Friday March 14th Good Bye Sao Bernardo

My last day of school in Sao Bernardo, it was a great experience; this type of work beats being a tourist. I arrived and became part of the staff and enjoyed interacting with so many good people.  I was able to experience what is like to live and work here. I especially loved working with the tiny children in toddler and nursery.    Every afternoon here, since I have arrived the sky opens up (torrential rain) in the afternoon and most days there is a lot of thunder. Well today during the thunderstorm I was on the walkway going into a class, under an awning.  There was one huge clap of thunder followed immediately by the brightest multiple flashes of lightening and loudest thunder claps I have ever experienced. Later the teachers showed me the lightning rod a few meters from me. She said the school was hit and it just went down the rod. We were all shaking.  …and that’s why I have a surge protector. All the computers in school have them. I guess it’s easy to fry your computer. Later found the strike knocked out quite a few of the school computers, maybe just the server. Hope information wasn’t lost.     After school I went with several to have pizza not far from school. We ordered palm heart and cheese pizza, so very good……and my good run with cheese continues!!  Sorry I was there only a week, wonderful people and dear children.

Back at the hotel my computer charging woes continued. Plugged in the computer through the surge protector and it blew the fuse my guardian angel put in my school bag. So tomorrow, Saturday I’ll have to venture out and some how fund the illusive fuse speaking only English.

Front of (my) Palm Leaf Hotel

Great place to eat

Just before that lightening hit

Awesome teachers who work very hard and love their students.

Pizza goodbye. Great people...one reason I love Brazil

Rain,Rain, Rain .......but Warm Rain

I leave for school about 8:30 and arrive back here about 6:30 -7:00. There are two shifts at the school, I think first one starts about 7:30 and the last about 6:00. Many of the aides and teachers stay there all day, administration are there even longer. It’s a long, long day.  The school is very well run, and super neat and, tidy.

Today I did a lesson toddlers and yesterday the JK, and it was so much fun. I kept thinking of Nolan and Owen, my grandsons who are that age bracket.

I haven’t any pictures of the area for all I do is go to school and return.  I visit every class, talk to teachers and teach in every class as well. Tomorrow my last day, I’ll teach, talk to the teachers and have some classroom activities set up for them to experience.

 I’ll be in this part of Sao Paulo until Sunday when I get a taxi and go to the next school also in Sao Paulo. The weather is awesome. You need an umbrella instead of a sweater, lots of rain in the afternoon and lots of thunder.

I brought my surge protector to school and the electrician saw that the fuse was blown. Last night I dumped out my book bag to clean it out and what fell out but the exact kind of fuse my SP needed. I remember seeing that fuse on the kitchen table at home before I left. My guardian angel must have slipped it in.

This weekend I will have to write up reports and get ready for a presentation to parents when I go to the Londrina school in Southern Brazil.

Meals are still excellent, buffet morning and evening at the hotel, buffet at a great restaurant next to school, but no snacks at all. I love Brazilian food….and I’ll say it again……. Brazilian cheese loves me.

Thunderstorm

Another long day at school but it was fun. I dug out my puppets and the Toddler and nursery kids loved them. Nice school, so well equipped, organized and well planned. Had lunch at a wonderful place with  school owner and again I say the fruit is so good. Today I realized it would be a very good idea for me to get a surge protector as there are surges that can fry your computer. It was after supper so the hotel got me a cab and I went to Carrfour the big supermarket. Went in looking for a surge protector (had it written in Portuguese) but they said they didn't have any. Well I just had a feeling they did so I hunted around till I found someone else who did show me where they were. Found a taxi back to the hotel and now the instructions are in Portuguese and I can't get the blasted thing to work. Will take it to school and I hope the tech person should be able to help me.
Tomorrow I teach 3 lessons. Scrambling for ideas for lessons on pairs and lines.
Its a rainy city, this afternoon there was big thunder storm. I could hear a lot of screaming and crying from the little classes. I guess they were scared. Despite the rain I didn't need a sweater. Lovely climate.

In School

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Up at 6:00 this morning since I didn’t know how long breakfast would take.  My hotel doesn’t have a dining room so anyone here has to go to the hotel restaurant next door to eat. Breakfast was excellent, it was a buffet and one of the fruit available was papaya. So much better than what we buy here, so juicy and delicious. Today I observed 3 classes, nice small groups. The largest classes are 15 students. What a neat and well-organized place, with as usual, a very a nice Brazilian staff.  The children are beautiful.

Back in Brazil

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Left cold freezing Nova Scotia Saturday afternoon. Thanks for the ride to the airport John and Anna. Flights were OK except on my first one, somebody soaked in perfume sat near me. Scarf and antihistamine saved me. Today we are in the same time zone as Sao Paulo, Brazil, left Halifax at 5:55PM and arrived  here at 12:00 in afternoon. The school people picked me up and took me to the Palm Leaf Hotel. It isn’t the Hilton but it smells good and is nice and bright. The schools provide my meals so I can eat room service or go across the street and eat at the hotel there. I’ll be eating out.

Football/soccer, here is equal to our hockey at home. Some teams of soccer fellows staying at the hotel. Got in the elevator with them and had to hold my breath as long as I could, more strong perfume. …and they think they smell good.

I have a one month contract with Maple Bear Schools, to work in 4 schools, one a week. They have 140 schools in 10 countries, 68 in Brazil.

http://www.maplebear.ca/global-locations

A very good company to work for.

My Hotel

Looking out my window

Where I eat

Hotel at a distance

Look close to see a sea turtle with white barnacle on its back.

sea turtle again

Nora preparing to jump.

On way to see dolphins

No smoking for sure.

One of the veteran cats that hang around in the heat. Only the tough survive.

Sipping mixed juice in front of Sutan's yacht

Room mate

No caption needed

Place where we get the layered fruit drinks.

Saturday was a day at the beach, we went about 2:30 and realized because of the heat, the only place is straight into the water. Snorkeling in the bay at Majan Beach we see many kinds of fish and most of the time see a turtle. Yesterday when snorkeling in a bay, on the way back from dolphin watching Nora saw a large ray. Thinking of Steve Irwin, she didn’t stay long in that area. We also saw a long yellow sea snake on top of the water when we were dolphin watching. By now the water isn’t very refreshing, it’s like a hot bath and doesn’t cool us down much at all.

Sunday was another beach day, and Nora and one of the teachers climbed to the top of the cliff and jumped in the water. We did a snorkel tour before hand to make sure there was nothing in the water. The water there is very deep, maybe 20 m. I had my water camera and was able to film the jump, a bit shaky since I was treading water for quite a while. We also spotted a turtle hanging out on the bottom, he was easy to identify as he had a big white barnacle on his back.
Will try to upload the dolphins and a few other movies, if internet lets me. If not will do when we get home.

Souq

Wednesday evening a group of us went to the ‘What’s my Line’ comedy show at he Crowne Royale Hotel. Funny fellows but all strong British accents and we missed out on some of the lines because of that.

Thursday night (Friday at home) we went to a party before we went to the pub to listen to Simon and Katie’s band play their last gig for the summer. There were 4 Canadians at the party. Makes us feel good to see each other. Very nice people for sure. After the party we moved on to the pub to listen to the last show. No drinks for me, for sure, hard enough to drive in Muscat dead sober.  Friday morning Nora and I went to the Marina where we met the boat we booked to take us out to see the dolphins. They were amazing, twisting, jumping and following the boat. As we drove to the site we spotted a yellow sea snake in the water, a good reason not to swim in the open ocean. On the way back we were able to snorkel in one of the bays, Nora saw a large ray. Thinking of Steve Irwin she didn’t stay close to observe it. In the afternoon went back to the souq and did a lot more exploring. The place is a warren of passageways and shops. So many vendors trying to get your attention and keep it. Every purchase is a test of wits, us trying to guess the lowest price they will agree to and them trying to bluff as to how high they can sell it to us. Usually we can get 20% to 25% off an initial price.