ARRANGEMENTS...ARRANGEMENTS....ARRANGEMENTS.....

My life for the past weeks turned into a sucession of arrangements...

Just to point out some of the arrangements im envolved:

* The teachers training at Skill (a nearly 40 hour training with around 16 teachers, during 2 weeks)

* The extra activities for the comming semestre (august-dec) for the school - that is activities we are going to have in and out side the school.

* My routine at the skill branch as to satisfy the needs of "front line" - or, "fire line" , as we say - the secretaries at the front counter, as to satisfy the sales dept, and of course, the teachers and students.  I will have to plan a careful schedule to meet the needs of all depts.

* The trip to england all that envolves it : money, timetable, places to go, how to go, when to start paying for that , how to pay, etc - One step i took already: i invested my money at HSBC and arranged with my account manager to give me 15 days before i go, some money converted in traveller cheques and also, to buy around 50 pounds, as i leave the country.  She also told me she will prepare for me an International Credit card.  Now , i just have to save some more money and thats it. - Also, to look for 2 good coats to take with me.  I will wait till winter in here ends so that i can bargain nice witner clothes in the shops.  They charge about 50% less when winter ends - that is, IF one day, it ends. lol But seriously, I think that around september i can start looking for some discount stores.

* The documents necessary to get the validation of my passaport.  Gosh. I feel lazy to go up to the federal police..   It sucks going to the centre of city and facing the long queues in there.

* a full research on "sublimal messages" to hand in to my boss.  He agreed that i can try these tools during my works with the teachers.

* A Scientifically-made project with the training im just about to give to give my director (national director) to include it in the national meeting presentations.  Yes, I will try to compete with this training stuff among all brazilian coordinators and their projects, if it is accepted, then i will have to prepare a full demonstration based on scietifical methodology of evaluation, reseache, analyses to show my colleagues at Skill National Coordinators/Franchisee's Board of debates.   Gosh. That will be thrilling, as there are almost 400/500 ppl in the audience, lol

* A timetable for the teachers, including monitoring weeks.

etc etc etc etc etc

Gosh.;. You know when u feel a bit lost?  Im feeling a bit lost due to the great amount of activities aI have to accomplish;  i dunno whether i shall go to the federal police, or stay at home writing about my projects, or moreover, to meet Orion and discuss about the factors in the training, or calling Ricardo and discussing Transactional analyses, or writing to the hotels in the Uk, or washing my dishes first, Or going to the hairdresser, Gosh!!!!!!!!!!   I need a secretary!!! hahahahahaha

Trully:  Im the sort of person who NEEDS a secretary to live better.  I dunno what to do first, and I have so many deep things to think of,  that i need an executor to do the "smaller things".  For example: Going to the federal police and wasting a full morning there is a waste of time!!!!!   I wish i could send someone else to do this for me.  Also, to look for Hotels and routes in England!!!  I dont have time to do this now, and I thank God Chris is giving me a hand.  He is doing almost the whole research and looking for things for us, as i know that he is sure that i have no time available to do this.

Also, I needed to change my mobile for a more modern one and I asked my father to buy one for me.  He went to the shops, looked for prices and maybe, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, he will go there and buy for me.  (now, the shopping centre is a bit far from me, - almost 7 blocks)

Now all that i need is a person to come over and clean my house for me. And iron my clothes. I think I will ask the cleaning woman to come over next week, maybe.  I have  no time to iron clothes, and besides it, I think i have studied too much in this life already to dirty my hands in dust and etc, lol   Have to learn to take advantage of living in a country where slavery is part of culture, and maids charge little money!lol  So, lets them maids do the hard stuff|!!!!  hehehe   I think all women should have the right to have at least 2 maids per capita.  Not fair we women have to work out, be a briliant professional, dedicated mother, efficient house keeper, good cook, good lover, good friend, good educator!!!  Gosh!! too much for a single person!!!!  I dont think it is fair.. 

I imagine myself now with young children...gosh...  I wouldnt have time now to raise children.  Not the good time to be a mother now.  Only if i had a very dedicated husband who could stay with the children while I work and study and prepare things at home.  Gosh.  ok...lets forget about them kids,lol

I just hope I can have them in the maximum of 5 years, because im sure that if dont have them until the age of 35, then, i wont have kids anymore.  Gosh..  Why Am I saying all this bullshit??lol 

Ok, now just to end todays post, a drawing i found funny about subliminal messages.

SOME MORE PICS

Those pics i have in here are originally regular pics, not digital.  I got my web cam and had the idea of taking shots of them as i cant seem to fix my scanner.  The quality is very low, gosh, but at least, u can have an idea:)

This is me and my so-loved granny (the one who used to teach me about tea stuff)
I think I was 5, or 4 years old.  I was trying to ride the bike.  She was always there, to help me :)

This was taken during the baptism of my brother (1 year, i think) And I was for sure 5 or 6. My granny again. I was sucking my thumb.

Sleeping Little crissy :)  Think I was 4, or 5.

This is what happened to that sweet little girl,lol
This was in the first year of new century!  Summer of 2000.
This place is an island. called Florianópolis.  Those are sand hills, very exciting.

This is me during a boat cruise in the island.  Good point of being in a Brazilian Island is that u dont need to take clothes with you, just bikinis and sun lotion,lol  You go everywhere in bikinis: supermarkets, banks, shops, restaurants...lol

This was in 1992, in a dinner at Circolo Italiano, to celebrate the new Italian diplomat for the Italian EmbassThat boy by my side is Santiago. A good friend i had during high school years.  He was the one who taught me how to appreciate operas.  And believe me: They are really exciting!  Despite all the old ppl in there, during this dinner, we had a lot of fun!  The food was really good. I never more heard of Santiago again. Last news I had from him, he had become a lawyer and was living in Rio de Janeiro.

This is me, my father and my granny (mom of my mother) during her party of 80th anniversary.  That was 2 years ago.  May, 2002.  Gosh, I still have those trousers,lol

Look at what i have found!!!!  This is the leaflet of the last attempt of going to England during my teenager time!!  Gosh!!!!  I kept that for all these years!!!! I cant believe it!! This was the ocasion that my father said he had lost money in the stock market shares.

And this is from inside the leaflet. I had underlined the name of the school and stuff..  Gosh, this was almost 15 years ago!!!!!!  Im astonished!

 So...this is all i could find at this late time of the night. I will keep searching for nice old pics and as soon as i find more, i will upload in here, ok?

Hope u think they are nice! :)

By for now.

 

This weekend I had a very interesting time finding out what a subliminal message could provoke in ppl's minds.

All started when i  was searching for the video of a comemrcial they have in here about a beer, that shows a man in africa going to a bar and asking for a particular brand of beer (NovaSchin) and then, the bar attendent says that they didnt have this beer in there. For a moment, he thinks (the attendant) and bursting in laughter, he points out to the ocean and shouts out: "Only in the bar there, just opposite us!!" and then everyone in the bars laughs.  The client, stops and looks at the ocean, and gets inside it.  He swims and soon, he reaches a brazilian bar, by the beach, and then, he again asks for the beer: "Have you got NovaSchin?" - He grabs his bottle of beer and looking back to the ocean, he laughs, drinking his beer and says: "In the bar opposite us, ha, ha, ha"..

I found this commercial one of the best ever made to advertise beer, as they usually have them women naked, and links beer to footbal and those sort of things.  That one was really creative and fun! The funniest part of it is the scene The men in Africa laughs at the face of the poor client. Hahahahaha  Very funny how they laugh!!

So, getting back to the story, I was searching for this video, looking at the agency which made it and stuff, when i come across - in google, with sites about "Subliminar messages in Schincariol beer". I read it and found really interesting the subject. 

And as everyone knows, one site leads to the other, I ended up being hooked up in many sites (some more academic and some for curious ppl, like me) and Of course that I had the company of my loyal knight Sir Christopher for such adventure :)

We spent about 2 days (sat. and Sund) discussing and having good laughs at the subliminals facts hidden in adverts and cartoons.

But, honestly, I really got surprised with the bunch of sub. messages inserted in cartoons.

I knew about them sub in commecials and some films, but never could imagine such a "dirty minded" thing in cartoons for youngsters.

Poor Snow white and her 7 dwarves (or dwarfs - i have just found a opster of the film where "dwarfs" was writen...weird..So, soon, i will be able to speak: Knifes, Wives etc.) are accused for having long orgies in their house, hidden in the woods. lol  Gosh, I wouldnt think that such a beautiful girl like her would have sexual relation with that bunch of ugly, smelly and dwarf men,lol  Maybe she had a sexual pevertion or stuff.  Gosh, that is sick!  Poor prince had NO idea of how dirty she was...  At least she had some fun before marriage, lollllll
Donald Duck guy was banned from a country as he wears no pants,lol
Gosh, whatever next!!!!  I laughed a lot this wkend, lol But if he doesnt wear trousers,
why does his uncle wear shoes?? - humm...  I leave this question for a next post, maybe with the colaboration of Sir Christopher, my loyal knight for all sorts of wars and intercourses - hehe (especially them intercourses,lol)

Lion King was also subject of subliminal stuff...  Tehy say that in this cartoon, there is a scene when smoke comes out and they are in the shape of the letters S.E.X.  Gosh
I wonder who is the human being who watches those films frame to frame just to find them things???  Think he or she needs more beer, sex and rock n' roll.  Give me a break. 
This is a special pic of Jessica, especially uploaded in here as for its beauty and sensuality. Gosh, I wish i were like her!!!lol   They say that in a scene she is getting inside a car, it is possible to see her vagina.  HAHAHAHA.. Well..  for those who arent able to see it in the film, and also to save up my time and Chris' time, I found out this pic, so that we all can admire her vagina, w/o having to watch that silly film. lol

Well...that is it

THE ABUSE OF TELEFONICA IN BRAZIL!

Once more, Telefonica, the Spanish telecom Company, in Brazil, cheats their clients.

First of all, id like to state that I will write "Telefonica" with the necessary accent in portuguese language. "telefÔnica".  I dont give a dime if it hasnt got an accent in Spanish language, but I just cant write this word w/o the proper accent. (BTW, I remember when they arrived in São Paulo and changed the public telephone booths, painting it with this limon green colour they have in their logo. Gosh.  No one could believe how tacky that was.

Ok, you "Super 15" guys!!! (- Super 15 is the name of a character they have in the TV commercials, a sort of fag super hero, dressed in this limon green colour and blue, who flies around  the continent making the phone calls come through.) Now you managed to super cheat us!!!  This "Digital asnwering" system u guys have is something really crap!

As I told Chris, earlier this evening, between a porn video and Hotel rates discussions, DIGITAL ANSWERING SYSTEM MY ASS!!!!

I had 3 messages - 2 of them really urgent waiting for me since wednesday!!!!  And i just got them tonight, Friday, holiday, at 22hs. 

This is the pic of the bastard who advertises the bloody digital answering system.  Not only we have to see this threat for the human kind person on TV, at all channels, during evenings, afternoons, mornings, but also, he leaves messages on ppls' private telephones. !!!!

Every time when i go pick MY messages, the voice of this son of a bitch comes telling me long messages, advertising more stuff, everything i really DONT NEED AND DONT WANT TO KNOW< AND MORE OVER< I HAVENT ASKED TO HAVE THIS SERVICE.

They simply forced us to have this system, w/o asking us if we wanted or not.  And, something that i have just found in their site : www.telefonica.com.br  is that after August, 31st, they will charge us a monthly fee of R$1,90 for this UNWANTED service.

This is not because of the low fare, but if u imagine, only in São PAulo, we have around  5 million telephones.  (all TelefÔnica subscribers), so calculate how much they will earn from us a month:  R$ 9. 500 million !!! This is something like 5 million dollars!!!

I dont really remember anyone from TelefÔnica calling me to ASK me whether I wanted or not to have this service.  I just realized i had this damm thing in my line when i started to have late calls at home (around 23hs) and when i picked the phone, a voice saying i had messages.

And, the most revolting of all is that at the beginning, the voice used to say:

"you got new messages ....  Please, type ur  6 digit passaword after the beep".

And, I first thought: " What the hell is that????" I didnt have any bloody password to type, i even didnt know what the hell was happeneing in MY TELEPHONE LINE!!!!!!

As I had promised, here the story goes about my performance, obstacles, objectives and stuff in my new school.

Well.  Everything started about 2 years ago.  The co-ordinator in there was a girl, and she used to be really good in managing the school teachers and also had a very strong skill in administrative things.  the teachers used to respect her and everything was going ok.  Flowing on the river...

Then one year ago, in 2003, first semester, she received an invitation to act as a teacher in a very traditional school in SP.  ( a regular school, not a loanguage school) She felt attracted by the purposal and told her boss that she would work only part time in the school branch (that she was working at the time).

But, as everyone knows, it is IMPOSSIBLE to split ur time between the coordination of a language school with about 600 students and also be teaching in another school.  So, the boss decided to hire one of the teachers (that is also his personal friend) to work at the branch for 4 hours in the morning as the coordinator, and keep her for another 4 hours in the afternoon. (in the morning she would be teaching at the traditional regular school)

Result:  The branch had 2 ppl in charge of the teachers and students.

Well...  this was by july 2003.  This teacher - close friend of the boss, arrived as a big super star.  Everybody in the network of  the franchise commented about him.  He is also a journalist for CNN, has lived in Paris, Hamburg, London, Milan, has a post graduation course and stuff.

He was taken as the "God" of coordinators.  I remember the daughter of my ex-boss talking to me at that ocasion, telling me that i should get close to him in order to learn how to do my work. As he was a superstar, super coordinator, and super teacher, and super whatever.

At that time i got really impressed by the lengh of his curricullum and also felt a bit "undersized" if compared to him.  I tried many times to keep touch with him, in order to exchange ideas and also to find out how he worked, and maybe copy some of his tricks.  But he never - ever returned any messages i used to leave at the school.

This was about September 2003.

Well.  we branch coordinators have to get together once a month to discuss projects and also to exchange ideas in terms of new actions and things.  Our head coordiantor - or Area coordinator is Ricardo.

As Sao Paulo is very big, they divide the city in areas: south, southeast, southwest, centre, north, northeast, northwest, east and west.  We belong to the Southwest area. In our area there are about 7 branches. (the East area is the biggest - with about 30 branches) 

well, I started to notice that this super star co - ordinator never seemed to be interested in our meetings, and little i used to hear about the projects he was doing in his branch.  In our Area , everybody has a close contact (the co-ordinators) and so, it is easy to be informed of anything they do in their branches.

I realized that either he was kind of hiding the things he was doing, or he was actually doing nothing at all.

One beautiful day, i was working in my branch, and a teacher arrived from his branch.  She worked in there, and went to my branch to see if there was a vacancy for her in there.  I thought that was strange!  Cos, they have many stds in tehre, and also, she teaches there for 9, 10 years already.

We talked long and she told me she was very much dissatisfyed about the way the super star was rulling the team of teachers. 

In the same week, more teachers from that branch dropped by my branch to ask for a place for them.  I talked to each one of them. Gosh. I was very much shocked at the things they were telling me.

That super man was a crappy co-ordinator.

I talked to Ricardo and we started making comments and observing his performance closer.  And that was true! They lost about 40% of their students in 6 months!!!!

gOSH!!

wE COULD do nothing about it as it was not our problem, but we 2 felt really sorry for the owners loss, cos u can imagine what a 40% loss means in a company?  Gosh!

We started wondering why on earth he didnt change the super star, cos the co-ordinator is responsible for at least 99% of this loss. (the 1% left we blame the financial problems of the students)

well...  the end of the year arrived...

At teh celebrity party, i won first prize for taking the biggest amount of students, and when at the party, I saw him and one of the teachers i had fired for incompetence (this happened in the begining of the year) alone. He hired the teacher i had dismissed,lol 

I greeted him, and asked: "Where are ur students?"  - He said: "I didnt bring anybody. Just the teacher."   I went silent.  He could see in my face i couldnt believe it that in a school with so many stds he wasnt able to motivate anyone to join the party.

This was a big gossip among the area co-ordinators.  Needless to say that his boss (although being his friend) got really disappointed with him.

His empire started to fall apart.

Everybody understood that he had more to do with self-promotion than guiding and motivating teachers (this is what we are paid to do).

well.. then, the whole story of my branch comes, this semester, with my boss selling it, me refusing to stay with the new team of ppl, writing in here the whole story and reasons and stuff.

Then, the soapopera - "Will I be hired at the other branch", started. for 2 weeks, i didnt know where i would be living in the next 6 months.  Had a discussion with brother, cried a lot and stuff. (this all is writen in here, in the blog)

The fact is that i was actually hired.

And will start working in HIS PLACE in July 19th, Monday.

He will be teaching groups - which i dont think it will be a good idea, but i cant do anything about it right now.  And i will be the branch co-ordinator.

My objectives in the branch for this semester are:

* Get the team of teachers united and motivated.
* Train them in socio-interacionism methodology.
* Guide them during process of adaptation of new direction (me)
* Raise the school's mood - everybody is feeling down and depressed in there, the staff have suffered a lot from the previews "super star" direction.
* and most of all, effectivate more re-enrollments of current students in the coming year. (this will be a reflex of my work with the team of teachers)

So, i am reading a lot about team management, also group motivation, and something they call "transactional analysis".  Something to do with self steem. Im not sure yet what it is in details.   Ricardo told me this morning to take a look at it, and on Saturday we are going to have lunch together and he will give me more directions.

I bought today 4 books to read over the weekend - I am very much interested in this new thing of "motivating" and getting the team united again.

here are their names. This afternoon, i read nearly everything from the first book.

* Working in teams" - tools for a change (this one i nearly finished)
* Creative dinamic activities - A way to transform work groups
* Benevolent teacher = tough student (this one is from one of my fave authors for books on teaching)
*Vygotsky - A Cultural - Historical perspective of education (this is the basis of socio interacionism, the methodology we apply at the school)

Well..im preparing along with Orion (/orionfalcone) - who is a psychologist, a 24 hour training session for this team of teachers.  Starting on July19th, and finishing on July 29th.  4 days a week, during 2 weeks.

I asked him to help me in "field observation" - he will be with me during the trainings, and my aunt - not the oldie one,lol The sister of my Mother (she works for almost 25 years in Human Resource things, she does training of big companies staff's such as Philco, Mc Donalds staff, Pepsi Co etc) She will be helping me in the analysis of my performance as well as grading the teachers in terms of  improvement and stuff.

She said it is good to have a psychologist in field, observing the works, and also her , seeing how the whole work goes, from outside. 

I believe this will the training of my life-time!!lol

THIS IS A PIC OF VYGOTSKY, THE RUSSIAN PSYCHO-PEDAGOGIC DOCTOR WHO "STARTED" THE SOCIO INTERACIONISM METHODOLOGY AND THEORIES.

I think he looks handsome,lol
gosh..

 Well...

This days were really hectic.
I got the job at the other branch.  At least, i feel i will be able to continue all the projects I have started at the late branch.

I will go more about the works in this new branch in another ocasion.

I have the flu - yes, second time this year. and i really need to go to bed and rest.

The good news are that i will go to england - still cant believe it, in late december, this year.  I plan to stay there for 15 days - that is 13 nights. 2 days and nights reserved for the flight time.

We - Chris and I, are having a lot of hard work deciding where to stay and stuff.  We agreeded in the hotels in London and now, we are working out where to go after the days in London.  He knows that i do want to see the Bronte Parsonage Museum - in the picture, and so, we are planing to spend some days in teh moors.  How fantastic!

From there, maybe we can go to Wales  to see the crazy language - welsh , lol
That would be really cool as i am really interested in liguistics.  I would have to search for that city which is famous for its long name that tyhey believe that it is the longest name for a city in the world.  WOW

I have just found out that the parsonage museum will be closed after january 3rd.  so, we may rush to see it in time.  Maybe we could stay one day in London - dec 29, then, go to the moors and spend the days - dec 30, dec 31st in there, or maybe spend those days in London and rush to the moors in January 1st.  But have to be careful, as it is supposed to be a holiday.  Gosh.  how would we get there?

Well..   this is for tonight.  This flu thing just knocked me out.  have to get some sleep and have those Chris' teas in order to warm me up and send me to the land of dreams.

By for now and tomorrow i try to write more.

It is 3:00 in the morning.  I have just arrived from a night out with my buddies.
Today in the morning i finished writing the planning  for second semester, I went to Skill - the other branch and spent about 4 hours in there talking to my new boss.   It was a good chat.  We agreed in the salary, and also he explained about all the problems they are facing with the team of teachers.  I will explain about these problems in another ocasion, as im a little pissed now.
Then, at 4pm, i went with the ex-coordinator to a fast food restaurant and we had some food, as we havent eaten anything since then Gosh i was starving.
I went then to my ex school, talked to my ex boss, got ome money and also grabed one of my folders i had left in there with all my papers on teaching, and also, teachers training.
After that, i got home at 21hs, invited cristina to go for some beer...  On the way, i called my "green peace "friends - Fernando and Claudia and their friend Marcelo, to join us in the little bar. The bar was crowded, terrible to stand there.  Cristina had a sudden bad mood moment, she wanted to leave, she left. We 4 decided then to go to another bar, and here i am...
After some beer, and also shivering from cold.  I went out with a blouse with no sleves.  forgot to take my coat.dammit
Well...  Tomorrow - er... today, i will have to go to the airport, international to say goodbye to Adilson. Gosh..I still dont know how to get to the airport.  Fuck mother left the city with the car. Grrrrrrr  I will have to find a way tomorrw as i wake up how to get there.  I set to meet Adilson in front of Iberia counter. At 13:30.  Gosh.. Hope everythings turns out fine.  I really want to go there and to meet him!! He is such a good frined!! And after all, He is going to england!!!!!  :)

well...i better catch some sleep..   Have to be up at , maximum, 9am !!  See ya.

Ah!  I miss Chris a lot:)  Yes... everyday i miss him a lot.  Not fair he is such a damm way away.

omg!

i DIDNT WANT THOSE GUYS TO LOSE...
i WAS REALLY AMAZED AT THE WAY THEY GUYS WERE PLAYING.
gOSH! WHAT A FANTASTIC SQUAD!!!

iM SORRY M GUYS... i AM VERY SAD FOR YOU..

Days going by...

My life seems to be like a roller coaster.   Gosh..in 2 weeks I lived more than i would live in 50 years