Expat Elvis

My portuguese has been progressing well! I understand almost 90% of what people say and I can say about 80% of what I want to say. Spanish has been helpful in understanding how to conjugate the verbs and using femine and masculine particles. At the same time I speak portuguese with such a thick spanish accent.

My Colombian friend however was getting portuguese lessons and his portuguese was better compared to mine. But he paid 20 Reis a lesson roughly $10 an hour. Too much for me!!!

What I decided instead was create this flyer where It says:

Free english classes, American would exchange english classes for portuguese classes., *Or spanish for portuguese* Contact me at . . .

I will be posting them tomorrow around college campuses around the city preferbly near dance and yoga classes ;-).

When they call or email me I will tell them to bring their own english book so I can have a guideline and I will have my own portuguese book as a guideline for them.

Please comment and let me know what you guys think ;-)

A Cidade da Gente means ''Our City.'' That descibes the city in so many ways. It has Brazil's highest HDI rating and it is considered by most Brazilians the first world city of Brazil.

What gave this city its fame began back in 1968 with a man named Jaime Lerner the mayor at the time that created the Curitiba Master Plan.

The plan created a new road design to minimise traffic: the Trinary Road System. This uses two one-way streets moving in opposite directions which surround a smaller, two-lane street where the express buses have their exclusive lane. I couldn'tbelieve it when I saw it! But literaly buses have their own lane that only buses uses that streches for miles around the city. This lane is also used by the pedestrains. I have even heard of ambulances using these lanes to get to hospitals in a faster time.Five of these roads form a star that converges on the city centre. Land farther from these roads is zoned for lower density developments, to reduce traffic away from the main roads. In a number of areas subject to floods, buildings were condemned and the land became parks.

Today, Curitiba is considered one of the best examples of urban planning worldwide. In June 1996, the chairman of the Habitat II summit of mayors and urban planners in Istanbul praised Curitiba as "the most innovative city in the country."

Curitiba, including, recently recommended by UNESCO as one of the city-model for the reconstruction of the cities of Afghanistan. In 2007 the city was the third place in a list of "15 Green Cities" in the world, according the American site "Grist". As a result, according to one survey, 99% of Curitibans are happy with their hometown. Most people seriously are and love their city!!!

The "green exchange" employment program focuses on social inclusion, benefiting both those in need and the environment. Low-income families living in shantytowns unreachable by truck bring their trash bags to neighborhood centers, where they exchange them for bus tickets and food. This means less city litter and less disease, less garbage dumped in sensitive areas such as rivers and a better life for the undernourished poor. There's also a program for children where they can exchange recyclable garbage for school supplies, chocolate, toys and tickets for shows.

Under the "garbage that's not garbage" program, 70% of the city's trash is recycled by its residents. Once a week, a truck collects paper, cardboard, metal, plastic and glass that has been sorted in the city's homes. But during all hours of the day you can see orange suited city workers clean around the city.

There's a model, inexpensive, speedy transit service used by more than 2 million people a day. There are more car owners per capita than anywhere in Brazil, and the population has doubled since 1974, yet auto traffic has declined by 30%, and atmospheric pollution is the lowest in Brazil.

To good to be true?

The city is knowned is also known for another famous characteristic found in most Curitibans. The people are rather closed and reserved. Let it be the cold climate or the large European heritage population, the people are not quite as open.

This makes it difficult to meet people. But not impossible!! ;-)

I thought I should spend some time explaining my internship.

The first day I was greeted by my boss Eduarda, Tuly, and Marcelo. That made up the Course department. Tuly is in charge of coordinating and updating all of the programs costs and commissions. Marcelo in charge of study and work programs and athletic programs. Eduarda was in charge of overlooking all of the programs and creating new partnerships.

Eduarda then explained to me that I am charge of all new course enrollments into World Study (Courses are any programs that students are going abroad to focus on language learning, travel, or internship programs respectfully). in charge of the enrollments of new students of all 16 national offices in Brazil and contacting our international partners, making sure that the invoices are correct the students's accomidation is correct and getting all of the visa documents in a timely manner so the student does not miss his appointment at the consulate. Make sure the financial department has all of our sales in order and collecting the royalties from the 16 branches from our local offices.

Not bad for someone that just turned 19 ;-) .

The first week I was just learning, but man there was much to learn.

From my first day on the job I told Eduarda, that I am here to learn and I want to learn. I don't mind critisim! I love it because it lets me know what I am doing wrong and I need to work on. So that I don't do it again.

For example:

I almost send a student to the wrong continent!! I got confused with the names which were spelled exactly the same way but going to different school at the same time. One was supposed to go England and the other the Australia. I mixed up the names and I sent the flight details to the wrong student!!

Luckly our partner abroad noticed the confusion and made me aware of it. First lesson PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL!!

I also learned all of the visas issued by the U.S., Australian, U.K. and Canadian governments.

After a couple of days I was by myself and took the reins of Enrollments it was crazy I would get 100 emails a day. Phone calls from all over the world. One moment speaking English with an Aussie about a student's change date the next spanish with an Argentinan about accomidation details and Portuguese with someone from Rio de Janeiro.

Keep in mind my first real desk job! But I really enjoyed it, there was something new to be learned everyday and I learned how to think in my feet more effictively.

Recently in a away to improve my position, and give more experience I am rotating positions with everyone in the Course department. Currently I am trainning in Tuly's position.

That pretty much covers my internship duties.

Hi everyone! I know I haven't writen anything for a month. I have been really busy finishing up a couple of online classes I had left. By the way thanks David R. ;-)

Everything has been going well. I amhaving some troubles with my internship, mostly the lack of communication between my boss.

I met this really cool Columbian that is also doing an internship with World Study, but for six months. He has traveled all over the US and has the craziest stories to tell.

I also went to THE DOORS concert here in Curitiba!! They were awesome!! But missing Jim Morrison!!

I will wite more in the coming days!

Abracos!!!

It has been awhile since I have written anything. I just have been busy settling in. I have been trainning for the past 2 weeks in my internship. Turns out I' am in charge of inbound enrollments for World Study. I will give you the details about that later. For now Churascaria... and a bit about the people iam sorrounded by...

It is the most delicious BBQ I have ever had. Helerton my host brother but the family calls him Mano had a bbq with some of his friends from his college. We were just hanging out, it ws tough trying to communicate with my limited portugese. But with spanish and hand gestures we understood eachother clearly.

He is kind has a great sense of humor and very patient when we are trying to communicate. We always talk about futbol, him a devoted Sao Paulo fan and me an Atletico de Parana fan! I was told by my brother the 2 things I should talk in public is politics and futbol! It is that intense!!..

Veri, Ever's girlfriend is pretty and VERI nice! She is a nutritionist and recently graduated from her university and is now taking an final exam to recieve her credentials to work in northern Brazil by the Bahia area.
In the photo Ever and Veri were cooking some good 'ole beans and rice with pasta!

Finally Ever, he is really down to earth. Since the moment I got here he has always been thoughtful and going out of his way to help me getting settled in. In the pictures above he even cut out label to put around the house. It was so cool Cozinha= Kitchen, Copo= Glass, ...

I really can't say much more than that, I have only been here for about 2 weeks. In any exchange program this time is considered the "honeymoon period." But I feel I was placed with the right family. Honestly I always feel good going home everyday. Each day there is something new to learn and I grow closer with them.

Ola!! Boa Dia!! My first words in Portugese. I have arrived in Curitiba! I was picked up by Rafaela my counseler while I' am in Brazil. She was kind and drove me to the house of the host family. After an hour drive we arrived and the pic. you see above was given to me by my host brother Everson (Ever) a pair of Havianna's and the keys to the apartment. He was the only one there from the family and explained to me that it would only be him and his other brother Helerton (Mano) living in the apartment. Their father stays for about 5 days out of the month at the apartment.

The next day we went out to the Praza Ukriana= Ukranian Plaza, Curitiba has a large population of Ukrainian immigrants as well as Polish, Italian, and German. He showed me around the city, the beautiful Curitiba Cathedral that is about 316 years old!! Extremly beautiful!!!

While at the Praza Ukriana we ate some Pastel and met up with Veri (his girlfriend) and Fer (Veri's sister). They are both very nice.

I finally arrived in Brazil! After a 15 hour flight! I arrived in RIo de Janeiro. From the start I was on my own, I had to find a taxi and get to the address of a friend I met in Thailand. Elisa she was an exchange student from Brazil to Thailand. I got to her place, but she wasn't there!! She was still in her University because she was unable to get the day off in the morning.
We decide that I would go visit her in Seropedica about 2 hours away on the bus. I was really excited to finally meet her again after a year since we left Thailand we are together and in Brazil!!! I rested a bit in her dorm and got ready for a Pajama Party that some students from her university were throwing.

I had a blast!!!!!!! I quickly learned when Brazilian's party they PARTY HARD!!!!!!! They were all very nice and friendly.

I just can't believe I will leave tommorow! I just want to thank David and Sal for always being there for me, and the great people at Walt's Wharf.

I have begun buying presents for my host family and my new coligues at World Study Curitiba.

Will keep you all updated!!!

This is my blog is for all my friends and family! I will be in Brazil for a year as an intern with World Study!

I will leave in about 2 weeks!

Hopefully all goes well at the cosulate tomm.!