A Tuesday In My Life As A Fulbright

This first event is a little special. My housemate found a deal to get 8 massages for a total of 30 reais (about $8usd) from students doing their massage therapy internship. So, I went for a back massage and had my two favorite massage therapists who use pressure and it was glorious. I brought 3 musketeer candies for them all and they enjoyed the sweets. One masseuse joked that he should get two. I hurried home to prepare for my work day. While home I sent an email to EdUSA to try and volunteer for their Brasilia fair next week, and I heard back quickly. They had some national fairs planned to have representatives from US universities talk to students about scholarships, application processes, and programs. I got invited to a cocktail hour with head people of the program on the 27th and volunteering with the fair the 28th. It was exciting to hear back so quickly and make plans to help out (and I'm glad I didn't miss the date of the event). At the university, I went to help with Newton’s two Phonetic and Phonology classes. He hosts the same subject twice during the day, for group A and B. The first one I was absolutely useless because I didn’t know any of the info. The students were flabbergasted that I didn't need to take this course for my degree. At the end of the first class he explained the answers and I took notes and then I was able to go around and assist the groups and explain different reasons for the next class. Teaching truly is one of the best ways to learn. We talked about consonants and their manner and place of articulation. I have the locations down pat now, but still working towards knowing the difference of affricate and fricative. I had a conversation club after classes and seven people came. We talked about dialects across the USA, and some of the different wording really confused them. For example- sneakers versus tennis shoes. At the and they asked me to “teach them hillbilly”, so I did some sample sentences of the Southern draw and challenged them to practice a sentence and surprise me on campus with it. I took the bus home and got back by 9 pm exhausted.