chappetta

July 7 11:45 P.M.

So, only two more weeks untill my departure, and buy the time I finish writing this, only 13 more days! I'm so excited. It's hard to describe. It's even hard for me to understand it myself. In two weeks I also face a HUGE lifestyle chance and unimaginable sadness. A whole year. That's a long time. I won't spend nights at the mall or go to AMC theaters anymore. There won't be the obligatory pizza every friday night. No more YAG, Set Design, and all the other extricurriculars I did that basically made my year. Those were what I went to school for, not my classes. I met so many new people this year, and it's hard knowing that I'll be missing a whole year of their lives, and that many I may never see again.

Anyways, a journal should be kept to record what you did that day, so, here I go. I woke up this morening at 10:40 to the sound of a jackhammer in an ajacent room. Maybe not quite a jackhammer, but remodling a bathroom takes some kind of drill and it was keeping my frooping eyes awake. I manages to sleep throught it for the next hour but eventually forced myself out of bed at 12:20. Morning routine, blah, blah, eat a small lunch and was shuttled over to Beck's Catering to work until closing.
Even after working there for a year, there are still things I've never learned a still mess up. Luckily, because it is 4th of July week, buisness was slow. Dead slow. Slower than it ever should be on a Saturday when everything is half off. I was working with Marie. I think she thinks that she's better than me. Well, not that, but that she thinks she's ranked high enough that she doesn't have to dishes. Whatever. I'm find with doing the grunt work...you get a lot of bonuses. Anyways, we ran out of ones at one point, so I went to exchange some money with the other vendors. ALl was good. However, maybe an hour later the same thing happened. "Ray, can you see how many ones you can get with this 10 dollars?" "Marie, I did it last time, why don't you do it." "But I don't wanna!" "Do it!" It continues, and eventually another vendor was just like "I give you the money!" O well. Come on Marie, if I can go to Brazil for a year, you can get some change!

Later on, I was stopped by Georgina, a Venezualan woman who owns Georgina's Mexican (I'm sure Mexican sounds better than Venezuelan) Cuisine. "Ray!" she said. "You are goeeng to Brasil, noh?" I nod. "Be careful! There are lots of theives. Doh not wear espensive sneakers...oh gohld...I had a bad experiences. Oh! Oh! And watch out for do H-I-V!" Haha. HIV...I don;t plan on getting that involved!

I got home arounf 5: 20 and tried to organize a way to get to my exchange friend's going away party. She was going to have a few punck bands play and have a trance dance afterwards. My planning failed miserably and it ended up with my parents driving my and my friend Sarah-Cairw both ways. We got there at 7:45, and just hung out. The bands, or band, cuz one copped out, continues to set up as more and more people trickled in. Eventually, maybe at 8:45 the band started to play and it was alright. It was a punk band and the instrumental was good, but I couldn;t understand any of the vocal. I really wanted to see my friend play, but it turned out she didn;t have time because the other band played way to long. At 10:45 Lily, my friend set up a trance dance in a room in a living room type room they had attached to their house. Equiped with strobes, balloons, and techno, it was interesting. It was hard to keep my balance at first but it was good. Eventually 11:15 rolled around and Sarah-Clair and I left. During the whole even, Sarah-Claire wandered around the property, dunked various food products in chocolate fondue and collected those toxic-glow bracelets.

I hope my next 13 days are as eventful!

Where: Farmer's Market
When: Friday July 6, 2007

Man walks up to counter, totally serious, like he's about to buy something.

"Hi!...I'll be back to tomorrow!"

I turn around to Mary. "What just happened?!"

What: On Taking Pictures
Where: Libery Bell Center
When: July 10, 2007

Mom: Ray, the screen when blank, how do I turn it back on.
Me: Press the big button on top.
Mom: This small button? (presses it)
Me: No!! You just turned it off! (turns it back on)
Mom: Ok, I think it's ready.
Me: ...now you're holding it upside down

July 9, 2007 11:39
Listening: Hold Me Now by Polyphonic Spreee
Feeling: Tired

My Day:
So I woke up early today...if you call 10:30 early. My mom's taking most of this week off to help me get ready for my trip and organize my Going Away party. We hopped in our car, put down the top -- it's a convertable -- and rode to Borders. We were hunting for host family presents in the form of books with big Philadelphian pictures. To our disadvantage the "Local" section was about three aisles long... However, we were able to pick our 15 books to look through. I was left on my own to do this after my mom got an important phone call. I started searching and searching, hunting for the perfect book that encompased all that Philly had to offer...but I was comming up short. One was all about wilderness in the area, another was only about murals, and one was about fountains. Why my mom picked out a book about fountains is lost to me, so it was quickly put in the "No" pile. There was even a book about Philly diversity, which ironically wasn't as diverse as I needed it to be. However, after tens of minutes I found the perfect book. I juggled everything about Philly a foreigner might be intersted in. Chinatown, the Mumers, City Hall and the Constitution Center...even fountains.

We promptly paid and moseyed our way to the Chestnut Hill Hotel and sat down to a tasty allbeit noisey lunch. Note to Readers: Chestnut Hill Hotel Resturant should be aware that their fries are near addictive.

After paying the bill we stopped by the party store and picked up party goods. Basically all we could find was yellow/blue/green (Brazil's colors) napkins/plates/cups. Arrange these sequences as nessecary because we got some of each. No other Brazilian type things we available...but I will prevail!

After going home for a while my mom and I left again for another party store...but nothing new was aquired. It was really jsut a teacher's store desguised as a party store.

Next we went to a Korean supermarket called Assi. I was excited because I had heard a lot about it for other people and thought it would be really cool to see. I had the misconception that was like the Farmer's Market that I worked at...but I was really like going to Acme in Seoul. My mom and I felt really out of place. We were probably the only white people in the store. And we're white people that don;t understand the importance of kimchi, arrow root, dreid squid, powdered acorn geletin, and shrimp flavored chips. It was weird being in an entirely new element. I kinda expect that's how it will feel my first few days or weeks in Brazil. We got some pocky, as I think it's called, which is like a small bread stick coated in chocolate/frosting and I bought some peach aloe water for fun. I like exotic drinks. We then made out way to some other area that sold furniture and even had a "Bidet Land" desplay. Bidets...I wonder if they have them in Brazil. I must say it was really uncomfortable because it was one of the few times where I was the minority.

We made our way home after a stop to Target for some toilletrees (spelling, perhaps?) and went home where I have since been lounging. Only 11 more days until I leave!

What: On Jokes
Where: Bus from Reading to Wissahikon
When: July 13, 2007

Olivia: Ok Ok! I got a joke! So there was this kid, and his parents were getting a divorce. The judge asks the boy, 'Do you want to live with your mother?' And the boy replied, 'No, my mother beats me.' 'Well then', said the judge, 'would you like to live with your father then?' And the boy replied, 'No, my father betas me too!' 'Well then,' said the judge, 'who would you like to live with?' And the boy replied, 'I wanna live with the Philladelphia Eagles cuz they never beat anyone'

July 12, 2007 1:59
Listening: My mother singing "My Favorite Things"
Feeling: Refreshed

Days Past:
In my last entry, I believe that I had to wake up early at 10:30. However, that was taken to a new extreme on Tuesday, when I was forced to wake up 6:30. On this occasion, I was going to a Rotary Meeting with a new club in North Philly. I had met the president at my friend, Zoe's, house. The President, Dr. Larisgotia, was also the theripist for my friend's sister, who is autistic. I was introduced to her by Zoe's dad, Mr. D, as he gave the Dr. and I a ride home. Mr. D told her I was studying abroad to Brazil; further prying revealed I goign with the Rotary club. She was very interested, as she was her club's president. It also turned out that she had a contact in Salvador, Brazil, in the area of Brazil I had been hoping to go to, she offered that I may be able to visit there, and she was a ntive or Argentina. She also asked that I visit her Rotary club...so, back to Tuesday...

My mom and I were out o the house by 7:00, and after second guessing our directions, we finally turned on to the seemingly infinatly long 5th avenue, where were passed through Korea Town, and them finally into what seemed to be a more Hispanic section and pulled into Tierra Colombiana, where the club met. We found the club quickly, as they were really the only people besides the staff, and meet to other visitore, Ivar and his wife, and a local member who's name escapes me now. This man was on Spanish/Latino descent and spoke Spanish and English. Everyone was friendly, and it turned out that Ivar was a native Swede, which you could never tell as he spoke perfect English, and had also been an exchange student to San Fran, and was now a Youth Exchange Coordinator in the Pittsburg Area. He meet is wife on her group exchange to Sweden. I was liking these people already.

Soon enough, the other memeber's arrived. Dr. Larigotia arrives, as did another Dr. Her namer escapes me too, she was a bubbly native of Paraguay. There was also Maria, a black woman who was head of Latino studies for the School District of Philly and the moderator of the Interact Club at Edison High. Her native language was Spanish. Later, after we ordered breakest came one more lady who I did not really get to meet. She was sitting on the oppoisite end of the table, but I did learn that she was a teacher at Edison High.

So there we were, a truly international club. Three bilingual people, a Swede, an upcoming exchange student, my mom, and a teacher from an Inner Philly school. It was a lot different from the 40+ white, subuerban crowd I had experienced at the Springfield Rotary club. We said the Pledge of Alligence and a bell was 'dinged' to signal the start of the meeting. I was introduced first. You know the dril: "Hello and thank you...exchange student to Brazil...Uruguanaia is located in the south...I am blessed to have this opportunity." You know, the ususal, but I still love it. It's fun to say, no matter how many times you;ve said it. I'm to excited to be sarcastic about it. Everyone was pretty interested, and being such an international crowd, they had quite a lot to say and even a lot of tips. Some of them were very impotant, like checking my visa to see if it would allow me to cross the border to Argetina.

However, we had to moce on to other things, like fundraising, member recruiting, and other things I really had no say about. It was still really cool and enjoyable, and I said goodbye knowing that I would send them the link to this log and they would check up on it.

Soon I was bak at home, and it was still earlier than I ever wake up. I changed into more relaxed home and headed with my mom once again to Philly. This time, for some hardcore photo ops and gifts from the city.

We made our wak to the Liberty Bell first, being a staple of Philly culture and even featured as the cover photo for the Philly books I'll be giving to my host family. After standing, waiting for my chance to have my picture, and eventually taking it after my mother's failed attempts with the camera, we succeedded with a great picture and only minor spelling mistakes. (I hope you get that.) After picking up a hefty load of Liberty Bell/Philly related gifts, we made out way to the national Constitution center. Although we didn't see the brass statues because we didn't want to by the expensive tickets, I did find the ever painfully looked for Pennsylvania flags that have been so elusive.

Right across the street, we saw the US Mint, so we decided to venture there next. However, we couldn;t go in because I had my camera with me, god forbid someone takes a picture of mass produced pennies. But my mom really wanted to see it so I opted to wait with out stuff as she when in. 10?, 20?, 30? (you loose track of time as you have nothing to do in blistering heat) minutes later she was back and was headed home. It was maybe 1 or 1:30 when we arrive, and it just dawned on me thatI stil could've been asleep by that time. Being hot and sweaty I opted to just just rest in my room and cool off. Nothing reall happened after that, until by my first Wissahikon Pop's Performance.

The Wissahikon Pop's is a summer music program for young (and sometimes old) musicians. The Music is usually about 3 elementary pieces for beginners, 3 middle school / high school pieces, and 3 or 4 jazz songs, which can reange from easy to difficult. Sometimes there is also a string piece, which is ususally cumbersome, long, and, sorry to say, stupid. There was a really lame one last year which featured three string players, but the kick was that they all only used one bow, which tye passed aroung "comically." I've been in the program as long as I have been playing the trombone, so this is 5 fifth year. I've also taken up the tuba this year, sicne they need a tubist.

(it's now July 13 because I had to leave yesterday for a performance at Reading)

I won't lie, but I must be one of the better performers in the band because I've been doing it so long and am one of the oldest. I can sight read the music really well and say, if I was playing 1st trombone one night, but we needed a 3rd trombone the next, I oculd easily pick up the part. Anyways, my first performance was on Tuesday and it worked pretty well. The conductors are hard to follow sometimes, which is even more skewed becuase the younger platers are really bad at ritards (when you slow down). Overall it was a good performance, minus the 120% humidiity.

One Wednesday, nothing major happened. I wen to work, had another performance, came home and watched Top Chef.

Thurday was a little more interesting. I got a hair cut and the Wissahikon Pops were performing at a Reading (pronounced Red-ing) Phillies Game in Reading, PA. These could be fun, but my lack of interest in baseball and the fact that we only played 2 songs makes it kind of boring. I think the only reason I went this year is because I'd have felt bad not going before I leave. So from 3 to 11 I was subject to hilarious vomit stories, band stories, dip-n-dots, water ice, frivolously fried food, dancing animals, ballpark franks, and even some goth kids. I spent the ride home going through pictures on my cameras to the tune of my friend's band camp stories.

And today, I hace rudely awaken at another early time to help my dad put a canopy up for my Going Away PArty tomorrow. And as I sit here I await an ill-awaited phone call to see when I'll be coming into work today. Today's my last day working with customers. I plant to post a picture that's I'll take with my last customer.

What: On Q-Tips
Where: My back Yard
When: Going Away Party July 14, 2007

Sarah-Claire: (reading) The product went through several name changes. It was originally called Baby Gays. Then Gerstenzang made it Q-tips Baby Gays. Fianlly, in 1926, he dropped "Baby Gay" altogether.

July 18, 2007 12:12am
Listening: And then I Died by the Moaning Myrtles (look 'em up! Agora!)
Feeling: The need to feed.

It's been brought to my attention that I make a lot of spelling mistakes. As of now, I don't have the time to go through all my posts, so please deal with my Bad CApitalization, mispeeled werds, don;t mock teh semicolons, etc. for the time being. Haha. Thanks! Oh! And also, I've been playing in the Wissahikon Pops for 6 years, not 5, which I had previously written.

What I remember about Friday was that it was my last day dealing wiht customers at Beck's Catering, my first and last job before Brazil. Ten pretty cool months making money. When I started back in September, I had NO idea that I would be going abroad for a year! At closing I took a picture with my last customer which is proudly posted on this site.

Anyways, on Saturday I had my Going Away party. It was almost super-fantastic...but not quite there. My brother, sister, other family memebers and a bunch of friends were there to celebrate my departure. I got a bunch more presents/money then I was expecting...which was nothing. Let's just say I ws given 1,200 reais, the Brazilian currency...so R$1,200. Haha, R-Dollar, that could be one of my many rapper alias(-es?) among the likes of Youngin' Bling...and I'm sure I have more. It was nice seeing everyone, even it did mean breaking a chair, popping some balloons and mound of leftovers. I was so great to hear everyone say "I'll miss you!!!" and all that sappy stuff because it doesn't feel like it yet, I know I'll miss all of them too.

I can't remember what I did on Sunday, but I know that my Aunt and Uncle were still here. They are really fun to be with. (Yes, Aunt Virginia, I know you are reading this right now!) She and my Uncle Ken helped a lot in the preparation and clean-up of my party. I'll miss you all your great conversations!

Monday and Tuesdays were kind of jam packed. I woke up late on Monday, as I normally do, but that day there was a lot more noise than ususal. I trudged down stair and remembered that we were having a new granite-esqe counter-top installed along with tile/granit accent on the walls. The AC off so were could open the widow and allow the nasty glue smell to disperse to the outiside.

Within an hour I had left the house, ready to party. It was my friends' birtdays. Emily, Caroline P, and Sam has all turned 15 and we and some others were going bowling to celebrate. We took the R7 from Wyndmoor to Suburban Station and took a short walk to Lucky Strikes Lanes. (I had, on the way over, though of another great bowling alley name, Spare Me!.) We climbed to the 3 floor of the modernly decorated building and arrived in a room that at first glance looks more like a club than a bowling alley. I was expecting a big SuperPretzle booth, but no, this place was a full out restraunt/bar and the lanes were more in the back.

To make a long story short, I ended the 1st game with the lowest score, a 42, and ended the 2nd game with the highest score, a 110. I swear that I used to be better, I've just lost my touch. We had some delicious appetizers. Our favorites were these mashed potatoes in like a spring roll wrapper with cheese and bacon. Everyone wanted seconds.

We left earlier than expected because we also bowled faster than expected, so we caught an earlier train back to Wyndmoor, which involved an ill-fated search for a candyshop, walked to Emily's house and sat down for some pizza and drinks. I had to leave early because of a Wissahikon Pops performance, but it was a really fun day. I was a little unnerved at the beginning because most of the guests were people I don't hang out with much, but it turned out great! Thanks guys!

After the performance I went home, and sometime during that time I got a phone call from the Springfield Sun, the local newspaper. The man interviewed me over the phone and arranged a photo shoot the next day. There was so much more I wanted to tell the interviewer than I was able too, but I hope the artivle comes out this thurdays because that would be my only chance to read it before I go. It might be on the internet, so if I can find it, I'll post it online.

I woke up late again on Tuesday and at 3:00 o'clock a photographer came and took a picture of me for the newspaper. I got to wear my red Rotary jacket and hold a Brazilian flag! I think the picture will look great; I'm looking forward to it. Then I had yet another Wissahikon Pops gig. It was yet again humid and hot, although after the performance, I stayed back with some friends and attended a fair of sorts for the local day camp. I got a snow cone, which I had wanted for a while. Yum. And eventually came home. I finished filling my photo album, but I don't know if I'l be able to finish my Penanggalan painting, I haven't worked on it since I started and I'm not feeling motivated. However, I did recieve an awesome sketch book from a friend (thanks Hee-Young!). It's the perfect size--small. I've been looking for one that size for a while but have never been able to find one.

In other news, I've been meeting a lot of people from Brazil and Uruguaiana over Orkut, which like a Facebook that every Brazilian and their mothers have. I'ce meet my host sisters, host aunt, several classmates, and a few people who haven't told me how they will know me. This will make meeting people way easier.

Tchau for now.

~~Research Exchange Rate~~ USD 1 = BRL 1.91
~~Research Cost to Exchange Money~~ Varies
~~Research Calling Cards~~
~~Send Another Email to Host Family~~ Done.
~~Buy Gifts for Host Family~~ Pencils and keychains, and books! Oh my! Plus more.
Pack
~~Clean My Room~~ Now I just need to keep it clean!
~~Finish Lotus Painting~~ Done.
~~Finish Penaggalan Painting~~
~~Buy (a few!) new clothes (that I desperatly need!)~~ Woo! Jeans and sunglasses!
~~Learn Portuguese~~ Eh, my skillz ain't going anywhere
~~Write Short Speech for Rotary Meeting next Week~~ Done. The Meeting was awesome!
~~Take Pictures of Area~~ Done.
~~Get Pictures Developed~~
~~Collect other already taken Pictures~~ That took way longer than expected.
~~Hair Cut~~ Done.
~~Buy Photo Album~~ 300 pics for 5 bucks
~~Fill Photo Album~~
~~Buy Address Book~~
~~Fill in Address Book~~
~~Learn How to Use Debit Card~~
~~Research Skype~~
~~Use Orkut~~
~~Contact School 'Bout Uniforms~~
~~Orkut School~~
~~Create Mass Email Address Groups~~ Thanks Mom.
~~Check Visa Things~~
Posted: July 6 Finished: July 20

July 21, 2007 2:42am
Listening: The New Girl in Town from the Hairspray soundtrack
Feeling: anxious

To be honest, I don't want to be writing this right now. I'd much rather be reading my recently purchased copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. But, hey, this site have up for like 2 weeks and I've already had 250+ hits, so I have an audience. (Thank you guys!)

My last few days have been great. Let's start on Wednesday, when I went into work. Although I was forced to complete most of the day's tasks by myself, I was treated to a Chinese dinner by my boss, and most of my coworkers came. We exchanged stories from the year, mostly all the hilarious ones, like the especially crazy ladies and the stuff you would only know if you lived behind the ocunter like us. The only downer was the fact that I ordered something that was supposed to be spicy...but it wasn't! Haha, and on most of the dishes were these flowers that were made out of some kind of vegetable, and a lot of them smelled REALLY bad. Strange. We couldn't figue out what they were made out of.

I had to miss my Wissahikon Pops performance because our dinner went late, but it was all good. I was relieved to have that evening off.

On Thurdays, I went out to lunch with some Set Design members. Set Design was one of my favorite activities this year. Unfortunatly, although we've tried to get together on various occasions since school ended, it's never really wroked out, and most members can never come. This was no different. So, Sarah-Claire, Reilly, Martha, Caroline, and myself went to Cosimo's Pizza in Chestnut Hill and ate there. Then we walked over to Mango were the girls looked at all the trippy accesories they sell there. We ended up having a conversation that turned more into an argument about Harry Potter within the store and had to remove ourselves before we caused a bigger scene. We then migrated to the Borders across the street and converged in the New Age section. Because accessing our past lives proved to tiresome, I showed them a book I had spotted on an earlier visit, Fresh Fruit, which is book full of photographs of crazy Japanese kids in Tokyo and what they wear.

Anyways, we parted ways and I had a Wissahikon Pops later. I totally aced my solo(ish) part in the Sund of Music. My descending eighthnotes from a high D to an E flat were perfection. Later I got to solo in Mas Que Nada, a Brazilian sama song with another trombonist. It was nice; I don't solo often, only maybe once a performance, because I'm not in the jazz band.

Friday was another ideal day. After a normal noonish wake up, I planned to see Hairspray. My band friends Zoe, Caroline, and Olivia wanted to see it, and I was determined to see Emma before I left, so all of us and my parents ventured forth for a 4:10 showing. After going to the wrong theater, we got to the right place, and luckily there were a lot of previews. The movie was AMazing, yes, with a capital A-M! I didn;t think I would like it so much. There was this great line where I was pretty much the only one laughing. It was so funny, and I didn't get why everyone else was silent. It went somehting like this. So the main character, an overweight girl, was snoozing in class, and a popular girl was making fun of her, and when the heavy girl woke up and realized was going on and looks back at the popular girl, the teacher says "What ARE you talking about back there?!" to which the popular girl hold up a poorly drawn man with breast and says "Tracy (the heavy girl)! How horrible! Mr. Flack doesn;t have breasts!" Hopefully it's a funny here as it was on the screen. Then later, when the stupid fart jokes were happening, I didn't understand why everyone WAS laughing. THe dancing, acting, and singing was right on par. It was great. At the end, this little boy had been so enthralled with the movie that he got out of his seat and was danicng in the aisle and in front of the screen! This was at the end of the movie but he kept at it until the credits were just about over. 5 stars. 2 thumbs up. Go see it!

Skip to 11:30, I've finally finished my Penaanggalan painting, plugged in numerous e-mail addresses, and I was on my way to get my new HARRY POTTER book! Although it took a while, I am totally excited! I;ve since read the first three chapters. I'm trying to read this one slower than I usually read as to pick up all the detail (since I don't like reading books 10+ times like some fans do). They revealed who teh Muggles Studies teacher is! Exciting! I'm so stoked!

And on to Brazil, dear Brazil. With Harry Potter, I picked up a few Mad Libs to play with new friends on the plane! I wonder if we will all be socializing, or just sitting in our seats bent over copies of Harry Potter. I'll gladly put mine down to meet some new people, I just hope no spoilers get loose!

See ya in Brazil! I'm way more calm that I envisioned. I hope you guys have a great year. I love and will miss you all!

Piczo