Back to Bucks...

I have already been home in the wonderful county of Bucks for over a week now and this is the first moment I have had to write a final summary blog entry of my time in Brazil...

My last week in Cascavel was unfortunately full of a lot of sadness. Sergio, my host father, sadly passed away on the Tuesday of my last week. I will always remember his kindness and hold memories of our time together very fondly. This meant my last few days with my fantastic Brazilian family were filled with emotion and I am thankful we had a wonderful weekend together before this tragic event, so I could slip away without too much fuss during this difficult time for them. My thoughts are with them still. I will always love your family.

I spent my last two days with Ale's family which was the perfect way to say goodbye. Had a lot of fun with her and Julia and enjoyed myself before the 14hour bus journey to Campinas to visit Roger...

It was lovely to see a familiar face from back home waiting for me at the bus station...especially after an INCREDIBLY hot bus journey that seemed to take days rather than hours! (I was so prepared for a cold bus after the over air-conditioned buses I had previously taken...so wrapped up in jumpers and blankets and two pairs of leggings I was surprised at the heat of this bus!). My week in Campinas with Roger was incredible. I met some amazing people, partied hard and got to see a Brazilian international school prom...almost an American prom, but not quite! Adriana was prom queen but I think the rest of the Rodrigues' and I were far more excited than her!! The after prom events that night were crazy fun as I headed with Dri and Sandra to see Copacabana Club (an awesome band which are worth checking out!) and party the night away with far too many caiprinhas and shots haha.

After a few days recovery I headed off to Rio for my last week and the most incredible time ever! Was staying at such a lovely hostel where I met some incredible people who I spent my evenings at the bar with. The first night we went out on this boat/club ("I'M ON A BOAT....") and could see the whole of Copacabana and Christ the Redeemer and I realised how lucky I was to be in RIO!!! Aggghhhh RIO!!! Spent my three days there full of visiting everywhere I wanted to see, but I need to return to see more of this beautiful city. Although I loved Sugarloaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer they were so full of tourists and people speaking English that I wasn't a huge fan. However my day that I spent having a tour of the National Library and then exploring the winding, cobbled streets of the artist district of Santa Theresa was my favorite day in Brazil. I found a gallery that was empty apart from a security guard so I could wander around looking at incredible photographs of favelas. This inspired me so I took my walk further afield and take a few photographs myself (though still nothing to impress David I am sure!!). Ended my day in a little second hand bookshop where I had a can of Guarana and a pao de queijo (already miss these!). My last night was chilled at the hostel bar where I received a cheeky free caiprinha and chatted with my new friends in a mixture of Portuguese, Spanish and English which was great fun.

The next morning I woke up early got a flight to Campinas then a bus to Sao Paulo then a flight back to London...after 28hours of travelling (with a short sunbathing break in Campinas :p) I was home.

These last five months have been the most incredible of my life. I have been through experiences good and bad and have enjoyed the independence and sense of self that I found in teaching and living with different people to my own family. I now feel able to take on almost any challenge thrown my way and am excited for my next adventure :)


x

cataratas, festas e futebol...

It is so hard to believe that in less than three weeks I will be home...this time has gone so quickly in some ways yet it does feel like home here and it is become very difficult to say goodbye. I have one week left here in Cascavel so have been doing a Danny Wallace and saying YES to just about everything.

Since I last posted I have started attending Tango classes at New York School....these are a lot of fun and reminded how much I missed dancing. Also been helping Teacher Angelica and joining in some of her dance rehearsals for the New York School Festival in September. I wish I could be here to see it! I think I will definately have to come back. Teaching there was also great the last few weeks though I officially finished on Saturday :( Did some debating lessons and created a (rather amazing) quiz on Britain complete with music round, picture round and general knowledge. Definately going to miss some of the students I have befriended :( Thank goodness for the internet and being able to stay in touch!

Eledoro classes also ended last week, but had fun class parties with games, puzzles, chats, watching movies. One class had baked me a cake and another bought me some flowers and a card. Felt very loved! Some of them will still be studying there when I (hopefully) return in 4 years so I might be able to teach them again yay. Was impressed by how much they learnt in a relatively short period of time and felt very happy when some of them said I was the best teacher they had ever had.

In my free time I have had probably my most exciting weekends EVER!!!! Last saturday I visited Argentina, Paraguay and saw the Iguacu Falls...all in one day! Yes. Was incredible. The waterfalls were more stunning than anything I have seen in my life, I was literally blown away. Gabi and her sister said I was acting like an excited toddler, "ooooh look here", "oh my god look that that" and snapping photos the entire time! I had no idea just how huge they would be. Over 3km worth of waterfalls that we walked along for about 45minutes. My stupid clown grin didn't leave my face all weekend! Paraguay was also interesting....crazy...but interesting. There were literally thousands of Brazilians walking across this bridge into Paraguay at 8am just to go shopping (the taxes there are MUCH lower so everything is dirt cheap). I didn't end up buying anything, but was happy to be there to soak up the atmosphere. People throwing socks in my face asking me to buy them as well as one man selling musical condoms (how does that even work??)....was an experience I will never forget although I am glad for the Eden Centre now!

This weekend was my goodbye party at New York School...and what an emotional night it was :( Started with Immersion (this is something they do every year where students come for two hours and play games and chat in english)....Gabi and I set up our room like an English Summer Fete with country dancing, hoopla, guess the number of sweets in the jar and competitive team games. We had a lot of fun and most of the students seemed to too. After was a huge dinner with so much pizza for students AND staff. I got to chat to loads of people and was so proud of myself for holding myself together despite hundreds of "we'll miss you" and "we love you"s. But (typical lottie!) couldn't hold in the tears for long and when Denise presented me with a Brazilian flag embroided with a message from all my colleagues I cracked. The tears only getting worse when a few students took the microphone to also say some things about me. Really made me feel a part of the school and that I had been truly appreiciated there. I had THE most amazing time teaching and I cannot believe that I have to leave already.

Yesterday was also incredible. I went with Gabi's family to watch their football team (GREMIO!!!!) at the clubhouse for the fans in this city. Was so cool! The whole room was decorated in the team colours of blue and white and tonnes of people had come to watch the game on the big screens dotted around the room. I have never been that interested in football...but it is so hard not to be passionate when surrounded by fans like this so I got VERY into it!! At halftime I was presented with a team shirt and a clubhouse shirt as well! Am now an official member of their club...YAY. Their only request was that I sent them a picture of me wearing it by Big Ben!

Got tonnes of plans for this week. Saying goodbye to different groups of people, PACKING, planning my trip to Rio :) Then the next part of my adventure begins......

email me lottiebarker@btinternet.com

love as always xxxx

Home Life :)

After my last post about all the exciting places I have travelled to this one will merely document my last few weeks of home life. I say "merely"...every day is still exciting to me! Even if it is one of the days I have off, I still manage to find something to make it an amazing day or in some way different from home.

Teaching is still going fantastically! Seem to have done a lot of superhero based lessons recently which means I have been dressed up in various costumes of characters we created including "WolfGirl", "SuperMonkey" and "FavelaMan"! Was a lot of fun in my New York School classes. Also had a great lesson on London and Edinburgh with Gersone last week where he is now visiting. Very jealous of him right now! But I will be back there soon enough and then missing Cascavel just as much. Also at New York School witnessed their version of Mother's Day where all the kids under 12 sang "Let it Be" for their mums...so cute! Despite Denise totally embarssing me in front of over a hundred people (!) everyone was lovely to me and some of the smaller kids were SO excited that I was from London....I even had photos taken with some of them! Yes I am that much of a celebrity haha. Made me realise how much I am going to miss working in such an amazing community with such incredible people. I love all my colleagues and students.

At Eleodoro I have picked up the pace in lessons as I know I only have a short time left with them and want to leave the kids with as good a basic english as I can. This means that the brightest kids are now doing fantastically and the ones who want to learn are picking up the more difficult concepts of tenses and grammar easily. However it does also mean that a few of the slower kids or ones who arent that bothered about learning are struggling. But each class we play a game or sing a song and revise the previous work and they keep coming back so obviously not TOO boring for them!

Had to say goodbye to Monica this week :( We had a great few days together though. A "party" with her students at her house...oh no wait they didnt turn up! haha. So just me Monica and Carlos in the garden drinking lime juice and listening to sertaneja...cant get much better really.


Also had a girly evening with Monica and Gabi...cooked cake, sung disney songs and watched movies...great sleepover! Almost as good as my Harry Potter night this week with Ale, Dani and Julia....SO MUCH FUN! I don't think I have ever eaten as much in one night....ever. Plus was pretty much an english class right?? For them to practice speaking and listening to British English, haha.

This weekend I also cooked a "British Feast" for my host family...unfortunately many of the ingredients I wanted I couldn't find at the supermarket :( But I made fish and chips with what I had.....and actually tasted pretty darn good! Not exactly the healthiest of meals but great fun to cook and for everyone to try....and an amazingly great apple pie with cream for dessert...mmmmmm.

It is getting a little colder here so on my days off I can no longer sunbathe but have to go to the gym or walk to keep warm. Am still loving every second though.

OOOOH also exciting news from my wonderful amazing fantastically beautiful mother this week...SHE BOOKED MY FLIGHTS TO AUSTRALIA! I will be there in 85 days! This is literally the most exciting year of my life...first Paris, then Brazil, then Australia and then start at St Andrews! Really could not be any happier.

Missing you all but not long now!

Email me as always lottiebarker@btinternet.com

x

EU ADORO VIAJAR!

So lots has happened since my last blog where I said that week was my favourite and I can officially say that life here keeps getting better! Although I of course miss my family and my beautiful house and my wonderful friends I am having the most amazing months here and wouldn’t change this experience for the world.

It was Easter last week so I taught very few classes…instead having a staff party and travelling to Sao Paulo for four days. I absolutely love this city! Definitely not somewhere I could see myself living forever, it is very busy (and I saw it on a bank holiday weekend when over a million cars had left the city!) dirty and smoggy BUT has the most incredible parks, architecture and general vibe! After an 11 hour drive through the state of Parana we arrived at Gabi’s brother Arthur’s flat right in the centre of this huge maze of a cidade. The next three days were spent shopping, exploring and trying to take in all the cultural sites. I am glad I will be revisiting here with Roger next month as I definitely didn’t manage to see everything I wanted to, but my host family certainly tried to take me everything I wanted to see which made me very happy. My favourite two places were the MASP museum where there was a beautiful exhibition called “six billion others” that you guys should google if you have a chance….just my cup of tea! About different cultures, different peoples stories and the idea of worldwide identity.. Beautiful. Ibirapuera Park was another of my favourite places to while away the beautiful Easter weekend weather we were having (38 degrees!). A stunning park, perfect for people watching.

A photo to show the perfect sunset I watched over Sao Paulo....

Unfortunately towards the end of the trip I became ill, but nothing serious and I was able to (sort of!) talk to a doctor in Portuguese so everything was quickly sorted out and now I feel a MILLION times better!

This week I was feeling very British for the Royal Wedding and it was all anybody here could talk about to me, including a random man in the pharmacy who was like WHY ARENT YOU AT THE WEDDING!!! Woke up early at 5am with Monica and Carlos to watch the ceremony…so beautiful! Used some of the footage and a certain photo of a certain Miss Humphries in my lesson later that day to explain how patriotic the British can be!!! First time I have missed Britain as a place rather than specific people, was odd and I am excited to be back there this summer and especially to go up to St Andrews in September….which is now a FAR easier place to describe to Brazilians who all seem to think I should marry Harry…oh go on then! Haha.

This weekend I also travelled (spent a LOT of time of buses recently!) to the city of Porto Alegre in the southernmost state of Brazil, Rio Grande de Sol. Here I stayed with Gabi at one of her friend’s houses. Was an absolutely AMAZING weekend and definitely one of my favourites I have had here. We arrived late Friday night and Murilo took us out for some delicious caipirinhas at a cool little bar in the city and we stayed up almost all night talking J After just a few hours sleep we were off to Uruguay (another county I can tick off my list!) to do some shopping and generally hang out, although the drive was long Murilo and his flatmate Felipe were really cool people and it felt like we had all been friends for years!! Great day and managed to pick up some cheap wine and vodka so we were set for an amazing night in that night with pizza and a viewing of The Godfather as well. Another early start awaited us on Sunday when we travelled to the town of Gramado. It was a really strange town and one different to everything else I had seen so far in Brazil. Because the settlers there were mostly German it has been designed as a German village with houses out of wood and even the landscape seemed European in so many ways (I think it was the reason the rich German immigrants chose the area). Was a beautiful city and had the best hot chocolate I think I have ever tasted….so this place gets a huge thumbs up from me! As well as that the company was incredible, I don’t think I have laughed so much for a VERY VERY long time!

Well done for reading this far! You have almost reached the end! Just want to talk about some of the other amazing people I have met...Like on the bus back from Porto Alegre met an American guy (rather embarrassingly Gabi and I assumed no-one could understand us prattling on about nothing in English when he got out his American passport…whoops!). He had been travelling South America for over a year and was going on to Colombia to work with a human rights organization there…made me realize how much more travelling there is to do and how much I want to come back to this continent after University.

Anyways like I said at the beginning totally LOVING life right now. Only 4 weeks left teaching, has gone far too fast for my liking, but making the most of every second here :D unfortunately is starting to get pretty cold…like I wore a coat today…craziness I know!!! So my tan will probably have faded by the time I get back damn it! OMG also this week received a package from Murray which was probably the most perfect thing ever, big thumbs up from me…I am a very lucky girl.

Big love to everyone. Missing you as always.

x

best week so far :)

So I think this has been my best week here :) I am a very happy menina and am sad that I dont have many lessons left in anything...but going to make the most of every second I have left here.

So weekdays were all REALLY great, enjoyed teaching more than ever and really felt I was making a difference this week as my kids at Eleodoro started to make real progress. As the class is optional I have had many fluctuating numbers of students but the last week or two it has been whittled downt to the students who actually want to learn rather than just point and stare at a girl from England haha! So was very happy with their effort and excitement for learning. Funny moment was when i gave out a different worksheet I had created to each student and one girl just copied her partners assuming they were the same questions.....the whole class started laughing (including her) when she realised that I wasn't THAT stupid and that I could tell what she was doing. She was so annoyed haha. Otherwise was going to the gym.....were I keep bumping into New York School kids...quite embarassing! And painting eggs with Gabi and her Mum. I really enjoyed this as it made me feel part of their family :) despite my awful artistic skills! haha.

Also had some fantastic graduates classes this week, I think I am finally get the hang of this whole teaching thing! As well as some of my favorite skypes ever :) Friday was movie session day so I didnt get to try out my great lesson idea...and it is easter this weekend so have to wait two weeks more agghhhh!!

Then we get to the weekend and the most incredible fun ever! Friday and Saturday night were lovely evenings in with Gabi and her friends (one of whom had a birthday on Sunday, so we tied balloons to his gate and took a present over :)).....was also the birth of a wonderful drink we created...well not that wonderful haha. Was condensed milk and mint liquor....odd but funny and in a great cup that looked like the goblet of fire haha.

Then Sunday was um dia perfeito. We woke up after about 3 hours sleep eurgh, so Monica and I were so sleepy the whole hour and a half journey...but when we reached "Marinas" we soon perked up! It is a stunning lake surrounded by rolling hills covered in grass and palm trees. Dotted around the lakes edge are beautiful houses where those who can afford it spend their weekends lounging in the sun and swimming on the lake. Absolute perfection. We spent the morning out on Bruna's boat learning to wakeboard...WAS SO MUCH FUN! I ache like hell today, but at the time was amazing. I had visions of me standing behind the boat with the sun on the face and the wind in my hair but is actually pretty difficult so spend pretty much all the time in the water then a second being yanked through the air and then back to the water again ahha. Bruna and Bea were incredible though and it was great to see how it is done, it is something I would definately like to try again :) Before lunch we also played a game of volleyball, tried to learn tricks with a basketball and filmed ourselves doing stupid jumps into the pool. After cooking a fantastic pasta dish we played cards for a bit before all falling asleep in the sun after our energetic morning! Pretty much a perfect day topped off by Monica and I jumping into the lake and into the sunset. ....
much love to everyone back home. keep emailing me lottiebarker@btinternet.com

xxxxxxxxx

truco, trouxas e tereré.....

had a nice weekend so quick post about it :)

Gabi's family were away in Curitiba so I stayed with some friends....

Friday night with Mayara was so lovely :) Hung out with her and her boyfriend Tony and they taught me to play Truco....a card game that I LOVE. Very fast-paced and much craziness ensued! Followed by an epic teaching of spit, which everyone in Brazil can now play thanks to me and Monica it would appear! Anyways a great night with much card playing, drinking beer and laughing at my attempts at portuguese.

Saturday was super sunny, so spent the morning walking around town and shopping for cute little brazilian things. Was nice and I just love wearing sunglasses everyday...makes me so excited! haha. Then after a delicious lunch at an outdoor cafe went to my friend Ale's house for our epic Harry Potter session, woop woop! Watched in english but with portuguese subtitles and i found it weird that they dont use the same magical words...like "Muggle" is "Trouxa" so yeah....it isnt a real word in either language! Why not just use the same one?!? haha. But yeah. Then had such a nice evening when some neighbours came over and we had pizza with everyone. Another evening filled with beer and laughter and again me speaking a lot of portuguese (or attempting to!).

Sunday I met Mayara and we went for lunch at her Mum's house...OH MY GOSH. I have never eaten so much ever! Everything was new and exciting and Brazilian so I felt I had to try it all! There were about seven desserts because her Mum owns a chocolate shop, so feeling very fat we sat down to a traditional brazilian afternoon outside with terere, fruit and conversation. It was so cool when we just picked oranges and guava off the trees next to us and BAM there is some fruit to eat. Wish we had something more exciting than apples in our garden! Went out for dinner and chilled in the evening, when I had a phonecall from Murray which made my great weekend absolutely perfect.

Lots of travel planned for the next few weeks so should have very exciting stories soon! And have some pretty awesome lessons planned for the next week or so...involving singing Youth Project songs, mazes and costumes...all will be revealed!

big love.

email me lottiebarker@btinternet.com

x

singing with xuxa, amazing nights out and dancing in the rain...

Learning Portuguese is proving a lot more difficult than expected....but now I can officially sing two (and a half) songs in Portuguese wooo. Yes one of them is Happy Birthday, and the half is just ooooohhhhhhhhhhhh casa. But the other one is an actual song. Ok well it is by Xuxa (pronounced Shoesha which makes me laugh) who is called "The Queen of the Children" and it is a song about the alphabet...but I am still impressed with my hard core learning skills haha.

My lack of language is meaning it is difficult to teach in the classroom, but I am forming excellent mime skills and have pretty much made up my own version of portuguese when I dont know a word. The most difficult thing I have had to deal with so far cropped up this week...the time. WOW it is tricky to explain. You would think easy peasy....but not so much. Especially as I think a few of my kids struggle to tell the time even in Portuguese but am trying to get through to them, and a few of the brighter students have already got the “quarter past” thing totally down. Also teaching about music so lots of singing and dancing in the classroom this week which made the lessons a bit more fun, especially after a long half hour explaining possessives. This teaching lark is more difficult than it looks! But a lot of fun too and very rewarding.

Taught Shakespeare classes at New York School as well, which I think I enjoyed more than the students but I hope they learnt something from! Loving my private and graduate classes there as well, a great platform for discussing issues and learning a lot about other people and another culture. Also it was Friends Week at New York School which meant I was introduced to hundreds more students and their friends and made to speak Portuguese to them which was highly embarrassing!!! Looks like more people now know about my blog as well, the secretary of the public school I work at stopped me today and said she loves it…aggghhhhh the hassles of being a celebrity! Haha.

Talking of which, was treated like one all of last weekend when we went out! Thursday night we were queuing like the regular punters when I heard a “Charlotte…over here” and entered through the VIP door! Denise (my boss) had sorted something out with a friend of a friend of a friend etc and got us free entry to a bar with lots of pool tables and amazing life music. Had a fantastic night! (Though I REALLY need to work on my pool skills…when playing with the manager I think I somewhat embarrassed myself haha). Oh also it is interesting how much girls dress up here…This place was a chilled out pub-like venue and yet everyone wears heels and dresses. No-one in England makes that much effort everyday! And I certainly was rocking my grungy, chilled out, jeans and t-shirt look all weekend and stood out like a sore thumb!!!!!!!!

Friday was Murray’s (and Graham’s) birthday so I thought I should party if only out of respect to them ;). Also managed to get a good skype in with Murray which made me even happier if that is at all possible! Anyways I met some really cool people on Friday and Saturday at a house party and then a trip to “Mr John” the newest bar in town. It plays traditional Brazilian music, and like every club here the music is 100% live all the time. Danced and laughed the night away, managing to communicate in Portuguese when asking for a glass of tap water even though the waiter glared at me like I was insane (apparently tap water is just not the done thing here!). Was out until about 5.30am….and after getting some food on the way back fell into bed totally exhausted.

But not for long because Sunday was mothers day (big shout out to Mumma Barker back in the UK) so I skyped Mum 4 hours after I had gone to bed! Agghh. But was so nice to see home and hear everything that was going on so I enjoyed it. The rest of Sunday was pretty much sleeping and recovering from the jam packed weekend!

So far this week has been awesome also with some great classes (as described at the top!) and lots of fun with my new friends. Last Monday there was a proper full-on Brazil storm and Monica, Carlos and I danced and ran about in the rain like crazy things that was so much fun! Hung out with Ale on Monday night and we cooked dinner…which her family hated but we loved! Haha. Also been baking a lot of cakes with Gabi…including one which was green!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got so excited by this haha.

Also today is mine and Murray's one year anniversary....so I love you Murray and I have never been happier. Can't wait to be back in your arms where I belong :)

Got another great weekend planned and totally in love with everything in Brazil. Email me x