and the countdown is on

Only 28 days.

28 days to surf, travel, dance and just enjou Brasil.

I'm leaving for a trip to the amazon on Monday, and I'll be away until the 15th of May. After that I have a few days here, and then the 22nd- 25th is the District conference for Rotary here... after the the 26th I'll pack, and the 27th at 13:52 I'm outta here. I'll be in Sao Paulo for a few days, (27-30) and then May 30th, I'm gone.

I'm really excited for this trip! It should be lots of fun. Tomorrow Tine and I are going to go shopping, and make sure we have snacks, and stuff, we have 8 hours in Sao Paulo on Monday, so we'll need food.. and lojas americanas is cheaper then airport food...

This week was pretty good.. we had a holiday so I spent a day doing nothing.. which was nice. Thursday I went to a show (Asa de Aguia, a big show to mark 20 years of the band) with Tine, Susanne and Kelsey (*boyfriend* of Susanne) it was soooo much fun. Ivete was there, so obviously I was happy.

I think I'll head to the pool later.. read, listen to music...except my mp3 player is in my purse at Tines.... tan.. I need to get good and dark before I head home.

I visited Rachael Wednesday after school, because I missed her and a package arrived there for me (yay Wendy!) Kraft Dinner, Hot Chocolate, magazine, hair bands, and a cadet lapel pin... haha only Wendy

Anyway.. pictures of my visit below






One is me and Rachaels son Daniel, he is 6 weeks old!
One is some of my students and I
and the third is Rachael and I with the Real English sign.. and me rocking my school shirt.. werd.

Well I have some scholarshp stuff to get done.. and soon, very soon I do believe it is LUNCH TIME... mumm foood :D

S

April showers, bring May flowers

Well April has been an exciting month!

I started surfing this month (I'll try and get pictures tomorrow) and am doing ok.. I'm not amazing, but I manage to stand up, and ride the waves, for a little while anyway (note to self, throw more weight forward and stay lower)

I went to a formatura (graudation party, sort of like prom) last weekend with Flavia, Tine, and Vianey, it was lots of fun.

This past weekend was a holiday weekend. Friday was the formatura, Saturday I went to a birthday party with my parents, and Flavia, and after we went to a movie. Sunday we went to Praia de Forte to visit a friend of theirs, and Monday, relaxed.

School has been normal.. nothing to special

I talked to Thais today and we were planning for my stay in Sao Paulo, I have tickets booked now, only 5 more weeks! Its going to be awesome! I leave here the 27th of May, and leave Sao Paulo the 30th and get home the 31st... not so far away.

Changes...

Well with a new month, came a new family for me here in Brasil! Right now I'm living with Dona Sandra and her fmaily (the last family of Tine, and first of Vianey) Its great! They're all wonderful, although very early risers... leaving home at 5:50 for school is not something I've ever had to do before!

Last Saturday I went to a 15 anos party; here for a girls 15th birthday its a huge thing, this was for the birthday of Carol, a girl who lives in my first condmiums. I went with Iris, and Yasmin, Elaine, Carol, Lucas, Ivana, Jenner, and Tais were all there as well. It was good fun, I think Tais and I got back at about 5:30am!

Early that day I went to a churrasco for school, it was lots of fun, and I got a chance to tlak to some of the others kids in my class...

Today Flavia, Tine and I went to the theater, for a one-man show about Portuguese, and the history of Brasilian portuguese, I didn't understand everything but it was really good. After I tried to go to another 15 anos (a friend of Flavia) but that didn't go so well.. Right now her and Tine are there and I'm at home...

Well I think Ill pop in my Banda Eva DVD and watch that for a bit before going to sleep...

S

Terças na Praia

Tine and I went to the beach last Tuesday, it was lots of fun. Except when it started to rain.







Not much other exciting new from Brasil, although on the Canada front I was accepted to University this week!!

Also this week (last Sunday to be exact) my friend Rachael had her baby!! Daniel is pretty much as cute as they get!!

Happy travels

Sheila

Things are good in Brasil. Here are some new pictures of the last few weeks.

 


The three exchange students at my school, Anika, Katharina (both from Germany) and myself. It was Katharinas birthday... I made her a cake :)


At Katharinas *surprise* birthday party. Tine, Vianey, Anika, me, Katharina

I spent last Saturday wandering around Salvador so here a few of those pictures... it was sort of a shitty day (it started raining), but it cleared up in the afternoon (after I left the historic center)


The elevador


Cross and Baiana


Typical Pelo arcitecture


Fountain


I just thought this was cool.. I passed it as I was walking from o cidade alto (high city.. on top of the hill) to o cidade baixo (the low city, on the water.) Normally people take the elevador (see above) or the... train thingy, but I walked.. not a good idea, unless you speak portuguese, and are familiar with Brasil.. tourists be warned!


another fountain... pelo is very historic-y


Marcedo Modelo, Craft market, you can get tons of cool stuff there.. it used to be the slave market back in the day...


Looking down to Marcedo Modelo, and out of the bay


On the bus in Pituba


On the bus again, Ave. Sete


Rio Vermelho


A cool statue on the coast in Rio Vermelho, I thought it was pretty.


More Rio Vermelho


More photos are at my other picasa site, because my first one ran out of space...

My friend Ashleigh went back to New Zealand this week, it was really sad. She helped me out a lot in the last few months, taking me out, and showing me around, and introducing me to tons of awesome people. I miss her lots!

The next few weeks I'm not doing much, school, beach usual Brasilian stuff. The 5th of May I'm off to the Amazon for 10 days, and then the 28th of May I'm going to São Paulo to spend a few days with a friend, and then June 2 I'm leaving! Its so far away, but at the same time so soon, so I want to make as much of the time I have left here... we'll see how that goes.

This afternoon its looking like some quality beach time with some of the other girls here in Lauro de Freitas, which should be good.


Just makes getting it easier..but any address for me in Brasil you have is probably good

Sheila

Well its been a few weeks since I've updated, and a lot has changed!

Carnaval was last week. It was amazing!

Click the cut below for pictures




Susanne, Vianey e Eu






























So Carnaval was awesome, I went 3 days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday with a bunch of the other exchange students, I wanted to go other days, but unfortunetly that didn't work out... oh well. Each day was a different band, Thursday was Negra Cor, Friday Babado Novo and Saturday was Jammil. We also saw Ivete on Thursday and Friday, and Saturday we saw Chica Fé, which was awesome (only for me though... since none of the other exchange students knew the band)

I'm back at my first house now due to some stuff... I can't really talk about it, but if anyone is thinking of sending anything, probably best to hold off until March when I move families again, but you can send it to my other house, I'll get it plus its an excuse for me to go over there which is something I'm always looking for.

School starts tomorrow. I'm not excited, but I am.... I got new shoes yesterday and also bought a couple of books, one by Karl Marx, in portuguese, and the Count of Monte Cristo in english.

I'm going to a babyshower this afternoon, which should be fun and hopefully I can work in sometime to go over to my other house and chill there for a little bit.

Hope you are all having a good February!

Sheila

Not much exciting news to report, So I figured I'd post some Brasilian music for you all to enjoy. These are a few of my favorites songs, and singers.





Rua 15- Banda Eva
Bia, my host sister loves this. I've seen this clip more times then I can count in portuguese, so many we wore out the DVD... ridiucolous. Zumalaicara is Saulos alterego.





Toda Linda- Banda Eva
One of my favorite songs, I don't know why I just really like it.





Não Preciso Mudar- Saulo e Ivete
My favorite song from Brasil! Ivete is one of the most popular singers in Brasil, she used to be the lead singer of Banda Eva, back in the day (Banda Eva has been around for about 25 years, with various lead singers, many of who are still popular here)





Humm this is clip is the same, but from festival de verão... to give you an idea of just how far away I was I wasn't entirely sure if it was saulo singing with here, because could really hear or see... 50,000+ people!





Chica Fé- Vou Trocar Meu Colar Pra Um Beijo
One of my favorite groups, they don't do orginal music, which is common here, but Sergio, the singer is Saulos brother, and we went to a lot of their shows, and I really like them.





Cachaça- Ivete Sangalo
An awesome song, one I know the words to. Cachaça is a type of alcohol, she is talking about that and carnival. I was actually at this show.. although at the very back.. and I could barely see her... but I was there! This is a song that is done but pretty much all the Axé artists in Brasil.

I'll add more later, its lunch time now!

Thanks for reading, and remember you can send me text messages for free! check out the first post here to find out how!

Sheila

While I sit and try not to get eaten my mosquitos (they are out of control here!!) here are photos from Reveillion




















(ha can someone.. Taylor??... photoshop some new eyes on me.. cause this would be a really nice photo...)






(umm wtf.. can I have a new smile photoshopped on this one???)










I have priceless faces in photos with/about drag queens I won't lie














































Lately its just been a lot of going to the beach.

I'm reading Pride and Prejudice.. in english. because it was about $5 reais more to buy it in portuguese... and I was feeling cheap. I'll go back and get it in portuguese though. I think it'll be easier to read then in english, as the one I have is the unabridged version, and is in the old english.... its difficult. Saulo tried to read it today and was like.. nope. good times

Time to go hide from mosquitos and work on scholarship essays.

Sheila



Sheila