Gotas de Flor com Amor (Flower drops of love - which represents the founders belief in floral therapy) has a well established monthly exchange program with Liceu Pasteur - a very chic, and expensive, French school.
About the school:
At Liceu Pasteur all subjects, math - geography - history, are taught in French. In addition to that students are required to take English, French, and Portuguese classes 4 times a week. They must then choose between Spanish or German, which they take 3 times a week. If they plan on going to Europe they typically chose German, if they plan on staying in the Americas they choose Spanish. But that is not all - they also have the option of Latin. But only students with the aptitude for Latin are allowed to remain in that class. In theory they graduate the school fluent in up to 5 languages. Wow. The students are definitely fluent in Portuguese and French, I didn´t test their English. But I know that 5 classes a week doesn´t get most Americans anywhere near fluent. I do think their language education is more rigorous then our own. Their basketball/soccer area was larger then all of Gotas. Now mind you, Gotas isn´t a school for history, math, etc, but still... And all this costs more then what most Gotas parents make in a year. (oh, and the kids look VERY american with Blink 182 t-shirts and Nike hats)
Okay - about the exchange:
One month - like September for example - students from Gotas get on a bus and got to Liceu. Next month the students from Liceu will come to Gotas. Today at Liceu we made "Mabre" ao chocolate - a cake. What a hilarious experience. The kids were supposed to seperate the yolks and beat the egg whites. One group didn´t even bother seperating the yolks from whites, one group put in the whies and tried to beat the yolks, and most groups didn´t have the stamina to beat the whites very much. But it was fun watching the children interact - the boys were definitely much more welcoming then the girls. What is the matter with females?
Overall observations:
- When we were driving back to the school we drove past a favela (I´ll explain why I don´t take pictures later) and one girl said "that´s my house". At first I thought she was kidding, but then others chimed in and we saw one girls mom. It will never cease to amaze me what incredibly difficult circumstances these children endure.
- I could never teach in the states again. I was walking around today and Matheus - about 12 - came up and gave me a big hug. When he didn´t want to help with dishes later I laughingly dragged him into the kitchen. Later a girl I don´t even know, from Gotas, gave me a hug. Affection has ruined me for North American standards.
- Fear is a serious business here in Brasil. I get warned over and over again to watch out. I walk by a favela every morning and evening and I think my family is suprised I´m never accosted or even approached. My aunt today told me about how a man approached her as she entered a bank. He asked for directions and she said she didn´t know where the place was. The guard at the bank told her the stranger wanted to steal her purse. He didn´t but the message is clear, everyone is out to get you. I feel perfectly safe walking to and fro each day - but I keep it very simple - no jewelry, no camera (the reason I have a dearth of photos). I question Michael Moore´s legitimacy but I agree with his proposal that fear is what maintains the status quo. Poor people here live in a misery that can hardly be imagined, as is true of much of the world, and fear is a tool for keeping things the same.
- The news here is so much more interesting then in the States. They don´t talk about celebrities here. Imagine!? They report on corrupt judges and police officers accused of assassinations. They may propagate the fear but they don´t glorify the unimportant.
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