the kindness of strangers

Something that has really struck me while I've been here is the eager assistance I've experienced from strangers when it comes to the language barrier.

For example:
Yesterday I went out and about by myself for the first time just to get a cup of coffee down the street. I'm walking along, enjoying the beautiful day and thinking about how much less intimidating it is to be out by myself than I thought it would be. I walk into the little coffee shop and as I try to express to the woman at the counter that I want an iced coffee to go she repeats "espresso" in response. Espresso happens to taste like dirt to me so as I'm rifling through my translation dictionary trying to figure out where I'm going wrong the guy standing next to me says "Do you need some help?" I look up at him like I have never been so happy to see this stranger in my life. I was really desperate for a good cup of coffee. After some discussion he explains to the woman what I want, chuckles and says "You just have to make a motion like this towards the door," and flails his arms around a little bit with a wink. I thank him one more time, he says no problem and with that he's gone.

This has happened my student teaching comrades and I multiple times throughout our stay here. Often times, the people we run into seem eager to practice the little bit of English they know and we'll laugh a little at the combination of broken Portuguese, English and charades that we use to get our point across.

It's a pleasant surprise so kindly-received by this country.

unconditional love of kindergartners

My supervising teacher has been absent the past three days on account of attending an education conference in Argentina. This left me in the teacher position and the classroom aid to help as needed. My teacher made sure I was well-prepared before leaving but even so, I'm exhausted. Students are much louder here overall than students in the United States and being loud enough to get their attention when necessary has left me with the raspy remains of a voice. I guess I'm out of practice.

Great things
I did a "touch" science lesson all by myself on Thursday that went exceptionally well. I let them touch ice and noodles and describe them, then I went to each group and allowed them to play with "oobleck." Oobleck is the cornstarch and water mixture that baffles many including myself and my kindergartners. They loved it. They were also surprisingly well-behaved and came up with some killer descriptions.

One of my students brought in a book he wrote and asked me to read it to the class. He hands me some haphazardly stapled together pieces of printer paper accompanied with a slightly confusing story line. Needless to say, I was overjoyed to see a little one as shy as this guy so excited to share some literature he created. I read it to the class with extra expression and enthusiasm. When I finished, I suggested that we thank our friend for sharing. To my delight, the students enclosed him in a giant group hug while yelling "thank you!" and "what a good story!" So sweet.

Not so good thing
Yesterday, while the classroom assistant was at lunch I had to take the students to gym. Here's how it went.

1. Line kids up
2. Go to gym
3. See another class going into gym
4. Assumed I misread the schedule
5. Get embarrassed
6. March back to classroom
7. Realize our schedule says I was there at the correct time
8. Line kids up
9. Go to gym
10. See class in the gym
11. Teacher of said class tells me I have the wrong time
12. Back to the classroom

For the record, I had the right time, but the kids had no clue. All they knew is that I dragged them all over the school and they didn't get to go to gym class.

Here's where the unconditional love comes in.
I sat them down after this fiasco and had a little talk with them. I explained that everyone makes mistakes, even teachers, and Miss Nar made a mistake today. I apologized and asked if they would forgive me.

They said yes. Not even just that, they did their best in their little munchkin way of making me feel better. A chorus of "it's okay" "we can just stay in the classroom instead of going to P.E." and "don't worry Miss Nar, it's not a big deal" rose from the class.

So here's what I'm getting at. One of the beautiful things about kindergartners in my opinion is that they love unconditionally. It doesn't matter if I had to give them a stern talking-to 3 minutes earlier, if I sit down on a chair anywhere near them they're going to crawl up onto my lap and put their arms around my neck. Or in this case, even if in their mind I am the villain who stole their gym class from them they see my distress and do their best to make me feel better. It's really a beautiful thing.

One last thing on that note, I was stopped by a parent of one of the students who was giving me the most trouble over the past few days.
"Oh boy," I thought.
"Thank you for helping while Ms. Malouk was gone," she said "My daughter talks about you a lot. She says you're a great teacher."

Heart, melted.

7 more weeks

☑ Tijuca Forest
☑ Copacabana
☑ Santa Theresa
☐ Buzios
☑ Carnival
☑ Watch the sunset from Arpoador
☐ Christ the Redeemer
☑ Ipanema Hippie Fair
☑ Ipanema
☐ Jardim Botanico (Botanical Gardens)
☐ Lapa Arches and Stairs
☑ Petropolis
☑ Sugar Loaf

 

 

 

 

Unrelated to Sugar Loaf, there's now a juice bar right around the corner and it is perfectly delicious. Get ready for lots of juice updates.