Independencia

Last weekend was a long weekend, I had Friday off of school. So my whole family, minus the grandparents, went to the country club to stay the weekend.
It was a lot of fun. Pretty much just relaxing, enjoying each other's company. I spent a lot of time at the pool, or playing batecca (like badmitton, but without rackets), or playing the guitar. It was a nice.
The club has these little houses, pretty much just a room with beds in it, that I stayed in with my family. There was a little kitchen outside of the room, that we used to do all the cooking, and playing guitar, and sitting. Sadly, we had to share a bathroom with the rest of the world, but it was not so bad.
Anywhere you went, you would see people playing music. Everyone brought instruments, so there was samba going on most of the time. That is pretty much how Brazilians function. There is always music. Always upbeat.

Last Friday night I went with my host cousin to a restaurant/bar on the aveneda where she was playing a show. She is in a band called Meninas de Minas *girls of Minas*, and she plays the guitar and does back up vocals. They play mostly popular Brazilian music, I don't know if they play their own stuff...Pretty sure just covers, but they are definitely good.
Towards the end of the show, like 1am, she called me up to play a song, so I went up, and played and sang my favorite song First Day of My Life for them. It went semi-well. I was really nervous, and I think you could tell, as I hit my face on the microphone, but it was fine, I did it.

Sunday I went out for the last time with my exchange student friend from Denmark. He decided to go home after the homesickness and discomfort got to be too much.
It was really difficult to say goodbye, but one has to do what they have to do. I'm sad that he's gone, because we were going through exactly the same thing. Wanted the same things, thought the same things, and after being thrown into this insane mess of confusion and displacement, it was nice to have someone to identify with.
But I suppose now, I am on my own, which in the long run is better for my exchange. I have to make good friends with Brazilians, not that I wasn't already doing that, but I have to really do it now, and I can speak only Portuguese in school...really, which is good for my language.

An American girl has taken my Danish friends place in Montes Claros. She lives in his host house, and now goes to my school. Its...bad for me I think. Having an American in the same school is going to make it difficult to not speak English.
I really need to learn Portuguese.
Its almost been two months now, one more week and its been 2 months.
By this time, I was expecting to speak well, and understand everything, maybe those were high hopes, but I'm thinking that I slacked off.
It's so hard to judge where I should be with this language thing. Its something I have never experienced before, so I cant tell where I should be or where I am. In reality, it is an entire language, and expecting to learn it in a month is ridiculous, but also, I think I could be trying harder to learn. But I'm tired...It's difficult.
I am hoping to set up a class of Portuguese soon, so that I can get things together, because the sooner I speak, the sooner I am going to start my exchange, for real. Right now, that is the only thing I have to complain about. I love the family, the city is ok, the school is ok, the people I know are great, its just that I am still confused and uncomfortable a lot of the time. Once that is resolved, I'm going to love it here.

This weekend I have plans to go out with friends to the aveneda...go to a pagode (brazilian dance festa), and also, to my first soccer game out. I think that should be interesting.
Here soccer is just as big of a deal as people make it out to be. One of the first things my host family said to me is that my soccer team has to be Gallo if I'm staying in their house.
In Montes Claros there is one major rivalry, Gallo vs. Cruzero. The game this weekend is those two teams. I'm going to a restaurant somewhere on the aveneda to watch, wearing the team jersey. I'm expecting a lot of yelling. A lot.
It should be interesting.

Well, for now I must go, but I will write later.
And I'll try to be more frequent...just lots of things.