Um dia (Day one)

Due to the time we arrived and my lack of night vision, I did not get to see much of my new home until this morning. I was awoken by a shitzu (or rather a ball of fur with only eyes popping out) and an older lady whose name I later learned was Donna Katarina. Donna Katarina is about seventy years old and speaks only Portuguese. She seems like a friendly woman, over accommodating and very chatty. She smiles and continues speaking Portuguese, despite my obviously confused expression and responses in broken Spanish and English. "Quer cafe?" she asks this morning, to which Rachel and I reply, "Não, obrigado" thinking she asked if we wanted coffee. An hour or so later when we smelled chicken, we came to the realization that "cafe" had meant breakfast and I had turned down my favorite meal of the day!

I share my room with Rachel. Our room consists of a bunk bed, small desk, wardrobe closet and bathroom. The AC that I was informed we would have seems to be missing from our room, which might be a problem come the summer when it apparently reaches temperatures of 120 degrees.






Next door there is an identical room where two other girls are staying, both of which only speak Portuguese and as a result I have yet to determine why exactly they are here. The house is quaint and contains a living room, dining room and small kitchen area, all seemingly dedicated to Jesus. There are rosary beads, statues and pictures of Jesus everywhere I look.



After eating lunch, Rita (pronounced Heeta) and Erika stopped by the house to bring Rachel and me to the school we would be teaching at. Rita is the lady I interviewed with over the phone and the person who organized everything for us and Erika is one of the coordinators at the school. A young girl named Carol (pronounced Carro), who was another teacher at the school was also with them. They took us on a tour of the school which consists of two floors and about ten classrooms. I was assigned classroom number two, and given my schedule of classes for the week. I will be teaching six different classes, twice a week for an hour and a half along with one conversation only class and three one-on-one sessions. I initially had thought I would be teaching four classes, so seven is a bit overwhelming, but most of my mornings I have some free time to prepare for my classes. And I have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off.

After spending some time at the school, Rita, Erika and Carol took us on a tour of the town of Lins. In my opinion, Lins would fall somewhere between a city and a suburb. There are cobblestone roads and streets lined with small houses and shops. We were told that Lins was a safe town, but in the same breath told that it would be best not to be outside after dark.



We returned home in time for dinner, which consisted of Donna Katarina, Rachel, another girl whose name slips my mind at the moment and I, my Portuguese/English dictionary and plates full of rice, beans and steak. Good thing I like rice and beans, because I have a feeling that I am going to be seeing a lot of them...

Some useful information:

Vegetarians would have a difficult time surviving in Brazil.

It is not customary to flush toilet paper down the toilet bowl. Apparently the proper way to dispose of it is in the trash, because the toilets might get clogged.

Portuguese is very different from Spanish. Even if it is spelled the same, it sounds completely different.

There is an animosity that exists between Brazil and Argentina, solely over the debate as to whether Pele or Maradona was the better soccer player.

Guarana is the tastiest soft drink I have ever drank.

Brazil has a reciprocal visa policy with all countries, meaning that whenever prices and restrictions are applied to Brazilians visiting a country, Brazil adopts the same measure for that country's visitors.