Wednesday, July 25, 2012

What do you eat????

Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday!!

As many of you know, the daily schedule of someone from Araguaina can be very different from the schedule of someone from the United States.  Here in Araguaina, many school-aged students attend classes in the morning or in the afternoon. In both cases, the whole family is typically at home during the hours of almoço.


In the U.S., families usually are not at home during the day.  Children from fifteen to eighteen attend school from about 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. They generally have between twenty to forty minutes to eat lunch at school. Some high schools let students leave to eat lunch off-campus.  Other schools do not allow students to leave.  Parents usually have an hour to leave work, eat something, and return.

Although the types of meat and salad that are served may vary from day to day, there will almost always be a pot of rice on the stove. It seems that the Araguaina almoço consists of: rice, beans, meat, and salad. On various occasions people of all ages have told me that if they do not eat rice at least once a day, "Eu me sinto falta." American families do not typically eat rice every day. 


It's difficult for some of my friends in the U.S. to believe that I eat rice everyday. Likewise, many of my Brazilian friends ask me what I do eat because I don't eat rice very often. Because of this I have compiled a group of photos to show you some American foods.


For Breakfast

These are American pancakes. They are made with flour (farinha de trigo) and baking powder (fermento biológico em pó) The dot on top is butter. You can eat pancakes with or without it.  The eggs are nicknamed "Sunny Side Up" because the yolk looks like the sun. The meats here are bacon and sausage. Salchicha ≠ sausage. Salchicha = hotdog. 
(photo courtesy of Dennys)

This is a picture of hash browns and grits.  These are typical breakfast side dishes.  Hash browns are fried shredded potatoes and grits are made from corn. 

 

For lunch: 
 Caesar salad is a typical lunch food. It can be a main dish (prato principal) or a side dish.


For dinner:

This is a picture of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn. Meat loaf is typically made from ground beef (carne moida), but it can be made from other meats, too. 

 What are your favorite Brailian foods and how to you prepare them? 

If you have any questions or comments about the foods here, e-mail me at etauft@gmail.com.  

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Seneca Falls


Hey everyone! Today’s post is coming to you on Thursday and not Wednesday.  That’s because today, July 19th, marks the beginning of the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848.  Seneca Falls is located in New York, so you can visit the town if you’re ever on the east coast! 

The Seneca Falls Convention is an important conference in American history.  More specifically, it is important to our country’s “Women’s Rights Movement”.  Women fought for equality with men in education, religion, suffrage (the right to vote) and other issues. These issues are talked about in a document signed at the convention called the Declaration of Sentiments.   

The cause of the Women’s Rights Movement has been taken up by many, including some men.  In my experience, however, there are three women whose stories are the most widely taught.  These women are Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony.  Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott participated heavily in the conference and were also abolitionists. An abolitionist was someone who was against slavery. In 1920, the 19th amendment to the U.S. constitution granted women the right to vote. The amendment is nicknamed the “Susan B. Anthony Amendment”. 

Today’s post is a little more historical than my past posts.  If you have any questions/comments about Seneca Falls or you want to tell me about Brazilian history, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at etauft@gmail.com.  You can also message me or leave a comment on our Facebook page under Etauft.  Lastly, if you’d just like to do some reading on your own for practice…

·         The National Park Service has a detailed summary of the events of the Seneca Falls Convention:

U.S. Department of the Interior

·         You can read more of the Declaration of Sentiments here:

Bereau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State

·         For a quick summary of some of the events of the U.S. Women’s Rights Movement:

Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease. Part of Family Education Network 

Till next time

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Beach Season

Congratulations everyone! It's beach season! Now is a time for sand, sun, and bathing suits.

Some of the best beaches in the U.S. are found in Hawaii. Hawaii is the last state to become part of the union. It is made up of islands.  Hawaii is the birthplace of the current U.S . President, Barack Obama.

There are also great beaches in Florida (orange, in the southeast corner) and California (purple, in the southwest corner).

It's come to my attention that some of you might not know where these states are located. So, I've included a map courtesy of nationalatlas.gov:

Alaska isn't actually at the bottom of the country (South). It's at the top (North). As you can see from the picture it shares a border with Canada. On this map, Hawaii is more or less in its correct position.

What are some of your favorite beaches here in Brazil?

Also, I've started a group of flash cards to help you learn English gírias. Check em' out!


http://quizlet.com/12297479/cultural-exchange-flash-cards/


They come from the 5th Edition of a book called "Como O Americano Diria Isso?" I borrowed the book from Prof. Elisa. If you like the phrases, let her know! 

That's all for this week. If you need any assistance, feel free to email etauft@gmail.com or post a comment below. Happy learning!

Beach statistic found here
http://travel.usnews.com/Rankings/Best_Beaches_in_the_USA/ 7/11/12

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Independence Day

Hey, everyone! What’s up? This week is a very exciting week in the United States.  That’s because this Wednesday, July 4th, is our Independence Day.  Independence Day is one of our 11 national holidays.  Everyone has the day off from work and people love to celebrate and spend time with their friends and families.

July 4th is a day of Barbecue (BBQ).  The machine to make barbecue is called a barbecue grill.  Typical barbecued meats are hamburgers and hot dogs, beef and pork ribs, chicken and kabobs (espetinhos).  My family grills potatoes.  We also eat spaghetti, baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad, and deviled eggs.
When the sun goes down many families pack food and blankets and head to the nearest city to watch the fireworks show.  Some shows are small.  The fireworks last only about 15 minutes.  The rest of the evening is spent enjoying the outdoors with the other families there.  Other shows like the one in Chicago are much larger.  Over 1, 000, 000 people travel to the Chicago lakefront to watch the show.  There you can buy anything from food to toys that glow in the dark. A Via Sacra in April reminded me of a Fourth of July night.  It is illegal to buy firecrackers in my state (Illinois), but we can always see them without having to leave home. 

As a special treat, I’ve added the link to the trailer of the 1996 Film Independence Day starring Will Smith. 



Writing Prompt:

What do you usually do for Brazilian Independence Day?

If you send me an e-mail  etauft@gmail.com.br , I’ll be happy to edit your texts. Looking forward to hearing from you!