Volunteering In A Private English School

Last week, I had the pleasure to volunteer speaking at a private English school in Londrina called Instituto Federal Parana. The instructor asked me to come in for a class and talk about American cultural, but also requested that I make a typical “American Dish”. The USA doesn’t really have one well known meal that I could think of, but I offered to make chocolate chip cookies to bring. Instead, the class instructor asked that as a class we make mac and cheese. The first thing that came to mind was- shoot, they don’t have Kraft mac and cheese here. So, we went old fashion. Luckily, I’ve made mac and cheese from scratch before, so I knew how to do it, but I didn’t have the cheeses the recipe called for- I can’t easily obtain Vermont Sharp Cheddar here.

I went to the class expecting maybe ten students, and I instead was welcomed by about twenty-five students, all varying in age from University students to grandparents. Everyone greeted me with a kiss to the cheek, and we headed to the market to buy the groceries. They were so hilarious, bargaining with the instructor to add extra ice cream and guarana to the cart. Once we got back to the school, we headed to the kitchen and all got to work on preparing the food. We ended up making five bags worth of pasta! I tried to involve the students as much as I could in the chopping of cheese, stirring, adding pasta, and the whole process. I definitely didn’t expect that many people, and guesstimating the measurements made it taste a little differently than I hoped, but hopefully they enjoyed it! In return, they made traditional brigadeiro for us all, which was my favorite part. It astounds me how kind, energetic, and talkative the students were, and we all tried to converse in a mix of English and mostly Portugues.

You can check out the school's post about the event and their commentary here (it has more mac and cheese adventure pictures):

http://londrina.ifpr.edu.br/2018/04/06/curso-de-ingles-intermediario-tem-aula-especial-com-professora-americana/

Firsts For Everything- Portuguese, Teaching, Brigadeiro, Running, and More!

Today marks one month and two days since arriving in Brasil, and my Portuguese confidence still feels as basic and low as when I arrived here, BUT a lot of things have changed since I’ve arrived here. This post commemorates and celebrates a lot of the “firsts” that I’ve experienced in the last few weeks.

Running a 10k- Since arriving in Brasil, I decided to motivate myself to keep healthy by running around the lake everyday and signed up for a 10k race that will be held in Londrina on April 22nd! I got so enthusiastic in my training that within my first week of signing up I bumped my running distance from 5k to 7k and then 10k within the week. My legs were definitely feeling the pain the next few days. Each lap around the lake is about 2.5k, so I simply needed to lap the lake four times. Also, Kathryn, my Fulbright buddy who I traveled before orientation with, signed up for the Bem Corrido run in Londrina so that she can come visit my placement city.

Getting rejected by the federal police- they say that on average it takes about three attempts to finish all the paperwork correctly when working with the federal police. Due to staying in Londrina for an extended amount of time, I need to check in the police, pay a fee, and make sure that they have my information. Unfortunately, this needs to be done within 3 months of arriving in my city, and the process can be tricky. Recently, the laws changed and the time frame extended from 30 days to 90 days, which is lucky for us, but there is also still confusion surrounding the new laws and it seems like every police station has different rules for what they require. For example, some of my friends have been turned down because their mother’s middle initial, not full middle name, was listed on the birth certificate. Or, the mother’s maiden name was listed instead of her current last name, and they need to schedule a visit to a consulate to do extra steps. For some things in Brasil, it really does seem like a process can depend on who is helping you that day. As a result, my appointment is May 25th, and I need to go in that morning with all of my documents and hope that they’re correct!

Making Brigadeiro- One of the very popular and famous desserts to Brasil is surprisingly so easy to make. Now that I learned how to make it, it’s dangerous, and I want to make it everyday! The recipe is as follows: melt butter in a pot, add condensed milk ( enough to match however much you want to make), stir this together and add a large portion of chocolate powder, stir on low for about 15 minutes and until it pulls from the bottom as you stir, and then let it cool! I have my roommate Bea to thank for teaching me. It’s especially amazing with fruit dipped in it.

Speaking in Portuguese in front of a group- orientation week began on Tuesday and all of the Letras students gathered together to hear from the professors. Our “project”- the Fulbright ETAs each spoke a little bit about ourselves and who we would teach… but in Portuguese. The other three ETAs and proficient in Portuguese, but then there is me. I was so incredibly nervous, but I wanted to make the most of it that I could, and I think my love for public speaking helped with that. I got up there and started telling them that I had never taken a Portuguese class prior to coming to Brasil, but that I was in a class now at UEL. When I said this they started cheering, and I said “estou nervosa” and they started clapping and laughing. I think being able to connect with my first year students in the fact that we are all learning a new language together is really important. Them seeing that I’m struggling through, but trying, is important. If I want them to take one thing away from working with me it’s to push aside fear of being wrong and go for it. Hopefully I can be a good model for them in my attempts to learn and showcase that it’s ok to make mistakes, and that it’s part of the learning process.

Lastly, I had my very first time teaching a university class!- In the past year I realized that I possibly want to work my way up to a career in post secondary education, and the chance to work with university level students right now is an INCREDIBLE opportunity to dip my feet in the water. Lara, Bennie, Kayla, and I co-taught two three hour long class sessions for all of the course level letras students. We had a bigger turnout than I expected, and half the students at each session were mine! We did an activity with watching a video, analyzing it, and then talking about our own homes. I loved hearing more about the students’ experiences they are bringing, especially with students coming from scattered places in Brasil like Bahia and Curitiba. I felt like I really connected with some of my students, and seeing them excited made me realize that the experience is all coming together. My class schedule is currently set that I assist in the Oral Comprehension Class for freshman every Friday from 2-4 and 7-9 pm. With the Easter holiday this next weekend, I won’t actually start working with my classes until April 6th, but they were asking me when they would get to see me in class, and it hit me really hard. I.am.so.excited.

Little Successes- Trying New Foods, Working Phone Plan, and an Educational Word Wall

I was adventurous and willed myself to go back to the phone store- Vivo, even after I had cried the last time I was there. They instructed me to return once I had a CPF, or someone to let me borrow theirs and sign, and I did as told. Lucky me, I worked with the same three women who helped last time and saw me cry. Except, this time I came more prepared with a paper of questions and apologies for my last appearance ready to go. I figured out that my pre-paid phone plan was set to charge me on a daily basis until the funds ran out, which happened only several days after I initiated the plan. In order to be cost efficient, I found a plan with 3 GB of internet, unlimited texts, and 50 minutes of calls to outside network, which is plenty more than I will need, for $45 R per month. So, I hoped that this visit would go a lot more smooth than the last encounter. Instead, I found that the trip took 2 hours, and they told me that my CPF was too new and they could not use it! All the work to get the documents in order for obtaining a CPF, and it was unnecessary for this in the and. Eventually though, in a few weeks, I will have to transfer the account under my CPF, so I guess it will come into plan then. By the end of the day though, I had a working phone plan. A huge victory in itself.

One of the things that I love most about Brasil so far, and I think I will miss the most when I leave, is the food. This country brings out my sweet tooth. Between feijoada, churrasco, brigadeiro, tartas, and mandioca…. I feel like I need to exercise more than ever just from craving all of the food. A small tidbit: feijoada is a slowly cooked meat stew (normally with beans, beef and pork), churrasco is the Brasilian barbecues were the meats continue to be cooked all day and you never stop eating, brigadeiro is a heavenly VERY sweet chocolate either in a truffle form or mix on other desserts, tartas are the small pies with meats in them, and mandioca is the Brasilian version of yucca. Also, today I had a homemade gelato that was caprinihia flavored!! On Friday the Fulbright ETAs and staff had a churrasco at Michele’s house, my host professor, and her husband sure cooked up a storm. There was pork, chicken, beef, and desserts, which was accompanied by the sweet drink of white wine, condensed milk, and watermelon blended and served in a watermelon. It’s a good thing that I live so close to a lake and have been working out daily!

As I continue to realize things that I need, and of course did not bring from the USA or just see the exponentially higher price in Brasil, I wanted to make note. Hopefully this will help anyone looking to come in the future and know the essentials to pack.

Face wash- any speciality kinds especially

Electronics- even small things like extra headphones and chargers

Adapters and converters- you can buy these online in a bundle for cheap (but make sure that you account for three prong devices and the adapters

Notebooks- For some reason it costs upwards of $10 USD for a lot of them here

Peanut butter, Nutella, or Maple syrup- these also can cost upwards of $10 USD for a small amount

Tea- if you’re a fan of tea, then stock up before coming here since they charge about $4 USD for a box of four tea packets

A small purse to carry around documents, money, your phone, and keys- make sure it is not too large to draw attention

Deodorant- bring an overload of deodorant. Deodorant in the USA is different than other countries, and unless you want to spend over $4USD on a small tub of roll on or go with the spray one, then bring more than you will need

A cool thing that I have begun in order to help myself learn Portuguese is creating a word wall! I have separated between my- Para practicar (for practice) and Palavras do dia (words of the day). I’m wording primarily with verbs to try and select verbs everyday to focus on using and solidifying their tenses. I’ve also included prepositions, times, directions, and other phrases/words that I think are crucial. I’m rotating out the words everyday, but hopefully it will help to have the visual studying tactic.