June Party, a Birthday Party, and a Japanese Festival
It's been another crazy week here in Apucarana. I always think Mon-Wed will be my lazy days as all I have are two conversation clubs, but those days end up being even busier than Thursday and Friday when I have class with the professors. Let me tell you about my doctor adventure, a June party I went to, and a birthday party and Japanese festival on the same day.
Monday I woke up feeling even worse. I finished my amoxicillin that morning and knew that I was going to need more medication. I asked the professors I work with which doctor I should go see this time, and Fernanda, one of the English professors, offered to help me. Her father is a pharmacist and works with a lot of doctors, so we went there for some free help first. Fernanda's father asked me some medical questions and then decided to send me to see his childhood best friend, who is a doctor. While we waited for the friend, we went to his office and had coffee with three of his friends and chatted with them for a while. Honestly, it was probably the most fun I've ever had while being at a doctor's office/blood test lab. Then, her father walked me and Fernanda over to another doctor's office and I got another medical examination while Fernanda translated for me. The doctor didn't make me pay for the examination and did it as a favor for his best friend. I ended up getting another antibiotic and cough medicine. It makes me really tired and hazy but I've been feeling a lot better in general, so I think it's worth it. After the adventure to get more medication, I had a meeting with one of the teachers at UNESPAR to talk about a project we are doing with her. I then went home and went to bed.
Tuesday morning I headed over to Alexa's house that she just moved into. We had coffee and planned some things for the meetings we were having throughout the week. We then went to the university and had a meeting for the Spring Festival and English Day that are coming up later this year.
Wednesday was a super busy day. We are doing a project with Raquel, an English professor. She has set up a teacher development course for the teachers in Apucarana and the surrounding cities. At 9, we arrived at the school we decided to have our introduction meeting at and we met some of the teachers who will be attending our course. We introduced ourselves and then talked about Education in the U.S. Afterwards, we had one teacher come up and say our presentation made her a little bit sad because she didn't know that our education system had problems. She thought it was perfect. I was glad we opened up her eyes to the fact that all school systems in all countries are not perfect, and sometimes we even face the exact same problems. I look forward to getting to know the teachers better and understand more about the problems they face in teaching. I am very excited to start this project because all of the teachers seem excited as well and I think it will be a very beneficial course for all involved.
After the meeting, I went home and rested until it was time for conversation club. I had everyone write an object poem. We didn't have time for them to finish, but I hope to have some students turn them back in to me so I can keep them and use them to decorate at the English Spring Festival and show off some student work. I'm anxious to see how the poems turned out as I love poetry and I think the students will do a really nice job.
After convo club, the Portuguese Language Major put on a little festival themselves. People sang, did drama, recited poetry, and a bunch of other performances. It was outside and decorated beautifully with candles and big pillows to sit on and there was also hotdogs and popcorn. Our English Festival will somewhat be like this, but Alexa and I are in charge of decorating so I hope it turns out just as pretty as this festival did. Finally, it was time to go home, Skype Frankie, and go to sleep.
Thursday was probably one of the easiest days this week. All I had to do was work on my Master's Class and go to class at 9. However, it was still a day full of adventure. My computer charger broke, which was very unfortunate because electronics are very expensive here, so I hunted down a store where one of the workers would go to Paraguay and buy a cheaper charger for me. I could have bought one online, but I would have to pay shipping and import and export fees and that would have probably equalled out to what I spent on my new charger. So I had to wait for this man to bring a new charger back, and Alexa let me borrow her computer for the day so I could work on my class. I got everything done, gave her computer back, and then got ready to go to school. I decided to eat dinner at home instead of at school, so I tried to take a later bus. Little did I know that a bus did not run at 8:30 by the school. So I took a bus that I knew went close to the school and just hoped I would make it on time. The bus I took only went a few blocks away from the university, so I walked about 10 minutes and ended up making it two minutes early to class. Class was about improve and parodies, so it was a lot of fun and I can't wait to see the students' parodies they are coming up with for next week.
Brazil played in the World Cup on Friday morning, but I slept through the game and only woke up when there was cheering and fireworks for the scored goals. I then just hung out at home until it was time to get dinner and head to class at 7.
I was so glad I got to bed early because on Saturday, it was a very long night. Around noon, I went and picked up my new computer charger from the store and spent way too much money on it. But I needed it, so there wasn't a way to avoid spending that much money. I worked on my master's class with my newly charged computer and then headed over to my friend's house at 6. We were planning on going to a Festa Junina (June Party) at the place we always go for barbecues. Maraina did mine and Alexa's makeup and hair, helped dress us, and then we all headed to Grandpa's House (the house we have barbecues at). The clothes and makeup are very traditional and everyone who dresses up has the same pigtails, fake freckles, blush, and ribbons. It was definitely a different look for me, but it was fun being involved in the tradition. There were 150-200 people that came to the house and they had sooo much good food. They even made 100 plastic cups for the Festa Junina and they ran out right away. I tried soup, hot dogs, and a bunch of different desserts and drinks. There was even a live band playing traditional music. Overall, it was a great night with good friends, good food, and fun music.
Sunday was another full day of activities. We started by going to a Japanese festival for lunch. It kind of felt like the state fair. They had a bunch of booths selling products like a back massager and pokemon and flowers and pickled food and sauces. So there was one tent with these booths in it and then a very large tent that had a bunch of food stands and TVs and music. I got sushi and a churro and ran into one of the women that come to my Monday conversation club. She introduced me to the President of the Japanese club who basically heads up the entire festival. I feel famous here sometimes as I get to meet very important people here in Apucarana a lot, but it's also awkward for me. A friend's father also introduced us to the man who basically planned everything so I met two of the most important people of the Japanese festival. After enjoying ourselves for a while, it was time for Alexa and I to go to a birthday party for Raquel's daughter. She turned 8 this year and had a Beauty and the Beast theme for her party. It was beautiful and the food was really good. After this, we went to Alexa's house to play Cards Against Humanity with some friends before they all walked me home for the night. I was a very busy day, but it was a ton of fun and I had a great weekend.
Thanks for reading!!