My third week.

Some of the ice cream flavors (clockwise from top left): Maracujá (passion fruit), Paçoquinha (peanut), Iogurte com Amarena (yogurt with no idea), Coco Branco (white coconut), Mousse da Uva (grape), and Cupuaça com Amora (brasilian fruit with no other name with blackberry)

Marie and I.

My crazy family at our Sunday BBQ.

Eating ice cream with my host family. :)

August 29 (Saturday)-

Today I got to catch up on my sleep by sleeping in till 10:30. It felt wonderful. The first thing I did was start reading my book to practice my Portuguese still while my host dad and brothers cleaned the gate. I ate a couple of pieces of bread with João but we ate lunch soon after that. Lunch was the usual, tomatoes, potatoes, rice and meat. I read more of my book after that and did some research on college because I was inspired by my friends. I was going to my cousin's house, Pam, later to spend the night, something my Álvaro was not happy about. He wanted me all to himself. First I was asked if I wanted to go with my first host family to get ice cream. Of course I said yes. The ice cream here is way different from the US. The flavors cover anything from corn to grape to pineapple and wine to white chocolate and many more. After eating two bowls with so many different flavors and different toppings (kiwi and cherry syrup) I was full and we went to pick up Marie. The first thing we did there was recondition our hair. There was four steps and it made my hair so soft. :) Then we went to pick up a friend of Pam's and go to McDonald's in CenterVale. It was McDia Feliz here and for every Big Mac sold McDonald's donated the money to a hospital. Then we wandered around the mall and talked to a guy about his $5000 phone so that if his dog ate it nothing would happen to the phone. It was so ugly and he was the only one to buy the phone in the 3 months it's been in the store. Then we picked up JuJu, Pam's niece. We spent time with her watching The Pacifier, she's 2, until she fell asleep then we went to play DDR, Pam, Marie and I. We sat on the couch in their small living room, eating chocolate and gummy candies and drinking coke when it wasn't our turn.

August 30 (Sunday)-

Pam went to bed around 1 I think but since Marie and I weren't tired we stayed up till 2am playing DDR. Then we finished the night watching 13 Going on 30. Then we passed out on the matteresses side by side while JuJu and Pam slept on the bed next to us. We slept till about 10 the next day. While Pam and JuJu went to get bread, Marie and I chilled out in front of the tv watching Big Bang Theory, Jimmy Neutron and other various American shows. After a normal Brasilian breakfast, french bread, yogurt smoothie, Rico and Naty came back and we got ready to go to my house for lunch. All of my family was there. Tia Ma, Fred, TuTu, Aninhe, little Rico, Tia Nani, Tia Cincha, and more cousins of Pam and Rico. We ate tomatoes, garlic bread, chicken, cheese, ribs, beef and rice for about 3 hours. Marie and I escaped to my room to look at pictures on my laptop but were called back down to eat ice cream and mousse de Maracujá (passion fruit). Everyone started to leave around 4 and the house slowly got quieter. We just hung out, me reading, pai working, mãe talking and the boys watching tv/sleeping. We had dinner around 9:30, bread and butter. Then we relaxed the rest of the night till we went to bed.

Monday (August 31)-

It's now back to the school week and my normal routine. The only change of today was Fred was sick so I did not get a ride from them for school. Pai took me and João to school. Fred's absence meant I had to find someone new to sit with, something I was planning on doing anyways. Raquel ended up being my new seat partner. Classes today were History, Geography, Geography, History, Math and Physics. Michael was back so classes got a little bit more crazy, more paper throwing, shouting, obsene drawings (that were subsequently blamed on me). Pai and João were waiting for me after class. Lunch was more stroganoff! With rice, french fries and fresh squeezed orange juice. I made the video tour of my house and one of João's friends came over. We ate a normal dinner. I don't know how I'm ever going to go back to American food. Bruno's (João's friend) mom and siblings came to pick him up and I was introduced. The night was finished by watching the Indian novela and disney channel and of course me passing out on the couch.

Tuesday (September 1)-

This household is a little bit more noisy than my other one, but it's not a bad thing. I just don't think I'm used to it yet. Life was back to normal, Fred picking me up for school and such. I sat behind Fred today, next to Maisa. Classes today were Biology (the first class I slept through, but it's okay it was all review), History, History, Chemistry, History and Biology. I got a ride home with Ylana and was introduced to her mom. Lunch was a kind of fish with only one bone, Cação. I looked it up the next day and found the name in English is Dogfish, a type of shark! It had a sort of tomato sauce on it, plus rice, brocoli and zuchinni. My favorite lunch so far. I talked to a few of my friends and took a nice long shower. I think I'm starting to get cabin fever. Next I watched Jimmy Neutron (in Portuguese) with João and watched the funny parts in English. Dinner was the usual. Álvaro came home and was so excited about getting a good grade on his English test. I think it's because of me. :) He was very hyper all night. I spent the rest of the night just relaxing.

Wednesday (September 2)-

The excitement of this morning was João's temperature of almost 40 degrees (104 for you Farenheit people). He was taken to the doctor's/hospital. Mãe commented to me that I don't eat a lot and I'm going to be so thin. Hahahahaha, I eat so much! Just not for breakfast. School was Math, Chemistry and Biology. Wednesdays are my favorite day for classes because my Chemistry teacher, Rodrigo, asks me if I understand and Biology is the teacher that embarrassed me on the first days and now waves at me. Everyone rode together for lunch break. My lunch was leftover fish/shark, tomatoes, corn, potatoes and green beans and carrots. I then tried to figure out what to do so I was not couped up in the house with the sick boy. Mãe came up with the idea to go look at all the gyms in the local area so I can pick the one I want to go to. We went to four, with all sorts of classes and prices. One had a street running class, another had a step class and one had Jui Jitsu. I'm just glad to be exercising again. I can tell because I went home and ate so much. Muffin, apple and granola bar before dinner. I watched a new novela, in English the twin souls. One and a half peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potato roll, pão de sono (like a small filled doughnut), crossitinis and french bread I was finally full. I relaxed by playing freecell and a jigsaw puzzle. Then my host family had the great idea to play Trivial Pursuit, in portuguese of course. I had to ask the question in portuguese as well as listen to the question in portuguese. Pai, Mãe, Álvaro and I played for many rounds until we got tired and distracted and hungry of course. Pai went to make eggs and rice (I had just eggs) plus strawberries with sugar and meranges. After all of this and a late conversation about food, it was time for bed.

Thursday (September 3)-

After gorging myself the night before I was so bloated and not hungry so I took a chocolate crossiant to eat during break. The highlight of today was the contruction they were doing at school. They had blocked off the main entrance as well as all the bathrooms. So during the first break the girls and I (Maisa, Mony, Maria, Naty, Viki) went looking for a bathroom. We walked up the street to the local store and it was packed with people! So we kept walking around the corner to the church. We used they're very nice bathrooms. People were handing out flyers at school to take a trip to San Diego and L.A. for $5000 in January. Too bad I've been to most of the places they would visit already. I think Thursdays are my least favorite school days because I have Math, Physics, Chem and Geography and it's all pretty boring or over my head. But in Geography the lesson was about the US! Something I knew something about. Fred rode with us today and for lunch I had my first bacon-wrapped meat! Something I have been looking forward to since having Brasilian BBQ in Mexico. It was paired with tomatoes, corn, green beans and carrots. Then I laid down to watch some disney in portuguese and before I knew it I was asleep. I woke up for my novela, but then fell asleep again until mãe woke me up to get ready for Rotary. I ate a little dinner with Pai, Mãe, Tio, Aninhe, TuTu, Álvaro and João. Then Maria and João Vitor picked me up for Rotary. There was actually a program at the meeting. It was about Independence day, on the 7th. I didn't understand any of it. Dinner was chicken with some sort of rub, mashed cauliflower, salad and I avoided the rice with peas. Dessert was some sort of pudding/custard with jello on top. I always get interesting food at Rotary. At home I talked to Pai on Skype, he showed me his classroom. The boys crowded around me, fighting to type and then the shouting/crying fit started and ended with slamming doors. But Álvaro was fine 10 minutes later. The rest of my night was spent listening to music and playing some freecell.

Friday (August 4)-

This morning was a little rainy, but I felt hot and sticky. Yay humidity. \o/ (Brasilian smiley, the slashes are arms and the o is the head) School was normal, Portuguese, Portuguese and Physics. Everyone was together on the ride home. At home we had lunch, tomatoes, mashed potatoes and carne. Today the meat was cooked with beer and yesterday's was cooked with white wine. Mãe joked with me that she was an alcoholic and she was just keeping it a secret. The first thing Fred told me though was that Vó (grandma) was an alcoholic. Mãe said she learned from her. It was so funny. Then I talked to my parents for a bit and then Janinina wanted to clean the living room so I didn't get to watch my novela. Mãe and I went to the bank to try to figure out my debit card, again, and again we failed. Then we went in search of the chocolate lady. We asked for a directions and the women we asked immediately knew, take a right, right and right they said. We then found her stand. Not only does she sell chocolate and condensed milk covered strawberries but I also got to try sugar cane juice. She was making the juice right there! Running the cane through a machine to squeeze out the juice and she poured me a plastic cup right there. The aftertaste of the sip tasted like sugary part of the marshmellow. It was so delicious and so sweet. We stood on the sidewalk in the median, drinking our caldo de cana/garapa. Then we went to the mall to see if we could buy something with my debit card. And again we failed. But I bought a Brasilian sweatshirt anyways, though most of the clothes look American. If I can't figure out how to make my debit card work I'm thinking that my parents will just have to pay for my time here. :) One of the shirts in the store said, "Let's night a DJ saved my life". I looked at it and said this makes no sense. Then Mãe and I went to look for marshmellows to roast on the campfire. Pão de Açucar is just like Albertson's but half the size. The marshmellows cost 22 reais! (about 11 dollars) So we vetoed that idea. Then we had to run to pick up Álvaro from school and get bread. I discovered why Mãe always picks up Álvaro first. He wanted hamburger buns and he wouldn't take no for an answer. Álvaro begs and argues while João cries when he doesn't get his way. It's always an interesting time with the Benedettos. Then we had dinner and I sat in the kitchen and talked with my host parents about many things, Mima, schools, views of foreigners, the best beaches in Brasil, etc. We ate our strawberries bought earlier and just hung out.

That's all I have without boring anyone too much!

Comment the blog and let me know you read it. :)