Brazilian snapping and Brigadeiros

Last Thursday I started teaching the conversation classes I wrote about previously. Since Michelle had just arrived last Thursday morning, I had all of the classes by myself instead of splitting them in half. Most classes were fine, but there was one class of 30 students between 2nd and 5th grade. I can't explain how terrible it went...the older students wouldn't stop talking and everyone was yelling at each other to be quiet, which just made the situation worse. The poor little 2nd graders just sat there, scared to death I'm sure of the older kids who were being so loud. That seemed like the longest hour and a half of my life!!!!!!!

On Saturday Fernando invited Michelle and I to his friend's apartment in a quaint little neighborhood called Villa Madalena. We all had a great time eating pizza and talking for hours. 

Fernando and I

Rachel, Michelle, and I 

On Monday three 8th grade girls were very eager to take Michelle and I to eat something called "pastel". It's a fried dough with any kind of filling you choose. I had cheese and bacon, and 2 of the girls had chocolate which was super delicious. They were so proud to have taken us there and for the rest of the week students would come up to us in swarms to ask if we liked pastel. I guess it even word got out in the high school classes because one of the high school students invited Michelle and I to go eat cookies with them. We're not sure where but if cookies are involved then I'm there.

This past Wednesday I taught some Kindergarten and 1st grade classes. We were learning about the different people in a family (mom, dad, brother, sister, baby) and I would ask them to repeat after me after I said each name. I would say a word and they would stare at me with blank faces. Eventually their English teacher stepped in and would tell them what to do in Portuguese. They finally got it, but then when we would get to the end I would say "great!" and they would repeat "great!"...they didn't know when to stop repeating after me. Also, when I got to the word "baby" all the kids, even the little 3 year olds, would start saying Justin Bieber "baby, baby, baby ohhhhh". I couldn't believe even the younger ones knew his song! 

Yesterday I turned the big 2-3, and even though I taught all day long there were so many people that made it an extra special day. In all of my classes throughout the day, Michelle brought her class to mine to sing Happy Birthday to me in Portuguese and also in English. In the teacher's lounge during the break all the teachers got up to sing Happy Birthday to me in Portuguese.  One of my high school students brought me some brigadeiro (chocolate) and invited Michelle and I out next week to eat cookies...yes yes yes!!!! 

From one of my 4th grade students

On my birthday the table was beautifully set! Everyone lit a candle that was floating in water and each person said something about me and what they hope for me in the future. 

Michelle and Sr. Marinez 

Cake and brigadeiros made by Sr. Maruzania...yum!!!! Brigadeiros are basically balls of chocolate

4 of the Sisters and then Michelle and I

One of my first memories of Brazilians is that I noticed them doing a strange hand gesture. As I spent time around Brazilians I noticed that they all do this strange hand thing. It sounded like a snap, but it was very fast paced and it definitely wasn't snapping. Eventually I asked what this gesture meant, and I found out that it means something that needs to happy quickly or in a hurry. I've been very intrigued by this hand gesture and the past few days Michelle and I have been trying to master it. It's really hard, but we're making progress...slow progress. Here's a video from last night where Sr. Maruzania is trying to teach us how to snap

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