Weekend with Host Family

After returning from touring on Friday, we quickly showered, packed, and got ready to be picked up by our host family. The father, little brother and sister-- Marco, Joao Vitor, and Cintia, came to pick me up around 7:15. We headed to their house-- only about 10 minutes from the hotel. Upon arriving I met the rest of the family, took a tour of their home, and sat down for dinner with the whole family. Later in the evening went over to Marco's parents home on the other side of the city where I learned to make Fezuada (a native dish of Pork and Black Beans). Being that it was a long day, we headed home and went to bed early friday night.


Saturday morning -- for the first time in Brazil-- I got to sleep in! When I got up my host Mom-- Cleide-- had made a delicious breakfast. Cleide and I then walked about 5 blocks to visit Cintia (sister) at the clothing store she works at. When we got home we changed our clothes and packed our bags to head 30 minutes out of Piracicaba to a summer cottage. We spend all afternoon swimming, having Brazilian BBQ, dancing, and playing cards. It was a lot of fun-- and was definitely something very similar to many of our summer cookouts in Ohio!

Saturday night we headed back to the city-- got cleaned up and ate some more (Brazilians love to eat!!) Vinicius (brother), Cintia (sister), and Cleber (their cousin) and I headed out around 10 o'clock to visit some of their friends and go to a few bars around Campus. We had a great time and met a lot of people-- even some who spoke english!

Sunday was absolutely perfect-- as all we did was sleep, watch movies, and eat. It reminded me of being at home as well... especially when my host dad Marco turned on his favorite show TWO AND HALF MEN!! We talked about how that was my dad's favorite show too! (It is really amazing how much American music and television programs Brazilians follow). Everyone slept in, ate lunch, watched 27 dresses, and got cleaned up before I headed back to the hotel around 7. All-in-all it was a great weekend with a great family. I really enjoyed spending time with such wonderful people-- and could find some many similarities between my family and theirs.