventful week, though it went by REALLY fast.

Throne..... Ooooooooh.... Thorn!

8 November 2017
--:--BRT (EST + 3 hours)

--Thursday
I woke up at 07:00 (7am), got ready for school, and headed out the door at 07:30 (7:30am). The walk to school takes about 15 minutes, and while walking I noticed that the intermediate-level school was closed. Though it had been closed on days the high-school had class so I didn't think much about it. However as I continued walking I noticed that there wasn't even one other person walking, and I only saw maybe five cars drive down the road.
I guessed that we didn't have school that day, but I wasn't sure. So I made a plan, if school was closed, I would start walking back home through the longer route, and see if Amazóna do Pão was open. Sadly, every shop I passed, including Amazóna do Pão (I think that's the name, I could be wrong.) was closed. So I walked back home. Later, I learned from Paulo that we didn't have school, Thursday or Friday due to a holiday. (No one told me so I had no idea.)
Later, Paulo and I got to go out and have shakes! YEAH, shakes!

--Saturday
Saturday morning, we were suppose to go over to Odete's parent's house. I'm not sure what changed because Odete told me we weren't going anymore, but I can guess. During the night, it was storming a bunch (It actually knocked our power out for a short while again.) and I woke up to it around 04:00 (4am) I believe (At the same time, Odete told me we weren't going anymore). I'm guessing that because of the storm the roads would be too muddy to drive down to get to their house. (They live in the country side, so the roads are just dirt.)
So, instead, to my surprise, the gparents came here instead. We had lunch and then they hung out for a while longer.

--Sunday
On Sunday, the same happened. The gparents came here and we had a bigger lunch. (Sundays are sort of dedicated to being with your family, thus the bigger lunch.) For the rest of the day however, we just relaxed again.

--Monday
Monday, got up and started getting ready for school. However I felt a little sick. Not nauseous, but just my body felt tired and I was a little lightheaded and dizzy when I stood. I ended up not going to school due to this. I fell back asleep and woke up a little bit before noon, feeling a LOT better. (I probably slept between eleven to twelve hours total.) Later, I went and hung out at Cipex!

--Tuesday
CAT!!!!!
School was normal. However, later... I was hanging out a Cipex for a little bit, and then Andrea took me to her house so that I could take one of the kittens!! After that, we just hung out at Cipex until about 20:00 (8pm) than I brought the kitten home. (Also, she is only about a month and a week old!)

--Wednesday
So last night, I had kept the cat in my room, due to it storming outside (We couldn't move everything to her spot outside.). Due to this, she kept meowing and waking me up throughout the night. I was pretty tired but once I came home from school and tried to sleep a little, then showered and then I brought the cat to Cipex with me for a few hours again! By this time we (I put out a sort of vote for a bunch of people.) had figured out a name.... Aerith!!
So, Aerith and I just hung out at Cipex for about 5 hours. I figured out while we were there that she really likes being completely covered by whatever she's sleeping in. I had laid her in my sweatshirt and she burrowed her way through the folds so she was WITHIN the sweatshirt. It's actually really cute.

(Title is inside joke... sorta.)