oi gente tudo bem??

faz tempo que não falei com vocês!! obrigada por seus emails e eu espero que vcs ainda estão se divertindo MUITO!!!

eu tenho um cd aqui com fotos e um filme de nós no Niteroi que o Fabio, Webber e JP fizeram, mas eu não sei como eu posso mostrar ele pra todo mundo..

nós ainda vamos nos encontrar no Rio antes de ir embora? seria legal pra ver todo mundo de novo!! tenho certeza que vcs tem muitas historias pra contar..

espero que todos vocês estão bem, falando português e curtindo muito o intercâmbio.

beijos

Annabel Xx

yes helloo!!! its been a while ay.
i am still in brasil (i came THIS close to being sent home recently but i think they realised how much of an asset i am to the country.. ) and am still having a great time.

things here have become slightly more interesting as my brother (Junior for those of you who haven't read the other parts) is currently going through a rebelious stage and was involved in a HIGH SPEED POLICE CHASE on his motorobike the other night. haha hes top quality.
in brasil you can only get your licence at 18, and as junior is a minor (he's 17) hes actually breaking the law by riding the bike. the other night a police car was apparently following him and his friend geovanne, and yelled out to pull over. when they didnt, the car came up beside them and the policeman pointed a gun at them and told them to pull over. junior thought "fuck this" and sped off at nearly 200k/h with the police car behind him, left the girl who was on the back at her house and then sped home again. his friend wasnt as lucky as he got arrested and his bike was confiscated. though it would have been worse for junior as not only is his dad a policeman, but he was also on the road illegaly.

alls well that ends well though, and no-one was hurt except geovanne's bank account as he had to pay R$1000 to get his bike back.

junior is also due to be expelled from school tomorrow. he and his friend Buteco are apparently trouble-makers, and Buteco was expelled today. Junior only wasnt because he didnt tell his dad the school wanted to talk to him. when he does, luiz (our dad) is going to murder him. poor little thing. it sure makes things here more interesting though. haha dont you just love the level of compassion..

aside from that things here are pretty chilled. still working hard for FREE and loving the kids more and more each day. we put up all the christmas decorations yesterday and its completely tranformed the place.

this weekend we have a party called "Indareta" which is apparently the biggest party to happen in Mato do Grosso do Sul (my state), and which people from all over MS will come to. im part of a "bloco" (which i guess is a bit like a faction..) called the "gorilas" (its nicknamed the exchange student block as the president of our AFS region is the co-ordinator). there have already been about 3 "pre" parties which were great - beer is free when you go with a bloco, and apparently the two this weekend are going to be HUGE as its the real thing. will let you know how that goes.

anywayz keep emailing me - i love hearing whats going on down under (and other places if you're not in aus)
missing everyone heaps. love you all lots and lots.

Bella Xx

Dear diary readers,

I´m not sure if anyone is actually reading this, but in case you are here´s the story so far:

On the 23rd August our brave little Annabel set out (running late for a change) on her long journey to the other side of the world. The flight took FOREVER. I stopped in Sydney, Auckland (which is in New Zealand for those of you who didn´t know..), Santiago, São Paulo, another one starting with S and then finally, at 11:30pm on 25th August, arrived in the city of sun, sand and sex: Rio de Janeiro!

The other exchangies had already been there a week, so were more than willing to share their Brazil wisdom with the new innocent, naive Australian.
The first thing I learnt about (after having already been 'attacked') was the most popular sport in Brazil: kissing. Here kissing is not reserved merely for couples or friends. It is fine to kiss anyone, anytime, anywhere.
If you´re walking along the street a guy can come up to you and say 'Excuse me, I think you´re beautiful *(though this part is optional)*. Can I kiss you?'. And then, depending on your response, you can kiss and then just keep on walking as though nothing had happened. There is even a name for this popular pass-time: 'ficar', which means 'to stay'. It is basically a no-strings-attached make-out session with the person of your choice for an indefinite period of time (depending on how long both parties are willing to continue for), with the agreement that things will not be awkward the next time you see each other, and that your feelings will not be hurt if you see them with someone else the next week, day or even hour.

The guys here, aside from being very forward, are very forceful, so I have also learnt that it is perfectly acceptable to push, hit, kick, punch, scratch and sometimes even bite a guy if he is annoying you.

Another important lesson I have learnt is to have no sense of embarressment or self-consciousness whatsoever. The Brazilians are really a crazy bunch. If they hear music they stop what they´re doing and start dancing like lunatics. At first I felt awkward when this happened, because they really do lose all sense of self-control and shake and twist and jump around like there´s no tomorrow, which for someone who is not expecting it can be quite shocking, but I think I´m more accustomed to it now, though I am yet to join in one of their 'lose control' sessions..

All good things must come to an end though, and on the 3rd September I left the beach and the boys and the booze (by that I mean Rio) and came to Dourados (a small town right in the middle of the country).
Here I am living with a family that is completely the opposite to what I´m used to at home. My 'dad', Luis José, is a federal policeman who works 24 hours every one out of 3 or so days. I think he is also a bit of a player as he has about 50 female 'friends', and everytime we go out to dinner or something, a different one always joins us. He´s pretty cool though he seems to be a bit ditzy, and is always out at a party or a friends house.

I have an older sister (which is weird because I´ve always been the oldest), Tatiana who is 19, though she looks and acts like she´s about 12. She´s a typical Brazilian - very dramatic and emotional and noisy, and has mood swings like nothing you´ve seen before. Aside from that she´s very nice and we get on well most of the time. She´s a lot of fun to hang out with and we have a good time together which is good.

I also have a brother which is a completely new experience for me. His name´s Luis José too, but we call him Junior. He´s 17 and he´s a really cool guy. I like hanging out with him and his friends because it´s a nice break from the drama of everyday life with the Brazilian women. He wants nothing more than to get out of Brazil and he´s decided he´s going to marry my sister (yes Bec that´s you), so that´ll be interesting.

So now you are updated on the current Annabel situation and I hop