Family, English, Capoeria, and São Paulo!

Dear friends and family,
I am writing to tell about some recent happenings and developments in my student exchange. First off, things with my new host family have been going great! They are very nice and also have a lot in common with my real family. My older host brother (Leonardo) is no longer living with us because he has moved to São Paulo to study there. My younger brother (Leopoldo) is in his last year of high school here in our city, although he studys in a different school. Samuel (my host father) is a pediatrician and works at a clinic here in São José. Cristina (my host mom) use to be a nurse but now works inside the home. My family also has many relatives (on my Moms side) in a nearby city called Ribeirão Preto and sometimes on the weekends we go to visit them. Religiously speaking my new host family is Evangelical Cristian, as opposed to my first family, which was Roman Catholic.
Another change has been my finding of new opportunitys to get involved in the community of my city. The biggest of those opportunitys has been some volunteer work I have been doing. I have recently begun giving English classes at a social service school in our city. The school is a part of a national social service program called CRAS (Centro de Referência de Assistência Social). My work there consists of giving 2 classes per week to 3 groups, one of which I will see only once per month. Although the school has no English curriculum (having never had English classes available), I have been able to put some lessons together using curriculum from my school. So far, teaching English has been a great way to find new and rewarding opportunitys like this.
Capoeria has also been going very well. I am able to follow along in the classes and I now see as my only real problem being able to use what I have learned to improvise. I have been talking with my teacher about the possibility of passing on what I have learned when I return to the States. That is to say, actually teaching Capoeira. If your interested you can contact me on facebook or through e-mail (creedlover7@yahoo.ie). It also looks like Capoeira has opened up yet another travel opportunity. Our Capoeira group will be making a trip in April to Florianópolis to meet with some other Capoeiristas. It sounds like a really fun trip.
Speaking of traveling, I recently had the privilege to spend a weekend in São Paulo. São Paulo, with 11 million people, is the largest city in the Americas, and among the 4 largest citys in the world. I went to São Paulo to see a concert of the American rock-band Radiohead. We also went to a couple Paulistan-samba shows and an art museum. So many things in São Paulo fascinated me and have given me the desire to return. I traveled to São Paulo with a good friend of mine, Juliana. Juliana is a teacher at my school who became interested in helping me and the other exchange students learn Portuguese. She has been a great help to me in many ways. In May, there will be an art presentation at our school and for it I, Juliana, and 2 other students have formed a band. We will play music related to Brazilian Folk-Lore (the theme of the presentation this year). I'm excited to finally have people to play music with and we look forward to a good show.
Well, that about does it for the recent news. I will try to start writing more frequently; I promise! Until next time,
Patrick