Last weekend I went to Araçatuba for my first Rotary Inbound conference. Friday I survived a solo journey by bus to Araçatuba without getting lost, even when I had to buy my own ticket and find my bus for the connection in Jales. I’m pretty proud of myself for that! When I arrived in Araçatuba, I met my temporary family for the weekend. They were really nice, and I later went out with my temp host sister and her friends to see a movie.
Then Saturday morning, all 40 or so of us exchange students from all corners of the world met at the fazenda of the district coordinator to discuss Rotary rules (No Drinking, Driving, Drugs, or *Dating). Afterwards we spent the day soaking up the sun, eating churrasco, and playing Ultimate Frisbee in the pool (the Germans kicked some serious American/Canadian/Mexican/Indian butt).
Later that night, all of the exchange students met to go clubbing together. I think that the club had more foreigners than Brazilians in it that night! It was a fun night though, and I feel like we all got to get to know each other a little better.
Sunday morning, we met in a hotel conference room to learn about the Rotary trips to Pantanal/Bonito, Nordeste, Sul, and Amazonia. I for sure want to do Pantanal/Bonito and Nordeste, but I’m not sure yet about the others. Sul is really expensive and includes a LOT of bus travel, but we get to go to Buenos Aires. . . and also the more I travel, the more experiences I miss out on with my hometown friends. I’ll see how I feel about it in a few months. And Amazonia sounds cool, but I’m not sure yet. I was relieved afterward that Juliano, a police officer and Rotarian here in Cassi, was there to drive me home. The bus adventure hadn’t gone too horribly, but I was happy to be able to relax and not be constantly worried about missing my bus.
Upon my return to Cassi, it was back to the daily grind (sort of). On Monday after the Rotary meeting, Thelma, a friend of my host mom and an English teacher at the university, took me to have an interview with her students. It turned out to be really fun. They asked some good questions, and we all laughed a lot. The rest of the week was the usual routine of school, lunch with the family, hang out with friends, go to the gym, dinner, sleep, repeat. Last night we had a birthday party for one of the guys in my class. We ate delicious cake and watched a couple movies at his house.
*The district coordinators explained that Brazilian Rotary is a little more lenient on this rule (hahahahahahahahahah)
