Aula de Portugues (Portuguese Class)

My first day of class was simple and somewhat dissappointing. The only thing I learned was where the class would be held and where I would eat on campus. We did administrative things such as paperwork lasting for about an two hours. At the start of class we were given three pages stapled together with a total of four questions on them and articles supplimenting the questions. All was in Portuguese of which I could only pick out maybe two words in Spanish for ten I read. I had difficulty reading the questions in their entirety. We were given two sheets of paper to write out our answers. Not knowing what to write, I wrote my full name, my address here at the hostel and my email address. Below this, I wrote a few sentences in Spanish about myself saying I have studied Spanish for one year in college and that I had lived in Costa Rica for six months. I wrote two sentences in Portuguese saying that I spoke very little Portuguese and that I had studied the language very little for the past three months. I read all three pages thoroughly and received some comprenhension on the last page. There was a pasted article on drinking and driving in Brazil and I believe they were asking for how drinking and driving is handled in my home country. The legal drinking age here is 18, the article stated. I had thoughts fomulated but couldn't decipher my thoughts into Portuguese.

There were four students total in the class with five more not there yet. As the first two students got up to turn their answers, I followed handing mine with a big smile on my face. The teacher and two assistants had us all to go outside. We were called in one at a time for an interview. Upon my turn, I was asked why I wanted to learn Portuguese and what my goals were when finished with college. Basically general questions to see where my level of portuguese was. Before I answered, I asked my first question, fala ingles, do you speak english (yes) as I answered all their questions in English.

That was in essence, the whole class. They told us they were waiting for more students to show up before class started. To look for an email in the next day or two with classes starting on Wednesday. My dissappointment is in the delay of class. But what could I do? The question mark key works on this computer. The other three students are form two Virginia Tech, I believe in Charlottsville, VA and one from University of Virginia, all males. The two traveling together had two semesters of Portuguese while the other had none. He had less written on his paper than I.

We all went back to the International Office to receive student ID's so we could use the computer labs and eat at the cafeteria. There were plenty of vendors outside of all the main buildings selling mainly fast food type items. I wanted to experience the cafeteria on my first day at school. I ditched my other three classmates as they had other things in mind and found my way back to the language building which houses the student cafeteria. Again, similar to the cafeteria at the school in Juiz de Fora but a little more expensive at R$2 (a very good price at US$1). The food was much simpler containing black beans and rice, freshly grilled chicken tenders, a bowl of fresh fruit containing peeled sliced oranges, bananas and something similar the the color of beets, and fettucini in a cream sauce. Every day, the language school breaks for an hour and a half at lunch time.

Going to the end of the line to enter the cafeteria, I was given a yellow slip of paper with a munber on it which turned out to be my meal pass. I had to ask the three young female students in line in front of me what the yellow paper was. Telling them I spoke very little Portuguese and they spoke no English, they saw a friend of theirs walking past who spoke English. They called him over to help answer my questions and then he went on his way. The three students invited me to join them at their table. We tried talking but the language barrier and the loudness in the dining room was to great for me to hear.

I found the bus stop back to Ipanema Beach surviving my first day of school in Brazil.

Chewy