The being far from home emotion waves are quite noticeable. I usually have a week full of fun and distraction and excitement, getting to know my friends better and being extremely motivated and outgoing. Then the next week, feel antisocial, closed off and miss home a lot. I'm working on it, so that the "I don't freaking want to speak in Portuguese" moods don't last too long but I'm sure I'll keep missing home. : ) This last week was kind of boring but I don't see any more of them in my near future so I may as well enjoy these next few "nothing" days. There are beach plans, BBQ plans, dance club/bar plans and having a job plans all coming up in the next week.
This is a photo of my classroom. I have all 4 of my classes in this same room. When I lose weight (which happens when you're poor and don't buy much food), my butt usually gets smaller first. This is unfortunate considering the flat wooden chairs.
Classmates: Tayara, Amanda, Michely, Me
This is Carol's dad, Pedro Leopoldo Monteiro. He's grilling goat linguica for lunch. He normally smiles a lot, but I'm pretty sure he was saying something when I took this photo. He has bad teeth but a really nice smile anyway because he's so genuinely jolly. I'll get a smiley one sometime soon.
Today at the bakery I got called Galega!!! It made me feel so much more Brazilian. I'm not "Norteamericana"...I'm just a blondish Brazilian.
I also got lots of compliments today from the girls in the international coordinator's office about how good my accent is. : ) : ) : ) I went there today because Michely, the assistant, wanted to tell me what we needed to do to set up a Brazilian bank account! Money! Woo Hoo! What a good day.
I start leading that conversational English class in a WEEK. Crazy. All the students are really anxious because they had to take a test to judge their english level, and only the 15 best get in. Which means, I hope, they're all really dedicated to learning English and will be a lot of fun to work with.
Last Saturday Night in Garanhuns, Carolina's friend Vanesa's brothers' band was playing at a bar. We all went and danced. The next morning I was talking to the grandma about how I was tired because I still wasn't used to staying out til after 4am. She laughed and said "4? that's nothing." She then continued to tease me by telling Lucia Angelica that I'm not yet accustomed to partying in Brazil. Oh Grandmas. We also watched one of her favorite movies together in her room while eating home made dulce de leche. It was Scent of a Woman with Al Pacino. Haha.
Rio Capibaribe! I took the bus to Parque Jaqueira yesterday and walked along the river a little.
Here is something that amuses me: The weather here is whack. Completely. Sometimes Carol will yell " 'ta chovendo! (it's raining!)" and everyone will jump up from whatever they're doing and run to shut the windows. It's like a fire drill, but a water drill, and not a drill.
This is a photo of my classroom. I have all 4 of my classes in this same room. When I lose weight (which happens when you're poor and don't buy much food), my butt usually gets smaller first. This is unfortunate considering the flat wooden chairs.
Classmates: Tayara, Amanda, Michely, Me
This is Carol's dad, Pedro Leopoldo Monteiro. He's grilling goat linguica for lunch. He normally smiles a lot, but I'm pretty sure he was saying something when I took this photo. He has bad teeth but a really nice smile anyway because he's so genuinely jolly. I'll get a smiley one sometime soon.
