A friend of mine had been teaching for about two weeks at the school so she warned me about what to expect at Meninos Solar de Luz, the school BridgeBrazil partnered with. There was little to no organization, certainly no lesson plan, and in general we had no idea what level of English the kids were at. Meninos Solar de Luz is in a favela near Ipanema and is considered one of the 'nicer' favelas. The local police, as opposed to drug traffickers, control the favela although it looks just like the other favelas that dot the hills in Rio. In general we taught 3 classes per afternoon, generally in English, once in Spanish, and once we tutored two girls in English. My first day teaching I was introduced to about 30 elementary school-aged children and then left alone with instructions to "teach English." The only book I had on me was my Portuguese textbook so I repeated the lesson we had learned in class except instead of teaching the lesson in Portuguese I taught it in English. Getting and holding the students' attention was a challenge, but was a lot easier when Rita and I taught as a team. There were about 5 students who were interested in what we had to say and asked questions and offered answers. Otherwise the rest of the class was deaf to our calls for silence and we soon found out that the concept of raising one's hand to ask a question was pretty much unknown. To be fair to the students neither Rita nor I had ever taught in a classroom setting or been given instruction on how to hold the attention of a group of energetic students, so there were probably things we were doing wrong too. Nevertheless, we taught the kids who were eager to learn the names of clothing items to how to describe the weather and various animals.
I had another friend at BridgeBrazil who was in the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) program and she also taught English to native Portuguese speakers. Except in her case her audience was adults who paid for classes, obviously more attentive than the rambunctious kids who would rather be playing outside that we had. Still, the school's willingness to let us teach (and gratefulness after we did) reminded me that knowing English is a powerful tool and for some of the kids at Meninos Solar de Luz could be their ticket out of a life of poverty.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
McD's and Ipanema
Started off the day at Ipanema beach, which was like a quainter version of Copacabana. Similar blue water, rolling waves, and mountainous/high rise backdrop. I like the sand more though because it feels a little less coarse. It got a bit chilly once the sun went down which was odd, so we left when the sunshine did. We stumbled upon a kind of religious ceremony that incorporated a lot of white balloons and singing. There were even fireworks, which was appropriate for the 4th of July, although I doubt the church was celebrating the United States' independence. To celebrate the 4th we ate at McDonald's, quintessential American fast food. It was pretty much just like the McDonald's in the States but everything was in Portuguese and the wait was much much longer. My McLanche Feliz was tasty in the way that McDonald's food is and I got to choose which Shrek toy went it.
I have pictures to upload but Picasa isn't letting me :(
I have pictures to upload but Picasa isn't letting me :(
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
JC and bacon-y popcorn
Today we visited Cristo Redentor, the Christ statue that overlooks Rio. Somehow, when there were no clouds in all of Rio there were clouds around the peak when we got to the top. The view was still good but there were quite a few clouds billowing about and slightly obscuring pictures. We had a good view of Botafogo bay, Copacabana and Ipanema and the statue is pretty iconic so I'm glad we visited despite the weather. You can even take an escalator most of the way up to Cristo (stairway to heaven?) It was quite chilly at the top so we didn't spend a long time there. This tourist attraction was sadly lacking in the adorable little macaquinhos or micos we saw at Sugarloaf so I think the latter was my favorite of the two.
After getting down from the mountain we walked around Langeiras and were tempted to try some popcorn from a sidewalk stand. This stand had a tasty caramel popcorn and a version with seasoning salt. Both were delicious but we may have stopped too soon because we later saw stands selling bacon flavored popcorn (in addition to carmel, plain, and buttered). So now that I've tried every kind of churro filling (chocolate, doce de leite, doce de leite con coco), popcorn flavors will be my new frontier. There were even double sided popcorn/churro stands, which may have been the greatest invention ever in addition to the plastic ketchup packet opener we were given at a restaurant over the weekend. Sarah put ketchup on her pizza for the sheer joy of opening the packet.
I'm pretty sure the world might end because tonight I did not have chicken for dinner. Instead it was meat and potatoes with a side of chopped cooked vegetables (with requisite r&bb). My host dad and I had a conversation about Brazil's World Cup chances (in Portuguese of course) and it sounds like there's not expectations of a win for this team. Spain is the favorite. No one likes Dunga as a coach because he's so 'zangado,' which he explained as unhappy and as one of the seven dwarfs from Snow White, so I believe it translates to 'grumpy.' He said Brazil's playing efficiently but not beautifully and that the game against the Netherlands is supposed to be a tough one. I hope Brazil does keep winning though, three day weekends are nice.
As an aside, my phone is fully functional now :D
After getting down from the mountain we walked around Langeiras and were tempted to try some popcorn from a sidewalk stand. This stand had a tasty caramel popcorn and a version with seasoning salt. Both were delicious but we may have stopped too soon because we later saw stands selling bacon flavored popcorn (in addition to carmel, plain, and buttered). So now that I've tried every kind of churro filling (chocolate, doce de leite, doce de leite con coco), popcorn flavors will be my new frontier. There were even double sided popcorn/churro stands, which may have been the greatest invention ever in addition to the plastic ketchup packet opener we were given at a restaurant over the weekend. Sarah put ketchup on her pizza for the sheer joy of opening the packet.
I'm pretty sure the world might end because tonight I did not have chicken for dinner. Instead it was meat and potatoes with a side of chopped cooked vegetables (with requisite r&bb). My host dad and I had a conversation about Brazil's World Cup chances (in Portuguese of course) and it sounds like there's not expectations of a win for this team. Spain is the favorite. No one likes Dunga as a coach because he's so 'zangado,' which he explained as unhappy and as one of the seven dwarfs from Snow White, so I believe it translates to 'grumpy.' He said Brazil's playing efficiently but not beautifully and that the game against the Netherlands is supposed to be a tough one. I hope Brazil does keep winning though, three day weekends are nice.
As an aside, my phone is fully functional now :D
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
No school on Friday
Because Brazil's playing! There are extra classes on Wednesday to make up for the missed day though.
Yesterday was the first day of winter but it was 70 degrees so I'm not really worried.
Yesterday was the first day of winter but it was 70 degrees so I'm not really worried.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Hamburgers and phone adventures
I recently bought a Brazilian SIM card so I could make calls to my host family and other friends in Brazil. The first step was unlocking my Verizon phone so it would work with the new chip. After this, I tried making a call with the chip in my phone. I was greeted by a phone recording speaking Portuguese so naturally I understood nothing. I handed the phone off to my host parents and they spoke to an operator and explained I had to call back in 24 hours and enter a CPF number. It's after 9pm now and we called yesterday around 9. Today my host dad spoke to another operator and from what I can tell had to give her his life story. She asked how long he lived in Rio, his address, I think his birthdate, and then his CPF number. I asked my professor today what a CPF number was and from what I can tell it's sort of like a forever record that banks have access to if you get into debt or something. Sarah, who's been living in Rio for a few months, had explained earlier that to activate a cell phone a Brazilian citizen had to give their CPF number, which she likened to a Social Security Number. She said this was because people in jail would smuggle in cell phones to inmates and they would make calls and plan crimes and whatnot. So now I have to wait two hours and then I can make a call. Hopefully this works!
Over the weekend I watched the Brazil game at Copacabana beach with Sarah and cheered along with everyone at Brazil's lovely goals. During halftime we were on the hunt for churros and of course because we were looking for some, couldn't find any. At the beach there are tons of vendors on the sidewalk and even more with coolers on their shoulders weaving through the crowd watching the game, selling their wares. I saw tiny pies, cotton candy, soda, bottled water, chips, gum, dresses, and jewelry pass by me for sale. But sadly no churro vendors were walking around the beach. Instead we got boiled corn covered in butter which was very tasty. We also ran into Ramin on our halftime churro search and he was sipping on some agua de coco so I will have to try one too. Holding a coconut with a straw sticking out of it is pretty quintessential beach so that definitely needs to happen. When Kaká was sent off everyone on the beach gasped/cried out and I may have shed a tear. After the game we ate at a place called Giraffas, or Giraffes, that had some very tasty looking hamburgers pictured on the wall. Seeing the hamburgers and fries on the menu made me think it was a fast food type restaurant but in addition they sold actual dinner food, like a chicken fillet with a side of rice and beans, or a steak. Also it was not fast. We waited about 10 minutes behind two people just to order. I think one of the registers was broken or something. When we did finally order the woman told us it would be a 10 minute wait. It didn't take that long and the burgers and fries were worth it. Sarah said it took so long because they made everything when you ordered it, which I guess is kind of nice, but I think they were taking too long peeling potatoes for fries.
On the way back to the metro we were walking along when suddenly Sarah yelled "Churros!" and pointed to her left. I screamed "Churros!" and we both dug in our wallets for reales to buy the tasty fried sugary dough sticks filled with warm caramel or dulce de leche sauce. I tried the dulce de leche and it was delicious although I can't decide if I like it more than the chocolate, both flavors are delicious in their own right.
Over the weekend I watched the Brazil game at Copacabana beach with Sarah and cheered along with everyone at Brazil's lovely goals. During halftime we were on the hunt for churros and of course because we were looking for some, couldn't find any. At the beach there are tons of vendors on the sidewalk and even more with coolers on their shoulders weaving through the crowd watching the game, selling their wares. I saw tiny pies, cotton candy, soda, bottled water, chips, gum, dresses, and jewelry pass by me for sale. But sadly no churro vendors were walking around the beach. Instead we got boiled corn covered in butter which was very tasty. We also ran into Ramin on our halftime churro search and he was sipping on some agua de coco so I will have to try one too. Holding a coconut with a straw sticking out of it is pretty quintessential beach so that definitely needs to happen. When Kaká was sent off everyone on the beach gasped/cried out and I may have shed a tear. After the game we ate at a place called Giraffas, or Giraffes, that had some very tasty looking hamburgers pictured on the wall. Seeing the hamburgers and fries on the menu made me think it was a fast food type restaurant but in addition they sold actual dinner food, like a chicken fillet with a side of rice and beans, or a steak. Also it was not fast. We waited about 10 minutes behind two people just to order. I think one of the registers was broken or something. When we did finally order the woman told us it would be a 10 minute wait. It didn't take that long and the burgers and fries were worth it. Sarah said it took so long because they made everything when you ordered it, which I guess is kind of nice, but I think they were taking too long peeling potatoes for fries.
On the way back to the metro we were walking along when suddenly Sarah yelled "Churros!" and pointed to her left. I screamed "Churros!" and we both dug in our wallets for reales to buy the tasty fried sugary dough sticks filled with warm caramel or dulce de leche sauce. I tried the dulce de leche and it was delicious although I can't decide if I like it more than the chocolate, both flavors are delicious in their own right.
Friday, June 18, 2010
The game and Sugarloaf Mountains
Tuesday morning dawned and Brazil was going to play North Korea at 3:30 in the afternoon. I had nothing to show my support for the home team and everyday I saw at least half of the people in Rio wearing a yellow and green jersey. I had just to get my own. Luckily every street corner, by law, must contain at least one vendor selling something with a Brazilian flag on it. Just kidding about the by law part. But really, on *every* block there is someone selling jerseys, flags, vuvuzelas, hats, or yellow and green air horns. At the stop where I get off the metro there's an open air market with rows and rows of yellow and blue (away color) jerseys. I bought one and felt fully prepared for the game.
Rio de Janeiro was one of the many international cities chosen to host the International Fifa Fanfest, which is basically a gigantic screen on Copacabana beach where the games are shown for free. We headed there after lunch on Tuesday and the metro on the way there was literally packed. We barely squeezed into the metro car and avoided the closing doors. People were shoulder to shoulder until the end of the line when we got off and headed to the beach. We approached the Fanfest area near the entrance but there were a lot of people crowded around there not going in. Employees were standing in the entrance telling people the Fanfest area was closed! We were a little disappointed but followed the crowd to the opposite side of the Fanfest area. In the description of the whole venue setup the guide mentioned something about a screen being turned out to the beach when the home team was playing so upwards of 100,000 people could watch. The Fanfest area hadn't looked that crowded so I was hoping the guide would be right. Luckily it was and behind the first screen there was another giant screen facing the opposite way and out onto the open Copacabana beach (away from the Fifa Fanfest tent setup). We wandered over to a spot on the sand and stood with the other fans watching the game. It was tense and relatively quiet until Brazil finally scored. Horn blowing and talking were at a minimum as everyone was focused on the screen. Of course, this changed when Brazil made its first goal. Everybody cheered and jumped up and down for a few minutes after the goal. Everyone left the game pretty happy but the guy next to us said Brazil should have won by more.
After classes on Wednesday a group of us went to Sugarloaf Mountain. The R$44 ticket for the two cable cars up seemed a little steep but the views at the top were definitely worth it. The quick ride up to the first mountain gave us a great view of Copacabana beach and the bay it borders. There were lots of cute little monkeys, which might be these marmosets, near the eating area. They were playing around between the chairs of the dining area and practically posing for pictures. There were a lot of other tourists with us too, a group from China and New Zealand, and probably other countries as well. Antonio, from BridgeBrazil, acted as sort of a tour guide and helped us get to Sugarloaf and answered a lot of our questions about Rio in general, since he's from here. He explained that cariocas (people from Rio de Janeiro) don't come up to Sugarloaf because it's so expensive, so it was just us tourists at the top of the mountain.
The quick ride up the second cable car brought us to Sugarloaf and a great view of Flamengo and Niteroi, reachable from Rio by a long bridge. We could see the Christ the Redeemer statue in the distance and we stayed until the sunset. On the bus back to the metro, Sergei was talking to a carioca who said we should wait an hour or so before taking the metro because it's super crowded around 6 when everyone heads home for work. So the four or us (Rita, Leslianna, Sergei and I) stopped at a restaurant for a snack, or 'lonche.' It's a pretty common practice to go to a restaurant after work with friends before heading home. I had grilled steak on a stick with sides of manioc flour and salsa (chopped jalapeno, onion, and tomato).
I just saw a commercial for McDonald's while watching the England x Algeria game and it reminded me of a McDonald's poster I saw on the metro. McDonald's is doing a promotion (http://www.mcdonalds.com.br/favoritos/) where on different days of the week they offer different kinds of sandwiches for countries playing in the World Cup. Today is McEstados Unidos day and the burger has American cheese, bacon, and barbecue sauce on it. There's a McDonald's near the Uruguiana subway station and a KFC down the street in Centro. I also saw a Subway walking around Flamengo once so there are a few US chains down here. Since I'm writing about food... yesterday I had a churro and it was pretty much the most delicious thing ever because they're made hollow and then filled with either chocolate sauce (mmmmm) or dulce de leche, which I'll try next time. After I was feeling patriotic so I bought a yellow vuvuzela, a flag I've hung in my window, and Havaianas with a Brazilian flag print on them from the open air market near the metro. There's everything from headbands, bracelets, and swim trunks in green and yellow at the market. I love that wearing something with a Brazilian flag on it, or a jersey, isn't touristy (like wearing an I <3 NY shirt in NY) but more normal. There's at least 3 flags in windows per apartment building and every other car seems to have a window-clipping mini Brazilian flag flowing as it zips along. It reminds me of people wearing Steelers jerseys in Pittsburgh.
Today we went to a sushi restaurant I discovered yesterday after I turned the wrong way down Rio Branco while heading to the metro. Afterward we got some super tasty froyo from Yup! There are lots of frozen yogurt places around town although the one we went to only had regular and green grape flavored yogurt. In class we learned about a lot of local dishes so I will have to try feijoada, a meat and bean stew, and farofa, a kind of flour and egg omelette/quiche. But I'll try almost anything for lunch as long as it's not chicken, since I get plenty of that for dinner everyday.
Just heard a vuvuzela...
Rio de Janeiro was one of the many international cities chosen to host the International Fifa Fanfest, which is basically a gigantic screen on Copacabana beach where the games are shown for free. We headed there after lunch on Tuesday and the metro on the way there was literally packed. We barely squeezed into the metro car and avoided the closing doors. People were shoulder to shoulder until the end of the line when we got off and headed to the beach. We approached the Fanfest area near the entrance but there were a lot of people crowded around there not going in. Employees were standing in the entrance telling people the Fanfest area was closed! We were a little disappointed but followed the crowd to the opposite side of the Fanfest area. In the description of the whole venue setup the guide mentioned something about a screen being turned out to the beach when the home team was playing so upwards of 100,000 people could watch. The Fanfest area hadn't looked that crowded so I was hoping the guide would be right. Luckily it was and behind the first screen there was another giant screen facing the opposite way and out onto the open Copacabana beach (away from the Fifa Fanfest tent setup). We wandered over to a spot on the sand and stood with the other fans watching the game. It was tense and relatively quiet until Brazil finally scored. Horn blowing and talking were at a minimum as everyone was focused on the screen. Of course, this changed when Brazil made its first goal. Everybody cheered and jumped up and down for a few minutes after the goal. Everyone left the game pretty happy but the guy next to us said Brazil should have won by more.
After classes on Wednesday a group of us went to Sugarloaf Mountain. The R$44 ticket for the two cable cars up seemed a little steep but the views at the top were definitely worth it. The quick ride up to the first mountain gave us a great view of Copacabana beach and the bay it borders. There were lots of cute little monkeys, which might be these marmosets, near the eating area. They were playing around between the chairs of the dining area and practically posing for pictures. There were a lot of other tourists with us too, a group from China and New Zealand, and probably other countries as well. Antonio, from BridgeBrazil, acted as sort of a tour guide and helped us get to Sugarloaf and answered a lot of our questions about Rio in general, since he's from here. He explained that cariocas (people from Rio de Janeiro) don't come up to Sugarloaf because it's so expensive, so it was just us tourists at the top of the mountain.
The quick ride up the second cable car brought us to Sugarloaf and a great view of Flamengo and Niteroi, reachable from Rio by a long bridge. We could see the Christ the Redeemer statue in the distance and we stayed until the sunset. On the bus back to the metro, Sergei was talking to a carioca who said we should wait an hour or so before taking the metro because it's super crowded around 6 when everyone heads home for work. So the four or us (Rita, Leslianna, Sergei and I) stopped at a restaurant for a snack, or 'lonche.' It's a pretty common practice to go to a restaurant after work with friends before heading home. I had grilled steak on a stick with sides of manioc flour and salsa (chopped jalapeno, onion, and tomato).
I just saw a commercial for McDonald's while watching the England x Algeria game and it reminded me of a McDonald's poster I saw on the metro. McDonald's is doing a promotion (http://www.mcdonalds.com.br/favoritos/) where on different days of the week they offer different kinds of sandwiches for countries playing in the World Cup. Today is McEstados Unidos day and the burger has American cheese, bacon, and barbecue sauce on it. There's a McDonald's near the Uruguiana subway station and a KFC down the street in Centro. I also saw a Subway walking around Flamengo once so there are a few US chains down here. Since I'm writing about food... yesterday I had a churro and it was pretty much the most delicious thing ever because they're made hollow and then filled with either chocolate sauce (mmmmm) or dulce de leche, which I'll try next time. After I was feeling patriotic so I bought a yellow vuvuzela, a flag I've hung in my window, and Havaianas with a Brazilian flag print on them from the open air market near the metro. There's everything from headbands, bracelets, and swim trunks in green and yellow at the market. I love that wearing something with a Brazilian flag on it, or a jersey, isn't touristy (like wearing an I <3 NY shirt in NY) but more normal. There's at least 3 flags in windows per apartment building and every other car seems to have a window-clipping mini Brazilian flag flowing as it zips along. It reminds me of people wearing Steelers jerseys in Pittsburgh.
Today we went to a sushi restaurant I discovered yesterday after I turned the wrong way down Rio Branco while heading to the metro. Afterward we got some super tasty froyo from Yup! There are lots of frozen yogurt places around town although the one we went to only had regular and green grape flavored yogurt. In class we learned about a lot of local dishes so I will have to try feijoada, a meat and bean stew, and farofa, a kind of flour and egg omelette/quiche. But I'll try almost anything for lunch as long as it's not chicken, since I get plenty of that for dinner everyday.
Just heard a vuvuzela...
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