Brazil in January 09

Hey Rotary! It's been awhile! I've been really busy!
In November and December, I went on an organized Rotary trip with 58 other exchange students. We had a total of 17 different countries there, and travelled the whole of Northern Brazil. I spent a month learning about the government systems, visiting museums, and of course, going to the beaches! I had so much fun and made the best of friends there! I plan on going to another one in May, to the Amazon, with some of the same students. We are all very excited. I went to places like Salvador, Fortaleza (closest city to the equator we went), Rio de Janeiro, and many more. It was really the time on my life. We travelled for 29 days all by bus, and stayed in hotels every night. Some were good, with air conditioning and satellite TV, and others were bad, with cockroaches in the beds, haha. But nevertheless, we had a really awesome time, and I will never forget those memories.
With December came Christmas, which was a different experience in itself. Every family has their own traditions, and mine were equally unique. Super was traditional. There was a pork roast, a type of turkey, a chicken, and a salad with a vegetable that resembles artichoke hearts. We opened presents Christmas Eve, around midnight, and instead of buying everyone a present, we did a Kris Kringle, which was much more fun. Afterwards, everyone goes out to celebrate with friends.
New Years Eve was just as fun. In Brazilian custom, I wore a white dress, to symbolize Peace for the New Year. We went to a restaurant and watched the celebrations on Copacabana beach, while listening to a live band and eating food all night.
In the two weeks following, I prepared to move to my new family, which I have now done. I will only have two families here, so I only had to pack everything up and move once. I already have too much stuff, haha. My new family is really nice. My host father works for the mayor's office, and is a private english teacher. He is also my counsellor here. My host mom is a dentist. I have a two year old host brother, named Nuno, a ten year old host sister named Rayssa with whom I share a room, and a fifteen year old host brother named Kauã (Kay-wan, kind of). My portuguese is coming along great, and I'm getting alot of help from my family. Can't wait to get back and show everyone my slide show of everything! Missing everyone. Hope there isn't too much snow there haha!
Samantha