the itsy, bitsy spider...

I have found at least five spiders in the language lab where I spend my mornings.  They are very small, so I grabbed a tissue when I saw the first one and tried to smash him, but he jumped.  I tried again, and he jumped again. It took at least 4 tries for me to pin that tiny spider down and take away his ability to jump on me or my stuff in my workspace.  I am just fine with bugs outside, I probably won’t seek them out or pick them up, like some members of my extended family, but I don’t kill bugs that are outside in their “homes.” However, when they come in MY home (or workspace) as uninvited guests, I am all too happy to exterminate them, especially if they happen to be crawling near my pillow or my desk or my language lab wall.  No...thank...you!  I have also found that there are other creatures here that I had hoped were indigenous to school children in the states only.  Not so much...I have discovered that lice hide menacingly on the heads of school children in Brazil too and this does not please me.  We have already had a sighting on one little one, so I, of course, itched my head all day and promptly found the nurse to check me and declare me “clean."  And I am clean, but I can't seem to stop the phantom itching.  

Earlier in the week, during a simpler time, before I knew that lice lived in Brazil, I headed happily into my first grade Portuguese class and found that my little six year old friends did not look the same, they looked like high schoolers…oh…no.  I was not ready for my inability to speak Portuguese to be judged by sixteen and seventeen year olds, but I did not have a choice.  I joined their BINGO game after a five minute crash course in numbers from 20-100, pushing my previous knowledge of 1-10 (previous being 5 minutes earlier...a simpler time).  I survived and if they made fun of me, they at least had the courtesy to do it behind my back (or in Portuguese)!  My Portuguese teacher then convinced me that I should join their class on a regular basis because I would get to speak in sentences and learn verb tenses instead of naming fruits.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to trade my morango and abacaxi for verb tenses, but she asked if I had 4th period free and I did, so again, I did not have much of a choice (I didn't want to be a baby and be linked to my former first grade classmates in more ways than one).  So I have graduated to Portuguese with high school classmates…Friday, I arrived 25 minutes late to my first class (because my ESL students weren’t finished with their tasks yet) and couldn’t get the door opened, so I interrupted their class with my tardiness and my shaking of the door handle, knocking, and calling that I couldn’t get it open…good start.  The lesson, “paises e nacionalidades" (countries and nationalities)…”Eu sou dos Estados Unidos.  Eu sou Americana." (I am from the United States.  I am an American.)  An ignorant American, though I kept this adjective to myself...I'll let my actions and poorly spoken foreign language skills take care of that.  

Friday evening was my first experience with a PACA high school basketball game (and probably one of my last since this was their last regular season home game).  It was supposed to be varsity girls, JV boys, varsity boys…5:30 for the varsity girls game.  I arrived at 5:35 to the girls warming up, then it was 6:00 and they were still warming up, then 6:15, girls stillllll warming up. I heard the varsity girls game was being delayed because the referees hadn't shown up, so the JV boys went ahead and played because our PE teacher was allowed to referee a JV game.  A little before halftime in the JV boys game, the refs did show up, though one with a cane…hmmm.  So it was decided to have the girls play their game, then the JV boys would finish their 2nd half, then the varsity boys would play their game…um, what????  So, the girls came back out to warm up..then the other team said their girls had to go home, so they would reschedule the girls game for another day.  So now we'd have the JV boys' 2nd half and then the varsity boys game and then some ticked off fans.  Supposedly as the home team, we should have forfeited when the referees were late because the referees are our responsibility.  So even though the other team left early, rescheduling the game was mutually advantageous, and hopefully the next girls' match-up will be less dramatic.  I got to watch the boys win their games though, and hear "The Final Countdown" and "Eye of the Tiger", and see some successful three-point shots...enough to make this Hoosier girl happy.  I guess there won't be any March Madness here, but I'll settle for some October surprises! 

Today, my roommates and I walked to two convenience type stores to get some candy and some baked goods for a gathering this evening.  As we walked along the sidewalks, next to streets where cars were driving, we noticed a man riding in a cart full of fruits or vegetables or something drawn by a horse...no big deal, I've seen a few of those here.  We left the one store and walked toward the other store and saw a man riding horseback down the street, cars zooming by him, no big deal, I've seen this once or twice.  Then we headed home and saw three cows in the street, then four, then five...at least 8 cows in the middle of the street, cars honking at them, people yelling out their windows at them, cows wandering to the side of the street where they could find less road and more grass.  THIS I had NOT seen before, it brought forth a fit of giggles from me and strange looks from those who had to walk home with me.  Cows in traffic, horses and carts in traffic, horseback riders in traffic, dogs in traffic, people carrying their labrador-sized dogs on bikes in traffic, cars honking at all these things to get out of their way!  We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto (but you can still ride on my bike)!

(horseback rider to the left, cars in the middle, cows to the right)