Two weeks ago I had a whole week of holidays from school! I didn't really know why I had holidays but I for sure didn't complain! One day was the birthday of Mato Grosso do Sul's sepration from Mato Grosso, the other was "Dia das Criancas" or "Children's Day". On those two days I went to the Pesque Pague with my host mom and helped out there. One day I washed plates for about five hours but I wasn't bored because there are always things to do! I like that!
In the morning Lais and I got up early to go buy stuff for the Pesque Pague such as soda, limes to flavor the fish, and LOTS of beer!!!! Beer is probably the best selling item at the Pesque Pague, even more than fish! haha!
I went with her to buy worms at a little fishing shop. I went to the same place on my second day here in Campo Grande and it was cool because this time I actually knew what was going on and I wasn't completely terrified and shocked by every little thing! EXCEPT these huge worms!!! The family who owns the shop thought it was funny to see an American laughing and squirming at all the enormous worms! They found me the biggest one they had and had me hold it to take a picture and laugh at me!! Pretty awesome!
Ahhhh! It's so fat!! It kept squirming all over the place!
They let me hold this fish that some guy caught!!! It's so ugly and it was so heavy!!!! But it's ok because I'm super buff.....haha just kidding!
How cute! haha! This type of fish is called "dourado" or "gold fish"!!!! Yeah, I'm not even joking!
Later at the Pesque Pague I caught this fish!! It's huge!!! I almost couldn't reel it in!! It was so heavy and it was flopping around so I had a hard time picking it up! I think everyone thought I was pretty crazy....the American girl screaming, "Pegei um peixe, EUUU PEGEI UM PEIXE!!! AHHH!!" (I caught a fish, I CAUGHT A FISH!!!!) I was laughing so hard!
The little girl with me is named Julia and she and I went fishing for a long time together! She's so cute! She would throw the line in, wait three or four seconds and take it out and most of the time the bait would fall off. She would scream every time, "Ele comeu, ele comeu!" (He ate it, he ate it!!) And so we did that over and over until I put the bait on really tight so it wouldn't fall off and then we decided the fish weren't hungry anymore!
My fish!!!! I can't believe I caught it!!! And do you want to know what I caught it with? Not with power bait!
I caught it with three of these berries called "amora"!!! They're exactly like blackberries except more sweet and they grow on small trees! So now everyone knows that instead of going out and finding worms or using bait, just use some blackberries and you've caught yourself a huge fish!! My Dad is really jealous right now I'm sure.....hahaha!
At night, more fish arrived at the Pesque Pague in a huge truck! They opened the hatch and tons of fish and water burst out all at once!! It was way awesome!
They picked out a big, fat fish flopping around for me to hold!! I couldn't do it! I was screaming and laughing too hard! Wadi, (Lais's nephew or my cousin) had to help me and he was laughing too! I think everyone at the Pesque Pague now thinks that Americans are nuts!
During the day I helped take care of Wadi's son, Gabriel! He is the cutest thing ever!! I have never heard him cry! I'm going to teach him English! I only speak to him in English and then everyone else speaks in Portuguese....I bet that baby is super confused! haha! He's adorable!
Saturday my friend Jean came home from the temple in Campinas, Brazil after spending a week there with the caravan. It was good to be able to hang out with him again! I was so jealous that I couldn't go to the temple! It was also his sister Caroline's 18th birthday so they invited me to her birthday party!
On the left is the bishop's family, then me and Jean, then Caroline, in back is Guilherme, then Ana, then Lehi. Caroline and Jean's mom made two delicious cakes - pudim and brigadeiro!
Playing poker with the Bishop!!! It was super fun! (Next time we're inviting President Monson!! haha just kidding!) The bishop's daughter won and I think I came in second or third if you can believe it! But I really didn't know what was going on....I showed Jean my cards just about every round and did whatever he told me! Hahaha! Poker is really confusing...especially trying to learn in Portuguese!
Sunday, Caroline received her Young Women Medallion! I went with her family to their ward congratulate her. This is the whole family - plus me!
Jean, Caroline, and I!
The Young Women's President is expecting a baby!! Everyone is super excited!
On October 17th I went to my school's graduation! It wasn't an actual graduation because we all still have to go to school - it was just symbolic. When school actually ends everyone is going to be travelling around taking tests for different universities so they have to have the graduation ceremony early.
It was a really special ceremony! Each student was honored in a little way by coming up to the stage one by one with a song they chose playing in the background and a picture of when he or she was a child and then a recent picture showing on the screen. They had one girl come up and thank God for all He did for the students during their time in school. I thought that was beautiful! They had another couple students come up and thank the parents and then each graduate gave their parents a heart balloon and a hug. It was a really cool moment! I really enjoyed it! I also was a little sad because I will never get to participate in my own high school graudation. But that's ok! I'm in Brazil! How many people can say they got to spend their Senior year in Brazil???
At the very end all the graduates did the Gangman Style dance! My friends Laura, Ingrid and Ricardo are leading in the front! They wanted me to dance but.....it was just too awkward!! hahaha!
One day at school a Samba group came to play for us! Brazil is famous for Samba music and Bossa Nova! I loved it! The music is really beautiful and fun to listen to!
Don't worry too much about missing high school graduation. I mean yes.. people say it's a once in a life-time experience, but it's just really long and actually quite boring. :) The only thing fun about it is the fact that you've gotten to that point in your life, you know?
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