"So, Have You Packed?"

            I was deep in enemy territory, the wanted man, and any movement I made was a risk of being noticed, yet any hiding I did was to no avail, for they knew all the spots. Nor was I surrounded, I was trapped, with no conceivable way out. Yes, it’s true; it was my going-away party, and I was standing outside, on the concrete pool deck, surrounded by friends and family, but mostly my family.

            So why, you might be wondering, was I describing them as the enemy? I suppose it does me no credit to say so, but at this point my family had been constantly peppering me with questions and it was getting quite repetitive.

            I was speaking with my aunt about the exchange trip – it was getting really easy talking to everyone; I kept repeating the same information over and over again. At least I was ironing it into my brain. Where was I staying? Fortaleza. Where was that? The Northeast. What was my family like? Two parents, 17-yr old girl, 15-yr old boy. Did they speak English? The mom’s an English teacher and both the kids are fluent. What classes would I be taking? English, Portuguese, and probably History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, some form of Math, and Physical Education, among other things. No chorus? No chorus. Is the school life the same? No, totally different. School runs from 7-12, Mon through Sat. Kids stay together. Classes are on some weird schedule where I don’t have every class every day. Did I know the schedule exactly? Not a clue. How was I feeling? Anxious, I guess. Nervous? Yeah, probably. Not sure? I think it’ll hit me on the plane, and I’ll be like, ‘oh Lord, what did I just do to myself?’

A beach shot in Fortaleza, Brazil

            This particular time I was speaking with my aunt. She didn’t seem to be making small talk – she seemed to be genuinely interested – as did the rest of my family, which only made talking to everyone that much more draining because they were all so into the conversation. Don’t get me wrong, I love talking to my family, but saying the same thing over and over again just makes a guy zombified, y’know?

            Anyway, after being in such a routine of answering the same questions in the same order (and no kidding, they must have planned this or something), I got kind of used to the repetition, so it really threw me off guard when my aunt asked a question I hadn’t gotten before.

            “So, have you packed?”

            Excellent question. The honest answer was no, but I suppose that, with the little reserve of energy I had left, I could try to be impressive and responsible and say that I had, which technically wasn’t lying, because I already had a preliminary list of what I was going to pack, and that totally counts, right?

            “No, haven’t started yet.”

            Yeah, I need to work on that whole responsibility thing.

            At this point, somebody else arrived and I was able to escape and help them with putting their food (people brought food! It was so generous.) away and showing them where the bathroom was and asking them if they wanted a drink and all of that jazz. When that was all taken care of, I joined my friends.

Another beach shot...gotta love those palm trees!

            Home territory was officially under the deck, away from the sun’s harsh rays, which were pleasantly beating down that day. My friends and I had set up a small, yet potent, fortress consisting of several chairs and a pool sofa (you know, an outdoor sofa that doesn’t get ruined by the rain) arranged in an ovular shape, and a small table settled in the middle. We were right next to the door that led to the downstairs apartment, where all the food was being held, which entitled us to easy access to the rations. I looked around at the faces, some of whom I’d be seeing for the last time. I won’t bore you with the details of my friends, but it was very sentimental, to me at least.

            I’d woken up that morning with the distinct emotions of excitement and happiness. Excited because I got to see my friends and family. Happy because they actually cared enough to come.

            (It’s here that we note that Jake has some pretty major self-esteem issues.)

            The party went well. Some people could only stay for an hour, and I had one friend who dropped by just to give me a present from her and two others (it was a handmade photo album with pictures from pretty much everything we did since Freshman year, and the second half was empty for me to fill with my own pictures from Brazil. I was touched.) before she had to leave. She couldn’t stay because of some nasty inflammation on her palm – it looked pretty painful. I hope she recovers quickly and that there’s nothing seriously wrong with it.

            One of my friends came with a present that I initially mistook for a towel (that wasn’t embarrassing). When I opened it, I was confused by some of the contents. Let’s just say that I’d never seen a travel pillow before and was rather perplexed as to its function and leave it at that, shall we?

            After the party, I cleaned up a bit and put everything away. My friends wanted to throw me a party (I seriously love my friends – it seems like they actually like me.) and so I said that we could do it the day after this one and use all of the leftovers. That’s exactly what we did. By the end of the weekend, I was absolutely exhausted.

            Meanwhile, I had given packing absolutely no thought.

            I currently have under a week to start packing, and I do have a pretty good idea of what to bring. I finally finished with getting presents for my host family.

Fortaleza, Brazil

            My parents and I agreed that I’d have my Financial Literacy work done by Friday the 15^th. And so, I crammed two semester’s worth of consumer math and taxes and other things that I guarantee I won’t remember by this time next year into two weeks. And yet there was one small problem. Some of the things needed to be graded (this was all done online at a sketchy website that had lots of typos in both the questions and the answers, but apparently my school trusted it) by the actual teacher, so I think we have to wait until school starts again so she can grade everything and unlock both midterms and finals for me. Moral of the story: if you have graduation requirements, get them done before going abroad.

            Speaking of graduation requirements, AP scores came in this week (I know that they’re totally unrelated, but talking about graduation somehow reminded me of AP scores. Just go with it.). I got a 4 on English Lit and World History. And somehow, I managed to get a 3 on both Chemistry and Pissics. That’s passing. And yes, it’s Pissics, not Physics. I don’t like it. They weren’t as high as I would have liked, but I’ll take them, especially considering I didn’t know anything about the Mongols and their role in the history of the world and that Poetry essay selection in the English Lit test went way over my head. I took the SAT in June and got a 670 in Reading, a 680 in Math, and a 600 in Writing. Not as high as I would have liked, but hey, at least I scored at least 600 in every subject. I was shooting for at least a 2000, but I guess I’ll live with a 1950. I got an 8 on my essay, which I don’t disagree with, because even I think it was pretty terrible. I did write about Dumbledore, though. Maybe my graders weren’t Harry Potter fans.

            As the days tick down, I’m getting more and more anxious and I’ve been feeling the need to go running and biking (I’ve even started doing laps in my pool) to burn off all the extra nervous energy. I don’t act stressed, but I keep all of my stress in my jaw, which has been noticeably tight these past couple of days. It’s like when people ask me if I’m nervous. Well, it never actually crossed my mind, but I am now! 

            Tchau!

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

Multiple Updates

Whew, this blogger stuff is confusing. 

So, I recently received news that I have been accepted by AFS Brazil! Happy times, I think. 

Last week my mother and I met with a teacher at the local community college and quizzed him about Brazil, as he taught at a university near Sao Paulo for about 20 years. He was very friendly and we quizzed him for a little bit. If there is enough student interest, he will be offering a rudimentary Portuguese class over the summer, and I will be able to be in attendance. Otherwise, I think we will be doing private lessons. 

I also made contact with an AFS student living near my who is from Brazil. She is very friendly and helpful in answering my copious amounts of questions. I hope to keep in touch with her when she goes back to Brazil, as I will be there!

Speaking of which, it hasn't really hit me that I'm actually leaving for an entire year. It's one of those things that you understand but you don't comprehend. I'm leaving for a year - got that part. Understood. However, my brain has yet to filter out all of the ramifications of that year abroad, and although I'm gearing into overdrive as far as preparation, I still haven't quite gotten a grip on that comprehension. 

Here's a good analogy - you understand that when you drop something, it's due to gravity (unless you don't believe in gravity, you hater), but you don't understand what makes gravity work and all that jazz. I understand that the sky is blue during the day, but I don't comprehend the reason as to why it's blue, and it's that comprehension that I'm missing. 

Did that make any sense? No? Excellent. 

Right now, I've been tied up with AP Exams - for those of you who don't know what that is, it's basically a less torturous SAT that deals with only a single subject. Three hour test with a 10 minute break in the middle. I had the Chem exam last Monday (I feel like I did pretty well, although I was a little unsure about some of the free-responses), and then the English Literature test on Thursday, (two of the essays were the exact same prompt. I almost pulled my hear out), and  Physics B this Monday (I didn't know any of the free-responses. Consequently, I wrote down every equation in an attempt to get credit (one of them must be right!) and spent the remaining time that I didn't using attempting the prompt writing random phrases such as "I swim with squirrels" and "The world runs on rubber bands." en francais and crossing them out so the AP Graders wouldn't grade them). I have the World History exam tomorrow, and I've been reviewing for that these past couple of days. I feel pretty confident on the material for that test. 

Funny story - once somebody came up to me and said, "Jake, can you show me where Brazil is on the map? I know it's in Europe, but I couldn't find it." 

Oh dear. That's frightening. 

But anyway, after this week, my life should start slowing down. I have Speech and Debate Nationals in Washington DC Memorial Day weekend to win (fat chance, but I can pray). For those of you know don't know, in the kind of debate I do (Public Forum, or PF), two teams consisting of two members debate over a resolution: one team in the affirmative, the other in the negative. The debates are very structured and take about half an hour. It seems pretty boring, but I actually like it. Yeah, I get it. I'm a nerd. And the things people say! Oh dear. In March, we had somebody try to tell us that North Korea is a threat to our national security because Venezuela can launch missiles at us...because that totally makes sense. Don't worry about the fact that NK can blow up Guam and Samoa. We totally don't care about them. 

Incidentally, Debate Nationals conveniently clash with the AFS pre-departure in Baltimore. Thankfully, there is another session in DC. God decided to be nice to me for a change. Thank-you God. I apologize if that was sacrilegious. Just kidding - I have the SAT that day. I'll just get there late. Sorry, AFS. I tried. 

I should be hearing about placement soon, now that we're almost halfway though May. In about a month, I was told. I've been eagerly checking my inbox and AFS account every day in the anticipation that I got an early placement. So far, it hasn't happened, but I will be the first to know if it does. 

I leave late July (the approximate dates are July 26-29th). That gives me not even three months left in the US. It's made me look back and want to leave with good memories, and now I can't bear the thought of leaving any part of my day unscheduled - I feel like I need to bleed out as much time as I can get. I need to make the most of the time I have here, because when I'm gone, I won't be a text message away. I might not be an email or Facebook message away, either. I'll be a phone call away, once a month, maybe more if I'm fortunate. I don't think everybody else realizes that, which I suppose is understandable, as in this day and age we can be automatically contacted with the most trivial of things. No Facebook, you do not need to send me a notifications on my phone that Bobby commented on my status. I'll see that when I get on Facebook. 

It gets me thinking - what will it be like when I get back in July 2012? Will everybody still recognize me? I won't be the same person, that much is for certain. Will I still be able to connect with my friends the way I do now? What about my family? Everyone will have had Prom and graduation and all that jazz - immense amounts of bonding time - and I'll be halfway across the globe. It'll be without Jake. I mean, it's just different. I imagine that it'll be noticeable at the beginning of the year, but do people just accept this as the year goes on? Or will they still keep contact? I suppose there's no point in wondering about it now, but I feel like they don't get it. Hey guys, if you're reading this, drill it into your thick heads. He's leaving for a year. 

But eh, what happens happens, I suppose. How does that Spanish saying go? Que sera sera. What will be, will be. (What won't be, won't.) 

Anyway, thanks for checking in. There's a lot more that I'd like to write, but this is already getting ridiculously long and I have NHS Inductions to attend tonight. Congratulations, fellow classmates. 

As always, if you guys have any questions for me, feel free to ask. I'm always available. 

And so we go. 

Jake

O Início - Initiation!

Greetings, my name is Jake, and I hail from a small town in northern Maryland called Westminster. A few weeks ago I applied to go abroad to Brazil for the entire 2011-2012 academic year through the American Field Service (AFS) inter-cultural student exchange program.

In Brazil, I will be living with a host family and attending school. It is my hope to not only learn another language but also another culture and discover some things about myself that I would otherwise not have known. It is my hope that this experience will in turn make me a better person and will open my eyes to other people, interests, careers and ways of life than those I may see in the small eastern coastal town I call home.

However, I need to raise some money in order to realize this dream. I hope to raise at least $8,000 to cover the cost of the trip that my family cannot already cover. This includes international airfare and emergency medical coverage, as well as other assorted costs, such a two-week trip to the Amazon during my stay. I have several fundraisers planned for the next few months to assist in raising money, but I still need some help in order to make this happen. Thank-you for taking the time and interest to read my blog and learn about my aspirations. To help me raise money, please click the ChipIn button on the right side of this blog to made a non-tax deductible donation through PayPal. Whatever amount you are able to give, no matter how small, will help me reach my goal. I would be grateful if you could share my blog url with others whom you think may be interested in helping me achieve my goal. You can forward the link http://abraziliancycle.blogspot.com/.

For those of you without Paypal, you can always mail a check to my home address. We will put the money directly into the fund.

Thank-you.

Jake