hello again everyone!

Well, Sunday was a pretty eventful day... at about 10am Camila (my host-sister) and I headed out to meet mom and dad at my mom's sister's house (mom and dad left the night before). When we arrived, my mom and dad came up and gave me a big hug and kiss… just like I was part of the family… My mom's really funny… She's actually kinda like my real mom, which is kinda scary… But, she looks nothing like her: for starters, my host-mom is five-feet tall-with her shoes on… second of all, she has jet-black curly hair and dark, dark skin to match her nearly black-colored eyes. She's adorable. ANYWAYS---My aunt lives on a farm right outside Araçatuba. It seemed like my whole family must've been there… in actuality, my mom has 8 siblings and my dad has 5… not to mention that they all have families of their own…so really, not even close to my whole family was there…but my grandmother, my mom's two sisters and their families were there…

We sat around and talked and ate REALLY good food… (note to thoughse who do not know: Brazilian food is NOTHING like Mexican food)… at nearly every meal your going to have beef (not ground beef), beans, and white rice… of course they have different "sauces" to put on it… but they don't use tortillas… or chips n salsa… and nothing is spicy… anyhow, I thoughught I should clarify that early on… anyway, the farm is right off the Tiete river and it's very beautiful… RANDOM-did you know that pineapples grow off of a plant from the ground?!?!?! I really must get a picture of this next time we go out there- (according to Camila we go to my aunt's house nearly every weekend)-you truly can learn something new every single day!!! I'm sorry, I'm still in shock over the pineapples… I ate pineapple almost every single day in Thailand and I always thoughught they grew on trees… ya know, kinda like coconuts… anyways… back to Sunday…after we at lunch we had this drink called "garapa"-it's made out of sugar cane you put lime in it to off-set the sweetness… it was REALLY good. We came home and chilled for a little bit before heading off to the mall. Mom bought me this really cute shirt that I'm gonna wear at my first day of school tomorrow.

After the mall we headed to my dad's sister's house and chilled there for a couple of hours…*special note to Hannah…I have a little cousin who is also 12 years old… he makes the best grades in his grade at private school… he's working diligently on learning English (which he actually speaks very well for his age) and he's really cute… ;-) I think I've found you a PFA (Possible Future Husband!!)-there's a good sister for you! Thinking of her sister before herself! Anyways after my aunt's house, we went to the pharmacy to pick up some medicine for my absolutely terrible allergies… I don't even have any allergies in the states (except mushrooms, cream cheese, and cats)….oh… did I mention that my host-family has a very cute Siamese CAT?? Anyways…Today I went for a walk with my mom and read my book "Reading Lolita in Tehran" and slept… I start school tomorrow and I'm still trying to recover from my jet-lag…

I'd love to hear about your lives… so feel free to email me!!

Much love,
Kati