Teacherinegypt: Brazil May 2015Brazil Restaurant

Arrived in Brazil on May 2^nd, what a long flight, 10.5 hours from Toronto is too long. I was met by a representative of Jardins Maple Bear. He took me to my hotel and then he and his wife, daughter and twins, (not yet born) went for lunch at a great restaurant near Pacaembu. Excellent meal, the start of many wonderful meals. I love Brazilian food, I’ll eat anything but raw fish or meat, that leaves out Sushi which is very popular here. I got settled in my hotel and next day the same family picked me up and we went to a wonderful Italian restaurant for a big family dinner. It was delicious, I just get them to order for me, its all so good.

Monday I went to the school which was about 1 km away. Both hotel and school are about 2 blocks below Paulista one of the main areas of the city. Another great school in a very nice area. Every lunch I went with the staff for an awesome meal. Good thing I don’t eat much at night or I would double in size. Teachers and owners are great people, very warm and I feel as I have been here months. Very eager to learn about our Canadian education system.

Its fall here and getting a bit chilly, a sweater is needed most days. My second weekend in Sao Paulo began with a move to the Mooca school. I always move hotels on Saturday. Moved into a nice hotel a bit of a distance from the school. A nice place with white table cloths, cloth napkins and a super awesome breakfast. My room as the one before, is an apartment style room with a kitchen and living room. This one even has a laundry sink and clothes line. On Sunday I took the hotel shuttle to Paulista and took the subway to a few markets. The weather is chilly in the morning especially if you don’t have a warm sweater so I bought an alpaca sweater, which is nice and warm. I went to the Republica market and bought a huge fried patty with shrimp and other stuff. As I passed by some homeless people one fellow looked so intently at my food and said something, that I knew meant, I’m hungry in any language. I split it with him and he grabbed it before his friends could catch it.

This school is in the Mooca neighborhood. Lovely place, but the devil for the taxi drivers. First two days I gave them just the address, and both got lost in the Mooca maze. I had two grand tours of Sao Paulo in the morning. Last fellow was so upset he was hyperventilating, he can’t speak ANY English, I can’t speak ANY Portuguese. He didn’t have a GPS and couldn’t understand the map route I was showing him on my cel phone After him asking many, many people directions we got there in 3 times the time needed. He was in distress. After that experience I got smart and had the secretary print, maps for the routes to and from the hotel to school. That made my rides much, much better. This school, as the last one, was another round of wonderful places to eat lunch. Before I arrive at a new school I always wonder, will I be able to answer all their questions and will they be as nice as the last school? But when I arrive all is well, wonderful people to work with. Often schools want a parents’ night talk and some teacher meeting/talks. I’m getting used to it now….. realizing I’m going to have to talk to parents and/or teachers and getting 2 or three days notice to get together what I will say. I usually leave for school about 7:30 and arrive home between 6 or seven, if I don’t have a meeting in the evening. No time for sight seeing. This hotel must have been built on an anthill. I brought some sweet rolls from breakfast to serve as a small supper with cheese. I wrapped them in napkins and stored in a kitchen drawer. Came home that night, the ants had found them, must have been 2000 ants in that drawer. I think they are the same crew that found my Brigaderios (Brazilian candy).

Moved hotel again on the 16^th, this time I went to Granja Viana, which is on the outskirts of Sao Paulo. No subway here but my hotel is connected to a huge mall, very huge. I just walk about 10 meters and there is an elevator leading to the middle of the mall. The hotel is an Ibis and quite nice. The best feature of every Brazil hotel is their breakfast. This one did not disappoint me.

The school grounds are amazing. It is a small hobby farm, with a horse, roosters, hens, ducks, a big turkey who sings along with the kids and wild monkeys in the trees. I must see a monkey before I leave so the teachers are all on monkey alert. They have avocados, oranges, bananas, and another type of fruit that looks like dark grapes and probably other fruit I did not see. The school building is an old Spanish/Portuguese style home, very beautiful. As with the other schools the staff is so friendly and warm.