Sophie agonises, plus pavlova

I haven't really worked out in my own head what is worthy of being blogged about. Do just random thoughts count, or does something have to have happened? I'm not even in Brazil yet, but I have thoughts that I want to express. Should they be going in my diary, rather than in this slightly more public place? What do people even want to know about? Are my increasingly hysterical mood swings of any interest to anyone? The only answer is to write what I feel like writing, and if you, dearest reader, aren't interested, than this is my big red flag now saying stop, it isn't going to get any better.

I don't know how I'm feeling. One minute I'm over the moon- I have a host family, who are amazing people and we've been emailing and everything is wonderful and I'm going to Brazil, which is pretty darn amazing just in itself and packing is exciting and I'm off on an adventure. On the other hand, what am I doing with my life? Saying goodbye is the hardest thing I could ever do, and I have to say goodbye over and over and over. The last couple of weeks have been full of goodbyes. Some of them I say that we'll see each other again, but I know that that's not guaranteed. It certainly feels permanent. And there are still 12 days to go. 12 more days of goodbye, and terrified. Sometimes really random little things make everything better though. Like today when I was in Whitcoulls looking for a Portuguese dictionary, and the Whitcoulls lady told me about her sister who lived in New Caledonia and learnt French, and it was such a comfort. Random Whitcoulls lady, whoever you are, you made my day.

In other news, I made my first pavlova today! I'm such a kiwi... I'm supposed to make New Zealand food for AFS things while I'm in Brazil, apparently, so pavlova it is. Also exciting, I figured out how to add photos to my blog. Next steps: taking good photos...

Oh, by the way, there were earthquakes. That was fun. Here's hoping there aren't any while I'm away- wouldn't want to miss out or anything.

Host family...

This is the first blog post where I've actually had something to say, yet somehow it's harder to know what to say. Today, finally, I heard about my host family. Disclaimer here: most of what I know is what google is telling me, with a fair dose of wikipedia, so don't quote me.

So, I'll be living in Frederico Westphalen (the name sounds very German or something to me, apparently there were German, Polish and Italain immigrants) which is a smallish town (like about the size of Blenheim) in the very south of Brazil, in Rio Grande do Sul state. Thankfully this is not the hottest part of Brazil- at least in winter temperatures seem to be maybe similar to New Zealand, but it does get rather hotter in summer- things to look forward to... It looks from google maps to be quite close to the border with Argentina, but Brazil is so huge that might actually mean 10 hours drive, I don't really know. My family live in an apartment on the main road. I will be living with a mum and dad, and younger sister (I think she's 11), and there is also an older brother who is at uni, but visits home often. Um...what else do you want to know? I'm not really sure about my school, because the school they said I would be going to doesn't look like it's actually a school- more like the Brazilian equivalent of a polytech, so I'm talking to AFS about that...

I don't know how much I can say about my family- I only have the little profile thing they write, which doesn't actually say much. They seem nice... The list of their hobbies and interests was veeery long (and included SOCCER not football, just by the way). They are catholic, and I assume attend the cathedral that is 2 blocks from where they live. It's a very nice cathedral. I appreciate it's catherdralyness.

Sonja asked me to comment on the local monkeys, so I googled 'frederico westphalen monkeys', and found only that someone is selling a capuchin monkey baby for 1500 euros. Sorry Sonja. I will update you on the monkey situation when I arrive. On the subject of waterfalls, the website for the town has a picture of a waterfall, so they must be hiding one somewhere.

That's all I can think of to say for now... I'm excited. Perhaps it's beginning to feel a bit more real. These people who I've never met in my life want me to come and live with them. Isn't that a strange thought...

Tchau
Sophie