My Exchange Year (2016-2017): December

During the first week of December I switched host families for the first time during my exchange. I moved across my city to, coincidentally, Jardim Canada ("Canada" neighbourhood). Because I was now on break from school, my class had a churrasco (barbecue). Everyone in my class went, including teachers. We all ate, listened to music, played pool and swam. December in Brazil was very different from what I was used to. It was between 30-35 degrees everyday, and there weren't many Christmas decorations up. The streets weren't filled with lights or wreaths and not many people put lights or decorations up in or outside of their homes. Stores didn't play Christmas music and there just wasn't a lot of Christmas spirit. For me it felt really strange. But as Christmas got closer and closer, the city got a little bit more festive. My friend from Monte Alto, Lisa, came to visit for a few days which was nice. She is from Japan and has been in Brazil for the name amount of time as me. We went out for açai, and went to a Christmas concert. The trees in the praça were lit up and there was even a "Santa's cabin" where you could visit Santa and get a picture. I helped my host families put their Christmas trees up and decorate them too. I wanted to share some of my Christmas traditions with my friends and families so I showed them how to make sugar cookies. They turned out really well and my friends loved them! We spent the night baking and listening to Christmas music. During one weekend I went biking with my friend, Bianca, and her family. Unlike Sarnia, this region has a ton of hills so it was quite a workout. We biked by a lot of sugar cane and soy plantations and I got to try some fresh sugar cane. We also saw four toucans which I thought was really really cool. They were really beautiful and I didn't believe my friend's dad when he said "Oh look, toucans!". That day we ended up biking 30km. The next day my host family and I went to a car show in Orlandia. There were so many Volkswagen Beetles! This year I celebrated Christmas very differently. In Brazil, Christmas Eve is celebrated as our Christmas Day. We spent Christmas Eve at my host grandparents. There we had dinner. There was a lot of different foods. There was pork, two types of farofa (a toasted cassava flour mixture), sweet and salty, and many desserts. Many desserts that I had never tried before. At midnight, we opened our presents and then went home. The next day, Christmas day, we went to one of my host aunt's and spent the afternoon in the pool and eating. I also went to my friend's Christmas celebration. All in all, I really enjoyed my Brazilian Christmas. It was very different in some ways but in other ways it was practically the same. Spending time with family, relaxing and eating. For the New Year my host family and I went to Serra da Cantareira which is a Brazilian mountain range to the north of the city of Sao Paulo. It was very beautiful! The temperatures were a lot cooler than Sao Joaquim da Barra, the area was very calm and everything was green. On New Years Eve everyone wore either white or a light colour to bring in the New Year on a fresh and positive note.