September 12, 2014

-->

Finished work at my first school today, excellent place, wonderful people and dear little children.

Yesterday on the way between the two schools I saw people eating berries of a tree so I tried them too. They were mulberries, always wondered what they looked and tasted like. Very good but so juicy they stain your face and fingers.

The school staff were so kind and brought me so many cups of tea to help with my cold.

Today was a day off so I took the metro to the main financial part of the city, Paulista.  It’s a great subway system, so clean and easy to navigate.  I met with some Maple Bear staff for lunch near Paulista, at a very nice place in an out of the way corner. We had wild boar ragout with manoic root. It was so delicious and soft shell crab as an appetizer. Now I know what we can do with those vicious green crabs at the wharf.

On the way to the restaurant I did an impromptu, selfie bone density test, by tripping over a piece of uneven side walk and falling ungraciously flat at the feet of several people. Passed the bone density test with a bit of scraped skin on both knees.

The rest of the afternoon I went to the MASP (art gallery) on Paulista and later just sat and watched the street performers, so much music on the street.

In the evening I took the metro again to another area and met a friend from a former school, for supper, Great meal, lovely place and although I was prepared to ride the subway back but they wouldn’t hear of it and drove me back to the hotel. Great day!

Mullberries

Evening espresso..not for me

Interesting tiles in Sao Paulo

Street near Alto De Pinheiros Maple Bear  school

Restaurant near Paulista, we ate outside

Building on Paulista

View of street from Sao Paulo Museum of art

Espresso for me

Street vendors

Going down into the metro

Compare the prices. Divide in half for dollar value

Looking out my window in Jundiai

The temp is climbing

Tea...with the sun shining in the window.

Tree by the school gate.

Several times I have lady taxi drivers

The sweet side of breakfast

The fruit side of breakfast.

Another taxi driver  playing with his dash mounted device.

-->

Enjoying this school. Have a cold and coughing so they bring me nice red tea to help my cough.

My Goodness those Pentecostals never stop. They are at it every night, sometimes the singing is nice then other nights its more yelling than singing …and they are just outside my window. On advice from Claudia I went up a different street and found a nice grocery store and a place to eat other than the hotel which has a limited menu and huge evening meals. I was the only one in the place and they fussed and hovered over me. The sandwich was very good, veggie with fried zucchini, egg plant, lots of veggies and sour cream. I could only eat half do I had it wrapped and on my walk back I saw the homeless couple on my corner. Gave him the sandwich and got a real big smile.

The trees are all starting to bloom, a beautiful sight and the birds are all singing. It was up to 30 today.

september 7th, 2014

 

The movie above is Samba music in a restaurant/bar close by.

A day off, still got up early for the delicious breakfast at the hotel. I picked scrambled eggs, fresh papaya, pineapple and mango. Then there is cheese, meat, and all these pastries and sweets. So much better than the continental breakfasts North American hotels serve.

I’m certainly not a tourist. Yesterday I took a walk around our area and found the Lima subway station. I thought about taking a trip on it but too much prep work to do. I found a grocery store and have been there twice, food is expensive here. Our dollar is worth about twice as much as their Real. Last night the Pentecostals out side my window were making a lot of noise, and the singing was not good. Tonight I’m again tempted to go in and visit, the music tonight is very nice.

I see quite a few homeless people, I think they collect and sort the garbage and sell cardboard and other recyclable materials. There is a man and woman who I think are a couple, for I see them working together and collecting items. Last night I could see where they set up their cart on out street corner, for the night. All covered with a tarp and very cozy. I also saw them on another corner cooking a meal over an open flame burner.

When I look out from the restaurant you can get an idea of what the place looked like maybe 100 years ago. I think the red roof buildings were the old family homes and the skyscrapers have been built all around them.

Tomorrow it’s off to school for the second week. I really like this school. Such pleasant people and excellent teachers, in general all the teachers I’ve met follow that pattern. Tomorrow evening another teacher workshop.

The Pentecostals

View from the new school

The home of the homeless outside my window this morning.

I had my cat fix. He was in a store, blue eyes.

On sidewalk

Huge tree

Police hang out together

More beautiful flowers n a tree

Spring flowers on a tree

A huge, huge tree

Lots of Work

Spotted this go by my window

These two argue and shout at each other very often.... outside my window

Not wheel chair or suit case friendly sidewalks

growing out of the tree in school playground

View as I eat breakfast

Breakfast view again

Roofs

My hotel and looking at my room on the 1st floor

It has been a very busy week. I get a taxi from the hotel to school at 7:30 and leave there about 5:45. So far I did two workshops with teachers, with one tomorrow morning for parents and another Monday evening. Then every evening is spent preparing for the next day. It has been a wonderful experience, for the teachers are truly awesome people who are so dedicated and creative. The kids from 15 months to 7 are so much fun. I’ve had fun reading Robert Munch to most of them and introducing them to my moose, wolf, eagle and bear puppets. I hide them in a box and pretend to wake them up and say they are scratching to get out, then do a big production of getting them out of the box, they love it.

I get a taxi every day, pretty soon I’ll be able to find my way there myself. Today I was able to leave school about 4:30 so I was able to go for a walk down the street and found a grocery store. I bought some of their lovely fruit for supper instead of going to the hotel restaurant.

I’ll be here for another week then off to another school about a half hour away.

The more schools I visit, the more I realize that Maple Bear is a very good organization.  

Sap Paulo Again

Back in Sao Paulo Again, working for Maple Bear Global Schools. Left Toronto almost 3 hours late, more mechanical problems with plane, just like my last flight out of Newfoundland. Arrived in Sao Paulo about 2:00 PM. Took a taxi to the L’Opera Hotel and had a four hour nap, didn’t get much sleep at all on the plane.

The hotel is what I’d call faded glory. It was a very nice place in its time and still is clean and well run. Rooms are nice and staff is very helpful. For two afternoons and evenings I was hearing beautiful singing nearby. Just figured out, the doorway on the street opposite my window that says Deos Amor is a Pentecostal meeting place. They sure can sing. Seriously thought of going over to listen, since the door was wide open.

School tomorrow, presentation to teachers tomorrow evening. Forgot my Skype mike. Will have to search for a store nearby that sells electronics. Everything was shut down tight today, being Sunday but it looks like there are a lot of stores around. I think the metro isn’t too far away either. I’ll be here at this hotel two weeks so I should get more familiar with the area.

Sao Paulo from Air Canada

Taxi Stand Dog

On the way in town

Monday April 15, 2014

-->

Monday April 15, 2014

Discovered the people next door have SIX dogs, no wonder they make such a ruckus. They are really funny. One of them pretends he is very cross, he’s behind a gate so we aren’t sure if he is or not and there is an old one who jumps off the ground every time he barks. The geckos/lizards are everywhere. The Peeping Tom gecko lives on Nora’s bedroom window and the others are on walls, in trees, plants and running up walls. Our back yard neighbor has a banana plant and it has lots of green bananas on it.  Brian from Washington, DC, our roommate Jill’s friend came over tonight (Monday) and cooked a delicious dinner for us. The something crazy happened….I could hear Cape Breton fiddle music! It was Brian’s music! He is a big fan of Natalie Mac Master and had her on his iPhone and his dad is a big fan of the Cottars, so we listened to Natalie Mac master in our house in Caguas, Puerto Rico and I gave him one of the fiddle music CDs I had brought with me.   

Sunday April 13, 2014

Sunday April 13, 2014

This morning Helvia and Alex picked up, Nora, Jill and I to went to the rainforest. It’s out of San Juan and up a mountain. What an awesome place, it felt like Jurassic park, the huge ferns, large flowers, flowering trees, trees with fruit, birds calling and the lush vegetation. We drove up the mountain and stopped at a waterfall and at a large tower where we had a panoramic view of the whole area.

We ate at Puerto Rican food at a beach-front restaurant and then went to the Seven Seas Beach. The water was warm, and the weather beautiful. The sand was light brown and the grains seemed to be more flat than round for they stuck to our skin and were hard to get off.