Host Family, End of School Year, and Preparations!

            I have host family information! I actually got it the day after I posted my most recent entry, but I think my Internet decided not to work or I had to be somewhere or something. Sorry.

Bella (left) and Eduardo

            So anyway, I got the email from AFS and burst out of my room, disregarding the door as if it were no more than a wisp of haze in my way, and galloped triumphantly down the stairs and gave the first person I saw – my dad – a hug, all the while screaming, “I got placed! They placed me with a family!” I think I threw him off a little bit, but he hugged me back, and I suddenly wanted to cry. Maybe because I was happy that somebody actually liked me. What does that say about my self-confidence? Haha.

            After that, I ran back upstairs (after agreeing with my father that we would have a celebratory dinner), grabbed my cell phone, and proceeded to call my closest friends and merrily dance in circle on the porch like some half-possessed ice skater. The first conversation basically went as follows:

            “I found out my host family!”

            “Um, excuse me?”

            Oh yeah. Me and my exchange student lexicon. I totally didn’t forget about that, or anything. No way. Way to kill the moment, friend.

            “The family I’ll be staying with in Brazil!”

            Absolutely silence, and then, “NO WAY!”

            Yes way.

            “What city will you be staying in?”

            Excellent question.

            “Um, I can’t really pronounce it, so lemme check and send it to you…”

            …in case you couldn’t tell, I didn’t actually bother to look at the city. Yeah, I’m smart.

            So I basically dashed back up the stairs, taking three steps at a time (and that is the first time I’ve ever done that without falling), and darted towards my computer screen and tried to sound out the foreign word.

            “For-tah-lee-zah,” I enunciated.

            For those of you who don’t know, it’s the city of Fortaleza.

            Since I was at the computer, I decided that it would be a good idea to actually look up the apartment I’d be staying in. So I popped it into Google Maps and…

            …fell out of my chair, actually.

            Fortaleza is in the Northeastern region of Brazil, just south of the equator, and is the capital of the state Céara. It’s a city on the water, and my apartment was – here’s the kicker – eight blocks from the beach.

            Yes, you definitely read that right. Eight beautiful blocks from the beautiful water.

            I decided to see what the beach and city actually looked like, since I only had a map view, so I clicked the Satellite view and…

            …nothing happened. My computer didn’t support the satellite view.

            Stupid archaic machinery.

            Ahem.

            I actually waited until I got to school the next day to look up the address and beaches on Satellite view. The city itself seemed kind of brown, but I suppose all cities look like that from satellite view. The beach however, was beautiful. Satisfied, I switched to Images.

            Excellent move. The beaches in Fortaleza are absolutely breathtaking. I’ve included some photos, but you should really, really check them out for yourself.

            So, by this time I had resumed my porch-dance, and I hung up with Friend #1 and started calling Friend #2.

            He didn’t answer.

            Jerk.

            I tried again, still no response, so I called Friend #3.

            And repeat the conversation from Friend #1.

            That’s basically what happened until I got to Person 7 or so when my dad came out with my brother and sister and we all hopped in the car and went to a local restaurant. I abruptly hung up on Person 7. Sorry. I forget who you were.

            And so, you ask, what did I do when I got home?

            Facebooked it, of course. What else?

            I also sent my host parents an email (in English, and then I tried to translate to Portuguese, and then I wrote in French that if they spoke that, I could also use that language).

            My host mother was away in Spain, so it wasn’t until about a week later that I received a reply.

            Before I go any further, let me break it down –

Jeanne Periera – Host Mother. She works as a bridal fashion designer and as an English teacher to elementary school-aged children. As a result, she speaks fluent English. She was also an exchange student to the United States during her senior year of high school. She ended up living in Columbus, Ohio.

Carlos Periera – Host Father. Doesn’t speak English, and manages his wife’s bridal shop that she shares with her sister.

Isabella Periera – Host Sister. Same age as me (17), speaks fluent English, and likes to listen to American music and read English literature (Jane Austen, Harry Potter books, etc, etc.). She is leaving to be an exchange student to Germany in September.

Raphael Periera – Host Brother. He’ll be 15 by the time I meet him. He plays a variety of sports and wants to be an exchange student to America in two years. Also speaks pretty good English.

            In her email, she essentially detailed their life in Brazil and told me about herself and how she was an exchange student to America. These emails are still continuing, but I’ll touch up more on those when I actually get to Brazil.

            I started to email Isabella (who goes by Bella) and Raphael (who goes by Rapha). Bella and I have also been responding, but Rapha hasn’t been. I suppose that English is still a challenge for him.

            I’m so excited! I just received travel information – I need to be in Miami on July 27^th, so I really only have a few more weeks left. I kind of don’t want to go, but I also really do want to go.

            I figure that I’ll be sitting awake in my bed, staring at the ceiling because I will most likely be diagnosed as a chronic insomniac by that point, thinking, “Well Jake, what did you do to yourself this time?”

            And then I will never have the will to eat again.

            Just kidding.

            Or at least not until I actually get to Brazil. I might be better to keep the stomach empty. There’s nothing to regurgitate, that way.

            Speaking of food, I was told to try the Brazilian BBQ. It had high recommendations. They also eat a lot of sushi in Fortaleza. My host mother asked me if I ate sushi, at which point I was like, “Who doesn’t eat sushi? What that a question?” Haha.

            As for my life back here, it’s been how you’d expect it. Took the SAT in June (because I didn’t want to take them in May in the middle of AP Exams) and I hope I did well. I wrote about Dumbledore on my essay, so I think that if I get some Harry Potter love from the graders, I might actually be able to do well on it.

            I also had Debate Nationals, and my partner and I came in 64^th place out of the 227 teams there. We didn’t break (make the Top 32 so we could move on in eliminations) and to be honest, I didn’t want to – I probably would have had a hernia. I mean, the fact that we made it to Nationals and are the top team in the state was good enough, but 64^th at Nationals, without actually putting as much time and effort as I usually would into making my cases? I’ll take it. That was the last activity for the debate year, and although it was a tense weekend, I enjoyed it. We had one team from my school – both excellent speakers – that made it to the Top 16 and then somehow lost to one very rude team that also used racial slurs. But hey, it was a Catholic League, so I’m sure none of the judges minded.

            Sorry if that offended you. As a Catholic myself, I’m allowed to poke fun at my own religion.

            And then school ended. I had my last day on Thursday, June 16^th. I aced my AP Lit and French IV finals (although just barely on the French…stupid listening comprehension)…and I got a C on the AP Physics final (which I expected, because Physics is basically Chinese) and I’m not sure how I did on my Brit Lit final. I finished it in 15 minutes, so I think I did pretty well. However, I know I got a B in Physics and a B in French. Sadly, I may no longer be in the Top 1% of the class – I might go back to the Top 2%. 

Bella and Friends

            Of course, in any teenager’s life, there will be lots of drama. What am I going to do? All I can say is that if it had to happen, now’s not a bad time. I’m going to leave for a year, so I won’t have to deal with it. Now is the time when I find out who my true friends are. If you’re reading this as a prospective exchange student (kudos!), be prepared for that. I’m not wasting my time getting mad at people for doing stupid things and I’m holding less grudges against my friends than I usually do (not that I’m the type that really holds any grudges, but you get my point). As I said in my last post, these are my last few weeks with them, and then I come back a changed person for two months before leaving for college. So really, this is the last time I’ll see them as the person I am now, and I don’t think they realize that. I don't think I realize that.

            Preparing for this exchange has also made me examine all the people in my life more closely. Who’s been a good friend to me? Why am I so mean to my little sister? Maybe I should call my grandmothers more often. Maybe I should actually call people and stop texting them – when was the last time I had a real conversation with somebody on the phone?

            I swear, texting will be the death of modern society.

            Maybe I should help around the house a little more (not gonna happen). I’m not doing anything today, so why I call Person X and see what they’re doing – I haven’t seen them in a while. Why don’t I walk to the library instead of asking my parents for a ride – I need time to think, anyhow. Maybe I should spend more time with my parents. Maybe I should actually get up before 10:00 AM and help make breakfast. Why don’t I see if Person Y can spend the night? It’s things like that that I’ve been thinking of. I want to make the most of these last weeks. I want to – as Thoreau says – suck all the marrow out of life.

            Weird analogy, right?

Jake