I've been busy with teaching and lesson planning and trying to stay warm the last few days. As usual, I didn't bring the right clothes for the weather - based on the temperature data, I didn't expect it to feel so cold, but the high humidity makes it feel about ten degrees colder.
Today was the first day the sun has come out in about eight days, and was it ever welcome! I could finally do laundry again, so I did all my sheets. I don't think the mattress pad got completely dry, so I used a flat sheet and will hang it out again tomorrow. The washing machine looks super modern, but I wish I could read the user's manual. It has a setting called "Rapido 30 minutos" that still takes an hour and a half. I don't know if there is something wrong with it, or if the 30 minutes refers only to the agitation time, or...?
Teaching has been going well. Working with self motivated adults is such a pleasure, and I'm learning a lot from my grammar class. Next week the new semester begins. I'm anxious to know what my class schedule will be like, as so far it's been mostly private lessons, and all adults. One more new teacher arrived today, and two more will arrive on the weekend, giving us a total of five: one Canadian, two from the USA and two from the UK.
I made another batch of Canja de Galinha and it turned out just as good as the first time. I've also been experimenting with what to do with polenta, as it's a common food staple here and cheap. So far I've tried it cooked with coconut milk and honey, added to oatmeal, and fried with and without oil. All good. :)
My Portuguese teacher has found me a couple of possibilities for capoeira lessons, and possibly samba as well, yay!
My "Oh, wow" moment for today was just a little while ago when I came back from teaching. This was the first cloudless night I've seen. There is very little light pollution from the city, so the sky was inky and the moon and stars bright. I realized that I did not recognize the constellations here in the southern hemisphere! I'll have to look up some star maps.
Today was the first day the sun has come out in about eight days, and was it ever welcome! I could finally do laundry again, so I did all my sheets. I don't think the mattress pad got completely dry, so I used a flat sheet and will hang it out again tomorrow. The washing machine looks super modern, but I wish I could read the user's manual. It has a setting called "Rapido 30 minutos" that still takes an hour and a half. I don't know if there is something wrong with it, or if the 30 minutes refers only to the agitation time, or...?
Teaching has been going well. Working with self motivated adults is such a pleasure, and I'm learning a lot from my grammar class. Next week the new semester begins. I'm anxious to know what my class schedule will be like, as so far it's been mostly private lessons, and all adults. One more new teacher arrived today, and two more will arrive on the weekend, giving us a total of five: one Canadian, two from the USA and two from the UK.
I made another batch of Canja de Galinha and it turned out just as good as the first time. I've also been experimenting with what to do with polenta, as it's a common food staple here and cheap. So far I've tried it cooked with coconut milk and honey, added to oatmeal, and fried with and without oil. All good. :)
My Portuguese teacher has found me a couple of possibilities for capoeira lessons, and possibly samba as well, yay!
My "Oh, wow" moment for today was just a little while ago when I came back from teaching. This was the first cloudless night I've seen. There is very little light pollution from the city, so the sky was inky and the moon and stars bright. I realized that I did not recognize the constellations here in the southern hemisphere! I'll have to look up some star maps.
Cool! Great pics too! Too bad you don't have an iPad. There is a great app that when you point it to the sky it tells you what the constellations and stars you are looking at are called. great fun.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to hear that you enjoyed the pics, thanks so much. I'll have to get plain old fashioned star charts, though, as an iPad is not in an ESL teacher's budget.
ReplyDelete