I just got your letter and I found the incident with Carmen hilarious. You must tell me how it ended! Congratulations on the success of your team (though I think a lot of it was pure luck). I can’t wait to see how they do in the semi-finals.
Things here at boarding school are not so good. The English has some really strange customs and I’m still trying to get used to them. It’s difficult to accept the idea of having classes in the morning and in the afternoon (9:00 – 12:15 and 1:15 – 4:00) – It seems we spend too much time studying. But what I think is great is that on Wednesday afternoons we don’t have class – that’s when we have to play sports. The only thing is that because of this we have class on Saturday mornings as well. Apart from class, boarding school can be fun if you have a lot of friends. On the other hand, there is always a routine from the time we get up to the time we go to bed – can you believe there is also a special period for letter writing? Well, I suppose if there wasn’t I wouldn’t have the time to write this letter to you.
How are Beatriz and Regina? Regina asked me to send her a poster of London, but it’s not so easy. You see, the school is 60 kilometers from London and we have to have written permission from our parents to leave the school on the weekend. Well, tell Regina not to worry. We have a holiday next month. (Isn’t this great? We have a 4-day holiday every term in the middle of the term – oh, by the way, here they don’t have semesters, they have three terms a year; each term is about ten weeks long; the first term begins in September. It’s the longest term – twelve weeks long; the second term is from January to Easter, and the summer term is from after Easter to July). I intend to spend the holiday with a school friend who invited me to stay with his family in London. I can’t understand why people who live in London (which is so near) have to go to boarding school – well, as I said before, it’s not easy to understand these English customs. The holidays are excellent though, I’ve never had so many. We have a whole month at Christmas and a whole month at Easter, and two months for summer.
Oh, did I tell you about the food in my last letter? It’s still disgusting. Can you imagine that when I complained to the principal, he said the boarding schools are not five-star restaurants(!) and the English boarding schools have never been famous for their food! Well, I’m not sure if it’s the food here at the school that is atrocious or if it’s English food in general that is like that. I wrote and complained to father about it – after all, he’s paying a fortune for me to be here.
It’s incredible to think I’ve been here for a month already; but sometimes when I think of all the new things I have had to get accustomed to, it seems like I’ve been here a year. I really miss my friends and all. And besides, making friends here is not the same. The boys here sometimes seem so distant with each other. And it’s so strange not being allowed to have girlfriends (as you know, the school is only for boys). I’ve been told that twice a year the school organizes a dance with a girl’s boarding school near here and the girls are invited. The funny thing is that there’s always a teacher present. I think it’s going to be a bit difficult for this school to make an English gentleman of me! (My father will be disappointed.)
Well, Henrique, do write and let me know more about things over there. It’s great to receive a letter which is different from the weekly letters of my father.
Bye for now,
Tony.
