back from carnival :( wish it went forever

okay guys, so the reason that i havent blogged in over a week is because i was celebrating carnival in Cabo Frio. 
ok, so for those of you who dont know what carnival is, it is a week long festival that quite literally stops the nation. nothing is open except for food places and drugstores (pharmacies). its just a week long party really! 

music and dancing all hours of the day, everyone (except me) getting drunk and having a good time. it is truely amazing and oh so much fun! for carnival, my family rented an apartment in Cabo Frio, a smaller coastal town that is about an hour out of Rio, and a 9 hour drive away from Belo Horizonte.

i very rarely get car sickness in Australia, but i found out that pretty much all the country side from BH to Cabo Frio, is twistier and windier than the great ocean road. the whole way. this unfortunatly can induce car sickness on even the smallest travel sickness suffers. needless to say i was prepared for the way back, i popped a sleeping pill to dope myself up enough, slept half the way, and was fine. lol 

it really is beautiful countryside, but too much looking out the window was not good for the stomach. best to just close your eyes.

Our apartment was literally a 50 metre walk away from the beach, and all of the music and partying. it was a perfect spot to stay. on the first day, we got up and went straight to the beach. i put on spf 30 sunscreen every half hour and thought i was being the most sun smart person in the world... unfortunatly this was not the case. after 5 hours at the beach, i literally looked like a lobster and felt like i had been boiling in a pot like one too. My poor white shin didnt fare too well. next time i buy sunscreen i will be looking for an spf 500 one. 

every day was the same sort of routine, we went to the beach around 9am, and stayed until around 2, then went home for lunch, and slobbed inside for the rest of the arvo. best to avoid the afternoon sun at the beach. i got burnt on the saturday and didnt actually venture out into the water until the tuesday, as i was just too sore. i looked like a tool, because i was the only one sitting on the beach in knee length shorts, a cardigan to cover my shoulders and a hat and sunnies to cover my face lol. but the upside to this, was that my mornings were somewhat relaxing. i sat under our barraca (beach umbrella) reading my les miserables and sipping agua de coco (coconut water) straight out of the coconut. it is soo good! 

I also tried several other beach delicacies whilst i was sitting there. cocada, and cus-cuz, milho (corn on a cob) keijo on a stick (cheese on a stick cooked on a little portable churrhasco, with orgegano sprinkled on it) i ate the flesh out of the inside of a coconut using a mussel shell as a spoon to scrape it out, was very cool :)

the beaches in brazil are so different to those in Aus. firstly, there are all of these people walking around selling all sorts of things, there are food carts being pushed around and people walking around selling sorvette's (icecream) and refrigerante (softdrink, beer and water) and with pastrys and other little nibbly foods. 

there are also people selling hats, sunnies, stubbie holders, beach dresses, bikinis, bracelets and so many other things. it was amazing.

secondly, almost everyone wears bikinis and budgie smugglers here. for an aussie girl who is used to boardshorts and singlet tops, its a bit confronting lol. 

also one of the biggest differences is the amount of rubbish on the beaches. it is incredible how much there is. nobody picks up their rubbish, when their finished with something they just throw it on the ground. there are people who go along at the end of the day and clean it all up. this then leads me to the point on the poverty here. All over the beaches and all over the streets in carnival were people, carrying bags and sacks, collecting the aluminium cans that people have just dumped, to take to the recycling centres to exchange for money. This is how they survive. 

The main part of carnival is essentially a competion between 14 different samba schools in Rio. Each school has over 2000 participants and they have an hour to make their way down the 2 mile runway of the samba drome. Each school spends over 2 million US$ a year on carnival, for costumes and floats and so on. and most of the population of the country just watches it on tv. This brings so much joy to people, but what if each school were to halve their expenditures even. Imagine how much they could do for the poverty of the people of their country on that money alone! This is what I find hard to comprehend. That there can be such wealth next to such poverty. I suppose this is what rotary is about right? Recognizing this, and if anything, raising awareness, and getting the idea into peoples heads that there is no need for this poverty. Now that i have had my little serious speel, it seems weird to move on to talking about fun things aging but thats how life goes really isn't it. 

At the beaches in Brazil there are these things called bananas which are big inflatable raft things which you pay to sit on and a speed boat takes you out and pulls you around for a while. it looks really fun, but i wasn't game enough to stay out in the sun for that long with uncovered legs and arms. next time though. apparently they are everywhere! there were 3 at the beach i was at.

on one of the days we were at Cabo Frio, we went for a day trip to Buzios, a small but absolutly stunning town about a 45min drive away. we went to the beach there, and it was beautiful, even though i didnt even bother taking my bathers as i was still too sore. it was on the monday after i got burnt, and it was painful.
 after the beach we got MacDonald's for a bit of lunch. hahaha i had to get a sneaky picture of their uniform coz it is absolutely hilarious. they have a grey polo shirt with yellow and red stripes, a yellow and red belt, blue jeans with a Maccas M in the back pocket, and even the buttons have the little m on them, and then they have special maccas converse type shoes with the red and yellow again. and if they are working outside they get to wear these dorky little green caps with ear flaps to protect their ears from sunburn! i had a bit of a giggle :)



Busios is absolutely stunning though. the little main shopping mall that we went to is like stepping into a little european lane, cobblestone road, paved sidewalk, and beautiful little shop buildings and features. it was gorgeous.

but the best thing is that it runs parralel to the most stunning bay you have ever seen, and there are little laneways linking the shady mall to the beautiful white sands and clear blue water.

there are little boats sailing and anchored in the bay, and there are kids swimming and playing. it is the most beautiful picture. i loved it.

there were some souvenir shops and i bought a badge pin for my blazer and some postcards, whist the other girls were looking at sunnies and shoes. ahhh what can i say, the more time i spend here, the more i realise just how much of a complete tomboy i am. its funny :)

i really hope that if i got to the coast again that we spend some more time there because it is a muito muito bonita place. :)

 as for the rest of carnival, things are active during the day, but crazier into the night. a couple of the nights i went out with my family, and things are just nuts. there were people selling hats and flashing headbands and glasses and all sorts of things, so people were wearing all sorts of things. its quite disturbing just how many males decided to dress in drag, but then again, they are the funniest people there. 

the music and dancing was fantastic, i was standing on the edge of a dance floor bit watching the people samba, and one guy even took pity on me standing there shuffling from foot to foot, and taught me the basics! it was so much fun. i could stand there for hours and listen and watch the bands, they were amazing. i had so much fun. 

i also went for a wander through a little market type thing, there was so many different things there, i wanted to buy everything! apparently the market on BH on sundays though is like 5 times the size. i want to go there :)

one of the whacky things that i saw and just couldnt resist photographing (i could just see dad, and uncle peter having a ball with it) was this beer tap thing at one of the outdoor bars. you paid 13 hais for every time they refilled it, it was a big tube thing on 3 legs and it had 3 taps on the sides, so that you could just self serve yourself from it. somehow im going to buy one, or get a pub to sell one to me or something coz i recon dad would love it  :P

okay, ive bin working on this for like the whole day, so im going to finish up for now, and will post another update soon :) hope you are enjoying my blog :)

PS, i have now officially been in Belo Horizonte for exactly a month today. it feels so weird that a month has already passed.

happy birthday

Dearest Walter

happy 18th birthday! woop woop officially an adult :) 

dont get too plastered, just coz u can legally drink now, and stay out of trouble, but most of all have fun. 

xxem

the beauty and wonders of BH

okay, so i did say that my next post would be weird whacky and wonderful, but i have decided to leave that until after carnival, because im sure there wont be a lack of any of those three things during carnival, thats for sure. this week, i have been to a few places in the city, but my highlight has been the liberation park. it is absolutely beautiful :)

the picture below is of my vovo (host grandma), host mum Marilia and myself in front of the big fountain that runs down one side of the park. the picture above is the avenue that runs down the middle of the square.

the construction of the park started around the time of the founding of Belo Horizonte as the new capital of Minas Gerais, in 1895. the buildings first constructed around it were the government palace and the secretary of state building. in the eras that followed, the buildings that were constructed became more modern, and the square is said to hold some of the greatest architecture in the city.there is a lot of renovation of the insides of the older buildings at the moment. one is going to have a stage theatre, another will house a museum and so on. 

it is amazing to see the contrast between some of the buildings. one i found quite funny was that beside one of the beautiful old buildings, there is a new , square box, that is apparently an astrology research centre, or that is what i think it is. i could be wrong lol. but it is soo strange to see the old and beautiful building beside this modern building that looks like a rubix cube with all grey sides lol.

We also visited the very first actual house in Belo Horizonte, back when it was first settled, and was just a little town with a few huts and tents, no real houses until this one. it was so cool, and it has been turned into a kind of museum about the house and early settlement way of living, and progress over the years.

 there was a couple there having their wedding photos taken, and it was so beautiful. i would get my photos taken there if i could. it is beautiful.   

There is so much history here, everything has a story, and people are all to willing to tell you those stories :)

its great.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful Meggie-moo

Just wanted to wish you a very happy 16th birthday in the most public was possible. if i could write it across the sky for everyone to see i would, and i wish i was there to celebrate it with you. 

i know you probably wont see this for days but i just wanted to put it up, coz eventually you will see it :)

You are an amazing girl and i am so happy that you are my very best friend in the world. i love you so much Meggie, and i am missing you everyday, but this year will pass before we know it and then i will be back and we will get to have the biggest hug ever lol
love you darling, you have the world at your feet, you can go wherever you choose, so take every opportunity and live life to the fullest possible every day. you are beautiful.
xxxxxxx love always, Emmy

ps this was posted at 12:12am Australian time on the 9th of Feb, but because of time differences its still the 8th in Brazil lol

photos!

Hey guys, to all you non-facebooker's, i thought id better put up some more photos :

This one here is me and my host family at a party last night. my Mum Marilia, Dad Marcio, and little sister Mariah. we went to a birthday party last night, and took this photo then.

me in my decked out (slightly) blazer after my first rotary meeting 

My apartment building :)

i got my hands on a guitar last night for an hour or so at a party! it was so good to be playing again! now i just want a guitar even more though!!!

i wanted to put this picture up to explain the contrasting riches to rags in Brasil. this little cluster of houses is what we call Favelas, and they are where the poor people live. they are old and dilapidated and look like they are about to fall down, but i suppose its better than sleeping on the streets.

favelas are a reality in most citys in Brasil, and the sad thing about it, is that these Favelas are literally on the opposite side of the highway to all of the new fancy rich apartments and houses going up. it really is a big eye opener, and i really do see just how lucky we are in Australia to not really have anything like this. also though, this shelters us from all of the real issues in the world and so we whinge and whine about our lives, thinking things are so terrible and it couldnt get any worse, when really, we don't have it bad compared to so many people in the world. just a bit of food for thought.

this is the view from my first floor bedroom window. pretty amazing really.

This is the group of Mariah's friends that i went 'shopping' at the mall with. 

They are all really nice girls.

i took a picture of these shoes, because Kate has been desperately wanting a pair of crazy colourful high top shoes (i have a feeling shes into high top things at the moment, first the bonds now the shoes)

she wants me to get her some, but at those prices, shes dreaming lol

This is looking down the street that runs through the centre of Mangabeiras, my suburb in BH.

I am standing in flag square.

Flag Square!

well, hope you enjoyed the pictures and commentary on them all.

in the next week i plan on talking photos of weird, whacky and wonderful things, then i will put the best up to show you!

Tchau!

Em

revelations

Hello People, 
I am really glad to hear that people are actually reading my blog! its so exciting and makes it more worthwhile, so i thought that id better get on and do another update. wow, i just realized that my last post was  a week ago! ive been here move than a week! how time fly's when your having fun. 

well. what have i been up to in the past week? ooh! well on last wednesday i went to the salon for the first time in my life to get a manicure. wow emma, you go to brazil, theres alll these exciting new things to do, and you get a manicure? yes yes i hear you people, the truth is that all of the girls here get manicures, it is so common, because its apparently very cheap. I had pink nails, however Amanda, my sisters friend re-did Mariah's and my nails again today as we watched Catch that Kid in portugese ( a very strange experience to see their lips moving at different intervals to the portuguese being spoken over the top of the film lol), so now they happen to be a rather bright pastel purple. kind of worried about how they will go once i get my hands on a guitar though, i recon i will have a big patch worn off my strumming finger in 5 minutes flat... hmmmm might stick to lighter colours from now on. lol


i have also observed in the past week how much of a weird teenager i have been, because all it seems that 14 year olds here talk about is beautiful guys, yet i dont remember doing this a whole lot. its kinda scary. i havnt hung around a group of more than probably 3 girls since year 7, so it was kinda overwhelming, especially considering the previously mentioned topic of conversation. im just glad to say that i skipped that stage, and went straight to having more guy friends than girls, playing guitar, not talking about guys but about fantastic bands or guitars, wearing strange clothes and not caring, and watching bloody gorey zombie movies. geez ive gotta find some guy friends over here soon before i cave under the girly side of me. i never really considered myself to be a real tomboy until now.


On friday Marilia had a group of her friends over. she has a group of friends that all go to the same church as her, and they all get together every week or so and read bible passages and stuff. however, it really is just a reason to get together and have a good chat, and all the kids go off and do their own thing. anyway, i got to cook a pavlova for the desert for the evening. i was a bit worried about it at a couple of points but apparently there was nothing to be worried about, because it was woofed down, and everyone wants the recipe! Marilia loved it so much that i had to make two more on saturday. we took one to her mums on saturday night, and it disappeared rather quick there too. i think next i will attempt my flourless chocolate cake. hmmm but first id better check how much cooking chocolate costs here. today i saw that a 350g jar of nutella costs 13,98 R. what a rip off! it is like double what it is in australia. but i have noticed that with a lot of things here. in fact everything except clothes really. so i have decided i will refrain from buying anything else and just buy clothes okay :)
but seriously, i need a bag for school ,and the cheapest ive seen has been 100 R, and the smallest amount for a tiny little pencil case was 20 R! its nuts!

On Sunday we went to see my family's cousins. we had a churrasco (a Brazilian BBQ) for lunch. delicious as usual. :)
I played with the soccer ball on their terrace with Clara and Pedro until Clara suggested we go down to their soccer pitch. I think it must have been about 2 hours that I played with Clara and Pedro. I had so much fun, playing with kids is awesome, and I could have done it for longer, but we had to go to church. We went around there  again on monday night and played on the  field for another 2 hours. we only stopped becuase it got to 10:30pm and someone came and complained. lol


The kids are the best portuguese teachers becuase they are so patient and work on it until you understand, and they are not afraid to act things out either!


Tchau! 


Em