Saturday 23 July 2016

Leaving Canada and My Arrival in Brazil

To begin my exchange, there was one critical thing... I had to leave Canada. On July 20, my family and I travelled to Toronto to go to the airport. My flight with TAM was scheduled to leave at 3:50pm, but was delayed for 2 hours. After my last Ice Capp of the year, we headed to my terminal. The next thing was one of the hardest things to do- say good bye. We all shared good byes, hugs and my mom took lots of pictures. Then I made my way through security. When I got to my gate, my name was called over the PA system. I got news that my flights did not work out, so I had to switch flights, airlines and terminals. I was told to go to downstairs to get my bags, then go to Terminal 1 to recheck them through Air Canada. I thought this would be an easy task to complete but after spending 3 hours looking for my luggage, I still had no luck. It was also time for me to start heading over to Terminal 1. When I got to Terminal 1, all the lines were huge. I spent about an hour in line to get my boarding pass, then another hour to get through security. Finally, I got through all of the lines and found my gate. I had about 35 minutes to sit down and rest, then I had to board my flight. Because my day was so stressful, I wasn't nervous at all. I was just happy to get on a plane to go to Brazil. So, at 10:40pm I boarded the plane with only a carry on and a backpack. On the upside of things, I was in business class. The flight was smooth and I was able to get a good amount of sleep. It took about 10 hours to get from Toronto to Sao Paulo. Once I arrived in Sao Paulo, Gustavo, a past inbound of the Rotary Club of Sarnia, met me to help me switch terminals. This was not an easy task either. We had to take a shuttle, then sort out my ticket with TAM. Once we found TAM, they told me they do not have any flights to my final destination, Ribeirao Preto. The airline I would be flying with turned out to be a smaller company that was owned by TAM. The main idea of that story is that I would have been completely lost without Gustavo. While waiting to board my next plane, I tried pao de queijo for the first time... It was very good. The next flight (from Sao Paulo to Ribeirao Preto) was about an hour. The plane I was in was about the same as the Air Canada Jazz planes- very small, very loud and not very stable. With wishful thinking of my luggage waiting for me in Ribeirao Preto, I was harshly disappointed. In Ribeirao Preto I was greeted by my host mother, Edna, host sister, Aline, host brother, Altino and another inbound from Mexico of the past RYE year, Paola. After the airport, we went to the mall to eat. Likewise in China, my first meal with my new family was McDonalds. The drive to my host city, Sao Joaquim da Barra is about 45 minutes. Similar to Canada, there are lots of fields of crops along the sides of the highway. When I arrived at the house I was able to sleep for 4 hours. Then, my second host family came over for dinner and we all went over the "first night questions". We had pork, rice and beans, vegetables and potatoes for dinner, and acai and a special type of cake for dessert. I had a busy first day and was too happy to see my bed at the end of the night. On my second day I went to buy some clothes and essentials. I also tried a phone plan but it didn't work properly. We had lunch and I was pleasantly surprised that they use Heinz ketchup!! My plans for the night were to hangout with Paola, go to Interact, then go to a get together with my host sister and her friends. At Interact, I introduced myself in Portuguese. I had a very nice second night, and am already feeling more comfortable in the family.  On my third day, my host family took me to watch Altino, my younger host brother, play tennis. When we returned home we ate lunch together then I shared pictures of Canada and Sarnia with my host parents, Jose Altino and Edna. To close things for now, I am having an amazing experience so far and can't thank my family, Rotary, my host family and friends back in Canada enough for the endless amount of support.