shout out

WARNING: This blog post may be considered corny and slightly emotional. Reader discretion is advised.

I can't believe how wonderful my life is.

I am still dumbfounded that this unbelievable opportunity presented itself to me and that despite being terrified I took it. And here I am. Student teaching in this kind and welcoming school where I feel so at home. Almost four weeks in and I still have to take a moment every day to stop and appreciate that I'm actually here.

I also feel deeply appreciative of the love and optimism that I can feel emanating from my home over 5000 miles away. I am so fortunate to have such an incredible group of friends, family and mentors supporting me. I must be doing something right to have all these wonderful people in my life. I wish I could bottle all aspects of this experience and ship it to every last person who has been cheering me on.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

More beautiful pictures and teaching updates soon ♥  

the little things

tpa pt. 1

TPA
[tee pee aye] noun
(Teacher Performance Assessment)
1.A series of lesson plans, video recordings, reflections and student work samples that will indicate whether or not one is fit to become a teacher.
2. A factor that may be taken into account to determine whether or not one will graduate.
3.The most dreaded part of student teaching.

"Sorry I haven't seen you for the past 3 months, I was working on the TPA."



Okay, I'm exaggerating. I have heard numerous TPA horror stories, but in reality, it has not been that bad so far. Early Childhood majors have a tendency to freak out unnecessarily, myself included. There was some initial stress in regards to not knowing if I could complete it by the deadline but I decided that rather than asking for an extension I am going to do my best to create some awesome lessons with the resources and knowledge that I have and hope for the best. The TPA is intended to focus on a series of language arts lessons, but since I have only had one week of experience in this classroom I did not yet feel comfortable taking over language arts. So I got creative and developed a series of lessons about the social studies topic this week that tied in a specific language arts content standard.

Enough of the teachery jargon. The lesson was very simplistic, but I believe it served its' purpose well. I read the story... 

If you have never read it before, please do. It's a lovely little story. Throughout the book I asked questions about Officer Buckle and Gloria's friendship as well as how the illustrations related to the words in the story.

the not so good

• The classroom dynamic is much different in Brazil than in the US, which may not be properly understood by the people grading the TPA
• I put post its in the book to remind me of questions I wanted to ask students, and one of the most important ones fell out! Luckily I remembered what I needed to.
• At one point, a student got up and touched the camera that I had set up in the back of the room. Yikes...

the good

• The students were engaged, laughed at all the funny parts and asked lots of questions.
• Overall, the students were well-behaved and did not get out of hand at any time.
• My cooperating teacher said she thought it went really well :)

Unrelated to the TPA, I feel a lot more comfortable in the classroom this week. My teacher and I are getting along fabulously and I really feel at home in this school.

glory hallelujah!

The internet's back, which means this blog is back in business. Please excuse the excessively long post that will ensue; I have a whole week of Carnival break to catch up on. That makes it sound crazy, in truth it was very subdued. We mostly strategically avoided the "blocos" (block parties, of sorts) and spent a lot of time relaxing. But in any case, let us begin.

Santa Theresa
Okay, we went to one bloco. But we went with Thais who knows her stuff and it was a very small one at that. The bloco was essentially a street that was blocked off, live music, large crowd and lots of dancing. Oh, and costumes. It was an interesting sight to see but my favorite part of the evening was Santa Theresa itself.

Santa Theresa sits on top of a hill very close to downtown Rio. In previous years there were trolleys that would take people up and down the hills and around the small town. Unfortunately, these trolleys were deemed dangerous and were taken down some years ago. But the trolley tracks still line the streets of the quaint little neighborhood.

It's a very art-driven community with plenty of funky coffee shops, bookstores and bars. One of the houses had its entire teeny yard filled to the brim with recycled sculptures. Also, the view was fantastic. From the right spots, we could see the city for miles and miles stretching out below the neighborhood. It was beautiful at night and I cannot wait to go back during the day.

Tijuca Forest
Thais was kind enough to invite us to a little going away picnic for her friend at Tijuca Forest.

A little history lesson: Tijuca is an entirely man-made forest. At one time this area was a victim of deforestation, but when one of Brazil's emperors realized the negative effects of this he ordered the entire area to be replanted and voila, a beautiful forest.

a tile map

bamboo tunnel

Chinese View

"The best view in Rio." -Thais

More food talk: at a restaurant later in the day I got a banana and cinnamon grilled cheese sandwich and frute de conde juice. I was in heaven.

A lot of the week was spent working on TPA (which I will devote a special post to soon) and some forced relaxation due to our internet being out. I read two books which is probably more than I've read in the past 3 months so I was pretty happy about that. Last but not least...

Carnival Parade

We left at 6:30pm on Saturday and returned home at 6am Sunday. Absolutely worth  it. There are not enough words in the dictionary to describe this experience. The word that I keep using to describe it is colorful. In every sense of the word. 

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

how we looked

how we felt

no internet

This is definitely a test. I'm trying hard not to be spoiled and whine. There are so many people here who live in far worse conditions. It's hard sometimes when I am feeling homesick and I want to call my parents. I just keep reminding myself how lucky I am to be here. And that I can be certain that the internet will be back within a few days. And that I have the luxury of walking to a Starbucks, buying a frappeccino and sitting on my iPod for a few hours updating my family on my safety. Sheesh, I really am one lucky girl.

every minute

for the love of food

We've made it our mission to start trying as many new foods as possible. 

Act One: fruta de conde

unpeeled

peeled

I know it looks like squid, and it's kind of slimy like squid too actually, but don't knock it until you try it. Unfortunately I cannot think of any fruit I've had before to compare fruta de conde to. After peeling off the outer layer, there are small segments that fall out of the center. You eat the fruit portion of these segments then spit out the seed centers. It is sweet, but not overwhelmingly so, and the consistency of the fruit almost gives it a creamy taste.

Just trust me, it is delicious.

rainy day adventures

On Tuesday, our art teacher friend named Thais (tye-ees) offered to take us to see the lagoon or lagoa after school. What sounded like a short and sweet trip to us ended up being a lovely walking tour of multiple neighborhoods.

First, we went to Parque Lage, an art school that's surrounded by beautiful gardens. Thais described it as a "free botanical gardens" which I would say is fairly accurate. Unfortunately, a lot of my pictures didn't turn out too well because it was pretty cloudy and my settings were not properly adjusted, so use your imagination.

We met Thais' friend here, who is such a doll, I really enjoyed talking to her. From here we walked to the lagoon. Not great pictures of the lagoon either, but I took some fun ones along the way.

the lagoon

Then we decided to walk to Mirante which is patio area that overlooks the ocean and Impanema.

view on the walk there

Mirante

looking left

looking right

After a few hours of walking we were starving, so Thais invited us over for dinner which consisted of homemade...

pao de queijo (cheese bread)

 and brigadeiro (I would compare it to chocolate ganache).

We ended up having to leave after dark, which we were a little apprehensive about, but then we got to see Christ the Redeemer lit up on our walk from the bus stop, which made it worthwhile.

kindergartners

I met my kindergartners on Monday and I cannot say enough wonderful things about them. They are sweet, well-behaved children who are so bright and talented and come from such colorful backgrounds. I am so excited to get to know them all better and have the pleasure of teaching them. My teacher is also a saint who has been so friendly and helpful in my first few days here. She works so well with the students and they love her very much.

Here are the things that I love so far about Our Lady of Mercy in general.

We were welcomed with open arms.

I don't think there is one teacher that hasn't stopped myself and my two comrades to introduce themselves and welcome us to Our Lady of Mercy. Everyone is so willing to provide advice and guidance on acclimating to the new culture and invite us into their homes. I cannot thank them enough for everything they have done for us so far.

Silence isn't always golden.

In the American schools that I have experienced there is an emphasis on silence. Silence in the hallways, silence during transitions in the classroom, silence while the teacher is teaching, etc. When students are expected to be quite 80% of the day, they get restless and I feel unhappy because it seems like I'm constantly yelling at them. At Our Lady of Mercy I have noticed already a higher tolerance for noise. I'm sure many American teachers would not agree, but to me it feels comfortable and inviting.

The students are oh so lovable.

It's day three and I have probably gotten about a dozen I love yous and three times as many hugs. Did I mention that I'm allowed to hug the students? My mentor teacher actually told me to break the habit of not allowing students to hug me or hold my hand. Works for me. Being greeted by twenty little guys and gals asking for hugs beats my second cup of coffee any day.

Speaking of lovable students, I received my first student artwork of the semester today...

:)

weekend highlights

Friday

After spending the day at school meeting faculty and helping our teachers set up for Monday, the art teacher offered to show us how to use the bus system and explain which buses will take us where. We eagerly accepted.

This turned into a wonderful afternoon that in addition to bus education included a walk on Copacabana beach and my first experience at a juice bar. I got a drink that consisted of "cupuaçu"which is a native fruit that looks something like this.

The drink was mostly sour with a little sweet and very refreshing but next I'll be getting something a little more sweet.

Saturday

In the morning I went on the most fascinating yet terrifying grocery shopping trip of my entire life. The grocery store was probably about 80% unfamiliar foods, which of course was the fascinating part. Everything was in Portuguese though so some things we were looking for were a little difficult to find. We were stressed about how crowded and unfamiliar everything was, so we ended up grabbing mostly American foods that we could recognize based on the packaging. Next time though, that will not be the case. I want to try all 80% of those unfamiliar foods by the time I leave.

After grocery shopping we ventured out to Copacabana once again for a little sunbathing and swimming. I've heard too many negative comments about Copacabana being a hot spot for pick pockets, so I left my camera. Luckily, my roommate Kyleigh had her phone on her and took this photo.

Incredible, right?

After a few hours we decided to head home to make sure we made it before dark. We got on a bus, paid our fare and about 45 minutes later ended up at the bus garage nowhere near our neighborhood. Luckily, while we were in search for a map, we ended up in a shopping mall that had an English-speaking information desk attendant who gave us very specific directions along with a few other maps and a Rio guide in English. So maybe it was fate that we got lost. I must say it was an  enlightening experience to be lost in a foreign city. I didn't realize until now how dependent I am upon technology to get me out of sticky situations, and how loosely I used the term "lost" in previous situations.

Sunday

Lazy day spent at the villa reading and preparing for school tomorrow. We did take a walk and here are some pictures of the beauty that can be found in our neighborhood.

And tomorrow, I meet my kindergartners. Life doesn't get much better than this.