Back to school daze

These days I’m packing a daily lunchbox of snacks for my schoolboy. He looks so cute in his government-issue student Tshirt. And I grin from ear to ear seeing him leave the apartment carrying his backpack filled with school supplies.

Luiz is back in school. The good news is that he’s having a lot of fun and that he will emerge the other end as a certified Tour Guide in the state of Rio de Janeiro. His classes include a broad range of topics from how to treat senior tourists, to learning about the history of dozens of cities, to how to give bus boarding instructions in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

The bad news (sorta, it was his first choice) is that the school runs three sessions a day: morning classes, afternoon classes and evening classes and Luiz is attending the morning classes. Monday through Thursday he leaves the apartment at 6:00 a.m. to get to school by 7:00 a.m. Classes run until 12:20 p.m. after which he is provided with a public school free lunch (we’re talking basic beans, rice and pasta with a slice of fruit for dessert). So he gets home by about 2:00 or 2:30 p.m. I have become a lonely stay at home by myself husband.

Luiz is a natural. He loves people and people love him. He can talk about just about anything. What he doesn’t know for sure he will make up without skipping a beat. It’s all about the charm.

As Rio and Brazil gear up for the increase in tourism driven by the upcoming World Cup and Olympic games, demand for official tour guides trained by the state tourism board is great. Luiz is riding that wave.

Part of his training includes many field trips to local points of interest as well as to a few neighboring cities and towns. Luiz is very excited about this new venture.

But from now until early July I’ll be sitting at home working up lesson plans in an empty apartment. On the bright side, I’ll get to set the dinner menu more often.