15th Posting
Autor: Buster Hale | Publicado: 2011-09-07T11:51:00-04:00

Independence Day in Brazil. Today (September 7) is Independence Day in Brazil. In 1882, Dom Pedro I, the King of Brazil, declared independence from Portugal. Corumbá had a very nice ceremony in the city park where various military and civilian bands played. We all sang the National Anthem (Hino Nacional) while a big Brazilian flag was raised.




All the military units in the area participated in a parade to the main military headquarters near the port. The parade stretched for several miles and all the soldiers looked very hot in their uniforms and gear.


Boat people. A group of 15 Americans from Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, and Minnesota arrived in Corumbá at 6AM on Saturday morning, August 20 for a mission trip on the Paraguay River. I was supposed to meet them and take them to eat breakfast and then on to the Panta Vida, the boat that Carl King had built here several years ago. But as I went to enter the garage, my door opener would not work. No one was up at that hour on Saturday and I began to panic; I dreaded calling Carl King and telling him that I could not come because the truck was stuck in the garage. I calmed down, went back to apartment, got a knife, opened the controller, took out the battery, licked it, and put it back in. IT WORKED and has ever since. I was only a few minutes late and no one said anything. The group had a great week and you can see the pictures on Facebook under GEM, INC.

National ID Card. Below is my new Carteira de Identidade which came after I returned from the States in early August. With this, I now have an official ID and can now get my Brazilian driver's license (Carteira Nacional de Habilitação). I have already contracted with a despachante to do this rather than wait in line to be told I need another document; it is definitely worth the money because of the heat. I have had my picture taken and now only have to have an eye and mental exam; I am not worried about the eye exam, but am studying for the mental exam.





Teaching. I am teaching a full load of classes this semester and am going to add a beginner and a conversation class in a few weeks. Here is my weekly schedule:



Class
Hours Per Week


English Pronunciation
3


Beginner 1
2


Beginner 2
5


Intermediate 2
6


Intermediate 4
2.5


Advanced 1
2


Total
20.5

 


One of the reasons I came to Brazil was to get teaching experience and I am getting plenty of it. My students range in range from 12 to 50 with the majority young adults.  I just love the students and their willingness to learn English. At times, it is a challenge to motivate the younger students but the adults and college students make up for it. Junior and Renata have added more technology ("e-boards") to the classrooms and I am definitely taking full advantage of it.

I spend most mornings preparing for class and am teaching Monday through Saturday. With all the bureaucratic things behind me, I am focusing on teaching and working on our project here. I may even be brave enough to teach a Sunday School class in Portuguese and a Bible study in English.

More later.

PS I did not put any pictures of or stories about the snakes I recently encountered after the extremely negative reactions I got on Facebook. As they say here, calma gente (calm down people).