I can´t believe how long I´ve been here. Sometimes it feels like I haven´t been in Nova Scotia in forever, but right now, I feel like I just arrived.

My portuguese is coming, I just finihsed a month long course, and now I can talk queit a bit, not as much as I´m like, but still, pretty good since 4 months ago I spoke none.

Things here are good, lots of friends.. sort of, not like real friends, its hard because I can´t really talk to them very well, but better then nothing.

Last weekend I went to a club in Salvador, it was wonderful! No drinking, of course. But dancing and such, lots of fun! I don´t have any pictures, but next time. Here you only have to be 18 to go to the clubs, yay for being the oldest intercambista in the Lauro de Freitas... it has finally turned out to be a good thing!

On Sunday I leave for my trip to the Pantanal, which I´m really excited for. Vianey, and a german girl in Salvador, Christine, are going as well. I still need to get some stuff, snacks for the flights + hours long wait in Brasilia, and maybe a couple new pairs of shorts, but I´m not sure.

I sent postcards out to a ton of people a few weeks ago; I hope they get to everyone! the Brasilian postal system isn´t always great.

I´ll do a big update after the trip with lots of pictures (taken with my spiffy new camera!)

Tchau and Beijos from Brasil


Sheila

Today I went to the beach with my friend Vianey, she is from mexico.

Lots of fun.

Last night she slept over here, and then we spent like..4 or 5 hours at the beach, it was tons of fun, here are a ton of pictures from our day.




Tais visited us last night


We were being cool.. haha


All the girls


On the beach


Vianey eating beach cheese (pretty much the best beach food.. ever)




I love it


Acarajé! Second best beach food!


On the beach!


TEETH! I touched them.. i thought it was a shell.. ew



all photos can, of course be seen at here

Vianey and Sheilas excellent beach adventure

Also check out the info post for how to text me! I love getting texts, so if you could take some time out of your busy days to do that, I´d love it! Thanks to all who have!

Tchau for now

Sheila

I´ll start with today and work backwards... easier my tired brain

So today. We went to a BBQ at Cris and Arturos, fun.. I ate way tooo much. But I actually participated in the conversation for a little bit.. mostly talking about exchange, and differences between Canadian and Brasilian culture, stuff like how at home I do my own laundry, .. do dishes (ok I load the dishwasher.. my actual dish washing skills are lacking, I won´t lie), clean my own bathroom (on ocasion), work, and I´m (at least compared to the Brasilian 18 year olds I know) very independent. Kids here (well in the upper class... here its really.. the have and the have-nots... so the haves is who i live with, and know.. minus the maid.. etc) have maids, who do everything but dress them in the morning. Everyone was saying that Brasilian kids would have a hard time not having that, I don´t think they would... you just get used to it. Like I´ve gotten used to doing very minimal cleaning. We also talked about my trip I´m taking at the end of October.

This morning I asked my mom if my Mexican friend Vianey could stay over friday night, and she said yes, so Friday Vianey is going to come over after school, we´ll do.. something, and then Saturday we´re going to go to the beach! I´m going to try and get a proper brasilian bikin (top atleast) so I can get rid of some of the tan lines I have going on..

Yesterday, we went to the beach, one I hadn´t been to before, it was gorgeous!


Me prentending I´m a surfer at the beach yesterday. Hopefully in the summer I´ll take some surf lessons, and learn how to do that :) I´ve always wanted to, and now I have a chance!


beach


my host dad and host sister



Friday we went and looked into Portuguese classes, which I´m going to start on Tuesday, I´m excited. I think its not so much that I can´t, its that I lack confidence, so hopefully this will help.

Wednesday was *dia de ciencias* all the classes from.. the Canadian equiavlent of grade 5 and up did presentations, my classes was on Global warming,


Dudo( a nickname.. I don´t no his actual name opps), Bruno, me, and Tais


Lu, me and Carol


All the girls in my class... I can´t dance, hence my lack of a skirt


Ivandro and I

Rest of the pictures from dia de Ciencias here

Dia de Sciences

and thats pretty much all thats happened recently, thats worth reporting. Here are some random pictures from... a few different things




Me, and host mom- the day my host brother (igor) left for Mexico, she was very sad


Me a bunch of Igors friends (who I didn´t/ don´t really know) and Igor, right before he left.. i think my red blazer kills his blue blazer.. blue is so over used.. lol


Me and a guy I go to school with whose name I don´t know (I´m really bad with names, here at least, and a lot of people just start talking to me because they know my name... you are known as an exchange student)



My trip is all booked and payed for. I leave on the 28th of October, and get back the 5th of November, I´ll also be moving families over that time. I finish school on the 13th of November, I´m excited for that. I´m going to see if in early December, or late January if I can get down to Itabuna to visit my friends there, or maybe go visit kids I meet on the Pantanal trip, so I can see other parts of Brasil, which would be really exciting, and cool.

So thats all to report from brasil! I´m going to buy some postcards this week, and get them off soon, I have adresses for a bunch of people... if your not sure I have yours email it to me at sheila(dot)elizabeth(at)gmail(dot)com and I´ll send you one too! and remember to check out the first post and find out how you can text me, and then text me!! It makes me happy :) as well comment here, just to let me kno your reading, thanks :)

Tchau

Sheila

Excellent relaxing weekend down here in Bahia.

Saturday I did a whole lot of nothing, well actually I walked, but I´ll get into that after.

Sunday was awesome. We went to a beach, up past Praia de Forte (about an hour north of here) it was gorgeous... we went to the Tamar project, where they resuce tutrles, and save turtle eggs... so beautiful! and then we went to a beach in another town, and by town I do mean a very small little hamlet of paradise. It was great, the water was so warm, lkike taking a bath.. which was nice, because our shower has not had hot water for about 3 weeks... I like my cold showers as much as the next person, and I think i read somewhere cold showers make you live longer.. but at this junction in time.. I´m down with a shorter life for a warm shower... for now..

So Walking.. well I´ve resigned to walking to combat this weight gain thing.. its not much but its something. I walk about 3 kms, everyday, just around condimiums where I live.. think Midnight Express except with more sun, less Turkush prison, and I have an MP3 player...where as Billy Hayes did not.

Pictures from our beach trip!

Praia

Tchau Tchau from Brasil!

Sheila

Sheila is going on a trip! At the end of next month I´m headed to the Pantanal. Its looking amazing, I´m soo excited, I can´t even describe.

Things have been ok here.. nothing to exciting, I´ve met all of the other intercambista in Lauro de Freitas now, they´re all super nice. In October we´re going to Salvador for the interact forum, I´m looking forward to it, we´ll get to see all the other intercambista from the district again, and Natalie, my friend from floria, who is living in Itabuna is going to lend my the 7th Harry potter Book... mostly I´m going to read it because I´ve read all the other ones, and why stop there...



I´ll try and get some pictures up this weekend, you can always check out my picasa site though, which can be found here <--Click


Tchau


Sheila

I went for a walk around my condiminum complex a few days ago.. the pictures I took are here -->

Walking Tour

Its nice here, thought I´d share that. Things are good here, tomorrow is Independence Day here, so no school. Most families are travelling but we aren´t... BBQ and the beach I think is what we have planned.. fun!!

I´ll try and update sometime this weekend.

Hope everyone is well

Sheila

went to an Axé (a-shay) show last night, lots of fun. Here are some pictures






I tihnk its fairly clear who is not Brasilian...



Big update tomorrow...


Sheila

Soo on to my weekend, thus far at least.

Yesterday school= blah, we watched a movie *under the surface* espoisá d´agua in portuguese I think. It was ok, english subtitles>>>>>life lol.

Show was great fun.. fun Carnival-esque music, people really like to party here, so it was great! Hopefully we´ll go to more, it cost $R25 about $15 canadaian.. but it was worth it. Negra Cor was the band, it was at Bahia cafe hall.


Today we went to the beach.. my thighs are sunburned, I can feel it under my jeans... ewwy feeling... I´ll put some aloe on them later. It was fun, I ate cashews (which are huge here) freshly roasted. Yum. and fried cheese, also surpringly good, and had a drink with pineapple, it was sooo good.


This week we´re going a project at school... it involes us getting shirts... This week is also like mid-terms, so the exchange students get to leave at like 10am, cause we´re to cool to write exams. Friday is also a holiday, something about an independence Day... I´m not sure.. apperently people travel, but don´t think we´re going anywhere... maybe the beach

Well Time for bed!

Tchau Tchau!

Sheila

Well today was a bit of a downer.

There are 10 or 11 Canadians down from London (Ont) they´re all members of the University of Western Ontario Rotaract club here on a international project and I was suppose to be helping out with the project which is building 4 houses in a needy village close to here. But alas I´m not allowed to miss school to do it, and I thought I was going to be allowed... it was a whole big thing... and anyway it sort of ruined my day.

I did however manage to peace out of school today and hang out with them. We went to the village called Quingoma and saw the rotary sponsored school, and met the families who are getting the homes; it was really nice. I hung out with two of the girls at Heathers house, had lunch there and such.. mummm salmon! and met Heathers son Gabrielle, he´s 2 and pretty much the cutest kid ever no lie! His father, Danilo is Brasilian so hes all perma-tan and such! so cute!! And the girls and I went down to the beach, and walked for a little which was nice. We went back and played with Gabirelle and Tito (pronounced Che-to here) cam over, and after we picked up everyone else and went to the Furniture store to buy some things that the Rotaract Club was going to donate to various institutions here (mattresses, fans, washing machine etc) and then we went and got construction supplies.

When I got home it was like a big thing, that I wasn´t allowed to go and whatever... I guess one of the guys in rotary was like no you can´t go, you must go to school.. and I was all.. that bites... so now I have to go to school and see if I can hang with them in the afternoons and evenings.

Other then that nothing to exciting, I´ll post pictures and a video from today, tomorrow, or when they get uploaded.

Tchau!

Sheila

Well its been a while since I updated here... I did mean to do it more, but ahh I get side tracked.

Partys partys partys.... (last) Saturday was a BBQ with ex-intercambistas back for Heathers wedding, Sundays was Igor and Larissas going away party and Mondays was in Salvador, it was someones birthday party. The power was out pretty much the entire time, which was unfortunate... I had a nice chat with Susan, and her host sister, as well as Larissa. I met two of the other inbounds at the parties (Susanne from Canada (BC) and Joel from Germany)

Igor (host brother) left last week, so he´s off in Mexico now.

Got lots of info this weekend on the trips I can go on this year, one to the Amazon is a about 150$ more but seems a lot better, you get 5 nights on a boat in the amazon (plus 4 nights in a hotel) and sleep on hammocks on the boats, and get to keep the hammocks and make jewelry... I´ll send you the email it looks AMAZING!!! Also there is a trip to Macchu Pichu! Its like $2000 though (US) but seriously how cool would that be.. although I´d love to go by myself, like back pack around south America in a few years, and be able to do it my way... but the tour looked really cool... lots of things that´d be hard to do on your own.. its only like 8 days though (plus two travel days...

we went whale watching Sunday. I was mad sea sick.. it was very unpleasant,... 50ft little "Schooner" type deal maybe a 1.5 meter hull... it was a little sketchy.. 2-3 meter waves... not fun. Saw some whales though, just the dorsal fins and some blows, but it was cool.. minus the insane vomiting part... not so fun.


Went to Rotary in the yesterday (which meant I ate two dinners). It was good, met my councillor he doesn´t see there being anything wrong with me volunteering at the English school so that´ll hopefully work out. I´m also going to go build houses with Rotaract which I´m very excited for. Some Canadians are coming down from London (Ont. not England) so that´ll be nice! I´m super excited, and Heather will be there, shes really cool (Canadian who came here on exchange a few years ago and is now married to a Brasilian).

onto the


Canadian Girlies at the beach

Susanne thought her flip-flop had floated out to sea.. but I found it on the beach after taking this picture

Natlie (from Florida) and I

Mila, our Rotex president

Susanne, myself .. blah I do not photograph well

Andrea and I (she is also canadian

Joel, Myself and Susanne

Sea Turtle

Canadian Girls standing by a whale.. statue


Lu and I wearing the same shirt (I didn´t get it.. to expensive.. like $R35 my dress was only $R28 (divide by 2 for US/CDN$..ish)


Girlies at dinner


Shorts

Shirt #1


Shirt #2


Dress... It was like $16 CDN! Score!!

there are more I could post.. but honestly I´m lazy.. I´ll get around to it, in the near-ish future.. also if you´re on facebook, a lot can be found there:)


Tchau Gentes!

Sheila