Monday, August 8, 2011

Monday, Monday, so good to me

Today was the first day of the new semester.  I had a private lesson at 8:30, then at 10:30 we had a staff meeting with the school's owners.  This was nice, as we could ask and answer some questions and hear more details about the workings of the school.  After that, the school's owners treated everyone to lunch at the buffet restarant.  When they say everyone, they mean it - the secretaries, housekeeper/cook and gardener are included, like a big family.


Right after lunch, I taught my first children's class here.  I had six girls around 10 years old.  They were lovely - so willing to speak and do TPR and sing.  Their speaking level was higher than I expected based on my past experience with Asian students, probably because the Brazilians are so outgoing and not afraid to make a mistake when speaking.  I did all the things I had planned and had to use all of my "if-time" activities too.  At the end I asked them what colors they knew, and they taught me a new game - kind of a game of tag with colors.  The person who is "it" is the elephant, and she shouts out "Elephant color!" The others reply "What color?" and the elephant shouts out the name of a color.  They all have to run to touch something that color before the elephant catches them.  Someone caught by the elephant becomes the next elephant.  After this it was time to end class, and they didn't want to leave and all ran to hug me, so I made up a little goodbye song on the spot and we all sang it together twice.  Sweet!

I hope my other classes are this awesome. What a luxury to have so few students that we can get to know one another right away.

Then two private lessons in the evening and I'm done for the day.  Tomorrow holds two kids lessons and two private lessons, so far.

Last night a huge lightning storm passed through, complete with marble-sized hail, and another storm this afternoon.  The garden is more like a lake.  I've got fans going in the bathroom and kitchen because it's now so humid that the tile floors are "sweating".  If I don't wear slippers my feet will get wet.  Ugh.  I can see that keeping the house free of mold and mildew will be a constang struggle (there is a slight mildew smell everywhere as it is - the house is fully carpeted and the furniture all upholstered in fabrics). I wonder if dehumidifiers are available here. 

4 comments:

  1. Awww! We have the same problem with mold/mildew here in HI. I found out though the best thing to combat both is Lysol defect ant spray. It says on it that it kills up to 99% of mold/mildew and it sure does. They even have great scents now too. Hope you can find it where you are.... Hugs!!! Reidun

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  2. Hi Reidun, thanks for your note. I haven't seen any cleaning products that weren't Brazilian, so I'll have to ask the housekeeper for recommendations. I hadn't realized that it was so bad in Hawaii too. Guess paradise has to have its price.

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  3. HI HON!!
    Funny I had a thought on the Lysol thing. :-) Just go on line to walmart.com I bet you can order what ever you want and what ever sent too. Talk soon, xoo
    Linda

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  4. I think I'll stick to local products. I can't justify the waste of fuel to ship a product here just because it has a name that is familiar. But thank you for thinking of me. :)

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