The Beginning of Part III

Well, I'm back in Fortaleza! We got back yesterday afternoon, leaving three students behind in Salvador for their independent studies.

Today marks the beginning of the field study period, something that's pretty exciting. I don't know how much I've said about my project, but I'll be working at a government-funded center that offers classes for youth ages 15-29 in the city. And while doing my own field study is intimidating, it's not even the most intimidating thing about this part of the program.The most intimidating thing is that I'm going to be speaking Portuguese 24/7. There won't be american students around for me to converse with; my academic director will be communicating via e-mail...so from here on out, it's exclusively Portuguese, a true immersion.

The field study isn't even the second-most intimidating thing. While I'm researching the youth center, I'm going to be teaching a class there as well, on "American art and culture"--a pretty broad topic, especially for only 8 "lectures". I figured it'd be a way to give back to the organization, but I was not expecting a serious class. Apparently 50 people enrolled. So, if any of you have any suggestions on what I should include (what even is American culture?) send them my way; I'd be grateful. My first class is tomorrow at 10:30, and I already can feel butterflies in my stomach...

I know I owe updates about Recife and Salvador, and I'm going to try to get around to them this week.

As far as the computer goes, I took it in today to get it looked at...looks like my hard drive failed so I'm without my computer for the rest of the week probably. Hopefully it won't be too expensive to fix. Oh, well. Life goes on, I guess.