Mickey D's

Alright, I admit it. I visited Mickey D's today. This morning, I caved, not really by choice but hunger. At the end of my commericial (street with all the stores), there's a McDonald's. Now, don't get me wrong, I must admit that on certain days, for whatever reason, the golden arches does something for me, but here the food's amazing and I really had hoped to avoid it, at least food-wise.

I was walking to school this morning hoping to find another restaurant, a bakery, something open along the way to grab some breakfast. I hadn't done this before on a Sunday. In Brasilia most shops and restaurants are closed on Sundays, hence the trip to school. Well, I looked side to side and found nothing open except a small convient kinda store.

So, what other choice did I have? I crossed the street and ventured inside.

Here were my choices for breakfast this morning...
And what did I chose?
I went with the croissant and cafe with sugar. The lovely counter clerk who took my order also brought to my table when it was ready. I was thinking I'd ordered a croissant with melted cheese and ham like in the photo. No melted cheese; instead nacho cheese. Like Cheese Whiz. As soon as I took a bite I remembered a conversation in which someone here had mentioned that sometimes the cheese is nacho and not melted but of course too late. It was a surprise but I was starved and still ate it. The coffee was great and just what I needed before a long day of school work.

I've definitely got a new task for this week at school...ask coworkers what places are open for quick bite to eat on Sunday when you're going to school, your fridge is empty and you're starved. And for those of you who are planning a trip to visit, know that you'll not have to worry about having a slice of Americana, just a Brazilian version of it.

Thanks AP

One of the huge draws for me to move to Brazil, was that one of my best friends lives here. Yep, this is gonna be a post all about Andrea, also known as AP, Roomie, Principal and down here Andrea (said like Ann-dray-uh).

She's the one who sparked to idea of moving to Brazil in my head over ice cream at Oberweis one chilly winter day months ago.

Since I've arrived, we've both been swamped and uber busy. She's busy being an amazing Lower School Principal, organizing lots of school renovations (some complete, some almost complete), catching up with her old friends, getting to know new ones, assisting all the teachers, assessing students, balancing class lists and on and on. I've been busy with all the new teacher, new life, new everything. Both of our to do's have been exorbinate.

Yesterday we happened to bump into each other by chance while both of us were out to lunch with different friends. We made plans to hang out for last night. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend it.

We both were in a low key kinda mood and she planned perfectly. We went to a wonderful area called Pontao (I need to learn how to make the breve over the a). It's right next to the lake in Brasilia. I'd heard all about it from Miguel, my teaching assistant, and so I was thrilled to be able to check it out.There's a surf shop, German beer garden/restaurant, other restaurants and it's just a nice place to walk around.

We opted to share a delicious opened face mozarella, sundried tomato and argula sandwhich. Yum! Part of the reason for sharing was so we could share some acai. Oh my goodness! Hadn't had any frozen acai yet. In the U.S., there's a huge rage with acai and healthy living. It this is healthy living, bring it on! This frozen dessert which was topped with bananas was so yummy.

Over dinner we just caught up. That's it. With as hectic as life has been since we arrived, it couldn't have been better. Just a chance to talk and talk.

Andrea's been one of my closest friends since we became roommates about 10 years ago. There are so many things that I love about Andrea, but last night reminded me of one of my favorites. She's a friend who no matter how much time or life goes by, we just pick up where we left off. It's effortless.

And one of the reasons why last night was so nice was that with everything for me being new, it was nice just to relax and spend time with a dear friend. And a dear friend who now only lives across a field from me, a 5 minute walk door-to-door. Doesn't get much better than that.

Now that I think about it, the past few days there would have been great chances to take photos together, but I missed those so instead I'll share one that Andrea and I took on the first day of school this year.

Thanks AP for last night. It was perfect!

Pothole Pep Talk

This past Wednesday, the day before school started, I had an all-day math training scheduled as well as a Q & A lunch with the other "newbie" teachers and administrators. For those of you who are educators, you know how busy that day feels and just is. I went into the day knowing that I was going to have to roll with it and figured it would just be a late night. Well, it was but the whole day unwound into something so much better than I expected.

The Q & A luncheon had been scheduled the previous week but been cancelled due to some changes in our schedules. As I walked to the canteen to get my lunch, I again was going through the self-talk..."you'll get everything completed," "be patient," "relax and just enjoy things." I got my lunch and walked down to our new student center. I arrived to a beautifully decorated table just for the newbies and administrators. As I sat down, Craig shared that the jars on the table were filled with mango chutney that Lisa, our co-HR director and Craig's wife, had made (it's delicious by the way). I started feeling guilty right away but was reminded this is probably what I need amongst all the chaos.

We began by just catching up on how the day was going, newbie life, etc and once all arrived, Craig asked us for our questions. Now, I had already generated a question for our original lunch but waited to see what everyone else was going to ask. Lots of great questions related to our EAB, daily life, apartments all which were answered by our administrators.

Then Craig looked down toward my end of the table. He asked a couple people near me for questions and then we made eye contact. My question was much more uh, well, about the bigger picture and it felt out of place but I decided to "suck it up" as my dad likes to say and ask it anyway.

"I need to preface this question with saying that I'm from the Midwest, so please bear with me. So, most of us here are new to international teaching and all of us are new to EAB and I'm wondering what are the potholes that you can help us to avoid? What potholes have you seen newbies fall into?"

Each of the administrators spoke, shared stories and gave us a great list of the potholes we need to be weary of at EAB and in Brazil. Here's their pothole list:

• Think before you speak. - With languages and cultures being different, be aware of what you say. Avoid sarcasm. What you say and what you wanted your message to convey may not be interpreted in that way.
• Listen - Spend some time to really listen to your new colleagues, families and students. You'll learn much more about your new home from them and have a deeper understanding by doing so.
• Reserve Judgement - Instead of complaining about how a line was incredibly long, ask someone to explain the system to you. You can ask, "Could you please tell me a little more about how the federal police system works?"
• Communicate - Craig's says you can never have too much communication with a family. Be honest, open and do it early and often.

I've been using their advice everyday since then...at school and out socially with my new friends and colleagues. There have honstly been several situations where I've thought back to this conversation and it's saved me. Their advice can apply to any person, at any time in any location. But when everything is new, sometimes our common sense is one of the things that gets lost.

So, this luncheon that I went into thinking would be just a time together when I could be working, was one of the most beneficial parts of our new teacher orientation. And not only for the pothole advice but also because I needed to slow down on Wednesday and gain some perspective. Sometimes, those bigger questions are what we need and we don't always realize it at the time.

A final note about potholes... On Wednesday afternoon at 3:45, all of the staff met in our auditorium to have a final pep talk before school began. We learned all about H1N1 (a big deal here since our kids travel so much) and about our first all-staff TGIF -a boat cruise on the lake (I'll make a post of that one too once I get pics from friends here ). Craig opened this by sharing a few stories from the past few days. One of the stories he shared was from our lunch together. He said, "Today I had lunch with all of the new teachers. It was a Q & A session where they could ask whatever they wanted. I want to share what one teacher asked." Guess whose question he shared? Mine. He shared the pothole advice with everyone. He reminded us that we all, no matter our position, should be taking these into account.

I felt pretty humbled that he chose to share my question with the entire staff but I now that I think about it, since we've arrived at EAB, Craig's been giving this same advice all along. Maybe I just hadn't connected to something I could hang onto and potholes were my hook. Regardless, I'm glad I know how to avoid them here.

And in case you were wondering the word potholes doesn't quite translate to Portuguese because someone asked but they do have potholes here so the message was still understood.

And the white boards were hung by the maintenance crew with care...

School starts tomorrow! I'm so excited. I feel like a kid. The first day of school's something I've always looked forward to but this year it's extra special. Special because I have my own classroom again, it's a new group of students and I'm in a very new place. Lots of newness.

The newness continues with my classroom. Last year it housed the elementary computer lab. Due to the large size of our classes this year* , the two third grade classrooms were moved to two rooms with larger space. The other room was previously the elementary school science lab*.

I was thrilled when I heard that EAB made this decision. It demonstrated to me that they put students' needs first and they thought out of the box by reorganizing some of the classroom spaces.

So, when I arrived 2 weeks ago, the journey of creating my new space began. Here's what I walked into on Day 1.

To say it was a bit overwhelming was an understatement. As you know, I'm a girl who thrives on organization. I may have a lot of stuff but what I have I need and want.

There were many LARGE boxes to sort through. Previous teachers' materials, maps that included the Soviet Union, duplos, faded posters and so on. I worked a bit each day on things and after about 2 days it looked like this.

Then I came to school for most of Saturday afternoon. The room finally felt like it was coming together. The tables actually were in groups, the boxes were mostly gone. Ahhhh. I was living the good life!
EAB has completed over $1million in renovations and updates this summer. New gym, new classroom spaces, all new computers (school-wide), a renovated Early Childhood playground which will have sprinklers to beat the heat and so much more. As metioned earlier, my room was one of the renovations made. And I also mentioned my classroom used to be the elementary school's computer lab. This meant my room housed the school's server (see in corner of picture).

Originally the server was going to remain in my room until Winter Break then it would be moved to a nearby storage room. Well, the timeline was pushed forward and Monday (2 days ago) several men spent the entire day moving the server. I was so thrilled to have the server moved but it was a huge undertaking. After the server was moved, the wall where it was located needed to be plastered and painted. Due to all the painting and plastering and drilling there was dust everywhere.

When you're in a new place, your home and for me my classroom are 2 things I can control...well, a bit. Now my room was in total disaray and I felt it looked like I took about 2 giant leaps backwards. Ahhhhhhh! Monday night, after a nap, chats with friends, the Goo and my parents, I knew everything would be fine.

And today by 6:00 it was. My room has been swarmed by all of EAB's amazing maintenance workers in the past 72 hours. The electrician, the painter, "general" maintenance who hung my dry erase and bulletin boards. And a lot of their help was managed by my wonderful classroom assistant Miguel. So with all of their help and my blood, sweat and just a few tears...here's my room...

It's a blank canvas ready to share all of the learning my students and I have together this year. For those of you in the states who are teachers, it's a little perspective. In your final few weeks when you're worried about it all coming together, know that it'll be fine. And I can say that honestly from a girl who had an entire server ripped from her walls, was covered in dust and wound up with a beautiful and simple space.
All teachers can relate to that feeling when your room is ready and you're just so thrilled to meet your students. But something that I don't think I've ever experienced is 2 additional highs that add to your feelings. The first for me was the note below.

Craig is my school's headmaster. The closest U.S. comparision I could give is a school district's superintendent. I was planning with my teammate when Craig stopped he left me the note. On the day before school begins, he's just as busy as I am, but he took time out to visit each of the new teachers. How wonderful is that? It's truly the little things that make your day.

Speaking of little things, while I was finalizing my lesson plans I looked up from my desk and saw this...the moon. It's just about full rising above our playground. Doesn't get much better than that.

* Teacher Side Note: Large class size at EAB is 22. Due to the large size of the 3rd grade classes I also have my own classroom assistant, Miguel. He's wonderful and I'm thrilled to have the extra help. Not trying to rub it in, just the facts.

My New Place

So without further ado, I wanted to share my new apartment with you. I LOVE it! I feel very spoiled and lucky to have it. There are 6 stories but really I live on 7 because the first floor is a wide open area. I need to remember to ask about why there aren't apartments on that level. It's kinda like a lobby but it's completely open as you can see. My front door.
I also have a second door to which is for service people. So different than at home. Right now that's what everyone's using since my main door lock is broken. What's that saying about back door guests are best? Everyone's a back door guest at my place.Check out the interesting shaped keys.
They're round.

My living room.
The view. To the right you can see one of Brasilia's sights...the TV Tower. In the center you can see the Banco Brasil and check out the treetops. There's a field on the other side of those so I have all this green space, clean air and beauty. Lucky! Alright, some of the sights are hard to make out for now, but they're there. I promise! My dining room and another living room view. The kitchen. I've got 2 sinks. One is for dishes, while the other is for??? My washer and dryer are at the end of the kitchen. Hallway
Guest room. This could be yours! Taking reservations now. By the time any of you come, it'll be much fancier. Dates are booking fast!
My room. One of my favorite things to do is lie in bed and watch the sunrise or set. It happens here so quickly (about 30 minutes). It's a 6:30 sunrise and 6:30 sunset.

My closet.

Built-in storage is great!

The bathroom. Love the 60s charm.

It's feeling homier each day. I'm glad I brought a few things from home to make my new place feel like home. Pictures of family and friends, a few runners and table cloths make a HUGE difference. I love it because... it's charming and quaint. It's the perfect size. It came with a gecko who likes to visit at night for his dinner of uninvited guests. And has the best view. Everyday I see the sun rise over the treetops while the parakeets begin chatting. Can't ask for much more. Life is good.

New Teacher Orientation - Brazilian Style

Catching you all up on this past week is something I will do but for now, well, I'd like to do, but I need to start somewhere and I thought I'd give you some pics to boot.

Here's a glimpse into the fifth day of my new teacher orientation at school...Friday, July 31st.

6:00 - Woke up to 60 degree temps

Heard parakeets chirping (that's a polite way to say it) outside my window, showered and got dressed. Had to wear nice clothes since it was new parent/student orientation.

8:00 - Work in classroom

I'll write another post focusing on it but this gives you an idea of how my day started.

Soooo much progress since I started!

9:15 - 9:45 - Attended New Student/Parent Orientation
Didn't stay whole time, just to hear Craig (our headmaster) introduce himself and learn about how he introduces families to American School of Brasilia (EAB). So glad I went. He's a powerful speaker and his presentation truly echoed what we heard during ours. Another reason why I know this is a good fit for me.


12:00 - 1:00 - Lunch

Delicious Lebanese food brought by one of the student's families who owns a restaurant in town

1:00 - 2:15 - Portugese Lesson
Meu nome e Megan. Eu sou dos Estados Unidos. And I also learned my abcs. I know more than that I just chose a couple I know my gringos back home could understand.


2:15 - 5:00 - Bus Tour

Picked up at the front gate by the double decker tourism bus. Had to do our city tour in style. We had a great time seeing the city from the top of the bus as we enjoyed a cold cerveja. Not a cloud in the sky here. Very dry, in the 80s but should you be in the sun, be ready to sweat.

The cathedral. It's beautiful and now you probably will recognize where I got my blog banner (which by the way is my picture from when I visited Andrea 5 years ago).

Me in front of Congress (House meets on the right, Senate on the left). Amazing how close you can get to all of the gov't sites here. Just a little different than the states...

Some of the newbies on the TV Tower. Way, way in the background if you have amazing eyesight you might make out the same building I was standing in front of earlier. Great views of the entire city.

6:30 - 8:00 - Happy Hour/s at Libanos Some of the newbies have been to this very popular Lebanese restaurant a few times now.

Erin, Same, Laura and Stephanie...just 4 of our group of 11. Our newbie group is an eccletic mix of people who are all just wonderful. We've spent a lot of time together this past week and it's been a blast.

Libby wearing a cute Libanos hat. She wears funky hats and this one suits her well.

8:00 - 9:00 - New Teacher Apartment Tour/walk home We've all been scoping out each other's places. Fun to see how different they are.

9:00 - Home

Greeted by my new pet lizard, Luis (affectionately named after my apartment's guard). I like him greatly because he eats the unwanted visitors that were (past tense) living here uninvited. He's a little shy so he's running away!

Close up of Luis.

9:15 - Bed

I'm lame, it was early, but as you can see, a long but wonderful day.

I'm Alive! I Arrived!

Things are great in Brazil! I've been here now a week and can definitely say that truthfully. I never knew how wonderful a group of staff members and community could be. Leaving Illinois and KME was really hard for as you know, but with the way things are going, I'm/we're off to a great start. They have taken care of us in every aspect of our lives and I just can't say how much I appreciate that. Very lucky girl.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to the local produce market and to buy some plants. We're going in a group so we can learn the ins and outs and get a bit of help with our Portugese. It is coming along... Early day though...meeting @ 7:30 a.m. @ school. That's 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday during the summertime for those of you Illinoisians. Then onto school to work more on my classroom and off to a party tomorrow night. Fun and busy!

Final word. Sorry for the delay in my postings. Just got the internet today at home and with our schedule the past week will update over the weekend with pics and all. So happy to have it after being envious of 9 of the 11 other newbies who'd been facebooking, gmailing, skyping with their friends and family. It's time for me now. Yea! Hope you all are wonderful. Miss you much!