Three months ago, when I told a buddy that I'd try and put out about one blog post a week, he raised his eyebrows and said "That's ambitious."
And here we are, exactly four weeks since the last post. The major hesitation has been that after the first two months, very little has felt novel or noteworthy—literally, "nothing to write home about." Most weeks have been roughly the same, following the rhythmic schedule of the previous ones. And finally, as that sense of predictable structure sets in, I wake up and realize I have a routine.
Now as a member of the millennial generation, I'm prone to shudder at the word, "routine." It is a ship trudging permanently and complacently toward the endless horizon of boredom and death. It is what happens when you give up on your dream job of getting paid just to be you and consequently sell your soul to the Man for a salary you'll be unsatisfied with in a year or two.
But I think for me, now, spontaneity and unpredictability are in surplus. They're as abundant as the fruits growing in the neighboring forests, as abundant as the rain that daily makes them grow. So at this point, routine for me is like the smell of your house—it's nothing particularly special, and it's nothing new, but you know what you're in for when it hits you. And even after you stop noticing it, the comfort runs deep.
So, without any further musings on the philosophy of the routine, I present: my weekly routine.
SEGUNDA-FEIRA
Not the Monday everyone else is used to. My Monday is largely empty; since I work on Saturday (more on that later), Monday is the second half of my weekend. It's a day to catch up on stuff, emails (which are even less fun in Portuguese), other correspondence, blogging (uh, sometimes), reading, and just sitting and watching storms come in from across the river. Then in the evening, I've got capoeira class, which is one of the best parts of the week. It's everything I love about martial arts, plus traditional music and dancing, with the discipline of constantly being as conscious of the other person as you are of yourself. Then, my favorite pub-type establishment, which happens to be a five minute walk from the apartment, plays live bossa nova until I decide to go home and sleep.
TERÇA-FEIRA
In all other cases, the word for "third" is terceira. But "terceira-feira" likely sounded too sing-songy, so now it's just "terça." Mornings are still free (so far), which allows me to prepare for class in the evening. I often do some independent portuguese study before heading to the Restaurante Universitário (RU) for a very cheap and substantial lunch. Then I head to Portuguese for Foreigners, offered to me free of charge through the modern languages department. Immediately after, I coordinate a planning meeting with about ten students for our service-learning project in a nearby youth-focused non-profit (vaguely resembling YMCA) called ProPaz. And immediately after that, I head to Inglês III, the course I co-teach with an existing professor. I normally sit in on the first half of class, occasionally referred to for the final verdict on some grammatical dispute or ambiguity, and in the second half, I take the reigns. Anything can happen in the second half. Literally, I'm often told "you can do whatever you want." I seem to have a knack for these types of teaching jobs...
QUARTA-FEIRA
So far, Wednesday is nearly as un-busy as Monday. On Wednesday, though, the service-learning students and I visit ProPaz to hang out with the kids there (about 11-14 years old) and do whatever it is we came up with the day before. The goal of the project is "sensibilização" to English, which is something like exposure, orientation, awareness, etc. It's certainly a complicated issue for me; I regret that English is as necessary in the world as it has become, but if the interest we aim to pique in just one of the kids in one of Belém's poorest neighborhoods ends up opening a door for that kid, then I think we may have done more good than harm. It's just difficult to accommodate the inevitable spread of English into the world without furthering that spread into communities that may be hurt by it more than helped. More on that to come.
QUINTA-FEIRA
On Thursday, like basically every other day, I've got mornings free. This means more Portuguese study (I'm finding phonetic practice—i.e., tuning my accent—to be really exciting and satisfying), reading, emails and other correspondence, and anything else I feel like doing. In the afternoon, I've got another round of Portuguese for Foreigners, followed by my lab on language and culture. Till now, I've really tried to put the time in the hands of students in the effort to avoid making Lab feel like another class. I'm trying to make it a space that students can bring things they're curious about or want to work on, but it's taken awhile to reform the idea that I'm there to bring them something to do. I try to start every Lab by asking "So...what are we gonna do today?" I'm currently trying to survey students to see if this is the best use of their time (or if they'd just prefer something that resembles a class), so we'll see where it goes from here. After lab, I've got capoeira again, which often feels me leaving feeling atropelado (hit by a car / run over) in the best kind of way. If I'm feeling like a night owl at this point, the same bar/pub plays jazz tonight, starting at midnight. Ah, madrugada...
SEXTA-FEIRA
Fridays are also basically free of any obligations. Every once in awhile we'll have a department meeting, but until I secure an internship it's a pretty free day. Friday will likely end in one of several cheap or free cultural events at the historic Theatro da Paz, or the more contemporary Sesc, which is across the street from the only craft brewery in Belém. Amazon Beer, as it's called, uses regional fruits in their brews, my favorites of which are the Priprioca Red Ale and (...wait for it...) the Açaí Stout. Paraenses really dig their açaí.
SÁBADO
Not a sabbath for me. Part of why my schedule is so free some days is that I work on Saturday. Before that, though, I wake up and visit the local feira, or farmers' market. The majority of what I eat comes from people whose faces I recognize and who recognize me, and this for me is weirdly invaluable. My last stop is always the guys selling iced coconuts, and they usually know I'm coming. "Côco gelado?" he asked last week as I approached. "Fa-vor!" I replied, "bem gelado." I realized on the way home last time that I'd forgotten to pay him. I didn't worry about it; we both know I'll be back next week. Anyway, after the feira, I head to the FaLa English Project, which is a continuation of the work of one of last year's ETAs (English Teaching Assistants; that's my title). I help coordinate another group of ten or so student teachers as they plan and execute English lessons for 8- to 12-year-old music students at the Fundação Amazônica de Música, which just turned ten this year! My role is largely background, observing lessons and then providing and eliciting reflective feedback afterwards. The second half of the day is an experimental language advising session, where we meet with students independently studying English to help guide them in their efforts and give them space to process their learning efforts. Then we do more reflecting (always reflecting...), and hopefully sometime before the afternoon rain, we're done.
DOMINGO
I've not yet found a church I feel a real part of, but there's always an open door for some kind of mass or service. On Sunday mornings my good friend Jean and his spiritist community provide a serious amount of service to the neighborhood, and when I joined them, I got to literally break the bread and serve it to some hungry folks. This might be the most promising kind of church I'll find here.
So goes the weekly routine. It's hard to imagine it wasn't some of the driest new material on the web, but I often end up wondering about the routines of friends of mine, so to anyone who made it all the way to the end, parabéns. I'll be making an effort to post more regularly to keep the length manageable. If there's anything that stuck out or deserves some elaboration, I'll happily give it! Till then, I'll ride the routine, stretching it when I get bored, and resting in it when I need to. Every song needs a rhythm.
And here we are, exactly four weeks since the last post. The major hesitation has been that after the first two months, very little has felt novel or noteworthy—literally, "nothing to write home about." Most weeks have been roughly the same, following the rhythmic schedule of the previous ones. And finally, as that sense of predictable structure sets in, I wake up and realize I have a routine.
Now as a member of the millennial generation, I'm prone to shudder at the word, "routine." It is a ship trudging permanently and complacently toward the endless horizon of boredom and death. It is what happens when you give up on your dream job of getting paid just to be you and consequently sell your soul to the Man for a salary you'll be unsatisfied with in a year or two.
But I think for me, now, spontaneity and unpredictability are in surplus. They're as abundant as the fruits growing in the neighboring forests, as abundant as the rain that daily makes them grow. So at this point, routine for me is like the smell of your house—it's nothing particularly special, and it's nothing new, but you know what you're in for when it hits you. And even after you stop noticing it, the comfort runs deep.
So, without any further musings on the philosophy of the routine, I present: my weekly routine.
SEGUNDA-FEIRA
Not the Monday everyone else is used to. My Monday is largely empty; since I work on Saturday (more on that later), Monday is the second half of my weekend. It's a day to catch up on stuff, emails (which are even less fun in Portuguese), other correspondence, blogging (uh, sometimes), reading, and just sitting and watching storms come in from across the river. Then in the evening, I've got capoeira class, which is one of the best parts of the week. It's everything I love about martial arts, plus traditional music and dancing, with the discipline of constantly being as conscious of the other person as you are of yourself. Then, my favorite pub-type establishment, which happens to be a five minute walk from the apartment, plays live bossa nova until I decide to go home and sleep.
TERÇA-FEIRA
In all other cases, the word for "third" is terceira. But "terceira-feira" likely sounded too sing-songy, so now it's just "terça." Mornings are still free (so far), which allows me to prepare for class in the evening. I often do some independent portuguese study before heading to the Restaurante Universitário (RU) for a very cheap and substantial lunch. Then I head to Portuguese for Foreigners, offered to me free of charge through the modern languages department. Immediately after, I coordinate a planning meeting with about ten students for our service-learning project in a nearby youth-focused non-profit (vaguely resembling YMCA) called ProPaz. And immediately after that, I head to Inglês III, the course I co-teach with an existing professor. I normally sit in on the first half of class, occasionally referred to for the final verdict on some grammatical dispute or ambiguity, and in the second half, I take the reigns. Anything can happen in the second half. Literally, I'm often told "you can do whatever you want." I seem to have a knack for these types of teaching jobs...
QUARTA-FEIRA
So far, Wednesday is nearly as un-busy as Monday. On Wednesday, though, the service-learning students and I visit ProPaz to hang out with the kids there (about 11-14 years old) and do whatever it is we came up with the day before. The goal of the project is "sensibilização" to English, which is something like exposure, orientation, awareness, etc. It's certainly a complicated issue for me; I regret that English is as necessary in the world as it has become, but if the interest we aim to pique in just one of the kids in one of Belém's poorest neighborhoods ends up opening a door for that kid, then I think we may have done more good than harm. It's just difficult to accommodate the inevitable spread of English into the world without furthering that spread into communities that may be hurt by it more than helped. More on that to come.
QUINTA-FEIRA
On Thursday, like basically every other day, I've got mornings free. This means more Portuguese study (I'm finding phonetic practice—i.e., tuning my accent—to be really exciting and satisfying), reading, emails and other correspondence, and anything else I feel like doing. In the afternoon, I've got another round of Portuguese for Foreigners, followed by my lab on language and culture. Till now, I've really tried to put the time in the hands of students in the effort to avoid making Lab feel like another class. I'm trying to make it a space that students can bring things they're curious about or want to work on, but it's taken awhile to reform the idea that I'm there to bring them something to do. I try to start every Lab by asking "So...what are we gonna do today?" I'm currently trying to survey students to see if this is the best use of their time (or if they'd just prefer something that resembles a class), so we'll see where it goes from here. After lab, I've got capoeira again, which often feels me leaving feeling atropelado (hit by a car / run over) in the best kind of way. If I'm feeling like a night owl at this point, the same bar/pub plays jazz tonight, starting at midnight. Ah, madrugada...
SEXTA-FEIRA
Fridays are also basically free of any obligations. Every once in awhile we'll have a department meeting, but until I secure an internship it's a pretty free day. Friday will likely end in one of several cheap or free cultural events at the historic Theatro da Paz, or the more contemporary Sesc, which is across the street from the only craft brewery in Belém. Amazon Beer, as it's called, uses regional fruits in their brews, my favorites of which are the Priprioca Red Ale and (...wait for it...) the Açaí Stout. Paraenses really dig their açaí.
SÁBADO
Not a sabbath for me. Part of why my schedule is so free some days is that I work on Saturday. Before that, though, I wake up and visit the local feira, or farmers' market. The majority of what I eat comes from people whose faces I recognize and who recognize me, and this for me is weirdly invaluable. My last stop is always the guys selling iced coconuts, and they usually know I'm coming. "Côco gelado?" he asked last week as I approached. "Fa-vor!" I replied, "bem gelado." I realized on the way home last time that I'd forgotten to pay him. I didn't worry about it; we both know I'll be back next week. Anyway, after the feira, I head to the FaLa English Project, which is a continuation of the work of one of last year's ETAs (English Teaching Assistants; that's my title). I help coordinate another group of ten or so student teachers as they plan and execute English lessons for 8- to 12-year-old music students at the Fundação Amazônica de Música, which just turned ten this year! My role is largely background, observing lessons and then providing and eliciting reflective feedback afterwards. The second half of the day is an experimental language advising session, where we meet with students independently studying English to help guide them in their efforts and give them space to process their learning efforts. Then we do more reflecting (always reflecting...), and hopefully sometime before the afternoon rain, we're done.
DOMINGO
I've not yet found a church I feel a real part of, but there's always an open door for some kind of mass or service. On Sunday mornings my good friend Jean and his spiritist community provide a serious amount of service to the neighborhood, and when I joined them, I got to literally break the bread and serve it to some hungry folks. This might be the most promising kind of church I'll find here.
So goes the weekly routine. It's hard to imagine it wasn't some of the driest new material on the web, but I often end up wondering about the routines of friends of mine, so to anyone who made it all the way to the end, parabéns. I'll be making an effort to post more regularly to keep the length manageable. If there's anything that stuck out or deserves some elaboration, I'll happily give it! Till then, I'll ride the routine, stretching it when I get bored, and resting in it when I need to. Every song needs a rhythm.