Bio

Leesa's Bio

Some of my interests are playing volleyball and wakeboarding. I love the water and every chance I get I surround myself by it. I also enjoy cooking desserts, reading and going to parties. I can’t wait to start my journey because I know that there are only good things to come!

I would like to thank a few people who encouraged me along the way. Marcelle Debande because the moment she met she had me interested in youth exchange. To my parents who were behind me every step of the way and who have pushed me to learn the language as much as I can. And mostly to Robert Lauer, an inbound during 05-06 who gave me the strength and encouragement it takes to be an exchange student.

Beijos

Leesa

October 4 Journal

These past two months have been some of the greatest times in my life. They’ve gone quickly but I can honestly say that I have enjoyed every minute of it. It still feels like yesterday when I was saying goodbye to my family at the airport but I think the hard days of missing them are almost gone. When I arrived I received a very warm welcome from my host family, at 3 a.m. I was very tired but they were all awake and ready to greet me with a banner and lots of pictures. When I got home they had a full course meal ready for me.

My first two weeks here were great and filled with excitement. I attended school on my second day and it was hard because I had no idea what the teachers were saying or anyone else. I met a lot of my host sister’s friends here and I joined the volleyball team. My first friends here were people from my school who had been past exchange students. For the second weekend I was here I went to Salvador for Inbound Orientation and it was a lot of fun. There aren’t a lot of countries here but it’s still a fun time and the city is great. We went whale watching and toured the city of Lauro de Freitas. I had a great time and can’t wait to go back to Salvador again in November.

One of my favorite activities here is being on the volleyball team. I learned so much from my fellow team mates and had a great time doing it. The past two weeks have been a sort of tournament with sports including volleyball, basketball, handball, footsol and soccer. My team won our first match and there were so many people in the stands! It was very intense watching everyone root for us and it really was a blast. I have become friends with the boys team as well because we have practice right after them so I went to the boys games as well. The girls team didn’t make it very far but the boys team went all the way to the championship match. It was so exhilarating and fun and when the boys won we all rushed out onto the court and congratulated them. The celebration of the win was a little strange though, we went to the shopping mall and bought 75 reals worth of JUNK food. It was a great time.

Every day here, there is always something fun and exciting going on here. Between volleyball, Portuguese class and going out, I can barely find enough time to sleep! Brazil is awesome and I can see why so many exchange students choose it here because these people have bigger hearts than I could have ever imagined. When I am in doubt of the choice I made, all I have to do is look out my bedroom window at the view of my city and then everything makes sense.

November 5 Journal

Brazil is everything I expected and more. I have spent three months in Brazil and they were absolutely fabulous. Sometimes I feel like I have been here for three weeks and other times I feel like I have already been here for a year. It is November but I can honestly say that it doesn’t feel like it because I keep expecting cold weather around the corner, but here it's never going to come.

I keep very busy here because there is always something to do or somewhere to be. A few weeks ago there was an Interact Forum in Salvador. We took a bus there and stayed in a school all weekend. There were a lot of fun activities and an Arabian party! I met a lot of great people and bonded with a lot of people from my class. I haven’t been able to really see the city of Salvador but in two weeks I’ll be going for the International Youth Exchange Conference and I can’t wait!

This past weekend my host family took me to Barra Grande, an island off the coast. The only way to get there is by boat and the ride there was beautiful. The island itself is small but it’s a really nice beach town. We stayed in a pousada where the beach was about a 3 minute walk. It was a great time with my family and a lot of nice, quality beach time. My family was really worried about me and the sun and because of that I must have put sunscreen on every two hours. But I still burned. The weekend was great and I was really grateful that my family took me.

At the end of this month I have to change families but I have mixed feelings about it. I absolutely love the family that I am with. I have two little sisters who I adore and host parents that are great. I know it's going to be hard but I already know the next family and I know they have a lot to offer as well.

Summer is next week! This week is my last week of school and then I am off until February. I have a lot of travel plans for the summer and I’m really excited. For Christmas I’m going with my counselor’s family to an older city. For New Years Eve I’m going to Salvador and then for ten days I’m going to the beach! A lot of my friends here have beach houses so I’ve been planning a lot of trips out to the beach!

November 30 Journal

Last Friday was four months in Brazil for me. That’s a long time. So I thought I would catch you up on my life. Sunday is moving day into my second host family. I know it will be a hard transition for me because I have become very attached to them. My host-mom, Clara, is amazing. I feel like I have truly been accepted into the family as one of them. Except for the fact that I don’t have dark skin, and dark hair. We spend a lot of time together, which is something I am grateful for. Every day at lunch we are together and it is something that I did at home so it is nice to keep the same tradition going even in another country.

Now for the food portion. I love it. For breakfast there is usually bread, cheese, fruit and some kind of cake. I usually eat the fruit because the papaya here is so good along with mango, pineapple and some native fruits that aren’t in the US. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and we usually have chicken or carne de sol (a type of steak but not exactly) with beans and rice and usually another type of vegetable too. After lunch we have fruit or a sweet made from fruit. I plan on bringing back the dessert, goiabada, to the US for everyone to try because it is nothing like anything I have ever had in the US. At dinner we have soup or bread with cheese. I’m in the state of Bahia and the local food here is acarajé. It’s gross to me, but everyone loves it. It is a bread ball filled with corn paste, crab and tomatoes. It looks like a giant grease ball to me. My favorite thing is pão de quiejo, cheese bread. It’s not famous in this state but we eat it a lot. Brazilian food is one of a kind and I can’t wait to share a little of what I have learned when I get back.

Lately I have been trying out some of my recipes from back home on my family. I made chocolate chip cookies and they were a hit! The strangest thing for me was having them for breakfast and then watching my mom put cheese with them. Last week on Thanksgiving Day I wanted to make an American dish, so I made sloppy joes. When I was explaining them to my parents I called them Barbeque Beef Sandwiches so my dad thought I was having a ‘barbeque’. The word barbeque translates into churrasco in Portuguese and to Brazilians, churrascos are a ton of meat and a ton of beer. He told all our friends are relatives that we were having a ‘churrasco’ and he kept inviting a ton of people over. I had to explain to everyone that it didn’t translate exactly and that it was only a sandwich. They turned out great though and as side dishes I had sweet carrots and salad. On the bun my host dad was about to put the carrots on but I quickly said ‘No, those are just a side dish!” It was an interesting meal. But they liked it so much they asked me to make again this week!

The city I live in is on the poor side and I have seen some interesting stuff walking around the city. The other day I was with my friend Gabby and we saw a homeless women peeing on the street. She was wearing a skirt and just went for it at about 3 in the afternoon. I came to a halt and just stared, I seriously couldn’t believe my eyes. And then when we passed her she asked for money. About ten minutes later a poor guy came about one step away from trying to grab my drink out of my hand. When you see stuff like this, it makes me thankful for the things I do have in my life.

I walk EVERYWHERE!! My house is pretty much in the center of town and it only takes about ten to fifteen minutes to get somewhere. When I walk into town I usually see a couple people that I know. I like this fact because I now feel like I have become part of the city and that I am no longer a foreigner.

My social life is one of my reasons for loving Brazil. Even though my city is small there is always a party on the weekend. Sometimes I don’t get in till breakfast, which is something I feel truly explains the Brazilian way of life. No sleep, ever! I have met a lot of people at parties and it's always better knowing people when you go out. The other weekend I was able to go to Salvador for the Youth Exchange Conference and I had a lot of fun. For the whole weekend I was with other exchange students and it was an interesting experience being around people from all over the world. I met a lot of interesting Rotarians as well and I am excited to be able to keep up contact with them! It’s an interesting thing to be able to make contacts all over the world only at the age of 18. It makes me excited to be able to keep my journey going when I get back to the USA!

School is over for me! … until February. I have been off school for about two weeks and have enjoyed the time off a lot. I don’t like to sleep in too late so I usually wake up and go to the gym and then after lunch I do something with my friends. I haven’t started any traveling yet but that will pick up about the middle of December. I can’t wait to travel because I will be seeing two other states and cities that I have never been to. Don’t worry though, I will take lots of pictures to share with you!

Áte logo! Beijos!

March 14 Journal

So it’s been a while since I’ve written and I have a lot to tell you! So get comfortable. My ‘summer’ here was amazing. I was fortunate enough to travel and see a lot of things that Brazil has to offer.

For Christmas, I went to a smaller city in Brazil with my Counselor’s family. It was a beautiful little town and it was different for me as well because it was cold! I actually had to wear a sweatshirt when I was waking around the city. I didn’t expect to be cold for Christmas so it was something different for me! On Christmas Eve we did all the celebrating. All the stores were closed early and around 10 p.m. they started the celebration. They played a slideshow of last year's Christmas which included an exchange student so they were used to having someone who wasn’t used to the culture! We did an exchange of gifts and then had a big feast of traditional Brazilian food. It was delicious! After we stayed up and talked for a while. On Christmas day we went to a local resort to go swimming. I was amazed because everything was open! It was just as if it was another day to them. That was very weird to me. I loved Christmas here and it was nice to spend it with my Counselor’s family because they were so open and welcome.

New Years Eve was not what I expected it to be. You don’t hang out with your friends on New Years. You spend the time with your family. I was with my family which totaled to be about 40 people. When it turned midnight we all gave kisses and hugs and then ran out to the beach. We were singing and you jumped 7 waves for good luck! We had a huge party and then stayed up all night long listening to Brazilian music. For the next few days I stayed at the beach house with my family because everyone here gets a month vacation from work! I hope to bring this custom back to the USA!

On January 15 I went on a trip where I was able to see a lot of the countryside. I flew to Rio de Janeiro and met Luana Duarte. I was able to see Copacabana and the famous sites of Rio! I was only there for the day but while I was there I kept thinking in my head, “I can’t believe I’m in Brazil.” It was so beautiful in Rio. After a day there I went to the state of Minas Gerais in the city of Juiz de Fora. I spent time with Luana in her town and saw how she lived. Her town and her family were a lot different than the people of Bahia (my state). When I met Luana for the first time I barely knew any Portuguese and when I saw her this time we were able to speak in Portuguese and it was an amazing feeling because I never thought I could actually learn a language this fast! After being with Luana for a week we drove to Belo Horizonte (the capital of Minas Gerais) and I met my host family there. They were spending the week there for a family wedding. We went shopping and I bought so many clothes! In Belo Horizonte they have a lot of inexpensive things and I got so much.

The Brasilian wedding I went to was really interesting. They had a maid of honor, best man, flower girl and ring bearer. At the beginning of the ceremony the ‘madrinhas’ and ‘padrinhas’ walked in. There were a ton of them! It included grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins! There was beautiful Brasilian music that played throughout the ceremony that I fell in love with! At the reception after, it was a huge party! The dinner wasn’t served until almost 11 PM and the band played all night long. They played a variety of music including a lot of American music but at the same time they played traditional Brasilian music of forra, ahocha and funk. I had a great time and we stayed there until 3 AM. Every single person was asleep in the van ride home, except me. The next day was a churrasco for both of the families to join and it was only an excuse for the Brasilians to have another party!

Onto Carnival… AMAZING!!! It was one of the best times of my life. Three days of partying in Salvador with 8 other exchange students. Every day around 5-6 we would leave the apartment and head to the mall area. The entrance to the parade was near enough to walk. There were vendors selling everything you could imagine… from backpacks for liquids, t-shirts to enter the parade, food, drinks, lighters, gum… anything! We had our t-shirts on and were in the block “eu vou”. You found your block and you could enter because the t-shirt gave you the entrance. And it was soooo hot! Within 5 minutes I had already started sweating but it didn’t really matter because so was everyone else! You were in the block for around 5 hours and by the end your feet hurt really bad and all you wanted was water! But it was some of the best days and they went way too fast. Carnival wasn’t over when I returned to my city so I went to my families and stayed there until the end. I got in a few more days of sun before school started!

Going back to school was weird after being away so long. I was able to see people that I didn’t get to see over the summer and I really enjoyed it. I actually missed school because it gave me a regular schedule that I didn’t have during the summer. Over the past few weeks I’ve been going to school and hanging out with my friends after. It is weird to think that my time here is almost over! I would like to think that somewhere in my future I will be living here in this country and that one day I will be able to call Brasil my home and that it lasts for more than one year! Eu amo Brasil.