Ever since I arrived in Brazil people told me I was going to
love the month of February. They were right. At the beginning of February I
moved to my next host family. This is the host family that owns a gym and has
been letting me study jiu-jitsu during my exchange year. They have been
wonderful and I will be sad to leave. But the highlight of February, if not
this year, is carnival. Carnival is tough
to explain because its radically different than any holiday in the US. The
general idea of carnival is that the entire country celebrates (partys hard)
from morning to night for 4 days straight to welcome in a year of happiness.
Part of the reason the celebrations are so wild is because during these four
days many social expectations are dropped, such as gender roles.
My schedule during carnival more or
less consisted of me waking up, training jiu-jitsu, and then quickly getting dressed
in drag (as is the tradition) to go to a parade. These parades drew huge crowds
of people that followed a bus with a band on the roof. The band played samba
and everyone danced. I am disappointed to report that after much dancing, I
still cannot dance samba well. After this parade I would go down town or to the
beach (or both) with my friends and dance some more. We usually didn’t make it
home until well into the morning. But
the most important part about carnival is the atmosphere of the country. During
carnival, an extremely friendly country becomes even friendlier. Everyone talks
to everyone and everyone is always doing something. You never stop.
Despite
these amazing four days, February also held something much more sinister:
School. Shortly after carnival my summer vacation ended and school started,
much to my disappointment. Because the Brazilian school year is opposite of
ours, I am now with a new class because the last one graduated. But I was
already friends with many people in this class so it has been an easy
transition.
There
haven’t been any other landmark events this month but I will mention I am still
training jujitsu every day. I spend a lot of my down time at the beach, as my
new house is right next to the ocean, or with friends. Can’t complain!
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