Assis, SP e Tarumã

When we landed in São Paulo, Brazil we immediately left the city of 20 million people and headed 434 km to the "interior," or inner part of Sao Paulo state. Our destination was Assis, SP with a population of 120,000 and feel of Shelton, WA, or a town of about 30,000. The reason we went to Assis, or Center of the World as the locals like to joke, is because of the university of UNESP, which has an unofficial connection to Georgetown University. In exchange for teaching a three hour class for three weeks, Sandra and I were given free room and board at one of the professor's houses, João (Ja-Wow). I am teaching English and she is teaching Spanish. Pretty sweet gig if you ask me. 9 hours of teaching for a month of free accommodation in Brazil during the World Cup when the average cost per day for tourists in Rio and Sao Paulo is north of $500. Here's a map of Assis, SP. 

My first class I didn't really know what to expect. I'm not a teacher by vocation, I studied business. I had TA'd a class here and there so I figured I'd be ok. Well, 35 students showed up to my 3 hour class. Holy crap that's a lot of people to teach for three hours. Luckily, I am an expert in "Amerika". We talked about holidays, foods, sports, politics, slang, idioms, and so forth for the 3 hours and the class went extremely well. I have to admit, it is super hilarious to be teaching slang to a class of 35 students. Just take a look at the chalkboard:

Keep in mind, that those are all words that THEY came up with. I didn't say any of those words. I did, though, show them urbandictionary.com so that they would be self-sufficient for all future slang questions. It's pretty awesome to be teaching university students the subtle differences between jerk, asshole, bro, and douche bag. It's all good fun. 

After teaching the university students for 3 hours, Sandra and I were asked if we would like to visit our students' English and Spanish classes they give to elementary students. Ya, our students are teachers, no big deal. We agreed. We traveled to a near-by city called Tarumã, population 13,000 and went to the local elementary school. They put us in different classrooms for the Spanish and English students, each with about 30 students, told us to go to the front of the classroom, and said "Go ahead". Sandra and I hadn't prepared anything for this class as we thought we were "visiting" not teaching the entire class which was 90 minutes. I went with the flow and after a brief introduction in Portuguese and English, asked them what questions they had about me or the United States. 

Holy Crap, I have not interacted with little kids / teenagers in a long time (12 - 16 year olds). The questions ranged from "What is your favorite color?" to "What do you see as the main problems in Brazil?" The questions covered everything. They even asked if I prefer Brazilian girls to American girls. I asked the class of 25 students if they have ever met a foreigner before, and only 1 student had. ONE. I was the ONLY foreigner they had ever met in their entire lives. It was a little bit shocking and a huge responsibility. Here I was representing foreigners everywhere to a class of Brazilian children. Photos below:

Here's a picture of me with the other teachers. 

 After we did the group photos, everybody wanted to have individual photos with me, I was a freaking celebrity. I probably was in 30 photos that are now splashed across various Brazlian students' facebook profiles. After photos, I signed the kid with the broken arm's cast so that he would feel better, and when I looked up, everyone had their notebooks out and wanted autographs. So I spent another 5 minutes signing autographs. It was completely ridiculous and way too much fun. I didn't know what to write so I wrote stuff like, "You're awesome," "Stay Cool", "Learn English."

Assis, SP is great and everyone is extremely friendly. We have been given so many lifts, or "caronas", and been invited to so many lunches, coffees, and dinners that I've lost track. It the perfect place to come to learn Portuguese and learn about Brazil as it actually is, not the image of Rio most people have. Everyone is so confused why we like it so much here, because for them Assis is SO normal, but for us it's the authentic Brazilian experience. This weekend we are traveling back to Piracicaba to visit my friend Alexandre and Bruna, as well as family friends Bea and Reynaldo.