Danielle Descarfino

Teaching English at Somando

On Tuesday and Thursday, I teach an English class that is specific to jobs in waitressing, kitchen aids or chefs, and houskeepers.  They take 2 months of the English class, then move on to an internship at a hotel.  This prepares them for their jobs.

Because of this, we have a more specific curriculum to teach them.  We are teaching food, place settings, kitchen appliances, numbers, and do dialogues like "May I have...?").  The challenge here, like at Baixa d'Alegria, is that not all of the students consistently come to class.  On the whole, the students at Somando tend to be more competent (they are all 21 or older) and they are good at listening, paying attention, and following directions.

This week, we brought in real plates, silverware, bowls, and a napkin so that we could teach them the words.  We also wrote a dialogue on the board and made them do the dialogue in front of the class in pairs, taking turns playing the roles of a waitress and customer.  They had to choose an item (ie: napkin) to ask for, and the waitress had to pick up the item and give it to them.  I think that it went fairly well.  Another activity that we did with them was play Bingo at the end of class on Thursday.  We spent most of the class teaching new vocabulary words pertaining to kitchen items (like freezer, oven, knife, and so on) by writing the word on the board and distributing papers with visual aids so that they could write the word in English next to the picture.  That was a little tedious, so we wanted to do something fun at the end of class.  Also, they seemed to be having trouble with numbers, so it was a good way to reinforce them.

Today was Samantha's last day teaching, so it will be a challenge for me when she leaves.  On Tuesday, I told them that I will be giving them a test because I worry that they read the words when they see them in class, but if they do not look at it at home, they won't retain the information.  I am definitely going to make it a really easy test on basic foods and kitchen items, which I also hope will boost the students' confidence because I feel that many of them are better than they give themselves credit for.  I'm about to create their test and I look forward to seeing how that goes on Tuesday!

Teaching English at Baixa d'Alegria

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I will be teaching basic English at a community center in Baixa d'Alegria.  The classes are free- any age can come.  It ranges from young children to middle aged adults. Their learning abilities also have a wide range.  There is one young boy named Breno who is smart, but gets very antsy.  On Friday, when I came to the class to observe, he spent a lot of time throwing little pieces of paper at me.  On the contrary, our oldest student, Evony has an extremely hard time pronouncing and remembering the words.  I think he and some other students may have a learning disability, because sometimes it is shocking how long it takes them to understand.  Evony is a Evangelical missionary, and that is his purpose for learning English... but I don't really think it would necessarily be a bad thing if there was one less English speaking Evangelical missionary spreading the word.  Anyway.  Teaching the class can be difficult because of how different the levels are, but hopefully by the time I am done, they will all learn at least a few things.

On Monday, I cut out photos of people from magazines and brought them to Baixa d'Alegria.  I handed one to each student and asked them to describe them with sentences such as "She is old,"  "She is wearing an orange shirt and blue jeans," "She is thin," and so on.  The exercise went fairly well.  We covered some other topics that day- we spent time at the end of class talking about likes, dislikes, and favorites.  We discussed colors, foods, and actions such as dancing, singing, and playing sports.  Friday is Samantha's last day, so I will be on my own after that!

Professoras! Samantha & I with students- Margarida & Cristina at Baixa d'Alegria

Weekend

Saturday was a weird day here, as some of my co-volunteers left and the new group of volunteers arrived throughout the day.  Most of the new volunteers are only here for one week, and a few of them will be here for two weeks.  On Saturday, I had been planning to go to a beach on the other side of Salvador for the day, but unfortunately it was raining for most of the day.  Hopefully we will have better luck next weekend.

 We met the new people and went out with them around the city for a bit.  At night, we went to Bohemia music bar again. They had live music followed by a DJ, and it was really a lot of fun.

On Sunday, I went to the beach for a bit in the morning, but did not stay long.  In the afternoon, I checked out Bahia's Gay Pride Parade which was going on a fairly short distance from our home.  I didn't stay for long, but it was certainly quite something.  When we got there, an Amy Winehouse impersonator was performing and there were people dressed in costume and wild clothing everywhere you looked.  At night, we tried to go to Pelourinho to see Olodum (Salvador's famous drumming group) perform, but because of the parade, the cabs took an "alternate route" to get there (to the tune of $25 Reales, which is normally a $12 Reale ride.. hmmm) and we did not arrive in time.

 

A capoeira demonstration near the beach

SENAC Culinary School

On Friday night, we went for dinner at SENAC which is a large buffet of Bahian food prepared by students of the culinary school.  It was recommended in both travel guides as well as by some locals, so we figured we should check it out.  It wasn't bad, but I also wasn't particularly impressed.  It was a good way to have a lot of variety and try all kinds of Bahian food, but in my opinion, it was far from one of the best dining experiences that I have had here in Brazil.  We arrived at around 7:30 and we were the only people in the restaurant besides one or two other tables.  It didn't fill up in the entire time that we were there.  I know that people eat later here, but it made me wonder if it is really a busy restaurant or not.  The food didn't taste bad, but a lot of it was mushy or felt like it could use a few minutes in the microwave.  I guess that's what you get at a buffet on a slow night.

Bale` de Castro Alves

On Thursday night, we went to Pelourinho to see the Brazilian ballet (bale`).  It was $30 Reales and about an hour- and totally worth it!  It is definitely one of the best things I have done on my entire trip.  It wasn't traditional ballet at all.  There were women dressed in Bahiana attire who sang, and men who played the drums.  Other than that, there was no other instruments for the entire show.  The costumes were colorful, big, and incredible- I wish I knew a better way to describe it.  The different numbers varied from capoiera, to fire dancing, fighting with swords and sticks, and more.

 

"Bale` Folclorico da Bahia"

Last Days at Lar da Crianca!

Today was my last day at Lar da Crianca orphanage.  Tomorrow, I am sitting in on one of the English classes so I can see what it is like, and I will start teaching with Samantha on Monday.  The beginning of the week at the orphanage was tough, but Wednesday and Thursday were both very enjoyable days and it was sad to say goodbye.  I tried to tell the kids that I would be able to visit them during the next four weeks in the afternoon on Thursdays, but I don't know if they understood.  My favorite girl, Ivana, told me that she was really sad that I was going away and it made me feel so sad.  When the kids found out that Katie and I were leaving this week, they all stood together and sang us a song about saying goodbye.  They were really good singers.  Ivana and Raquel did solos.  Then, they all hugged us, one at a time, and it was so hard not to cry- it was the cutest thing ever.

 

Me & Ivana~ I love her!

 

Ivana, Raquel, and Vittoria in their school uniforms

 

Icaro!

 

Me, Renata, Katie, & Daniel-  Renata is one of the oldest girls at the orphanage.  She loves Twilight- especially Edward Cullen!

Lighthouse tour~ Itapua, & Bahian cuisine

On Tuesday, our weekly tour was to the lighthouse in Itapua beach.  We have a beach near our home (Porta de Barra) but the beach stretches all the way up Salvador.  Itapua is also a nice beach that has a different kind of feel.  It was about 30 minutes away by car.  I will definitely look into going there for the day when I have a day available.

 

Itapua beach

After seeing the beach, we stopped to try Acaraje, a traditional Bahian food.  My Portuguese teacher said that Acaraje is to Bahians what hamburgers are to Americans.  I really liked it, but it is very filling.  A bready consistency is made by deep frying peeled black eyed peas in palm oil, then it is split in half and typically stuffed with spicy pastes, shrimp, peppers, and tomatoes.

 

I got another little cooking lesson during my Portuguese class on Wednesday.  Marina, our teacher, loves to cook and always tells us about Bahian cuisine, so we asked her to teach us how to cook and she was happy to.  We were all curious about "farofa" which is a breadcrumby thing that Bahians frequently put on their food, more for texture than flavor (ie: beans, and other wet foods).  Marina shared her own farofa recipe which includes yuka flour (farina de milho), butter, garlic, and a little bit of fresh mint.  We used it at dinner, and though I was skeptical at first, the flavor was very nice!

Monday @ Lar da Crianca and more photos!

Today was such a rough day at the orphanage!  The two special needs kids were an extra handful... Pedro had several temper tantrums and Gianna was extra desperate for attention... biting, hitting everyone, pulling hair- she even stomped on my feet two separate times.  It was out of control.  It's hard with Gianna because she is 4, so she is way too large to be acting like a toddler.  If the toddlers hit you or want you to pick them up, at least they are so little it doesn't do any damage- but this girl is way too big to want to be carried around on a regular basis.

 

Giana rolling around on the table

One of the older girls, Ester, was always really unfriendly until we started taking photos.  Now, she doesn't ever want to do anything else!  Whenever we are done taking photos, she constantly comes up to us and grabs our arm, and repeats over and over again, "Photo?  Photo?"  I tell her in perfectly good Portuguese "not now, we can take more photos tomorrow" but she doesn't listen.  Here is the best photo of her (trust me, I have several)- I will post it here, since she clearly wants to be seen.

 

Ester posing for "um photo"

 

Pedro playing with Vitoria- this was a turbulent day for both of them

 

Vitoria holding my favorite violent toddler.. whose name I cannot spell.. 

Sunday~ Mall & Dinner in Pelourino

I was at the beach ALL DAY on Saturday, so I wanted to take a break from it today.  It also gets super crowded on weekends.

So, in the afternoon, I went to the big mall- Salvador Shopping.  Evidently, it is supposed to be one of the largest malls in South America.  Of course, it is nothing in size compared to New Jersey malls, but it was really gorgeous inside.  Up until today, I have seen mostly poorer locals and poor areas of town, but based on the people that I saw in the mall it is clear that there is a huge upper class present in Salvador, as well.  Lots of light, glass windows, plants and trees, and lots of space- the air conditioning didn't hurt, either.  I have never seen nicer food courts or public restrooms in a mall.  I didn't buy anything- most of the stores were upscale boutiques, women's clothing, and tons of shoes and sunglasses stores.  The prices of sunglasses (as well as other items) seem to be really inflated here.  For example, Ray Ban sunglasses cost almost $700 Reales.  Another interesting thing is that I only saw two stores that I knew- Lacoste and Armani.  We also saw a store called Etna which seemed exactly like Ikea.  It was really cool, just smaller than the Ikea we have in Paramus, NJ- this store was the size of a department store.  I was going to buy some socks, so I looked in two different Sports Authority type stores, but for three pairs of regular socks it cost $30. (I wanted the socks because I have taken a liking to running on a regular basis here and didn't bring enough socks with me for that- but I decided that I will have to find socks elsewhere.)

We decided to go out for dinner tonight.  We went to a very nice restaurant in Pelourino called Maria Mata Mouro where we sat outdoors in a beautiful, enclosed garden-like seating area.  I ordered the moquequa, a kind of stew with fish and shrimp, which they serve with rice.  It was delicious.  I had been looking forward to trying that dish and seen other people order it a few times, but the one that I had today looked particularly good.  I enjoyed it very much.

Tomorrow- back to work!  It will be my last week at the orphanage!

Saturday Night

I had a great time on Saturday.  I spent the whole day at the beach.  I love reading on the beach and going in the water whenever I need to feel refreshed.

 Later, I went to a jazz concert which outdoors of their museum of modern art, near Pelourino.  It was the same venue as the concert that I went to on the first Saturday that I spent here in Brazil.  I always enjoy hearing live music, so I had a really nice time.

The concert ended around 9:30, so we headed back towards our home to Barra, the neighboring town.  We sat at a restaurant there for awhile, then went to Bohemia- which they describe on the window as a "music bar."  It was a pretty cool scene and I had a great time there- better than Boomerangue on Friday night.  The bar/clubs work much differently than they do at home.  Here, you have to sign in and they give you a card when you arrive, they scan everything you order onto the card, and you pay before you leave.