This week I watched movies, listened to music, bought clothes, went to the gym, did parkour, hung out with friends, went places with the family, celebrated the new year and my cousin’s birthday.
On Sunday night I played a game called “The City Sleeps” in Portuguese with the kids who live in my building. We have the same game in the US, where someone is the assassin, another person the ambulance, another the detective, but everyone knows only their own role and everyone has to try to save the good people and kill the bad guys to win the game. Then I watched the movie “Watchmen.”
On Monday my cousin Michelle picked me up early in the morning and I went with him to his work. He and his Dad own a construction supply store in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Recife. He works 7 days of the week like 8 or 9 hours of the day and takes a course in business at night. He did exchange in England and has been to Japan on business. I went with him to work that day because it is on a street that has a market with tons of clothes for very cheap prices.
I bought two pairs of board shorts for 8 and 10 reais, a tank top for 10 reais, a polo for 15 reais and socks for 3 reais. I also bought a stainless steel chain for 30 reais, and had a few links taken off because it was too long.
Then Michelle and his Dad bought me a pair of shorts, a pair of board shorts and a really nice t-shirt as gifts. Michelle’s brother Cesar, who was visiting from the Amazon with his girlfriend, gave me a ride home.
That night there was a reunion at my brother Nicholas’s pre-vestibular course. I went with the family and then we went to the grocery store. Nicholas made hot dogs for some of his friends who came over later.
On Tuesday I went to the gym in the morning. I went out to wrap the book that I needed to give to my first host family as a present. The same book that I already gave to my second host family. At night I watched “Transporter 3” with Jason Stratham, but I watched it in Portuguese so it was “Carga Explosiva 3” which means “Explosive Cargo 3.”
On Wednesday I went to the gym and there was a breakfast because of New Year’s. After lunch my friend Paulo came over and we listened to music and went on orkut. I met him at Colegio Boa Viagem and he lives just a couple blocks away. He is going to the US this year to do exchange with a program called Student Travel Bureau. We went back to his house to get a USB so I could give him some music from my computer for his new iphone.
That night me, Paulo, Gavin and my brother went to a restaurant called “Portal do Derby” which means Portal of Derby. There was live music, it was nice, but the food was expensive, so we went to another restaurant called Bugaloo and ate burgers, which here in Brasil are different than in the US. They are packed full of all sorts of stuff, including corn. Which I think is kind of weird. But it is really good.
On Thursday morning I went to the park Jaqueira and saw some athletic guys without shirts, and I guessed they were traceurs and I was right. They told me they train there Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Then I met my friend Isabella who will go to the US in August with Rotary, and her friend Erika. We walked around the park, drank Coconut water, looked at magazines and talked.
After lunch at home I called the family that invited me to stay at their beach house with them. They said they would call me when they go. Then I called my first host Mom to see if she received my present and to thank her for the shirt she gave me. She does not know yet which school I will go to in February.
The family began to get ready for New Year’s Eve which is called Reveillon in Portuguese. I wore my new polo that I bought on Tuesday. We went to my host sister Monica’s house for dinner then drove to Boa Viagem and went to my host mom’s friend’s apartment which was the perfect location because it was high up, you could see everything, and it was right in front of the stage with the live bands and right in front of the fireworks also. It was awesome. I got some nice pictures, see them on dropshots.com/matt484.
My friend Rafael called me to wish me happy New Year, and when my host family went back home I stayed and met him in the street. I saw so many people I knew, from Colegio Boa Viagem and from Le Parkour, and Rafel also met friends of his. We had some pizza in a nice restaurant and by the time it was time to sleep it was already light out so I just took the bus straight back home. The problem was that everybody else had the same idea and the buses were so full that they didn’t even bother to stop. But eventually I squeezed on and made it home by 6:00 in the morning. So for the rest of the day I slept, ate, stayed in the house and chilled. Watched Fast and Furious 4. In Portuguese of course.
On Saturday I went with my host dad to buy those little adhesive things you put on the bottom of leg chairs so they don’t scrape and then helped take off the old ones and put on the new ones. But after doing like 16 my thumbs got red and raw so I had to stop and the next day my right thumb formed a blister. : (
See, Brazil is awesome. Because there are maids. So the only household chores I have what to speak of are tidying up my room occasionally, doing dishes at night and on weekends, washing my underwear and just not making a mess.
Everything else I don’t have to worry about. So my host Dad asked me to help with the chairs and of course I helped. How could I refuse? Besides, I use the chairs too.
However, my life in the US was a completely different story. No maid. A two story house with a basement, a backyard, a garden and a taskmaster Dad. And yes, I know he is reading this now. Hi, Dad.
So, in the evening I went to Jaqueira and did Parkour with the guys I met on Thursday. Then my host father came, ran a bit while I worked out and then we went home. I went with my host brother to our cousin Elias’ birthday party at his house in the nearby city Olinda. Olinda does not have many apartment buildings but he lives in one of the few. I met a kid named Diego who told me that he knows Jewish kids and he will tell them about me and introduce me.
I played Texas Hold’em and did really well at first but then lost all my chips. You know what? That game is really boring. Then the kids at the party taught me some Portuguese slang and dirty words that I didn’t know yet. Nicholas and I slept there and drove back home early Sunday.
On Sunday after lunch Nicholas and I went to Shopping Recife. He stopped to pick up two friends at the airport and they met up with my host sister Rafaela and her boyfriend.
I went off by myself to take care of some business, and I saw the pianist from the Jazz Band, my friend Manu and two kids I know.
I took out money from my debit card, put money on my cell phone and picked up the two jeans that I had left to be shortened. I left another pair to be tightened, and had a little hole in my shirt sowed up. Everything turned out really well.
Then I met my brother and everyone at Delta Expresso, ate cheese-bread and hot chocolate. By the way, the milk here is horrible. I think it must be because in the US I always drank 1% or 2% milk and the milk here has more fat.
So then I went home and watched Terminator 3 in Portuguese on TV and went to sleep. So, that was my week. ; )
