Olaaa :)
Once again, I'm back to writing today, and will try to keep it entertaining still for you ;) So, I left off where I went to a Festa Junina dressed up so beautifully but a little too much even for the occasion, or so it seemed. Though embarassing it was to come in dressed in such a traditional outfit, and got kinda cold later as the party was outside in the garden, it was really fun, and over-dressed as I was, people did complement me on my clothes. And we danced the quadrille with all of us, which is the traditional festa junina dance in pairs, with a whole bunch of people all together. I think I haven't danced something like that since I was pretty young and made to do so at school... but so much fun!
Well, popular as they are, Saci, the school where I worked, also had a festa junina the following weekend. Actually, there I had to work behind the bar, which was especially busy around lunch time with all the parents wanting to have soda, juice, and beers, so I figured leaving the long skirt behind was the best idea so just went with the Snow White top and a regular cute skirt. Though I did buy and wear a girly straw hat with fake pigtails :) There were no grown ups dancing around much there though, as most of the parents were sitting around little tables while the kids were running around, and the teachers and staff at Saci had to work, including myself. I did slip out for a little bit to go see the 8-11 year-olds dancing the quadrille, all dressed up so cute! They have the most adorable little outfits for the boys and girls; the boys wore the checkered cowboy-ish clothes and hats, and the girls amazing colourful dresses. So awesome to see... but of course, the adolescents just show up in normal clothes. I dont think I saw a single teenager dressed up that day.
Speaking of Saci, in case some of you are still wondering what I did there... I have to say my job was generally pretty relaxed. Some days I had to stay a bit longer, but most of the time I worked 10 till 3pm, with different groups of kids in bilingual classes, 3 to 13 years old, and I usually assisted the teacher, rather than being the teacher. Saci also hosts a cultural lunch for a different country every month, and because of me, they did Russia and Holland, so I had to help much with it as well. Saci likes events like that... so, apart from the day-to-day activities in helping with the projects and speaking English with the kids, I helped around with that kind of stuff, which was great, because then it also gave me a more important role, so to speak... the job for the foreign trainee at Saci is pretty relaxed, which is great, but it's also nice to be able to help more with this kind of stuff.
Something else which is pretty cool is that on my last day of work in July, I did an almost hour long presentation for the 6-11 year old kids from both bilingual and non-bilingual classes, about myself, and my two countries, with a PowerPoint... in Portuguese. There was a bilingual teacher there just in case I got stuck, but pretty much most of the presentation I delivered in my fourth language. So I'm going to drop the modesty and say I was fairly proud of myself for being able to do this after 4 months in Brazil =D
So maybe some of you are wondering about the Portuguese... When I arrived in Brazil, I had a very basic knowledge of Spanish from the course I took at college 3.5 years ago but never practiced the language. I also knew a few things in Portuguese that I learned from my Brazilian friend Pedro in Shanghai, but some of those would be frankly inappropriate to say to, for example, your host family. So when I arrived, all I could say to them was "bom dia" (good day) and 'prazer' (nice to meet you). And "obrigada" - thank you... But you'd be amazed what can come out of necessity, interest for the language, and some basic Spanish... the ability to now speak Portuguese, which I love :) Brazilian Portuguese is absolutely beautiful, and one of the things I miss most about living there. It was one of my objectives to learn it when I left.. and actually, I did get help - from a Portuguese teacher at Saci who offered to help me herself and for which I had to get up an hour earlier on Monday morning; and, in the last 2 months, from my friend Vico, who teaches English, but did pretty damn well teaching Yuen, the other trainee, and me Portuguese ;)
From May/June I was actually frequenting Vico's school quite a bit, both to learn Portuguese, and help others learn English in Vico's classes, which involve much direct conversation, so the presence of gringas hopefully was an asset to the students. And I have to say, I've had the chance to teach a little bit at Saci on some occasions, and though I can get shy with that kind of attention, it is fun :p And I honestly miss coming to Vico's school and helping with the classes, because it was great to meet and get to know his students, participate, and watch Vico teach, because he is a wonderful teacher.
So, there was much going on in JF in June. There were many parties and fun events and hanging out with friends, not even including the World Cup games, about which I will write separately... Mariana and I even went to a party for the launch of a magazine Mari worked on at a fancy shopping mall, with much free champaigne included... you can see why we make such good sisters :D
There was also a concert of two famous Brazilian musicians that I went to: the young, good-looking samba singer Diogo Nogueira (I think, from Rio), and the older pop/rock singer from Minas Gerais, Nando Reis (they did perform separately though, one after the other). Actually, this was an interesting night. I wanted to go to the concert but didn't have company to get there, and it's pretty far, but I ran into my friend Stéphanie by chance, and she said, call this friend of mine, she will probably be there. So I went with her friend, Maruska, and another girl... and when we got there, I saw several people I knew, so Maruska joked that I knew more people there than her; she must have been so confused! The concerts were great, but what's funny, in Brazil, shows like that start at about midnight and this one went on till at least 4am... while in Holland they start at 9pm and finish by 11pm.
Lucky I was to have Maruska to go back with though (and not go alone), because when we came out, there were like 2000 other people wanting the same thing: a taxi to go home. So we had to walk down the road, among many people, trying to get a taxi, which took about half an hour. Finally I managed to catch one, and we got in with two other random people, but the taxi driver was both kind of deaf and crazy, so he drove us through all these empty streets to get to my place first, which was a way longer route, and all the while Maruska was just yelling at him that he's not going right, and we're not gonna pay him all that extra money. For a while we drove through a bunch of streets I did not recognize at all, until I saw a familiar street and the little twinkling light of McDonalds. Oh the relief ;) I have to say I was just a bit freaked out where this guy was taking us at 5 am. I randomly saw Maruska again at another party a while later, but I have no idea how things went after I got out. But this was surely an experience just to get back from the concert venue!
Thanks my dear readers, and to my friends in Brasil, eu tenho muitas saudades de voces, nao me esquece! Espero que voces gostaram, e tem saudades de mim tambem ;)
Beijos e abracos! :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment