As I walked into my room I felt as if I wasn’t alone. Its something that I’ve been feeling quite a lot these days. I’m not so sure when it started but in the last few months the feeling has intensified.

It started out innocently enough. A bite on this arm here, a bite on that leg there. A few bites is nothing to complain about -  it even happens from time to time back in California – but when a few turns into a few dozen then it becomes a problem.

Even when the numbers kicked up I didn’t think too much of it. This is Brazil after all – on billboards, the sides of buses and bus stop posts you see signs that say “Agora e Guerra. Todos contra o dengue.” The war on mosquitos is institutionalized and made part of every day life here. I’ve got a few dozen bites on my legs? Well, don’t you know we’re at war?

But as I was saying, I could tell that something else was in the room when I walked in it tonight. There have always been mosquitos, but in the last few days I’ve been taken a more active role in this war. I’ve started a campaign to cleanse my room of these devils. My weapon of choice is my trusty raquete, a sort of electrified tennis racket.

At first it was like shooting fish in a barrel. I merely had to turn the raquete on and swing it around in order to bring one down. The first day of my campaign I stood there for what seemed like hours, bringing down bogey after bogey until I thought I had killed them all. Their corpses littered the floor. I left them there like dogs to be eaten by our cat.

Justin wanted to name her Meru, a Buddhist name meaning white mountain. I wanted to name her Cassius after the famous Roman hunter. He wanted her to be a creature of serenity; I wanted her to be a creature of survival. She is a little bit off both, but on that night she was my hunter.

On the second day I was surprised to see at least 5 or 6 of them flying around. Maybe they were in hiding yesterday, or maybe I just couldn’t smack them all down. Or perhaps even more disturbingly there is a nest of them growing somewhere, plotting my demise for striking down their kin. I stood patiently against the wall, moving only to strike when my success was assured. I didn’t need to spend so much time this day in slaying the cretins.

The next morning I woke up to the sound of buzzing in my ear. It is my least favorite way of waking up and I was not pleased to wake up this way the day after my supposed victory. This scenario was not entirely unanticipated, and I slept with my raquete at my side. I lifted it into the air and swatted down my prey who must’ve thought I was easy prey.

Periodically throughout the day I would come into my room and stand in silence, waiting to hear their tell tale buzzing. Each time I would walk away without anything to show for my time. I must say I felt a little disappointed not being able to satisfy my bloodlust. Their species has tormented me for quite some time now, and now that I am in a position of power over them I feel cheated that I couldn’t make them suffer for longer.

I came into the room at night and stood there while I fiddled around on my phone. I wasn’t paying much attention, which can be a death sentence when dealing with mosquitos. This one was without skill, and I heard his buzzing as he approached from the rear.

I scrambled to arm myself with raquete and lost sight of the mosquito temporarily. It reappeared shortly after and I swung wildly. My aim was true and I caught its body within my net.  I squirmed with glee as its body popped and crackled in the embrace of my electric chair. I held down the trigger so that it would disintegrate until nothing was left. I watched as its body melted into nothing.

As I sit here writing this, I’m left with an empty feeling. My victory was hallow and fleeting. In the instant that I kill one of them I experience a rush of satisfaction, but the high doesn’t last very long. It doesn’t take long until another one appears.

They don’t even have to be in the room for me to react to them. After months of being on high alert I’ve gotten used to checking my body for their invasion. Any time I feel something on my body I go on high alert and smack to clear the area. There is never anything there – they are much craftier than that and know only to attack when my guard is down.

I may have brought down their numbers temporarily, but they’ve left their mark on me. I will carry the trauma of this experience with me for the foreseeable future. Every gust of wind that touches my skin, every accidental brush against a chair and every momentary itch I feel brings back memories of their attacks.

The worst part about this conflict is that I am no longer the same person who went to war three days ago. Each death that I brought upon their numbers also brought about the gradual destruction of my innocence. I can no longer call myself a peace loving member of society. I can’t bring myself to say what I really am – that I am a murderer – but if I continue this fight there will come a day when I can voice such thoughts without reservation.

I try to tell myself that the world is a better place for what I’ve done; that others can sleep easier knowing that I fought for them. But how can I take that thought seriously knowing that there are more of them out there now than when I entered the fight. Brothers and cousins of warriors I brought down are now out there, taking up arms after I brought about the death of their loved ones.

I don’t know how to end this war but I know I don’t want to be part of it anymore. I don’t know if it will ever end, I don’t know if this war can ever be won. All I know is that I have to get away from this conflict, from the constant death and destruction, the sleepless nights and the loss of my sanity.

For the last year, whenever anybody asked me what the weather is like in California I always said that it has warm tropical weather all year round, even in winter. After spending a week back home, I realize that I’ve been spreading disinformation all this time. California is cold. I was crazy to think that you could walk around in a t-shirt with 50 degree weather. Sometimes I feel like a tourist in my home town because of the basic things I’m having to relearn.  

During my time in Brazil I’ve come to notice just how much isolation comes with living in a suburb in America. My mom’s house in the US is set up in a way that the only time I ever see my family is when they are in the kitchen. When I leave the house I get in my car, and if my neighbors aren’t outside then I don’t see them. When I drive, I’m remain in my own little bubble. Any people I see will also be in their bubbles, an unless both of our windows are open and we’re at a stop light we can’t have a conversation. Even then it will only last for a few seconds before the light turns green.

My life in Brazil is a lot different. I live in a small house with two roommates and we can always hear each other. The neighbor’s house behind us is connected so we can hear when they come in and out, and we can hear them when they leave their front door open. I like to leave the front door open because people are often milling about outside. I don’t have a car so I walk and take the bus to get to places. If I’m in a social mood its very easy for me to start a conversation with someone.

I’m quite lucky that most of my students are upper intermediate to advanced level English speakers. Upper intermediate to advanced means that they can go out in to the world and converse with English speakers from just about anywhere and express their thoughts without much trouble or awkwardness. At times they may struggle to find the appropriate word for the situation and their prose often lacks the fluidity that comes natural to a native speaker. They occasionally suffer from grammatical mistakes and pronunciation errors. If they haven’t watched a lot of TV or movies in English or have traveled abroad then their English can sound a bit robotic without the proper use of idioms and buffer phrases.

These students are the most fun to teach because they are at a level that doesn’t require controlled output from the teacher like what is necessary for beginner students. With these students I can speak freely to them, and whenever I catch myself using an idiom I can use it to demonstrate a natural use of that expression. With advanced students we usually spend the first 15 minutes of class just having a normal conversation where I adjust their pronunciation and grammar from time to time.

Having a natural conversation is an important part of teaching advanced students and its what makes teaching them so easy. For the Brazilian English student it may be challenging to not say “hestaurant,” but for the English teacher its easy to correct with “restaurant.” While an English student might think its correct to say “I made a presentation,” the native English teacher realizes that “I gave a presentation” sounds better and can correct the student’s mistake.

Now of course not every aspect of the lesson is this easy for the teacher to teach; there is some preparation and thought that needs to go into the planning stage. Every student is at a different level and has different weaknesses and the good English teacher will plan the lesson around each student’s needs. Some teachers will show up to class without any preparation, and as long as the student only wants conversation practice this wont hurt the student; but for those students that want more structure to their lesson the teacher will have to prepare for the class.

My intention in writing this is to give you an insight into one aspect of English teaching. When searching online many of the resources for teaching English tell you how to get a job, but they don’t prepare you for the reality of what you’re going to face. I hope that I can add to the discussion by giving prospective teachers a better idea of what they’re getting into when they join the English teaching world. If you have any comments or questions about English teaching I would love to hear from you in the comments section down below.

Yesterday I was hanging out at my fellow English teacher Justin’s house all day, working on Real Life English while they were out teaching. At some point Claudio, who is pretty close to a native speaker, joined me. Justin came home at around 5:30pm and informed us that he had a class at 6:30pm. I was prepared to go somewhere else to give him some privacy with his students, but he suggested that we stay and make it a conversation class. Even better, he went out and bought some beer.

The first class was the toughest because the level of the students didn’t match up. One of the students is at an upper intermediate level and we were having a very natural conversation for a few minutes until his friend arrived. He hardly said a word the entire class, had no confidence when he spoke, always asked to repeat what was said, and nodded his head to pretend he understood when he really didn’t. We were trying to keep it pretty basic so that he could keep up, but it really seemed like he didn’t care. He is the kind of student that teachers don’t like to have because it means a lot of extra work for us, and he requires that we go over the same material that we previously covered because he doesn’t take any outside initiative.

The next student was a lot better. He is also an upper intermediate level and a very fun guy to be around. We threw back a few beers while we taught him the proper uses of such filler words as “Yeah,” “Alright,” “You know?” “I mean.” After his hour was over he stayed later and joined us for Justin’s third hour of class. This student was an upper intermediate level as well, and very confident in his English after spending three months in the US. At some point Chad finished teaching and showed joined in on the fun. We continued on the previous theme of filler phrases, because if you don’t use them and in the right places then you won’t appear fluent in a language. Things got a little crazy in the end with a glass breaking and another one spilling.

It was a really cool lesson, we all had a lot of fun and (most of) the students got a lot out of the “class.” In typical Brazilian fashion one of the students joined us for an after class beer and some Chorinho music. It was 10pm and I wanted to go home because I had a 7:30am class the next morning, but they wouldn’t let me do that so I stayed out until 12:30.

My student on Tuesday evenings has upper beginner level English. He has limited vocabulary, his pronunciation needs work, his grammar is pretty bad, but he is very confident, he’s not afraid of making mistakes and he is very eager to learn. Basically he is the student all teachers would love to have because he will do what is necessary to ensure his success. Next week his friend returns from a conference and will join us in the classroom. If their levels don’t match up then it could be a problem where I will have to either dumb down the English I teach for one of them, or speak at a higher level than the other one is comfortable with.

But anyway, it was inspiring to have a class with this student and see how a confident beginner is able to communicate. If he was put out into the English speaking world on his own he would be able to communicate most of what he wants to say, but more importantly he would pick up English super fast because he isn’t afraid to speak it and make mistakes. It is going to be interesting to watch his progress over the following months and see how he improves.

It feels good to be teaching again after being away from it for so long. Because business tends to move slower in Brazil than in the US it took two weeks after I was hired before I was given classes to teach. Between my two jobs I have 4 students to teach. I teach early in the morning Tuesday-Friday, and in the evening on Monday and Tuesday. I’m not going to be making enough money teaching this few students so I need to find some more, or supplement my income with translating.

The problem with English teaching is that we have to adapt to the schedules of our students. Since most people work 8-5 or 9-6 we either have to teach them before they go to work, during lunch if they have a 2 hour break, or after they’re done with work. The large gaps in the schedule mean I have to find other ways to spend my time. Jiu Jitsu will be a good way to fill one hour every day but I’ll still have a lot of free time to occupy a coffee shop and work on blogging.

It felt really good to walk out of the classroom today after finishing my first lesson. I didn’t plan too much for the first day since I didn’t know what level Thiago’s English was at, so I used the lesson to learn about him and gauge his English level. His English is pretty damn good: his vocabulary level is pretty high, his sentences flow pretty naturally and he only has a few pronunciation mistakes that need to be corrected. Its easier to teach students at this level since I don’t have to control every word that comes out of my mouth and can speak more freely. His objective is to speak as fluently as possible, and at his level the best way to do that is to take his dry English and spice it up with some idioms and slang. Oh this is going to be fun.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog, sorry Grandma. So what have I been doing in Brazil this last month?

I spent a week in Rio de Janeiro, a week in Sao Paulo then I came to Belo Horizonte. I came here with the intention of finding a place that I would like to live for a few years. I didn’t find that in Rio because there were too many gringos around and I like being a novelty. Sao Paulo was way too big and unfriendly and I didn’t like that I had to spend a half hour on the bus to get anywhere. Belo Horizonte is great because its not flooded with gringos, its a big city that has a small town feel and its a city that is going to host the world cup in 2014.

I’ve been here for three weeks now staying with a friend that I met in Israel. They say I can stay with them for as long as I need, but I’ve been looking for a place of my own. Getting a 1-bedroom apartment is out of the question because of price and because I would have to get locked into a 12-36 month contract in order to rent it. So I’ve been looking to rent a room in someone else’s apartment. I’ve been kinda picky, and have been holding out for a place that is within a half hour walk of Savassi, which is where I work and where most of the nightlife is.

When I got here I handed my CV to a bunch of English schools and didn’t get any bites. Then when I started networking with other Gringos in the area they referred me to English schools that they work for that are hiring. Now I have two jobs teaching English, but I haven’t been getting many hours yet. I taught one class last week and next week I should have at least 10 hours. They’ll give me more in the upcoming weeks when they get better organized, but I’m going to look for a third job and get private students as well.

I started taking Krav Maga classes at the Israel Union which is close by to where I’m staying. I’ve been meaning to start up Jiu Jitsu as well, but I’ve been kinda lazy about it since the Gracie Barra studio is on the other side of town and because they never answered the phone when I called. Once I get my work schedule figured out I’ll go down there and work out between classes.

I’ve moved around a lot during the last year and its started to wear me down. I need to settle down some place for a year or two to get my life organized and work on my goals. I am going to lose 15 kilos, start eating Paleo again and get in shape. I am going to consistently update this blog and www.reallifebrazil.com and grow them to the point where I am able to support myself with the income from them. I want reallifebrazil.com to be the leading Brazil blog that everybody uses to learn more about life in Brazil. By 2014 it will be the top result on google for terms relating to Brazil and the world cup, and I will leverage this position to sell advertising for translation, apartments, tour guides and other services.

I was sitting at the computer in the hostel just now when the maid came in to clean. She was mopping the floor and I moved out of the way when she got closer to me. Then she said something like, “Estou atrapalhando voce?”

When someone says a word that I don’t understand ill either guess from context or tell them that I don’t understand. I told her, “Nao entendo.” She repeated the same thing which didn’t help me to understand, so I told her “I don’t understand atropalhar.”
“Atrapalhar, voce nao fala portugues?” she said.
“I speak Portuguese but I dont understand the world atrapalhar.”
“Atrapalhar. Voce esta trabalhando e eu estou atrapalhando.” She had a different accent than what I was used to, so to me it sounded like she said “You’re working and I’m working.”
I told her, “No, I’m talking to a friend.”
She replies matter of factly, “And im working.”
She was starting to bother me since I couldn’t understand why she kept pointing out that she was working, so I said, “I don’t understand, do you want me to leave so you can clean?”
She seemed horrified at my comment and told me, “No, no, you go back to work and I wont work you anymore.”

I sat back down to the computer and looked up the word atrapalhar. It means to disturb. Her working class accent combined with my insistence on continuing the conversation until I understood the word let us to a lot of confusion that made both of us uncomfortable. Had I treated her like a maid and ignored her both of us would’ve been a lot happier.

I’m in Sao Paulo now and the first thing I realized about this place is that it’s cold. When I left for Israel two months ago I wasn’t planning on coming to Brazil so I didn’t pack for this cold. My mother sent me a sweater when I was in New York but it’s not enough here. Everyone walks around with big jackets while I’m walking around in short sleeves. I went out the other night without a jacket or anything and wasn’t cold because I refused to allow my brain to understand the concept of cold. This only works when I’m at full mental capabilities and it would be much easier if I went out and bought a jacket.

I’m looking for an apartment right now around the city center. There is one neighborhood I’m looking at called Liberdade which is where all of the Japanese people live. Sao Paulo has the largest population of Japanese people outside of Japan, so this would be a good place for me to learn Japanese.