February 3, 2010 Hey Everybody! This is my first update so far. I have now been in Brazil for 3 months! I arrived here late in mid-October due to paperwork issues. Anyway, my flight was about 26 hours long. When I arrived in Recife, I was greeted by my host mom and dad, my club councilor, and 2 other exchange students. It was nice to have the exchange students along, because they were able to translate some things in Portuguese for me during our 2 hour car ride to my host city; Caruaru. Right now I am living in a small city of 300,000 inhabitants. I say small, because in Brazil, that is a small city. We do not have a theatre here! We only have 2 small shopping malls and a downtown area. I believe that there are advantages and disadvantages to living in a small town. The disadvantages are of course; not being able to do something whenever you want, fewer people to meet, and not having the diversity that a larger city brings. On the other hand, it is much safer here, which means that I am allowed to go out more without fear of too much danger. I also believe that people in small cities, in general, are more friendly because feel closer to their community. Overall, I really enjoy my city and the unique and intriguing things that I encounter here, which I will tell about later.
“What is school like in Brazil?” many people ask. I find that the best way to describe it is “the complete opposite of school in America!” The only similarity, is that we study the same basic classes; math, science, social science, and English (or Portuguese while in Brazil). The differences between our schools threw me off a bit when I first arrived. For example, during class, the teacher is not the only one who speaks. The whole class is engaged in conversations with other students. There is hardly a time when the teacher is the only one talking and they can do nothing about it. Another thing that I found odd was that the teachers are the ones who change classes, not the students. For this reason, you become really close to your class, because you study with them for 6 hours a day. Homework is almost obsolete at my school. All of the school work is done in class with groups. I find this quite beneficial, because I am able to improve my Portuguese while making friendships. Upon arriving in Brazil, I have been encouraged to sample foods that might not be found on the average menu at Olive Garden or Marie Calendars. I find that it is best to eat the unknown objects as fast as possible and then ask what you have just eaten. Other strange things about the food in Brazil, is the meat. You can go to a market on the street and find a half of a cow, unrefrigerated, hanging from a stand. Don’t worry; some of the food here is not as dangerous as I have made it sound. Most is actually quite good. The typical meal consists of beans, rice, chicken, and steak. To drink, they make juices from all sorts of different tropical fruits. My favorite is Maracuja, which is Passion Fruit I believe. They also have different sodas. The Sprite and the Coke have slightly different flavors to them. There is one soda that is very delicious, but we don’t have it in the US. It is called Guaraná. The best way to describe it is like an apple cider with carbonation. It is very famous here and I will miss it tremendously when I return to my home. My house is quite interesting. It is a two story house with a shop underneath. Saturday and Sundays, we have an enormous market on the street in front of my house. Sometimes, I can hardly get out of my house on the weekend! The number one enemies in my house are the bugs. We have them all; flies, ants, mosquitoes, and many other species that are unfamiliar to me. They absolutely love to bite my feet, and of course I am there favorite person to torment, because I am an exchange student from a different country. You know how everyone likes to try new things. I really enjoy living with my host parents. They are always able to drive me places and pick me up when I call. My host mom makes the most delicious meals. One of the hard things that I encountered in my home was trying to communicate with them since neither of them speaks English. When I first arrived, my Portuguese was not too astounding. I could say please, thank you, you’re welcome, but not too much more. This made it quite difficult to have conversations with them. My hand held pocket dictionary became my new best friend. I would even carry it around in my pocket when I went out with friends! There is a beneficial side to having parents that don’t speak your language. It forces you to learn your language much faster. For this reason, I believe that I am a better Portuguese speaker because my host parents don’t speak English. The month of January definitely was a highlight on my exchange. Because Caruaru is two hours inland, it is a special thing to go too the beach. For this reason, almost everyone from my city saves their money, and travels to the beach for the whole month of January. There are a couple of popular beaches that people like to visit. I got the opportunity to stay at almost all of them. The beach life in Brazil is incredible. I got to swim, surf, play volleyball and soccer, eat seafood, go to concerts and go on boats, snorkel, and many more activities. It was like living in paradise there with palm trees and beautiful warm water. I am looking forward to the rest of my exchange here in Brazil and I can not wait to let you know what happens next!
Craig Ebersole | 
Flag of Caruaru, Brazil Wikipedia: Caruaru is a city in Pernambuco, Brazil 
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