Natal em Natal

Wow! Sorry guys! I know I haven´t written in a long time, but there´s been quite a bit going on here on the other side of the equator! Now, though, I´m on vacation for the holidays, so I should have a little more time to write now. This past weekend I went on a trip to Natal with all the other exchange students in my district. Natal is a city to the north of Recife (about 4 hours by car). Like Recife, it is on the coast-- so it has beaches!!! Unlike Recife, you can actually go in the water at the beach! :) (Unfortunately, there are a lot of sharks at the beach in Recife, so it´s not advisable to swim there...) Natal is sooooooo nice. I had already been there once before when I went to visit Marcela -- it is just as cool the second time. The city is smaller than Recife, and has nature preserve areas with sand dunes and desert vegetation. The name of the city means Christmas in Portuguese, so it was Natal in Natal (Christmas in Christmas city!) :) It was so much fun to see the other exchange students again. We hadn´t all gotten together again since our orientation in Maragogi in August. We were really busy while we were there. We visited children in a cancer hospital, went on a dune buggy ride in the nature park area, and had a Christmas party with the rotarians. Just hanging out together and was one of the best parts. It´s hard for all of us to be away from our families at Chrismas, but we are all in it together.