Another month has gone by and a lot has changed for me, including my schedule; I am a lot busier nowadays. Here is my schedule for the week:

Monday — school: tutor English class

Tuesday — school: help babies/children with disabilities swim; Rotary meeting

Wednesday — school: play basketball with children at a community center; help babies/children with disabilities swim

Thursday — school: help babies/children with disabilities swim

Friday — school: go out with friends

Saturday — go out with friends

Sunday — rest

My very busy schedule is really an advantage in helping me keep my weight down while still enjoying the calorie-laden food here in Brazil.

Another big change for me is I am becoming a lot more independent because I am picking up much more of the Portuguese language.

Last Friday, for the first time, I went out with my own friends and not friends of my host family sister, Abigail, or brother, Renan. We went to an event that happens in my city one week of the year called “Semana da Moda” which means “Week of the Model.”

In the United States, we would call this “Fashion Week.” During this week, the local fitness club is turned into a fashion show with a runway, photographers, fashion models and anything that a real fashion show has. Clothes vendors from all over the city ask local people to model their clothes. Everything from children’s wear to lingerie is displayed on the runway.

While at the fashion show, I met a lot of new people and everyone was really nice. I have noticed that Brazilian people my age find it really funny to say “I like big (insert body part in English here).” I leave the parts to your imagination. I really enjoyed making all those new friends and feeling comfortable in my new environment.

It also was fun because everyone wanted to try and speak English to me. It is amusing to hear Brazilians speak English because their accents are so strong and they usually use the wrong words or the right words, but the wrong tenses. I especially like to hear sentences with a lot of “th” sounds in it because the Portuguese language does not have this sound. Everyone usually pronounces these words with the “f” sound; for example: “somefing” instead of “something” or “I fink” instead of “I think.”

Speaking of pronunciation, I also did something very exciting that additionally boosted my independence: I taught my English class all by myself!

I was asked to take over my class when our teacher had a doctor’s appointment in another city and she had no one to cover for her. Usually, I come to the class and help the teacher explain the meaning of words, but this time I went over the students’ homework with them and taught them how to pronounce the “th” sound.

I know that you are all probably thinking that if you know English, it’s not going to be that hard to teach. However, teaching is a lot harder than it looks. Keeping the class’s attention and trying to memorize a lesson plan is way out of my league, but I believe I did well.

When the class was just about over, I asked the other students to teach me the words we had worked on that day in Portuguese. They really had a good time hearing me mispronounce Portuguese words.

In the beginning of my stay here and throughout September, I was really homesick, but now I am feeling a little more at home.

The people here are very nice to me. Although, initially, my host family treated me like I was a lot younger than I really am, they are giving me a lot more independence now. I am now able to go out by myself and soon I will be able to go to different cities. And, oh yes, Guga Fabron (who was the Bremerton Rotary’s inbound exchange student at Bremerton High School last year) invited me to a Halloween party in his city, which is scheduled for Nov. 1.

Leave it to Guga to have a Halloween party the day after Halloween (though I guess it makes sense to have it on a Saturday). I am already searching for a costume and I believe my host mother will be OK with letting me go.

Until my December column, Tchau!

Adriana Alexander’s next column will appear the last Saturday of the month in December.