Whew! This past week has been crazy! Here’s the play-by-play:
Monday 8/10–First day of school. It was chaotic and overwhelming, but fun at the same time. High school here, or colegio as they call it, is totally different. First of all, you stay in one classroom the whole day with all 20 or so students in your year, and the different teachers come in and teach their classes. I’m in 3rd year, which is their senior year. My school starts at 7:30 AM and normally lets out around noon. Everyone goes home for lunch and then we’re free for the rest of the day, which is nice. Except for Tuesdays and Fridays, when we have the dreaded aula da tarde, or afternoon class. Then we have to go back after lunch and stay until evening. And you don’t get to choose classes here. Everyone studies the same core curriculum: English, Spanish, Physics, Chemistry, Portuguese Grammar and Literature, Composition, Sociology, Geography, Biology, History, and Math. Each day of the week has a different class schedule, and I am expected to take notes and pay attention as well as I can, but no one expects me to understand much. However, I have become the English professor’s favorite teaching method! 
In school in the US, students are forced to stay awake, leave the desks in neat rows, and remain silent unless answering a question. Not so here. At any given moment, people are moving desks around, laughing, talking, sleeping, and generally making havoc. Everyone here understands that it’s their own responsibility to pay attention when they need to if they want to pass the Vestibular, the Brazilian version of the SAT.
After school, I experienced my first Brazilian mani-pedi. Jeez, the Brazilians are serious about their cosmetic procedures! Everyone knows about the infamous Brazilian wax, but this manicure made my fingers bleed! But hey, my hands and feet look good!
Later tonight, I went to my first Rotary meeting, which I think went pretty well. Again, everyone was excited to hear about school, driving, and all things USA. And they told me I have to sing for them at the next meeting. Those of you who know me well know that I’m not a big fan of solos, especially not when I’m representing all American singers for nearly 100 Brazilians. No pressure or anything :/
Then out of the blue, my friend Otávio’s parents invited me to come with them for a weekend in São Paulo! They have to bring Otávio to the airport because he’s doing a year of RYE in Mexico. Not only do I get to go to say goodbye to him, but I get a weekend of shopping and sightseeing in Brazil’s biggest city! We will leave on Thursday and come back on Sunday.
Tuesday 8/11–School went better today, I understood a little more, and was able to get to know some of the other students a little better. The girls are really nice, and the guys are funny. Everyone wants to know all about my life in the USA, and they’re totally jealous that I can already drive there (driving age is 18 here). After aula da tarde, I went out for café gelado (like a Frappuccino with chocolate or caramel and a scoop of ice cream) with my new school friends.
Wednesday 8/12–School again, then after lunch at home, I went to my friend Lilia’s house to make Brigadeiro, a yummy chocolate fudge type thing that’s really common here. We hung out at her house for a while, reading fashion and gossip magazines. Then later we all went to the local gym for a Pumping class. It was grueling but fun, and I was out of shape after my 2 weeks of doing nothing. My arms ached for days afterward, but I’m going to go back and do it again!
Thursday 8/13–10 hour car ride to São Paulo. São Paulo is a huge, colorful, diverse, beautiful, dirty city. If that makes any sense at all. We are staying at Otávio’s brother Angelo´s apartment downtown.
Friday 8/14–A morning of shopping at 25th street in São Paulo with Jani, Otávio’s mom. 25th is kind of like Chinatown in NYC in that you can buy anything you want, really cheap, right out on the street. But it’s not like Chinatown in that it’s not at all Chinese. Afterwards we went to a pretty indoor market with every kind of fruit I never even knew existed, then hung out the rest of the day at Angelo’s apartment.
Later, we all piled into the car and drove to Guarulhos airport to drop off Otávio. Everyone was on edge, praying that everything would go well with the flight, the authorization, etc. We arrived, got him checked in, waited, waited, then. . . Otávio’s authorization to leave the country wasn’t properly notarized, and now he has to leave on Monday night instead. Luckily, Otávio’s cousin’s family lives in Mogi das Cruzes, a really nice suburb of São Paulo near the ocean. I feel bad for Otávio, but I’m actually a little happy that we get to stay in SP a little longer! In Mogi, the whole family goes out for pizza, then Angelo, their 19-year-old cousin Livia, and I all went out to a party.
Saturday 8/15–After waking up and seeing Mogi das Cruzes in all its daytime glory, we head out to Pereque on the beach for a huge seafood lunch. We came back to the house for the daily midday nap, then Otávio, Angelo, Livia, and I went to the mall for awhile.
Sunday 8/16–Slept late, hung around the house, Angelo left to go back to São Paulo because he has class in the morning (he’s studying medicine at the university there) then went out with Livia and a few of her friends to some parties. One club we went to was Sertanejo music, and one of Livia’s friends taught me how to dance it. It’s really fun!
Monday 8/17–Packed up, went to the mall again to see a movie, Arrasta-me para o Inferno (Drag Me to Hell, is it playing in the US too?) It was in English with a few parts in Spanish, all with Portuguese subtitles. Then we went to the airport again, and this time everything went according to plan. We ate at Pizza Hut in the airport, and it was almost the same as in the US. I hadn’t realized how much I’d actually been missing American food! They have American chains like McDonald’s here, but only in the big cities, not in Cassilândia. And you can’t find normal American food anywhere in the country, which explains why everyone here thinks I’m accustomed to a constant diet of Big Macs and fries. Seriously!
Otávio successfully headed off for Mexico, and his parents and I got back in the car and headed back to Cassilândia.
Tuesday 8/18–Woke up this morning entering Cassilândia. I got back too late for school in the morning, but today is Tuesday. I’ll go for aula da tarde after lunch, then it’s back to the daily grind. I loved Mogi das Cruzes, but I’m excited to see all my friends here again too! And besides, I might go back to Mogi during summer break, if Rotary here will let me. I’ll keep my fingers crossed!
