So yesterday... I woke up really early to skype someone, and then my internet wasn't working, so that was a good start to the day. The morning was a bit of a nothing morning re
ally. It rained, I mooched around. Blah. Just for fun, this was the day's paper. Basically the first 5 pages said "It rained".
First class at school was supposed to be PE, but it was too wet, so we sat in the classroom and played boardgames instead (why isn't this a thing in New Zealand?!) The game in the photo was kinda like charades and catchphrase at the same time, but with songs. I didn't know any of the songs, but it was fun to watch anyway. Also some people were playing Canasta, but it wasn't the same as I'm used to- intead of canastas of the same number they were making runs in each suit. Twas weird.
The rest of school was pretty nothingish for me. The class were working on projects that they've been doing for some time, a kind of 'Integrated studies' class. So I went on the computer and applied for a student allowance. Yep, that's my big 18 year old thing. I'm an adult, but most of things I'm allowed to do now aren't really relevant. But I had to do something to prove I'm 18, right?
Then after school Eliandra collected me and took me to buy my birthday present, and we drove home. To find this:
I've never had a suprise party before! So thank you, everyone, it was awesome, and you are fab. A birthday that could have been just a day of missing home turned into a fantastic day. I feel like I say this every day, but I only wish I could speak more Portuguese- sitting around chatting is really not my forte at the moment...
More beautiful spotty balloons!
ReplyDeleteHi Sophia,
ReplyDeleteI hope you're not getting too overwelmed by Brazil. You're much braver than me - I was 23 before I did my living overseas, and I chose somewhere where they speak English (well, almost.)
I sympathise with stressing over your bus trip to a strange place to meet a strange person. I had a much milder version. When I was in Germany in 2004, I'd arranged to meet with a good friend of Aunt Rosie (great-aunt to you.) (I've forgotten her name, but Bernard stayed with them for a while on his student visit to Germany, so you've probably heard of her.) Although I'd seen photos of her, being me, I had no confidence whatsoever of recognizing her. Then I realized that I was not 100% sure of which of two stations I needed to get off at, as I foolishly did not have a print out of the e-mail which arranged the meeting. Fortunately, I chose the right one, and all was well. Having learned from experience, when I flew to Hobart a month ago, I carefully printed out details of where my hotel was - and accidentally left it on a plane (as a bookmark in a book which I also left.) Happily, I could phone people to find out.
Today (Sunday) is very pleasant. I went on a little drive to explore, and ended up at a city beach. There were people in togs. Occassionally, there were people in the water. Very occassionally, they were actually swimming. Tasmanians are crazy. The highlight was that there was a Little Blue Penguin swimming back and forth along the beach just a few metres from shore.
-- Uncle Michael.