December

End Of The Year Pool Party

As November came to an end, so did the school year, and our summer holiday started. It’s still weird for me, that December is summer, and that the colorful christmas light was hung on palm trees at the beach in 30 degrees heat. However I do have to admit, that it was nice having a pool party/barbecue to end the year.

Here the school year starts in february and ends in November, so next year my class will be moving on to the third year of high school, while I will be staying in the second year with a new class, as my school has a rule against having exchange students in the third year. While I’m sad to say goodbye to my class, I’ll have plenty of opportunities to continue to see them both in and out of school, and hopefully my new class will be just as great.

Because of this, it was great to have a good end with them all. We met of at the house of one of the boys from my class, and this was probably my first view of the real Brazilian upperclass. Vieira, my school, is a private school, but it gives a lot of scholarships, so we have students from all classes in society. The area was huge, with gardens, a giant pool, tennis courts, a private cinema and pretty much whatever else you can imagine.

We all brought some kind of food, and since it was December, I took the opportunity to bake some danish christmas cookies for them, which they loved. Braszilians eat a lot in general, but I have never seen cookies disappear so fast. Afterwars we spent the whole day at the pool, playing volley or football and going for walks in the gardens. We also played “amigos secretos” which is a christmas game, where they draw a random “secret friend” and bring a gift and a card. Then everyone takes a turn to stand up and give hints about their friend until the rest can guess, who it is. It’s super fun and very common here both with friends, families and colleagues.

Christmas “Hygge”

With the whole month off, I had time to do a lot of things with my friends and family. Once again it was a bit weird for me, that the christmas holiday consisted mostly of going to beach, to the pool or to parties/barbecues, but the christmas spirit also started to appear here and there. Despite the lack of snow and real christmas tree (or maybe exactly because of this), the brazilians really like christmas light and decorations.

Our apartment was covered in decorations, and for the last four days I even got to contribute a bit. My family sent me a package back in November, that finally arrived the 20th of December, filled with danish christmas candy, lakrids, a christmas calender, and some decorations. While it might have arrived later than intended, it’s certainly better late than never, and I think my family very much enjoyed the danish candy too.

Christmas Shopping

Of course you can’t get through December without going gift shopping. We have a “small” shopping center close to my house and a bigger one further away. I’m convinced the big one is almost the size of my city in Denmark, and I would 100% get lost there, if I was alone.

I went loads of time both with friends, family and the other exchange students. After all there was suddenly a lot of people to buy gifts for with my family and friends here along with trying to figure out how to send something back to my family in Denmark.

While I might not have felt the christmas spirit out and about, due to the different weather and lack of decorations, the shopping centers definitely made up for that. I’ve never seen such a tall christmas tree or so many decorations at the same place. It was like walking into a christmas movie, with parades, shows and pop up choirs. It’s very different than Denmark, and while I must admit I prefer the danish “Julehygge”, it was still a super fun experience, and eventually I even found all the perfect presents for everyone.

Christmas Eve and day

And then christmas finally arrived! There had been some doubts about, where we would end up, and which side of the family we would celebrate with, but in the end we did a bit of everything.

Early on christmas eve me, my sister and my parents went to my grandmothers home, to wish my dads side of the family merry christmas, exchange gifts and just spent some time. Afterwards me, my sister and my mom picked up my grandpa, his sister and his niece, who had arrived in Salvador a couple of days earlier to spent christmas with us, and we all went to my mothers brothers party, while my dad stayed with his family.

This was without a doubt the biggest christmas party I had ever been to with around fifty people, all family and friends. We even had a game of amigos secretos with “just” the cousins…around twenty people. While I didn’t know a lot of other people than my immediate family, it still ended up being nice enough, except for the fact, that I ended up huddled in blankets and hoodies, because I was so cold. I think, it’s the air condition, that I’m still not 100% accustomed to, but it ended up being the joke of the evening, that the “viking” was feeling cold in Brazil.

The next day, the 25th of December, was more like what I know from a danish christmas. We woke up late, put on some christmas music and starting getting the house ready for guests. Then we sat own just the four of us and exchanged our gifts. Around lunch time some of the close family members from both sides arrived, and we spent the whole day talking, relaxing and eating some good food.

So overall December and the christmas was definitely one of the times I missed my family and danish traditions; even the dark mornings and the snow, but in the end I was lucky enough to have a great family, that made it possible to have a lovely christmas in Brazil.