Be Proud of Where You Come From

So I've had a few Rotary lunches and events and other things that I've been attending. With exchange wrapping up and our language skills skyrocketing it seems we've become an increasingly popular display for Sorocaba's Rotary Clubs. Besides, we are undeniably charming people!

Wednesday, April 17:

Rotary lunch with one of the largest Rotary clubs in Sorocaba! (From what I've seen, and I've hit a few different clubs in my stay here) All the exchange students in Sorocaba showed up. And we answered question and showed everyone a little piece of our hearts through our answers to their questions.

"What would you take back to your country from Brazil?"
The people and the happiness. When Brazilians say that they're is happiness in even the poorest people they don't lie. The country in general is so care-free and happy and shows such care for everyone. Even just the fact that they give a kiss on the cheek every time they say "hello" is a huge factor to why I've grown to love it so much here. Some of the hardest working people are the humblest. The people with the least money are the most generous. Everyone takes care of each other. It's a beautiful piece of the culture that someone has to see through their own eyes before they'd believe how muvh of a difference there is. Canada isn't cold and heartless, but there is a different atmosphere down here, that's for sure.

"What woudn't you take back to your country from Brazil?"
THE FOOD. Now, everyone who hasn't read any blog posts before this one is probably thinking "well, I now know to avoid Brazilian restaraunts". THINK AGAIN. The food here is so good that if I brought it back to Canada, I would become increasingly fat... and at the rate it's been going I would likely explode.

"What was your hardest moment on exchange?"
Now, this one... this one caught everyone off guard when one of the girls stood up and answered. She took the mic and talked about how her Grandmother had died while she was here and how difficult it was not to be back in Mexico. I remember the day she told us as clear as crystal. It was a Friday, we were at Portuguese, and she was holding it together just enough to tell us her story. And she did the exact same thing infront of a club of Rotarians. As she talked and choked over her words, we all began to, too. The girls had tears streaming down their cheeks and the boys were giving her all the strength they could send her way. What I realized is that the hardest part of exchange is finally realizing that you're a big family. You hurt when someone else is hurting, you cry when someone else is crying, and you smile when someone else is happy. The hardest part of exchange is finally realizing all that and figuring out you're going to have to leave it behind when your time is up. And I'm not quite ready to leave this family behind yet...

In a group of Mexicans, Danes, Germans, Equadorians, Taiwanese, Indonesians, and Americans... I am Canadian. There are two of us, two girls, and we are proud of where we come from. I guess I can't speak on behalf of Jenna, but I will speak on behalf of me: I'm proud to be the red, firey blazer in the sea of dark blue. I wear it with pride and a big, ol' smile on my face. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Friday, April 19:

I spent the afternoon just being an exchange student with two other exchange students before getting myself all primmed and ready for a Friendship Party (Festa de Amizade) with Rotary! My Rotary club had invited me to be a part of their table (free of charge) for a night of friendship with all the other Rotary clubs in Sorocaba! Each club had a table full of Rotarians that were ready for a night of dancing and conversations and... well, obviously good food.
I danced a ton with a handful of different Rotarians from different clubs. I was the only current inbound that was in attendance, and there were two of next years hopefuls there with me. We all just danced and laughed and used the party as an excuse to share our cultures.

Beijos,

Katrina

Shout out!

Just a little shout out to the lovely ladies who sent me letters! I finally recieved them from my last host fmaily and they put a huge smile on my face. Love you both!

Beijos
xoxo

Katrina

Living the High Life

Maybe for some people that means having diamonds posuring out of their ears and the brand names color coordinated in a walk in closet. But for me... it's more finding people that are good company, good food, and an amazing view. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures.. but I have a book full of written memories.

Sunday, April 7:

I spent the afternoon at a Chacara with another exchange student's family, who I adore with my heart and soul.

Maybe the only part that doesn't quite fit the magical fairytale vibe I set above would be the actual butchering of lunch. They, along with a farmer, literally killed our meat that morning. When I arrived they were still cutting the muscle from the bone. I learnt a thing or two about goat meat! Her host dad was explaining all the pieces to me and comparing them to what piece it would be on a cow. It was so cool to be at this little farm, with her host family and an older couple who I beleive lived on the farm as the caretakers (not 100% sure on that part though), butchering our lunch. Since I'm not a hunter, or a farmer, this was my first experience with something like that!

Since the meat was their goat butchered on the table, we had all the edible organs infront of us as well. Living to the exchange student code of trying everything, I had a piece of th kidney, liver, and heart. The kidney and liver were difficult to get down without being doused in lime... but the heart was pretty good! It tasted almost exactly like the chicken hearts - which are a Brazilian Churrasco favouite. And of course the "normal" meat was tasty, too! In Brazil the only spice they put on their meat is salt. And that's the only way I could imagine eating it! Not saying I won't still enjoy my fathers BBQ steaks with all the fixing when I get home... but salt is just the Brazilian way! And it's tasty.

The rest of the time passed just enjoying the scenery and listening to the stories of times that passed. It's interesting what you learn from people who lived a lifetime in not only another time... but another country.

The evening I passed with my host family to celebrate my host moms birthday! We ate cake, a strawberry pie (Torta de Morango ... I don't know exactly how to translate that.. Strawberry Tart?), and a TON of brigadeiro.

 And played a dancing game on the Xbox. It's always a good time.

Beijos,

Katrina

Boa Páscoa!

Or in English: Happy Easter!
The strange thing about Brazil is that it's a catholic country... but somehow the holidays are more tranquil then my families celebratioins in Canada. I don't mean to say we're out jumping out of airplanes and having all-day snowball fights over the holidays, but the way we celebrate is different than the way families here celebrate.

I think exchange has seriously fogged my perception of time. I had no idea that we were even in Lent until last week one of my friends mentioned that we didn't have school Friday. I was utterly confused as to why we'd have a random holiday so I decided to investigate.
"Why don't we have school Friday?"
"It's Good Friday, silly!"
"ALREADY?! SAY WHAT!"
Of course all that happened in Portuguese and my friends proceeded to laugh at me. I had done the same thing at Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine's Day... and had completely forgotten about Thanksgiving until the American one rolled around and the American exchange students were making a big deal about it. I must be a really terrible Canadian!

Friday, March. 29:

I had slept over at Cecilie's house and her family had invited me to lunch with their extended members of the family. I couldn't decline a free meal with her wonderful host family so we showered and were off to the food source... and when we arrived this is what we saw on the grill:

Awe yeah buddy. This big ol fish was lunch. Pacu... relative of the Piranha, found in some rivers of Mato Grosso.

 

Alright, so a little earlier in the blog we had all covered the fact that I don't like fish or almost any kind of seafoody substance that isn't canned tuna heavily covered in mayonaise and relish... so be surprised when I tell you that I took a portion of this ugly guy and LIKED IT! THAT'S RIGHT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. We have a winner!
Of course the variety of fish that ends up having a sobar my tastebuds like to experience would be this ugly and have a flavour of peppered chicken with a slight undertone of fish. But fish is fish and this fish was settled into my stomach without complaint.

Sunday, March. 31:

I spent yesterday just lazing in the house with my host family, we all alternated between watching movies together and taking family naps. We are so cute it kills me! I'm going to miss the family naps... me on one couch, my host parents on the other, snoring away. OH! and my dad and I made Parmeseana and Rice :)

 

But today was family day! AND I GOT CHOCOLATE!

Right: my egg and chocolate bar! (ps... tastes SO GOOD)
Left: The egg and chocolate I gave to my host family :)

And even though I had absolutely no luck enjoying any of the fish dishes at lunch.. I tried each and every one of them. Luckily, I wans't the only non-fishlover there so there was a secret stash of chicken nuggets for me to fill my stomach on :) There was no scavenger hunt of buckets full of candy... just a good lunch of a bunch of chocolate. I do miss my Canadian holidays, but I do love the Brazilian life <3

 

Beijos,

Katrina 



Back to School

ALRIGHT! This post has been way long overdue and I should probably keep you guys up to speed on what my day-to-day life is like. I promise you the Easter blog (which I saw a view people have been checking my page to see if I've uploaded anything - my apologies!) is coming right after this one, I will not go for lunch until these are both finished!

So, to be honest, I don't know how up to speed everyone is... so the basics: I'm in Brazil (pretty sure everyones figured that out haha), I'm on a cultural-educational exchange, and I'm now studying in college.
Wait, what?
Yes folks! Rotary managed to work it out with a local College for me to have a revised course where I take certains classes of all the semesters to get a peek into some of the things I was looking into studying next year at the all mighty University of Saskatchewan (recieved my acceptance letter, WEEEEEEEEEEEE!). With this whole thing comes harder tests and classwork then I was doing in "high school" but a ton of laughs, friends my own age, and useful, new material in the area I think I want to study.
A basic low down of the classes I'm taking: Anatomy, Human Biology, Kineseology, ... Physiology (Fisiologia... I think that would be how you translate that one), Metabolical Bases and Emergency Health Procedures. I'm not put in any specific term... I actually take classes from all the terms in the first two years.
Basic low down of how I'm doing: Kineseology is kicking my butt from here to Mars, Physiology is trying to kick my butt from here to Mars, I'm passing in Metabolical Bases even though I really don't know how the material links together (but I understand the material itself... make sense?), Emergency Health Procedures seems to be going well, Human Biology is a detailed explanation of the cell that has my brain learning a whole new dictionary of Portuguese verbs, and I say with pride I'm rocking Anatomy like I was born to know the body. Just kidding, BUT I did get a 7.25/10 on my very first college test in Anatomy, so I think that calls for celebration!
I guess another thing you guys should know is that on an average day, the morning students in my school usually have class from 7:30-11:50 when all the blocks are filled with classes. That's right! Be jealous!

Beijos,

Katrina

It smells like Ham, it tastes like Ham, so it must be...

Chicken?! Turns out... my family has a thing for this chicken that is somehow cooked to have a flavour of ham. Cool shinanigans that was!

With my current host family I've been having lots of family lunches with some of the extended family on weekends. Churrasco, home-made pasta, other amazing brazilian foods centering around rice or that chicken-ham conundrum... I just can't get enough! It's great that most families stick close enough together (my family, for instance, mostly all lives here in Sorocaba) that weekly gatherings are entirely inside the realm of possibility.

Sunday, March. 10:

This weekend was the first time I'd been to my Uncle's house since the pool had been finished! I had made the decision not to bring a bikini because I wasn't planning on going for a swim since I'd be heading to the movies before I could go home and take a shower. I also hadn't know that my cousins and everyone would be there all bikini'd up and ready to party!
But I wasn't aboout to let my inability to enter the water keep me from enjoying the company. I sacrificed the dryness of my booty to sit poolside and chat with everyone.
Turns out that decision didn't just sacrifice my behind... because I ended up drenched head to toe when the girls all decided to throw what I believe was the entire water content of the pool onto me!
My host parents had equal looks of shock on their face as the whole event went down and since I was already wet from head to toe... I jumped in as my host mom let out a little squeal. We all (including her) laughed about it and agreed that I'd have to go get new clothes for the movie.
One of the girls speaks English through her job so we alternated speaking in both languages, helping each other learn new things. I got a little bit more of a tan (with an unfortunate short-short tan line).

After I got a little dried off and ate some Churrasco, I went to the movie! Oz: The Magical and Powerful! SO GOOD. I could watch it again and again and again and still love it. I'm pretty sure Cecilie felt the same!

Beijos,
Katrina

Tour de Futebol - Sao Paulo

Most of the exchange students came to town to have a trip to the big city to learn about the most popular sport in Brazil... Futebol! (Soccer)

Saturday, March 9:

Early morning lead to me wrapping up some delicous baked balls of cheese bread in a napkin and running out the door with Jenna quick on my heels. We grabbed some more grub and McDonald's before boarding the bus and starting the usual exchange student extreme make-up-for-lost-time chatting and bonding. It helped that our bus was more like one of the mini "Marshmallows" that St. Mike's has for sports teams, so we were all close together and talking in larger groups with less difficulty.

Museum de Futebol:

Our first stop was the Futebol Museum... we had an hour and a half to wander through the exhibits, watch films and be a part of the interactive games they had. Since I'm not one for stopping and reading every little board of information, I watched through and enjoyed the aestetic appeal the museum had to offer! There was a hall of mirrors that lead to me almost clunking my face against a few, a dark room where they had some videos, a room that was layered in semi-transparent screens that played different times in Corinthian history, and an interactive soccer video game!
That would have been my favourite part... since Cecilie and I both got our game on with two Brazilian kids! It was one of those touch, sensored mats on the floor and the game was soccer... we split into teams. 1 exchange student and 1 Brazilian boy per team. The parents of the two boys kept score and it was the first team to score 3 goals wins. My team was down 2-0 and we thought we were out of it... and after a few brilliant assists of mine we brought the game up 2-2. With sweat beads forming on our foreheads and tension swirling all around, we had a crown of both exchange students and Brazilian formed around the mat. With one final glance at my opponent, I kicked the ball... with one swift movement of his foot the Brazilian boy managed to kick the ball past my goalie and SCORE. Leading to a 3-2 loss for me and my worn out team mate.

But either way. Who else can say they played video games with two Brazilian boys they'd never met before?

Parque Ibirapuera:

We had to kill the entire afternoon doing something before the big game, so we relaxed and walked around a huge recreational park in Sao Paulo. It was full of people being active and working out but also had it's fair share of people like us who were relaxing and just enjoying some down time together. A Mexican had brought along his harmonica and started humming away while we all just quietly chatted with one another. Some people went off to do their own things in smaller groups, but the majority stayed in a shaded clearing to do just what we were doing.
It wasn't peaceful the whole time... we got a little crazy after too long of being tranquil!

We even marked our territory with our classic flag picture! And this time.. Canada represented!

Jogo do Corinthians:

To finish off our day we went to a Corinthians vs Itiano (I think... I'm not too sure, I was just there to watch soccer and eat churros).

And the evning started out with perfect temperatures and relaxing exchange students who were waiting to watch the game..

To it POURING rain through the whole game, getting us wet through our plastic rain covers. We had all agreed to stay until the end... but bythe time we were back on the bus I was soaked right through to the bone! I wrapped myself in my flag since I didn't have anything else to substitute for a blanket and just relaxed as we drove home in the rainstorm.

Beijos,

Katrina