It's been a while...

I'm not a very good blogger but finally here is my second post:

- Carnaval was SO fun. We went to this huge street party where all men dress up as women- not quite sure why but I have never seen so many people in one place. Florianopolis was really busy in general that week and it was hard to get around on the buses but it was a lot of fun and there were a lot of tourists so it was nice meeting people from all over.
- We have officially become regulars at this little restaurant/bar on Lagoa. We go there pretty much every day just to hang out and get food and drinks. It's become the Caribou Coffee of Brazil... but way better.
- We're starting to have slightly more sophisticated conversations with our host mom but it's still slow going. She is the sweetest woman though and we are so lucky to have the situation that we do.
- Classes have been going really well and are pretty interesting for the most part. 3 hours gets kind of long but the teachers are all really cool and if I remember correctly I'm actually going on 2 field trips this week. Sounds good to me.
- The only thing that I have really missed from the states is cheese. Yes, cheese. None of the cheese here is very good. Just as a warning- what they call cheddar is actually neon orange cheese wiz. Not good.
- Rachel and I moved into the little house in the backyard and we loved it. We get our own kitchen and bathroom but we still hang out at the house a lot which is nice. The only problems we've had are cockroaches (baratas) and one mouse (that we know of) and of course spiders. Gross, but not gross enough to keep me from loving it here.
- I can't believe that I've already been here for a month. It's time to start planning trips to other places and exploring Florianopolis more.
-I'll try to post more soon but for now that's all I have!

Surf shop across from our bus stop:

 One of many men dressed as women during Carnaval:

 A bat I found:

 View of my host mom's back yard:

 On our daily walk:

 My room:

 Living area:

 Kitchen:

 Kitchen:

 Praia Mole:

 Best meal I've had here:

Calm down calm down

Ok so since it's been about 10 days that I've been here I'm going to do a bunch of bullet points not necessarily in order of how everything has happened:
- My host mom, Zenaide, is adorable. She doesn't speak much English and Rachel and I don't speak much Portuguese so it can be hard sometimes but so far we're having a lot of fun and every time we don't understand each other she starts laughing really hard and says, "calm down, calm down". So cute. She's also a ridiculously good cook so that's been really nice. Also her dog, Preta is equally as cute as she is.
- My classes all seem like they're going to be really interesting. Tourism and environment we went on a tour of the different carnaval floats and they explained what the theme of each samba school's float was. The class should be pretty amazing- we get to go on a lot of field trips which always makes it easier to learn, and more fun.
- Beginners Portuguese will definitely be my most valuable class here. I definitely have a long way to go with the language but my teachers seem really cool and eager to help. I have two different teachers for that class because I have it twice a week.
- Cultural anthropology class I'm going to love. Our teacher seems really cool. We're basically supposed to keep a journal of our experience here and use it as field work to present at the end of class. We wants to take us on a bunch of field trips as well, teachers here definitely know how to keep their students engaged.
- The last class I'm taking is ethnicity and culture. Once again, lots of field trips and I think I'll really enjoy the class. The only bad thing is that it's every other week, one day, for 6 hours. But at least it seems really interesting, right?
- No flushing toilet paper in Brazil- interesting adjustment.
- Rachel and I got a samba dancing lesson from our host mom and some of her friends- looking forward to more of those.
- So many stray dogs here, and much like the men in Brazil as soon as you give them any attention they won't leave you alone.
- Everyone has been so nice and willing to help, although they could be saying something terrible about me and I really wouldn't know the difference.
- Overall the experience so far has been perfect. I'll update more later.

My host families house:

Joaquina Beach- 10 minute walk from our house:

Preta!