Life in Brazil

I would have to sit here for about 2 hours to explain in detail all the things that have happened since I boarded my flight in Alaska. Because of this, I will summarize. (expect typos and mispellings because the spell check is set to Portuguese)

Flights and Orientation: My flight to Miami was the first time I have flown alone. It was really exciting, but incredibly boring and extremely hard to sleep. When I got to Miami after transfering flights in Chicago I claimed my bags and made it outside and hailed the shuttle to the hotel. When I got there I was welcomed by an AFS volunteer and told about what would happen later of that day and the next morning. I then met Erin, Anna, Kate, and Marley (Paraguay). And Nevo, Sylvia, Corri, and Nikita (Brazil). We hung around the hotel before orientation and got to know one another. I also had the worst dinner ever at Bennigans, where the sandwich I ordered was deep fried. It was disgusting and my stomach couldnt handle it, but I took a picture and it will make a good story. After dinner we talked with a returnee and then tried to catch up on our sleep. In the morning we had orientation again and then it was off to the airport! We were all so excited and although we were 4 hours early for our flight the Brazil kids passed the time by studying our Portuguese! Our flight to Sao Paulo was extremely different than any flight I have been on before, this is my first time out of the country! Although we were fed and were able to watch movies, the flight was way too long and very uncomfortable. I slept about 30 minutes and missed breakfast, but I was just happy we were almost there.
When we arrived we got our bags, went through customs, and Nevo and I prepared for our 9 and a half hour wait until our flight at 2 oclock. We were tired, hungry, and just ready to get to our new homes. Due to the language barrier we almost missed our flight to Salvador, but we barely made it. I slept a little and woke up with a headache and feeling like my ears were going to burst. Eventually we arrived in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. (I should have summarized more)

Arrival: As I waked through the doors from the baggage claim into the other part of the airport I heard cheering and saw my family holding signs welcoming to Brazil. I was first greeted by my father and handed gifts. I was the ushered into the crowd where and overwhelming amount of people were introducing themselves and asking me about my flight. It was so hot and I felt a bit lost. After about 15 minutes I left with my family. I live in a gated community and all the houses are behind walls. The front door to by house is glass which was a bit surprising for me. I then went to this public place by my house where there is a pool and a court to play soccer where kids from my neighborhood hang out. I played soccer, swam, and played soccer again, it was a lot of fun.
Since then Ive played a lot more soccer, gone to the beach twice, swum in the ocean once, ridden on the back of a moped, eaten a lot of rice and beans, and many other things! The language is really hard and I dont understand what people are saying a lot of the time, but I definitely understand a lot more than I did on day one and speaking comes to me more easily. My little brother is adorable and is my Portuguese Professor. He doesnt speak English so sometimes he has to explain something many different ways, but it is very helpful!

School: Yeserday was my first day of school and was a huge culture shock. When I arrived in my classroom everyone was screaming and running around. The teacher was standing upfront and speaking into a microphone but no one was listening. When I walked in and everyone found out the I was an exchange student from the US. They all started screaming and trying to talk over one another when asking me questions. And when they found out I was from ALASKA... They started screaming even louder. I couldnt understand what people were asking me becauase there where too many people talking at once, the room was very loud, and everyone who was talking to me was yelling. I thought that the entire day would be like that and I didnt understand how they were able to learn, but soon people got into their seats and the next teacher came in. School continued and it was very hard to understand what was going on. Later I found out that the first class I came to was Art, which makes more sense. I had English for 4 hours in the afternoon but I dont have to go because, well, I speak English. Today I had Spanish for an extra 2 hours, and we didnt speak any Spanish and I didnt learn anything. Hopefully it is just because it is the beginning of the year. The rest of the week I only have school until 12:30.

Well, this took way longer than I expected, but I am glad I am finally done with my first post in Brazil! I will try to update more often, but it seems like there is always something to do here. Its never boring and each day I love it more. Tchau