Mealtime Wisdoms

Good evening, all!

A lovely day here it has been. We finally registered with the Federal Police (on the very last day possible; one must register within 30 days after arrival) and took it easy in the afternoon. I had the apartment to myself for the evening, so much napping and lesson planning took place. Once Miracy returned, though, we had a late, light dinner. Not only does this sweet woman prepare the most delicious dishes, but she always delves into heavy subjects while we eat. Tonight, she talked about allowing every human being to live their own lives, as each person is completely different with their own personal needs; in order to tend to these needs, we mustn't confine others, but let them explore their own passions and hopes in life. She discussed how she is happy for her sons, even though they live so far from her. She knows that they would not be their happiest living in Brazil. Miracy also mentioned how she delights in living alone and independently. Her sons offered to house her years ago, but she enjoys having her own space, and she also respects the privacy of her sons and their families. My, I feel so blessed having the opportunity to listen to her speak and share her experiences. In no way is she trying to force her opinions on anyone; she is merely revealing herself through her opinions on life and society. Truly, every meal ends in one of these mini-lectures, and I love it so much. Sometimes, the discussion is more personal, and others more general, like society's tendency towards egotism and neglectfulness. Miracy is in every way a delightful human being. I haven't even lived here for a week, and I have already learned so much.

Oh, and note of the day: the bus system is going on strike tomorrow. Getting to class is going to be nothing short of interesting tomorrow. If we manage to get there, I hope we have students (most ride the bus). Always an adventure here.

Catching Up

Hello! Sincere apologies for the lack of posts. Looking back, I had not realized until now just how long it had been since I last hopped on here. Internet access has been iffy at best until now, but as I am in a home-stay now (with wireless, yippee!), posts should be a more frequent occurrence. Hold me to that.

Ay, so much to cover! Let's start with teaching. Week one of teaching was short, but lovely all the same. My students are fantastic. Each is so incredibly eager to learn, and they all put so much effort into the class. Almost all of my students are science majors because of the program requirements of this course. Actually, I would say the majority are veterinary science majors, which is totally cool. I love hearing them talk about animal rights issues. They are all truly passionate about their majors.

Because of the wide range of skills in my classes, I found that a decent English review was needed before even opening the TOEFL textbook. This exam is known for its difficulty, and one needs to have a great command of the English language in order to be successful. Lots of work to be done. Every day we begin class with a warmup, answering a random question of my choice. Soon these questions are going be become truly random, as I am running out of normal questions. Probably for the best, I suppose, as creativity is also an important skill for the exam. Anyways, warmup, discussion, and then lesson time. Somedays we work on conversational and listening skills, while others we pick apart grammar topics. I've tried to assign homework every night, with assignments ranging from researching topics to present on to writing short stories. These students have so much else going on in their lives, though (especially this week, as it was time for final exams), so sometimes homework does not take priority for them. I understand and admire just how hard they are working. These guys are smart. Super smart.

Constantly, I am in awe of students in this country (both the ones in my class and those elsewhere). At the university level, most students live at home, so come time for school they are quite often traveling up to three hours for class. Why go to school so far from home? In the city, particularly, they might live fairly close, but the bus system can take forever. Gosh, sometimes I grumble about walking across campus to the math building, and these students go to such great lengths each day for their education. Oh, and out in the country, students sometimes travel for even longer, as the universities and colleges are more spread out. Usually, university students spend the entire day on campus taking classes, so imagine what time they might arrive home at night when class ends at 8 pm. My, motivation is incredible here.

Alright, if you are not too bored yet, I shall skip ahead to a more recent development, my new home! Up until this past Wednesday, we were living with our professor, Wellington. Because of complications elsewhere, there was not time to place us into home-stays. Now, though, the kinks have been worked out and all is well. I am actually still in the same building as Wellington, just two floors down. I am living with the sweetest woman, Miracy (I very well could have spelled her name wrong), and she is simply fantastic. In fact, she is walking around the apartment singing at the moment. She is in her late sixties and lives alone. Her three sons live abroad (one in Ireland and two in Portugal). Her newest grandchild was born in Portugal two months ago, and she skypes with the baby every day. What a doll. Everything is lovely here, though. Miracy makes a grand fruit salad of melon, papaya, apple, and pineapple every morning, which is served with either a combination of eggs, bread, cheese, or some other delicious food. Oh, and she LOVES fruit juice, so cranking out fresh juice is a must every day. I am totally on board with that.

After breakfast, I walk to the bus stop, which is close to the airport (only about a seven minute walk from the apartment). I leave around 10:30 am, even though Annelise and I meet at 11 am, just to have a casual walk. Already, some kids are getting out of school (students go to school in shifts), and I love watching the hoards of students pour out of the gates, running all over the place in search for busses. I also pass the metro station when going to the bus stop, and yesterday I noticed something peculiar... the station was open! Ay, the strike has ended! Good to know, as the metro bypasses all traffic, which makes such a huge difference during rush hour. Anyways, after the metro station I come to the main road that runs past the airport. Before hitting the bus stop, I stop for a bit of coffee (truly a "bit," as coffee is most often served in itty bitty little one shot plastic cups... flimsy plastic). It's the perfect amount, though, and usually is enough to wake me up. If not, there are about five other food stands nearby. Once at the bus stop, I usually crack open my numerous folders and finish some grading and editing. I have found that people waiting for the bus (or even people riding on the bus) don't really do anything besides wait/sit. Multitasking must not be much of a thing here, which could be good, as clearly these people are not constantly stressed about getting stuff done at the last minute and whatnot. I like that they seem to just take their time at the bus stop as a moment to relax.

Only this past week have we been taking the bus near the airport, which is such a treat because it is just a one bus trip. During the weeks prior, we were riding one bus downtown and then hopping on another to the university. Prime example of a three hour trip. No good. Now, we get to the university in about an hour. Beautiful. Most days, we try to arrive early to grab lunch on campus at these white tents that house little restaurants. The food is bangin' and the prices are great. Happy times. Twice, though, we have met up with the two other teachers, Rebecca and Arely, and had lunch at a new vegetarian restaurant, which is nothing short of incredible. Each meal comes with fruit/salad bar access and a full meal, often consisting of rice, eggplant, and dishes like crepes. YUM. This place is precious, too. It is tucked away in the forest/jungley area just outside of campus. The restaurant is open-air, with mismatched tables and chairs, decorated with funky, adorable fabrics. To top things off, some of the seats are toilets, dressed up with fabric cushions. The environment and food so very much remind me of many Boone restaurants.

After lunch, we begin class around 1:45 pm (technically, class is supposed to start at 1:30 pm, but with people arriving late and the like, it's been more like 1:45). Most days I have around five students in each class. The time definitely flies, though, and more often than not we go past time. There's so much to cover, and they are all so excited about learning. An hour and a half is too little. I wish we could work much longer.

Alright, though there is much more to share, I feel as if this post is long enough. Thank you for your patience (assuming you made it to this point?) and I will most definitely be writing again soon. Eventually we will all be on the same page (surely). I hope all is well at home or wherever you may be traveling, my friends!

Grace and peace,

Rachel

Oh, and here is a picture of Recife (from the old city of Olinda). I will try to break up the monotony more often with pictures!

Week 1: Check.

And so concludes our first week here, and my, I can hardly wrap my mind around the fact that eight more weeks lie ahead of us (not that I mind it, though!). Our training for teaching TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is complete, meaning now we are each on our own preparing lesson plans and the like. Though we only spent a couple hours each day in our training class, I can already tell that I am going to miss it dearly. Our teacher, Matthew, was a sweet elderly Irish man, which made each class that much more enjoyable. We learned how the TOEFL exam works and even got the chance to practice taking portions of the exam. Goodness, I now have so much respect for international students studying at American universities, as each student must pass this exam to study there, and the exam is pretty difficult (and this is coming from a native speaker...good grief). The exam consists of four sections: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The most challenging aspect of this assessment is the time limit; sometimes, especially with the listening and speaking sections, students only have fifteen seconds to prepare an answer after hearing a playback of a college lecture, etc. Fifteen seconds, plus a great amount of stress? No way. International students are exceptional, enough said.

This past week, mainly because we had to travel across town to attend class, we fell into a typical Brazilian's life quite quickly. Each morning we left Wellington's apartment around 7:15, hopped on the metro for a twenty minute ride, and disembarked to grab a bus for a thirty-five minute ride to the school. If we managed to arrive early (usually unlikely, as traffic is by every means insane), we would stop at a street corner stand to buy coconuts for a refreshing drink (coconut water is surprisingly filling!). After our lesson finished, some days we would go eat acai for lunch (SO delicious, and very unlike acai in the U.S.). Here, acai is a frozen, blended mixture in a bowl, topped with bananas, strawberries, kiwi, and granola. Perfect during the heat midday. Other days, we returned to the apartment for naps and lunch. In order to get back to the apartment, though, we had to take two buses, in replacement of the metro. Why no metro? The workers at the metro are on strike for better pay, but when on strike they must work at least 30% of the time, so the metro only operates during the times of 5:30-8:30 am and 4:30-8:00 pm. Sometimes inconvenient, but awesome that they are allowed to go on strike in such a way. I hope all works out for them soon, as the metro is so much easier and faster than the bus (not to mention cheaper!).

Next week, we begin teaching on Wednesday, so I plan on tackling our TOEFL textbook and making lesson plans this weekend! Yes, I am pumped. It will be so nice to finally meet my students next week, too. We are going to have a blast (in the most educational way possible, of course...).

Until later! Ciao, my friends!