Starting the Year Off on the Right Foot, pe direito

Okay, so pe direito is most likely (okay, almost certainly) not the correct translation of the American phrase 'right foot'. But so far in my Portuguese, I'm learning basic words, and literal translation is all I have. This is one thing that Rosetta Stone isn't quite grasping (slang and very common speech), and that I'm hoping to figure out by meeting some of the locals when we move down to Recife. I've got grand plans of charming the 'normal folks' (in my visions it's playful conversations with the fishermen, roadside fruit vendors, security guards at our condo) with my lack of Portuguese, and then gradually learning more through conversations with them. We'll see how that goes.

As far as starting the year out right, I've got my first Rosetta Stone Studio Session Scheduled for tomorrow (New Year's Day 2012) at noon. I didn't realize the concept of the studio sessions, so missed signing up for my first two units. I'm going to be doing Unit 1 tomorrow, although in the program I am currently starting Unit 3. In the studio sessions you are speaking with a native speaker (a Brazilian most likely), and only allowed to speak in Portuguese. It's supposed to boost confidence. We will see about that.

In a few more areas of our lives Toby and I are working on getting thing right as we move. We're both working out consistently (I know it seems odd that a man who owns two gyms and his wife who has a semi-free membership to both gyms would not work out regularly), and working on eating "clean". For us that's a modification of the Paleo diet. I throw in beans and occasional dairy, as well as coffee and alcohol. Toby is much more strict. I'm excited to move to Brazil, as it seems the quality of meat will improve greatly (as far as I know there is no such thing as 'grass-fed beef', as all cattle are grass fed in Brazil), a large amount of our fruit I expect will be local, which in my mind means fresher, which means more nutritious. Again, we will see how this happens in real life. But for now, that's what I'm hoping.

On another note, for a little additional income I've been looking at teaching English, or being an English tutor of sorts. I'm not exactly sure how I'll go about it. I speak pretty well, but other than that, I'll have to say, I am in no way qualified to teach English. For information I've been reading Danielle in Brazil, an extremely helpful blog, and a great insight to a lot of the culture of Brazil.

Just a Starter

Hey all! Most of you who have this address are friends and family, so posts will be mostly personal to start, but hopefully this blog will morph into something that could help persons thinking about moving to Brazil. Here are a few pictures from our (my first, Toby's like, hundredth) Thanksgiving trip to Recife, Olinda and Tamandare.