Hello everyone!
My life has become a little busier since I last wrote. Now I am working part time at an English school in São José (the one where Bia takes classes). Yázigi offered me better pay and benefits than the other schools, however, I have a gap in between classes in the afternoon from 3 - 6pm. Because of this, I was trying to negotiate Portuguese classes for free, so that I could be taught during this free period and I could be more productive with my time. I haven't been told when I will begin, but there is another teacher with a degree in Portuguese, Renan, who will try to tutor me when his schedule allows.
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| Their house in São José |
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| Bananeiras - one of my favorite plants in their backyard |
I have 4 different groups of teenagers at Yázigi and 3 separate adults who come in the evenings for tutoring. The teenagers in the afternoon range from 14 - 18 yrs and the students who come at 6 pm are a bit older, maybe 17 - 25 yrs. All of them are so kind and very excited to get to know me! As a whole, they are MUCH more outgoing and talkative than my Korean students in the past. And whenever I ask them something about Brazil, they all want to tell me at once! All of the teachers at Yázigi are about my age as well, and it has been a really good experience so far. :-)
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| The English school where I work |
I have also begun teaching private English classes to a few ladies who live in the same condominium as Pedro's parents. Two of the ladies' English abilities are fairly advanced and they can carry on a conversation with me. They both want to practice and improve their grammar and vocabulary.
However, there is one lady who knows NO English...I mean zero!!! I had my first meeting with her this past week and we ended up speaking in Portuguese for the whole hour! I started off by asking, "What's your name?" That was the only question she could answer in English....so I had to use my broken Portuguese to explain to her how we could approach her classes. I will continue with her in May after she returns from vacation...if anyone has any ideas for me, let me know!
This weekend, Pedro, Bia, and I saw a movie: The Call, with Halle Barry. It was a terrifying account of a 911 operator trying to save a young girl from a serial killer. Afterwards, Bia and I were a little shaken up so we went to pick up a pizza and watched reruns of That 70's Show on tv. Last Sunday we went back to a restaurant in São José that I loved so that we could have the Pintado. This fish is very orange and can only be found in the rivers of South America, mainly in Brazil. They serve it with rice, potatoes, and fried bananas - it is amazing!!
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| Pintado, potatoes, rice, and a fried banana - yum!! |
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| Pintado |
We've also been eating a lot of Açaí!
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| Açaí with bananas |
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| I can't compare the distinct flavor to anything else! |
I attended a sort of bridal shower/party with Cecília and met a lot of her childhood friends from São José. We played games and had some nice food there: beijinho, coxinha, sangria, etc. Ciça took some pictures there, but I don't have them to attach right now...All of the girls were a lot of fun, but unfortunately they all live in São Paulo now... :-(
Cecília has left for Italy now and my days have been a bit lonely without her...However, I have been keeping myself busy with English classes, and
soon
I will also be studying Portuguese with a tutor. I hope you all are well! Miss you!
XOXO,
Olivia
