Um Tour Pelo Meu Apartemento
Format Video
Back To The Begining
Well it was for me yesterday. A new school, CELIN, a new class, basic Portuguese, did I do that badly in my assessment test, I guess so and new people. Felipe Ribeiro our class teacher, very articulate and very good, although I learnt that he will only be with us this week. Nine new colleagues who may become friends over the next eight weeks. Two from China, 2 from South Korea, 1 from Vietnam, 1 from Lebanon, 1 from Japan, 1 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and 1 from Australia. The common language between us all is English, so naturally any difficulties in explanation descended into English. However, to give credit to Felipe he did speak in Portuguese ninety percent of the time.
Well what did we study? You must remember I am in the basic class so we went back to basics, what is your name, where do you come from etc, then we spent quite a lot of time on pronunciation going through all the sounds of the alphabet, half of my colleagues have never learned Portuguese before. I’m a little concerned that I will not learn anything new on the course but I will give it a few days to see how quickly we progress. Two and a half hours of lessons on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays should see us moving forward. You might well ask what about Wednesdays, well that is a cultural learning day when all the CELIN students get together to learn about Brazilian culture whilst practicing Portuguese. Let’s see how many interesting people I meet on Wednesday. I’ve already introduced my blog to my class mates but I don’t think they understand that I want to interview them and post on the blog, let’s see how many I can persuade.
A view of Curitiba from the Botanic Gardens
Its 6am here and I’m up drinking my fresh lime and ginger infusion, it gets me going for the day before my tea and toast. No I did not find any marmalade yesterday, only orange jam so I guess I will have to do without.
Yesterday after class I went to the University book shop and bought the course material 11.60 reais, not very expensive. I’m going to go through it this morning to see how far we are going to go in the next 8 weeks.
Enjoy your day wherever you are.
This is Leo Gringo in Brazil going for an early breakfast
School Starts Tomorrow
I’ve been in Curitiba for one week and in that time, I’ve rented an apartment, managed to get myself registered for a Brazilian SIM card for my phone, not without problems, downloaded a taxi app, other than Uber and used it, Regina gave me a very nice ride into town last Tuesday even if it was expensive. Although I have also been lost in a taxi in the middle of nowhere when my phone got cut off a day after I got it – that will be a TIM story for the future. I also registered at CELIN the language school and took my evaluation test.
Today I went shopping for food and for a few things to make my life easier in my apartment, probably one of the worst decisions of my life. I think half of Curitiba was out in the 30C heat doing the same. A note to self, stay at home with a hangover on Sunday. I splashed out on a really cool toaster and an electric kettle, both not that common in this part of the world, now I’m happy as a pig in S… with my tea and toast – how cool is that toaster. Need to go and try and find some marmalade tomorrow.
School starts tomorrow afternoon 2-5pm, I’m a bit apprehensive, but I don’t know why, fear of the unknown I guess. My smart new kitchen has an induction hob, quite a luxury here, the only problem is the new stainless steel pans don’t work on it – thank god for microwaves, kettles and toasters, did I say how smart my new toaster is, it makes great toast to?
I learnt a few new Portuguese words and phrases today:
Meu Deus Oh my god – I already knew that one but practiced it a lot today.
Seu Idiota You idiot
Que isso é sempre lento Is it always this slow
Estou cansado e quero ir para casa I’m knackered and want to go home
Pelo amor de Deus apressar For f…’s sake hurry up.
and one in the restaurant more about practicing pronunciation Gostariamos duas cervejas, um suco de uva, um filé mignon, um peixe de mar grelhado e um risotto de arroz preto por favor
I wonder whether I will be able to use any of the phrases in class tomorrow?
Waiting for bedtime its 10pm here, I guess I’m going Brazilian as I’m going to have a shower before bed, but in the morning I’ll be British again and have a shower before breakfast.
I rented an apartment on Rua Sete de Setembro within walking distance of the school on Rua XV Novembro, I think it will take me about 25 minutes, so no need to use one of Curitiba’s double bendy busses.
The owner of the rental agency Fernanda, has already replied about my induction hob problem and it should be fixed in he morning. How efficient is that?
This is Leo Gringo in Brazil signing off, its a whole new week tomorrow
Where, When & How?
After making the decision to study Brazilian Portuguese & Brazilian culture in Brazil, the next decisions to make were, where, when & how. Time to start the research project.
Obvious places to consider were, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Salvador,Floranopolis and Curitiba.
Rio de Janeiro: A great place to visit for a holiday, but maybe not the best place to study. Expensive courses, expensive living costs, safety worries, difficult public transport, and not the best climate in the world.
Sao Paulo: A huge city, difficult to move about, traffic jams everywhere, expensive courses and living costs and safety concerns.
Salvador: The capital of Bahia state in North Eastern Brazil. A very vibrant city with great beaches, several private schools, cheaper than studying in both Rio and Sao Paulo. A great place to learn about Afro-Brazilian culture. A definite possibility.
Floranopolis: The capital of Santa Catarina State in Southern Brazil, a very popular destination for tourists from all over the world. More limited availability of course dates and ability levels in the private schools, worth further consideration.
Curitiba: The capital city of the state of Parana in southern Brazil. Considered the greenest city in Latin America and possibly the world. The city sits on a plateau at 932 metres about sea level and has a temperate climate. The best public transport system in Brazil with adequate available living accommodation. Both University and private courses available throughout the year. A definite possibility.
After my research, studying at a state university in Brazil was certainly appealing and I thought it would look good on my CV so I choose the Federal University of Parana in Curitiba (Universidade Federal do Paraná, UFPR). The University operates a specialist language school CELIN Centro de Línguas e Interculturalidade. Portuguese courses are offered at 10 different levels from basic to advanced. Courses start in January, March, June, August and October each year. Courses run for 8 weeks with 100 hours contact time including both language and cultural education. The week prior to the course starting there is a mandatory test to assess competence levels to ensure students are placed in the right class. You can check out the CELIN guide for foreign students at
https://issuu.com/celinufpr/docs/handbook_for_foreign_students_at_ce.
Remember you can contact info@intercambiohelp4u.co.uk, Tel: +44 207 636 8500 for all enquiries regarding the CELIN course.
My next posting will go through the planning I undertook before arriving in Brazil and the documents I had to apply for to ensure my arrival in Brazil went without a hitch J.
