Surreality

Sometimes I still look around me and think-- Wow.  I live in Brazil!  I woke up this morning, chatted with my roommate, ate some cream cheese and jam on a piece of bread, checked my facebook (pretty routine right?) and looked out the window.  Another cloudless day, exotic birds chirping, and the guy that sells corn husk things announcing his presence in our block.  And it hits me-- I am in Brazil.  Living here.  And I've been here for about two months.  Craziness!

Besides those moments where the surrealness hits, I'm definitely in the groove of a routine.  I only have one week left of my first placement with Erin Hayes in first grade.  I have bittersweet feelings about this.  On the one hand, I am really going to miss these kids!  They are so sweet and the little hugs and the funny things they say and the sweet moments of seeing the lightbulb come on (or seeing them actually applying a strategy YOU taught them!) melts my heart.  I really enjoy working with Erin and I really appreciate our open communication and continuing conversation about teaching and life.  It has been a great experience!  On the other hand, first grade is a HANDFUL!  Classroom management is definitely a large part of a teacher's role in first grade.  It was overwhelming when I took over the full control of the classroom to try to rein them in (constantly!)  I'm looking forward to working with fifth grade-- to have students that can stay in their seats, have more adult conversations, and covering content that is more advanced.  There are things that I really love about both ends of the spectrum as far as grade level, so I am hoping that I can discover my "sweet spot" through being in both a lower and upper elementary classroom.

Outside of the classroom, life is good-- and busy!  So many Brazilians from the school have been very gracious in inviting us to do stuff on the evenings and weekends.  I'm still trying to figure out the balance between doing stuff with people and having time to recharge.  Here are some of the fun things I've done in the last couple of weeks:
-Danced the night away at a salsa dance club
-Experienced acupunture
-Joined a parade going down the road by our apartment
-Tried my skills on stilts at a puppet festival
-Went to a very swanky restaurant with my roommates and some diplomats from the American Embassy
-Sampled sushi at a famous a sushi restaurant
-Went to a Japanese festival at a Bhuddist temple

We'll see what adventures the next few weeks hold!