Just a Couple More Weeks!

Not too much to update here. Alexandre's birthday was nice-- just a quiet dinner squeezed in between his final exams and studying. We went to our favorite sushi restaurant (the one where the waiters know us), so when I told them it was his birthday, they brought him a little fried ice cream with an orange cut in the shape of a sun. The ice cream had a little firecracker on it, but much to Alexandre's pleasure, they didn't sing or anything. Their "parabens" and "feliz aniversario"s were discreet.

I have class with a group of 4 girls who are studying linguistics and translation at one of the big private universities here. They cancel class a lot because they're young, flighty, and unreliable, but when they DO come to class, we have fun because we're the same age and it's all girls and they like my linguistics jokes.
Anyhoo, they did something very nice without my asking. Apparently, one of their English professors quit, and the director of the program let her choose her replacement (Brazilian nepotism at its finest). But the replacement teacher is really terrible, and all of the students went to the director to complain. During their meeting with him, my students told him that they know an American who lives in the city-- she's a native speaker, she has a degree in linguistics, and she taught in both the US and Brazil. He was interested, and told them to ask me if I could come in next week to meet him and bring my resumé!
I'm not getting my hopes up because this is Brazil and all but.... I'm still getting my hopes up, just a little.

I have another student/friend in one of my basic classes. We've gone out with him a couple of times and had nice chats. He studied linguistics too (but at a different private school) but never learned how to actually speak English. (Hence, my classes.) He's been encouraging me to apply to universities for a while now. I told him about the interview, and he asked if I would email him my resumé. He said he would drop it off with a professor from his university that he's still close to and put in a good word for me. I thanked him graciously and said that would be very nice of him.

So yeah... my chances are slim, being as I don't have a work visa and I'm not friends with deans and all, but it doesn't hurt to try. It was mostly nice to see small moments of altruism in a country that usually lacks anything close to it.

When I go home, aside from seeing family and friends of course, I am excited about:
-food (Mexican, Thai, Ethiopian...)
-English TV (i.e. Comedy Central)
-text messaging
-Target
-driving on roads that have 2 complete lanes
-the lack of motorcycles
-cheap tequila
-fixing my computer
-waiters that speak English
-fluent English in general
-books and magazines

lots more were in my head but now that I sit down to write it I can't remember. Anyhoo. Excited.
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