Well it's been an exciting three weeks here in Brazil!
I've had time to bond and really get to know my family, time to adjust to the Brazilian way of life, and I've had time to learn a lot about myself.

The day after I arrived, we received another exchange student from Thailand who was to stay with us temporarily until they found her a permanent home. Three weeks later, still without a host family for her, I realized that I didn't want her to move. We had all fallen in love with her, and with her we have experienced everything together. She is now part of Aomsin (my sister) and I do everything simultaneously from getting ready in the morning, to going shopping, to eating popsicles- it is kind of like having a twin.

Throughout the three weeks my host mom and I have gotten really close. I've learned to trust her with everything, except of course with nail polish colors! My two younger brothers are still sweethearts, and we have lots of fun together surprising Aomsin and messing around. Celine is so cute and I completely adore her when she isn't waking me up with her high-pitched screams at 6 AM on the weekends. My father is also very nice, and although I only see him at night and on the weekends, he always takes me to the gym and he comes to watch me play soccer. His English is very bad, and with my Portuguese, our conversations are always very interesting!

On the topic of my Portuguese, it's coming along. I am understanding more and more everyday, and although my grammar is god-awful, people usually understand what I am trying to say. My English-Portuguese dictionary has become my best friend, and you can always find me with it.

School has become a time frame in which I must entertain myself, because I don’t understand half of what my teachers are saying, and we have not received our books yet. I've gotten very good at drawing, and I have started a collection of lists of everything from what I need to do today to what I would like my mom to send me from Irvine. And at this point I could probably be considered a professional napper, as it is my most favorite past time.

As far as social life goes, it has been very nice to meet new people. My best friends along with Aomsin are Gabriela who is always smiling, Leon; the German exchange student, and Andriw; just generally a good person. Two weekends ago we had a Churrasco, a Brazilian barbeque, and invited a few of our friends over for food, the pool and music. It was a ton of fun and of course the food was delicious!

This week vovo (grandpa) is visiting, and the boys are so happy to see him! He is French and so he has an amazing accent, as well as the cutest way about him!

I hope you all are doing well, I would love to hear from you!
Love, Frankie

Also, I will upload photos when this site decides to let me, but if you have time, check out my Facebook for tons more photos!