I've been in Brazil for about 5 days now, and I've noticed a few things. First off, it's very beautiful here, because they have trees all over the place, and they line the roads. (They pour concrete around the bases, but the trees just grow through it.)

Many, many people are overweight. Virtually no one is actually thin, even though everyone walks everywhere.

There are many pointless jobs, because there are so many people. For example, in city buses, there is the driver, and then behind them is a person sitting behind a table to take your money. There are also people who sit in elevators and push the buttons. There are more, but I can't think of them right now.

In school, (or at least, in my class) you cannot tell who is "cool" and who is not. They all seem to be friends, and they all talk to one another. Even the goof of the class will sometimes take a day off to just sit with the girl in the back of the class - who never talks or participates - to listen to music and sleep.

Another thing: In my school, you can basically do whatever you want, other than leave the building. I've had a couple of classes where everyone was sleeping, or talking, and sometimes they get into very in-depth conversations with teachers and spend the hour doing nothing related to the subject.

On Mondays through Fridays, I go leave my house a little before 7:00 and ride the metro to my school. I arrive at around 7:35 usually, and they let you go up into the classrooms at 7:40. School starts at 7:50. We have 2 classes in the morning, and then a 40 minute break, in which you can play soccer, play table tennis, eat, talk, or just watch other people have fun. (Ha!) After this we have another 2 classes, and then school lets out at noon.

In Brazil!

In Brazil!

After a long, tiring flight, filled with crying children and very bright television screens, I made it to Brazil in one piece! Lots of people in the airport were very nice and helped me, which was great. I met my family, and then we went home to the apartment, where I found my room and called my parents. From there I went to Ipanema beach with Jarbas and Jarbinhas (Jarbas Jr), and had pineapple juice and walked the length of the beach, seeing every single woman in a bikini, no matter their size. Just had lunch, of meat, beans, rice, vegetables, and little potato french fry things. It was all very, good, and Jarbas, my host brother, ate about 3x as much as me! We then had dessert, and Jarbinhas (host brother) went to take a nap, and I am blogging.

:)