Friday, October 10, 2008

Learning Portuguese ‘The Easy Way’ - by Josh

Hello, Óla, Ciao, Hola, Bonjúr and any other ‘hi’s’ that I’ve missed out just started school and going on overload with the amount of Portuguese going in and not coming out of my head decided to make a little space and write down whats been happening down here in the Floresta das Pinheiras (forest of the pines).

School at Escola Básica e Segundária Padre António de Andrade has been tiring but fun. We’ve been taking the carinha (minibus) at 8:00; starting school at 9:00; getting a fifteen minute break at 10:45 to get a snack from the school bar; eating lunch at 13:00; starting lessons again at 14:15; doing more lessons until 15:45 then we stop lessons for the day and go home at 17:30.

I’ve learnt so much already after just a week (some things I'm not aloud to write on the internet) but funnily enough I don’t know what it is that I’ve learnt. After 15:45 I do some of my T.P.C (trabalho para casa (work for home)) with my colegas in the biblioteca (library) (surprisingly I haven’t had much T.P.C this last week only homework for Ciências Das Naturezas (Biology) and PLNM (for me only: extra Portuguese) and matemática (for those of you who aren’t English its mathematics).

School (dare I say it) is great. Ellie is in the Quarto (4º (4th)) ano and I'm in the Sexto (6º (6th)) ano. I’ve only got twelve people in my class (6 boys 6 girls) 5 are 12 and the rest are 11. Some subjects (like maths) I’ve done 2 years ago and others (like biology) are new things to me.

This last week pai e mãe have been working on Moses to get it ready for moving in before Natal (Christmas). Just now (its 20:07) we got electricidade (electricity) down there from a guy called Lucas who works at the school as well as being an electrician. We’ve got a temporary kitchen and the wood for the telhado (roof) and the chão (floor) of our walkway.

During the feiras (holidays) I was getting more and more nervous everyday but now I’ve started I don’t know why. Probably because I didn’t know Portuguese I didn’t know anything about the subjects or the putos in my class. We went to São Pedro de Moel on the coast and we had loads of people come (6: Caroline, Jon, Maya, violet, grandma & Papops) and basically just chilled out for 3 months.

The last time I went to school was 18 months ago and the time I had with my parents was one of the best times of my life and to give that up is always very difficult but things never last forever and it was time to leave that behind and learn Portuguese.

At this moment in time it is 20:51 20 de Septembro de 2008, Mother is moaning that she wants to go to bed while laughing her head off and saying she’s tired while messing about and saying things like Ellie and Josh can put up a stand in Oleiros with rent-a-goat; Ellie’s being a smart-arse and saying things at random like driving a 4x4 golf cart around the place and about horses eating our houses and donkeys sleeping with dad in bed; dad is lying in bed being as quiet as possible; Angel’s sleeping thinking what idiots we are; Moses is lying outside sleeping in the rain for begging; Slinky is either lying in my bed or playing in the rain; Daffy & Dodo the Delicious Duo of Dumbo Duck Dudes are sleeping in the chicken shed; and I'm writing this. And at this moment in time it is 21:05 and Joshua Krystian Maffezzoni Winter nº8 (number 8) turma B (class B) ano 6º (year 6) is going to bed. Boa Noite!

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