Lately, time has been flying by and I have been so busy with birthdays, school, volleyball, and dealing with the bi-polar weather. (It’s so bad that it reminds me of the Midwest hahaha) So much has happened in the last bit of August and the whole month of September. I decided to wait until September was over to do an update because I was just that busy.
This past weekend I had no time to rest because I did a presentation for a nearby Interact club, celebrated my birthday, played in a volleyball tournament, and then had a big school project to present to the rest of the school over the past few days. I finally got some time to write all of this up and I realized that it's been over a month since my last update. I guess time flies when you are having fun and very busy.
From the end of August until now, I have been trying to get to know and hang out with the other exchange students in my district who live close by me. The girl from Germany is living in my city and I have enjoyed hanging out with her and even got to help her make some German food! We made Schnitzel, which is a meat that is seasoned in salt, and pepper, and then dipped in egg and I think panko crumbs or a bread coating. The Schnitzel is then fried in butter. We also made potatoes, a cucumber salad, and a delicious sauce to go with it all. Not only am I bringing recipes of Brazilian food home, but even some German ones now too! Watch out Mom and Dad because when I come home you are going to taste the amazingness of Schnitzel and cucumber salad.
One thing that the girl German exchange student and I have in common is that we both love volleyball, so I invited her to join my team. I am continuing to compete with them and we recently had our first all-girls tournament where we won second place! I was recently named Captain of the team and it has been such a great opportunity to lead on and off the court as a setter and captain of my team.
The other German exchange student is living about 45 minutes away from us and he is super nice too! Fun fact: he also really likes volleyball! He came to Caxias do Sul recently and spent the afternoon and evening with me and the girl from Germany. We walked around the center of the city and I finally was able to explore parts of my city that I hadn’t seen before too! It had been so cold and nasty up until this now and I just hadn’t had the energy to walk around on a weekend. It was nice and the three of us got to know each other well!
As I mentioned, this past weekend the three of us were invited to Flores da Cunha to give presentations about our home countries and our lives there. I never would have been invited if one of the girls at my school hadn’t seen me with my Galesburg Interact shirt on. At the beginning of the year I wore my shirt, she saw it and went to the office to track me down. She then realized I was an exchange student which is why I originally went to Flores da Cunha back in June. Overall my presentation went really well and they even complimented my Portuguese saying that it had improved a lot since June!
At the beginning of September, we celebrated my host dad’s birthday and so my host sister and I made a variation of a black forest cake for him. My host dad loves cherries and we put cherries in between the layers and on top of the cake. I used to not like cherries but I am a cherry lover now! I like baking and decorating cakes so I think when I return home I will make my family their birthday cakes too!
Recently in my Culinary class at school, we have had lessons about different countries. So far we have made food from the US, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Paraguay, and Argentina. We are planning on doing many more recipes from other countries in the future as well. Did you know that mac and cheese is from Canada? I honestly thought it was from the US. I did not know this until a few weeks ago! Overall the American food was really good but the chocolate chip cookies were just not as good as the ones my grandma and mom make.
Another thing I was able to do recently with my host family was go to the beach. Even though the weather wasn’t warm enough to swim, we went to my host siblings’ father’s beach house and fixed it up a little. It needed some cleaning and TLC. During this trip, my host sister and I talked a lot, played board games, and tried new recipes together. Since I am going to a high school here and my sister has classes at a local college we don’t see each other or get to talk a lot because I have classes all day and she has classes at night so this was really good for us.
At the end of September, I celebrated my birthday with my host family and it was perfect. I got to pick the meal and so I chose a chicken gnocchi soup (like the Olive Garden one which I have never tried but it just sounded really good), garlic bread, and an Oreo and strawberry cake. I know that soup is probably not what you think when you think of a birthday dinner but soup is one of my absolute favorite foods! Fortunately, the weather was bipolar just like it is in Galesburg so it was a chillier day and so soup was a perfect way to end the night. My host dad and sister made my cake and it was delicious!
I know this update is long but one final detail is that my family has a third cat living in the house. He used to belong to my host siblings’ dad but now he is with us. He is a cat that is very timid and scared of people and finally, after about 1 month of being with us, he warmed up to me. He lets me pet him and he even stayed on my lap the other day and loved getting some belly scratches. I will switch to my third and final host family in 2 weeks and it will be very bittersweet for me. I already know my third host family and I know I will like them but I have created such a great bond with my host family now.
I only have 3 months left here in Brazil and it is so crazy how time flies. My last 3 months are packed with graduation, school projects, trips to the Pantanal, Natal, a 4-mile obstacle race, more volleyball, and Christmas. I am so excited about all of this but leaving in the end will be so difficult and bittersweet. I am not ready and I will never be ready to say goodbye to the families, friends, and the life I made here, but I am so lucky to have this opportunity. I am also excited to see my family and friends back in the US after being away for a year.
The time is going to fly by and I know that I will be back home, speaking English, and cooking my favorite Brazilian recipes before I know it.
At my presentation, I received lenços which are traditional gaúcho neck ties. In the past, they were used to show political opinion but now they just represent the culture and history of Rio Grande do Sul. In this section of my presentation, I talked about the sports I participated in along with Galesburg High School in General. This is me and the German exchange students at the mall eating açaí.
This is me and my host sister with the cake that we made for my host dad's birthday!
Here are some pictures of my weekend at the beach. I played Monopoly, and Battleship, and got to see a beautiful sunset.
I went to the German exchange student's home here in my city and made German food with her! Her host family is so sweet and has invited me over a few times to eat dinner with them.
My birthday was so nice and I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it any other way. My host family made it so special with the food and the delicious cake. The cake was a chocolate layer cake with brigadeiro and Oreo. I also wanted strawberries so my host sister and dad put strawberries on top too! I also had some birthday luck and FINALLY beat my host brother in chess. He is very smart and very good at chess. He just happened to not see that I could take his King (It was complete luck and I almost didn’t see it. This will never happen again hahaha)
Pictures from the Women's Volleyball Tournament. I received an MVP of the game award and the team won second place overall! We went out after the game for pizza!