The Job

I started working for a company called InCompany last Thursday. Essentially what we do is go into businesses such as banks or hotels and give English classes. My first lesson is for every Tuesday and Thursday from 8:30am to 9:30am in the Caixo bank downtown Brasilia. This was really convenient while we were living in the hotel in downtown Brasilia, but from way out here in Guará…it’s a little bit of a commute. Guará is about 15 minute subway ride from Brasilia, and our house in Guará is another 15 minute bus ride from the subway station. So nothing is super easy. Kelly works in Brasilia too…everyday, so we are both going to get used to the commute. InCompany promised me that I would have more classes soon, they are just waiting for other students/companies to sign up, and I can fill my schedule pretty quickly.
Also, on Monday I am starting at my other job, the Yes! School. Yes! idiomas is a new school for both English and Spanish. I interviewed with them last week and I had to take this long proficiency test and the results…uh, yes, I speak English. J So I had a follow up interview yesterday. The directors of three other Yes! schools came just to meet me. In the end I got the job. It is Monday through Friday 2pm – 8pm and Saturday’s as well. It is definitely going to fill my schedule. Bruno, the director of my school, also wanted to know if I am creative…because the only full time teachers are guys and he doesn’t think that any of the guys are any good at decorating classrooms or making the place look more friendly…so I am in charge of bulletin boards and posters too. I met most of the other teachers and they are all really great and a lot of fun. I am looking forward to getting to know them better.
Kelly is working for a man who is from England and whose wife is Brasilian/French. They moved here from England with their children and he has been working at the French school teaching English. Now he wants to start his own school and Kelly is his only teacher. They are going to start with young students…4 year olds and work from there. He wants to keep the classroom size small and they the teachers all native speakers. There are a lot of independent English schools in Brasilia. There are some big chains and some new ones. There are no Starbucks in the country…but the English schools are on every corner, where the Starbucks would be. (And to be honest we are not really sure why there are no Starbucks…Brasilian’s like their coffee…well I guess they like it a little different…but I will have to save that for another blog.) But especially in Guará, you walk down the street and its English school, English school, grocery store, English school. So clearly this is important…and really I shouldn’t be calling them English schools because most of them teach Spanish as well.
So I have been in Brasil for almost a month now and I have been asked twice this week where I studied Portuguese. The answer of course is “I haven’t, but thank you.” I haven’t decided if Spanish is helping or hurting at this point. It definitely helped at the beginning because I had something to start from, but now it is just getting in the way, and I am never sure if I am using a Portuguese word or a Spanish word. My school, Yes! teaches both English and Spanish, so some of the teachers speak Spanish and others speak English. On friend we had a little celebration for someone’s birthday and I met all the teachers…it was the worst combination of Protugol, Spanglish, and Ingleguese that I have ever heard/spoken. I really don’t think that I will ever figure out how to seperate the two languages.