This is the first posting of the first blog of the first Claire I. I am unaware of its full implications, but those should come out soon, I suppose. Firstly, welcome. Secondly, long time no see! Most people reading this, which I hope will be no more than about five per month, will be in the States and therefore not have seen me since July 15, 2007 at most recent.
Since then I have spent a few weeks in Porto Alegre, which is the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, the most southern state of Brazil. Then a few days in São Paulo when Paul came to visit, and then I made the big move to the little town of Dois Irmãos, Rio Grande do Sul. I moved there without knowing where I would stay but wanting to be available for the first family who wanted to extend an invitation to live with them for several months.
Two weeks later, after a couple miserable nights in the pousada above the bus station and then a lovely hotel, I moved in with my first family. I stayed with them one week, speaking Hunsrückisch and Hochdeutsch with the parents when the kids weren´t around. The kids speak only Portuguese. They would have liked for me to stay longer but for lack of space. During my stay the daughter had slept in her brother´s room, reluctantly. As with the family I am with now, they let me do what i want on my schedule, and always invite me to participate in family events, such as lunchtime at 12pm.
The current family is letting me stay for a month, because the son comes home only on weekends, sleeping in his sister´s room, and then goes back to high school in another city. He plans to be an NBA star. He occasionally speaks a few sentences in English with his girlfriend, but only if I´m in the other room. The mom speaks Hunsrückisch and Portuguese with me. The dad speaks in quiet mutterings of Portuguese that are difficult to understand but we nevertheless share some sort of humor.
If i can figure out how to post pictures, I will show you these kind people that have been my first hosts in this mountain town of 28,000 people, most of whom are bilingual or have bilingual parents.
Since then I have spent a few weeks in Porto Alegre, which is the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, the most southern state of Brazil. Then a few days in São Paulo when Paul came to visit, and then I made the big move to the little town of Dois Irmãos, Rio Grande do Sul. I moved there without knowing where I would stay but wanting to be available for the first family who wanted to extend an invitation to live with them for several months.
Two weeks later, after a couple miserable nights in the pousada above the bus station and then a lovely hotel, I moved in with my first family. I stayed with them one week, speaking Hunsrückisch and Hochdeutsch with the parents when the kids weren´t around. The kids speak only Portuguese. They would have liked for me to stay longer but for lack of space. During my stay the daughter had slept in her brother´s room, reluctantly. As with the family I am with now, they let me do what i want on my schedule, and always invite me to participate in family events, such as lunchtime at 12pm.
The current family is letting me stay for a month, because the son comes home only on weekends, sleeping in his sister´s room, and then goes back to high school in another city. He plans to be an NBA star. He occasionally speaks a few sentences in English with his girlfriend, but only if I´m in the other room. The mom speaks Hunsrückisch and Portuguese with me. The dad speaks in quiet mutterings of Portuguese that are difficult to understand but we nevertheless share some sort of humor.
If i can figure out how to post pictures, I will show you these kind people that have been my first hosts in this mountain town of 28,000 people, most of whom are bilingual or have bilingual parents.
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