Apr 09 98
Ignoring all the possible feelings of remorse I could have, yesterday I didn't go to the Calculus test, and had two more precious hours of sleep. Therefore I had the whole morning free, which I used to finish Jesse's homepage, and read all the e-mails I had waiting at my mailbox.
Diary-l is currently on a Countries thread, with everybody saying their impressions about their countries and everybody else's, and flaming each other. What is pretty fun, and hits me on the right spot. I love talking about that, what made me, who am usually a lurker, send two messages to the list. I did write a third, about drinking and smoking legal ages (I LOVE to babble about that), but I didn't get to send it because the phone was being used, and then I had to do something and couldn't send it. The message was this:
I-Gene Leong (Mr.P) wrote:
Legal drinking age here is 19. Of course, nobody listens, and no matter how hard they try to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors... :)
What just proves that Brazil is far ahead from the rest of the world. Listen to this:
NO. DRINKING. AGE.
I had my first beer when I was 13, in a restaurant. I bought cigarettes for my granpa since I was 8!
And we have no more alcoholism problems than anywhere else. Actually, young people drink less here, since we can drink a little anytime we want. Many friends of mine have decided not to drink at all. I saw more young people smoking when I was at the US than I saw here, even though it's forbidden there.
I don't drink very much, too. Once or twice a month, usually, and not enough to get drunk. I HATE getting drunk. I think that someone vomiting because he/she drank too much is one of the most depressing things in the world.
See ya
Marcio!
I think the last two paragraphs were necessary, from my own experience. When I was at the US, every time I'd tell somebody that there was no legal drinking age at Brazil I'd either get a "Woo-hoo!! That's a place to live! Let's go there party and get drunk!" reaction or a "my god, I'm talking to an alcoholic" stare. So it makes necessary a few explanations.
The fun part is that many people who live in a country where there is a legal drinking age can't figure how there can be a place where it doesn't exist. They all think of five-year-old kids going to a supermarket, buying a six-pack and drinking until they get in a coma. People here actually drink less, or at least much more moderately than in the other countries.
Anyway. On the afternoon I went to college, because, even though I'm going to quit, if I didn't go today to the Physics Lab class Camila would kill me slowly. I ended up arriving there half an hour early, so I went to the Computer Lab to read my e-mail. There I met Ana Cristina, who said she was veeery sad because I had not invited her to the party was going to happen at my house, but fortunately Danilo, who has much more consideration for her than I have, invited her.
(In November we had a party here at home with all the friends Danilo and I had in college. Since it was on November 25th, we called it "Pré-natal", which in Portuguese is the name of the exams pregnant women do before childbirth, but also can be interpreted as "before Christmas" with a little imagination. It was a singing party, very fun, we kept all of out neighbors awake until late at night.
(We decided to have another one this semester, too, this time called "Pós-parto", or "after childbirth". It supposedly will be on April 25th, but I wasn't sure of it, so I decided to wait until it was confirmed until start inviting people to it. Apparently, Danilo made the decision by himself, and started inviting people out without me knowing.)
So, I explained her all of the above, and, after some time of convincing her I didn't ignore her, I read my e-mails. Then I went to the Physics Lab class, where I had to hear Camila complaining too I hadn't invited her. I explained it all again, then we had a surprisingly fast Physics experiment, so I left at 5:30 pm.
At seven-thirty I had a job interview at an English school. I arrived there, and, after waiting a little, a lady gave me a paper sheet. I was expecting the usual "write a 30 line long essay about teaching a foreign language" kinda stuff. Instead, it had fifteen multiple-choice questions. And then the lady brought five more sheets, with fifteen questions each. I almost screamed "For Godsake, am I having to do TESTS now???" I was feeling almost like a Physics PhD having to do a high school science test to get a job. (Well, that's pretty exaggerated, but you get the idea).
At the end of the test there were a few "teacher sensibility" essay questions, which were pretty interesting. The one I liked most was:
"In a Monday class, you ask your students how was their weekend. One of them answers: 'My mother was taked to the hospital'. What do you do?"
Obviously, I answered I'd constrain the urge to correct the brat and say, "Oh, that's terrible" and move on. But it's tough, nonetheless.
