The Brazilian "Midwest"

View from the TV Tower. Notice how symmetrical the city design is.

I arrived to Brasilia last Sunday morning. It was a long trip. I left my house in Seattle at 7:30 AM caught a flight to Atlanta and met the rest of my group there. Then we had an 8-9 hour flight to Brasilia. When we arrived, we took advantage of the beautiful sunny weather right away and walked around. Our hotel, which was the nicest hotel here back in the '80s (Princess Diana stayed here), is across the street (a  busy 6-lane highway) from a TV Tower and park. You can take an elevator up to the top of the tower for free (which we did). There was also a Sunday market taking place nearby, which we perused for a couple of hours.

For those who don't know why I am in Brazil, let me explain. I am part of a new program called Teachers Without Borders. It is affiliated with the Department of State and administered by a non-profit called IREX. There are about 65 teachers in the program who are traveling to six different countries (India, Indonesia, Ghana, Morocco, Ukraine, and Brazil). We are here to learn about Brazil's education system and to deepen our own thinking about global education. It is an amazing opportunity.

Brazil is a huge country, the fifth largest in the world both in area and population. There are five distinct regions: the north (Amazon), Northeast (poorest region), Southeast (most populated), South (wealthiest), and Central-West (where the capital is). Tomorrow, I will be traveling to Teresina, a city in the northeast, for a week.

Brasilia is a strange place. It is a planned city - construction was completed in 1960. The buildings remind me of some of the World's Fair structures in Seattle (completed in 1962). They were intended to look futuristic and there is a big emphasis on concrete. Almost every building seems to be designed by Oscar Niemeyer, who is currently 104 years old. He is considered a sort of national hero here. He uses a lot of curves in his buildings and as I mentioned above, a lot of concrete. He also helped design the UN headquarters in New York.

Brasilia is a UNESCO World Heritage Site - the only city built in the 20th century with that designation. It feels like an aging city; many of the buildings look dated and feel like they opened in 1960. Some have compared it to the Epcot Center at Disney World.

The master plan has the city organized into "superblocs." A superbloc contains housing, a church, a park, and often a shopping street. Everything is coded with numbers and letters. Some of the apartment buildings were originally designated for government officials, bank employees, or other specific groups of people. Today, Brasilia is very expensive. A 3 bedroom apartment will cost $1500 to $1800 a month or will sell for $500 million USD. That is a lot when the average income in Brazil is about $800 a month (many civil servants and professional make much more than this of course). Minimum wage here is about $300 a month.

The "Blue Church"

Sign in a Super Bloc

Brasilia has the highest per capita income in Brazil. If you are poor, however, you probably work in Brasilia (as a maid or porter perhaps), but don't live here. There are several "satellite cities" 30-40 kilometers outside of the capital that face much higher levels of poverty, crime, drug abuse, etc. They were originally created after construction workers squatted in Brasilia when their work was completed in 1960. The workers were given land outside of the city in order to remove the slums. Today there are new problems in the capital. There are about 2,000 homeless people (only in the past 5-6 years) and a rising number of crack cocaine users (also a recent problem).

I learned most of what I now know about Brasilia from our tour guide, Roberto (r is pronounced with an h sound). He is a native of Brasilia and has given us an honest interpretation of his city's history. He acknowledges that many find Brasilia cold, but points out that most visitors never go into the neighborhoods. They often just visit government and office buildings. I have to say, by my 4th day here, the city is growing on me. Maybe it's the weather (upper 70s and sunny EVERY day) or maybe it's the people (very welcoming).

Typical superbloc apartment building.

A church in a superbloc.

The National Cathedral

The National Cathedral's ceiling.

The Congress building.

The source of my refreshing coco water.

Roberto doing his thing.

The new World Cup stadium under construction.

Ready to go to the U.S. Embassy and the Congress.

Brazil in the News

Thanks Chris, for sharing this video. I love the second speaker. Giving advice to U.S. presidential candidates, he says, "You need to think in a more global way. I know it's difficult, but give it a try." Duh.

What do YOU know about Brazil?

Back in December, when I found out that I would be travelling to Brazil, I realized that I really didn't know much about the FIFTH LARGEST COUNTRY in the world. And as I have talked with friends, family, and colleagues about my upcoming trip, it seems that in general, many other people (at least in Seattle) don't know very much about Brazil either.

Despite taking multiple Latin American history courses in college and even living in South America for a year, my understanding of Brazil was limited to what I have seen in films like Central Station and City of God. I decided that I needed to learn as much as I could about my host country before I leave in June. Here are some of the books and other resources that I'm using for my self-taught crash course.

Brazil is hosting the World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016. People all over the world, including the United States, are going to be paying much more attention soon - I hope to get a head start with this trip (and reading list).

"Brazil on the Rise" is written by a New York Times correspondent. Some reviewers accuse him of being too critical and negative about Brazil. He claims to have vetted his ideas with Brazilian colleagues and family. I'm giving it a chance (I'm only a couple of chapters in). So far, I'm enjoying it.

I had a hard time getting into this book - it's a bit dry. On the back cover, the first review says it is "for the corporate executive facing his or her first long flight to Sao Paolo..." For some reason, that's wasn't a selling point for me. But it covers a lot of ground in about 150 pages. I'm going to give it another try. I really do want to understand the incredible surge in Brazil's economy. Last year, Brazil passed the UK and became the world's 6th largest economy. And they are on pace to pass France and enter the #5 spot. (The USA, China, Japan, and Germany are ahead of France and Brazil on the list.)

I read NACLA's (North American Congress on Latin America) magazine often in college when doing research for my Latin American history classes. It's a great publication. I just downloaded a few articles from the March/April 2011 issue and hope to read them on the plane. The articles focus on the transition from Lula to Dilma Rousseff's administration (Brazil's first female president).






I am not going to carry a guidebook with me to Brazil, but I did download the PDF of the first chapter of the Lonely Planet Brazil guide, which focuses on history, culture, and food. And I picked up the Lonely Planet Brazilian Portuguese Phrasebook. I plan to try my best to master some basic phrases. I speak Spanish pretty well, which helps, but learning Portuguese has proven to be a challenge so far.

I checked out the Pimsleur short course (eight 30-minute lessons) from the public library and have been listening (and repeating) in my car. I really like the approach of this course. You listen to a short conversation between two people. They break down each phrase into individual words and syllables. There is time for you to repeat everything a couple of times and just as you are about to forget something from a few minutes earlier, they bring it back. I am going to spend some time during my commutes home this week to finish the course.

Perry, my colleague from South Carolina, told me about this podcast. I had to register on the SurvivalPhrases website to be able to download the first ten lessons for free. They are short and sweet and go over the most essential phrases as the name of the site implies. All ten lessons total about an hour.

I like to be informed when I travel. I hope to be able to integrate what I am reading about Brazil's history, economy, and culture into my reflections on this blog over the next few weeks. I hope you join me.

Hello! In one week I will be leaving for Brazil as part of the Teachers for Global Classrooms fellowship program. I am in the process of trying to grade essays, write sub plans, and take care of various tasks that will allow me to leave for the last two weeks of the school year. Crazy times!

In February, I attended a Global Education Symposium in Washington DC with the 64 other TGC fellows. In addition to seeing the new MLK memorial at night, which was a certainly highlight of my trip, I had a chance to meet the rest of my Brazil group as well as the other teachers who are travelling to India, Indonesia, Ghana, Morocco, and Ukraine.

It's hard to believe that we will be reunited (in the Atlanta airport) in just a few days.