Being an exchange student means that you learn. You learn how to eat with a fork in one hand and a knife in another. You become fluent in Portuguese swear language. You become a master at charades. You learn to imitate. You learn how to get home from the bus stop, or at least you'd better learn because you don't know how to ask for directions. You learn how to drink coffee like a shot, because you'd rather inhale some on accident than actually taste it. But the most important thing you learn is it is okay to fail. As an exchange student, you fail at everything. But after you fail for a while, things get easier and easier. If you accidentally say "Pass me the *insert dinner-table-inappropriate body part here*" when you really mean "Pass me the bread", you laugh at yourself and move on. And until you can pronounce it correctly, you say "Pass me that thing". (:
They iron everything here. I'm pretty sure Lina (the maid) irons my underwear... Anyways, she's very sweet, and is going to night school to learn English, so she practices on me. She teaches me Portuguese, I teach her English. Or a few words, anyway.
My classmates are so sweet, a few of the girls invited me to go to a movie with them sometime next week. We don't have school on Thursday or Friday because the parents of kids at my school are protesting a cut in government funding for private schools like mine. I think this weekend me and Alexandra, another AFS exchanger in my town, are going to hang out and walk around Minde. Last night I went to see my host mom's sister and her kids. There is a 3 month old, Manuel, and a 4 year old, Francisco (I think). Francisco sat in the bidet while his mom gave the baby a bath! I got a kick out of that. I hope it was clean...
Anyways, here are a few pictures of my room and the view out my window.
Also, a great video that describes how I feel:
They iron everything here. I'm pretty sure Lina (the maid) irons my underwear... Anyways, she's very sweet, and is going to night school to learn English, so she practices on me. She teaches me Portuguese, I teach her English. Or a few words, anyway.
My classmates are so sweet, a few of the girls invited me to go to a movie with them sometime next week. We don't have school on Thursday or Friday because the parents of kids at my school are protesting a cut in government funding for private schools like mine. I think this weekend me and Alexandra, another AFS exchanger in my town, are going to hang out and walk around Minde. Last night I went to see my host mom's sister and her kids. There is a 3 month old, Manuel, and a 4 year old, Francisco (I think). Francisco sat in the bidet while his mom gave the baby a bath! I got a kick out of that. I hope it was clean...
Anyways, here are a few pictures of my room and the view out my window.
Hi Katie-
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are on a wonderful adventure. I am enjoying reading your blog posts and look forward to hearing more about your journey! Take care of yourself and don't ask for anything you don't really want to eat at dinner. :) Your cousin, Andrea