My fifth week here was rather interesting as my host parents left on tuesday without really telling where they were going or when they would be back , in fact I didn't even know that they went somewhere for the week until they never showed, but it wasn't that big of a deal as my host grandmother had come for a visit so I wasn't entirely alone for the duration of the week.I did miss school one day as a result of Tania not telling me that she had arranged for people to pick me up.I just rather wish my host family would make more of an effort to communicate things with me, but evidently that's simply not how they do things.I went on a short trip with that was arranged by my school to another city nearby for shopping and a play.I did finally manage to make it to a bookstore but was so aghast at the prices that even though I desperately wanted books I didn't purchase anything T_T.We then proceeded to the theatre at which I experienced the positively worst theatrical production I have ever witnessed, from the cast of only five men ( attired in drag most of the time), bad popular american music mixed with fragments of gregorian chant blasting through a terrible sound system as their concept of a soundtrack,atrocius costuming consisting mainly of spandex and feathers ( and not much of that either, both the main characters barely wore anything), acting that was uninspired to say the least, and a pathectically redundant plot.It was quite the experience to say the least and was made even more diverting by the fact that most of the audience actually seemed to enjoy themselves and think it was decent ^_^.Even though it was ten on a school night and we still had an hour and a half drive home ,nearly everyone on our bus decided that we simply had to make a forty minutes detour to McDonalds.I didn't mind terribly as I was more bemused than anything at the lust for bad american fast food, but Alyssa was quite traumatized as it meant that she would get less than six hours of sleep that night. Everyone kept asking us if we were sure we didn't want any thing from McDonalds ^^, and I had to explain to them that I really didn't want to break my record of not eating there for seven years ^_^.My weekend was quite fun ( if not very exciting ) and I spent essentially all of friday,saturday,and sunday with Alyssa and her family at their ranch and apartment.I did finally get to bake for the first time in a month and I was ecstatic to say the least as this is the longest I have been without cooking or baking in the past two years . I am accustomed to cooking or baking things four or five times a week so not being able to or not having a well equipted kitchen has been a little trying for me here.I made chocolate orange walnut cookies for Alyssa's family and it was quite the most makeshift affair as we didn't have measuring spoons or cups,cookie sheets, cooling racks,the right leavening agent,spatulas, zesters,proper ingredients, and our oven only had three settings ^_^, but at least they turned out well enough that everyone liked them ^^.Alyssa's little ten year old host brother did insist on tryig to help me though and was most mischevious in the process.I spent half my time running around the table trying to wrest away the ingredients that he had snitched from me and attempting to explain to him that when you zest oranges without the proper tools it is inevitable that you are going to lose a good deal of zest ^^.I also fell completely and unrepentantly in love with hammocks during the course of that weekend and in fact spent most of my time swinging in them and scheming as to how I could accquire one for myself ^_^.
They insisted on posing with my cookies, so evidently this photo is somewhat of an advertisement for my cooking
On the steps of their ranch house, I really do like this one much more than my host family's as even though it's smaller it's much more beautifully designed and located
Me with my two culinary students
I was quite surprised and delighted to see that mulberry ( amore in portuguese ) trees are quite common here. So here are the girls trying to pick mulberries and getting covered in juice ^^ .
Lounging at the pool, while I dashed about trying to find something to put the cookies on to cool
Another solo shot Alyssa insisted on taking of me with my cookie dough
Outside the theatre with random people from my school
Waiting for the play to start
The lovely Ana Paula, I really do adore Alyssa's family and they really have been most kind to me.They also brew loose leaf tisane which is quite enough to make me appove of them ^_^
Trekking down to take pictures
A bit of the lovely river chockful of piranhas. Charming isn't it :p?
My fifth week here was rather interesting as my host parents left on tuesday without really telling where they were going or when they would be back , in fact I didn't even know that they went somewhere for the week until they never showed, but it wasn't that big of a deal as my host grandmother had come for a visit so I wasn't entirely alone for the duration of the week.I did miss school one day as a result of Tania not telling me that she had arranged for people to pick me up.I just rather wish my host family would make more of an effort to communicate things with me, but evidently that's simply not how they do things.I went on a short trip with that was arranged by my school to another city nearby for shopping and a play.I did finally manage to make it to a bookstore but was so aghast at the prices that even though I desperately wanted books I didn't purchase anything T_T.We then proceeded to the theatre at which I experienced the positively worst theatrical production I have ever witnessed, from the cast of only five men ( attired in drag most of the time), bad popular american music mixed with fragments of gregorian chant blasting through a terrible sound system as their concept of a soundtrack,atrocius costuming consisting mainly of spandex and feathers ( and not much of that either, both the main characters barely wore anything), acting that was uninspired to say the least, and a pathectically redundant plot.It was quite the experience to say the least and was made even more diverting by the fact that most of the audience actually seemed to enjoy themselves and think it was decent ^_^.Even though it was ten on a school night and we still had an hour and a half drive home ,nearly everyone on our bus decided that we simply had to make a forty minutes detour to McDonalds.I didn't mind terribly as I was more bemused than anything at the lust for bad american fast food, but Alyssa was quite traumatized as it meant that she would get less than six hours of sleep that night. Everyone kept asking us if we were sure we didn't want any thing from McDonalds ^^, and I had to explain to them that I really didn't want to break my record of not eating there for seven years ^_^.My weekend was quite fun ( if not very exciting ) and I spent essentially all of friday,saturday,and sunday with Alyssa and her family at their ranch and apartment.I did finally get to bake for the first time in a month and I was ecstatic to say the least as this is the longest I have been without cooking or baking in the past two years . I am accustomed to cooking or baking things four or five times a week so not being able to or not having a well equipted kitchen has been a little trying for me here.I made chocolate orange walnut cookies for Alyssa's family and it was quite the most makeshift affair as we didn't have measuring spoons or cups,cookie sheets, cooling racks,the right leavening agent,spatulas, zesters,proper ingredients, and our oven only had three settings ^_^, but at least they turned out well enough that everyone liked them ^^.Alyssa's little ten year old host brother did insist on tryig to help me though and was most mischevious in the process.I spent half my time running around the table trying to wrest away the ingredients that he had snitched from me and attempting to explain to him that when you zest oranges without the proper tools it is inevitable that you are going to lose a good deal of zest ^^.I also fell completely and unrepentantly in love with hammocks during the course of that weekend and in fact spent most of my time swinging in them and scheming as to how I could accquire one for myself ^_^.
They insisted on posing with my cookies, so evidently this photo is somewhat of an advertisement for my cooking
On the steps of their ranch house, I really do like this one much more than my host family's as even though it's smaller it's much more beautifully designed and located
Me with my two culinary students
I was quite surprised and delighted to see that mulberry ( amore in portuguese ) trees are quite common here. So here are the girls trying to pick mulberries and getting covered in juice ^^ .
Lounging at the pool, while I dashed about trying to find something to put the cookies on to cool
Another solo shot Alyssa insisted on taking of me with my cookie dough
Outside the theatre with random people from my school
Waiting for the play to start
The lovely Ana Paula, I really do adore Alyssa's family and they really have been most kind to me.They also brew loose leaf tisane which is quite enough to make me appove of them ^_^
Trekking down to take pictures
A bit of the lovely river chockful of piranhas. Charming isn't it :p?
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