June 5, 2013: Spanish and Social Services

Today at PUC I attended social services class in the social services college. It too began at 7:00 AM, but having gotten more sleep last night than I did the night before, this was not such a challenge. Also, it was much smaller and more diverse than the class in the medical school, having about fifteen students with a variety of ages. However, there was only one male in the class, whereas yesterday the class had a pretty equal male to female ratio. After the teacher introduced me to the class, everyone said their name for me and then I was given the opportunity to practice my Portuguese and speak to the class myself! I basically repeated what the teacher already told them about me (name, age, that I am a pre med student, where I am from) but everyone understood what I was saying so I would say it went pretty well. Also, this class which meets only on Wednesday mornings always has a little breakfast together during class which includes coffee and bread and fruit and cake! So far so good, right?

Now, you might be wondering why the title of this post is called "Spanish and Social Services." Shouldn't it be "Portuguese" or "Brazilians"? Well, no, it shouldn't be. This is because today in social services class we watched a movie called Segunda-Feira ao Sol. I was so excited when it was turned on because all of the previews before the menu were in English with Portuguese subtitles. Then the menu came and someone pressed the play button and everything changed.... The movie was in SPANISH! Haha! Oh my! I was watching a movie in Spanish with Portuguese subtitles. At least the filming seemed nice and I could catch some of the jokes...other than that though, I have no idea what happened in that movie. It was definitely an interesting experience. The class was very nice and even tried to change it to have the talking in English but that option was not offered...there was only Spanish.

 
Later in the day, Karin and Thaynara, my host sisters, were trying to decide where to go to dinner. One wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant and the other to a Barbeque restaurant. It was up to me to decide. It was only once we arrived at the Mexican place that I realized how fitting it was to eat there, yet again bringing Spanish into my day. I guess after being here for one month it was good to mix it up a little!