Cultures Shocked

Michelle Jane's World of Erotic Writings(Bookshelf One)

nobody@vox.com(eroticamichelle) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:56:54 -0700

Price: $6.99	ASTONISHING EROTIC STORIES-Sexually-Explicit Content Category: Erotica By: Michelle Jane Size: 1527 Kb Her clit protruding from her crack could be clearly seen, and it was the biggest clit Joe had ever seen in his life! Probably the most exciting thing that happened was a much unexpected visitor to the girl's shower. After everyone had left for the day... More Details

Price: $7.00	Beauty is Skin Deep Category: Self-Improvement By: Michelle Jane Size: 269 Kb Know all about your skin.How to take proper care of your skin and look younger for a longer period. This is not just another book. See the Free Sample and then buy the book. It has been prepared with the guidance of the experts.... More Details

Price: $2.00	Collection of Erotic Stories (Book Five) Category: Erotica By: Michelle Jane Size: 164 Kb Warning: This book is strictly for the readers above 18 years of age. There are sexually-explicit photos with the stories. Children must not be allowed to download this book. There are various stories with erotic language and photographs. The extreme... More Details

Price: $2.00	Collection of Erotic Stories (Book One) Category: Erotica By: Michelle Jane Size: 139 Kb A Collection of Erotic Stories(Book One) 1. A Professional Job 2.Relatives 3.My Friend 4.The School Girls 5.Married Women Warning: These stories are for the readers above 18 years of age. There are explicit pictures of sexual positions as well. Please... More Details

Price: $2.00	Collection of Erotic Stories Book Two Category: Erotica By: Michelle Jane Size: 144 Kb These stories are stictly for adult readers. There are explicit pictures which may not be good for children.... More Details

Price: $2.00	Collection of Erotic Stories from Real Life Category: Erotica By: Michelle Jane Size: 191 Kb Warning: This book is strictly for the adult readers. There are sexually-explicit pictures with the stories. Keep children away from this book!!!... More Details

Price: $2.00	Collection of Erotic Stories(Book Four) Category: Erotica By: Michelle Jane Size: 196 Kb This book is strictly for the readers above 18 years of age, for there are explicit pictures with the stories. Warning: Children should not be allowed to download this book.... More Details

Price: $2.00	Collection of Erotic Stories(Book Six) Category: Erotica By: Michelle Jane Size: 358 Kb Special Edition-Indian Stories This book is strictly for the readers above 18 years of age. There are sexually-explicit images with the stories. Warning: Don't allow children to download this book.... More Details

Price: $2.00	Collection of Erotic Stories(book three) Category: Erotica By: Michelle Jane Size: 176 Kb This book is strictly for the readers above 18 years of age, for there are explicit sex images with the stories. Dirty Step-Mother Bombay Fuck Sexy Heaven Sex in the Afternoon Our Exams She was my Neighbor My Story before Marriage......etc.... More Details

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another counters siggy pic

nobody@vox.com(Amy) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:41:15 -0700

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Let the games begin!

nobody@vox.com(RubyJewelStone) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:05:05 -0700

On Tuesday and Wednesday, instead of normal school, we had the "Jogos Internos" in honor of the Olympic games. In other words, it was like "sports day" type of thing which most importantly meant no school! Also, rather than going to the Colégio Villa Lobos (my school), we went to this sports club called ADELBA. My usual batch of friends decided to sit this one out since I guess they didn't find sunburns and losing at all the games to be very appealing...plus, I don't think emos like the sun very much...(yes, there are emo Brazilians! They deny it, but I know one when I see one, :P )

In any case, as wonderfully athletic as I am (which is, not at all...), I decided to go. After all, I'm the exchange student, and I only have less than a year, I can't afford to say "não".

Well, for the games, my class was "Greenquipe", and we lost quite badly. Plus, we had to wear these horrendous, fluorescent green shirts. As a matter of fact, when someone handed it to me the day before, I could only just gape at it in a mix of horror at the oversized montronsity. However, I couldn't stare too long, since it would end up blinding me.

So I woke up, with second thoughts about going, since I really REALLY am not a morning person. But I ended up going anyway, and the first game up was volleyball, so all of a sudden, I get there and people drag me to a sand pit with a net, and pantomime to me to take of your shoes.

And I know some people must be thinking "Oh, Sherise, you've played volleyball before, you did really good right?" Uh...not quite. Remember...

I'm not athletic

I'm not a morning person

I'm not athletic in the morning

It's been about a year since I've even touched a volleyball

So, needless to say, I got benched rather quickly, and we lost anyway.

But the boys were even worse...the soccer game was very painful to watch. I began to wonder if they were planning on getting the ball away from our goal at any point...just saying...it might of helped...

Other than our less than outstanding performance, I never realized that people in other classes recognized me. Usually, I blend in until I speak, but I guess word of that American girl got around. But that's cool, it's nice to meet people outside of my usual entourage. And while very immature, the people in my class are really quite funny and very much crazy as with seemingly everyone else in the school.

Oh, and nothing is more hilarious, than when they try to speak English (well...except for my awful Portuguese, of course...) The Brazilians seem to have certain predispositions in Pronouncing things. As a result, you have teacher sounding like "cheacha" and beach sounding like...um...a female dog. And then they can't figure out why I am always laughing in a conversation about the beach.

Anyways, if all else fails, to get a laugh, I usually start singing one of two songs that are very important to Brazilian culture.

The Book is on the Table

Beber, Cair, e Levantar

And now you're probably wondering what the heck that was...Well, in Brazil. Lot's of times, people take English classes in school, but they aren't very good. However, the first phrase everyone seems to learn is "The book is on the table." I don't know why, they just do. So, I dare you to find a Brazilian and say "the book is on the table" without earning at least a smirk.

As for the Beber, Cair, Levantar. Well, bar is Portuguese for...bar. And I think the rest of the video is self explanatory with the lovely stick figure movie. And I swear I am not a drunk over here, it's just a very popular song. :)

Anywho, in other news, in the aftermath of the Jogos Internos, apparently, I have a boyfriend. I have absolutely no idea who he is where this came from. But apparently, you are not supposed to blow kisses at random people. Oopsie! So now I guess I have a boyfriend/stalker... I am still getting used to this culture. Everyone runs around kissing each other on both cheeks, but if you blow a kiss it means something? And here I thought I was just saying hi. Lesson learned.

For now, I'll use my innocent gringa americana status, and pretend that I don't know a thing until it all blows over. Ah, these crazy kids! Was I that boy crazy at 15 and 16 too?

Anywho, all in all, I had a great time, but now I'm back to regularly scheduled school...Lord help me. I am so lost. But I am happy to say, that it does get better every day. I can almost understand the words coming out of the teachers' mouths. But my listening comprehension needs a lot of work.

On the bright side, I can ready pretty okay. Yay Spanish class, the Latin stems that exist in English, and words that look the same in both languages like decorations=decorações or computer=computador.

Originally published at Countdown to Out of Town. You can comment here or there.

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First Day of School

nobody@vox.com(RubyJewelStone) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:24:05 -0700

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(This entry is originally from 14/08/08)

It was my first day of school today, so that meant I had to actually get up early for the first time all summer. So, to be safe, I got up even earlier than the suggested 6:15, so I think I got up at about 5:30! Since I took a bath the night before, I only had to just throw on some clothes and I was ready in about five minutes. So, with my extra time I went on the computer to go and find some more information about my school and bus route, but, of course, I can never stay on track when I go on the computer, so I just messed around until it was time for breakfast.

Soon enough, it was time to go. I thought that I had to take the bus, but I misunderstood. Fortunately, it would appear that either my host dad or host mom will be driving me to school in the morning, but I have to take the bus back.

Thankfully, spared from the walk and the nervous dread I would have to face in finding my stop, I hopped into my mom��s car and we were off. To my surprise, we stopped by a friend of Bianca��s, named Caline. I didn��t know we were making that stop, and I was wondering why we were going the wrong way!

Anyways, Caline is in Bianca`s class and she lives close, so I was simply supposed to follow her all day. Nevertheless, my host mom told me to pay attention in case I need to make the trip alone.

When we reached the school, we went inside and directly into the lion��s den classroom. I looked very lost, as I stumbled in quietly and hesitantly after Caline. The other students seemed pretty uninterested and didn��t pay me much mind other than a curious and brief glance as I passed by.

I tentatively took my seat, and sat there squirming with apprehension all the while. It was irritating. I like to be reasonably in control of things, but I��m here in Brazil��a country that I know very little about other than some shallow knowledge gleaned here or there from various sources before I left. But ultimately, I didn��t really know what to expect!

From what I heard, Brazilian school kids are loud, outgoing, immature, crazy, and unruly during school��yet here I was sitting with a bunch of quiet, well-behaved student, who were sitting pretty calmly and paying attention to the teacher and everything! Not really expecting that! Then suddenly, the teacher asked me something. I was not really paying attention, since overload of words I had never heard before was going straight over my head, so I couldn��t even try to piece together what she said since by the time I realized she was addressing me, she was done. But apparently the timing was humorous since when I said ��que?�� it set off a round of boisterous and over-the-top laughter, and just like that I was thrust into the spotlight. If no one realized the intercambista was here, then they certainly knew now!

Nevertheless, it was not nearly as crazy as I had been led to believe. However, the incident set off a fuse.

We continued onward through the Portuguese lesson��it was something about poetry. The teacher handed out copies, and pretty much read from it, verbatim. It was then that I noticed that noone seemed to be bothered about bringing books. It was a relief, since I had no idea what classes I had, and all the books in Bianca��s room looked quite burdensome to carry.

In any case, I read a little, and I think I got the general idea of it, but not completely, since there was apparently a composition we were supposed to do. Fortunately, I was excused on account of how clueless I was! Eventually that class ended and well��remember the fuse metaphor? Well, one of the girls gestured for me to come outside.

*KABOOM!*

It was all a big blur. I was being pulled every which way, introduced, hugged, kissed asked my name repeatedly and it was all very crazy. All the class breaks afterward went similar. And there were a lot of questions about celebrities and Britney Spears. Even in the classes were like this, most of the day I was surrounded by a group of girls trying to meet me.

The chemistry teacher spoke English, so she kept saying something to shut up the class before turning around and proceeding to talk to me, which I found ironic and funny. But she was nice.

After that there was another break and I fot the grand tour. It`s a nice school. It has sports, music, dance, a stage downstairs, a recording studio, a pool, a food court, a shopping center, a university, and even a travel agency!

Back in class there was a quiz on some book or story called ��Minha querida canibal��. I never hear of it , so while I understood the questions somewhat, I put all kinds of nonsense answers like ��Falsa, Europeans don��t eat people.�� And ��Eu nao sei!!! J Desculpa!��

Then there was lunch break. I didn��t want anything because I have little money left and I could always eat something at home for free. I met some more people like Bianca��s devoted boyfriend (he even wears a necklace with her name on it, how sweet!). Then a group of us hung out in the library a bit. Conversing was a mess, but at least I understood something every once in a while.

Oh, and my nailpolish got a lot of compliments. I didn��t realize, pinkish-purple was such a hit! And they liked my watch too.

The last class was quick. They told me that the teacher is very sexy, and then other told me that he is gay. Of course, not that it matters to me, he��s not my type anyway. (But if he��s gay, then I��m CERTAINLY not his type, lol!) Anyway, I��m not sure he realized that I was even in the class. It was very noisy and crazy, and I don��t think he bothered teaching. He just kind of sat down. I was laughing to myself because the girls, were moving their desks up close to the front. The boys stayed in the back and just talked and the remaining girls that were not infatuated just sort of sat back and played on their cell phones or iPods.

School ended and while out front, I handed out some business cards I had in my wallet which earned remarks of ��Oxente!�� and ��que lindo!��

Then after buying my school shirt, I took the bus home with Caline and Flavia. I got a little more Portuguese practice, since she doesn��t know that much English.

After such a tiring day, I got home and took a nap!

Of course, I got up later and called my mom for the first time since I got here since my parents left for vacation in Grenada about the same time I left for Brazil, and they were pretty unreachable the whole time.

Tchau :*

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Originally published at Countdown to Out of Town. You can comment here or there.

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First Day of School

nobody@vox.com(RubyJewelStone) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:19:05 -0700

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(This entry is originally from 14/08/08)

Anyways, Caline is in Bianca`s class and she lives close, so I was simply supposed to follow her all day. Nevertheless, my host mom told me to pay attention in case I need to make the trip alone.

When we reached the school, we went inside and directly into the lion��s den classroom. I looked very lost, as I stumbled in quietly and hesitantly after Caline. The other students seemed pretty uninterested and didn��t pay me much mind other than a curious and brief glance as I passed by.

Nevertheless, it was not nearly as crazy as I had been led to believe. However, the incident set off a fuse.

*KABOOM!*

The chemistry teacher spoke English, so she kept saying something to shut up the class before turning around and proceeding to talk to me, which I found ironic and funny. But she was nice.

Oh, and my nailpolish got a lot of compliments. I didn��t realize, pinkish-purple was such a hit! And they liked my watch too.

School ended and while out front, I handed out some business cards I had in my wallet which earned remarks of ��Oxente!�� and ��que lindo!��

Then after buying my school shirt, I took the bus home with Caline and Flavia. I got a little more Portuguese practice, since she doesn��t know that much English.

After such a tiring day, I got home and took a nap!

Tchau :*

Originally published at Countdown to Out of Town. You can comment here or there.

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My first few days

nobody@vox.com(RubyJewelStone) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:59:05 -0700

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Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:59:01 -0400 (EDT)

Okay guys I'm finally here. I have neglected posting but here is the journal of my first few days.

It was finally here! The day of my departure! Of course, I was not able to savour it as there were a lot of last minute things to do! So I fought all night with iTunes in order to get it to sync some movies to my iPod. After all, I had a loooong flight ahead. And to my horror, the sync was not finished in time when I had to leave. So, grumbling and cursing Apple for condemning its consumers with the most fussy mp3 player ever, I cancelled the sync, ejected, got my stuff, and left.

Now that I was at the airport, I was unusually calm, which is more than I can say for my family. My aunt, mother, sister, cousin, and nephews were there. And my aunt and cousin were fussing over the fact that I had my purse open and telling me all the stuff I already knew as if I had never seen an airport before (Mind you I have traveled plenty of times both domestic and abroad��INCLUDING by myself with none of that silly ��unaccompanied minor status�� and I��ve fared quite well so far.) Nevertheless, they insisted on giving me packing tips while IN the airport and already checked in. Then they proceeded to tell me all about how I will get robbed because I left my purse open for two seconds even though I had it safely sitting between me, my huge football player sized nephew, and a semicircle of doting relatives. Give me a break...

In any case, I finally left, and of course my mother cried as I hugged and kissed everyone goodbye and went through the security gate. I sat for a moment and then it was boarding time, I was off tooo....

Washington D.C.!

No, I am saying it right. I flew from Miami and UP to D.C. to go to Brazil. But don��t look at me, that was the travel agent��s doing, I��m not going to question their judgment...But to satiate everyone��s curiosity (seriously, every single person that I tell jumps back in horror), I just say in a matter-of-factly tone, ��to meet the other exchange students, there��s about 50 of us flying together from what I heard.�� There. End of conversation, sure they could have flown to Miami, meet me and THEN go to Brazil, but, like I said, I not questioning it. I��m here, and wishing that I didn��t have to sign a contract condemning me to the exact route back despite the fact that TAM has a direct flight to Miami every Sunday, as many (seriously, many) enjoyed informing me.

But who really cares? It��s Brazil!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Rotary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But I digress, so I was in the airplane now. The flight attendant was a former exchange student with Rotary. She recognized the characteristic Rotary blazer. I entered further and I heaved my overweight carry-on overhead, thanking God that I didn��t have to weigh it. I took my seat and asked some guy behind me how long the flight was. He didn��t know, but fortunately a middle aged couple sat beside me. A white lady with too much mascara and a tall black man with a cool-looking hat. I greeted them. Mind you, that this is very significant, as I almost never talk to strangers unless prompted (a fact that earned me a $#^& you ^$%&!!! the day before from some rowdy perverts when I walked home in Miami the other day.) In any case, they didn��t know the time the flight would take either (not like it mattered). I found out that they were on their way to Rome, and they traveled frequently. It was about then that the pilot hinted that something in the plane��s navigation wasn��t working and that they were going to fix it quickly in about 10 minutes, but its okay since they budget minor delays like this into the flight time.

At that point, I turned on my iPod to listen to my music, and to my horror there were no songs since it decided to delete everything, and the new movies did not sync. I reallllllly hate Apple and its amazingly inefficient iPod Touch syncing. (That��s right, I said it! I only bought the wretched thing because it had WiFi and I wanted to get a new nice cell phone after I returned, so go cry fanboys and fangirls! Steve Jobs is officially on my list...)

So, music-less, I sat squirming in my seat with nothing to distract me until the pilot announced that they didn��t have the part and that they were going to ask Jet Blue to borrow it.

Minutes later, he said that they didn��t get it, and then the flight attendant tried to do some damage control and encouraged us to wait. Everyone started grumbling and I chatted with the couple some more. They were worried since they only had a 2 hour layover in London to begin with and the plane has been grounded for 30 minutes and counting. As about 40 minutes passed, people began to leave to try and get rebooked on other flights. I sighed and went into my huge carry-on since I remembered that I brought my old mp3 player so maybe I can practice some Pimsleur...no luck...so I gave up and listened to some FM radio built-in to my ooooold mp3 player as I wondered why Apple consistently refuses to add it when iTunes sucks so bad. Eventually, I got bored with it as the couple going to Rome got their things together. It was an hour now. I wasn��t worried about the delay since Bokoff-Kaplan (the travel agency) sets really long layovers (bless their very intelligent hearts)! However, the plane was about three-quarters empty, and when I asked a flight attendant about the possibility of cancellation, she muttered an extremely vague answer and then muttered something unknown thing in Spanish. Not very encouraging...

I sat down twitching and looked at my phone. The chipper girl in front of me who was on standby in the first place and probably the only person on the plane without a connecting flight was starting to annoy me. They had to fly in the part from San Francisco! Things were not looking good... I called my mom who may have been hiding happiness at the prospect of me coming back, hung up, went into the overhead and pulled out my overweight carry-on bag of doom, then and went into my handy-dandy exchange binder to try and track down the number for Bokoff (which I later realized was on the departure packet in my purse). So, I called and told the representative about my dubious flight, but she advised me to wait it out and if it got cancelled I would have to wait the next day. I hung up horrified at the prospect of making a bunch of long distance calls in broken Portuguese to explain my rescheduled flights, and went on to call my mom again and tell my sister��who lives in D.C. with some mysterious chemistry job for the government��that I would have to rain check on that free lunch she was going to take me on during my formerly long layover. I hung up praying that I the flight would be only delayed after all, and sure enough, the flight attendant told us that we were changing planes! This was announced while I was talking to my mother, to boot! I��m happy it was then since that meant that I only had to hold my cell phone to the plane speaker and she heard everything, so I didn��t have to re-explain.

With a sigh of relief I gathered my things and made my way to the new gate trying not to lose the tiny ticket stub that��s supposed to grant us entrance. I got in the line and started chatting with a girl while simultaneously updating my status on Facebook and the Cultures-Shocked website. We laughed at the irony that the new plane was delayed as well. Eventually the flight attendant finished (their excuse was ��cleaning��) and we boarded. Lo and behold! Who sits next to me but the enroute to Rome couple! Their connection was shot at this point.

With new flight, we got to D.C. painlessly. I got off and made my way to D-1 to check-in with the Rotarian, Mr. Wilcox. He said that they were looking for me, and asked to see my ticket, that stuff out of the way, he said I could drop my stuff there and walk around. Having nowhere in mind to go, I dropped my stuff beside an empty seat and sat down. Then two friendly boys introduced himself. One advised me to change some money into reais (Brazilian currency), and then when I asked how far down it was, he offered to walk with me. (Exchange students are so nice!)

So, we went down to the currency desk with a small gaggle of exchange students. My escort and I had a laugh at the mini personalized license plate one girl had on her back, and I said I thought it was cool, and then I suddenly recognized the girl and the other one she was talking to. It was Tess and Sarah from Central New York! (I couldn��t come to the last orientation in Florida, so I did a make up in New York.) So I tapped them on their shoulders and we had this whole ��OMG! You��re here and I haven��t seen you in forever�� moment in the airport and then my escort took an opportunity to escape (Geez...were we that bad? Haha!).

So, they waited for me to change the money as the poor, overworked lady tried to hunt down some reais to handle all these exchange students enroute to Brazil. But we me freshly armed with $60 USD worth of reais, the Central New York girls and I went our merry way back to D-1. As I got there, there were a few more students. I looked back and suddenly hear my name as Florida��s own Lauren Keister aka ��Tangerina�� (her capoeira name) waves. And no sooner when I see her and run up I spot Zazu, who calls me Ruby, and she quickly points out Adrienne and tells me that Suzy is around. Those last few names probably meant nothing to you, but other than Lauren, I met those girls through an exchange student website called Cultures Shocked. They are all from New Jersey and they were handled with Bokoff Kaplan as well. Then of course, I saw Asia and Becca from Florida. To my surprise, Andrienne and Lauren already knew each other, but then I realized OF COURSE they do I since already introduced them on Orkut (think Facebook/Myspace but with Brazilians).

On that note, I waved at Kyle from Buffallo, New York who��s actually going to the same district as me, but a different city. And then I asked a girl from Bermuda about Capri Wilson from Bermuda as well who is coming to my district. She would be going to Lauro de Freitas which is just north of me. As a matter of fact, her school is closer to my house than my own school! At this point, I went back to poor Sarah and Tess who sat amazed at my ability to know like half the students already.

It just goes to show that I don��t have to be freakishly outgoing to make friends in exchange-student-land, just be lucky and have Facebook/Orkut.

So, then I go to my bag and pull out my trusty custom pins. I swear that exchange students can smell them! As soon as I did, about 20 heads turned at the jingling sound, and as I handed one out, everyone went mad. I was like, whoa! Who knew they would be such a hit? So, I jumped-started the pin trading a bit. And apparently, people really love me and are quite willing to wear it on their blazers!

It was time to board, and so we made the long trek to our actual gate. My arm was very tired from that overweight carry-on. But at last we were there and boarded. We sat there chatting amongst ourselves as we waited, and I made fun of the Canadian, since she really said ��eh��! It was cute! As a consolation, I let her make fun of my ��yall.�� In any case, it was a joyous occasion, we were on the plane to S��o Paulo, and I had two seats to myself!

Well...except, about 15 minutes later a tired looking boy, named Keith, shuffles through the ailse and stops beside my seat. So much for my free seat... In any case, as an extension of goodwill I start the applause off (since I make sure we applaud when we find missing students), and I offered him a business card and his choice of pin. But he��s greedy and chose the sketched AND the ��I love/Eu amo Sherise�� pins. But hey, at least he asked nicely.

I found out he��s from long island New York and going to S��o Paulo, making him one of the lucky few with no more connecting flights... (Although I can��t complain, some kids had to actually change airports!)

I watched a movie on the personal TVs, amused myself with the XM radio, and then watched Kill Bill which was the only thing still left on my iPod. So now ��Bang Bang�� from the opening credits was stuck in my head all night��even at about 3 am when I checked the map on the TV and saw that we were over Guyana. After 9 endless hours of very uncomfortable chairs, and accidentally turning our seat neighbors into pillows in the middle of the night, we FINALLY reach S��o Paulo. I have never been so happy to go to customs in my life! Well��except for when the Rotarian that��s supposed to be watching us gets detained, and leaves us all standing there dumbfounded until he came back. Oh the irony!

Then we finally go through. It was so cool as the border patrol person said ��Vai!�� and understood it. (And believe me! At my level of listening comprehension in Portuguese this IS exciting...) So I move right along to baggage claim. I grab a cart and quickly collect the huge blue suitcase. Then I sat there in apprehension waiting for my red duffle as the huge crowd dwindled until it was just me and two other exchange students. Together we form the lost baggage club with Keith leading with BOTH bags lost which totally overshadows mine and the other boy��s one.

In any case, we filed the reports and the man assured us that it would be mailed to us. Apparently, mine never left my first airport. But at least the man was nice enough walk with me and he even taught me some Portuguese as I waited in the customs line. ��Eu perdi minha bagagem.��

On the bright side of all of this, I only had to heave one suitcase through the airport to check-in.

With that out of the way, the remaining students that didn��t run off somewhere, stayed together, so I met some more people and gave away some more pins and cards. There was an outbound Brazilian who thought we were her group, and then another girl who got to say hi and bye to her host family. It would seem that her family was on the way to the U.S. that day and leaving her with a temporary family.

A few of the students went on an adventure to buy coffee and we were amazed by the real glass cups, until they had a spaz out moment figuring out that they give them directly back to the counter. Then I gave my pins to the student that I don��t remember seeing before, and one complimented the one I drew. Yay! Flattery! Oh and there was a guy with his violin. How brave! I couldn��t imagine putting an expensive instrument through this journey.

Eventually I had to make my leave. I made my way to the gate, well, until the lady watching up ran up and told me I was going the wrong way. So, making my way through security, I go to the correct gate...well at least it was the one on the ticket...As I reach to the gate it was boarding time, but I saw neither line, people, or even plane! I asked the man at the desk if he spoke English, but I wasn��t that lucky. Fortunately, asking ��Onde????�� and showing him the ticket was enough to get the point across. Evidentially, there was a gate change. So going to the right gate, I got on the right plane and it had no problems.

What a relief...

I was happy to see a man speaking English on the first row (I sat diagonal to him on the second row). He was from Las Vegas and visiting his fianc�� in Salvador. Nice guy. He wasn��t an exchange student, but he fell in love with Brazil when he did the Semester at Sea program in college. We had a nice chat through the flight when I wasn��t cooing in broken Portuguese at the cute little toddler in the front row. Then as we walked out and toward the baggage claim, there were people waiting with bracelets and this instrument thingy that made a cool sound. Mr. Vegas said, ��There go the Baianos!�� so I guess that��s what they are called.

I got my bag, happy that it arrived even though is was a struggle to handle, and made my way out. Now it was time to meet my family. I walked out slowly, and tried to close my jacket a bit to make the Rotary logo more visible since it was open as the button decided to pop off earlier in S��o Paulo. (Uh-oh, am I getting fatter?) As I reach the end of the line, I hear a soft ��She-ree-see?�� I look and see a dark haired woman and a blonde little boy. This is my host mom and host brother!

I��m here! I��m really here!

My host mother went somewhere quickly, leaving me standing with my new brother. He said something, and I didn��t understand a single word. Yipes! Outsmarted by a 9 year old! Let��s restart this, I explained that I didn��t speak much Portuguese, and then asked what his name was, it took about 20 tries to pronounce it right.

Then my host mom came back and we were off to the car. On the ride home, I tried to hold a conversation with my limited Portuguese. It was very hard, but I got through! My pronounciation sucks! It seems books will only take you so far. I think I did well, especially since verb conjugation book, and big dictionary were in my other luggage that vanished, and I completely forgot my crutch��err��I mean phrase book!

My host brother is sooooo cute though. I never had a little brother before. I have nieces and nephews but they��re old enough to have more attitude than I can handle especially since they��re American :p.

When I got home, I was so pleased to see that the house is gorgeous! And there��s a hammock in the living room! I met my host father as he was building an amario? (closet with drawers?) In any case, I was tired, so I unpacked, took a shower, and went to sleep. The next day we would be going to the family��s other house.

In any case, what a day! Getting there is certainly half the fun!

And the moral of the story is that exchange students are nice but, bring nice pins and they will jump you!

Beijos,

~ Sherise or Shereesee now...I guess silent e��s don��t exist here...even words without e��s seem to get e��s at the end as shown by my brother��s attempt to say ��cook��. He says ��Cookeh�� Soooo cute!

Day 2

I woke up, at about 6. My host cousin and roommate had arrived sometime during the night. But I just lay there in bed until the sun rose and then I got up and greeted my host mother. ��Bom dia�� is pretty to say. I should wake up before noon more often.

I took some picture of the house and host mom let me take a walk around the condominio. It is a nice place, a woman was up early taking a power walk. We are also next to a park and some empty area that they were using for a ��festas�� the night before. So I suppose Brazil was singing my arrival!

I walk around the whole neighborhood. There weren��t many people out since it was still pretty early. Also, it is a very guarded area with a automatic gate at the front, and a electric fence and/or a wall with broken glass on top surrounding the whole thing.

When I came back, I found out that it was father��s day here. I wish I had a good gift!

I wished him father��s day in in the Portuguese my little brother taught me moments earlier. Then we ate breakfast, and my host dad found my broken Portuguese and my host mother��s broken English very humorous. Afterwards I relaxed on the hammock and Leo (my host brother) wanted to show me something. I still have no idea what is was, I just smiled, nodded, and said yes.

Then I watch a bit of the Olympics until it was time to go to the beach house. It was very pretty like a home out of a magazine, and there was even a maid. There was a little black boy with about 6 years named Paulo, who I later found was adopted. He kept staring at me. I guess maybe because I look normal, but I speak so weird.

There was also 15 year old girl who goes to the school next to mine, and later came a young boy and a girl at 16 and 17. Also there was a woman who spoke English, since she was an exchange student to Minnesota. I feel bad for cheating, but she turned into my translator.

The highlight of the day was me eating an octopus and my host dad asking if I like it. Well it wasn��t bad, but my brother��s explanation that is was like bubble gum was a bit unsettling.

All the adults went to take a nap while Leo and Paulo disappeared to the beach or something, leaving me with all these teen. It was an interesting and desperate conversation. Somehow despite their lack of English, they managed to ask me about George Bush.

Later we took a walk to the playground. And my host mom decided to go on this tire on a cord where you slide down. It was funny until the security guard told her to get off, then it was even more hilarious.

We came back and it was time to go. Leo fell asleep on me during the car ride, soooo cute! And now here I am typing three days worth of journals.

I hope my bag comes soon. I want my phrase book, real journal, and Bible. But I guess the fact that I got so far without my books is a feat in itself. Now, my next adventure is to figure out why this computer doesn��t like my digicam.

Well, at�� logo!

~ Shereesee

P.S. - Oh, and a cool thing, is that I just realized that my host mom used the itinerary that I translated instead of the orginal. Yay! I did it right, and she apparently understood, because I��m home! There��s hope in my Portuguese yet! Now to work on that tricky speaking part. I think I have writing it pretty good already, since I put my keyboard into Portuguese mode as soon as I found out my country so now I know where all the keys are with out looking. J�� eu sei quando todos os acentos fica! ^`��

Originally published at Countdown to Out of Town. You can comment here or there.

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And then there was one...

nobody@vox.com(RubyJewelStone) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:36:06 -0700

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Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 03:36:02 -0400 (EDT)

Well....This is it I'm about to leave in about 10 hours.

I'm so excited that I can't even sleep!

In any case, my dad left this morning to Grenada. My mom will join him on Sunday. So I had to say goodbye early once for each door we passed. One by the bedroom, one by the front door, one by the gate, and one for the car door.�� Whew! Well at least I know I'll be missed!

Other than that, I went to my Rotary Club today. It was fun, I loved being able to say "oh I'm leaving tommorow!" The power in that "tommorow"...so cool!

Also, I decided to put in a "happy dollar" today. (Happy dollars is this think that my club does where they pass around the pouch and people can put in donations as small or large as they want and as they do it, they can share somthing with the club.) So, I decided to take the opportunity to brag about leaving and saying that "I won't need dollars anyway, I need reais!"

Sure enough, the Brazilian members took note and suddenly produced 2 reais! So now it shall be my lucky reais.

Also, I got to see the lady who's picking up Supas Sheth after the meeting. That was pretty cool since I had been speaking to him on Orkut (it's like the Brazilian or Indian version of myspace/facebook). So I gave her an extra business card of mine to give to him. It's took bad I'll miss him as he comes in, but I have things to do!

In any case, after the meeting my mom took the scenic route home and I was snapping pictures like crazy. I really don't have enough pictures of Miami the city. So I was trying to get some nice skyscraper shots as we drove down Biscayne Boulevard. Interestingly enough, there were a lot of strikes happening too. I suppose there's trouble in paradise...

Finally, I got home, changed into some drab clothing and went to get my hair and eyebrows done. After all, I wouldn't want to go to Brazil looking all messed up. I already have 27 hours worth of flights and layovers to do it for me.

When I got home, my best friend, Priscilla surprised me with a visit. It was great. My chheks are hurting from laughing so much! I'm glad we got to see eachother. I've always been so busy lately...But I can't believe I had to say good bye. I gave her a Halmark card and a pin to remember me by. I'll miss her...

Then my godmother and godbrother dropped by to wish me goodbye and give me a birthday gift of a gorgeous leather journal! Very nice!

I also have gotten goodbye calls, texts, and facebook messages. Yet, I haven't gotten all blubbery yet, maybe I am still in disbelief...

Oh well, I better finish packing...the flights in hours....

Originally published at Countdown to Out of Town. You can comment here or there.

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3 days and I'm being nerdy...

nobody@vox.com(RubyJewelStone) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:36:05 -0700

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Well I'm trying to mess with this blog so I can be all up and ready to go for a year and not worry about it. Who knew crossposting would be such a pain? Especially, since the php seems to keep disabling each other! Gah!

Originally published at Countdown to Out of Town. Comment there.

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2 days...

nobody@vox.com(RubyJewelStone) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:34:05 -0700

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Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 02:34:02 -0400 (EDT)

Well, I do believe it is FINALLY starting to sink in. I'm leaving.

I felt queasy all day. I'm not sure if it was nerves or malnutrition from living off of cereal and kool-aid for the past two weeks (especially since my dad figures that the house doesn't need food since everyone's leaving soon since my parents are vacationing in Grenada.)

I spent the day meticulously combing through my travel documents and important e-mails, making sure to follow them closely. After all, I don't want to get into more trouble before I even leave...

Then, I put the finishing touches on my packing. And now I wonder how petite little 5 foot me is going to carry all that through the airport. But I can't lighten up, much since one of the the dumb bags, itself, weighs 15 pounds when empty, and it's too expensive to buy some new luggage right now, so I'll have to work it out. Then the third leg of my flights I might end up paying overage fees since TAM supposedly only allows one, according to the travel agent. I hope I have enough money, since I'm not sure how much it costs since both the site and phone representative were VERY confusing...

Besides that, I did some more nerdy blog stuff and updated my Myspace. I try to cover all my bases.

Anywho, I really should be working on my Powerpoint presentation that I'm supposed to do for when I get there. But I seem to be doing everything but...

Originally published at Countdown to Out of Town. Please comment there.

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Exchange is like a Long Distance Relationship

nobody@vox.com(Amy) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:07:59 -0700

Exchange is like a Long Distance Relationship

Exchange is like a long distance relationship.
You stumble across them,
and its love at first sight.

You cant touch or hold,
but you can stand from afar
and look at pictures.

You can pin them on your wall,
a flag and a coat of arms! and find that
wikipedia does nothing except
fuel your obsession.

You plan a way to go and see
for yourself. You have a countdown
until you meet your love.

A love like none other
is your lusting for this.
Wonderous and exciting,
as you walk into unknown territory.

The first time you meet you
are stunned and overcome with
shock. And as time goes on...

...you discover the real love that you share.

by Amy Taylor

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