The Past 7 Months

So, I have to admit that I thought about blogging many times over the past 7 months. Every time, I felt super guilty for my long absence from the blog, so I kind of gave up on it. But NO! I am here to pick it back up again. Let's hope it's not another 7 months before it happens again. I have been updating most everything on facebook, but it's nice to document things a little more in depth here.

Obviously, a lot has happened in 7 months. In two weeks, we will be heading back to the states for a month-long visit. I am about to jump out of my skin with excitement, so I thought this would be the perfect time to reflect back on an amazing, wonderful, stressful, fun-filled, tiring, and life-changing year.

Looking back on the year as a whole, I feel like our lives took a sharp turn this year. Things had been relatively constant for the past several years (besides all the career changing and moving...hmmm...), so it has been a huge thrill to change things up in a big way. We have had some amazing experiences, but in the end, it of course turns into real life. We are certainly having adventures, but rest assured, we spend the majority of our time working, being tired, and trying to keep on top of bills, chores, and errands, just like every other working adult. The beauty lies in the vacations from school...

So, a short recap of the major events these past few months (in my traditional list style!):

• In November, we went on our first trip in Brazil this time around. We went to Florianopolis with a bunch of fabulous friends and had a blast. Dunes were climbed and new dance moves were created.
• December brought a job change for me. I found out in December that I will be teaching 2nd grade again beginning in August! I really enjoyed 4th grade and could definitely see myself doing it again. In fact, I would have liked to have stayed and experienced it a bit longer, BUT the opportunity arose. These positions don't open up too often as there are only two 2nd grade classes. I really did realize that I am a primary teacher at heart though, and I am over the moon about going back to the little ones.
• We got to experience our first Brazilian summer and a month off in December/January! My dad and Leisa visited, and we got to spend a few days in Rio. Then, my mom visited, and we visited Sao Paulo and celebrated New Years together. Finally, we ended our vacation with a great trip to the beach with fabulous family.
• In February, we realized our long-time dream of going to Rio for Carnaval. It was amazing, and I want to go back. I thought it would be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing, but no way. HAVE to return.

Carnaval Parade in Rio!

• In April, we had "Spring" Break. We didn't go anywhere cool, but we did something VERY cool. We were incredibly sick of not having a car and the inconvenience of getting to and from work and the grocery store, etc. so we sucked up the outrageous cost of buying a car here. We got our licenses all ready to go, then we bought a 2010 Honda Fit. His name is Fitty.

Driving here is a lot more challenging, but we are both really proud of ourselves for doing it.

• May and June have brought really busy times at school and crazy weekend antics. Last weekend was our 5 year wedding anniversary and the weekend before that was Brian's birthday. This Friday, we will have an end-of-year/Going Away party for all our fabulous friends who are leaving Brazil. So so sad.

My darling children on a field trip to a coffee farm in May. It was super interesting and fun. Not supposed to show their faces on the internet, so I hope these shots are okay!

I am ready to go back home to Atlanta in 2 weeks to recharge, relax, see wonderful family and friends, shop til I drop, etc. I know it will go too fast, and we will be back in Brazil before we know it. Oh well, I just can't complain. I have come to love Brazil this year, and I am happy right here right now. 

Can't wait for what the next year will bring!

Me + Portuguese = Love. And Hate.

Wow, it looks like these blog posts are going to be monthly. I'm sorry. I will try to do better...

Anyway. I've been wanting to write a post about my complicated relationship with the portuguese language.

I love learning Portuguese. Seriously. Learning a new language is a great challenge, and I just really enjoy it. I have the best teacher possible (the owner of the language school I go to), and I sometimes feel like I'm progressing really well.

Then, there is reality. I don't speak a word of portuguese most days. I have to speak English all day at school. Then, I go home and speak/read/write English with Brian and with family members online. Then, I have American friends who I speak English with. I really and truly appreciate all these opportunities to function in English and to feel like a real person here. However, I am NOT progressing in Portuguese as much as I need to be. I have been here for 3 months, so I should at least be able to order myself a damn sandwich with no problems. Right? No. The reality is that you will not become fluent in a foreign language unless and until you are immersed in it. I hope I will at least have that experience over the vacations.

It is really frustrating that I can mostly understand the conversations when we go out with friends/family, but I just can't participate the way I'd like to. I hate that they don't know me very well yet because of the language barriers. I know we have only been here 3 months, so I should cut myself a break...but I just don't want to be in this same position at the end of the school year! I must gain my independence here. Brian has been a huge lifesaver, but I need to be able to do stuff independently, or I won't be happy in the long-term.

Alright, on to what's new:

• We finally took that trip to Sao Paulo, and it was super fun. In just one weekend, we saw quite a lot. We're planning to visit more regularly, because there is an endless supply of stuff to do there.
• Both my mom and dad booked their trips for Christmas break. So excited to show them where we live! And maybe do a little beach/touristy time. Okay, and I'm not gonna lie...I'm a little excited that they can bring me some more stuff from home. I'm finding all kinds of great clearances on summer clothes online there, and it's about to be summer here. Works out nicely. But really, I'm most excited just to see them.
• 4th graders are still good. Still getting used to the age, but it's been fun.
• Finally going on our first real trip since we've been here next week! It's now officially holiday season, and we are headed to the beach (Florianopolis) next Friday night for a 4-day weekend!
• Going crazy trying to find a reasonable place for Carnaval in Rio in February. We hope to have this resolved in the next day or two.
• We got to celebrate Halloween here last week, even though it's typically not celebrated here. The school has an annual Halloween Festival, so I got to see lots of kids and parents in costumes, and they even got to go trick or treating. I was so glad to not miss my favorite holiday.

I have the best intentions of writing again soon, so let's see how it goes. Let me know it there is anything you'd like to hear more about from Brazil, and maybe it can become the subject of the next blog post.

Torn

Well, here goes another apology. It's OCTOBER! I haven't blogged since August. That's pretty disappointing, because I really wanted to document things well. There goes that.

In all honesty, I kind of avoided the blog due to an extremely busy schedule and the homesickness wall. I can return to the old blog now, because I think I'm really getting past it. My last post was all about being homesick. And I was. I truly didn't expect it to be like this, but I was downright weepy and sad for awhile. I had some days where I just felt crushed by it.

But, I can honestly say that I've gone nearly a month without tears or much sadness. Now I'm just torn. I'm getting to that place where I am becoming truly happy here. Yet I miss my family and friends a lot. I'll probably feel torn forever now. I'm truly loving Brazil and everything going on here. We have had so much fun making new friends and spending time with family. I'm enjoying learning portuguese, even though it's coming slowly. I'm finding a lot that I love here. I'm guessing I'll never be 100% happy anywhere now, because I have one foot in the U.S. (my family and friends and familiarity) and another in Brazil. Despite frustrations, I really like my new school, my coworkers, my apartment, and my life here. I have a long way to go before I feel totally comfortable, but things are going in the right direction.

Alright, enough philosophy. Let's do a quick update on what's been new in the past month and a half. Then, I promise to regularly update the blog so that I can get into more detail.

Here goes:

• It's springtime. Weirds me out that it's only getting warmer from here!
• We have tickets to the parade in Rio for carnaval. Now if we only had a place to stay! 

We will totally be in the stands! YAY. Okay, let's not talk about how expensive this is going to be. It'll be FUN.

• We also have tickets to Florianopolis (southern Brazil) for our mid-November break. Can't WAIT for this beach town!

• My parents are both planning to visit over the Christmas break (which lasts until January 16th). Very exciting.
• We are hoping to get out of Campinas in the next weekend or two to visit Sao Paulo. I went there a couple times in 2004, but really...it's so big that you could go 27 times and not see the same places. 

Hello, 3rd biggest city in the world!

I'll leave it here for now and promise to come back really soon. Just wanted to update and say that things are good. Very busy, but good. Things get easier every day.

Month 1= roller coaster

So I guess it's probably obvious by the lack of blog posts that we've been busy. We just started the 3rd full week of school, and we've been here a month as of Saturday. I can't believe that it's only been a month when I think of all the people we've met and the things we've done since we got here. At the same time, it doesn't seem like it can have possibly been a whole month since we last saw all of our friends and family in the US. Probably because we see them on Skype and FaceTime regularly! Which is so amazing and lucky. I thank God for technology every day, haha. But seriously, it makes the transition so much easier when I can download the newest issue of a favorite magazine or see my dogs playing in the backyard via FaceTime.

I feel like I've experienced every emotion possible in the first month. We have met some amazing people who have made the transition a billion times smoother than we could have hoped for. The other EAC teachers have been so welcoming, helpful, and fun. And then there's Brian's family. A blog post really can't do them justice. They are beyond amazing. Even though I can't effectively communicate (yet) with many of them, I instantly feel home when we're with them. They have helped us do so much, and I truly feel like there are people here who really care about me. I love them!

At the same time, I've felt a little more homesick in this first month than I thought I would. I don't know why I didn't anticipate it...maybe because I really felt good about the decision to come here when we made it. I felt really good about it until a few days before we left. Then, it really started to sink in. I really miss familiarity. I miss being able to hang out with my family and friends whenever I want to. I miss the dogs. I miss my car and being able to communicate with everyone. This is normal, right? I just don't want the homesickness to effect my time here. I want to enjoy everything here, because hey...I'm here for at least 2 years, so I might as well have an awesome time. It's a waste of time to mope about what I miss, because it's not like anything is going to change. I'm committed to being here. Besides, if I sit here and whine about what I miss, I'm truly missing what's actually going on around me.

Besides the people (which is big), there is really nothing sad about leaving the work and life situation I was in in the US. Things are dismal there. I'm just romanticizing it in my mind because I miss familiarity. It turns out that changing countries, languages, apartments, and jobs all at the same time could be mildly stressful. Even if it's all good stuff. I feel like I'm starting to break through the homesickness though, and I'm starting to see the experience for what it is. I really like the job. Of course there are things to complain about, and I still feel like an idiot teaching 4th grade, but my kids are awesome!!! I have never had such nice, calm, and hard-working students ever. It's kind of amazing. Of course, it's only week 3, haha.

I'm also getting really excited about the traveling. We haven't made any firm plans yet, but we are going to try to travel throughout Brazil and maybe into Argentina throughout the course of this school year. We're definitely going to Rio for Carnaval (though I can't wait all the way until February to get to Rio!), and we'd also like to visit the South of Brazil. Also on the wish list (some may be trips for future year(s): Bahia, Manaus, Belem (both cities in or near the Amazon rainforest), Recife (northern Brazil), and, um, every other country in South America! Okay, yeah, that's pretty unrealistic. I just can't wait to get this silly teaching stuff out of the way so we can go visit places!

Well, this post has gotten quite long enough. I guess it's time to face reality: to-do lists and papers to grade!

Here we go!

Okay, so school starts tomorrow! All of us new teachers have been stressed beyond belief trying to get ready and digest everything. Somehow, I thought it would be easier in my 5th year of teaching, but being new kinda does away with that. Oh well. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually. Right? Yeah.

So, we haven't done anything too interesting other than work. We did go to one nice park, where Brian practiced his pull-ups...

And here is my classroom, all ready for the first day. Look, I got a whiteboard! :) 

Wish us luck...we are gonna need it!

School is almost here...

Well, we've had another fun week here in Campinas. We spent all week doing new teacher orientation and working in our classrooms. We had our first grocery shopping experience (that could be a whole post in and of itself), went out with Brazilian friends, had dinner with a fellow 4th grade teacher, and finally got cell phones! Today, we did a little sightseeing and attended a churrasco (bar-b-que) at our director's house. Everyone is so warm and friendly.

During the days, I spent most of my time doing this (it's not finished, but it's a start...):

My desk. I totally took my Peachtree sign and hot glued it to the wall, haha.

The bulletin board and big black box are going to move out. I'm eventually going to have a carpet here. Whenever it comes in. Story of my life! :)

Rainbow colored desks! Several of these sliding doors will be open during the day, because my classroom library and students' bookbags are all going to be inside the cabinets.

Front of the classroom. The big blank space is where the whiteboard and projector will be.  Whenever they come in. Being in a brand new classroom is really nice (no old teacher's junk to inherit), but it takes time to get everything in.

View from the door

So, there you have it. I'm really excited to meet my other coworkers on Monday, and I'm all ready to start my Portuguese classes. I feel like I'm understanding really well, but my speaking abilities are way too basic. I'm eager to learn and get better. In the meantime, I'm trying to catch up on my Brazilian soap opera:

My favorite actor in the soap :)

Picture Update

We have gotten just a tad busier this week. It's been almost exactly a week since we arrived, but it really feels like much longer. I can't speak for Brian, but I've definitely hit the "overwhelming wall" at least once by now, but I'm bouncing back. You start off all excited, and then it sinks in a little...new job, new language, new country, new home all at the same time! But I can't complain. I am surrounded by an amazing support system between the school and the family. And everyone really cares a lot about making sure we're successful. So, I'm trying to adopt the Brazilian "don't worry" attitude about things.

Okay, no more talking! Here are some pictures, mostly of the school. I haven't taken too many around town yet, but I'll definitely be taking more pictures soon. I can't wait to share the hippie fair and fruit market pictures with you!

All the cousins and their significant others. Love these guys!

Living room...will post the rest of the apartment when it's organized!

Brazilians are pretty accommodating...this is a parking spot for old people. We saw a special seat for obese people on the bus. The sign for that is pretty hilarious.

Cathedral in downtown Campinas

more downtown

EAC (our school) campus. This is the playground and gym in the background.

Looking up to some of the school buildings

Squirrel-sized monkeys in the trees :)

Brian's HS English classroom

View out of Brian's window

His classroom door

The view when you walk out of Brian's classroom. Nice.

My classroom. Very empty. Let's hope we have more stuff by next Thursday for the 1st day of school! :)

Cabinets in my classroom. These are sliding doors that all have shelving inside. I would have loved this much storage at Peachtree when I had lots of stuff. Several of these will have to store the kids bookbags and the classroom library, etc.

One of my classroom windows

My classroom door