segundo mês

so far the second month has been amazing. have spent it at the beach, dancing, lots of sleepovers, and plenty of chocolate cake.

and im starting to realize how much i really will miss this place..
but ill worry about that in 9 months

BLACK EYED PEAS!

went to the BEP concert sunday night in recife! it was absolutely amazing! i love the black eyed peas soooooo much!!!!!!!!!!! i dont really have a whole lot to say other than it was 459240962096 X's better than i ever imagined and i would do it all over again!

BEST WEEKEND OF MY LIFE!
(go to my facebook to see more pictures) :)

Happy Birthday Thomas

i really should blog more because i forget what i do during the week and by the time i go to write about it, i cant remember.. so im going to try my best.
friday i stayed home from school because everybody had testing all day. ahh lets see.. i slept until 12 i think and then at 2 i went to rodris house. after rodris i went to stephanies casa with everyone! we made brigadeiro, its amazing and i love it!!! its sort of like chocolate fudge i guess, but not really... thats the closet thing i can compare it to. the united states doesnt have it. but dont worry! im going to make it all the time when i get home for anybody who wants to try it! and after we played a game called "gato mia" literally meaning cats meow. its a game where one person is blindfolded and has to find somebody and when they touch them they have to guess their name. if they guess the right name then that person is "it" and if they guess the name wrong then they keep trying to find/touch somebody to be the new "tagger" ?... haha its hard to explain but its a simple game.. sort of like tag but without being able to see. after stephanies house i went to rodris house again and i met his little sister (ranna)! she reminds me so much of lauren and i cant help but love her! once rodriOgo (haha) changed and got ready, rodri marilia and i went out to dinner with marilia's family. we went to zanzibar (a pizza place) soooo good! then once we ate rai came and picked me up and i went home.
saturday was thomas' 6th brithday! we went to the farm and patty made chocolate cake (i loveee) and rebeccas family was there. we played games and looked at the cows and chickens and all the things you do when your on a farm. it was so beautiful and quiet and the weather was sooo nice!(although it did stink a little bit) after the farm i went to luciana's house with her and her friend from recife! (Dynara) shes sooo sweet! she doesnt speak english but i still love her! saturday night we went to lucianas friends 18th birthday party.. it was a bbq.. (i tried cow stomach!) not the best thing in the world but ive definately had worse! we stayed there until about 1am(ish) i think and then we went back to luciana' house to sleep. in the morning we took dynara home went to vote (they had president elections) then luciana and i went out to eat with her mother! i love her mom soooo much! :) shes the sweetest woman!!! after lunch i went back to luci's house then after a while i went home.
monday i had school, i still love it. its a little boring during class (mainly because i have no idea what the teacher is talking about) but thank god for entertaining friends! they make school enjoyable! after school i have no idea what i did! ughhhh.. yeah i dont remember. but at 7 i had dance class. another thing that i love soooo much here! i had dance until 10pm and then came home and probably was on msn/facebook/orkut/skype until i went to bed..
tuesday, school.. again after school i had portuguese class. i love portuguese class too! and then i went to alex's house. (the other exchange student from north carolina and the one that was on the plane with me) it was so nice to be able to have a conversation with someone and be able to understand everything theyre saying and be able to talk back! we had sooo much fun! we always do.. we sat on the porch in the hammock just talking and talking and talking about everything! and we had CHOCOLATE CAKE!!!! i can already feel the weight im gaining! all i do here is eat (especially chocolate) after alex's i went home and at 8pm i had a rotary meeting. it was good. very different than rotary in ottawa though.. besides it being at night, there was no food :( and there were probably a total of 8 men 2 woman and me.. i didnt understand anything but its ok.. i will soon! (hopefully)
and finallyyyyyyyyyyyy that brings me to today!!!!!
wednesday!!! today i went to caruaru with rai, rebecca, rebeccas mother and father and rafael (from school) we had to go to the federal police to get my temporary stay license and they had to get passports. we left at 8 this morning and got back around 2 or 2:30. i was sooooo excited today because i ate at MCDONALDS for lunch! ahhh it was sooo good! i never knew i would be that excited about a mcchicken and fries but it was the highlight of my entire day! i miss american food sooo much! ive been craving the weirdest foods lately.. but anywaysss rebecca and i went to the boys soccer game for a little bit after caruaru and then i went home took a nap and then went to dance class from 8-10. friday i have plans to go shopping with a girl from dance to buy shoes for our performance.. im excited to be dancing again but im very nervous..
sorry for this blog being sooooo long! i didnt really go into detail because there was soooo much to write about. so grandma leave a comment because i know you have about 3485973652 questions you want to ask! :)

ohhh and i told all of my friends here about halloween! they have NEVER celebrated it here! so we are having our own halloween party! everybodys sooo excited! it will be fun!
buttttttttttttt i have NO IDEA what i want to dres up as.. so if you have any ideas let me know!!!! :) thanks
well i think its time for bed. school tomorrow and then lunch with luciana after.
tchau! eu te amo!
beijossss! boa noiteeee :)
ill write again sooon...

18 days!

18 days until black eyed peas!!


TERCA
Sooo much to tell you!!! tuesday was my first day of portuguese lessons! i loved it! its going to help so much! my teacher is an english teacher so this a first for both of us. she has never taught a portuguese class, just english, and i have never taken a portuguese class. so we plan to work together. she will teach me portuguese and i will help her with her english along the way.. Anddddd my portuguese teacher's sister is a dance teacher! she teaches samba and other ballroom dances. she offered to give lessons every monday and wednesday. (ill explain more later on)

QUARTA
wednesday at school i had english class, and i got the chance to talk with the english teacher for a while. she explained to me that she is doing a project with all of her students from school. and she is making a game sort of like "who wants to be a millionaire" but the questions will all be about the united states. she asked me if i could put together a power point of things about the u.s. to show the school so they had better knowledge on the subject. so i am starting to prepare the presentation for that, which i will turn in to her on oct. 7th. she also came up with the idea of making a yearbook with our class for me to take home before i leave! we will take pictures and put it all together into a book and everybody will be able to write something in it, so i will always remember all of my friends! i loveeeeedddd the idea!
wednesday was also my first dance class! i love my instructor, i loved the class, and i loved the people in it! so many nice people! we learned a couple different types of dances. i forget the names though.. oops.. but we started choreography and we are having a show on october 16! im so excited but very nervous, sooooo much to learn in soooo little time! i will talk with her more about it next week at class. but she also offered me to give ballet, jazz, and hiphop lessons! so i might start doing that too! october is definately going to be a busyy busyyy busyyyyyy month!! there are so many things going on, its hard to keep everything straight and remember it all! but it is definately teaching me to be more responsible!

tomorrow i will not go to school because everybody has tests so addy gets to stay home and sleep then after that i am going to stephanies house with friends

week one!

wow its hard to believe ive been here for a week already! ive been so busy its hard to find time to blog.. (so im terribly sorry chris for not posting everyday) :) haha well my first weekend here in brasil was so much fun! after school on friday i went shopping with patty and thomas. i bought a cell phone and a notebook for school. ahh saturday i slept until 12:30 (so nothing has changed, im still lazy and i love my sleep) then i had lunch and hung out with thomas and noah durning the day. then at 6 i went to the cinemas (movies) with my friends from school. we saw "going the distance" thank god it was in english!!! there were portuguese subtitles though! that is another helpful thing, being able to hear it in english but read it in portuguese. i was able to actually recognize some words! :) the brasilian movie theater is about the same as ours there wasnt anything different that stood out to me.. besides it all being in portuguese. after the movies we all went to a pizza resaurant called "varanda" it was so good! doesnt come close to bianchis though.. then on sunday at about 12 i went over to my friend rodrigos with everybody from the movies + some. we had chinese food for lunch and ice cream. we played games, watched a movie, went outside and played soccer! all in all, it was a great weekend! So much fun with so many good people. i couldnt have asked for a better experience! today i had school. School is definately something i look forward to.. (never thought i would be saying that!) after school i went to the english school and met with the teacher there. i am getting free portuguese lessons every tuesday from 2-3. I will beinfit from this sooo much! maybe in a few weeks i will actually be able to understand some of the things people are saying instead of looking at them like im crazy and waiting for someone to translate for me...but its all part of being in a foriegn country! Today was awesome though! for the first time at school someone said something to me and i knew what they said! it was an exciting time for me! haha the excitment went away quickly though, because after the first sentence they said, i was back to looking at them like i was crazy.. next thing i did today was go to the gym! felix, my trainer offered me free training at the gym as long as i helped him with his english!.. sounds pretty fair to me! all ive been doing here is eat eat eat eat eat.. the gym is now a top priority.. although it felt weird to sweat again, havent done that in awhile (goes to show just how lazy i really am) and the about ends my day.. i came home talked with the fam for a little bit. and now im here, writing in my blog. (grandmas orders!) this is going to be another insanely busy week so im not sure when i will write again.. tuesday (amanha) i have portuguese and have to get my school uniform(thank god! im running out of clothes to wear) wednesday theres a soccer game im going to, thursday.... i cant remember but i know i have something going on.. friday i wont go to school because we are going to the federal police to get my temp. stay license. but thats just the highlights! im not sure i realized how fast the days would go by... so much to do but so little time!!!!
goodnight u.s.a!
boa noite brasil!

Escola

sorry for not writing sooner. today was my second day of school! i loved it just as much as the first day. everybody is soooo nice to me and sooo friendly. i cant wait for monday to come so i can go back. we have 6 classes a day but there are, i think 10-12 classes all together (they alternate everyday) school starts at 8ish.. with about a half hour break around 10 or 10:30 then we get out around 12:15 12:30.. nothing is really on a schedule everybody just kinda goes with the flow... class starts whenever the teacher decides to come in the room. oh and thats another thing... my class (of about 40) we all stay in the room and the teachers are the ones who change classes. i have a few kids in my class that speak english and it makes it easier to understand what everyone is saying. its so much fun! i wouldnt even consider it going to school.. well for me anyway :) everyone thinks its so fun to teach me portuguese words so im picking up on the language really quick! it helps alot! tomorrow night i am going to the movies with a bunch of people from school and on october 17 im to a black eyed peas concert with everyone, so that should be fun! ill keep updating every now and then!
any questions just ask.. thats all the exciting news i have for now :)
tchau!
XOXO addy

Brasil

my flight
Well im not really sure where to start. it was a long 2 days, but definately worth it!
After spending a night in chicago with my family monday i left for atlanta, my first layover. my flight to atlanta got delayed which made my layover in atlanta about 20 mins until i had to be on my next plane for sao paulo. thank god ali and pedro were there to help me! i give them a lot of credit for me being here, if it wasnt for them id probably be crying, alone in an airport because i missed my flight!
anyways, my flight to sao paulo is where i met alex. shes from north carolina and shes an exchange student who lives in the same town as me. shes another person i give credit to. we had a 6 hour layover in sao paulo, she made it a lot more enjoyable than it would have been if i was alone and the 11 hour and 4 hour flights! so after finally landing in recife and getting my 293856 pounds of luggage i met my amazing host family for the first time! they were holding signs that had my name on them and they all had the biggest most welcoming smiles! garanhuns is about 3 hours away from recife so packed up my stuff (which barely fit in the car, rai, my host dad tried putting all my bags in 3 different ways before they finally fit) the ride home was hmmm.. ill go with quiet. since my host family doesnt speak english and i dont speak portuguese communicating was a little difficult, but we found ways around it.

a little bit about my host family
my dad, rai, does work with computers for a soft drinks company and is also a pastor for a religious group. he has definately helped to make me feel like part of the family! we've spent alot of time so far working on my portuguese. "thank god for google translate" he constantly uses that phrase when we finally reach an understanding of what were trying to tell eachother!
my mom, patty, works from home as a chef i guess you could say. i dont know the exact name. she has also been a huge help! She has such a huge heart and is always making sure i feel at home. and even though we dont understand eachother at times, we still find a way to get our point across. Shes showed me around so many places already and is helping me get more comfotable here!
my brother, thomas, is 5! hes so adorable! hes been helping me with my portuguese ALOT! weve been studying flashcards and listening to justin beiber, since thats his favorite! hes always singing and dancing "baby baby baby ohhhh" you cant help but love him!
my brother, noah, he is 2.. and just like thomas you cant help but love him! hes soooo cute! hes muito timido, in other words hes very shy.. we love to watch go diego go! just like any other two year old, hes full of energy! :) thomas and noah get along so good, they are very close with eachother!
my sister, karis, is 16 and currently lives in denmark! she is an exchange student also.. she has been soo helpful since before i even got here! shes given me great advice and gives me all the information i need to know about brasil! karis is allowing me to stay in her room while im here and i couldnt be more greatful to her for that!

day 1
When i woke up patty made me breakfast. it was hot bread with cream cheese and melted cheese in the middle.. sort of like a grilled cheese. Then neri (a family friend/maid) made pineapple juice.. straight from a pineapple sitting on the kitchen counter! it was amazing! after breakfast we skyped with karis. she was the "translator" alot of the time for me and her mom! after skyping we had lunch. lunch was chicken, rice, beans, and salad. another great meal! rai came home for lunch and after lunch we spent some time talking and going over some things in portuguese.. a little later patty thomas and i went to casa cafe and got some drinks and a snack. the drink was called ariano suassuna. it was sort of like a milkshake or sundae with chocolate and whipped cream. but it had a different taste that i loved! then we went to the gym to go do some pilates. i got to meet alot of very nice/friendly people there! after that we came home and i made some portuguese/english flashcards with thomas and noah.. and since i finally got some time to unpack after i got all my stuff put away i decided to write a blog.. so i hope you enjoy it! if you have any questions you can write them somewhere below this entry. but its 12am here and i have my first day of school in the morning, so im going to get some sleep! ill post something soon to let you know how school goes!
boa noite e beijos :*