Language

Ok so today I had the opportunity to try and explain to 5 graders why I do not speak Portuguese. I was sitting in on a class and the teacher was letting them ask me questions for practice, given it was English class for them. So besides asking if i had a house, a dog, a cat, children, and snow; one student decided he wanted to know why I didn't know Portuguese. I am guessing because they are having to learn English that I should have been taught Portuguese when I was in school also. They seemed confused when I explained that I did not know any other language but English. In Brazil from 4th grade on they are required to take English as part of regular curriculum. I didn't want to get into the fact that America is one of the only countries in the world where students, and people in general, know only one language, unless they are from a different country to begin with or are first generation Americans for the most part. Although there are opportunities to learn other languages while you are going through school, none of them are required and none as early as 4th grade. So it got me wondering why. Well the first thought that came to my head was; which language could we as a country require our children to learn that would give them a boost towards their future as English does for the kids here. Now don't get me wrong I am not trying to say that English is the greatest language out there and everyone should know it, just that for those living in this city it is considered the door that opens up major possibilities for their futures. In America what language is out there that would do the same for our children? Any suggestions? The ones that kind of came to my mind were Chinese, because of the major shift in business interests to China or Arabic just because of the exploding population of Arabic speakers all over the world. Spanish maybe would allow them to more integrate into the other major language group in our country, but really is there one other language that we could choose that would significantly increase their impact and potential? Just thinking out in words but I would love your thoughts on it.

I also had the chance to go grocery shopping for myself today for the first time. It was much harder than I imagined it would be to distinguish what things are simply by sight. Some things are pretty easy like fresh fruits and vegetables meats and other non processed or packaged items. But when you are trying to figure out which is peanut butter and which is a cooked down milk product with brownish fruit mixed in it become interesting. Trying to find jelly like we would have in the states is pretty difficult as well. They have this solid mass that they call jelly which you have to cut (like a cheese) and lay on bread but it doesn't spread well. Or they have an almost liquid fruit spread that does not work on crackers because it is too thin but works well with bread. So I spent like $60 on about 4 plastic bags full of groceries ( a bit more pricey here than the states). A box of cereal is like $5 and they are about 2/3 the size of what you find in the states. Real meat is is about 2 1/2 times as much as you would pay and not of the same quality, but it works ok and tastes the same for the most part. Although I was pointed to a tube of what I am told is ham spread that is relatively cheap and works good on crackers so we will see how it tastes a lil later today and see if the 100g (yes metric system) tube is worth the $1,49 reals that I paid for them. The exchange rate is $1 dollars US = $1,77 reals (brazillian currency and yes the comma belongs there). So they are about 85 cents each which isn't i guess given it is about 3.5 ounces almost a 1/4 pound so figure $4 lb for a meat spread. Well, I better get to studying so next time I can tell someone I don't speak Portuguese in Portuguese and really confuse them. Hope you are all doing well, and I look forward to reading your comments and thoughts. God Bless.