I'm staring into what I believe is organised chaos. Beautiful yet frightening. So frightening, I have discovered I fear something bigger than my arachnophobia... another responsibility, another soul. Having struggled these past few years with this new exciting yet upside-down world, somehow things are falling into place.

It seems God has granted me my 2nd wish, thank you Universe.

''To be me or not to be me''? That was never a question I wondered since I always stayed true to who I am and want to be. Now where I want to be IS a question, a question I know the answer to but is it the same answer as I'll get if asked?

I have found my getaway, a curly; kind; tallish; intelligent; good-cook teddy-bear. Yet fear kicked in.. it's scary to start liking someone.

It's too much, just too much. I'm overworked with all the things we have to handle before moving. I need a break, a relief, a getaway, something to relax the last few days before leaving because before I know it.. life's back to being an exciting roller coaster but with a 15-minute bathroom break. I need 15 days not 15 minutes because the $H1T is real!

Human + Effort + Time = $$$

With veterinary medicine out of the spotlight and money taking its place, it seems that this year will be about re-evaluating certain made choices and focusing on an income.

At a certain age you come across a path with various options:

• You either stop and think what you've done with your life,

• You buy an expensive car,

• You get a (way too young) BF/GF,

or...

• You simply don't give a .... about it.

Me? I've done 2 out of the 4 o_o''...

Doubts... Uncertainty... Re-evaluating certain life decision I've made so far since 2015.

Has my stubbornness truly outweighed my common sense and capacity to think logically? How else could I have spend so many years pursuing what I truly thought would be my destiny, yet merely a very expensive dream?

Time has come for me to accept what I'm good at and work with that and if I wish to lend an ear to my stubbornness, then may it be as an inexpensive hobby in a non-outweighing category.

January has been a month consisting of a lot of ones and twos. I traveled to São Paulo, a city consisting of 2 words for 2 purposes: business and leisure, in a party of 2 - me & my sister. We stayed for 1 week in a street called 1o de Março and arrived there around 1pm. Back at my current city, I met people in their 20's at a casual meet-up. After a 2nd separate encounter and a  2nd consecutive day on the 1st day of the weekend, you can put two & two together and figure the rest out. What broke the pattern is that it fell on the 3rd week of the month on the 20th day.

Yes, this month has been consisting of a lot of 1's and 2's.

My X-MAS gift is here!!! And the best part? It came in five modules;
1) Equines
2) Swines
3) Bovines
4) Fish
5) Rodents

Thank you USP -`ღ´-

My mother warned me about being honest, believing and trusting people without doubting them, but I ignored that and things took a turn for the worst. So it's time to accept reality and keep things to myself because I'm in a city where money buys most things here and I'd rather stick to what can't be bought: morals, values and education.

On the 22nd of November I've participated as an assistant to neutering a dog. This was my 1st of many more to come!

It's been only 3 months since I've legalised my private teachings but boy oh boy! The things I go through with Brazilian students.

Here are the Top 3 events that made me go ''TF'';

1. A student that cancelled 3 out of 4 weeks with a total of 6 classes to be rescheduled for God knows when...

2. One whose payment has been due for quite some time now.

3. But winner takes it all with one telling me to buy a router to use at my university for a better internet. Why? To teach him during my dinner time @ uni so that he can have English classes and doesn't have to commute to my university.

Thus, I've decided to limit my teachings to Face2Face Group Classes. Not only is this beneficial to the students (more affordable), but it's also a safety net for me as a teacher and avoiding such students.

Celebrated from Friday 27th until Tuesday 31st, Halloween classes were given with the theme:

🎃 The Animal Sanctuary 🎃  

Not only did we have the themed set up, candies and  activities, but there was also a specific Halloween edition game from Spot it! Needless to say that it was a success!

I'm back at the Lab starting 16/10/23. This time I'll be only helping out for a total of 60 hours as part of an extension in order to improve my Microscopy Skills.

Along with it, came the chance to participate as an assistant of the Laboratory of my university (UPF) welcoming curious High school students during an Interactive Event. Of course I took the chance to tell them about  how exciting it is to work in a lab and I even got a cute badge along with it.

I have to admit that September was a heavy month for me emotionally speaking.

In order for me to progress in my career and life, I had to end a friendship that was holding me back.

Along with it came 2 weeks of financial turbulence paying off my 1st debt ever in my life at the age of 30+. Thankfully I have reliable people whom I can count on during such moments to ask for advice and help.

Despite this month weighing heavy on my heart, I'm grateful it happened as it helped me evolve as a human, daughter, student and entrepreneur.

This month we:

• Keep all the carton boxes, toilet paper rolls, glass bottles and paper that can be shredded;

• Buy a few ______ plastic decorations for specific places;

• Buy _____ + ______ + ______ spray paint;

• Buy colourful EVA;

• Use a bunch of school stuff;

• Download some spooky music;

• Be super creative for...

🎃 A SPECIFIC THEMED HALLOWEEN 🎃  

September month is Birthday Month!

A student of mine: Heitor, celebrated his b-day on the 8th of September. In the same month the twins: mom and aunt, celebrated their birthdays by going on vacation to Argentina - Buenos Aires. They got back on the 15th (3 days after their b-day) and upon arrival, we celebrated it again with a simple cake and cozy company. Aunt left and went back to Minas Gerais (MG) on the 20th.

In other news! I have the feeling my cat Noir has too much biofilm which is provoking a sort of auricular brown-snot from the looks of it. Or maybe it's an external otitis or even nothing and I'm over-thinking it. How did I get to this thought? By watching a webinar from Dr. John H. C. Hutt on ''How to do dermatology when you don't do dermatology'' offered by VetEducation.

It was fantastic! (₌♥ᆽ♥₌)

*Laughing and giggling happily* This is so much fun! 🥰

I'm in my 2nd month now of fixing the tables and chairs. Along with my uni responsibilities and extra-curriculum activities that I have, progress has been a bit slow.

I've spent around R$1.5k on materials for community use and or personal items for each student (such as individual headphones and study materials). Items for personal use are and always will be new due to health safety issues. Games, activities, graded reader books, a new tablet and a new phone were purchased for the students.

Why? Simply because as a student myself, I appreciate it when the teacher invests in quality items. It shows how much he/she cares and the amount of effort that was put into trying.

My mom always used to say that when you want something well done, you have to do it yourself. At the age of 30+ I realized what she truly meant. She didn't say it in the sense that other people's work is shitty or badly done, but that only you as a person know what ''well done'' means in your own terms.

And for this reason I've decided to do the work myself. I bought 4 tables and 4 chairs that needed to be fixed badly and gave them a make-over. This way I'm helping mother nature by re-using furniture; doing some physical exercise and stimulating my neurons for creativity; all while saving up $$$ by not buying everything new. 

May month came full of surprises and realizations. Only now, I've noticed that Brazil is high in supply and low in demand, yet the supply doesn't meet the demand's needs and thus, you'll have unqualified professionals exercising the position. As a qualified professional I will put my skills where they are needed and appreciated. This month has ended along with my contract services by choice and the start of my own business from experience.

It's time to legalise my teachings that has been happening since 2015.

Yes, a whole column only for the month of April. It IS a special month, so dedication to it is crucial.

These monthly posts only tell a small % of how life is for a foreigner in Brazil. Sometimes the feeling of giving up and going back to a 1st world country is so strong, that I start to doubt if coming here just to study was worth it. A moment of weakness, turns into a moment of realization thanks to a friend who I hold even more dear now to me.

This is cheesy to say, I'm aware of it, but it comes from the soul. A simple moment for you, turned you into a life-long friend for me.

Thank you my friend.

To celebrate all these changes, and my birthday, I'm taking a trip and picking up my travels from where I left off.

It's a common practice in this country to pay late those who work/lend their services to a company, and even more common to justify this with the reason ''we're a family company and help each other out''.

Well... my upbringing was different and where I come from, we honour our word despite of our sexes - educational background - positions etc.

So in March my patience ended and I stopped believing the promises that were made by the company I was lending my services to. As a result, I gave the owner an ultimatum. Most of the promises made by her and her husband were not fulfilled, but I was paid the cutback since January and it's at least something.

Only 1 side is happy with this, but happy or not, nothing in life is free and using the word ''family'' in a non blood-related company doesn't justify your actions nor does it make it acceptable for others to abide by it. 

It's ice-cream month peeps!

For many it's a religious month where chocolate is the center piece, but for me it's ice-cream.

I believe that you should try to live life to the fullest, appreciating every single moment. As small as it may be, you have no idea how big the impact can be. And don't stress about the  bad moments, it doesn't mean that your life's bad or that someone else's is better and God's to blame because you did everything right. 

I'm here to tell you a ''secret''.

If you are doing things right and you believe it to be so, then continue and you will see the fruits from your labor.

And they will be as sweet as...

 /) /)
( •. • )
(づ🍨 

March is almost over and so is my money (nervous laughter). So I work with kids as an English teacher and I love what I do. The place where I lend my services (yes, I am my own boss), is from what it seems so far; a simple, run-down institution in dire need of good management and renovation. But that's not my role to play so I don't express my thoughts there.

The kids, they're awesome, I don't have enough wonderful words to describe them. Because of them, I decided to invest a bit in some materials to make class more attractive and less robotic. And thus... said and done! Even though it was more than a bit, it was not enough for it to be worthy of them.

🧡  I hope it arrives soon! 🧡 

(tax-free too)... 😐

As much as I try, for the past few months I have been feeling a bit down. This country's system is corrupt and with a recently-risen condemned criminal soul playing Soul Smash on civilians and the law, it will not get any better soon.

I empathise for the population having to endure even more hardships right after COVID-19. 

Because there is nothing I can do, I decided to take up a new hobby to distract myself. Lego for Adults, or... as the picture states, kids over 6 years old haha. So far I've bought 3 sets and I've already mounted the 1st set (picture one). It is fun! :)

I'll try to buy 1 set every month if tax imports permits. If Miss Venezuela gets married, I'll move out and rent with The Cheese sisters. Life will go back as it was and bye bye the adventure 🔚

Welcome back!

I am starting the year with the 2 things I love: #1 Ice-cream and #2 Polarbears

Secret time: Mum used to call me polarbear because I used to sleep A LOT. And ice-cream IS my favourite food. You can't go wrong with any of these 2  ^.^

Especially now that it is needed in this hot weather. I've moved to the south where it's supposed to be cold but boy oh boy... the temperatures goes up to 35 degrees here and sweating is inevitable.

Needless to say that I'm looking forward to the cold and shivers down my spine! 🥶️

Yes.. the deed is done. The doomed one has been elected and now...?

Let the play unfold itself while Brazil plays ''Who is it''?

Y soy la abejita visitando la flor..

New pages

CATalogue

• 1) Group work page (seminars, presentations, events etc)

• 2) Summaries in Portuguese page (for Uni subjects - UPF, UVV)

ESL

• My ESL materials starting 2023

And here we are, a month after Maty's death... 50% of the zebras are standing their ground knowing what's going to come, while the other 50% are obliviously celebrating their ignorance wishful thinking that Maty is still alive and will be ''ruling'' the zebra gang soon.

Maty, The Bipolar Zebra... has become a piece of ham for the underworld.

As I've said in May this year: In life we must always seek what's better for our mind, body and soul. So I'd like to add the 2nd part: Seek to evolve and thou shall find a way, do this without harming others or yourself, always maintaining your true self.

For the month October I've decided to tell you a real life students' story called;

Maty, The Bipolar Zebra

There once lived this bipolar zebra called Maty who looked normal on the outside, but on the inside Maty was one mean, nasty and emotionally unstable zebra hurting others with its dirty mouth and hoofs. Maty thought he was all that because he ruled a zebra gang and was ''the man''. One day, Maty was drinking water and got infected by a virus. This virus caused Maty: sepsis, skin lesions, pneumonia and heart problems. And, because it was destined also, lung cancer came along. Maty asked for help, but to no avail, he was not helped by his gang or mother nature, and died.

This is an ''unfortunate'' true story.

Don't be a Maty, mother nature sees all and will decide your fate.

I'm in my 2nd month of this new university and it seems that I am lost... I have no idea in what semester I am and when is supposed to be my graduation year. So I'll just be a zebra, I'll accept both unknowns.

UPF...

80% transfer discount

TO BE.. OR NOT TO BE?

That is the question!

I have decided to be! And so, I shall be the one that once again... takes up 1000000 subject at once.

Neurons... time to shake y'all up again XD

Ever had the feeling that everything is going downhill and you can't do a thing? Well, yeah... it happened with us during our moving. We missed the plane, we went by a rented car because we've shipped our car in advance not knowing it was a mistake, around R$10K was spend during 2 days and long driving hours with near heart attack moments.

Yep...this is fine..it's part of life.

All is well o.o...

Thank you all @ Vila Velha and UVV for the good memories. Though this might seem like a ''never coming back again thank you'', I can assure you it is.

Psych, we'll leave that for the future. But let's stay in touch okay?

BREAKING NEWS!

I'm changing states, and thus, changing universities!

Goodbye UVV and Hello UPF (University of Passo Fundo)

In life we must always seek what is better for the body, mind and soul. This opportunity presented itself and I could not let it pass by.

THANK YOU

@icca_enterpricelab for throwing me my 1st surprise birthday part. Because it has never happened to me before, I didn't know what to do or say, but I sure was happy as a kid when it gets cake. This little goat loved the palha italiana. 1st Time tasting it and woaaah! (Thanks Tobias)

Oh.. My.. Screeeeeeeeeam!!! 

1 - I've passed my semester and I'm going into my 4th semestre (2nd year). HOWEVER, I won't be adding 10+ subjects like I did last time, that was just wacky.

2 - I'm not a lab dog anymore (with prof. Emy Hiura), I'm a lab rato now with prof. Carlos Tadokoro (10/22) at UFES Campus.

It's been a year since I've been studying at UVV and a lot has happened, both good and bad. I've had some difficulties but the will has only grown, VAMOS QUE VAMOS!

July's here... and so are the finals XD oh how they could have stayed where they were lol... Well, normally I'd be worried of flunking a subject, but somehow, something tells me I won't and I'll just pass them all.

Update: that something somehow was right ahaha!

Honestly, I can't remember the month of June, everything passed so fast, and being occupied with uni stuff, I have no idea what I did except studying.

After having enjoyed my wonderful 2-week vacation, I have studied non-stop for my May month tests. 

Regrets? Nope, life's a journey. Do what you feel like doing without harming anyone or anything. Enjoy all the good and bad because afterwards, you might not get a restart.

WHYYYYY? Why did I enjoy my 2 week vacation instead of studying T_T... oh gosh... what a pity. 

''Covid'' sure is working in mysterious ways, repeating it's cycle of 2020 to the dot. Having said that...

Hello my 2 week vacation! I'm so happy you've decided to come this year again. Now I know what ''saudades'' means. 

Yes! Hello! Nice to meet you all! I come in peace and to only leech of the knowledge this country can provide me, no harm intended whatsoever.

I'm a lab dog, yay! (Yes it's a good thing) As of January I've been picked to intern @ the laboratory clinic and it's been awesome.

My covers been blown, they know who I am.

Accept all the courses!
Watch all the webinars!

#ilovemylife
#vetstudentbrazil
#thelma.lacle

I passed the semester, WOOHOO! I can definitely say: 2020-won!

My 1st face to face class (yes, they've (the classes) all been online so far).

''She looks like one of us but she doesn't talk like one of us...''

All is well despite world's circumstances. I can say for sure that, if Covid-19 continues in 2021, I can keep this up. Sure, there's a language barrier and I don't understand the culture, tradition, habits, idioms, slangs etc... BUT! When there's a will, there's a way, and my name does mean will.