Oi

Ok this will be a long post….so for your convenience I will give you sub-headings and you can skip over things you are not interested in reading 
School visits: The past two days we visited 3 schools. Two public and one private. The first school, Andre Filho was a small public school with an incredibly motivated, respectful and jovial student body. After touring the school and talking to the teachers we got to sit in on a couple of classes and talk to the kids. High schools in Rio are grades 9, 10 and 11 which they call first, second and third year. They have no “12th grade.” The kids at this school were very open about the way they respect their teachers and feel respected by them and this relationship is a large part of any successes that the school experiences. While many kids will not go on to college because they will not pass the vestibular, they are motivated to study and learn and they are incredibly articulate and willing to share about their lives. Nearly every student in a class of around 30 was openly talking to us and asking questions which was a incredible sight to see. When asked what they knew of the US, they said Keenan and Kel and Lady Gaga and that they liked the Chicago Bulls. Go figure. They all ask if US high schools are “like they are in the movies?” haha…they want American students to know that Rio is not just Carnival parties but there is so much good culture here that the people are proud of. One of the classes had a girl that was a Beyonce look-alike! 
The next school was called Andre Maurois and was reminiscent of a badly-run US public school, although the director (principal) really tried to impress us. This school serves students who live in the neighborhood in the movie City of God. Although if you have ever seen the movie it is not a good depiction of reality. I got a bad vibe at first because when we entered the teacher’s lounge one teacher immediately went on a rant about the US teaching false information about Brazil because she knows of a book that is used there that says the Amazon isn’t even in Brazil. She was very rude and accusatory and clearly anti-American. A bizarre feeling, but only our first encounter with this and hey, there are crazy people no matter where you go in the world, huh? Anyways, most of the teachers are really great and motivated to help their students. This is incredibly impressive considering their lack of resources and the fact that they only get paid about the equivalent of $600 a month in the US. And we thought teacher salaries were bad in the United States……if you are a teacher in the US you would be embarrassed to tell them how much you make. The Portuguese teacher was particularly impressive and she described to us how she teaches her students to express themselves in different situations, especially professional situations. I’d say this is something that our American students could benefit from… A funny thing was when she said that she doesn’t get angry at her students if they use bad language she just says: “Is anyone in here wearing a bikini? No because it would not be appropriate…so we don’t say things like that in class because it is not appropriate.” Ha…I might have to use that one sometime. She was such a caring person who is really dedicated to the formation of her students as citizens through her curriculum. At Andre Maurois there is a strong net of trust between the teachers and the students. Even though these students hail from areas known for high crime the rooms in the school with valuable equipment are always left unlocked and they never have any issues with kids stealing things. In fact, the students actually thank the directors for letting them use the computer room, etc. They stress “freedom with responsibility” to their students. The students are very sharp and intellectual and are eager to talk about social issues such as the college acceptance quota system. They are very friendly and like the Filho students (and all students in Rio that we have met) they really want to share their lives and invite you into their story. It’s beautiful. I’ve never felt so genuinely welcome by strangers. They even had me sit in a chair and did a “physics experiment” where 4 of them lifted me up with their fingers! “It won’t hurt!” they promised me.  The students stay in the same class and the teachers move around so each “class” was assigned a Copa de Mundo (WORLD CUP!) country and they decorated the entire classroom in that flag and colors. Volleyball or “volley” and futbol (“footsh-bol”) are always being played outside, it’s no wonder Brazil is notoriously successful in these sports! Lastly, while teens here love music and cell phones like any American teen, you don’t see them constantly plugged-in…they seem much more interested in talking, laughing and enjoying the presence of the people they are with.
Escola Parque, the private school we visited is in a very rich part of Rio and walking into the campus felt like walking into a botanical garden. They have a waterfall inside the school grounds! Gah! The facilities were obviously much nicer and it seemed much more organized as evidenced b the directors and teachers who shared info about the school with us. This school reminded me of a Jesuit school in that while it is very elite (it costs R$1000 a month to attend…i.e. $600-ish dollars) and its students are very privileged, this school is incredibly focused on social awareness through a tripod system involving social, economic and environmental social projects. They have projects going throughout the year, some sponsored by the British Council, that give students the chance to teach younger kids, work in programs in the city, etc. One was a group of 30 students who worked via videoconference with students from 11 other countries on a climate change awareness project. It is truly amazing how they aim to sensitize their students to human rights issues outside of the school which translates into creating leaders who will go on to university and then go back to the community and have jobs making changes in the community. I would LOVE to teach at this school! I am so interested in the way that they form protagonistic, socially-aware students who are primed to go on and tackle the daunting social issues in Rio. When we left the school you could hear all of the elementary school kids practicing a performance of the World Cup theme song. It was awesome and made me so happy!
Language
I love Portuguese! I am slowly starting to feel more comfortable with the language. We had our first Portuguese lesson with a fantastic teacher named Patricia and I really felt like she really unlocked some doors in my brain to being able to hear the language in a different way where I feel almost more involved in it. I miss studying a language and I relish this opportunity to be thrown into the Portuguese language. They have a lot of pronunciation quirks such as pronouncing: “d” as a soft “g” some “s” endings as “sh” and some “t” s as “-tch” ….but it’s so beautiful and fun to speak.
Food
I have had more coffee here than I have ever had in m life…usually bc I don’t want to be rude when they offer it at all of the schools. I actually like it bc they put a lot of sugar in it and they serve it in really tiny cups. When in Rio…. Grocery shopping was also an interesting experience but I managed to eyeball the perfect spice for fajitas even though I couldn’t read the packages! I can’t get enough of the acai smoothies and pastel. Yum yum!!!