It's About Dang Time!!!

YES!!! We finally have stepped back into 2010 and have internet at home after about 2 months without it. At first, it was kind of nice to be a little disconnected from the world, but I gotta tell you, that sentiment wore off pretty fast and was replaced by a persistent annoyance. But lo and behold, we are once again able to use our own computers in the comfort of our own home again. So now I have a lot of catching up to do on this blog and no excuse anymore!
Since I haven't posted for so long, I think it's best to start with some recent happenings. Let's see... The orchestra has been busy rehearsing for the Opera Festival since February, and we should start performing them in the middle of April. Until then, we basically just rehearse them and make any corrections that need to be made. All three operas are by Brazilian composers, and the parts have some editing issues and have a fair amount of errors. Makes for some slow rehearsing at the beginning, and some solid book-reading time for the trombones (shhh, don't tell anyone)!
I started teaching trombone lessons at the music conservatory last week. The students are all beginners, and I was a bit surprised how much I enjoyed teaching them. They do things a little different than we do in the States, and in general at this school, the kids share a lesson with one or two others. The lessons last for an hour and half, and most of the kids check-out an instrument from the school before their lesson. I still haven't quite figured out how and if they can practice if they don't own an instrument, but I guess I will find out soon enough. It's a cool environment though and everyone seems super nice and supportive of the kids there.
Jay has been steadily acquiring English students from among our friends. It's kind of funny how he just can't get away from teaching wherever we live, but he's really good at it, so why not? He also started Muay Thai, a popular type of martial arts, about a month ago. He goes everyday, and it's definitely starting to show. I know I feel a little safer walking the streets knowing my guy has some "official" training!
Last but not least, we have a little doggie now!!! His name is Teko, and he's actually not really ours. He belongs to our neighbor, but since she has to leave him alone at home all week while she works outside of the city, we said we would keep him with us. He is a little Yorkie and is very well-behaved (at least when there are no cats around). He is super sweet, too, and I swear he is always smiling at us!!

Could he be any cuter??!!

Oh, and one more quick thing. If you're ever in Manaus and find yourself craving some good ol' American-style Pizza Hut, don't bother. I mean, the normal pizza menu is good, but we were so disappointed with the rodizio aka All-You-Can-Eat pizza there. Here I was thinking we would get stuffed on greasy, thick Pizza Hut and the pizza was thin crust (ok, at least you can eat more) but the service was super slow so by the time they bring around another slice to your table, you've been waiting 5 minutes. Not to mention the fact that they only had one pizza, cheese, for someone that doesn't eat pork. Boo... and you have to pay an extra $5R for a drink other than water-downed Pepsi. Serious fail for Pizza Hut. We certainly learned our lesson there. Now we are definitely gonna stick to the other pizza rodizios around here that keep steak pizza, chicken pizza, margarita, portugues, corn, palm of hearts, and many others coming at you faster than you can eat. Now that is what I'm talkin about!!!