Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Two Superb Conferences
Aiya! I didn`t blog in August... q pena!! Getting lazier and lazier each day... :p
Last weekend I was at @ITA`s conference for new members and SNs, and today was a special day at work, where selected 3rd year students take over the roles of all employees at the school while the teachers and the rest of my collegues and I were attending a special meeting of our own. Both conferences were great because for the first time since my arrival, I was actually taking part in the events and getting information out of them.
At the weekend conference, I conducted a session called "Understanding My World" where we talked about cultural understanding and culture shock. It went really well, although I was a bit nervous starting out. There, I was also pleasantly surprised by the great sessions led by some of the ITA guys. I was amazed by their professionalism and the quality information given at the sessions. The boys had certainly made me view them in a different, brighter light. Of course, during the night parties they were just as crazy as they`d always been! ;o)
The meeting held at work today was awesome. The breakdown of my taking in information given in Portuguese is as followed:
-French Film, with Portuguese subtitle: 85%
-Discussion followed by film: 45%
-Session on Congresso Pitagoras 2006: 40%
-PowerPoint from session: 85%
The film we watched was Les Choristes (Eng. title: The Chorus; Portuguese title: A Voz do Coração). It really helped that I had already seen the movie before. Interesting thing was that when I watched the film the first time in Canada, I think a year ago or longer, I`d never thought that I`d be watching it again from an educator`s perspective. And in Brazil at that!
Re: Culture Shock!
Wow, I didn`t expect to experience such shock after returning to Brazil in August. You`d think that the trip back to Canada would 'mata a saudade' but as it turned out, it was difficult to leave Canada again. I was really feeling homesick the first week when I arrived back.
Re: Becoming a Brasileira
Nmm... well I found out that being on Brazilian time in Canada doesn`t always quite work out as my family and I were late for my sister`s wedding (thanks to me). But here it`s almost a social survival skill, which I`ve already mastered some time long ago. The good news is that lately I`ve noticed my Portuguese is coming along much better now, although I think I could of course always study harder. Last weekend, for the first time ever, I was starting to get the hang of sambaaaa!!! And last but not final to the list, I`m able to drink the world renowned Brazilian alcoholic beverage, Caipirinha!!!!
Aéé!
Last weekend I was at @ITA`s conference for new members and SNs, and today was a special day at work, where selected 3rd year students take over the roles of all employees at the school while the teachers and the rest of my collegues and I were attending a special meeting of our own. Both conferences were great because for the first time since my arrival, I was actually taking part in the events and getting information out of them.
At the weekend conference, I conducted a session called "Understanding My World" where we talked about cultural understanding and culture shock. It went really well, although I was a bit nervous starting out. There, I was also pleasantly surprised by the great sessions led by some of the ITA guys. I was amazed by their professionalism and the quality information given at the sessions. The boys had certainly made me view them in a different, brighter light. Of course, during the night parties they were just as crazy as they`d always been! ;o)
The meeting held at work today was awesome. The breakdown of my taking in information given in Portuguese is as followed:
-French Film, with Portuguese subtitle: 85%
-Discussion followed by film: 45%
-Session on Congresso Pitagoras 2006: 40%
-PowerPoint from session: 85%
The film we watched was Les Choristes (Eng. title: The Chorus; Portuguese title: A Voz do Coração). It really helped that I had already seen the movie before. Interesting thing was that when I watched the film the first time in Canada, I think a year ago or longer, I`d never thought that I`d be watching it again from an educator`s perspective. And in Brazil at that!
Re: Culture Shock!
Wow, I didn`t expect to experience such shock after returning to Brazil in August. You`d think that the trip back to Canada would 'mata a saudade' but as it turned out, it was difficult to leave Canada again. I was really feeling homesick the first week when I arrived back.
Re: Becoming a Brasileira
Nmm... well I found out that being on Brazilian time in Canada doesn`t always quite work out as my family and I were late for my sister`s wedding (thanks to me). But here it`s almost a social survival skill, which I`ve already mastered some time long ago. The good news is that lately I`ve noticed my Portuguese is coming along much better now, although I think I could of course always study harder. Last weekend, for the first time ever, I was starting to get the hang of sambaaaa!!! And last but not final to the list, I`m able to drink the world renowned Brazilian alcoholic beverage, Caipirinha!!!!
Aéé!
Labels: Door #1: The Brazil Experience
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