Second Quarterly Report!

Dear Rotarians of District 7010,

The six-month mark of my exchange passed last Friday at 12:00am. At the time, I was out with my host brother and his friends, who are now mine as well, eating my favorite Brazilian barbeque and trying to add to the conversation. This is what we’ve been doing most nights lately as we are currently on summer holidays. In fact, I have been on holiday for most of the 3-month period since my last report.

It began in mid-November with my trip to the Northeast of Brazil. Starting on November 17, I spent a full month with 51 other exchange students from 14 different countries. This was one of the most incredible months of my life.

We started the trip with visits to the capital of Minas Gerais (my state), capital of Belo Horizonte, and then moved on to the national capital, Brasilia. In these cities, we learned about Brazilian politics and history. I developed a great appreciation and interest for both. In Brasilia, we also took a Forro dance lesson. This is the most popular dance of Brazil and I’ve put it to good use since.

From Brasilia, we travelled to Chapada Diamantina National Park. Here, we got to go down natural waterslides, climb mountains, explore caves, jump off cliffs, snorkel, zip line, learn the martial art of Capoeira and explore the incredible tourist town of Lençóis. This town thrives off tourism for a reason. It looked as if they set a town down in the middle of the jungle. Being in the state of Bahia, their culture is very different with strong African influences while my town Iturama has a western/country culture. We had a cultural show with a performance of a non-contact, Brazilian martial art called Capoeira. When they asked if anyone wanted to try it out, I went right up and with no instruction, learned basic Capoeira.

After leaving Chapada Diamantina, it was beach time. Before the trip, when I would mention it to someone, they would usually ask if I would be going to a specific beach. We visited every one mentioned. I can honestly say I have been to some of the most picturesque beaches in the world. We went to Aracajú, Maceió, Natal, Canoa Quebrada, Fortaleza, Recife, Salvador, Porto Seguro, Angra dos Reis and Rio de Janeiro. While at the beach, we mainly swam and played soccer. I am a notoriously terrible swimmer. On the trip I wanted to work at swimming in waves since it is usually in these conditions where I have problems. I learned how to deal with 1-meter waves and how to bodysurf in them. This seems like an easy thing you would normally do when visiting a beach, but for me I felt it was a great accomplishment. Most of us had been playing soccer while on exchange so most people participated in daily “pickup” games on the beach. It was usually Germany vs. everyone else as there were 10 German exchange students on the trip (the most of any country).

Besides visiting the beaches in these cities, we had many other great opportunities. I could go on forever about the experiences I had on this trip, so for time’s sake, I will talk about the three most eventful cities which were Fortaleza, Salvador and Rio de Janeiro.

For our first day in Fortaleza, we rode dune buggies, and went sand boarding, then headed back to a resort for some $10 massages and swimming. I had a great time swimming in some of the biggest waves of the trip, but unfortunately lost my debit and credit cards in the process. Even with this incident however, it was one of the best days of the trip. The next day, we went to Beach Park. This is a very popular water park in Brazil as it has the world’s tallest waterslide. It is called Insano, meaning insane, is 14 stories tall and I rode it 5 times.

In Salvador, we spent a day touring around the city and viewing its most famous attractions. We visited the Nosso Senhor do Bonfim Church, Modelo Market, Cidade Baixa (lower city), Lacerda Elevator and Olodum. The church was very interesting to visit as I had seen its name many times before on the bracelets which they produce and are a national icon. I remember receiving my first bracelet in Haliburton after it was announced I would be going to Brazil. After walking through the church, I bought 40 of these bracelets for around $2. We then drove to the Modelo Market where we had five and a half hours of free time to spend there and the other sections of the city. Since I had lost my debit and credit cards, I did not feel like buying anything at the market so I went with my friends from Australia and Denmark to the Lower City. We arrived in the city on a holiday and there was a massive party going on in this section of the city. We stayed for a while before taking the Lacerda Elevator to the upper part of the city. From there, we witnessed the famous view overlooking a city harbour in the ocean below. We then proceeded into another section of the city called Olodum, which was where the music video for Michael Jackson’s song “They Don’t Care About Us” was filmed. From there, we met up with the rest of the group for another Bahian cultural show. The show was unreal and was definitely a step up from the first show in Lençóis.

Our next city was Porto Seguro, and then came Rio de Janerio, the City of God. When most people think of Brazil, they think of Rio de Janeiro. I was interested to see it for myself and was definitely not disappointed. This was the most beautiful city of the trip. The location of the hotel was great and it was only a 10-minute walk to Copacabana Beach. We took of advantage of this, going there to swim and play soccer during free time.

The second day in Rio de Janeiro was spent touring some of the famous sites of the city. We started off with a tour of the Rocinha, the biggest favela (generally used term for a shanty town) in the world. It was interesting to see how these communities work and thankfully due to military presence the previous week, we did not see any sign of gang activity or drug trafficking (other than graffiti and motorcycles without license plates). Extreme poverty exists in these communities, as well as a growing middle class.

The following day, we visited the city’s two most famous tourist attractions, Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) and Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf). Unfortunately, both were surrounded by thick fog and there were periodic downpours. We made the best of it though, taking pictures during the 5-second periods when Christ would reveal Himself. However, the fog was so thick at Pão de Açúcar that we couldn’t see its amazing views of Rio de Janeiro and the surrounding islands.

On my northeast trip, I not only visited some of the greatest tourist destinations in Brazil but also made 51 great friends. After spending a full month travelling together, with many long days on the bus, we grew together as a family. One thing I love about exchange is having friends in all corners of the world. I now have friends on every continent (less Antarctica) who have invited me into their homes if/when I visit their country, and I have mirrored the invitation.

Shortly after returning from the Northeast trip, we celebrated Christmas. The day after returning to Iturama, I went with my host family to their apartment in Uberlandia to spend Christmas with my host mom’s family. I wasn’t sure what effect spending this holiday season in Brazil would have on me. What I found was my first real dose of homesickness. It was tough skyping with my family on Christmas Eve, seeing them sitting down for the dinner that for the first time in my life, I wasn’t able to be part of and enjoy. However, my host family was amazing and really made me feel I was a part of their family. My Brazilian Christmas definitely felt different, but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless.

This is also the first time I’ve been abroad for a Canadian winter (my favorite season) and not been able to ski. From a very young age, I have enjoyed the sport of skiing and to miss a season is tough. However, this is something I accepted when I was selected to go to Brazil and as a substitute, I have made the move to playing soccer.

Early into the New Year, after being with my first host family for five and a half months, I moved in with my second host family. I have really been enjoying my time with them so far. Here, I have three older siblings; an 18 year-old brother, a 20 year-old sister and a 24 year-old sister. They have been very friendly and often invite me to go out with them and their friends, especially my host brother who I play soccer with most days. My host parents José Humberto and Julinez own a successful Shell gas station in town. The business keeps them busy, but I have had some great times with them. They also hosted an exchange student last year and my host dad is my local exchange official. I have been very lucky to receive the host families I have and will never be able to thank them enough for everything they have done and are doing for me.

Rotary and its youth service club, Interact provide several opportunities for community service work. I have started work at a home for abandoned, and mostly disabled senior citizens, which is headed by my last host mom. There, I play the card game Truco (massively popular in Brazil) with a group of men who are avid players. Some of them have been playing the game for over 70 years. Also, my last host mom recently purchased a computer for the home, and I will teach the residents how to use it. There is also a soup kitchen where Interact members can volunteer on Saturdays. They work off a shift system and it has not been my turn yet. However, I have asked to start volunteering regularly and my first shift will be this Friday.

As I pass the halfway mark in my exchange year, it really amazes me how fast the time has gone. People say time flies when you’re having fun, and well, I’m in Brazil. I am truly grateful for the opportunities Rotary has provided for me and I hope to show this in the months to come. Although I have been slacking lately on updating my blog, I will pick it up as I go back to school and get back to normal routines. To see what I’ve been up to here, you can go to jasonnashbrasil.blogspot.com. I would love to answer any questions you may have for me and you can reach me at jaynash_@hotmail.com. Thank you to everyone involved with my exchange.

Jason Nash

Exchange Student

Sponsored by The Rotary Club of Collingwood

jaynash_@hotmail.com

Avenida Coronel José Felisberto 1155

Boa Vista

38280000

Iturama, Minas Gerais

Brasil