The Diary Of John
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy? - Gandhi
Saturday, January 29, 2005

Moving..

Well im all but finished here in Planaltina now and waiting for my last couple of days to pass before i move cities. I have some oral tests for a VIP student and then im free, well until 1st Feb as then i start teaching at the other school. Just to teach in one place will be alot less stressful and having the mornings to myself as there wont be any classes at this time is wonderful. I get to have a lie in every day ;-)

Theres in interesting story online about overweight people in Brasil. Apparently some newspaper in the US ran this story and now some newspapers here in Brasil are saying that its full of shit and totally untrue. In reality though its probably getting close to the truth. A walk down the streets shows lots of people who are overweight and many people with huge beer guts from the constant overmarketing of alcohol products. Its normal here to see people drinking at 6am. Junk food is also widespread here, in the streets generally poor people watch cars in carparks to buy cheap bbq on sticks thats full of fat for R$1 a shot. I remember the fuss about Lulas drinking habits well, but i find here that my students have a very little opinion of Brasils president with alot thinking that it was a big mistake that people voted for him to be president. He spends more time out of Brasil travelling on his newly refurbished plane than he does in Brasil solving the many problems that exist here. I dont think hes dont a quarter of the things he said he would do if people voted for him. Mind you we're talking about a person who has no education and struggles to communicate with the rest of the world as he speaks just portugues, badly too so im told. I copied the story below for you to read:

Brazil Newspaper Slams NY Times Over Obesity Story

A Brazilian newspaper on Thursday accused the New York Times of illustrating a story on obesity in Brazil with a picture of three flabby-looking Czech women on a beach famed for its shapely local beauties.

The Times story went to the heart of Brazil's self-image as a place of sunny sexiness and was the second in less than a year to provoke strong criticism in Brazil, where the globally influential newspaper's coverage has faced heavy scrutiny by local media.

The Jan. 13 story by correspondent Larry Rohter was based on a government study that said more than 40 per cent of Brazilians are overweight.

It noted that Brazil's "gifts to global culture" included the Girl from Ipanema and the thong, or "tanga," bikini.

The photograph, by John Maier, showed three overweight women in bikinis on Rio de Janeiro's Ipanema Beach.

However, according to Globo newspaper, the women were not Brazilians but Czech tourists. "Certainly I am not a girl from Ipanema. I am a woman of a certain age," 59-year-old Milena Suchoparkova told Globo in an interview.

"I think I'm overweight but I never was skinny. I was always robust but I wouldn't say I was obese," said Suchoparkova, Czech-born but a naturalized Italian.

Globo, one of Brazil's biggest dailies, ran its story under the headline "New York Times Screw-up." It ran a separate article on Rohter and questioned the Times' ethics and credibility.

Suchoparkova and her friends were upset because, they told Globo, the photographer had not asked their permission before taking the shot. They were not mentioned in the story itself.

Rohter declined to comment to Reuters. A statement in Friday's New York Times said "The Times regrets that the nationalities of the women in the photo were not verified."

Last May, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ordered Rohter's visa canceled after he wrote an article that many Brazilians were concerned by Lula's drinking habits.

Lula reversed the decision under pressure from domestic and international media groups, and the Human Rights Watch advocacy group cited the government's reaction to the drinking story as a threat to freedom of expression.

posted at 6:24 AM by john |  

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Busy..

I've been really busy the last few days organizing moving to another city. After i gave my availability as just mornings the director of the school seems to have thrown some sort of wobbly and told his sister to tell me if i dont work afternoons for him i have to go, as i understand this its some sort of blackmail to make me work the hours he wants while he lets the the other teachers choose their availability. My best guess on this.. he knows that hes been letting the school slide and now that only 53 students have applied this coming semester hes either trying to shed teachers by forcing them out so he doesnt have to pay redundancy or hes trying to force me to teach when he wants in the hope that more students might be persuaded to return. I think its too late for him tostart worrying about it now as i told him last semester he needed to spend more time around the school as the students were complaining they never saw the director etc but he just shrugged this off. I think he'd have a heart attack if he lookded on th lab computers and saw how many teachers have been preparing their cvs ready to find other jobs hehehe, even the cleaner wants out. Shame really as i was kinda hoping to work at both schools in Planaltina and Formosa this semester as alot of my students in Planaltina told me they wouldnt return if i wasnt there and then the director tells me i'm out, do I look worried? Too right i'm not, i have plenty of groups to teach at the other schools but my students that wont return bothers me a little, its not my job to cure the problems in Planaltina though, thats the job of the director and unfortunately hes never around and not just the teachers are noticing this. All the time students complain about not seeing any sign of a guiding hand on the tiller of the good ship CCAA Planaltina DF.

At least now they are going to let me go from this school i can look forward to relaxing this semester coming as i'll be at just one school which will be less stressful than traveling all over the place. Also the challenge of starting in a new school will be alot of fun, getting to try out some new stuff ive been reading up on should be alot of fun. I'm hoping to try out this learning circle idea i got from the British Council website, it looks like a sort of advancement on conversation classes. I think it'll be alot of fun once its up and running. Also there is going to be some sort of pronounciation class at Formosa, this will be really interesting for me especially the phonetics part as i never really studied that before.

Roberta went for an interview yesterday at a school near us, she will get a reply from them on friday as to whether she will do the teachers training and work there so now we are fingers crossed and waiting to see what they say.

Time for emails again, i have loads to reply to..


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