During the week in May I went to the gym Monday-Friday, doing ju-jitsu every Tuesday and Thursday. One afternoon I rented and watched the movie, “Cidade de Deus” which means “City of God” and it is a Brazilian movie about a favela near Rio de Janeiro

Where a guy named Zé Pequeno takes over the drug trade and how a kid living in the Favela became famous by taking pictures that nobody else was able to take, of the drug wars that took place. This movie won many trophies and Oscars.

The next weekend on Saturday I went to Recife’s zoo with my host brothers and host niece. It frails in comparison to the Baltimore or the National Zoo. Then we went to the stadium of my soccer team Sport to watch a hockey game of one of my host brother’s friends. Later I went to the mall with my host brother and his wife and I traded a shirt that I had got for my birthday from a store called BALI. I also bought flowers for my current host mom.That night I went to a show in the center of the city with two other Americans, a French girl and two Brazilians.

Sunday it was Mother’s Day. I had four moms to think of! I gave the flowers and a card to my current host mom when I woke up. I went with my host family to my host aunt’s house. It is a very nice house and they are very nice people. We had a big lunch, I played soccer on the playstation, borrowed some CDs. That night I walked to my second host house and gave my second host mother a rose. I called my first host mother. Then I called my real mommy on skype!

On Tuesday the 11^th I showed some pictures and talked to my class about school back in the US, at the request of one of my biology teachers. The next day there was an extra biology class in the afternoon.

May 13^th is the date that slavery was abolished in Brazil. I went with Hillary from Washington and her Brazilian friend to the Golden Chapel, a beautiful and historic Church in the center of the city. It was built by the richest plantation owners in colonial times of Recife, and the interior is completely covered in gold foil. There is a museum on the side. Then we went to May 13^th Park (it was May 13^th) and then to the public library, which for the size of the city of Recife, frails in comparison to libraries in the USA.

The following Friday I did some Capoeira in my gym, then went to Julie’s (the French girl) 18^th Birthday party. It was in the same dance studio where I had taken a Forró class, and is one block away from my house.

That Saturday I went to see a small rock band with Hillary and some friends of hers in the nearby city of Olinda. This band is part of a fan club of the famous CPM 22. That night I went to Bugaloo (the same restaurant where I had my birthday party) with my friend from the gym Eduardo and some of his friends. On Sunday Julie had a big lunch in her house and all the exchange students brought or made food to help out. I ate way too much.

The next week I had tests and capoeira Monday, Wednesday and Friday and ju-jitsu Tuesday and Thursday. On Friday it was Andrea’s goodbye party in a Mexican restaurant with all of her Brazilian and exchange student friends. I payed a fixed price and ordered as much as I want, and the best thing was a dish called `El Chicano` with a special sauce. Delicious. The next Saturday all of us exchange students went on our chairman’s boat at the beach of Itamaraca, north of Recife. Then we swam in the pool and had lunch at another Rotarian’s house.

That night I went with my host parents to the theatre Teatro Santa Isabel, a famous and historic theatre in the center. They bought tickets for a VIP opera box with an amazing view! The play was about Simon Beauvoir’s visit to Recife and the entire dialogue was with herself or with her Brazilian assistant in her bedroom, so there were only two actors and no scenery-changes.

The next day my host mom dropped me off at a school for a ju-jitsu tournament. It was my first ju-jitsu tournament. My fellow fighters from my gym explained the rules to me and gave me tips. Never let your guard down. You can’t kick or punch once the kimono has been grabbed. No yelling. My gym was paired up with another one against two others. I was the very first fighter of the tournament. They put leg-guards on me, which I didn’t expect. I was against a yellow-belt, but this kid was extremely small. Shorter than me and very skinny. He was better than me at kicking, and they were yelling at me to take the fight to the floor. I did and gained the advantage but I was not able to finalize him. If we stayed in the same position for more than a few seconds or rolled off the mat the fight started over again. I won in the end by more points from unbalancing him. But everybody had expected this. At the end I asked him how much he weighs. He said 100 lbs. Well I weigh over 150! So I won but I don’t think I fought so well. But it’s OK. It was my first tournament.

It takes 4 months between each belt, except brown belt to black belt takes a year and a half. I will leave Brazil after only fighting 2 months, and I don’t think there is any Brazilian ju-jitsu in the US. I think I will start doing another kind of martial arts. What I really want to learn is Krav Maga, which is what the Israeli military uses, and Mixed Martial Arts, which is the form of fighting used in the Ultimate Fighting Championships. But Ju-Jitsu is awesome, and I think my experience with wrestling has helped me.

The last weekend in May was the Rotary District 4500 Conference, which comprises of my state Pernambuco and the two states to the north, Paraiba and Rio Grande do Norte. It was held in a fancy hotel in the tourist town of Porto de Galinhas, a beach a little south of Recife. Us exchange students from the district stayed in another hotel on the beach, with lots of swimming pools and a game room. On Friday after arriving at the hotel we went swimming, then dress up to go the Rotarian’s hotel. There were long speeches in Portuguese, and then a Youth Orchestra played. The musicians are young kids from poor neighborhoods, who normally would not have opportunities to play classical music. However, Rotary donated all the instruments to them and they are evidently quite good.

Then us exchange students went into the city of Porto and ate at a pizzeria and there was a live band playing nearby. Porto reminded me a bit of Ocean City.

The next day, Saturday, we were up early and trained for our presentation that afternoon. After lunch we went to the Rotarian’s hotel and practiced more. The presentation went smoothly. Each exchange student did something to represent their country. Paul from Colorado and Laya from Alemanha each gave speeches about their exchange experience, Pato from Mexico and Julie from France were the MCs. Tatianna from Taiwan sang in Chinese, while Jill gave a very impressive presentation with a Chinese toy that I don’t know the name of, but consists of a device that is spun on a rope and you do tricks with it. Too bad I don’t know the name. : (

The Germans sang and danced, the Canadians imitated an Indian ritual, the girls from Finland and Denmark dressed up and acted as Santa Claus, the Mexicans sang La Bamba and the Americans danced the Cha-Cha Slide. A lot of the Rotarians from my club were there watching! Then us exchange students went to a nice beach and I walked until I came to a river and then went back and borrowed a Brazilian kid’s skimboard and skimboarded a little along with Ruben from Germany.

That night at the Rotarian’s hotel was a huge party with all the Rotarian’s, lots of food and a live band. The next day all of the exchange students said by to each other as the different buses heading for the different states left. It was the last time that I will see the exchange students from the other cities.

So, my time in Brazil is coming to an end. My return flight is set for June 28 and I will arrive in Annapolis on June 29^th. I must say I miss home a lot and am ready to go. But June will be a good month. The World Cup begins and at the end of the month is the Brazilian holiday of Sao Joao. Besides that I have to finish up the school semester, do the rest of the tests and I will take a Portuguese fluency test so that I can bring a certificate back home.

Easter break at the beginning of the month I went with my Brazilian friends Rafael and Lucas to Lucas’s Dad’s company’s beach house about two hours south of Recife. We three had our own air-conditioned bed room, and there was a pool and we brought a guitar and a soccer ball and spent four days there just chilling. One day Lucas’s uncle took us to the river and we jumped off the pier into the water, about a 10 foot drop. We weren’t sure if there were crocodiles or not, so we didn’t spent too much time in the water. Besides crocodiles, at the resort there was a wide variety of wildlife to admire, run away from or try to kill. There were enormous frogs that came out at night, lots of lizards, a gecko or two, lots of bugs, including a praying mantis, and on the beach there were tons of little crabs scurrying around, that we had scared out of their little holes in the sand.

The first day of school after break was canceled because there was no power, so I went to CBV to see my old friends. I took the bus back with Paulo.

The next day I participated in my first Jiu-Jitsu class in the closest gym to my house, called SOMA. It is 160 reais a month, but for students it is only 80, and it is a very good gym, and close to my house, so I joined. It is air-conditioned, has lots of classes, lots of treadmills, a luncheonette, a pool. And two of the trainers are members of my church.

Jiu-jitsu is Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you can go in the afternoon, the night or both. The only problem is I don’t have a kimono yet. But I am learning the moves. The type here in Brazil is Morganti Jiu-Jitsu, and it was developed by the Gracie family in Rio in the past century. I don’t really know how it differs from the Jiu-Jitsu from Japan, but the point of the fight is to immobilize and inflict pain onto your opponent until he taps out. You can achieve this with strangles and various arm and leg locks and I’m sure a bunch of other advanced moves that I don’t know. The fight is more about technique than brute force, so size does not matter that much, and my Jiu-Jitsu teacher is actually not much taller than me. When two jiu-jitsu masters fight each other, the fight can end without either of them breaking a sweat. The class starts with everyone kneeling in order of belt color which signifies your skill level. The master will say a few phrases in Japanese, and every time, you have to bow your head to the floor and say ‘Ons.’ The class goes through a couple warm-up exercises to improve balance and technique, then everybody pairs up and goes through specific situations that you would encounter in a fight, and finally each pair spars. When the class ends you repeat the bowing process and then shake everybody’s hand.

The next day, Wednesday April 7^th, I met my American friends Lauren and Maddie in the center of the city, where I actually had never been before. I had been on the Conde Boa Vista, which is in a neighborhood called Boa Vista. The actual center of the city is an island called Sao Jose, and I had only been there once before, but just right across the river, in the House of Culture. This time I went into the Market of Sao Jose with Lauren and Maddie and bought postcards and a really nice hat, fedora style. We then visited the tourist information center and then walked around the shop-filled streets. I bought a bunch of stuff that I had been needing, like washcloths, earphones, sunglasses.

That weekend I met up with my friend Marcos who plays saxophone, in a bus station on the outskirts of Recife that I had never been to. Then we went to a school where a band was practicing, in a neighborhood I had never been to before. It was raining so I brought an umbrella. Right now in Brazil it is winter, and what that means, rather than a temperature change, is an increase in rain. So I will be needing this umbrella for my last months here in Brazil.

That afternoon, I met for the first time Lee, a guy from California who is living here in Recife and studying at one of the public universities. He is 22 and wants to eventually be a PE teacher. Hehehe. He is very tall. He was riding a bike borrowed from a friend, and luckily the bus driver let us bring it into the bus, which was necessary because the buses here don’t have bike racks. We went to Isabela’s to visit her and Erika. We swam in the pool, then Lee went to a Churrasco and I stayed and watched a movie and ate pizza with Isabela and Erika.

The next day, Sunday, I went to Church. I talked with the band about playing sax with them, but they have already been playing together for a long time and know the music they play, and I don’t. But they invited me to a practice session. But it would be on Friday, and I was going to be out of town that Friday. Later, during the service, I sat with a kid that I knew from when I used to do parkour. Like my little brother, he is extremely small for his age.

The following Monday, the 12^th, the second round of tests began, the first round having been in March, exactly when I traveled to the South, meaning that I had to make up all of those tests in the “Second Call” at the end of April. The real problem however, was that I missed a bunch of tests on Friday, because I was obligated to miss school that day because of a Rotary trip. So, there were about four subjects that I didn’t do either the first or the second test, so I only took it during the Second Call, and this was because of the Rotary trips I took. It is unfortunate that it happened this way, and perhaps if I hadn’t traveled I would have gotten higher grades. But I still have the tests in May and June.

So, let me explain something about the tests here in Brazil. The test of each subject is only 10 questions, and a 6 or 7 is considered a good grade, and an 8 or more is more or less rare. As much as I have always hated and argued against homework, I am lead to hipostulate that these lower grades here are due to the fact that the teachers don’t give out homework. They expect the students to study on their own. But I know that in the US, the only reason people study is because they have homework, and the only reason they do homework is because it is part of their grade.

On Thursday I went to my old host house to pick up some things I had left there, and Laura, the one-and-a-half year old, hid when she saw me. That night I went to see a class of the classic Brazilian dance, Forró, but it was just adults, so I´m not gonna sign up. Some Forró is really good music, and the rhythm is deceptively simple. It would be really cool if I could dance it well.

So, on Friday 16^th my host dad drove me, Julie and Laya to the pick-up point where we got on the bus where all the exchange students from the two cities from the north were waiting, after already being on the bus many hours in order to arrive in Recife. Then we picked up the exchange students from Caruaru and Garanhuns, finally arriving in Paulo Afonso, our destination. The point of the trip was to visit a Hydro-electric plant and see the Sao Francisco River. That night after dinner at the hotel a local Rock band came and rocked out on the pool deck for us. It was nice.

So on Saturday we visited the Hydroelectric plant in the morning and then we all got on a big Catamaran and went to a special place in the river where it is surrounded by cliffs and the water is nice and cool and 75 feet deep. We jumped off the pier and swam around with noodles. Despite all of these tiring activities, we later climbed up a ridiculous amount of stairs to see a view of the river, went back to the hotel, had dinner. I convinced one of the Rotarians to take me to see a bit of the city so we went to a bar where there was live music.

On Sunday we went to a park where there were some nice views of the river. The tour guide was a real sour apple. I fed some bits of popsicles to some monkeys but was warned not to touch them because they could have rabies. (Which is ‘anger’ in Portuguese.)

We had lunch in Garanhuns and I saw the Flower Clock, which is probably Garanhun’s biggest and only attraction. I received a t-shirt and a CD, maybe because of my birthday.

I celebrated my 17^th birthday on April 20^th, a Tuesday night. The next day, Wednesday, was actually a holiday, in honor of the Brazilian political activist Tiradentes who was executed for his actions. I invited the exchange students, my host families, Brazilian friends and a few Rotarians to a restaurant near my house called Bugaloo. I had reserved a private party room. I was very disappointed by a lot of people who said they would come and didn’t. But all the exchange students came except for one who got sick. Lee came, my friends Karina, Tarci, Erika, Isabela and Paulo. My Rotex Leo came, my second host Mom and brother, my Rotary chairwoman and my current host family. But none of my friends from Boa Viagem or my first host family came, and they used the distance as an excuse. The cake was chocolate, and I had bought little candles and stuck them in the cake. But as soon as I lighted them, the wind blew them out and I ended up blowing out just one candle. Everybody payed and my friend Isabela’s parents dropped me off at my house around midnight.

The next day, the holiday, I went to Aldeia with my Church group.  There were about 100 kids, and a lot of my friends! I met a guy named Bruno, who is in the same class as my friend Rafael in Santa Maria, so it was a coincidence.

I only played one game in the official tournament and I had to borrow somebody’s cleets. The rest of the time, I played soccer in the dirt field, chilled or wrestled in the pool with a chubby little kid. Lunch was feijoada. Well it turned out that at the end of the day, my team was the champion, (Ironically, our team name was, “We Are the Champions.”) and I got a gold medal, and they elected me the smelliest player so I won a canister of deodorant! Having done nothing, I won two trophies! It must have been the luck of my first full day being 17. Then I took pictures with my friends and slept on the bus on the way home.

When I got home, my monthly Rotary money and a gift from my host family was waiting for me. They had bought me a nice polo, which was exactly my size. I wore it the next night to a Rotary commemoration of the April birthdays in the Pizzaria Atlantico, the same restaurant where I went with Andrea and Gida when they visited.

That weekend I went with my host parents to my host dad’s great niece’s wedding. The ceremony was in a fancy church in the center of the city and the party was in a party house in the extremely rich neighborhood of Apipucos. It was so fancy that the bathroom had ear swabs, mouth wash, floss, you name it. I met an American from Washington state named Hillary who is here in Recife for a few months working for non-profits. When she was a teenager she did exchange in Portugal, so she already knew Portuguese before coming here.

I met a college student named Gabi and the Rotex Leo Moura was there, and I introduced everbody to everybody. I ate appetizers, filmed the throwing of the flowers, danced to the live band, and stayed after my host parents left. Gabi’s parents took me home. I love weddings!

The following week I visited more new places in my city. I went to the Market of Encruzilhada, which is about a fifteen minute walk from my house, in a poorer neighborhood. I bought a CD and some new headphones, because the other ones had been hurting my ear. But I saw a barbershop that cuts hair for 5 reais, and the cheapest I had ever found before was fifteen! So, next time I cut my hair…

I went to the Conservatory of Music of Pernambuco and talked to the Director and she told me to come the next day to see Frevo and Jazz. I kept walking until I arrived at the May 13^th Park, and I was impressed by its size and attractiveness. It is bigger than the park Jacqueira, which I have mentioned before, and it has various fountains and ponds, sculptures, statues, a track, bathrooms, work-out area and even a small zoo with various monkeys and birds!!! This park is near the center of the city and it was only a short walk to the Conde de Boa Vista to catch a bus back home.

The next day I went back to the Conservatory, and ended up getting there an hour early because of a mistake of the Director and when I explained this to her, she didn’t even apologize. I asked if it would be possible to leave my sax somewhere in the Conservatory so that I could play with the Jazz band, and she said no. So, there is no way I can play. I will just have to wait to get back to the US.

That night I had a physical evaluation and discovered that I am overweight; my IBM and body fat percentage is too high. So I resolved to start a sort of diet and get more exercise. For breakfast now I eat one bowl of cereal and a banana, at school I eat a granola bar and an apple, at lunch I am eating salad and a smaller portion of food, and I eat less at dinner as well. I am trying to go the gym Mon-Fri and run 20 or 30 minutes on the treadmill, and besides that I play soccer at school on Tuesdays and do jiu-jitsu every Tuesday and Thursday.

There are two other teenagers in my jiu-jitsu class, and they are pretty cool. This gym is the best in the neighborhood, so they are from upper-income families and what they talk about most is expensive name brand clothes like Hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch, expensive electronic devices like iPods and PS3s, expensive cars, pop music and hot girls. They offer to give me money so I can buy clothes or a PS3 when I get back to the US and then send it to them. Then they want to have a conversation in English so they can practice. The kids from my school are middle-income and they don’t talk about this stuff as much, and know much less English.

In my new house, I have already read three books in Portuguese. I read a long book of classic literature and two books by the more contemporary Paulo Coelho, who’s books are translated worldwide. Translating the titles, I read “The Alquimist,” “Veronika Decides to Die,” and now I am reading “Brida.” They all involve magic and involve similar themes, the author’s view on how the universe works. He is a good writer, and the chapters are short, which is essential for a good read. My reading speed in Portuguese is equal to my reading speed in English and I almost never have to use the dictionary anymore, so I have reached the point where I can read a book in Portuguese for pleasure.

As my exchange comes to an end, I have a few key goals that I want to achieve. I would like to get good grades on the tests, lose fat, visit the rest of the important places in the city that I have never been to, hang out with my closest friends I have made here, collect Brazilian music, watch Brazilian films, buy a shirt of my soccer team and souvenirs for my friends and family back home.

I will be leaving Brazil after the holiday of Sao Joao, on Monday, June 28, and arriving in the US on Tuesday, June 29. See you soon!

It began with probably the craziest weekend I’ve ever had. Friday afternoon I went to the center of the city with a friend from my class to buy a new cell phone. There was no problem with my other cell phone, I just wanted a cell phone from vivo because it has really good bonus minutes. I had been spending 50 reais a month and from now on I will spend half that and be able to send more messages and talk more.

 That night I went with my host family to an Aunt’s house for a family gathering in anticipation of the huge wedding on Saturday night. I met my host sister’s friend from Germany. She speaks Portuguese and English fluently. I also met some cousins from Rio de Janeiro.

That night was the “Festival de Verao.” ‘Verao’ means ‘summer.’ It is a huge show at Chevrolet Hall. My host uncle managed to get me a free ticket to ‘camarote’ which is more expensive and gets you closer to the stage with some other special privileges. These include a t-shirt from the show, a balcony area and a separate area with electronic dance music. I got in around midnight and found all my friends from my new school. We went to the very front, right by the stage, and were a couple feet away from Ivete Sangalo, which is one of the Brazilian popstars. She is very hot, and I like her music! After that there was a hard core rock band. I got home around 6:00 in the morning. I slept a bit, then after lunch went with a few exchange student friends to a nightclub in Boa Viagem, the neighborhood by the beach. It was a special event and that’s why it was during the day. I got in and out without paying, but I had to leave just when everything was getting started to go home and get ready for the wedding.

I took all the pins off my rotary blazer for my suit. It is actually a very nice blazer. The wedding was in the Instituto Ricardo Brennand, which is a museum of medieval weaponry and art. This wedding was extremely chique. After the ceremony with a dress the length of an anaconda, there was live music, appetizers and champagne. I messed around with my host cousins, and then hitched a ride to Boa Viagem to go to a 15^th birthday party of a girl from my class from school. I went in my suit when everybody else was in shorts and t-shirts! That day I also didn’t get home until 6:00 in the morning. That night, Sunday night, I went with my host parents to another host aunt’s house.

So, the following week I only went to school until Wednesday, because Wednesday afternoon my (actual) cousin Andrea arrived in Recife with her friend Gida. My host brother Nicholas and I took them to their hotel, then we showed them the center of the city where there was Carnaval, and showed them the ancient synagogue, and went to a place with a nice view to take pictures. Then we went to Shopping Recife so Andrea could buy flowers as a gift for my host mom. Then Andrea, Gida, Nicholas, my host parents and I went to Pizzaria Atlantico, which has the best pizza in Recife. Andrea was disgusted by the fact that I put ketchup and mayonaisse on a five-cheese pizza.

Then we went back to my host house and we called my Mom (who is Andrea’s Aunt in law) and my Aunt Lolly (who is Andrea’s mom) on skype. Then Nicholas and I took Andrea and Gida back to their hotel.

On Thursday I didn’t go to school. I went to Andrea’s and Gida’s hotel and went swimming in their pool, then we all took the bus to my host house and had dinner. Then my host Mom drove us to her sister’s house in Olinda so that Andrea and Gida could see Olinda. Then she dropped us off at Karina’s house in Boa Viagem. Karina has an older brother and he had friends over. One of the friends did exchange in Alabama so he spoke English. Then Karina’s brother, Andre, took Andrea and Gida back to the hotel then dropped me off at my house. On Friday Nicholas and I dropped off Andrea and Gida at the airport. For the first time in 7 months, I saw someone from my family! It was nice.

Friday I slept all day and night and when I woke up Saturday I felt sick. But I didn’t have anything packed and my flight to Sao Paulo was that night! My host Dad went and bought some medicine for me, and I got better in time to pack everything for the trip, drop the rest of my stuff off at my next host family and get to the airport in time. The people at the airport were cool and I got a picture with them.

My flight actually stopped in Rio first and then I get off at Sao Paulo. There was a guy from Belo Brasil waiting for me. I was super hungry and he said we would stop somewhere on the way to the hotel to eat. You would think in Sao Paulo, there would be something open at 2:00 in the morning, but we didn’t find anything until we got to the Hotel. There was a Habib’s, which is an Arabian/middle east style fast food.

I woke up my roommate in order to get into my room, and slept until 6:00, then woke up to have breakfast and get on the bus.

So, we drove right from Sao Paulo to Foz do Iguacu, a city that is on the border of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina, and near the biggest waterfall in South America, which has the same name. On the bus I sat next to Ryan, a redhead from California who lives in a city near Rio and does Capoeira.

We stopped for lunch and dinner, which I had to pay for. Every day of the trip we ate breakfast in the hotel, payed our own lunch and dinner was payed for.

I came with 300 reais in cash, and I had already spent 40 to get to the hotel and 75 for the night in the hotel in Sao Paulo, so I had just enough money to pay for lunch every day if I didn’t pay for anything else. So, this caused my trip to be less enjoyable than it otherwise could have been, unfortunately. Anything that wasn’t included, I couldn’t do. For example. I couldn’t go on a boat ride on the river to the bottom of the falls. One night everyone went to a nightclub and I didn’t. At dinner, only one drink was included and I could not afford to buy another one. One time we went to a lake and you had to pay to go on a boat ride. I did not buy a single souvenir. But you know what? Did I really need any of these things? No.

Another thing about the trip was that everything we did was very touristy. I guess you can’t avoid this, but at times it was to the point of cheesy or ridiculous. Also we had to spend a lot of time on the bus, but this was unavoidable, and the bus was very comfortable and we watched lots of movies, including a movie called, “Tropa de Elite” which was freaking awesome. It was about a commander of an elite police squad in Rio that goes into the favelas, and his search for a successor.

When we were in Foz do Iguacu there were about 75 exchange students. A huge amount of Germans, Mexicans, Danish, Canadians and Taiwanese. There were four Australians and Four Americans, as well as a South African, two Belgians, three Colombians, a Filipino, two Finnish, two French, one Hungarian, one Japanese, one Polish, two Thai and one Venezuelan. English, not Portuguese was the standard language of communications. There was also a lot of Mexican and German and Danish going on. A few of the exchange students who’s English wasn’t as good relied on their Portuguese for communication. Only the Australians and the South African were not fluent, because they arrived only a month or so ago because they are Southern Hemisphere.

Generally, the exchange students that were more intimate were from the same country, or live near each other here in Brazil, and had already known each other. Laya the German and Tanguy the Belgian from my city Recife were on the trip, as well as a few other exchange students that I knew from my multidistrict here in Brazil.

I hung out a lot with Todd from Tennessee and Cole from Canada, who are really funny guys. I also hung out with Cho from Taiwan and Sutti from Thailand.

We saw the falls from the Brazilian and the Argentinian side and visited Paraguay. We went to a city in Paraguay where all the fake goods in Brazil come from. Every second somebody walked up to me insisting on selling socks and USB sticks, as well as some other things that it would be better I not mention. After awhile it got quite annoying. And everyone was always drinking some kind of tea, in big canisters.

We went to a point where two rivers meet and mark the separation between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. On the last night we went to a Churrasco (Brazilian barbecue) with a show of music and dances from different countries of South America. There was a big guy with a string with balls at the end and he twirled them around and hit them on the ground to make a rhythm, and my friend Cho volunteered and went up to the stage to be a human obstacle.

After Foz do Iguacu we went to Canela and Gramado which are two small sister cities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul which is the southernmost state of Brasil. It was colder than Recife, and rained a lot more. I am sorry to say, we did not actually do that much interesting in Canela and Gramado. However, Todd and I went down 750 steps and then back up again in 15 minutes to see the bottom of a waterfall and consequently almost missed the bus.

Next was Florianopolis, the capital of Santa Catarina, famous for its beaches and beautiful woman and considered one of the nicest cities in Brazil. In Florianopolis we visited the beaches, malls and the center of the city.

We stopped in Blumenau on the way to Curitiba and visited the place where the second largest Octoberfest in the world occurs, and ate German food in a restaurant.

In Curitiba we went on a train ride through the mountains and visited parks and botanical gardens. One night we went to a restaurant that served more than one drink and had live music.

So, I had signed up to do the Rio trip after the South, but it was cancelled, I think because not enough people signed up. We didn’t get to Sao Paulo until 6:00 Thursday night because of all the traffic, so a lot of people missed their flights. Mine wasn’t until 11:00 at night. A man named Marcelo picked me up from the hotel and drove me to the airport. He is somehow related to my aunt-in-law, and my Dad has visited him in Brazil and he has visited my uncle in the US. He speaks English, is an engineer, is married and has two kids. He bought me dinner at the airport, helped me check my bag and invited me to stay with him and his family for a week in July. We talked about my trip, about how the South and Southeast of Brazil is different than the Northeast, about our families, etc.

My flight was a bit late, and it ended up that Laya and Jill got on the same flight as me, because they had missed their earlier flight. Laya and I shared a taxi home. I didn’t arrive until 4:00, at my new host house where I had never slept before. I took a shower, my new host parents gave me something to eat, and I slept in my new bed, which is quite comfy.

I have my own room, with a desk, a closet, air conditioning, a bed, and a sofa. There is a bookshelf full of books and drawers of CDs and DVDs that I can use.

My host father’s name is Carlos Pires and he is the father of my first host mom. He is in his 70s and was one of the founders of my Rotary Club. His wife’s name is Edna and her son’s name is Eduardo. He is married and has a little daughter and they are living here as well because they are in the process of moving into a new apartment.

The neighborhood is called Aflitos and it is very close to the stadium of the football team Nautico. It is about a 15 minute walk from my old host house and my school. However, it is a farther walk from the main avenue which is where I have to get a bus if I want to go to Boa Viagem. So, now I have to take two buses, but if I switch buses at the transfer point “Estacao Joana Bezerra,” instead of on the avenue, I only have to pay one fare.

I think that this is not right. There is absolutely no bus that goes from my neighborhood to Boa Viagem. I would like to bring this up with the local government.

In my new house I am on the 13^th floor while in my old house I was on the 11^th and in my first house I was on the 4^th. I have been moving up all year! However, my first house had a pool and a big garden area with a volleyball court and this one doesn’t have any of that.

But I like this neighborhood the most. I think that it is the nicest, and there is a supermarket and a Habib’s right across the street.

I put up a map of Recife on the wall in my room to see all the areas of the city that I have not seen yet so I can make sure I do before I go. I started reading some Brazilian literature, a fictional autobiography by Erico Verissimo.

So, I got back from the South on Friday morning. Saturday morning I went to Joao Pessoa, the capital of the state Paraiba. Recife and Joao Pessoa are the two closest capitals in Brazil, so the ride is only about two hours. Joao Pessoa is the easternmost city in the Americas, and the second greenest city in the world, after Paris.

I know this because I read it on Wikipedia, not actually because I saw the city or anything. We exchange students went there just to practice for a big Rotary event in May where we will give presentations. So, there was a huge majority of Americans and we decided to dance the Macarena for our presentation.

Oh, yeah. There is a new exchange student in Recife. She is from Wisconsin, she is a redhead and her name is Maddie. She arrived in the middle of the year because she decided to do exchange more recently. She is studying at Colegio Boa Viagem, where I used to study and where Lauren and Laya study. Her host family is very rich and her apartment is on the beach.

So, let me get back to Joao Pessoa. We went to a Churrascaria and ate lunch, payed by Rotary. ( :  Here in Brazil, Churrascarias always have sushi. Except that, they are weird kinds of sushi, with cream cheese and fruit. But this Churrascaria had a huge variety of sushi. I love sushi! The problem with these kinds of restaurants is that they don’t have ketchup. Can you freaking believe that? A huge, fancy restaurant and they don’t even have any ketchup. What the #%$&?? It pisses me off. Good food is only half as good without ketchup. Apparently, here in Brazil, they only have ketchup in luncheonettes. Again, what the #$@&? Sorry, this just really pisses me off. It’s just ridiculous.

All right, don’t go and get all, “Oh, but it’s a different culture and you have to adapt. You can’t always have it the way you want it.” OK, yes, I know this. But seriously, restaurants that don’t have ketchup when luncheonettes do? From now on, I will have to buy my own ketchup and bring it with me. And then you know what will happen? Everybody is going to want to use my ketchup. Oh well, that’s life.

On Sunday I went with my friend Rafael to play soccer and swim at our friend Lucas’s house.

Monday I went to school for the first time in a long time.

Tuesday I didn’t go to school because there was another Rotary trip. The exchange students from Recife went to Caruaru to pick up the exchange students who live there. Caruaru is another city I haven’t been to yet. But we were actually headed for Nova Jerusalem, a city in the interior of Pernambuco that has the biggest open air theatre in the world. Every Easter season, there is an enormous play reenacting the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We all payed 20 reais to get in. There was a group of school girls, and they all mobbed Gavin, wanting individual photos with him. Hehe.

Well, the play started at 6:00. There were different sets for each scene, and there were men with red lanterns guiding everybody to the next set. It truly was huge. There were thousands of people in there. If you were at one end, you couldn’t see the other. The sound system was good, and unlike the other exchange students, I actually understood a lot of what the actors were saying. No, seriously this is a truly amazing experience I have had.

Think about it. I went to the biggest open air theatre in the world to see a world famous play that was completely in Portuguese and I was able to understand it because I have been living in Brazil for almost eight months and have studied and put in the time and effort to learn another language.

I had never read the new testament or really known the story of Jesus, so that day, before going to the play, I read a summary of the Gospel according to Mark, so as I watched the play I understood what was going on.

But this was not the reason I understood the play and the other exchange students didn’t. First of all, they just weren’t really paying that much attention. Also, the dialogue was very formal and the grammar was archaic. For example, the whole entire time the actors were using the pronoun ‘vos’, which nobody uses nowadays, and it has a whole set of weird conjugations.

On the long ride back to Recife, I started teaching Maddie a whole lot of Portuguese grammar, and for the time she’s been here, she’s doing pretty well. We stopped at the Rei das Coxinhas to eat some coxinhas and arrived in Recife around midnight.

So, that about wraps up my crazy month of March. Thanks for reading. I hope you had a nice Easter or Passover or whatever you celebrate.

The next day I went to a pre-carnaval show with my friends in the International Club. It was a lot of fun.

On Thursday there was a costume contest at my school, and my friend Tarci lent me a skirt and a bikini top and I participated in the cross-dressing contest, but unfortunately, did not win. But hey, it’s the participation that counts, right? I was make-upped and put on a wig!

That night the Recife exchange students went to a restaurant in Boa Viagem because David the Austrian was in Recife. After the restaurant, he went to a concert of Armin van Buren, who is reputedly the best DJ in Europe and possibly the world, but the rest of us didn’t go because it was too expensive. That night I slept at my friend Rafael’s house.

Friday night I started Carnaval by going to my French friend Julie’s school’s Carnaval Party, in the International Club again. We went with David, the Austrian who lives in Natal, and his host brother. I think I encountered about half of my friends on Orkut at that party! (Orkut is the Brazilian social network site, and I have about 150 friends on it.) Afterwards, Andrea, Julie and I went to Recife Antigo, where David and his host brother met us later.

This is how you do Carnaval in Recife and Olinda: You go to Olinda in the day, and Recife Antigo at night! Every day.

On Saturday, Recife has the biggest Carnaval Bloco in the world, the Galo da Madrugada, or Chicken of the Early Morning. It involves a huge moving chicken mascot, accompanied by lots of bands moving through the center of the city, with 2 million people watching.

I did not go to the Galo, I went to Olinda with my American friend Gavin and his host sister and her friends. Carnaval in Olinda is a bunch of blocos moving through the jam-packed streets. It was so crowded, we had to hold on to each other tightly not to get lost while moving through the crowds. And this is in the middle of the day. I brought a towel with me to wipe the sweat off my face.

When we went to Recife Antigo Saturday night, we met with a bunch of more exchange students from other cities, that we know from the multi-district Rotary events. I continued seeing friends from my old school and people I had met at parties and such.

Sunday in Olinda was awesome, because my friend Karina got us into a VIP house where there was a live band, free food and drinks and even free massages!

I didn’t go to Recife Antigo Sunday night, because I was too tired. Monday I went with Julie to Olinda after she bought a new cell phone because her old one was stolen the day before. Fortunately, nothing was stolen from me. In fact, I have not been assaulted or robbed at all here in Brazil. I lost my first cell phone because I left it in a taxi.

That day in Olinda we found Austin from Canada and Pato from Mexico and their Rotex. After Olinda, we stopped in the mall for a snack and then I stayed at Julie’s house until we went to Recife Antigo. I went home with the Rotex and the exchange students who live nearby.

On Tuesday I woke up early to go to the beach with my neighbor Naide and her boyfriend Juampa from Spain. So I spoke a little Spanish with him and taught him some Portuguese, but he also speaks English so it was no problem.

We visited Naide’s family at their beach house in the state Paraiba that is to the North of Pernambuco. It was a very small city and there was no cell phone signal. It was Naide’s mom’s birthday and we celebrated with costumes, dancing and cake all in the middle of a pouring rain. I met Naide’s cousins Marco and Gabi. Marco just got back from 3 months in Canada and Gabi, 6 months in New Zealand. Marco had a bunch of his friends there too so I met them and they were cool. Gabi had to go home after the party, but the rest of us went to the beach and one of Marco’s friends had a skimboard so I ripped some waves. I am getting good! I don’t have that many opportunities to skimboard, so when I do, I take advantage of it. I skinned my knee and my elbow and ran out of breath but had a ton of fun.

That night we had a churrascaria! Then we went to sleep and the next day everyone went back to Recife which took a few hours because of the traffic. The car I was in was full and there was no air conditioning or music…but eventually I made it back home.

And Thursday school started again.

Friday night I went to Aldeia to a Christian camp organized by my church. It was called “The Second Reality” because the first one was last year, and it has something to do with Reality. Well, it was 100 teenagers, a bunch of sermons, religious music, and group work. Basically, boring out of my mind. I thought that there would be soccer and swimming and parties as well as the religious stuff, but it was just praying. And Saturday night there was like a Godly love session…weird stuff, man. The guys had two dormitories while the girls had their little private houses. I only knew two people who participated; my cousin Marina and my friend Fernando, so I put my bed next to his. But some of the guys in my bunk and my group were just annoying, and asked me all sorts of invasive questions and through stuff at me…but I met a few cool guys, so the weekend was worth it, even though I missed out on parties in Recife!!!

I was also not feeling so good Friday and Saturday, but Sunday I was better and at the ending session with all the parents, I went up to the stage and gave a short speech saying how I was Jewish, and If I converted my parents would be mad at me, but the weekend was nice and I learned some stuff and it’s good to be open.

So then I had a full week of school. On Monday and Friday school ends at 1:00 because we have Sociology/Philosophy, but the rest of the days we get out 12:15. We have 2 breaks between classes. My class has like 25 kids, and only 7 of them are guys. Our Portuguese and Math teachers are the craziest. The rest are much more reasonable. But generally the classroom is so freezing. Most of us bring a jacket to wear but is still freaking cold. I like the people in my class a lot. During the break I also talk with a few people from the other class and my friend Tarci from the 3^rd year. After school I cross the avenue with a friend, get home, take a shower and eat the lunch that the maid made. Which is normally mashed potatoes, spaghetti, rice, beans, salad, meat or fish and some kind of fruit juice. Then I take a much-needed nap because I sometimes go out at night. That week, I went to a graduation ceremony with my host Mom and a birthday party of a host uncle. On Friday I went to a wedding ceremony with my host family. The bride is very beautiful. I stayed longer than my host family, so a host uncle took me home, and on the way, a motorcyclist hit our car and the guy went flying and fell on the road. Fortunately, he only hurt his leg a little, and no one in the car was hurt, but it still was not good and I got stressed, because I have been in bicycle accidents and a motorcyclist once hid my biological dad’s car and went into a coma afterwards.

So I went running home and told my host Dad and he went out to help his brother and make sure that everything was fine.

On Saturday I went to see Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief with my friends Isabela and Erika. Unfortunately my friend Paulo couldn’t go…

So, I am really missing the United States. It seems to me like everything there is better than here and things there work better!!! It is a richer, more organized and developed country, with a better culture.

After the movies, Isabela’s parents dropped me off in Recife Antigo where I met with Andrea, Lauren and Julie. We drank and conversed about our lives as exchange students…and then Julie and I went home early because she had just switched to her new host family, so was playing it safe.

Sunday was great. I ate the last of the Lasagne, which is possibly my favorite food in the world. I would be so happy if I ate it every day for every meal. But unfortunately I don’t.

Then I went to Church. Fortunately I got their late so I only had to sit through an hour. But I saw a lot of my friends that I had met from the Reality weekend. Then a few of us went to the Nautico game nearby. My first soccer game here in Brazil!!! I was thrilled. Finally. After 7 months. I only payed 2 reais for the ticket! But I don’t like Nautico. I don’t think they are good. They tied 1-1 with Vera Cruz. I am definitely a fan of Sport, the best team!!! But it’s just that I live closer to the Nautico stadium, you know? Leaving the stadium, I won some free deodorant!!!

So then we went back to the Church and everyone went to the Pizzeria and ate pizza, drank soda and joked around. Then my host brother drove me home.

And that was my month of February here in Brazil.

In March I will go to the wedding party on the 6^th, my cousin Andrea is coming to visit me on the 10^th with her friend and I will leave for the South on the 14^th!

Vida louca, meu vei. Beijos. Ate o proximo.

So, I went to Boa Viagem a lot, almost everytime I went out. Occasionally I went out with my friends Paulo, Isabella and Erika who live nearby.

I went to the beach, I went to parties, I went to restaurants, I went to the gym and even to two concerts.

One weekend I went to a beach town, Tamandare and stayed with the family that I stayed with when I went to the interior town Pesqueira. My friend Rodrigo, his cousins and I went to the beach, skimboarded, and went to a huge show on Saturday night, of two of Brazil’s most famous bands, Chiclete com Banana and ExaltaSamba. There were thousands of people there, and I saw tons and tons of people I know from Recife.

I went to another show in Recife that was Pre-Carnaval. My friend Karina gave free tickets to me, my other exchange student friends and other friends of hers. I went with a costume of Frevo, which is a cultural type of music and dance only from Recife. There was a costume contest, and if they had let me on the stage I think I would have won.

One day and night I spent in another beach town with a Rotarian from my club Diogo and his family.

One night the exchange students from Recife went to a hotel to see a huge group of exchange students from the south who were visiting for the weekend on their northeast tour.

Near the end of the holiday, I went to my new school CONTATO with my host brother and sister, to get a tour and meet the director.

The last Saturday before the start of school there was a carnival bloco in my neighborhood, and I walked around the block with my family to see it. It consisted of a float with a Creole mascot, a band and a bunch of people with the bloco’s shirt. That evening, a brazilian from Annapolis, Danielle, who is a friend of my mother, called me to tell me that her cousin Joao Paulo was in Recife and there was another Bloco of Carnaval near where he was staying. She gave him my number through MSN and he called me. So I called my friend Isabella and she told us to come to her neighborhood. I met Joao there and then we met Isabella. The bloco had already finished, but tons and tons of people were still in the streets. I saw lots of friends from my old school and also Gavin and his host sister, so it was really fun. Then Joao and I ate in a McDonald’s and went home. I will try to see him when I go to Rio, and he might come to live with his Aunt in Annapolis.

The last day before school started on Feb. 1, I went to a funeral with my family, in the most expensive cemetery in the state. Then I went to a friend’s house and we swam, ate lunch and played soccer.

So, on the first day of school, I didn’t know anyone except my friend who is in the 3^rd year, because she is friends with Karina. I met the other new kids in my class, and just talked with them. But now I have met the rest of the class and talked to more people. The teachers seem good. The only problem is that it is a small school. There are only two classes in my grade, and the classes are not full. In my old school, or the school I wanted to go to, there are 5-7 classes with like 45 people each. But my new school is very close and is a lot less expensive than my old school.
Let’s see how it goes with the classes and making new friends. Also, will I be able to maintain my relationships with my friends from my old school? I really don’t have that much time left in Brazil. I might have to come back in June. I will decide my official return date soon. And in March I will be traveling in the south for 3 weeks. There is still a lot more I want to do and I hope I will get to do it all!

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.  ; )

We are very different. Our tastes in music, clothes, people. Our interests. He loves cars, beer, Germany, computer games. But honestly we get along OK. It’s cool.

On Tuesday I went to the gym and my host parents and sister returned from the city Natal where the oldest host son’s son was just born. So I got internet back, the refrigerator was restocked, and my host Mom called my previous host Mom to ask about the money from December that I still hadn’t received. She told me I would get it the next day.

On Wednesday I went to the gym in the morning. In the afternoon I went out to try to put credit on my cell phone with my debit card. I didn’t succeed but I did randomly meet a friend who lives in the same building as me and goes to the school where I used to go to, so we traded phone numbers so we could hang out some time.

At night I took the bus to Boa Viagem to my friend Lucas’s house. Last year he did an exchange in the US, in Georgia. Our friend Karina and her friend Bella came. We discussed the US and Brazil and I made a comment about how Brazil is so much poorer than the US, and Lucas said Brazil is a developing country, while the US is developed. However, Brazil was the last country to enter the economic crisis and the first to leave it. European countries borrowed billions of dollars from Brazil. On Tuesday every TV channel was interrupted by a special report from President Lula and he talked about exactly this. He credits the reason for Brazil’s success in the good attitude of the Brazilian people; hard-working, sensible, and the fact that they continued to buy and consume, as Lula had advised them to from the start.

I took a taxi back home and payed with the Rotary money from December that I had just received that day.

On Thursday I didn’t go to the gym because it was closed because of Christmas. After lunch I went to the mall with my host father to buy a present for my secret friend. But he bought it for me instead so I wouldn’t have to spend my Rotary money. I put credit on my cell phone then went to the book store until he finished with the shopping. I told him that this would be the first Christmas I would celebrate because I had only celebrated Chanukah before. He explained to me how the Jews are waiting for the Messiah to arrive, when in fact he already has, and if you look in the Torah it gives all the signs that show that the messiah would come as Jesus, the son of God, from the lineage of David, etc, etc…

Frankly, I don’t care. It doesn’t matter either way. If there really is such a thing as a messiah, and he already arrived, well then great. I honestly don’t think he made such a difference. And if the messiah hasn’t arrived yet, well then that’s great too. We can keep waiting. Either way, I don’t see how the hell it makes a difference in our lives.

So then we went to Church and I ate the body and blood of Jesus, or communion as it is called; a piece of bread dipped in wine. The priest pointed me out to the entire congregation as Matheus the American due to a request by host mother Edileusa and so I had to stand up and everybody clapped for and now knows me.

Then we went back to the house, I showered, dressed, prepared my present for my host family, which my real Mom had bought and mailed to me. It is a big photo book of pictures from the Chesapeake.

So, we drove to my Aunt’s house in the neighborhood of Piedade, where I was living before. The whole family was there. I watched the Shrek Christmas special, my friend Karina called me and wished me ‘Feliz Natal’ which is Merry Christmas in Portuguese. Then we did the gift exchange. I didn’t know my secret friend, only his name, “Toto” but when I said it I pronounced it wrong. I put the accent on the first ‘to’ when really it goes on the second ‘to’ so everybody laughed. All the uncles drank whiskey and got drunk and gave me the nickname, “Papeiro-man.” A ‘papeiro’ is a pan used to make baby food. Haha. Very funny.

I received a gift from my host family, a shirt from ‘La Camiceria.’ Before leaving, they also gave me a bottle of perfume, “Agua-Verde” which means ‘green water’ and it is the first bottle of perfume that I have ever had. Well, cologne, whatever. I’d never owned or used perfume or cologne before.

At the party I gave the books “Bringing Back the Bay” to my host family and looked at the pictures with my host Mom and pointed out all the ones of Annapolis.

Then I drank coke, ate meat and rice and talked with my cousin Marina, who lives in Olinda, very near to my cousin Elias.

The cake was awful, but there was some ice cream soup, which is absolutely delicious.

On Friday it was the whole family at our house, down below in the party salon, eating the leftovers from Thursday night. I wore the shirt that my host parents gave me the night before, but I did not like it at all. It was white with magenta stripes, but it was not a t-shirt. The sleeves went past the elbows but not to the wrists. It was too big and the part around the neck was a diamond instead of a circle.

I talked to the old man Antonio, who is very nice and intelligent. He works in the Parliament of Recife. He told me how he reads 8 books a month and told me about some of the books he will read this month at his beach house, where he wakes up at 4:00 in the morning for the absolute silence that helps him concentrate so he can focus on what he is reading.

So, in my childhood my hobby was reading. I read hundreds of books. But around the time of my bar mitzvah, I stopped reading so much. I had homework, a sax to play, a computer, a dog, a bike, friends, sports teams. But more than this, I lost the will and the interest to read so much. Less books interested me.

Here in Brazil, I have read a few books, in Portuguese. This is good. But in the book stores it is hard for me to find books that I want to read. My favorite author is Michael Crichton. I have not found any of his books translated into Portuguese. But even if I did, I don’t know if I would read. I would rather go on the computer, watch TV, listen to music, or go out. I mean, I still like to read, of course. But I think that I will not ever read as much as I used to, until I reach old age and have the time and interest again.

After the family left some of Nicholas’s friends came over and we played Poker and Dominoes. We played a game with Dominoes that basically works the same as the card game BS. The strategy is tricky but I caught on.

Darkfall, more friends came and we played a mimic game where there are two teams, one person rolls a dice, gets a category, picks a card and has to act out the word. When it was my turn, half of the time I didn’t even know the meaning of the word I picked. Despite my language deficiency, several times I successfully guessed the word that one of my team mates was acting out, and when it was my turn to act, the word was almost always guessed. This type of game is very good for learning a new language.

While I was playing the game, I got a call from Ciro. When I went to the town Pesqueira in November, I stayed in a Rotarian’s house. His name was Ciro. About a week ago I sent him an email with my phone number. He called me and told me his family was going to Tamandare in January, and said there was room for me, I just have to get transportation there and back. Everybody goes to Tamandare in January, and I had been looking for a friend to go with, a house to stay in. So I am so lucky, and very excited!

Then we all went out to a place called “Zoo Burger” and I ate a burger and talked to Hugo, the brother of Nicholas’s friend’s sister. He is 17 and lives nearby. He already finished high school and will go to university.

College in Brazil is completely different. No college has dormitories or anywhere for students to live. It is assumed and expected that a college student will go to college in the city where they went to high school and will continue living with their parents.

High school is also completely different. If you ‘pass over the average’ you get to move onto the next year. Students here have to study and work hard just to graduate and go to the next year. In the U.S. the system is dumbed down to let the idiots graduate even though their grades are awful, and for any average student it is certain that they will move on to the next year, without trying too hard.

Then we went to Hugo’s building, played more dominoes, then Nicholas and I went to Habib’s, an arab theme fast food restaurant. Then we stopped by a fancy Peruvian restaurant where a friend of Nicholas works. They think that this restaurant is very expensive, because one plate is 40 reais, which is 20 dollars. I didn’t think that was so bad, because this is a normal price in the US. They explained to me that the average salary here is lower and also the cost of living. In Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo the salary and cost of living is higher. The US even more.

Then we hung out at a gas station with Nicholas’s friends. Why at a gas station? Because that is one of the few places to go. Basically, in Recife, you can go to someone’s building, a bar or a gas station. There are basically no parks, no place to play sports. If you want to go to a nightclub or a concert, you have to pay. This is why people from Recife like to travel to other towns, like Porto de Galinhas, Caruaru, Garanhoes.

On Saturday after lunch I went to Shopping Recife with my host mom and brother. I went to a store that alters clothes because the two pairs of jeans that I had bought a while ago were too long in the leg so the lady marked them. I payed for one pair, she said they would be ready Monday night and I could come back any time, pay the rest and pick them up.

Then I went to “La Camiceria” and luckily was able to trade the shirt I didn’t like; even though I had worn it, I hadn’t taken off the tag. So I got a black t-shirt that was 60 reais, while the shirt I was trading was 50 reais, and I used 10 reais that my host mom had given me to spend that day. So it worked out perfectly.

Then Nicholas and I went and played air hockey in the Game Station. It was intense. He beat me.

Then the whole family went to Church, then nicholas and I went to the grocery store to buy hot dogs and bread. I went home, showered, dressed, had dinner and then waited for my host counselor to pick me up. He and his wife and I all went together to the birthday celebration of Vilmar Cavalcante, a Rotarian in our club turning 70. It was in the Casa Rosada, there was a live band, good food, soda. My next host family was there and we all danced together and I got a gold shiny hat and bowtie and glowsticks and I met Vilmar’s nephew whose name is also Matheus. He is 13 and I was very impressed by how much he knew, and how much older than his age he acted. The impression was made even more confusing by his cousin visiting from Rio, who is 12 but taller than me and about twice as tall as him. Her name was Victoria, and I would have guessed her 15, at least. The cake was not so good, but I had a cafezinho, and then my counselor Antonio Goncalves drove me home.

On Sunday I stayed at home.

Then we went back to the house, had breakfast and I went with my host mom to see where she works. It is an office where she meets with clients. Later that day my host brother Nicholas dropped me off at a LAN house so I could use the computer while he was in class. That night we found out that we can use the neighbor’s internet service if we bring the laptops to the dining room table. In the bedroom there is no connection.

Tuesday was a holiday so my host Mom didn’t work. We went to her sister’s house, my host Aunt, in a poorer neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. We went there because they have a high-power hose that we used to wash our carpets. The neighborhood is poor, but their house is really big and really nice. I tasted a berry called Jabuticaba growing on a tree there. We went to the market, and it was really busy, like the kind of market you would picture in India or China, or some planet in Star Wars. My host uncle and cousin work there, in a home depot kind of store called Casa do Coelho, which means House of the Rabbit. My host cousin’s name is Michelle and he speaks English. He explained to me about how they have owned the store for 70 years and their market is the lower-class, so they provide lower-cost, cheaper items. He invited me to ride horses on their farm one weekend, and we exchanged phone numbers.

On Wednesday there was a Christmas celebration in the gym. A few weeks ago everybody had randomly selected another gym member’s name. That day they exchanged the presents that they had bought for each other, and they all brought food or drinks so I ate breakfast there. I met two college students who work at the gym from time to time for experience because their course is Physical Education.

I went back home, took a shower, dressed, and Nicholas dropped me off at a road called Conde Boa Vista, which is the main road of the neighborhood Boa Vista, which is the center of the city. This road is full of buses and people and lined with shops.

I found the Teatro do Parque, went in and there was a Symphony Orchestra playing. I met an old man named Gabrielle who was sitting in the back. He said he was there to meet his friend a trombonist who plays in the band. When the band finished playing we both went up, met the conductor, he found his friend, and I met the saxophonists. One of them, a black man called Gilmar Black is especially good at jazz, and he is the President of an organization called Aspesax, which is the Pernambuco Association of Saxophonists. It has about 80 members and Gilmar gives weekly classes. The only problem is that they don’t have anywhere to study anymore, because the rent from the last place was way too high, so the classes have stopped for now.

I watched the band run through some songs of Frevo and Forro, which is music from Pernambuco and the Northeast, respectively. Then I met a saxophonist my age named Marcos. He plays Tenor and is also learning Jazz. I went with him to a music school nearby where he studied. I met the director of the school who said that he could make an exception in my case and get a practice room for me to use at certain times, and that I can join theory and composition classes that will start in February.

Then Marcos and I went shopping. He looked for a part for his computer but didn’t find it. We went to the Casa de Cultura, or House of Culture, which used to be a prison, but is now filled with shops selling Tourist and cultural items. It would have been a great place to take pictures, but I didn’t bring my camera. If I go there again I will bring it.

I bought a shirt for me that says Recife, and I bought a shirt as a present for another exchange student. In Portuguese it says, “Someone who loves me brought this shirt from Recife.”

Then Marcos showed me his school, which is a public school. He lives in another city, that is an hour away by bus. We parted ways but planned to meet tomorrow.

I took the bus “Torres” home but almost got on the bus “Torroes” which would not have got me to where I wanted to go. Hehehe. I went to a present shop in my neighborhood and bought a “The Incredibles” walkie talkie set for 20 reais but it came without batteries. It was for the kid that I would give the present to in Natal.

My host Mom was going to the airport to meet my host dad in Sao Paulo, and the airport is near the gym where I do Parkour on Wednesday, so I went with her. The Taxi driver dropped me off at the gym. I arrived late, and it was the first time I had been to Parkour in over a month, so everyone was glad to see me, and I was glad to see everybody. We did some Parkour and then put all the equipment back and walked toward the metro. I had never taken the metro before, and I had heard it was dangerous, so I was kind of nervous. When I was living in my first neighborhood Piedade I could take a bus from the gym right home, but there is no bus that goes right from the gym to my new neighborhood. So I would take the metro with my friends, get off at a certain stop, and take a bus the rest of the way to my house.

The metro was actually really clean and modern. Everybody paid and got on the metro. But I hesitated for a second. I didn’t think that the Metro was going the way I needed to go. And then the doors shut. All my friends yelled for me, but it was too late. The metro was left and I was alone in the Metro at 9:00 on a Wednesday night. So what did I do? I waited for the next metro, I got on, I got off at the right stop, I took the right bus, got off at the right stop, and got home. On the bus there was a poor kid who stood at the front and made a speech about how he got sick one day and couldn’t work and how he needed money to buy packs of popcorn so he could get back to work selling on the street and he brought religion and God in to it and was very successful, the majority of the bus riders gave him some change, including me.

Thursday I went to the gym, but I walked there and back because my host Mom was in Sao Paulo. Then I went back to the Teatro do Parque to listen to the music and meet more musicians. I went with my sax this time. My friends assured me that it is safe to carry your instrument with you during the day, just not at night. So I got on the bus with my sax, and walked to the Theatre. This time I met another saxophonist my age named Denys. I got out my sax and played a little bit for Gilmar, Denys showed me some music, a song of Forro, and we played together. While the Frevo band was practicing we sat in the courtyard, played sax and talked. Then we went to the music school and waited for Marcos. When Marcos came I met his professor and a bunch of other saxophonists all crowded in to a tiny, air conditioned practice room.

Then we watched Marcos and a bunch of other saxophonists practice some Christmas songs. I met a guitarist named Carlos who says he has a blues band, and they don’t have a saxophonist, so I got his number and I hope I will be able to play with them some time.

The music school has a band, but it is a symphony orchestra and the last time they would play for the year is Monday, and this weekend I would be traveling to Natal.

I returned home, showered, had dinner. At 8:30 my friend Rafael called me and invited me to a party in Boa Viagem, so I asked my host brother if he could drive me there. I got dressed, put on my new shoes, and we went. My friends Rafael and Victor met me and we went into the building. It was a girl’s 15 year old birthday party and there was a chef making crepes, so I ordered a ham tomato and cheese crepe, a shrimp crepe and a banana, cinnamon and sugar crepe. : )

We stayed at the party until the end, then we called our friends Karina and Maysa. They live in the same building and we took the taxi there and hung out by the pool until like 2:00 in the morning I think and then Rafael and I took a taxi back to his house and we went to sleep. I woke up at 7:30 and took the bus back to my house. I showered, had breakfast and packed for the weekend in Natal. Nicholas and I picked up Tanguy and Gavin from Gavin’s house and went to the Theatre of the University to get on the bus. The exchange students from Caruaru and Recife were all there. It was about 2 hours to the next Capital, Joao Pessoa, where me picked more exchange students and two more hours to Natal, our destination. We all got off at a hotel on the beach and went off with our separate host families. I stayed with the host family of an exchange student who lives in Natal, Hannah from Germany. Her host brother Igor is 16 and will be going to Germany in January.

The family drove me to the most famous beach in Natal, with a view of a big hill called Morro de Careca, which means Bald Hill. Natal is a vacation city and a lot of the houses are empty most of the time but extremely full during the holidays. Natal means Christmas in Portuguese and this is because it was founded on Christmas Day. It consequently celebrates Christmas with a lot of gusto and puts up a huge electric Christmas Tree that we past on the way. I went to see the biggest Cajueiro tree in the world. There is one trunk but the branches go into the ground and then come back out, so the whole tree covers a huge area. Scientists have examined it and it is an anomaly due to a mutation in the DNA.

We went to the house, and I met their two dogs, boxers who jumped all over me. We hung out at the house until the host parents came back and took us all out to a nice restaurant. By chance the Rotary chairmen and a couple other host families and exchange students were there having dinner too! We talked with them and then ordered 2 pizzas with four flavors.

On Saturday all the exchange students met at the beach. A Surf instructor and his students gave us a lecture on how to surf and we did some stretching exercises. Then we all walked along the beach picking up trash. I met two exchange students who had arrived late, Eloiza from Oregon and Elias from Mexico. Eloiza’s parents in the US are Mexican, so she has Mexican ancestry and speaks Spanish, but is having difficulty speaking Portuguese because it seems to her like she is just making fun of Spanish.

I have never surfed before in my life and I only had 10 min in the water, so of course I didn’t accomplish anything. Then we all gave our presents to the local kids. There was a TV crew there and a few of the kids and exchange students were interviewed. The kid I gave the present to was on camera for a few minutes.

All of the exchange students got on dune-buggies. There were 12 dune buggies and 4 exchange students in each. I was in the dune buggy with Johanna from Germany, Eloiza from Oregon and a Rotex from Aracaju.

This was so awesome. We went speeding through the streets, over a huge bridge and finally onto the dunes themselves. We went DOWN the dunes, stopped in the middle of the desert and got to hold an iguana and a little monkey.

Then we continued to a place called Lagoa de Jacuma and did a thing called Aero-Bunda. Look at the pictures on dropshots.com/matt484. It was a zipline over a lake and when you reach the water you going skiing on your butt for a couple feet, then get off and swim to shore, or caught a ride on a raft. Then there was a bench on a track with a pulley system that pulled us back up. It was awesome.

Then we went to a nice restaurant and ate churrascaria for lunch. As much soda as we wanted. I sat with the two guys from Denmark and David from Germany and we finished off about a dozen bottles of coke between us.

Then we rode back on the dune buggies to the hotel where our host families all picked us up. Hannah and I showered, got dressed for the party later that night and got our presents ready. While we were having a snack the host Dad called us from his room. We ran there and saw the footage from us at the beach earlier that day! My friend Eloiza was interviewed and it ended with a kid showing the present that I bought!!! That was really awesome. Then our host parents dropped us off at the mall, where we met David from Germany and Craig and Kelsey from the US. They got some food, we walked around the mall a bit, Craig and Kelsey went back home, and Hannah and I walked with David to his house. His family made some pizza, we ate and went to the party at the hotel. There was a DJ who played nothing but Forro, pretty much, which is music only popular in the Northeast of Brazil, and it has a dance that is basically simple, with a 1-2, 1-2 step but despite this I can’t seem to figure it out.

We did the gift trade. I was number 2. I won a ceramic tile of an Eskimo from Twyla from Canada and my shirt went to Lars from Denmark. But he traded it with Hannah for a toy monkey so Hannah ended up with the shirt I bought. We also all got presents from Rotary; A Citizen’s Manual and a Rotary Polo that we wore for the photos the next day.

Sunday all that happened was breakfast at the hotel, group photos, goodbyes and the bus ride. On the bus ride one of the funniest things ever happened. Remember how I said on the last Rotary trip the girl Mariah from Canada got sick and consequently everybody got sick a day later? Well, this same girl went into the bathroom and all of a sudden there was a horrible smell on the bus. She stuck her head out of the bathroom. “Guys sorry, can I have some help here?” I did not stop laughing until Gavin stuffed a pillow in my face. It was Mariah’s pillow.

When we arrived in Recife my host brother Nicholas and I waited for all the other exchange students to be picked up, then we drove Malu home, the chairlady.

Then we went to the Church and met the rest of the family. I ate the hostia, the communion bread dipped in wine, which is supposed to represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ. No, I am not turning Christian.

Then I showed my saxophone to Elias, the saxophonist in the church, and met another teen who is learning sax with him.

The exchange students from Aracaju stayed in Recife that night and so us exchange students from Recife were talking about going out with them, but I was too tired so I didn’t go, and I don’t know if anyone else did.

So, that was my week, and I must say it was one of my best I have had so far.

I am trying to find a band to play in. All of the musicians who I have met here have talked about how much harder it is to study music in Brazil and how much more opportunities there are in the US. If teens play music it is usually in their church, in a music school if they are in one, or in a band they organize themselves. In the US I had a great opportunity to play in a small band with two other teens and a professional musician, and he provided the music, guidance and venues for us. I don’t know if I will have that opportunity in Brazil, but I do want to play and learn more. I played my friend Marcos’s tenor sax with a metal mouthpiece. It was really different and I liked it. None of them have ever heard of my sax’s brand, “Martin” and that’s because it is vintage, made in Indiana in the 1950’s.
But here in Brazil to buy a sax and accessories is much more expensive, and there is really not that much Jazz in the northeast. There is a lot in Rio and Sao Paulo. But stay tuned to see how this develops.

And check out the new pics on dropshots.com. On Thursday I got a haircut and I don’t know if it turned out that well. I may just shave all of it this week. Tchau!