English Camp

This July we have been hosting our first round of English Camps! We planned 3 weekend events throughout the month.

Each event runs from Friday evening until Sunday evening. We pretty much have one rule: Once you arrive at our front gate, you leave Portuguese outside and speak only English inside!

We have been so fortunate to have two awesome volunteers helping us for the month. Jeanette and Arlene both hail from southern Manitoba area and have been invaluable when it comes to planning activities, food prep and interacting with our 'campers'.

We always make it very clear to people that we are NOT a language school. There are plenty of those around, and we do not want to be seen as competition. We want to be a SUPPORT to these language schools. We let them teach things like grammar and vocabulary. We are native English speakers who they can use to practice what they have already learned in class. We do this through organized games (like Taboo, Scattergories and Funglish), activities (like putting on a mini Amazing Race and baking cookies), and of course, leaving lots of time to just hang out and chat while we laze in the pool, kick a soccer ball around, or make pies in the kitchen.

All the meals we serve are foods typical to North America. People get the opportunity to try things like quiche, cinnamon buns, pancakes (of COURSE they are topped with maple syrup!), tacos, and lasagna. Although I have to admit that the most popular meal is definitely roasting hot dogs around a campfire and s'mores for dessert.

Aside from language and food, we strive to give people a distinctly Canadian cultural experience as well. People can attend workshops on Canadian idioms ('Keep your stick on the ice') and linguistic quirks, eh?! We also try to talk about what day to day life is like in Canada (like how many layers of clothing you have to wear in winter, or the fact that Canadians tend to be punctual). Above all else, we are teaching people that no matter what we Canadians are, we are NOT Americans! (Sorry if I offended you, my American friends. - Did you catch the ever present Canadian Sorry there??)

We have finished our first two events, and our third is coming up this weekend. The first two went SO WELL! If you happen to be in the Northeast of Brazil this weekend and would like to sign up, we still have a few spots available! Give us a call, or message us on Facebook and sign up!

Here's what people are saying about the events:

"One of the best experiences I have ever had! Thank you!" -Lia
"By Sunday morning, I noticed myself thinking in English. It was awesome!" -Victor
"How the people in the organization were so dedicated and kind and the activities push us to a better level." -Emanuel

Here are some pics for you to enjoy!

I have never played such an exciting game of Uno in all my life!

Breakfast of champions: Pancakes and Sausages

My version of Timbits

Mmm... Brownies. 

These are our event shirts. If you haven't liked us on Facebook yet, check us out!

Starting things off right with a wiener roast and s'mores

Practicing English can be fun AND tasty as we bake cookies together

Amazing race challenge #4: Learn to throw a frisbee, then hit a target. If it goes in the pool, you gotta fetch it!

Amazing Race challenge #5: Canada Quiz

Amazing Race challenge #6: Get your blindfolded teammates to hit you with a water balloon. 

And every now and then, we have a moment of misunderstanding. The goal was for them to CRAWL UNDER the pipe. .. Yeah...

Amazing Race challenge #7: Follow instructions to build a Lego house

What is more North American than line dancing to Boot Scootin' Boogy?

Karaoke after our country western theme night

Country western theme night

If you have never played Funglish, you are missing out.

Funglish clue words. Use these descriptors to get your team to guess the mystery word.  

Iced Coffee toast to celebrate a great weekend

A group hug to send people off

From South to North to South... Where am I again??

Please forgive my blogging silence over the last few months.

Here's a quick update on what's been going on in our lives:

Karl and I both returned to Manitoba at the beginning of April. It was time for us to get back and spend a bit of time with family and friends. 

It was also a working trip for both of us. Karl spent almost a month there doing lots of marketing for our business. We hope that a large part of our business will be organizing tours for groups who want to see Brazil. So he was busy talking to school travel clubs, music groups, sports teams, churches, and pretty much whoever would listen, about travel opportunities. He had great responses from everyone he talked to. (If this sounds like something you or your group may be interested in, let us know! We would love to dream with you about the possibilities!)

I spent more time in Manitoba - just over two months. The majority of this time was spent up north, working in nursing stations on First Nations reserves. Shortly before we moved to Brazil, I discovered that I really enjoy this (completely different) type of nursing. So for me, coming back to work like this allows me to spend time with family and friends, do something that I love, keep up my nursing skills and hours, and let's be honest, earn some money too.

Flying into one of the First Nations communities.

While I was busy working, Karl was back in Brazil, busy renovating. He built (ok, he oversaw the building of) an area we like to call Hammock Haven.

He also did a TON of legwork for this July. Throughout the month of July, we are offering several English Camps. These weekends are designed for Brazilians who already have a decent grasp of the English language. They can spend a weekend with us speaking only English. We will do lots of activities to help them enhance their language skills. We will also do lots of cultural things (including eating foods typical of English-speaking countries). He was developed an amazing relationship with one of the local universities, and most of our participants will be coming from that school. 

Now that we are both back in Brazil, we are busy with final preparations for July. This includes taking registrations, doing a few final touch-ups around our yard, and planning all the programming for these events. (There is no shortage of work to do around here!)

We are also so fortunate to have two volunteers from Manitoba joining us for these events. They both have impressive backgrounds and will be HUGELY helpful with programming and interacting with our participants. We look forward to their arrival this Friday! 

So that's a little summary of what has been going on over the last few months. I will try to post regularly over the next few months and keep you updated on how our first annual English Camps are going!

Reverse Culture Shock

I have been back in Canada for a few days now. There are a few things that have struck me here, the climate probably being the most painful. I must commend my fellow Canadians who have survived this crazy long winter up till now. And hang in there! It has to end sooner or later! Everyone I meet seems to have this mildly crazed look in their eyes, as they search for signs of spring. It will come. I am fairly certain of this.

I spent some time in a mall yesterday. It was a bit of an overwhelming experience. At first glance, malls in Canada really are not so different from malls in Brazil. The first thing I noticed, though, was how empty the mall was here. It doesn't matter what time of day it is, the mall will always be packed in Brazil. Always. It was also so QUIET! There was music playing in the background and some muted conversation, but there was no samba blaring through the speakers, no one was yelling into a cell phone, or even speaking loudly with their friends. In Brazil, no one goes to the mall by themselves. Here, I would say the majority of people appeared to be by themselves (including myself). 

What really got me, though, was how extremely (dare I say ridiculously) POLITE Canadians are! Some kid on a cell phone wandered within about a meter of me (didn't even touch me), and he got so flustered and apologized profusely. I stopped for a coffee, and was thanked for various things (like placing an order, receiving my coffee, moving out of someone's way) seven times. SEVEN! When I walked into a store, I was promptly offered assistance. When I (politely, with a thank you and a smile) refused, the sales person would smile, thank me, and back off. I even made small talk with the next customer in line in the food court! 

I don't mean to say that Brazilians are rude, because I really don't think they are. There are, however, significant differences in what is culturally expected in terms of etiquette. Please and thank you are words rarely used in Brazil. It is unnecessary to utter these words when your request is part of someone's job description or responsibility. It took me a while to figure this out. I was always mildly put off when, for example, we would pay our employees and not receive thanks, or when someone we were hosting would ask for something and not say please or thank you. But those things were expected of me. I didn't go out of my way, or do anything earth shattering. Why should they?

I guess what I'm saying is that Canadians should be proud of how polite they are. But be aware, to others, you might sound a little silly for how often you say 'please', 'thank you', 'you're welcome' and 'I'm sorry'!

So if you apologize because someone else stepping on your toe and they give you a strange look, just say, "I'm sorry, I'm Canadian!"

Easter Food and Looking Ahead

Last weekend we hosted our fourth group here at Sitio Recanto das Palmeiras. That's right. We've hosted four groups in the three months we have been open for business! 

Our first group was a group of 12 friends over New Year's weekend. Twelve is a nice sized group to get your feet wet. They were fun, laid back, and forgiving of our learning curve. Then we had a group of 15 English teachers. That was a CRAZY time because not only were we cooking all the food, but we also did almost all of the programming. But again, we were so pleased with how it went. Our last two groups have been church retreats, and we have only provided food, not programming. The first was over Carnaval and was a group of 25. Last weekend was a group of 50. Yikes. We have decided that with our current infrastructure, 50 is our maximum for now. 

Imagine cooking 3 kg (6.6 pounds) of rice at a time. Or 3 screaming pressure cookers cooking 3 kg of beans. That was the foundation of every lunch, which is the main meal of the day here. On top of that we would have some sort of salad and a meat dish (chicken with a vegetable cream sauce, a special bean dish with chunks of meat cooked in with it, and we even did a BBQ!) For one supper we did spaghetti and meatloaf (cause we decided meatballs are just WAY too much work). The other supper they had an 'evening of the nations' where they celebrated cultures from around the world. They wanted an international meal, so we did... A WIENER ROAST! I know that sounds ridiculous, but if you think about it, that is one of the most culturally unique things we do in North America. The concept doesn't even exist here. They had a fantastic time roasting dogs and marshmallows. 

After the wiener roast, they had a fashion show, modelling cultural clothing from around the world. Karl and I had the privilege of being the impartial judges! What a fun time that was! We saw Geishas, Bollywood stars, African tribesmen, Sheiks, Flamenco dancers, and more. They did a great job putting everything together.

Overall, it was a ton of work, absolutely exhausting, but a lot of fun. Each group we host, we become a little more organized, tweak a few more recipes, and generally stress just a little bit less. One of the best things we did this time around was hire an extra employee. This freed our regular employee up to focus just on food with us, while someone else kept the bathrooms clean, set up meal tables, washed towels, and helped wash dishes (no, we don't have a dishwasher here).

Looking ahead to the next couple of months, Karl and I will both be back in Manitoba for a few weeks. (If you would like to get together, let us know, we would love to visit with you!) Hopefully we can continue with improvements around the yard in May and June. Then July is going to be English month! July is holiday month here. Government and business run on bare bones staff, if at all, there is no school, and everyone travels and hangs out on the beaches during this time. Each week throughout July, we are offering a 5 day English Immersion experience. We will speak only English with the group, serve typical foods, have cultural activities, as well as some workshops. But this is not something we can pull off with just the two of us. We are looking for a handful of people who are interested in interacting with people who speak English as a second language (Any TESOL teachers or students reading this?!?) Also, we would love to find someone who can help us in the kitchen. If this is something you are interested in, let us know. We would love to tell you more about it and how you can get involved! 

Buying Groceries, Part 2

Just in case anyone was wondering, I went back to my bulk store the other day. I bought bags. The grocery packer packed my purchases in the bags.

My guess? The other guy was just on auto-pilot and packed my bags in the same way he packed all the other groceries coming across the counter, since a lot of people don't use bags there.

And now you know the rest of the story.

Buying Groceries

I hope this blog doesn't turn into me dwelling on all the little things I find challenging here in Brazil. But this one really made me shake my head. Let me know if you have the same response when you finish reading this...

I am VERY excited that a wholesale store has just opened within about 5 km's of our place (like Costco: Buy in bulk, get good deals) It allows me to get fantastic prices that I previously had to head into Fortaleza for, and allows me to avoid the heat and congestion of Caucaia. The only down side is that you have to bring your own bag/boxes or buy them. (Effectively ruining my free source of garbage bags, but I'll get over that.)

Back to the story... I finish my shopping at this sparkling new store and unload my purchases at the checkout, remembering to ask for my bags at the beginning. (Trying to be extra efficient.) I even lay out my purchases in the order I want them packed! I pay, walk to the other end to retrieve my already-packed cart... Only to find that absolutely everything was loose in the cart, with the bags neatly folded... at the bottom.

Before I knew it, I was tearing a strip off the packer, wondering why in the WORLD he would not have USED the bags I so begrudgingly bought. (On the plus side, I will take it as a sign that I am becoming more and more comfortable with Portuguese, seeing the words flew out of my mouth long before my brain realized what my mouth was doing!)

The response from this poor flustered kid? "Umm.... we're not allowed to...." Is what I believe he said as he bolted away at an impressive speed.

So with a shake of my head that rivalled my puppies wake-up head shake, I turned and went back to my cart, unloading everything from the cart to get the bags, then packing everything into my newly purchased bags, then back into the cart.

Are you shaking your head yet?

I am still trying to decide if I will ask a manager WHY they have grocery packers on their payroll if they don't (can't??) actually pack groceries. Then again, I have learned that for the most part, WHY questions are an exercise in futility here. Generally the only result of asking 'why' is an elevation in my blood pressure.

I guess next time I will just have to modify my check-out counter strategy.

Dancing... aka Driving

Traffic is always a challenge here in Brazil. In Canada, I found driving to be a relaxing activity, good for organizing my thoughts and contemplating life. Here? Not so much. Every ounce of mental energy I have is focused on the road.

Karl's parents are here visiting us these days, so we have been putting more-than-average kilometres on the car as we show them the sights. All this time in the car reminds me of just how different the rules of the road are here. And by rules, I mean guidelines or suggestions... ideals really. For example, the other day I was going grocery shopping, which involves a 5 km drive. I decided to count the number of Canadian infractions/faux pas' I committed during that drive. When I reached 16 and still was not at the grocery store, I decided it was time to stop counting.


I don't think I'm  the only one who thinks drivers are risk-takers here. This is a sign we pass on a regular basis. It says "Respect Life". Is it crude? Probably. Does it get the point across? I'm not sure.

It is not uncommon to be passed at breakneck speeds around blind curves and over hills. Motorcycles think they MUST drive along the dotted line, and weave in and out of traffic, flying through stoplights. Then add bicyclists who will happily avoid what few paths exist to drive directly on the road, never looking behind them to see if someone is coming. Then there are horses. And donkeys pulling carts. And tractors. And every now and then a stray cow. And just in case things were not bad enough, add a generous number of potholes large enough to keep your tire and axle if you hit them. 

My latest pet peeve about traffic is people who need to stop along the way. Even if there is a generous shoulder, (which, granted, often doesn't exist) people feel the need to keep at least 1/3 of their vehicle on the road. This effectively does the same thing as stopping smack dab in the centre of the road. So frustrating. It leaves me driving in the lane of oncoming traffic, or slamming on my breaks to allow an oncoming car to pass. 

Fortunately, there is a language of communication among motorists. It consists of horn honking, similar to Morse Code, and headlight flashing. Essentially the language boils down to this: the longer the honk, the angrier the other driver, or the more dangerous the situation. And, if someone flashes their headlights at you, YIELD! They are probably committed to passing someone (or avoiding a parked car) and will occupy your lane for the next while. If you don't want to have a head-on, YIELD. 

My last complaint about traffic is the engineer who decided where and in which direction the streets run. In downtown Caucaia, for example, all the streets are one ways. Which sounds like a good idea. But all the streets on one side of the centre run in the same direction, and all the streets on the other run the opposite. That means there is no backtracking. If you miss your turnoff, you must literally pass through the most crowded part of the city to find a one way taking you back to where you started to try again. Once, I missed my turn and it took me 45 extra minutes to get where I was going! 

Also, don't expect to be able to turn left. Ever. Here, 3 rights equal a left... Usually. You can see one of my favourite signs below. I like it because really, this is what you do every time you need to get to your left. But this is one of the only signs I have found that explains how to successfully complete the manoeuvre. 

So when I go into Fortaleza to run errands, I make a list, analyze where each one is located, and carefully plan my route, because there is no going back. At least not without wasting oodles of time and becoming rather frustrated. 

I don't mean to bash the way people drive here. There are some positives to the system here. For example, I liken driving here to a dance, you must learn to read what the dancers around you are doing, and then compensate. It might mean you have to speed a little, or drift into the next lane. But it does often keep things moving. In Canada, people think the dotted yellow line is a brick wall, and must never be crossed without adequate signalling and shoulder checking. Canadian drivers follow rules. Brazilian drivers follow the flow. Besides, based on the way Karl and I drive here, I guess we have to remember that while there's one finger pointing at society, there are four fingers pointing back at us. Oh well. When in Rome...