Rotary Exchange Student - Jess Mokrzycki's December report from Brazil
Hello month five! Heres to a sweet Merry Christmas to you all as it just seamlessly seemed to pass by. WIth a bundle of luck I seem to be carrying under my belt the month of December flew by with an abundance of goodness. From joys of what the wonderful season has to offer to yet again a lucky chance to travel.
I was given the awesome opportunity to travel with a friend who did exchange in Canada in our district 5040, Beatriz Dias ... who I met through RYLA last year. I went to her beach house in Ubatuba along with her family.
School's out - sun's out. As the holiday season creeped by, nothing but (click on more for the rest of Jess' report)
enjoyment of good weather.This lucky girl headed off to the beach. I was given the awesome opportunity to travel with a friend who did exchange in Canada in our district 5040, Beatriz Dias..who I met through RYLA last year. I went to her beach house in Ubatuba along with her family. Who doesn't love the beach? I spent one week doing tons of activities from visiting different beaches daily and taking a boat to private islands to doing things such as kayaking and going on a banana boat.A nice way to move into the Christmas feel as confusion to the mark of season was inevitable. Returning home on the 23.. having Christmas be the following day. A little adventure I had returning home from the beach put my portuguese to the test. As i arrived to one bus station I only had about 30 minutes till my next bus. As I was searching for my bus company.. having numerous different ones.. I discover that my bus I needed to take was in an entirely different station. PANIC mode. Managing to take a taxi to the station being quite far away. I managed to catch my bus by 2 minutes! THANKGOODNESS! While putting up Christmas decorations and preparing a great dinner with some Canadian salmon I brought canned from Canada into the mix. It was a nice add to feeling at home as my host father added it to the table along with all the delicious food. Nothing better than Christmas dinner. This was my first big Christmas which I am beyond thankful for, it wasn't huge, but it was much bigger to what I’m used to back home with just 2 family members. It was a really great, I really enjoyed the time I spent with my family. From it being extremely hot which was followed by a load of rain. It was quite funny as we were enjoying our meal outdoors and had the scurry inside after the heavy rain, it was quite eventful. Talk about being reminded of home!
Aside my Travel to the Beach and Christmas the remainder of the month of is really just taken day by day.. from not being sure of the time, nor day due to being on holiday break. From meet ups with the exchange students for birthdays to exploring and hiking to a waterfall ion the outskirts of a farm..which was quite the adventure..to cooking a classic canadian breakfast for my family and also a traditional polish recipe. (Perogies) With the help of the surprise care package my mom sent me for Christmas. It was my first time making them alone as this is what my mom and I prepare together usually for Christmas and I was surprised to see them turn out quite well!
As December has come to an end the year follows. Thats 2014 around the corner.. Here’s the never ending question of time. 5 months have flown by. Hope all is beyond well with you all. I’m sending the best of wishes your way and I hope that your month of December was as good as can be. Never will there ever be enough thank you’s said. I’m wishing you a happy happy New year. I’m looking forward to fill you in on January, Until next month :) Jess