Wal-Mart - Hallelujah!

I've never been so glad to see a Wal-Mart in my life. It wasn't the same as the ones in the US but it was still nice to have a store with a little of everything. They didn't have what I was looking for - an egg crate for my bed. I haven't found one in Rio yet. They did have a printer that I may buy. Sometimes I need to print stuff and its just easier to have your own plus I need to scan and email stuff back from time to time. I could email the attachment to my school and they can print but its such a hassle to do that.

It was such an ordeal getting there. I thought I remembered where it was but obviously I didn't. I got off the bus when I didn't see it where I thought it was and just started walking. I probably walked for at least an hour and maybe two and asked several people but they didn't understand Wal-Mart. Good heavens I need to learn Portuguese faster.

I was determined to find Wal-Mart if it took me til 11 pm. For me it was a personal thing. Being in another country, not speaking the language, not knowing where I was - I wasn't going to let this situation defeat me (I don't know if that makes sense or not). I had to prove to myself that I could do this.

I finally got on a bus that went to Wal-Mart and I felt like a victorious gladiator as I walked through the doors. I also went to another mall that has the Statue of Liberty out front. I've never seen a mall that big. It was an inside mall and seemed like it went on forever. My sister-in-law Susan would love this place. I walked and walked and don't think I got through half of it. I did buy some pants and they have to alter and I need to go back next week. I wasn't intending to buy anything but I went in because I saw a pretty girl in the store and thought she should have the privilege of helping me and then I ended up liking some pants.

Coming home was an ordeal because the bus didn't stop close to the apartment again. This time they took me farther away than both times combined. I hit the button like three times for him to stop and he just kept turning it off. I said "Hey" and he didn't even flinch. He finally stopped and the girl who takes the money said something to me and I just motioned with my hands which meant "forget you!"

I was so far away I didn't know where I was. I saw a hotel and went inside and asked for the metro. She spoke English and told me to get a taxi because it wasn't safe to walk to the metro. I told her about my ordeal with the bus and she said certain buses don't stop where I wanted him to stop. It makes no sense to me - if there is a bus stop ahead and someone hits the button, let him off. I guess I'm just a simple minded gringo. At least I know now.

For me it was the best day I've had so far. I met several people today on the bus and at the mall. I gave a few people my business card. They were all so friendly. One family was in the store where I was buying my pants and they were helping the sales girl with translating. He heard me say I was in Flamengo and said he used to live there. Then his family and I started talking and they were so nice.

I started talking to a girl on the bus and she spoke English and was very nice too. I don't know - just talking to some nice people, finding Wal-Mart and not quitting and going to Barra da Tajica was a great day. Barra is my favorite place in Rio. I don't know, there's just something about it that I like. It seems so clean but its so far away. I think it will be a little closer when I move to Copacabana.

Oh yeah, I got in trouble when I came home. I'm not used to people looking after me. I hadn't seen my host when I left close to 1 and I got home around 7:45. We normally eat at 7 but I didn't call her to let her know I'd be late. I thought about it but thought it wouldn't be an issue. She wondered why I didn't call her. I told her I would just eat an apple. She said no, she would heat up the food for me. I could tell she was aggravated so I said I was sorry several times and asked her if she still loved me. She started laughing and said she did. She said if she didn't she wouldn't have warmed up the food for me. Its all good.

Sorry for the long post. Just a lot happened today. It was a good day.

Getting Jobs Lined Up

My schedule is starting to shape up now. I'm currently working with 3 different schools and I'm meeting with another one Tuesday. The headquarters of this new one is about an hour or more away by bus but the students are downtown close to me. The lady sent me directions in Portuguese. I don't like dealing with directions in English, much less in another language. I'm praying for God to help me find it.

The schedule is a little different because its not like I have students for 3 or 4 straight hours. Its usually an hour or hour and a half in the morning, lunch, possibly afternoon (but not very many of those types of classes) and in the evening. It kind of stretches your day and a lot of time between classes. I only need a few more students and I'll have a full schedule.

I did two practice teaching sessions today for interviewers today. I realize what a long way I have to go. It takes some preparation to be ready for class. I haven't reached my comfort level yet but it won't take long. I just need to get in a rhythm. It just takes practice like any new thing.

Before I teach a class I feel like I do when I played football. The best cure for being nervous in football was to hit somebody. Once I did that I calmed down. I don't think that will work with teaching. I did discover that one arm sweats more than the other. Weird! Not that you wanted to know or anything, just felt like I needed to tell someone.

I'm going to check out the Wal Mart tomorrow and check out Barra da Tijuca. It looks like a cool place. I've decided that I'm going to a new place every weekend and do something different. I've been so focused on school that I haven't done much.

It's Official

I am now an official teacher. Now I have to get jobs and make money and support myself. We had several big papers due Friday along with a portfolio of all the other work we've been doing throughout the course. It took me a while on the papers but I was mostly done Thursday and all I needed was to print some things out Friday. Some of my classmates were rushing to get things done Friday. It felt good to be relaxed.

I had my first student on Thursday morning at 8 am. I got a phone call Wednesday afternoon to come in for a first time student. They emailed me some info and said to get there around 7:30 and they would give me some details about what I needed to do. They emailed me some things Wednesday night which said to mainly talk and gauge his level. I got there at 7:15 and waited until 8 and no one from the school was there. The student got there before someone from the school. We introduced ourselves while we're waiting for the school to open up.

I get in there and I told him we'd just talk to gauge his fluency. The girl sets his book and my teachers book in front of me along with a CD player. Since she did this I was wondering if I needed to try to do something with the book but didn't want to flip the pages in front of the student. He was very nice and spoke English pretty good but just needed some practice. He had just been promoted and would be traveling and doing presentations in English.

I felt like he was thinking that just talking with no structure was a waste of time but he was nice. It was tough for me to talk to him for an hour. I kept checking my watch very subtly and it was going soooo slow. He told the girl at the school that he wanted to come every day so she scheduled him for the next day and I assumed that I would be the one who needed to be there. The girl at the school spoke little English and she said a guy at the school who spoke English would call me that afternoon.

He never did and so I went by the school because I was close. He said the student asked for different teachers because he wanted to hear different dialects. I guess that was my last class with the guy, who knows. He also said he left me instructions of what I need to do in the teachers packet. I explained that I got it while sitting in front of the student and he said that just talking was the right thing to do. I guess if I hadn't gone by that no one would have told me not to come by the next morning. Oh well, every day is a new adventure at this point.

God did bless me with a private student. A guy came by the school Thursday who was a student there before and was leaving Brazil to take care of his Mom. He had some students that he wanted to give to someone else. One of our teachers told him about me and Tom. I got a teenage kid who just needs help with homework twice a week for two hours each. I met with him Friday and it was pretty simple. The most time consuming part was literature. He is having to read To Kill A Mockingbird and answer questions on it. He has homework due in a little over a week so I borrowed his book and read it this weekend. It was okay, not sure why its considered such a classic. That's just me.

I also helped my school with a student from Sao Paulo who is doing an immersion course for a few days for her work. I met with her for four hours Saturday and will do four hours with her tomorrow and five hours Wednesday. Other teachers will be doing the other times with her. She was very nice and I enjoyed it because we used a book and it had structure. I like to have structure at this point. I'm not real comfortable with winging since I'm an official teacher as of 2 days ago.

Tomorrow is a busy day with a follow up orientation from a school and we have to give a 5 minute presentation of a subject he gave us last week. We just have to basically tell how we would teach it. Then I have the student at the school until 5 pm and then I have a student from 6-7:30. The last teacher with him didn't write down where they finished so I'm not sure what I'll be teaching. I'll have to ask him where they finished and go from there.

I'm learning that flexibility is a much needed quality.