Party in Brazil

The nasty spiky plant

So last night I went to a multi-stake party/dance to celebrate some festival. I thought people were calling it Festa Junina, but then people also said it was the birthday of São Paulo, so I'm not really sure what the occasion was, but I am sure it was fun! (update: Nani said it was a Festa Junina and it randomly was also the birthday of São Paulo, but that had nothing to do with the party). Rachel drove me, Nani, and Augusta (a girl from the ward) up to a chácara in the middle of nowhere in Jundiai. Actually it was quite the adventure getting there because the GPS took us to the middle of downtown Jundiai and then we had to keep calling Eliane's friends to ask them where to go. We kept having to turn around. Rachel reversed on a one way street, we ran into some nasty spiky plants, and we asked directions from a really nice couple who lived close to the chácara.

We met up with some other people from the ward and the fun began. Luckily for me, Augusta and several other people we were with speak English: Leonardo, Alesandro, Daniella, Rafael and more.

Everton, Leonardo, Alesandro, Rafael

Eliane, Augusta, Me

First we ate food. Augusta had me eat this really sweet sticky candy that I have no idea what it's called. Then we ate a candy made of pumpkin. Really. It was good. It mostly tasted like sweet squash.

The pumpkin and potato candies in the shape of hearts

Eliane, Me, and Augusta eating strawberries

They also have one made of potato that I tried later and it was good too. Then we had pastels. It was also very good.  It's just basically fried bread with cheese or chicken or beef in it. Mine had cheese in it. Does it really get better than being fried and stuffed with cheese? Then Alesandro made sure I tried the pizza. It was very good! I really liked it. It had a thin crunchy crust, cheese and ham on it. The pizza was the only thing that I actually finished. Everything else I ate about half and threw it away because there was so much to eat! We also had chocolate covered strawberries. They actually weren't very good because the strawberries were tiny and kind of green and the chocolate the really think and kept dripping off. Later I also ate a hot dog that has mashed potatoes, corn, little things just like chow mein noodles made of potato, mustard, ketchup, and mayonaise. Yum! I am definitely having mashed potatoes on all my hotdogs from now on! There was even more food than that there. They also had barbequed chicken that I didn't end up trying. There was also this drink that Nani and I tried that's like apple cider, but it's made with grape juice. It was really strong in the spice department and kind of weird to taste like grape, so I only had a few sips of that too.

Eliane after throwing the chicken and Augusta picking her prize

So besides food there were also games. In one you had to toss rubber chickens (frango) in a bucket and then you got a prize. Augusta and I got lip gloss. Eliane got a gaudy looking fake tie that was supposed to go with the country theme of the party.

People dancing a traditional dance.

Mostly, there was dancing. Man the Brazilians know how to dance. They have actual dance steps you can do instead of just moving around like we do in America. Mostly they played Brazilian music because of the party theme. But there was a long section of American pop music. :) It was fun to be able to sing along for awhile. The dancing was fun. I haven't gone to a dance in probably 4 years so it took some getting used to, but Augusta and Alesandro helped me out by teaching me samba steps and the forro. I'm really not a dancer, so I got the basic step and that's it but it was fun. The guys were really good about dancing with the girls. Especially the boys with us because they are all in love with Eliane, so I think they were trying to impress her by being nice to me. ha ha! ;) Anyway, it was very very fun! Everyone was so friendly to me. When people say hello and goodbye here they always do it with a kiss on the cheek. So even people I don't know were giving me kisses last night. Since all the people there are LDS they all have some some tie to Utah, so they were all asking me which city I live in and who I know. Rafael actually went to Mountain View for 2 years while I was there! We know a lot of the same people. Wow, what a small world. 

Eliane and I at the end of the night

Overall, it was a really great evening! I took this picture because I was having so much fun that I couldn't stop smiling. So I thought I better document it.