não compreendo...

There aren’t many things more worrisome than being locked inside a building for which you have no keys, especially when this building has windows with bars (like the REAL big house?). That being said, today I was working in the language lab later than usual (about 6:00 p.m.) trying to set up the computers for our ESL program. One maintenance lady came by and explained to me in Portuguese with some motions that she was locking the back door (I made an assumption from her motions, since I am not yet fluent in Portuguese, that I could still exit the door, but it would just be locked behind me…I was wrong). At this point though, the front door was still unlocked. Then a maintenance guy came by and explained to me in Portuguese with some motions that he was locking the front door, he hesitated (probably because he knew I’d be locked in, but I waved him to go ahead based on my previous assumption that I could still get out from the locked building, so then he probably assumed that I had a key…and he was wrong) and then proceeded to lock the door and latch all the windows (latch, not lock…this will be important). I finished up what I had to do and went to the back door to walk out, catching a glimpse of what appeared to be a deadbolt (and this time I assumed correctly), so I checked the front door and found I could not exit that locked door from the inside either. Soooo, I checked the windows in one room and found bars over them…and I was beginning to feel like I was in a predicament. Before a claustrophobic panic set in, I checked another room and found windows that were juuussst riiiight, no bars, simply latched (not locked), and would open wide enough for me to climb through, so I did and walked right home.

Earlier today, we set out in the school’s VW Gol (with five adult women, see figure 1) for another trip into the city to complete some more documentation, including my work permit, my international driver’s license, and what amounts to a Brazilian version of a social security card (to the best of my understanding).

figure 1 = VW Gol

The latter required a trip to a bank, only the first bank was on strike, the next two were no-goes (though I never heard exactly why, something about computers and branch managers), but the last was juuussst riiight. And it was there that I proceeded to enter the building through the revolving door metal detector (that I thought was simply a revolving door), past the gun-toting security guard, and into our fourth bank of the day. But then the revolving door stopped and I could push no further (though I tried). So I turned back from whence I’d come and was told to take out any metal in my purse and pass back through (sounds simple, but this was really a lengthy exchange between the Portuguese speaking gun-toting security guard, another American, myself, and two Brazilian ladies from the school who were already on the other side of the revolving door and trying to tell me through a glass window not to put my WHOLE purse into the box (which I did first), just the metal objects (which I did after). We were eventually all admitted into the bank and we got what we needed and were on our way at 1:45 p.m. Good news, except that I was supposed to be teaching pre-school that afternoon, starting at 12:45 p.m. and I hadn’t told any of the other pre-school teachers that I would be gone that morning because I believed I’d be back by the afternoon and didn’t have any means to contact them en route (to be fair, I was back by the afternoon, it was just more after noon than I had planned). Since it was 1:45, we had also missed lunch at the school, so we stopped at a rodizio (an all-you-can-eat restaurant, we were already late, might as well enjoy lunch), but this rodizio was per kilo, meaning that they weigh your plate and you pay according to how much your plate of food weighs (I thought that was interesting...). We ended up back at school around 2:30 and I made my way to pre-school in time to finish the Bible lesson, though all my supplies were in the language lab in another building (see first paragraph about said language lab) because I didn’t have time to stop and get them. We finished a story sequence activity that the other teacher had already started and then we sang (I have found singing songs with motions is an excellent time filler for my little ones)…”My God is so great, so strong and so mighty, there’s NOTHING my God cannot do!” (as evidenced by the fact that I am not still in the revolving door at the bank or locked in the language lab at school). All’s well that ends well! (and at least I didn’t have to take today’s trips from the VW’s back seat, in the middle, with my feet on the hump…because when I tried to be thoughtful and take my turn in the back middle seat, I was told that the driver wouldn’t be able to see over my big head). Sooo, all’s well that ends well, and in the process, I was afforded plenty of leg room for the journey!