Pizza Snob and the Women's Club

After many busy weeks for both of us, Janaina and I were finally able to meet up again for lunch. We were originally planned to meet at Potbelly but switched at the last minute when Janaina invited me to join her and some of the other girls from the program at Pizza Snob. In turns out that all of the girls in the English program have formed a women's club together. They've done yoga together, volunteered at a local church, and had a dinner party at Janaina's house. At lunch Janaina came up with idea to have a cooking party soon, while another girl was talking about leading a zumba class in the near future. All the girls were so candid and fun with each other, and they brought out a side of Janaina that I hadn't experienced yet. According to Janaina, the girls all feel that they can be their selves together because its just them girls. At Janaina's house the girls from Saudi Arabia were able to remove their head scarves and show off their beautiful, long hair. It made her so happy that the girls all had each other to do things together. I recognized a few girls from the IEP social last week, and one of the girls actually remembered my name and talking to me, which made me actually feel really special.

Janaina introduced me to one of her good friends Hannah, who is from Saudi Arabia. Hannah has just graduated from the language program and was waiting for her test results before applying for petroleum engineering programs. We joked about how students in the medical field are intimidated by engineering (like I am), and she told me that she feels the same way about medicine. Hannah and Janaina talked with me about everything from family (Hannah will be seeing hers for the first time in over a year this December), to boys (Janaina told both Hannah and I that we should wait until after college to worry about them), to shopping in Fort Worth.

Janaina and I also talked about her teenage kids who still do not know they aren't going back to Brazil for the holidays. Janaina has decided that they should stay in the US and experience the holidays here, but has been worried about telling them this. They will however all be going back for the summer, where her daughter will be turning 15, a big holiday in their culture. According to Janaina, this means a big party and a lot of craziness. I got the feeling that maybe Janaina was not too excited to plan this huge party, and I can't really blame her!

Janaina is constantly entertaining visiting friends from Brazil, and apparently all they ever want to do when they come here is shop! Things are cheaper here than in Brazil, something that I did not expect. The constant stream of guests coming and going means going shopping all the time, something that Janaina doesn't necessarily mind, but apparently is taking up a little bit too much of her time.

Overall the lunch was a success, and I am so happy that I was able to join in on their women's club for the afternoon. What better way to get to know some amazing international girls than over delicious pizza on a rainy day?