I suppose it's time for an update….I haven't written much since I arrived in Ilhéus because so many new things are happening all around me that it is difficult to piece them together and make sense of them in writing, but I will attempt to put it down on “paper”.

Amalia (the other ETA in Ilhéus with me) and I ended up staying for our first week in Ilhéus at a beautiful hotel on the beach that was quite like a honeymoon resort. Luckily, we got a fantastic “UESC (Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz) professor discount”, so we were able to afford to stay there. We spent the bulk of our time by the beach and the pool, just waiting for our work to start. Eventually, we learned that we were not going to start teaching classes until the 14th of March, so we tried to be more deliberate with our relaxation. Believe it or not, relaxing CAN be difficult. Life moves at a different pace here, you just gotta go with the flow.

While not relaxing, we searched for apartments, which was quite stressful because everyone rents out their homes/apartments to tourists visiting for Carnaval in the beginning of March. Initially, we were searching for separate apartments in different parts of the city, but when a real estate agent showed us an incredible 3-person apartment, we fell in love. The landlord generally leases to UESC graduate students and professors (all of whom are Brazilian), so our neighbors should be gente boa. The apartment has not one, but THREE, porches: one with a hammock, one in the back for laundry, and one in the front with a wooden bench and beautiful plant! There is also a living room (or two, I can’t remember) and a dining room with a big dining room table that seats 6 or 8. We decided to convert the third bedroom into a yoga/meditation room when we don’t have visitors, and this will definitely be my favorite room in the house. We signed the lease and move in on the 9th!

Until then, I am staying at another hostel (which happens to be a block away from our future home). Currently, I am writing on the porch of that hostel- my neighbor is playing Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You”. Why is it that foreigners only listen to bad American music?

Yesterday I went to the city center to go shopping—I did not have much success shopping, but I did buy my first novel in Portuguese (Paulo Coehlo’s Brida). I had a wonderful conversation with the beautiful man who worked at the bookstore- we talked about books, of course, and he directed me to a used book store, where I had a conversation about Coelho’s best novels with a shopper there. The notable thing about these 2 conversations is not the fact that both guys were good-looking (here most men are…) but rather the fact that I was conversing in Portuguese! I’m excited to improve more and more- it’s such a beautiful language.

Ahh, what about work?! I will be teaching 3 English “reinforcement” classes (of 3 different levels) in the department of Letras. In this field of study, students take all of their classes in Portuguese, except for 60 hours per semester of a foreign language (either English, Spanish, or French, I believe). After receiving their degree, students are able to teach either Portuguese or English literature. However, unfortunately, a lot of the students leave the university without the ability to speak English fluently because most of their classes are in Portuguese. Additionally, since most of their professors are Brazilian, they never have the ability to listen or converse with native English speakers. So, the students seem to be very excited that we are here. One student, who couldn’t make the scheduled class times, even asked if we could hold classes on Saturday afternoon so that she could have the opportunity to take the class as well.  In addition to teaching conversation/cultural English classes, I will hold office hours every week so that students can come in with questions or just to talk. I am looking forward to beginning work!

Hmm other notable events?

Today I made a new Brazilian friend- Juliana. She works at the hostel, and invited me to go to the beach with her. This is momentous because it’s very difficult to make friends when you can’t communicate very well…

Yesterday I tried to go running and was sweating my ass off before I even left the house.

It’s still hot here. The weather never changes. I still haven’t gotten used to the fact that every day the weather is the same- it’s always “beach” weather-- and sometimes it rains.


Abraços para todos os meus amigos e família!