Exchange Year Diaries

I still remember last year when it was Diwali in India, Brasil also started to lighting up houses, decorating trees, making sweets, buying gifts for dear ones… In India too all the houses are cleaned and decorated, rangoli is made on the entrance of each house using coloured powder, flowers🌺 Lanterns are put up in every house, many diyas🕯️ (candles) are lit and kept in different places of the houses…
People wear new dresses, go shopping, buy new furniture, vehicles, dresses 👗💍🛒
A lot of sweets are made and distributed to neighbours, family members, and the loved ones🥞
Along with India a lot of these things were happening in Brasil too!!!🤔
As far as we know in Brasil Diwali isn’t celebrated… And that’s true!! But then decorations and lightings in November itself…!?!?

Festivals tell a lot about the countries culture and lifestyle!!!
I got to know how people in Brasil shared happiness by giving gifts as a token of thanksgiving and gratitude…
People stop working and just enjoy the moment and the festival to the fullest only thrice a year..
During CARNIVAL, CHRISTMAS and FOOTBALL WORLDCUP.
All of the three festivals are very beautiful… Even though the world cup isn’t but the atmosphere is totally watch-worthy!
About CARNIVAL i would tell you the next time… As it was one of the best part of Brasil 🇧🇷
The festival of CHRISTMAS as l was describing is celebrated from November itself!!
I had decorated the Christmas trees of my mom’s office and my house, second family… It altogether a different expiriençe putting up the candies, socks gifts on the tree😅

In December first week was pretty cool… Not literally since it’s kind of summer there , but yes there were a lot of fests going on in our school!!! Since it was the end of the academic year… Will get back to this some next time!🙈 It’s a long story as well…

After the last day of the school, we had holidays till February!
Most of the days in between the holidays till 24th of December, i watched different movies in Portuguese, went for outings with my forst family, slept and just relaxed!!.. on 24th we went to our relatives house where all the family members had gathered. It was like a grand get together.🤗 We then revealed the names which had been picked up for the secret santa game… In this game chits of all the family members are written and each of us pick one chit and then whosoever’s name is there, we but a gift for them!
It was quite fun because these names were not revealed easily, the person giving the gift came in front described the reciever of the gift in funny, unique and hilarious ways and the others would guess who it was!!!
A lot of secrets were out during the amusing comments and descriptions😂
When i was the reciever, they all guessed it in a moment coz my cousin just said “esse Pessoa sabe seis linguae!” “The reciever knows 6 languages!”
Everyone over there was like none of us here know Portuguese properly, how will we know the others!!!
The description she gave before that didn’t let anybody know that it was me… The description said that~ This person has just entered our family, we don’t know him/her much but we hope her to be a great person…
Everyone thought it must be someone from the babies… New borns… But then she revealed about the languages and there everyone guessed it!
We all opened our gifts as we received them, it was quite astonishing to see that the taste of the family was so alike that 4-5 uncles had got the same tshirt as their gift!! And i was surprised to see that because living in different cities and buying the exact same gifts for each other! That clearly did show how well they were connected🙈🙈😅
5 mins before Christmas, everyone stood in a circle holding hands, the eldest person wished and prayed for good health, happiness, prosperity, well-being…
The children then went to see their gifts kept under the Christmas tree..🎄
In India i had never seen this, i had seen all of this just in movies and seeing the children opening their Christmas gifts below the tree was fascinating..
My host mom gave me gifts too with some chocolates wrapped beautifully…

Eventually the day spent was religious and different… We visited the church and their rituals were amazing to see!!
After that on 28-29th we had gone for a trip to another state Minas gerais… And it was a totally breathtaking journey… Will tell you abt it the next time!!!!!

See youuuu!!😇

The real value of your country is known when you go to another country and see the differences!🌍
When I was in India, I had heard a lot of people saying “I don’t want to stay in India, the other countries are better”, today I wrote this blog maybe for all of those people who don’t like India!!!🤷

I don’t know from where to start…
Dress, jewellery, lifestyle, festivals, religions, culture, education, ethics, oh and how can I forget-FOOD, or the emotional bondings!!!!!!🇮🇳
Believe me not all countries have all of this together!!
This blog is not to underestimate or show anything bad about the other countries but just to show how beautiful India is!!!!💙
The first thing which hit me hard was FOOD!!😋 For everyone their own countries food is the best no doubt but what I want to tell you is about the variety… India has all types of food sea food, continental food, vegetarian food, and with these it has a huge number of varieties…maaaannnnnyyyy options, alot of choices…🤤 We have Italian, Chinese, Mexican food all in Indian style😅😅 along with the typical indian dishes- Punjabi, Maharashtrian, Gujurati, South Indian, North Indian, Street food… Aahahh the list can go on and on!!!!🍽️

The next thing which striked me was… About the FESTIVALS…
I had reached Brasil in August, as soon as I reached, India celebrated Rakshabandhan, festival of brothers and sisters…🎁

The next was independence day🇮🇳, soon after that Paryushan (8days)📿, a Jain religious festival… And the day it ended started the festival Ganpati 🕉️(10days)!! A few days in between and there is another festival of Navratri (9days), Dussehra🔱… Then you count some more days on your fingers and there is another festival up- DIWALI💣 🎆(5 days) but celebrated for 10 days🙌🥰.. then there is finally one month in between without any festival… Actually there is just that we don’t celebrate it as much as the other festivals- Halloween🎃… After that there is Christmas🎄… It’s just for a day…but we get holidays for 1 month…along with the New year’s🎀!!! Then there is the kite festival🧵 in january, not celebrated much in my city though… But soon in February there is celebration- traditional day, chocolate day🍫🍬, blue day💙🔵, hug day🤗, this day that day…. Valentine’s day❤️… And then you have a little bit of exam pressure in March📝📖… But also there is the festival of colours!!! HOLI🎨🔫!!!!!! And then the next two-three months are just like festivals… Marriage atmosphere, Mangoes🥭, Trips🚗✈️, Vacations in short!!!!!
This is just a short description of the Indian year💎, knowing the ways and process of celebrating this maybe I will need to write another blog!!!!

Another thing which made me standout as an Indian was the dress and the jewellery👑!!!!
In a program where a lot of exchange students were going to come, we were asked to dress up in our traditional clothes… And in all of these different countries with different lifestyle only India could be recognised! All the others had the same dress code the girls with one piece, gowns👗 and the boys formally dressed👔. Unfortunately I was the only Indian exchange student or else all of us Indians could have worn something different from each part of India 😅😅 along with boys having some different attire😄😄
So in traditions and culture India is quite unique and beautiful…♠️

The next thing which I would love to tell you all about is the emotional bondings between every relationship in India.👨‍👩‍👧‍👦
All relations in India have their own importance and significance….
Let it be family relations – mother & daughter👩‍👧, child & grandparents👣, siblings, cousins or husband wife; teacher-student relations, child & elderly people; friendship; neighbourhood; or any other relation!!! 💁
Every bonding is different and special with Everyone…
Even a devotee and God🧘, Saint relations are different in India, infact every religion and its devotees have huge difference in their lifestyle!🕌⛪

We all have an emotional bonding! And it’s seen in the joint families, where parents, grandparents, uncles, aunties, siblings live all together in the same house… 🏠
There is a lot of respect given in Indian culture to the teachers, giving something in return to their teachings is a must- Guru dakshina.. 👩‍🏫🎯
A child gives a lot of respect to any elder person which is shown throught touching the feet of the elderly so as to take their blessings…🙏 Usually the feet of parents, teachers, all the elders are touched to show respect not only that… But an artist, if a dancer respects his props, costume…💃
An instrument player respects the instrument…🎺🎸
They respect the stage or the place of their performance🏅🎗️…
We do not feel this something new or different but when you are in an another country where none of this is done… Even though they may have respect but where they don’t show it…. You feel touched to be born in a such an environment and such an atmosphere where you are taught respecting every small thing- living🌴 & non living 🏏since childhood!!!!
“Athithi Devo Bhava” we all have heard and known about this… Because we believe that ‘Guests are our Gods” and MAYBE that is why the British ruled India for such a long time😅😅

So speaking of these things… I really missed India and the way we live here… 🧡
The education system is also really good but along with it because of the growing competition stress is built up!!! If not seen that way, the knowledge given in schools is far more advanced and the way it is given is also very helpful for any child… 📚🔖

Every tradition and culture of India has significance, a scientific reason…
Eating with hands👐, wearing nose rings, henna tattoos, haldi ceremonies, celebrating festivals, putting the bindi, wearing earrings, the drepary… Every small thing, each and every thing has some logical meaning to it!!!!! It’s sad that most of the Indians themselves don’t know about it and hence stop following it… But I think if you are reading this… Go and search about it… Why do we do this… Or why is this done!!!??
I hope you have started looking at India now in a little different perspective😃😃😃

I am proud that Brazilians and exchange students now love India and respect it!!!

And lastly!!!
I love the way India is…🇮🇳 It is developing and surely is one of the most amazing places in the world!!
“Unity in diversity!”
Jai Hind!!!✊

Trips with families are always amazing, specially with a family u have not even known for one month! I was quite excited, a trip to Rio de Janeiro!!🛫
My first trip in Brazil, not knowing Portuguese so well, but having a talkative sister was always a boon.😅😅🙈
My family had already booked the air tickets to Rio and it was beautiful feeling when you are treated like a daughter from people who have known you for just a month!❤️

When we reached there, I understood that the trip was unplanned… GO WITH THE FLOW😅😅🤷
Yes they, after reaching there, asked me what all did I want to visit…and after receiving my list of places… We started the trip with the first place being The Meseum of Tomorrow, got to see a lot of things… And also got to show somethings about India to my family and my sister!!!🇮🇳
After the visit to the Meseum we went to Pão de açucar!!!!!! An amazing ride to the two beautiful mountains… We went there through Ropeway🚡 (I still have the ropeway tickets with me🙈😅) when we reached the first mountain… ohhhhhhhh…. The breeeze was sooooo smootthing and fresh!!! The view was great and breath-taking… And obviously clicking pictures! Who stops!!! 🙈🙈😛

Then going to the next mountain, the journey from the first point to the next point was🚠 ❤️❤️❤️
When I reached the 2nd mountain… I thought just of how beautiful life was and how important it is to know the value of it… Not just about your life but also the people who have influenced it greatly.. I missed my *Indian* parents, friends, family soooooooooooooooo mucchhh!!!!🇮🇳 I just couldn’t thinking how far I was and I wouldn’t be seeing them for the next 10 months. The breeze, the mountain, the view from top was altogether different and amazing but when you miss someone… You feel incomplete!! And that day I missed everyone🙈🙈🥰
My host family was always understanding, thay gave me time for myself and enjoy the beauty! 💘
After having a short trip to India… obviously throught my heart in my mind l, the next what I saw was waking up in the bed and getting ready for the next day tour😅😅
It was Brazilian Independence day, 7th September!🇧🇷 As soon as I got up I looked throught the window, a parade with the soldiers or what they call in red suits and the local people dancing behind the parade and going somewhere… And just that! I realised people there do not celebrate their independence day in a proud or some special manner…🤷 For them it is just like a normal day, you get a holiday but nothing more than that!! But that holiday, was a advantage for me..as I got this trip!!!! We were going to go to see the ” Christ The redeemer “, one of the seven wonders of the world! 2️⃣-☑️
Yes, scratching it off my bucket list!! We reached there… We took the steps to reach the final destination after the minibus… Climbing up was another breath taking view till we reached the top!⏏️

And there I was standing below Christ de redeemer! There was a lot of rush, I saw many Indians too. I did not see anyone just living the moment, enjoying the view, standing silently, wishing for something …. All I could see was people clicking pictures and trying to fit the statue in the frame!!!! 📱📸
It was amusing when not only Brasilians but Indians and people of all over the world are so similiar!🗺️ They don’t get above clicking pictures…
Even I did take pictures, and I also realised that I had forgotten my flag🇮🇳!!!! And I felt irresponsible of forgetting my countries’flag at home🙁

After the photo session, we admired the beauty, I stood there in silence… Recollected mannnyy memories, relived my whole life! Saw the struggle o my Indian parents and the resect for them had altogether boosted multiple times more… It was indeed a beautiful day!🎀
After having a beautiful time there we descended we then went to see AquaRio, it was a differently built Aquarium through which people could walk and watch the different fishes and sea creatures..🐳🐠🦈
We also visited many other places –
Escadaria selaron
Caixa cultural🏛️⛪

COPACABANA!!!🌅 oh how can I forget it!!!!!
The beach- Praia de COPACABANA 🏖️

The first beach I visited in Brasil. I had never seen so much crowd on a beach it was ssoooooo ffuuuulll of people… U just had the place to walk, sitting and lying was not even to be imagined!! It was because of summers, tourists, and the famous beach😅😅

Maybe you can get an idea of how crowded the beach was☝️

The next day we left Rio de Janeiro and were coming back to our house!!!🏘️
The beginning of September had been so interesting and lovely… It refreshed my exchange year, I was looking forward to the upcoming days!!!!
Although I didn’t miss Indians, I wished they would have been with me, enjoying!!!!🤗

I miss my family, Brasilian one right now!!!!!!🥰

See you in the next blog!!!

An interesting story about how i fell in love with this!!…

There were two months in my exchange year in which I just ate this… 😁💞💞🥰😘

I was in Sorocaba the next morning… We were all excited about what all would happen that day.
We were going to have a city trip that day…
We visited a bakery first which was built 50 years ago, we saw how different Brasilian specialities were made, how they tasted when they were fresh, what all you needed to make it, how people in a bakery work… It was quite awesome. A memorable part about the visit was that we were 18 exchange students and between us they had given 50 brigaderus, a typical type of chocolate sweet of Brasil, and within 2 seconds we had finished them… Not joking it was literally 2-3 seconds when we all had finished the brigadeirus. Verrryyyyyyy delicious!!!!😋😋
After that we walked down the street to have Açai… My first impression of Açai was bad… I hated it…and didn’t even want to taste more of it. But our rotary president had made it compulsory for everyone to eat 300 ml of açai with banana, condensed milk….
Since I didn’t have any other option but eat it… I started…and….daaammmnnn as it was about to finish I was in love with it… It was sooooo deelliiicciious… 🥰😘😋
After that day I had never missed a chance of eating AÇAI!

Another fascinating things…during the visits was that, all the local people used to stare at our flags… Because we were roaming through the city with the flags hanging down our back…
Everyone wanted pictures and used to look at us as if we were entertainers….

The next days were also great we got to know about our trips and also the zumba and Capoeira sessions were amazing…
Capoeira is a fight-dance of the Negros which was invented to teach self defence and fighting through dance. It was great watching and doing it… I had then decided to join and learn this dance form in my city when I returned…
The families there also got attached to us..
On the last day they gave us gifts as a memory of us staying with them. The week was one of the most interesting part of the year…

It was just one week that I had been staying with this CRAZY FAMILY of mine… I was still getting accustomed to their ways of living and a notice…
A Rotary Conference for week in another city!!!
At the first moment… I didn’t want to leave…my school, friends, FAMILY but not having a option… You know what prank did I play🙈😅😅
( https://indiatobraziltravel.wordpress.com/2019/08/15/a-little-mischief-is-necessary%f0%9f%98%9b/?preview=true )
20/08/18
Finally I reached in Salto, when I entered the small office… A few students sitting there… Speaking to eachother… I also sat… The first question they all asked me was “Indian!?”
And I was
“😀😃Yess!!!”
The very next moment I realised I was sitting in between 19 exchange students from 13 different countries!! And more importantly I was the only cultural ambassador of India…
Feeling proud to represent Indian culture, I was very nervous “what if they get a wrong impression about India, just because of me!!!?”
Soon getting into their conversations, I loved to show how beautiful and diverse India was… And know how different countries had different perspectives of living!!!!I wished that day never ended… A lot of chit chats had taken place, a lot of disscussions were done. Each country had amusing and interesting things. As the was ending our new families for the week had started arriving to pick us up… This week I🇮🇳 was going to stay with a German🇩🇪 student in. Brasilian🇧🇷 home…
Yesssss… Exciting!!
The very next day all of us together drove to Sorocaba, where the conference’s would take place everyday…
When I reached there another group of students were seen. They too were exchange students, so in total we were around 70 exchange students together… All from more 20 different countries… And me being the only Indian representative! That day we got to know our schedules for the week, it included information about our trips to northeast, amazonias, Southern America, Rio de Janeiro; A 2-day tour around Sorocaba; Presentation of Capoeira, Zumba dances; Photography sessions; after getting to know about the sessions.. and having the “*international introduction*” we were all going back to our new host families…
While going all of us sitting in the mini bus strated chit-chating, a friend of ours from Denmark, Victor was sitting beside the driver seat… And he within few minutes already had slept… And as and when there were turns he bang his head one the seats on each side….
The first few times we ignored… But then it was happing so frequently that we thought of enjoying it.. so whenever tger was a turn…we chorused…. “Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo” and when he banged into the seat… “PA” …
As the day had faded… We all were excited to meet again the next morning…
Do read my next blog to know…. What all happened… For the next four days!!!!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

One of the most unforgettable moment..
I would really love to share…
So it was August end..
I had just made friends at school. Everyone loved my company, they liked being with me… They wanted to know a lot more about me… About how India is… Because I was the one who was showing them India, they were seeing and living India through my eyes and experiences!! In all of this I felt like a celebrity… They asked for a lot of selfies, photos, hugs and kisses, and indian autograph ( written in hindi)
Everything was very smooth and good…
And one day I got a message that I would be going to a rotary conference held in another city for a week!
My heart sank… I had just started settling in my school and family… And there I have to take a leave of 5-6 days!!!
I did not want to go to the meeting atleast not for the whole week!!!!!
But not having an option I thought of being a little bit naughty🙈🙈🙈
On Thursday
I told every friend of mine that I was leaving the city… And didn’t know when I would be returning…
I told them that I will be staying with another family, going to another school…
But I also assured that I would not forget them…
I told them it was great meeting them and would really want to meet them again…
They all thought of keeping a farewell party for me!!
They were very sad because now they couldn’t hear about different things, different perspectives of life…and also about me!!
On Friday
They all had brought gifts… Brigaderu😋🤤… Cards, letters….
On if my friend had written a letter specially in English- it was her first letter in English!!! They had written many beautiful things for me and my future life…
Almost all other cards and letters were in Portuguese, which I didn’t understand, but the way they had written them told me how they felt for me!!
It was surprising to see them write about coming to India for sure,
about missing me a lot,
about them loving my views on life,
about learning a lot just by knowing my lifestyle,
about loving to spend time with me,
and obviously about my small pranks I used to play!!!
They all were going to miss me for atleast that week😜I enjoyed that on that day… but I knew when I was gonna return, I would be in great trouble 😛☠️
I enjoyed every bit of the gifts, the cards… Clicked pictures with everyone…. Told a verryyyy good bye to all of them… And hoped to meet them in India..!!!!!!I know it was very mischievous of me to do such a thing…
My host mother was shocked listening to what I had done…. Soon all of my family knew it….
They were all in tears… Not sad but laughing and rolling, that I perfectly fit into the family😅
“”Familia Viana”” ❣️ “Minha Louca Familia”
But they all knew once I was back I would have to bear the brunt of it!!!
They were waiting to see how my friends would react seeing me back to the town… And see me in trouble🙈🙈😛
And also knowing that all of this was a prank…
A biggggggg prank!!!
They wanted to see how I handled it🙈🙈
(I am very scared that if all of my Brasilian friends read this and get to know about the prank, will they still be as friendly as they are or be angry☹️. Commenta la baixo…. Se vc ta brava ou gostou desse horrivel PRANK😜)After a week when I was back I had been invited to a friend’s party… She thought I will not come since I had left… But I popped up in the party and there….everyone shocked…🥺👀
They asked me… Had I returned just for the party or will be staying there… And me…being innocent” I couldn’t stay there, I loved your company more than theirs… So I got back…and will stay with you all!!!” They loved my answer with that beautiful accent…….
But!!! Some of them knew it was a dreadful prank… And
In the party itself… I was all wet… Nothing about being senti and crying…. But their water prank…
Yes!!! They did throw water all over me… And I was no less ..I started to do that too..!!
It was a great time…
When I got back to school, I lot of people were angry…. For such a prank…
But they still loved me and they still do (hopefully even after reading this) 🙈🙈😅😅I miss being in EMILIO ROMI ( my school) and with my friends…
It was an amazing time there. Every moment spent there was special for me!!
I can say this for sure… Even though I was a quite person in the Indian school and did not have much memories here… But I fulfilled each and every wish of doing crazy stuff, there in Brasil!!!
I never regret about missing the fun of school which I didn’t have in India…. Because surely I did that in Brazil!!!!
I miss my friends… Cannot write down their names, the list is too long!!!!
I love them a lot💞 and hope to see them soon, very soon😘🥰A lot of things had happened in between this amusing prank…
What happened in that week, meeting all the other exchange students of the globe under a roof….
I will elaborate in the next blog!!!!
Do wait for it!!!!

“Every new friend is a new adventure, a start of more memories”

The journey of becoming friends starts from… “What! You too!!!? I thought it was only me” And it is more interesting when you both are of different countries…
You will be amused to know what was the common thing I exclaimed above…. It was about being SINGLE 🙈🙈😅
Almost everyone in my school were in relationships… They used to be surprised knowing that I had never dated anyone… Infact when they used to question me, they asked “How many boyfriends have you had?”… Explaining Indian culture to them was great fun…
When I said that I had never kissed anyone, never dated anyone… They thought it was a lie, a sixteen year old who has not kissed… Was very shocking for them!!!

Some of our wierd but interesting conversations were like these… (Have translated them to pure English for you all… The original ones are mixed with Portuguese and English 🙈🙈)
“Anisha, I have heard that in India parents choose whom their daughter or son will marry to!?, Is this the truth… I don’t believe in this stereotype!!”
“Yes, Until now there are so many people and children who do ARRANGE MARRIAGES, that is their parents chose whom will they marry to, it is not a stereotype… Just that now the things are changing and the concept of love marriage is getting popular!!!”
“But then how can you trust the other person, if he is good/bad… How do you know that you want to spend your life with him…!?!?”
“When it is about trusting… Both of them have the same situation, and know that if they don’t trust eachother their relation would not last for long…
And to spend life with an unknown person… It depends on how you take it, for some people it may be like an adventure exploring and living with a totally new person…”
“How will you know if he is a good kisser or a bad kisser… U need to know that atleast before marrying him right!?????”
“Usually, in India, kissing and everything is done only after marriage… So if one has not kissed anyone, there is no good or bad kiss… No other comparison… It’s their first time… And that’s it!!”
“Oh this is so strange,… I won’t live with someone my parents chose for me….”
“For some people, it is like, my parents know me very well and they can chose the best for me… So they still do believe in arrange marriages!”
“It is good in a way because atleast if you don’t find anyone yourself and want to concentrate on your career, you can… Here we only have to chose for ourselves… There atleast your parents chose one for you!!!”
“There is a good and a bad side for everything,… Nowadays in bigger cities of India… Youngsters think that the way you live… Choosing for yourself is better that parents choosing for you… And you think in this way.”
“Also I heard that Indian marriages are for more than one day!!? Invite me to your marriage ok! I will surely love to see how INDIAN WEDDINGS are!!!!!!”
This is how normally our different topics ended! India was going to get a lot of more tourism😅😅😋..

Yes… The difference of the two cultures was very obvious… I learnt a lot of things when I discussed about such things…
From how children believed totally in their parents’ choice… How the couple’s must be living not knowing anything about eachother… I had never thought about these things before, because I had not seen how the other side of the world lived…!

It was great sharing and gaining knowledge about life…
Anyway…this conversation was very easy to read.. but it was a great mixture of English and Portuguese with some help from Google… I don’t know how far did they understand the concept of arrange marriage but knowing that they wanted to visit one Indian marriage made me feel happy… Atleast they had changed their mind from thinking that it is shocking to see parents chose their child’s life partner to that is interesting to know atleast of not you your parents chose one for you!!!!!!
Discussions, arguments, debates…
A lot of talks and conversations…
Are still very clear and unforgettable in my mind…
Let it be talking about
“Not killing animals for our sake, we don’t have the right to kill them… And so I am a vegetarian”
Or about
“Dating and kissing getting into relationships at this age is not needed, focus and built a career for yourself… Then you have all your life to enjoy”
Some did agree to me and tried to change their way of seeing things and applying them in their lives… Some had different opinions… Some did just didn’t believe people like me existed!!!

Convincing people to see Indian culture in a different way was an amazing task… I think I could do it successfully to a great extent… I say this because…a lot of my friends have promised to visit India and me!!!!

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Want to read my other blogs https://indiatobraziltravel.wordpress.com/2019/07/16/lucky-to-represent-my-country%f0%9f%87%ae%f0%9f%87%b3/?preview=true

As it is said… “Friends are your chosen family and family is a blessing”, I was lucky to get this type of blessing twice already at the age of 16!

Finally I was sitting in the car with one of my host fathers, two host mothers and a small, talkative host sister🥰. Now, all my fears and scary imaginations had slept out of my mind… I felt much more protected and better. My sister, Luiza, was a continuous radio…

She kept on talking, she was very curios to know about me… Finally we had one thing in common… “Bumbum tumtum”.. Songs!!!! Yeah music… The universal language of mankind helped us connect with eachother… We then enjoyed the long drive😅😅. My host mothers, as typical mothers are, asked me did I eat?, was my trip tiring?, did I enjoy my flight?… And…yes I did have an answer… “I do not understand anything!” My host father and Google were of great help!!

They supposed that I was very tired of the long journey and the 1 hour long wait… But that wasn’t the case I was full of energy entering into a different country which was like a totally new world for me… I wanted to talk and ask a lot of questions… But from where to start .. “Google!?”… Yeah that was the only word I asked first so that we could have another conversations!

My mothers wanted me to sleep, take some rest so she told Luiza to keep quiet and let me be more comfortable. But here I was in full excitement waiting for the Google translator to translate my questions… I told my sister to keep on talking, it was comfortable in fact because of that it wasn’t awkward at any moment😅😅. As we reached my first home… I was hungry… and my mothers were already offering me vegetable pies, specially made for me😅, it was different! I took out some Indian food with a lot of confidence that they would love it… The first bite of the homemade “thepla” burnt their tongues… They couldn’t imagine how indians ate so spicy… The first cultural shock they had received 😅😅. After dinner we had conversations with my rotary district counselor and my 3rd host families… Google was an important part, who understood all our chats🙈🙈.

As soon as everyone left… I rushed to see my room opened the curtains and there was a beautiful scenic view out😍. It was at that moment when it struck to me… This is the view I would see everyday from now on! I was then eager about how my new bed, new pillow were… I was about to go and thank my parents for that successful day… I found under my pillow, a letter , written in English,by me host parents!! I still do have it with me…

It said…

“Hi Anisha,

It’s good to have you here.
I hope your days here are very happy. We will be here to introduce you to our country, our customs and everything you want. In these 11 motnhs we will do our best to take good care of you, so count on us always. I am sure that our family relationship will not only be for 11 months, but for lifetime. Welcome to our lives and to our hearts.”
Mom, Dad, and Luiza
July 27, 2018

The letter had touched my heart, it had made my day come to a sweet ending! I didn’t understand how they knew I loved getting such small memorable gifts then let it be a handwritten letter or a tight hug😅😅
They did not make me feel like a stranger, it felt as if they had known me since years.
The beginning was beautiful… And I knew there was a lot more to come… For me and for them…

Even though I had expressed how amazing I had felt reading the letter, I still wanted someone to hear me out! To know how happy I was being there… “My biological parents”,( remember I mentioned about them in my third blog) I say this because now I do have parents from heart, in Brasil… Biological parents were the original India ones😅😅😅…
My host parents had already done a video calling with them, that I had reached safely and was at my new home… Now best friends were the only ones who would listen to me… Even if they didn’t want, they would not have a choice but listen😋😋. I video called one of my best friends, Divyesh… And this time I was the radio… Continuosly speaking… Not about missing India and the indians… But how lovely my first night was… How the letter had touched my heart… How sweet and caring my parents were… How my new room was… Infact everything but India 🙈.. At one point I stopped to just see if he was listening to me… He asked if I missed anyone in India…. And again my radio had begun… About how I still didn’t miss India! I didn’t expect missing India on the very first day itself…

Then after the long video chat, I realised I needed much more energy for the next day… Not even thinking whether I would be comfortable on the bed, if my pillow was fluffy or not, I got onto the bed… And was asleep in seconds😴

The first day of my new journey had begun. All my dreams had began to start coming true. I was now going to live an life I wanted with all my principles and rules set in my mind!
…….

This was how the great and exciting journey had begun!!!!