I need to start out by talking about the weather. It never really occurred to me that December had already arrived, and here's why. My peeps in Wisconsin will understand. As I was walking to the gym in shorts, a sleeveless shirt, and sandals, I broke out in a sweat because of the 90 degree sun beating down on me. I looked at my watch which read that it was the 1st of December. Wait wait, what? I believe last December 1st I was tucked under 8 blankets, with my heavy duty boots and winter jacket, thinking about how I was going to make it to class through all the snow and ice. Oh how times have changed! I still haven't decided which I prefer, though. I am definitely used to the heat by now, something about wearing as few clothes as possible all year long is kind of great. But I do sincerely miss the cold (I can't believe I just said that).
Anyways, the semester is coming along quite well, but is close to an end for Anthropology. These next ten days are going to be absolutely crazy because, WITH PERMISSION FROM MY TEACHERS (*mom, dad, grandma, aunt mary, university of wisconsin madison, don't fret, I got permission*), I will be taking off of the last week and a half of classes to do a little traveling before Christmas. Oh, the luxuries of being an exchange student! Except not. Because this means that I have to hand in all my final papers and assignments 1.5 weeks in advance.......it's not that easy, ok? I can't wait to be done because my summer break is backwards here, so after Christmas, I have all of January and February to relax until classes start up again sometime in March. But while all ya'll back home will finish in May, I have classes until July :(
OK, something about me, that is completely in contrast with Brazil is the fact that I am a morning person. For about half of Belo Horizonte, morning does not exist. Last Saturday, Maeva, Maria, Igor, and I decided to hit up Inhotim, a nature preserve tourist attraction. It's an hour bus ride away, perfect, cheap way to spend the day, have a picnic, and take awesome pictures. The only downfall is that there is only ONE bus that goes there and ONE that goes home. And the bus leaves at 9:15 in the morning, which instantly brought doubt to my plans, because we would have to leave the house at 8 in the morning, god forbid, to catch the bus. To make a long story short, we arrived with 3 minutes before the bus left, but there were only 3 seats left, and there were 4 of us. Damnit! But we were ready for a nice day, picnic, camera, and all. Some stupid bus wasn't about to ruin our Saturday plans. We decided to catch a different bus which brought us to another park in the hills of Belo Horizonte. It turned out to be a really wonderful day. We slept and played in the grass, had our picnic, and walked A LOT. We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather as well. It's that kind of spontaneous, unexpected fun that I will always remember. Here are a few pics from Mangabeiras Park.
Over these past few weeks, I have gotten very close with a Brazilian family who lives in my neighborhood. We don't live in the safest neighborhood, it is on the outskirts of a Brazilian favela, but a family who lives a few blocks away started inviting Maeva and I to partake in their barbecues and parties. It's a huge family that lives together under the same roof. Uncles, aunts, cousins, moms, dads, grandparents, babies, dogs, the whole sha-bang. In any event, they are such a wonderful family. They all work during the day and then go home to their house, which is conveniently next to the bar that one of the family members owns (his nickname is Barriga, which means "Stomach" in Portuguese), grab lawn chairs, turn up the music from the car sub-woofers, and drink out on the street. Someone makes a huge portion of food, and everyone relaxes. They are so welcoming and have become like a real family for me. They've taken me in as their American son, or my nickname of which I am known, "My blonde" (meu louro). If someone would have told me that my closest friends here would be a family of people, everyone over 35 years old, I would have laughed at them, but everything happens for a reason, and I am so happy to be apart of their big Brazilian family. Here is Maeva and I with Angelita outside the bar and their house at Manu's third birthday party (fairy themed). She is our friend who was the first to start inviting us to their family functions. She has been such an amazing contact for us both.
Lastly, personal life, if you wanna know the juicy details, hit me up folks. Sorry, some things are better left out of the blog. But just know, my friends, that unexpected, unplanned, absolutely beautiful things can happen to any one of you at any moment that will totally turn your life around.
Here is my Brazilian music suggestion for ya'll, definitely worth the listen on this lazy Sunday, enjoy! Seu Jorge: Tive Razão
Level of happiness: Dangerously high. I seriously can't promise any one of you that I will show up in the states after this year is over ;)
Peace, Ardge
