My brains on the X-ray, my babes, and my messy bedroom

Carol and I playing at the mall

A post in tribute to my student BRUNO

Chilled cucumber soup with yogurt and fresh mint

I am so making this recipe especially because we are in summer down here. I know I hate summer but I love eating right. Roberto has made me do it.

Oompa Loompa Dance

Our 12th Anniversary (Roberto and mine... dah!) /Halloween party with my overage students at a local British pub... NIIIIIIIICE

The Life and Career of Charlie Chaplin

Reposting from 2007 some time before HALLOWEEN



It is getting closer to summer in Brazil and I really don't like that



I've been kinda upset lately because I hate when I have the clear sensation of not doin' the right thing towards certain students. I am really outgoing and like those who are the same way. I can't stand shiness. If a student behaves this way, there is nothing in this world which will make me get my ideas across. How can I teach a kid how to speak in English if the person barely talks in Portuguese? How? Really, how? Sometimes I think I intimidate people who can't think or react quickly. Or maybe I intimidate people who don't seem to react at all. Sometimes I think that there are many parents who clearly don't keep communicating with each other about the things their own kids do at school, as if the mother or the father wants to protect their children by hiding from one another their kids' absences, or detentions, and sorts. I deal with students and parents who are not totally honest in that matter. And when I say too much, I listen to things that I don't deserve to. Something like: "you are not a good teacher because you are supposed to tell the students what they've got to do and how they've got to behave, and not the parents." Then, when I go through that, I feel that I am many times talking too much and hurting them for some reason or another. I understand that concerning the learning process, yeah, I must partake with the parents the responsibility. Other than that, which it is the social standards in life... Come on! End of depressive times. Now, on the other hand, I am sorta excited. My school Halloween party is coming up and the arrangements have blown my mind in a nice way. This time, our party will be at a club, near the swimming pools, in a place built in the woods. Man, how neat! I love everything that evolves Halloween celebration: the decoration, costumes, treats, happy and scared kids, laughs, and goosebumps. I am so looking forward to seeing all my students and friends at this great event.
PS: For 2010, I have been having problems with adult students more often now. That is a twisted situation. Oh well...
I AIN'T CHANGING MY WAYS! NO SIR.

Conclusion...
Reader: Are you upset or excited, Laila?
Blogger: Who knows?
Reader: Is there anything else you would like to add on this post?
Blogger: There sure is. Happy birthday to you on Monday, the 15th!

Last night's vivid dream

The presences were around the bed and walking in the house

I can't say exactly why we dream but I know lots of theories that may explain this phenomenon. I have never written here about any dream I had, I guess. I need to check my archives to say that for sure. Anyway, at this time, I decided to blog on the dream I had last night.

First off, I believe there are different sorts of dreams such as lucid dreams, vivid dreams, nightmares, and regular dreams that we probably forget more easily. I may be wrong (if you are reading this post and know more about types of dreams, please feel free to correct me) but I understand that LUCID DREAM is a dream that you have and you know that you are dreaming. Something like, you are about to jump off a cliff and you don't get desperate or scared because you know nothing is going to happen to you - you are dreaming, and that's all. And VIVID DREAMS are dreams that you have but you simply cannot tell the dream from your reality, as if you are really living that. You are seeing that. You are feeling that. And you even wake up but you are still not sure that you have completely recovered your counsciousness. I often have those types of dreams. No, my bad. I used to have these kinds of dreams more often in the past. In fact, when in my late teens and early twenties, I used to dream this way. Now, these dreams are quite rare.

I just had one of these dreams yesterday. I had a very nice super vivid dream. My vivid dreams are pretty much strange and scary because I usually see myself in bed sleeping the exact way I am sleeping. I mean, wearing the same pajamas, with Roberto and the cats in bed with me, because that is how we sleep every night, and so forth and so on. In the vivid dreams I have, I sometimes open my eyes, and I see presences around the bed, or, I just feel or hear presences. I many times I think of them as being burglars in the house, but sometimes they appear to be spiritual presences too. Last night's dream, I felt their presences in many ways. I could feel their shadows, I could see a fuzzy image of a man, I felt the running of a child around our bed, I did feel someone grabbing my hand (I really felt the touching), and when I got the guts to open my eyes for a second, I saw an old lady who whispered a message to Roberto saying something about one of the teachers that work at our school. I am definitely going to tell him about this dream. I am sure he's gonna read this post because I know he always does.

I was scared when I woke up however, minutes later after waking up and realizing that all those "apparitions" were in a dream, and not in real life, I got excited and I told myself that I needed to write about them and I knew that this post would not let me forget  about this surreal experience. I used to read Freud and Jung while in college. Actually, I still do. Dreams are fascinating and mysterious to me. I bet they are seen this way to many people too. I simply love to talk about dreams and from now on I will write about them more often.

Last night, I dreamed of having the presences of "possible divine figures" or "burglars" near my bed... how cool is that? I am never afraid of supernatural manisfestations and I won't ever be. In fact, I have always wanted to see something inexplicable. As a matter of fact, I may have had a few opportunities of seeing and hearing things that were "weird" but, I guess, I always took them for granted. I won't do that anymore. The End

Laila on Halloween (I love to address me in third person)

NUMBERS

-> I've had this blog for 6 years
-> I've had my school for 9 years
-> I've had my husband as a husband for 12 years
-> I've had my husband as a boyfriend for 19 years
-> I've been alive for 34 years
-> I've had Tibby as a pet for 5 years
-> I've had Pancho Villa as a pet too for 1 year
-> I've had my "own" place to live for 2 years
-> I've had menstrual cramps for 21 years
-> I've lived back in Brazil for 9 years
-> I've worked out for less than a year
Numbers, numbers, numbers

More photos

My student Sophie and I sharing a protein bar

The blue shoes are mine

Morning secretaries Vinnie and Vanessa


Eduarda and Totchy

sophie and i

Last Sunday's photo

Pancho Villa is the cutest black cat ever!

Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence

Words like violence
Break the silence
Come crashing in
Into my little world
Painful to me
Pierce right through me
Can't you understand
Oh my little girl

All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm

Vows are spoken
To be broken
Feelings are intense
Words are trivial
Pleasures remain
So does the pain
Words are meaningless
And forgettable

All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm

Enjoy the silence

Where is Waldo... excuse me... Laila?