A new word (Portuguese), but then again, I’m learning lots of new things
these days.
When the Tatianas were in my class, I learned what it’s
really like to live in Russia. Tatiania
#1 left on a Friday, and the following week José (aka Dacio) and Nilza
arrived. They are a lovely couple who’ve
been in class for the past 4 weeks. He’s a Scorpio and she’s a Sagittarian so they’re
a lively couple. I told José to stop
talking and listen more during his first week, but he thankfully ignored my
suggestion and I let it go. It’s hard to argue in a second language.
Over the past month, I’ve learned a great deal about José and
Nilza, and the country they are from – Brazil.
He’s an government auditor; she works in the Customs office, and the
Brazilian government grants its employees a 3-month leave after 5 years of employment
to study abroad. That’s how they came to
be in Italy. They’ve been married 25 years, have 3 grown kids, like to travel,
eat, drink, and have that Latin spark which I’m coming to appreciate.
 |
| José and Nilza |
Along with my other Brazilian classmate William, I learned that
the president of Brazil is a women, that there are 190 million people in the
country, soccer is a BIG deal, corruption is rampant, and their politics are very
interesting when so many people in the country are truly poor. I also learned
that Brazilians are warm, friendly, and proud people. It’s a shameful thing to admit, but I think
before José, Nilza and William, I had only met one other Brazilian in my
life – a student from Rio de Janeiro who was studying at Rotman when I was volunteering there.
José and Nilza were great classmates and today was their final day. It was also Nilza’s 50th birthday
so I bought her a cake and we all celebrated with Prosecco. Seemed like a good way to spend our class
time! Afterwards, my Brazilian trio and
I went out for lunch and talked like the friends we have become. Never mind we didn’t know all the right
Italian verb tenses or words – somehow we just understood each other. It was a great lunch, and then I learned
another new word: triste – sad.
At school, change seems to be a constant. Students come and go –
sometimes for a week, sometimes longer; teachers get changed around and classes
merge - as mine did this week which added 3 great new students: Maria from Lyon,
Carlos from Mexico City, and Manoj from Goa. I’m learning to deal with constant
change and valuing celebrating in the moment.
José and Nilza are off to Verona tomorrow for a few days (writing
letters to Juliette, no doubt), then meeting their kids in Roma before going to
Berlin for Christmas and New Year’s, then Napoli and then home to Fortaleza.
(Travel itineraries are very important at an international language school!)
I did not know that Fortaleza existed until 4 weeks ago. Nilza proudly showed me this video yesterday
on her iPhone. I think Fortaleza and
Brazil just might make it onto a future travel itinerary. Pretty stunning!
