Adventures of Living Abroad

So I felt the need to blog tonight as I'm relaxing in bed feeling very tired as I felt I had a productive day: Got to work early, around 7:15  Taught all day using every free minute to get some grading done!  Stayed at work being productive til about 4:30 Walked home (30 minute walk) Did laundry...yeah I don't get this washer, but it takes about 1 1/2 hours to wash a load of laundry! Then I hang it on the drying rack because there are no dryers here, and turn on the ceiling fan to speed up the drying process! Cooked dinner...YES I was hungry at 5:30 and NO I could not wait for Brazilian time to eat dinner. Even after eating two pastels for snack today and then a large lunch consisting of: rice and beans, meatballs, more meat (beef I think), a pasta thing with cheese and ham, a medium sized salad and pineapple, I was STILL hungry. Definitely gained back those few pounds I lost due to stress before my big move here! :) (Gotta love the free lunch at school!) Wat...

I spent my first 3 day week on a small island a few hours north of Porto Alegre called Florianopolis in the state of Santa Catarina. Our hostel was in the small village of Barra da Lagoa on a high overlooking the ocean. What a relaxing feeling to wake up to the sound and view of the ocean.   We checked out some of the shops in the town on Friday and met a friendly shop owner who served us a variety of flavors of Cachaça (Brazilian rum) from the behind his counter. Cachaça is a liquor made from fermented sugarcane juice. I'm not a fan of liquor and so I only had a small sip! We probably stayed there for an hour talking (our friend was translating) and drinking while people shopped around his store. We were lucky that it stopped raining on Saturday and the sun actually came out. We took a boat ride around the small lake and had lunch at a restaurant. The restaurants and homes around this lake are only accessible by boat. We ate outside in a small glass room. ...

On Friday I participated in the MASSA CRITICA (critical mass) bike ride. I learned it began in San Francisco and now there are cities all over the world who do this monthly bike ride. The large group takes to the streets to protest/bring awareness and help promote bike safety. It's typically about a 2 hour ride around the city. The streets are blocked off and cars are not able to pass as the group rides through the streets. Porto Alegre is not a bicycle friendly city. There are few bike lanes and the cars are very aggressive and tend to "push the limit" by getting as close as they can. Although I had not been on a bike in 2 years, I was excited to participate and get to see the city. As we began to ride someone would shout "Bicicleta" and the group would shout back "um carro a menos" (one car less). There were people cheering us on in in streets. I was loving it! After about an hour I thought, wow I am getting tired. I really should have eaten more...

So I became very excited when I saw peanut butter at the grocery store since they do not sell it very often here. Then I looked at the price! R$14 which is about US $ 7 for the Walmart brand peanut butter...No thank you! I'll pass!

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since my last posts. I just haven't had the energy to write! Here is what I've been up to: Last week was a short week :  due to the holiday called Farroupilha (The Farroupilha Revolution took place from 1835-1845 in which the southern state I live in, Rio Grande do Sul, began an uprising against the government because of unfair taxes. Although they eventually lost the war, the guachos (people from this state)  are proud and know that it brought about some change. - We had an assembly at school where all the elementary classes put on performances. The students were dressed in traditional clothing! They were so adorable!   My 3 day weekend had arrived! Due to the rain we didn't go camping and due to the bus being sold out we couldn't go to Uruguay. So we booked a bus ticket to Florianopolis. Last minute decision, but it was totally worth it! The bus left at 1:30 am on Friday and arrived around 9 am....ma...

After reading articles and talking to friends from back home, I've learned about all the craziness going on in the Philadelphia School District. I can't help but feel blessed for where I am right now. I feel terrible for what my friends are having to endure right now and disgusted that it is even happening. Although teaching in Philly for 5 years was no easy task, I'm so glad to have had the experience. It has made me truly appreciate everything I am being given at my new school. I think it has also helped me to be a stronger teacher. For five years, I dealt with crazy behaviors (I often laugh when I think of some of the things that actually happened in my room), unsupportive administration, lack of support and supplies - yes I had to buy copy paper, crayons, glue and many other staple items to make a classroom run successfully- , and loss of prep time to cover other teachers who don't come to school. But I feel that if I didn't experience that, I wouldn't appre...

Well people weren't lying when they said many things are ridiculously expensive here. I bought a bottle of contact solution yesterday and paid US $ 20...that's right for one lousy bottle. That was the cheapest place. The other pharmacy was selling it for US $ 30! (And that's not even my preferred brand. I haven't been able to find Clear Care) Also suntan lotion is very expensive. About US $30 for a normal sized bottle of suntan lotion. It is high because they import these items, but it is so hard for me to justify paying so much when I know back home I get it for more than half the price. So guess what friends? Anyone who is going to come visit me...I'm going to ask you to bring me contact solution and sunscreen from home. (I'm sure my list will get longer I find out what else is crazy expensive!)

It's hard to imagine I have been here for two months already. Time is flying by. I am into a good daily routine now and sometimes need to stop and remember that I'm in Brazil. I usually take the bus to school. The stop is about a 5 minute walk from my apartment. Then it is about another 5 minute walk from where I get off the bus to my school. It is a Brazilian law that your employer pay for your transportation to work so I don't have to pay to ride the bus. I'm still waiting to get my bus card though...it's only been two months! ha! The bus is very convenient except for the one day it didn't come. I was waiting at the bus stop for about 10 minutes and began wondering why my bus was running late. I then started to think..hmmm I haven't seen ANY busses. After contacting another coworker I learned that the busses were cancelled. I attempted to get a taxi but of course every taxi I saw had someone in it because everyone needed to get to work! So I had to walk....

Here are some pictures I took of the city while on the bus tour last Wednesday:            

While out to dinner on Tuesday, my friend wanted hot sauce with her burger. After only one Portuguese class we were not quite fluent enough to ask the waiter for hot sauce so she looked it up on the translator on her phone. She showed it to the waiter who looked very confused. After a few seconds of hand signals, he thought he figured it out. A few minutes later he comes back with a small bowl of white (alfredo like) sauce...not hot sauce...where was the bottle of Tabasco? We then realized he gave us exactly what she asked for "hot sauce"  - sauce that was hot (as in heated not spicy) Lesson learned...hot means hot like the temperature NOT spicy.

Life is so busy. It is hard to keep up with this blog, but I am going to try my hardest to keep up with it. This was another busy week. I started taking Portuguese classes twice a week for two hours each day. My knowledge of Spanish definitely helps me to identify many words and verb conjugations, but the pronunciations are different.  Tuesdays and Thursday are productive, but long days. Meetings after school then directly to Portuguese class until 7:30. Then out to dinner to practice our Portuguese! I can actually order using a complete sentence instead of just pointing to things on the menu. On Wednesday, we took a bus tour of Porto Alegre which was really nice. It helped me to start to understand where the various neighborhoods are located in the city. The ride started out nice, warm and sunny, but halfway through the cold wind started blowing and I was wishing I had my gloves and scarf! The city itself is not very large, but there are many things to do here. Friday I rushed...

On Saturday, I got a little taste of Carnival! One of the teacher's at our school is part of Bloco da Laje and they played music and danced down the street of Porto Alegre. The party was set to start at 3pm (although it was closer to 4pm...nothing starts on time here in Brazil!) Tons of people came to join in the festivities. Of course we did as well...with a few drinks in our hands...since that's completely okay to do here. :) We danced and sang down the middle of the streets until we were told we finally had to move off the streets. The party continued in a small grassy area between two streets where the music and dancing continued. Can't wait for more of these celebrations in preparation for Carnival in March!          

A dreary cold rainy Monday night came to life when I ate dinner at a restaurant called Terra Nova. Cute little place near my apartment with a tree in the middle of the restaurant. Every Monday night they have a band who plays live samba music. The restaurant itself had a German feel to it but once the music started and the people started dancing I knew I was in beautiful Brazil! My friend and I just sat there with permanent smiles on our faces soaking in the wonderful atmosphere...great food...great music...what a fun, relaxing, Brazilian culture-filled evening :)        

Friday, August 23rd,  my friend and I decided to walk around and find a new restaurant for dinner. Brazilians have a late dinner and most restaurants don't open until 7 pm for dinner. I don't know if I will ever get used to, or want to get used to, eating that late at night. After having a glass of wine at the apartment, it was finally late enough to start heading to dinner. As we walked down the street on this cold rainy night, we began to feel despair when we noticed some places were still closed! Just when I was beginning to feel crabby from being cold, wet, and hungry and ready to give up, we saw this cute restaurant with lots of people inside...our clue to knowing it must be good! It was called Al Nur. Since our Portuguese is still on the non existent side we didn't have much of a clue what the menu said. We could, however, find the vine and beer list! After ordering our drinks, we began scanning the other tables to see what people were eating. Everyone seemed to have ...

Last Sunday I celebrated my birthday. My new friends helped to make turning the big 30 in Brazil so memorable! It started on Friday..I went to pick my students up from library to take them to snack, but when I arrived they were already gone. I thought hmm, my assistant must have taken them down already. Oh no I must be running late. Then I see one of my students running up the stairs. She tells me they need me in the cafeteria. I think...oh no what happened now?! Did someone get hurt? Are my kids in trouble? I walk into the cafeteria and I my students huddled around a chocolate birthday cake with candles lit as they sing happy birthday. So sweet! My students' parents bought me a cake and my assistant helped to make it a surprise. I almost started crying. What a great feeling to be loved and appreciated by these wonderful people who have only known me for 5 weeks. :) Saturday night I was again surprised by friends who decorated my one friend's apartment and bought me birthday ...