Dia de Acçao de Gracas

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! (hehe a bit late, sorry). Thanksgiving day is "Dia de Acção de Graças."
Anyways, here's what I did last week...
Sunday I met with my counselor and his german girlfriend. Walked around near where he lives, talking about how I'm doing as an exchange student, problems I may have, etc. It's good to have an AFS contact, he's quite nice.
Monday Anne-Lise and Debora came to my house after school to do a project for portuguese on the life of Almeida Garrett, a portuguese author who wrote a play we're studying (Frei Luís de Sousa). I haven't really read the play yet--just tried to read the first act--but tomorrow we are meeting again at my house to prepare another presentation on one of the characters in the play. yikeys!
tuesday...I don't remember. lunch at the host grandfather's, as usual. had dance class at night...
wednesday, had lunch at macdonald's (gasp!) I think I've eaten there three times so far! how did that happen! (everytime it's been salad though). soup and a salad, which weren't that bad. and the dressing wasn't gloppy american stuff, just olive oil. that's something I like about europe. went to apoio (literally "support"--extra help class) for geography, which was helpful.
wednesday night I don't remember what I did. my memory is gone....it's horrible! heh.
Thursday was thanksgiving. I came home, had lunch, and went for a little walk/run. I was quite proud of myself (even though my legs hurt). then stretched and did a bit of strengthening! yay! still, this little bit of arm fat isn't pleasant...hehe
had dance again. dinner was turkey and puréed potatoes (thanksgiving meal #1), a pumpkin tart graça made (it was quite different from pumpkin pie, but good), and chocolate turkeys (lovingly sent by my parents to share the tradition). After dinner we had a funny lesson from miguelão (ão=bigger, aka host dad--I think I already said that, sorry) about the solstices and equinoxes and the earth traveling around the sun. and I tried to tell him that he was wrong when he said that as the earth travels around the sun the angle of it's axis changes, but didn't succeed. hehe. It's the power of the father in portuguese culture--basically he's always right. and one thing that annoys me is that the father has all the power, but doesn't do any of the work. what a change after coming from a house where my dad washes the dishes every night! After dinner I studied geography until midnight. eek.
friday in math I decided I want to see if I can change. It's so easy and I think my math sense is going away! I want harder math! hehe it's kind of silly, but I don't know... maybe harder math would be good, but maybe it would be too much stress? hm...
then recieved my test in educação física (gym). I got an 18 point something, which I think was one of the highest grades in the class! how did that happen? I'm happy about that though. AFterwards Anne-Lise and Debora and I talked to Zé Maria, an AFS volunteer (who went to the Faroe Islands (Denmark) for a year) who goes to our school. about being exchangers, etc. he told me he hoped I'd get a 9 on my geography test. well thanks. hehe.
Geography test wasn't the best....even with a modified test. and the book. and all my notes. and maps. it's kinda sad--i just couldn't find the answers anywhere! I thought I'd taken all the notes (I can understand almost all of the class), but I guess I'd missed out on some details. so we'll see how that turns out...
Then after school went to a big mall with Lisa (Germany), who was going to buy a jacket. It was fun--always good to talk to other AFSers. Got home feeling pretty cold, tired, and a little sick (and it was cold and rainy out) and really not wanting to go to the band practice. I set off for the band hoping there wouldn't be practice so I could go home and rest--and there wasn't! so I went to bed at 10 and slept 11 hours. I think I was kind of exhausted. :-)
Saturday (yesterday) morning I studied a bit of portuguese in the morning (with the british book I bought to technically learn portuguese before I left...hehe). I liked having the me, english speaking time (it's all narrated in english). Had lunch, then we picked out the clothes we were going to wear to the dinner that night. I'll talk more about that later.
Went to scouts again, just for a bit of time. it was a bit awkward because I didn't talk much, but ok. I think I can join despite not being catholic...
So the birthday dinner of Xuxu's sister Marina that night. i wore a black and white dress of Xuxu's that she'd bought in Paris. Felt very much not like myself, hehe. All this fashion stuff is strange! I'm that person many of you know who wore the same green fleece jacket to school every day in the late autumn, winter, and early spring. hehe.
The dinner was at a farm about a half an hour away, where they make wine. It seemed so cool! I didn't get to see much because it was dark (we left at 9h30) but it seemed really beautiful. There were so many people there-- I think about 150 in a really cool space. It was something quite different for me--I don't think I've ever been to a party like that before. So I had a bit of social awkwardness...but i told myself by the end of the year I hope I'll learn how to enjoy it and not be so socially awkward--I've realized that I don't know how because I spent almost all my time last year at home doing homework and such! So of course I had this urge all the time to either be in bed sleeping or be sitting in a library reading. 'Cause that's what I'm comfortable with. I hope I can learn to like it though. So it was a really fun night for most, and an interesting night for me. with a bit of prompting from Catarina I danced a bit, but still felt quite awkward (and with a bad attitude, I think). I'm not really a dance type person, but it's enjoyable for most, so I think I should learn to like it. I mostly talked with cousins my age...got really cold because it's fashionable. my problem was a lot of the time I wished I could have gone to bed early. But I will learn to like it! that's what I say. Just takes getting used to. I hope my host family knows that and doesn't think I'm too strange (though I have to admit I think I'm having more troubles with all this social stuff than the average american high schooler would. really good lessons though).
anyways, we got home at 4 AM, and I went to bed. yay. woke up this morning thinking I would go see what was happening with the band, but decided to sleep more.
This morning I baked 2 pumpkin pies! yay!!!!!!! made me a bit homesick, but that's natural. I think I overcooked them a bit and didn't cool them enough before serving, but they were enjoyed and appreciated by all, I think, so that's what counts. We had a thanksgiving lunch (#2) of turkey legs, mashed potatoes (actually purée made of powdered stuff--tasted fine though!), zucchini and cheese dish, and shrimp. so not your typical thanksgiving dinner, but it was good. with the avós (Xuxu's parents) and the aunt and uncle from next door.
this afternoon I went to a café with two of the people from scouts (out of 4 total. meh). I had gotten up lots of courage yesterday to ask, because I know I need to. I think my attitude was a bit low, but that's ok. I'll try to make it better. met the 4th scout, who also works as a fireman. went to see some shiny firetrucks. hehe.
oy it's almost the end of sunday. yikeys. although I think I kind of like the organized schedule of the schoolweek, I don't like getting up early. meh. and I'm getting into test time, too. tests and projects, which is no fun. But hey, only 13 days of school until christmas vaca! I like the length of portuguese vacations. hope i can find something to do during the vacation!
well lots of love and beijinhos!