Final leg of the journy

Hello friends and family,

Well its time for my long overdue (as usually) update on my student exchange to Brazil. For starters, I recently realized that, sadly, this will be one of my last of these updates...
This thought has filled me with bitter-sweet emotions for the past few weeks. Obviously I am loving the experience of being in Brazil. I truly have gained a lot from it and am excited to have some fun adventures in my last few months here. However...at the same time, I have never missed my friends and family so much in my life. Its odd, I didn't miss anyone very much in the first months (the period when most exchange students experience the most home-sickness), but now I can hardly wait to get back home.

Not a lot has changed recently....I'm still doing Capoeria and giving English classes. Teaching has been a great experience for me. Its as much of a challenge for me to interact and get the students interested as it is for me to explain all of their questions in another language. I am finally seeing some results, though. The first time I handed out a class asignment it was very discouraging to receive 14 blank stares. These past few weeks, however, the students have been very hard working and interactive. The director of the school seems to have liked the classes and is looking for another English teacher to continue them after I leave Brazil.

One of the funest trips I have taken recently in Brazil was one to a city called São João da Boa Vista. The city is around an hour away from mine (or roughly 3 by bus). I went to São João with another exchange student from New Zealand. The reason for the trip could not more perfectly exemplyfy the kind of events student exchange students should be obligated to attend. The Virada Cultural (Cultural ``Turn-around´´) was by far one of the funest events I have attended in Brazil. The free, 24-hour event was simply a display of Brazilian culture in various forms (lots of live music and theatre). The events all took place at 3 seperate locations not to far from eachother, so we were able to go to all of the shows we wanted to. In addition to experiencing tons of wonderful art, Marcus and I were also able to make lots of friends/contacts in São João, which has oppened up many opportunities for us to re-veisit that beautiful city.

Speaking of traveling, it looks like I will finaly be able to do some more extensive trips before I leave. Although my program ends in the first week of July, my visa is valid until the end of August. Fortunately, AFS allows students to disconnect from thier programs and stay more time in thier host countrys, if possible. And so, after much discussion, miscommunication, and many emails, my family and I have decided that I will stay in Brazil until mid-August. The reason I am extending my stay is quite simple...uhm...adventure time? While many exchange students travel using tour programs throughout thier exchange programs, I decided to try to become more envolved in the community of my city, São José do Rio Pardo. I have found this decision to be very rewarding and am very thankful for the friendships and connections I have established here. However, I have always had a desire to simply get to know Brazil better, and I love traveling. Therefore, these last couple of months will hopefuly serve as my independent travel time. And where will I go??? Hmm...good question! As of now, I would love to go to: Florianópolis, Manaus (the capital of the state Amazons), and, of course, Rio de Janeiro. I would also like to return to Salvador one day, but maybe I should leave that for another trip to Brazil. My host grandparents (on my mothers side) will also be visiting my host aunt in Mato Grosso at the end of June, so maybe I will be able to tag along and finally see the Pantenal...who knows?

Thats all for now...hopefuly I will have more to write about next time. If you know me, I'm probably missing you! Thanks for reading,

Patrick