Sunday, August 7, 2011

It starts tomorrow

The semester begins tomorrow.  Our class schedules are not yet finalized, but I know that I will be teaching a private lesson at 8:30am, there is a staff meeting at 10:30am, and I'll be teaching my first children's class here after lunch. I have another private lesson in the evening.  I should receive an updated schedule tomorrow with the rest of my classes added.

I'm a little sad that after spending these two weeks getting to know some private students, my new schedule of group classes in the evening will mean that my private students will all be given to other teachers.  I know there will be others, but still... I've gotten to know them a bit and will miss them.

Tomorrow will also be my first experience of the school's "cafeteria".  This means lunch prepared for the staff by the school's resident housekeeper, for which we pay R$4 per day.  This is much less than the cost of eating lunch out, but more than it would cost me to run home and make a sandwich.  I have no doubt it will be worth the price -  I can't wait to have real Brazilian home cooking!

The weekend was beautifully sunny and I spent as much of it outside as I could.  The remaining two foreign teachers arrived over the weekend, so now we are five.  The school owners also returned this weekend from traveling abroad, so I finally got to meet them, too.

Here are some pics from the weekend.

Saw this twisted knife holder in a shop window.  I know some people who would buy it, too!  (You know who you are.)

The park that is near the church, Getúlio Vargas Square, was much more lively this weekend, with more trampolines, food vendors and arts and craft vendors.
 Bouncy, bouncy!
 The playground there was busy, too.
 Crepes and Churros, oh my!  Looks like there might be some kind of filling in these churros, I will have to try them.
 Detail of the fountain.
The fountain has not been turned on yet, which made for a lovely reflection of the church.
 Some of the art and craft vendors.
 And what fun is a public park without a severed head? O.o
Yet another view of the church.  Hope you are not tired of it yet, because I foresee many more photos of it in my future.
 The view looking up the main street.  I love how the winter trees don't have many leaves, but the parasitic plants growing all over them makes the trunks and branches look leafy and lush even in winter.
 View looking down the same street the other direction.
 Looking down a cross street.  The park and church are behind me.
 And up it - the park is on the left and the church is beyond the buildings on the right.
 Funny sign alert!!!
 This is the first iris to bloom outside my cottage.  I'm glad I photographed it yesterday, because it rained all night and this morning the flower was no more.
 We had a quick driving tour around town this afternoon and stopped briefly at Parque da Gruta, a park which has some caged birds and monkeys, a huge picnic area, some kind of chair lift, and I'm told that there are wild monkeys as well.
 It was hard to get the right end of these monkeys because they were moving around so much.
 Some views of the park - there is an odd stone structure that I couldn't identify, with some kind of pump housing (?) inside.
 Mysterious dark gate at the end of the road, for later exploring.
 Some distance away from the park, a view of the city as seen from a hill in an affluent neighborhood.



That's all for today!

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