Two portraits of life in Salvador
Portrait 1 Salvador is a dirty and violent city. I have to clean the house several times a week because of all the grit that blows in from the …
Feijão (Beans) Recipe
When Christian and I got married, one of our friends – upon hearing that I’m learning how to cook – asked if I could at least make a “basic” feijão, …
Why you should / shouldn’t teach English in Brazil
YOU SHOULDN’T TEACH ENGLISH IN BRAZIL IF… 1. You want to make a lot of money. Some ESL teaching jobs – particularly in Korea – offer a very comfortable …
American comforts and the lack thereof
Before we got married, my husband asked me multiple times and in various ways if I was really willing to give up the comforts of living in the U.S. …
Cleanliness, communication, and compromise
I’ve always heard that men are more oblivious to the presence of dirt than women. That they’ll think nothing of wearing the same underwear for a few days, that …
Teaching English: Group vs. Individual Classes
Currently, I split my schedule between individual classes and small group classes (from 2-8 students) and people often ask me which one I prefer. Here are three advantages of …
Brazilian vs. American wedding etiquette
Wedding etiquette is complicated. I haven’t even been to that many weddings, so I don’t know much about how things are “supposed” to be done. But there were two …
A Brazilian Messianic Jewish Wedding
On August 7, 2011, Christian and I were married in Salvador – Bahia – Brazil. I’m so thankful for everyone who celebrated with us, everyone who helped out, everyone …
Communication
Today I bought some plug adapters for my family, who will be arriving in a couple days, and it brought back fond memories of one of my first limited-Portuguese …
Why English is hard to learn
Two words: phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs are combinations of a verb plus one or more prepositions, and they are nightmares for my students because the meaning of the same …