Meet the Brazilian alpine-climbing furball.

I have to get this one out here first. Remember the tiny kitten my host family owns? I don't remember if I told you anything about her... she's a tiny cat, one month old, her name is Lara. And... get this... she's a friggin' mountain climber. She's good at it, too! Watch the video!

Ok, so yesterday two days ago I've started classes, and already I'm getting compliments from total strangers at convenience stores of how well I speak Portuguese. When I tell them I've only been in Brazil for three days they are totally shocked. Something tells me this experiment will work out after all! (Cut to "Young Frankenstein" with Fräu Blucher and the hysterical horses.) I can also now understand the babblings of the bums hanging around the convenience stores (more like mini-supermarkets) so I know I must be making some progress.


The picture at left is one of the group classes at Fast Forward. The young man at the far end of the room is Marçel, my current grammar instructor,. Every Wednesday they show a Brazilian movie of some kind. In this case, it was some romantic movie that was too damn close to Latin American "novelas" for comfort. Thankfully, I am a private student so I didn't have to endure that particular show. This is also the break room and Internet room, where they keep a computer available for casual Internet access. It's not exactly a modern speed demon... I think my Blackberry has a faster connection to the net, and I'm roaming internationally with a Sprint worldphone connected to Brazil's "TIM Brasil" or something like that.


We're continuing with the current plan of morning grammar and afternoon conversation. The school's system is actually quite effective and it's clear these folks know exactly what they are doing. They have quickly figured out my rate of learning and have adapted to it by speeding everything up. The textbook and workbook are large but I think we'll finish them in the four weeks of class I am taking.

I think this weekend I will take a bit of time to visit a couple of museums. Still a lot of work to get done but I need to unwind a bit, the training is quite draining. And now I need to go do my homework, so I'll leave you with another video. The lady at the far right of the room in the dark sweater and blue jeans is my conversational instructor, Marilia (yes, I checked, that's how it's spelled.) The infectiously laughing Brasilian at the far left is David, my original grammar instructor. At the round table there are three Japanese students (there are tons of Brazilians working in Japan and another ton of Japanese in Brazil, the two countries enjoy quite a productive and friendly relationship). The student in the dark shirt is Taca and the one in the light shirt is Jun, the other student staying with us at our host family's apartment (he has a room, I have the separate studio apartment behind the main living areas.