I swear my Momma did raise me right!

I know a lot about myself. I really am not one of those people who pretends they know who they are, and really doesn't. So, when I moved down here to the good ole BSB, I was shocked.

You see, I'm southern, my Momma is southern, and her Momma is southern. Southerners have certain, um, reputations: we talk with a drawl, we always say "bless their heart" after saying something bad about someone and yáll instead of you all, and usually we have good manners. We also have certain reputations that are, how shall we say, less than desirable? However, I know I was raised right. My Momma still hassles me about thank you notes, even after I've written them, I say yes ma'am, no sir, and I try to mind my p's and q's. Generally speakin' I have good manners...or so I thought.

Once I arrived in Brasila, I started noticing that I don't eat the same as everyone else. The newbies, the Brazilians, the Americans here, they all eat with a fork and knife(one in each

hand).When I say everything, I mean everything. Salads, Meats, Pizzas etc, you get the picture. Now, I'm also not stupid so, I just played along like I had been eating this way my whole life too. I'm sure the first few days I was probably a disaster. But, as they days inched on I've started to master the fine art of fork and knife eating. So, I'm kind of wondering what the statistic is on this one. So, if you don't eat with a knife in your hand raise your hand so I know Im not alone...

Me nome e Katie.

But it's not what you think. Evidently, Brazilians think I am so amazing they have given me a new name, Katie. Although it may look the same, believe you me, it is not! My name of course is pronounced, KT, like the two letters. Down here 't' makes a 'ch' sound. So, in Brazil, people call me Kaychee. Don't believe me, go to google translate and check out along with your own name.

It has become a sort of nickname of sorts even amongst my gringoes. It does sound a little bit cuter in my book too! On the Portuguese front all you need to know is its not going well. My doormen laugh at me, the people at restaurants give me quizzical looks and as you know I am becoming an expert in charades. Today, I did tell Marcelo, the copier at the school, that he knows he loves me. But that was with a lot of help from a Brazilian. :)

The Brasilia Buddhist Festival.

As I said in my previous blog, last night we headed to the Buddhist festival with Gabriela and Leda. Never in a million years would I have ever guessed there would be a HUGE Buddhist temple in Asa Sul! After a minor detour in which Mateau, my portero (door man), told us that it was in trezentos e seis(306) we moved onto quadrant trezentos e dezeseis(316). The taxi driver was not to pleased but we got there no thanks to my good buddy Mateau!

The festival was neat. We ordered our food and made our way to pick it up. It kind of reminded me of that scene in Steel Magnolia's where they were at the Christmas festival getting their food. But, I digress. The festival was PACKED! And, it was an "eclectic" group to say the least. There were people dressed like anime characters and lots of "goth Brazilians" mixed in with all sorts of folks(including Gringas like myself).

In the back they had desserts and stuff they were selling. We also stumbled on a little flash mob. Check out the guy in the black and white jacket. He was so into it!


We even headed home on the metro last night. Brasilia honestly has the cleanest metro I've ever scene. I told my Dad, I would be okay eating off the floor. The sad part is, I'm not even kidding! Maybe that will need to do a blog entry about that.

"We're like family, We didn't get to chose each other, but we've got to love each other" - Amy

Although the title of my blog entry is long, it is so very, very, brutally true! A couple of weeks ago, several members of the newbie group were riding in an elevator, after a long day, when Amy came out with this line. It was awesome! I burst into laughter and it has been kind of our slogan ever since. Luckily, for me, all of us in the group are easy to love. Just like family, we have days where we might drive each other crazy, days where we love each other, and days where we laugh together. But, these are the 9 people(11 if you include G and S) who I will ever have this experience with. The only people who will know what its like to be new this year, and the 8 people (10 if you include G and S) who are forced willing to actually put up with me(a tall order). We've only known each other for 3 weeks, but it is strange to feel like you have known some people much longer. I hope that they know how much in the last three weeks I have grown to appreciate their humor, personalities, and spirit!

Today we headed to the Fair de Paraguay and the Buddhist temple festival. I've pretty much been gone since 11 am but it was a beautiful day with great friends!

Fair de Paraguay is not quite as exotic as it may sound. It is more like a flea market where you can buy dried fruits and nuts, as well as pirated movies and fake Louie's. It was really a neat place but it was so huge i could have very easily gotten lost. And, let's get real the last thing Dival needs a is a phone call from someone saying they found one of his lost newbies at Fair de Paraguay!

First, Leah and I got so excited because we thought Kevin was there! ;)

Who knew that Cashew's looked like this before they ended up in Chinese food!

Michael Kors watches are all the rage here, even knock offs.

If you want it, you can probably find it here.

They have lots of food. Cheese is quite popular here. They even grill it like a kabob.

This stand was really popular!

Trying the "grilled cheese." It had a bar-b-que pit-esqe taste which was different.

Kamy trying here cheese straight from the grille.

Then after the fair, Natalia and Michelli took us to lunch at one of their favorite restaurants.

The food was more traditional Brazilian food, and it was quite good!

We usually always carry a dictionary and prepare to act it out if that doesn't work.

Amy, me, and Angela

It's a Mark sandwhich

It's Mark horrible luck to be surrounded by such beautiful ladies.

I'm having a great time here and as you can see have met some great people! I mean let's get real anyone who is willing to put up with my loud mouth, and consistent use of the word y'all deserves a blog post at the minimum! Ill blog about the Buddhist temple tomorrow!

It's not quite what I thought it was, at the store! :(

At my old house I was so spoiled, the grocery was right in front of my neighborhood. I didn't know how well I had it. I would just hop in my car, drive 1 minute, get out, get what I need, and drive back. Life is not QUITE like that in BSB (Brasilia, Brazil). It's not all bad though, you get to get out and walk to the store and be amongst the people. Its also a great chance to practice your Portuguese.

I have three choices of grocery stores within walking distance. The closest, Fartura, whose name just looks so wrong, is probably the closest. They have a great meat selection and a little bit of everything. It is more like a Mom and Pop grocery in the states. The other two are a little bit further away but have a much broader selection than Fartura. So, I usually prefer one of them. The other day, I headed down to Carrefour, or as I call it, Cauliflower. :) And, thought I would share some pics with you.

I will go ahead and apologize for the quality of the images. I didn't feel like hauling the big DSL camera down there, so I used the Ipod!

Going to the grocery seems to take me about an hour and a half. It takes me about 10 minutes to walk my happy booty down there and usually about 15 to walk back. What is holding me up in the grocery is that, well, pretty much, I'm illiterate. I have no idea what anything says! Sometimes you find little gems, like coconut bread, and sometimes you think you're getting sour cream, and you buy sugared yogurt. It's just trial and error.

Yuck, the non-refrigerated milk! It tastes fine, after being refrigerated, its just the idea of it. :)

Rice is so popular its sold by the bag!

So glad there is Couscous!! Would you pay $8 USD for a box of Couscous in the states?

What is that you may ask? Oh, its spaghetti sauce. They sell it in the bag. I've tried some and they taste a little ketchup-y(okay its a lot ketchup-y but Im gonna keep trying). We will see how this one is. :)

No, Hagen Daaz is REALLY that much! It is the equivalent of roughly $16 USD for a PINT!

So, head on to your local Kroger, Publix or Wal-Mart super center and get your grocery shoppin' on! Bet your trip won't be quite as adventurous as mine!

THE VPN!

So, I'm going to admit it. My name is Katie, and I'm a TV-aholic. How much television do I watch, actually not that much. I like it for the background noise(mainly HGTV). There are a couple of tv shows that I actually sit and focus on(most of the time Im on the internet or doing something else) but for the most part I have to have noise in the background so I don't go crazy. When I first arrived in Brazil. I had it set in my mind that I WAS NOT going to get a tv. I brought some movies and ultimately, I'd rather spend time with the people here than in front of the tele. Well, after about a week, the silence was grating on my nerves and I was kind of desperate to find out what was happening with Sookie and Bill on True Blood (one of the shows I actually sit through). The problem is, when you are out of the US, you cannot access any television, not even online. No Hulu, no Netflix, No Comcast...I mean you get the picture. Nothing! So, if its not on youtube, youain't watching it!

Some of the "newbies" and I were talking to someone at school about what to do. She said she still doesn't have a tv, but she has a VPN. Intrigued, we asked what it was. She told us it was a program that connected you through a US server. So, you can watch anything back in the states. When we asked how much it was, we were quite surprised. A whopping 80 buckaroos for the whole year. Considering cable would cost me 80-90 dollars a month and a 19 inch tv would cost me about 900-1,200 Reals (about 700-900 USD, no, that is not a typo) I figured, it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.

It has been great. I had a few minor tech problems but once they put me on a different server it has been awesome. I only watch one show a day and its mainly before bed. But it is nice to just hear English spoken at home from someone other than me.

School Days, School Days...

One of the topics that some of my teacher friends wanted to hear about was my new school. Since day one my school has been so helpful and everyone has been so kind. It has made the transition very easy. The school is celebrating it's 50th anniversary this year so it is an exciting time to be here.

The outside of the school. The guards who watch the gates are always so nice and friendly.

As you walk through the gates you enter a gorgeous courtyard. It is so pretty. The maintenance crew has been working really hard to get everything ready for the start of school.

The school has a really nice auditorium where we hold meetings and the drama dept puts on performances.

Brasilia has beautiful poinsettia trees right now. And, yes, the sky is always that blue.

My classroom. Out the back windows, you can see a large lake. The school has great views. :)

When I walk out the door of my classroom, this is what I see. Not a shabby way to spend my locker breaks.

In terms of class size my largest class is 22. Sorry teacher friends. :) And during PD week the school has given us a lot of time to work in our rooms to set up and plan. We have of course done a lot of professional development but I appreciate that they respect our time and provide that time for us.

We also got to eat in the canteen aka cafeteria for the first time yesterday. It was pretty awesome! There were no baked smiley faced fries, chicken fingers, or ketchup to be found! They make all the food fresh! They served a salad bar, lasagna, and meat. Lunch became my favorite meal of the day when I found out how long lunch actually is. I'm not going to tell you the amount of time but it rhymes with sour! haha!

So far school is great. The kiddos come on Thursday so I've got to finish getting my syllabus' done so they can get copied. :) Time to work!!!