Volunteer in Brazil: The Blog

Back at the project for our final week in Rio: Monday the international group that had been staying at the convent gave a performance to the children. The group had been working on Racism and Xenophobia all week. The performance was to demonstrate the key themes they had been discussing. It included a puppet show, a play and a dance. This was ideal for the children as it was done in a very fun way and there was no need for translation as it was all visual.At the start of the show, the project organiser introduced the topic they had been covering and explained that the group was made up of people from 6 different countries. He explained that they had been working together to tackle issues of racism. He asked the children if they knew what racism was. A lot of eager hands went up to answer the question, Michel one of the boys from Group P got to answer. He said “Racism was when black people didn’t like white people, and white people didn’t like black people”, and summed it up the simplest and to the point way, as only children can do. In the classroom we decided to make the last lessons a bit more relaxed with the younger groups by doing some more drawings of items from the topics we’d covered before. This was good revision as they all had to go back through their books to translate the English words before drawing them, this also lead to another wall of the classroom being brightened up. With group P we taught them the transport vocabulary and gave the choice of which vehicle to draw in an attempt to prevent arguments and disappointment, unfortunately this lead to a wall display of about 8 cars, 4 boats and no trains, trams or planes. This just meant that me and Polly and to put our artistic talents into practice. We had our last beach day with some of the Swedish people we’d met at the convent as they had moved into an apartment in Copacabana, it was nice to top up the tan a little bit before head down the relative chilliness of Argentina before the outright coldness of the
Andes. On Thursday evening we all went to the airport to pick up the boys and their mum (sorry, I just can’t spell the name). They all arrived safely and it was great to finally meet them. After their flight they needed to catch up on sleep after about 24 hours of being awake so headed to bed for a few weeks. The next day we were amazed to see they’d beaten us to breakfast….very impressive! Me and Polly got everything packed up throughout the day and I showed the guys how to get in and out of town using the combi vans. In the afternoon we all went down to the project so the boys could meet the children and we could say our goodbyes. The boys we greeted by a gaggle of giggling girls. We had a bit of cake and squash and were presented with a lovely card that the children had made with a drawing of us on the top of Cristo. We said goodbye to the children and thanked the monitors for all their help throughout. It was sad to say bye but I hope the children have taken something away from it, I know that the pair of us certainly have. Since Laura’s leaving meal at the all you can eat pizza restaurant we’d promised ourselves a trip back there, so we all went down there, and were joined by Bia and Gabriel (Beth’s daughter and son), the pizza was just as amazing as we’d remembered and we gorged on it, almost until bursting point. Afterwards we came back to our flat with the Joe, Rod and mum and drank Caiprinhas and chatted.  We’ve just handed over the curriculum of everything that we’ve covered to the lads. We tried to lay it out clearly so they can see exactly what has been taught to which group, hopefully this will be handy. So, we’re all packed up and just about to be picked up by Beth any minute, as we’re getting a lift to the bus station, then it’s a 23 hour bus ride to Foz do Iguazu. Looking forward to the next leg of our trip, just a bit gutted we didn’t get to spend more time with the lads as I’m sure we’d of had a lot more fun.  We’ve had an absolutely fantastic time here and are eternally grateful to the monitors and staff at the convent and Sister Regina and the rest of the nuns for their friendliness and patience with our pidgin Portuguese. And we are especially grateful to Beth for her amazing warmness and unbelievable hospitality, we have felt completely comfortable, included and welcome from the moment we were met at the airport to the moment that we are about to be dropped off at the bus station. Also, a huge thanks to Joe Howson at home who has made this experience possible, the preparation that he provided us was absolutely vital and we hope that he enjoys seeing all his hard work first hand next month when he visits the project. MUITO OBRIGADO!!! Beijos de Joe and PollyTchau

Hello everyone,Week 6 was another week for great exploring. It was Beth’s birthday this week (17th June) so we did a couple of trips to celebrate. On her birthday we went to a beautiful beach called……which was around an hours drive from
Rio. The area was really good for surfing, but as none of us surf we chose to set up camp near the calmer waters at the end of the beach. The view was beautiful and we had a nice swim. Unfortunately due to under currents we weren’t able to swim for very long before the lifeguard told us to get out. We also went to have lunch at a restaurant called…..which was more inland. It was set over a marsh area so we were able to watch crabs that were in abundance scurry around the marsh. They didn’t look like sea crabs; they had dark brown bodies and bright green claws, so they blended into their surroundings. We had a really nice lunch and sampled a lovely Brazilian dish, made with prawns and coconut milk, it tasted similar to Thai red curry….lovely.In the classroom this week the middle group were keen to do some drawings. We decided to teach them body parts and give them a piece of paper each, each with a different body part, they then coloured them in, cut them out and stuck them down on a large piece of paper. The result was a little harrowing, It looked like a baboon spliced with an ork, which made another interesting wall display.The usual tranquility of the convent went out of the window this week with the arrival of a few big groups staying here at the same time. There was a group of indigenous Brazilians who were here trying to document their people’s history and a big group of internationals who were here to discuss world issues such as racism and xenophobia. The international group had people from Sweden, Spain, Holland, Latvia, Brazil, Bolivia, and
Mexico and was extremely friendly and keen for us to join in on all their social events, these took place every night! So we went to their cultural evenings and tried our hardest to keep up with their dance moves and also got to sample traditional drinks!On the Saturday we went along to the mountains with Beth and her husband Eduardo, it was only a few hours away and was in the area that the Swiss settlers had made their own when they were brought over to spread their agricultural techniques in the 19 century. The scenery was amazing, forested mountains as far as the eye could see! We stayed in a lovely cabin overlooking the mountains and had a pretty busy few days trying to squeeze in all the sights. These included a walk along the river to see the waterfall. Unfortunately as it was dry season the falls were usually more pumping but they were still very impressive and we spent some time getting great photos and watching a few guys rafting through the rapids. We also had a look round the underwear shops for which it is famous, this is the area where all the lingerie is made and there are skimpily clad mannequins in every shop window in the whole town. We wandered around the many crafts shops and sampled the locally made Cachaca, which inevitably led to us purchasing some. That evening we went out to a pizza restaurant that Beth and Ed had been going to for years, and we could see why….the pizza was fantastic, afterwards we went to a German pub and washed it down with a few beers. The following day we went to a honey shop, where all the products had been made from honey or one of the other by-products of bees. We also went to a goat farm, where we got to make friends with some friendly little goats and I even got to hold the youngest one, he was only two and a half weeks old and was just as shocked as I was when the farm boy scooped him up and thrust him into my arms. The setting was amazing, with great scenery all around, and humming birds flying around our heads like insects. We spent some time trying to get the perfect photo, but they’re pretty camera shy and dart around very quickly, but with a bit of patience we succeeded. Once again, the tasting session after the tour lead to us buying some goats cheese, it is absolutely lovely, and is currently still stinking out our fridge. We then went on to the ‘Finger of God’, which is a mountain range in the shape of a hand held up with a clasped fist and outstretched index finger. This was a busy spot and we got to experience men preparing, and then crushing sugar cane to make a delicious syrupy drink. Before heading back to
Rio we went to a big market and ambled around. So it was a busy couple of days and would have been completely impossible without Beth and Ed, so thank you again guys, we had an amazing few days!

Having had a very actioned packed week in week 4 we tried to spend more time  in the project in Week 5. One of the tasks that we have been trying to complete is the organisation of the Library. Through donations the project has an extensive library covering many topics; Biology, History, English, Portuguese, even Philosophy! Alongside a large range of novels, magazines, comics and videos. Although the library had already been organised by a previous group of volunteers more donations have meant the job needs doing again. So here come Me and Joe!

 In the Classroom we started our ´Transport topic´with group M and G as we thought this would be a good progression from directions. We focused on modes of transport and buying tickets. We used role play with group G to  help them get used to understand and respond to questions. Group P we decided that it would be fun to do some drawing this week. We thought that animals would be a good thing for the little ones to draw so we decided on a animal for each of them. We wrote each aminals name clearly in English and in Portuguese on an A4 piece of paper and handed one out to each of the children. We asked them to draw the animal to fill the paper and colour them in. As a result we created a small poster for each animal which we then stuck on the wall of the classroom. The drawings look great and they will be kept up so that the children can use them as an extra learning tool. They also help with the others groups vocalbulary, when group M and G saw the drawings they wanted to some for their topics!

 Outside of the classroom we ventured to Sugar Loaf again. We chose not to go up by cable car and instead ascended the trail up Morro da Urca, which is the slightly smaller mountain next to it. The trail was extremely steep but the views were worth it at the top. We also got some other little surprises, some very friendly monkeys (see pictures attached) which we  were able to feed. This made our day, Joe was particulary excited as he LOVES monkeys. The top also boasted a heli-pad, for all the ´swish´tourists that wanted the best view of the city. Although we couldn´t afford the 300 reis (roughly 100 pounds) for a 15 minute flight we did get excited watching them take off and land for a little while!

Beth also took to the Museu do Arte Contemporanea (MAC), which is in Niteroi. Nitoroi is accessed via the extremely long bridge connecting it to Rio accross the bay, I believe Beth said it was about 14km long! Driving across allowed us to look back at Rio from the sea, seeing the whole city, from Sugar Loaf up to the hills! The museum itself is very famous as it was designed by the great Brazilian architech Oscar Niemeyer, who is also re-nouned for works such as The National Congress of Brazil and The Cathedral of Brasilia The MAC is a futuristic building that stands out clearly from the backdrop of the bay´s scenery. I would most liken its shape to a flying saucer (see Picture). The exhibitions inside were bout the concretism movement of modern art and the development of modern art in Brazil. They were very interesting. We particulary like a painting depicting some shoes that I have attached below, in the picture you can hardly tell if they are real or not!

We decided to take advantage of the cloudy weather by doing the walking tour of Centro. We caught the metro to the station and followed the map in our guidebooks, along the busy streets of Centro. The place had a nice busy feel to it and we felt as if we’d finally found the city centre to
Rio, which can feel pretty spread out most of the time. We meandered through markets and spent some time looking at the CD´s being sold in an open air music market. We went to Igreja Sao Fransico da Penitencia, dating back to 1726, which was stunning. As a service was taking place in the more modern church we couldn’t look round there but the old Church itself was incredible, every inch of the walls and ceiling was dripping with gold and beautifully painted biblical scenes and countless statues. It was well worth the visit and also boasted great views of Largo de Carioca and the hustle-bustle of the market place below. Unfortunately theArt Gallery was closed and Columbo Cafe was a little out of our price range (although we did have a look inside and it looked incredible, not exactly the greasy spoons that we’re used to, not a fry-up in sight!). Next we trundled down the narrow streets, window shopping all the way, until we arrived at the Real Gabinete Portugues de Leitura, the historic reading rooms. The building alone was awe inspiring but, needless to say, it boasted an incredible collection of ancient books, dating back hundreds of years. we then carried on through the Saara, a busy area of narrow streets full of Bizarres selling allsorts of things and stopped for  a meal at one of the Lebanese restaurants, the food was fantastic, we called it a day after that and went home exhausted and stuffed! We also went up to see Christo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) this week. First we drove up to the to Corcovando, the mountain that lies within the Parque nacional da Tijuca and walked around the protected rainforest right in the middle of this huge city, then we went up to the statue itself. The views from the top were breathtaking and for the first time since we’d arrived me managed to get a sense of the layout of the city, with a bird’s eye view it all seems to make sense. Despite the big crowds we managed to get the standard arms spread wide tourist photo. It was well worth the visit and an absolute must for anyone coming to
Rio. This week in class we covered directions with the two older classes and managed to have a bit of fun by taking the class outside and splitting the class in pairs so that they could direct each other around the chalk outline of a block of streets using the directions that we’d taught them. It also brought our attention to the fact that we need to spend some time practicing pronunciation as everyone was struggling with “take the third right”, so I think we’ll practice the TH sound soon.  As the weekend dawned me and Polly on the spur of the moment decided to visit Ilha Grande for the weekend, so jumped on a bus for the ferry port and managed to catch the last boat. We were so glad we did because the next three days were incredible. Ilha Grande is a paradise island a few hours from the city, it has no roads or cars (except a few emergency vehicles) and is host to some of the best beaches around. Lopez Mendes is among these and is consistently voted in the top ten beaches in the world in poles. The island is covered in rainforest and mountains and only has a population of 4,000. We met some amazing people, saw some great scenery and both completely fell in love with the place. We slept in a rooftop room where the bed took up the floor and there was no front wall so we awoke to the sun rising over the sea and mountains…..like I said…paradise.

Hello everyone, again apologies for the lack of posting over the last few weeks, the internet has been down at the convent so it has been difficult to access the blog.

Week 3 the children began preparations for the upcoming party in July. As i said in the last blog they have already started practicing the dance they will be performing, which is a traditional Brazilian dance. However they were also starting to make decorations for the party as well. To make the decorations they have been using a variety of recyled materials, such as shop advertisements, plastic mags and magazines. they have been attaching these to long metres of string to make great colourful banners that will look great at the party.

In the class room we were teaching food this week and trying to link this in with the shopping topic from previous weeks. In order to combine the topics we designed a worksheet, which Joe spent sometime doing a detailed drawing of a street of shops. It went down well and gave the children a good visual aid to keep in their work folders.

In our time outside the classroom we went to have our first glimspe at sugar loaf up close. Beth took us there for a walk around the bottom, she showed us the nice beach (red beach) and also showed us the Urca neighbourhood on the way back. Urca is a lovely leafy part of the city with great views of the harbour. If your bearings are good you can also make out where Santa Teresa is up on the hill across the bay. (more from our trip up Sugar Loaf in week 5!)

 Another day we decided to get a bit of culture by visiting the Museu do Indio to learn a bit about the indigenous tribes that were living in Brazil before the Portuguese and subsequent settlers arrived. Unfortunately it was all in Portuguese so we couldn´t really understand most of it, but there were a few videos which showed pottery being made in the traditional style that were really interesting.

As we were in full tourist mode and needed more of a fix of local history (albeit, more recent history) we decided to walk to Copacanbana fort, built in 1914 as the portuguese main defence of Rio. As you approach the fort there seems to be very little to look at from the bay, but as you enter the grounds the verge that the fort is built into is peppered with ancient cannons of varying degrees of size and sophistication. I was amazed at the craftmanship that had obviously gone into these old machines, Polly on the otherhand, was a little less excited, but i think it might be a boy thing. Inside the fort itself, there was a network of tunnels that lead to huge gun torrets, engine rooms, dormatorys, offices where defence was dicussed and huge stores full of missiles, all incased within a 12 metre thick wall! i thought it was thouroughly impressive and topped off with fantastic views along the coastline.

Polly and Joe xx

Sorry about the delay for our second post, but here we go!

Well week two was our first taste of teaching the classes. Although Laura has now gone (and i´ll talk more about her leaving lower down), she was still here during week two and we tried to make the handover between teachers as smooth as possible. We tried to follow on from the topics Laura had been covering with each class.

The children are split into three classes; P (Pequeno, which is small), M (Medio, which is medium) and G (Grande, which is Big). Each class has 15 children in and all of them are very lively! Most of the children are keen to learn English and are enthusiastic about being involved in the classes. Sometimes its a struggle to stop them jumping up and writing on the board!

Group P are the youngest at the project. Their varying abiltites made it slightly tricky to pace the class correctly, as some of them are finished and waiting for the next instructions while others are just getting started, we´ve since managed to combat this by taking different roles in the classroom with this group. 

Overalll the first experience of teaching all the groups, although daunting and sometimes a little chaotic has been great. I think it will get easier once our Portuguese is a little better. This will also stand just as much outside of the classroom as it will inside, as the children always want to ask us lots of questions in our free time with them, so it will help us get to know them better.

Beth took us along to a big Northeastern market one evening. We went along expecting a few stalls selling bits and bobs and were suprised to see hundreds of locals(now locals, but the majority originally coming from the Northeast of Brazil). The market is to celebrate the traditional culture of the Northeast. In particular they have several stages playing different types of Northeastern music, to which all the locals were dancing Forho (not sure how to spell that). This type of dancing is one of the most sensual types of brazilian dance, partners get much closer than  in Samba. We had a great time, there was a great atmosphere.

 After 10 days of us arriving it was time for Laura´s departure. For a farewell meal we went out to Parma´s, home of the famous chocolate pizza.  It was an all you can eat place where waiters are constantly sweeping through to offer you slices of the most bizaare pizza toppings we´d ever heard of, but it was lovely. We´ve promised ourselves another visit before we leave Rio. Laura had cultivated quite a sweet tooth in her time in Rio, so the chocolate pizza was a great choice for her last meal!

Laura´s last day was on the Thursday. At the project the children has their first session of practicing the dance they will be performing in their end of year party, so Laura got a great show of all their enthusiastic dance moves. The children and the monitors had also made Laura a lovely card to say how they thought she had been a great teacher and they would miss her greatly, which i think she was very touched with. She had to set off for the airport early in the evening, so she had her last portion of rice and beans (or should we say chicken and salad in her case!) before we said our goodbyes.

We´d both like to say thank you to her for showing us the ropes and helping us settle in to life in Rio.

Until next week

x