Rhymes with Duck

Rhymes with Duck. 

Seriously, we are still using duck as a starting point for brainstorming rhyming words in teacher’s manuals?  You are telling me that there has been no feedback saying you could possibly use other animal names: cat, dog, bee (ok, but pee is way better and I would let kids write it in a poem) Curriculum writers really haven’t figured out that thinking of all the rhyming words for duck might lead to an awkward moment.  The phonics program I am using at least puts a note in the sidebar saying that all you have to do is gently and quietly tell the young master potty mouth that you won’t be writing their idea on the board because it doesn’t fit in with the theme of the silly animal poem you are writing.  As if that would solve all the problems.

Well yes Johnny, that word does rhyme with duck, but maybe we should save that one for when you are at home.  And no, let’s not put that in our rhyming poem today.  Yes, I know it makes sense and I am proud of your for remembering the ck at the end, but let’s all just pick a new animal.

I am a duck,

My name is Buck,

Here’s something strange, 

I like to  __uck.  

Cluck people!  Cluck!  Buck the duck likes to cluck!  

My finger smells like chocolate.

Since we are on the subject of context, yes, this student did say his finger smelled like chocolate.  Importantly, he did not say that what was on his finger looked like chocolate because that would be a totally different problem. In fact his pinky was covered by a splint because he broke it walking in the classroom, but that is a different story.  Now, despite his generous invitation to get right in there and sniff, I did not actually attempt to smell his finger, but I am going to guess that chocolate would not even be in the top five on a list of things a pinky in a finger splint would smell like.  That did not stop him from attempting to convince every other student in the room to smell his finger, which led to quite a lively debate over whether he had a chocolate finger or not.  I do appreciate that at least tried to follow safe masking procedures by putting his finger inside his friends masks so that they could have the whole sweatsock finger style experience in the privacy of their own mask.  And who says kids are not learning during this pandemic.  My class is learning a lot.

Do not sht in the classroom.

Speaking of learning a lot, we have been writing to solve problems we see around us and this is what one of my students wrote on his sign for the classroom this week.  And if you knew this student, you would be impressed by the amount of sounds in his words, his use of high frequency words, and the fact that he is writing longer words and using digraphs.  But, there is that pesky vowel sound missing in what I would consider to be the most important word in the sentence, which might lead to some confusion for the reader.  And yes of course it is displayed in a place of honor in our classroom where everyone can see it.  I even worked a picture of it into a presentation to the school leadership.  I have really enjoyed the look of surprise and/or horror on the faces of other adults at school when they read it.  Whenever possible, I ask the student to come over and read his sign to them.  He worked hard on his sign and he wants everyone to know that they should not shout in the classroom.  Hey, that /ow/ sound is tricky, give him a break.

Coming home.

Well, we have nine days of school left and about ninety, what feel like important, decisions to make on each of those days.  At school, we are eyebrow deep in report cards and comments, end of year student and staff celebrations, field trips, packing up our classrooms and what was that last thing, oh yeah, teaching.  At home we are in the midst of deciding what to bring back with us, other than dry erase markers, selling everything we don’t want to bring home, planning birthday parties, closing accounts, making travel plans for our last hurrah after school gets out, and slowly realizing that we are now doing things for the last time instead of the first time.  And being us, we waited until the absolute last minute to buy our tickets home, but at least we have them.  We officially start our journey back to Oregon on July 7th.  Airlines willing we will land in Redmond late on the 8th of July.  

Be safe, be happy, and be well, 

and for some of you, we will see you in six weeks,

Adam 

How do you say stool sample in Portuguese?

It has been kind of nice to hear from folks back home saying that they are excited to see us, but I am not sure you know exactly what you are in store for.  We are different people, and you should prepare yourselves.

The girls are now young women.  Lila just had her 12th birthday and is embracing the almost teen role with gusto.  They have both grown so much that Sara now has moved down to third place on the height chart in our family of four, and could easily be in last place by the time we get home.  Hannah has started painting, a lot, and has created some amazing art for her friends, and us.  Lila’s favorite activity is baking, which is extra impressive because our oven is so small you can only bake four cookies at a time.   Lila is learning the flute, and Hannah continues to play it, and Hannah is teaching herself guitar in the meantime.  They both are playing basketball and volleyball, and Lila is doing student council.  Hannah has braces, and Lila just cut off enough of her hair to donate for making wigs.  Hannah has her birthday in a month, so you will be looking at a 12 year old and 15 year old next time you see them.  If you are thinking, awww, cute, then I would recommend stopping reading at this point if you don’t want to lose that warm fuzzy feeling. It’s about to get real.

Because apparently too much time spent cloistered in isolation can also have some detrimental effects on social skills.  So as wonderful as they are, there may be some post Brazilian pandemic side effects that linger.  So I apologize in advance if they come to your house for any sort of meal.   If they do, I would recommend covering the floor with a tarp, or perhaps eating outside so at least the birds can scavenge afterwards.  I would not call them completely feral, but you just might call them that after they leave toilet paper in your trash can and don’t flush.  Maybe you will consider it a gift, like when a cat brings you a mouse.  It is gross and stinky, and somehow endearing.  I promise that they are not really trying to mark their territory.  And if they visit for long enough to use a brush or comb in your house, you will be gifted with enough hair on your floor to create an entire pet of your choosing.  Just the other day we sculpted a pair of Newfoundlands right there in the bathroom.  I am sorry.  And not that I always smell of roses, but eating outside might just be safer for all of your senses.  They do still know which feet their shoes go into and occasionally how to speak in full sentences, but just consider making sure your tetanus shots are updated by June.  I am sorry.  They are just a bit Covid feral.

And if you would like to spend time with my lovely wife, I hope that you enjoy the sunrise, because that is when she now gets up.   Once quarantine hit, her schedule somehow shifted to the opposite of our teenager.  Hannah, given her druthers, would go to sleep at midnight and sleep until ten.  Sara would go to bed at 8:00 and sleep until 4:00.  Lila and I split the difference,  which makes for a funny family schedule because it feels like there is only a small window when we are all awake at the same time.  Thankfully the living room in our apartment has an amazing sunrise view, so I often awake to another on of Sara’s incredible sunrise photos.  And then I go for a long bike ride, which puts me back just in time to wake Hannah up.  

Me, well, I haven’t actually given that too much thought.  Other things have taken priority, like learning the Portuguese words for stool sample.  Apparently the word sample can be translated to mean lab specimen, and also translated to mean the kind of sample you take of ice cream before you choose your flavor.   Explaining to the lovely person at the laboratory that you would like the ice cream style sample of your own feces would definitely cause some confusion.  Thankfully, that error was avoided, but it was a still an awkward conversation considering the topic.  My Portuguese has improved immensely, but trying to listen to and understand the twelve step process for this most humbling of donations was almost enough to short circuit my limited language skills.  Thankfully I did understand early in the conversation that I got to handle all of this back at my apartment and not in the laboratory bathroom.  And the instructions were printed on the packaging, so Google Translate and I were are able to continue to be best friends.  In the end, it was worth learning that I did not have some sort of Alien movie style parasite living inside me and just drank some bad water on our last beach trip.  And yes, I’m back to normal, whatever that is these days.

We have four more weeks of school now, and more to do than we have days for doing.  Oh well, that’s how we left the US, so it is fitting that we return in a similar manner.

Be safe, be happy, and be well,

Adam,        Hannah,  Sara,Lila (relative height order)

Twenty plus centimeters donated.

Before the donation.

Yes, they are all standing flat footed.

After the donation.

Lila from August 2019.  

Hannah and Lila in our kitchen now.  Look at the accent strip of tile above the stove.

Hannah and Lila in our kitchen when we arrived.  Look at the the same accent strip.

Pé na Areia.

Well, that was interesting.  I have never done anything like that before, and I really don’t need to do it again.  That kind of 36 hour international speed run can definitely go in the “been there, done that” category.  To sum it up, I survived and have one dose of Pfizer Covid vaccine on board.  Was taking four flights, renting a car on a Brazilian driver’s license because my Oregon one expired, driving six hours round trip to just find a shot, dragging Life Cereal and the supplies for S’mores through customs back to Brazil, changing airports in Sao Paolo on the way home and only eating one meal in the US worth it?  Yes, barely.  I am now almost three weeks post shot number one, and I will have to wait until we return to US this summer for shot number two, but at least I avoided getting Covid on the way to get my Covid shot.   Being on a near empty 777 on both flights between Sao Paolo to Miami certainly felt pretty safe, and bizarre at the same time.  I think a 777 holds more than 300 people, and neither of my flights had more than 50 people on them, flight crew included.  Four economy seats to yourself is still not a first class bed, but it was certainly nice to stretch out.

And it is May, which is always an exciting month for teachers because it means the end of the school year is coming.  We have five and a half weeks of school left and are allowed to stay in our apartment for at least two weeks after that, which means we are starting to think about exactly when we will return home.  It is strange to be leaving our new home to return to our old home.  There are a million things to do, both to end the school year, and to end our time here.  We have accounts to close, things to sell, birthdays to celebrate, people to say goodbye too, of course, places to still try to visit. 

Speaking of travel, we took another trip just last weekend.  Yes, April was crazy.  Rio for a three day weekend, then a 36 hour trip for me to Florida the next weekend, and then to Maracaipe for four days last weekend.  And yes, once again, we found a magical spot on the the Brazilian coast.  We flew out of Brasilia at 8:30 on Friday morning and were “pé na areia”, foot on sand, by noon.  Morning snorkeling trips to natural tide pools, breakfast by the beach, surfing, dune buggy rides, beach walks for sunset, and trips to see sea horses made for a busy, but amazing four days. Once again, I’ll let the pictures do the talking on this one.  

Today was our first real attempt at packing some stuff up.  One thing that won’t be coming home is many of the girls’ clothes.  They have grown so much,  and we have shopped so little, that their remaining clothes might fit in a backpack.  Luckily our friends have a daughter who loves hand me downs, so anything that has survived our girls is finding a new home.  And as far as Brazilian stuff, we haven’t collected that much new stuff down here to bring home, so it will be photos and memories that make up the majority of our souvenirs.  Having all the stores closed for most of our time down here has really helped us limit our shopping.  Even when the stores have been open, the idea of just wandering around stores and checking things out has not been super appealing.  

Our remaining time here is already starting to fly.  We are hoping to end healthy and have a few more adventures to remember before we find ourselves back in Oregon.  Last call for anyone who wants to join us on an adventure in Brazil!

And despite the insanity of everything, I am already realizing just how much these last two years have brought us.  We have had the chance to really live and be part of a country we didn’t really know much about before we came.  Brazil, with all it’s flaws, is a country of beautiful people and places.  I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but there is something wonderfully different about Brazil and Brazilians that I will always be grateful for having experienced.  

Happy May to everyone! 

Be safe, be happy, and be well,

Love from Brazil,

Adam, Sara, Hannah and Lila

Some of our fishy friends from the reef.  

We didn’t realize just how far out the reef was from shore when we went the first time.  It ended up being quite a walk/swim, but worth it.

Mr Grumpy Crab.  Can’t remember if that is genus or phylum.

More fish friends

Hannah miserable again.

Decided to take a sailboat and local guide back to the reef on day two.  Even better than day one.  And yes,  Lila loves that she is the only one that has to wear a life jacket!

That is Hannah and Lila in one of the pools.  The darker reef around the pool is in about three inches of water.

More fish friends.

Sara and Hannah make a sea star friend.  

Exploring the area by dune buggy.

My new friend Spike.  I am standing waist deep in one of the pools and you can see the dry reef behind me.  The reef is only exposed at low tide and then only for an hour or so before filling back in.