Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Cork trees, Buddha, and Chocolate

I'm trying to not let my blog be one of those. I'm not trying to write down everything I do on here (which some of you might like, but it's not happening), because I am a writer. I tell stories, but I use my imagination, too, which I hope is making this an interesting read. I don't really know what I'm trying to do with this blog, except keep a loose record of the things and feelings I experience on this exchange. But I don't think anyone's actually reading this, so if you are, leave me a comment and give me some feedback, and I'll keep writing.
Alexandra and I went to a Buddha garden and a chocolate festival this weekend! The Buddha garden was made by a rich woman who bought all these sculptures and made this huge garden for them. I don't really have a complete history of it, because Alexandra's host dad only told us this, but it was really cool to sit on the belly of a huge buddha (: There's also a small terra-cotta army replica of the one in China there. The horses and people were painted outlandish colors, but it was definitely an interesting mix of cultures. While her host parents were waiting in line for tickets to the chocolate festival, we went exploring on top of a stone wall that's hundreds of years old. It surrounds the old part of the city, and was built as a defense city, with the wall protecting it. When we were on the wall, we wanted to get a picture together, and so I asked a man (in Portuguese) if he could take a picture of us. Turns out I have a pretty thick accent when I speak Portuguese, and the guy immediately starts speaking English to us, which was slightly disappointing.
Did I mention they have croissants filled with CHOCOLATE here? My host family keeps hinting that I'm gaining weight, but I don't care. (: I am comfortable with who I am and what I look like, so as long as my pants still fit, I think I'm going to live. I do feel lazy, though, because I literally sit in a chair at school all day. I have PE, but that's not really exercise because the teacher usually favors the boys--they get to play first and longer, because they enjoy it more than the girls, who do everything in their power to not go to dreaded Educacão Física. I miss soccer soo much, but I don't really want to join the futsal team here because I have no free time as it is, but I want to start riding my bike home from school on Fridays.
My Portuguese is getting better by the day. I still don't talk much (people don't believe me when I say I'm a quiet person), but my confidence is building fast. It's still like forcing out words, though.
I took my first test in Portuguese yesterday, for PE. It was a surprise for me that I was going to take it, because I wasn't there when the class got the study sheets, and my class assured me that I wasn't going to take it. But, since I hadn't studied and am lacking a TON of sport-related vocab, the teacher let me write some of the test in English, and use the study sheet. I took twice as long as the other kids, and I still think I failed,  but that's okay because my grades don't count here. I'm pretty proud that I finished, though, even if it did take me over an hour.
I got a care package from home, and I'll be getting another one soon, with green chile and tortillas. I'm excited to cook for my family here because New Mexican food is very different from the rest of the US, and it's something we're proud of as a state. I'm also hoping that the green chile doesn't make the food inedible, because my host family has zero tolerance for spicy foods.
There are tons of cork trees here. This one's had
some bark taken off of it already. 




Picture taken by the Portuguese guy I asked!

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