Hey everyone! :)
Here I am again, writing, yay :) It´s raining heavily outside (it tends to do this in Juiz de Fora, locals say that in one day the city can go through four seasons), and as I´m leaving on my Easter weekend trip one day later, this is a good opportunity to write a little more!
Of course, it´s hard to summarize everything in the last two weeks, but I´m gonna give a few highlights. My work at Saci, the bilingual school, has been going pretty well, the teachers are so nice and friendly, and many kids are very cute; and it´s nice to be able to work with kids of different ages, ie there is different groups of classes, from just 3 years old to about 13. But I also just really enjoy hanging out and talking to the teachers and also their assistants (those in the classes with the small children). And what´s really chill, is I can come in at 9:30 in the morning and head to the lunch room to have coffee, hot chocolate (they have a great one called Nescau from Nestle here), and even breakfast with some of the other teachers! (Although that´s technically my second breakfast, since I also eat and have a cup of coffee at home before I leave). Some of the teachers and other staff dont speak much English though, so I´m really trying to advance my Portuguese, which is also useful at home. One of the teachers has offered to give me portuguese classes, so hopefully by the time I return home, I´m gonna amaze you all with my skills :)
Last week was also Saci´s 45th anniversary, so there was a party at school in the evening. There were lots of kids and their parents, a comedian-magician (though, in Portuguese), jumping castles, and cotton candy! I helped make some with the teachers, which was really fun. And now there is one more t-shirt hanging in my closet, from Saci :)
So that´s been pretty cool, I always look forward to going to school in the morning (imagine that!). I had to give a cultural presentation (about me and my culture, and how I live etc, so kids can get to know me) for a bunch of the oldest classes the other week (so, adolescents... eek!), and I was really nervous, since their last trainee´s presentation was apparently really cool, and I didnt wanna seem boring after that. But I guess it went ok, which is good, coz I´ve got more of those to come for the younger kids!
It´s funny living with a host family, esp if I often have to try hard to understand them and be understood bcoz of the language. But the food is very nice here, I have lots of room to roam about, there´s a dog that likes anyone and everyone (and me, too! sometimes it doesnt wanna let me leave), and it´s quite well located, not too far from downtown. Juiz de Fora is not a very big city, about half a million people, so the center is not too difficult to walk by foot. Since the bus to school goes for about 25 mins, I also get to see some more of the city, which is nice, although on the way back it gets so hot!! Yep, it´s still summer here, pretty much 30 degrees every afternoon, but then it has also suddenly rained on several days. And rain here is not really like in Holland, it´s always very hard, and can actually go on for a while. It´s still going now, for probably an hour already, at least.
I´ve met several other Aiesecers here, and they´re a nice bunch! We went out to a couple of bars a couple of times now, but I still have to get to a real club party, as every time we ended up in a night-time fast food place instead. Brazilian music is really cool, so I´m looking forward to that! My first weekend here, I also went with my host family to the 15th birthday party of their cousin, and the 15th birthday is a big deal here in Brazil! (And I think, other countries in South America, too, since I´ve heard of this before). It was pretty interesting, and was kinda funny to see all these 14-15 year old girls in short dresses and high heels, all looking like models. It´s a weird feeling when you are somewhat intimidated by a bunch of girls 8 years younger than you.
I chatted to the cousin of my host-mum and her 13 year old daughter at this party, and the three of us managed to make way with my very limited Portuguese (remember, this was only my 4th day in the country), and their limited English (although the girl´s English wasnt bad for her age, I have to say). It was pretty hilarious actually, as during the conversation Rafaela (the daughter) frequently remarked that her mother is "crazy", which I can´t really argue with. Her mother taught me all about "homem-galinha", the Brazilian term for literally "chicken-man", which in our understanding is a player, and she did so in reference to her own husband in his youth, who has another child just older than Rafaela, "carnaval, beber (drink)...". And all that with roars of laughter and exclamations of "bem feito!!" (Which basically means, well he deserved it). So that was pretty memorable. Ana Paula (the mother) had invited me to their house for lunch (which is the main meal here), so hopefully sometime soon I can go, since my Portuguese is better now, and it will likely be hilarious again.
Oh, and a quick note on the soap operas, here known as telenovelas: yep, everyone watches those, even guys, every night, and it goes for a few hours as they have several to get through every evening. It can be pretty entertaining, reminds me of how I used to watch them when I was younger, in Russia. It can be hard to follow though, even with all the Portuguese practice I get every day ;)
The main thing that bugs me here (get the irony), is the abundance of mosquitoes and how
much they´ve gotten to liking me. Despite the repellent, and the clothes, they get to me. My poor legs - I came all the way to Brazil, where many women around the city show off their shapes and legs, and I have to cover them up, should anyone get frightened... oh oh oh. But people had advised me about vitamin B, and hopefully in a couple of weeks, my blood won´t be so tasty. Oh my life in the tropics...
As this weekend is Easter weekend, I´m off on my first trip in Brazil, tomorrow I´m going to Rioooo de Janeeeiroo, with two other trainees. It´s kind of a late-minute-planned trip, so we´ll see how it all goes, but they´ve already been to Rio before (properly, not like me when I first arrived there and left right away), so I´m hoping for a nice time! They call Rio the "cidade maravilhosa" - "wonderful city", so I hope it will live up to its name!
So, that´s about it for now, but I will try to write soon after I get back from my weekend trip, and tell you about Rio (and anywhere else, if we happen to go)!!
I hope you all have a wonderful Easter, and keep me updated on what´s happening with all of you!
Muitos beijos e muitos abracos para todos!!
Ps oh yeah, I do get Portuguese and Spanish confused, so sometimes my speech is pretty mixed, you know, just as long as I can get myself understood lol. I think that language can be described as "Portañol" ;)
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