Out and About

Today we went on an excursion into Sao Paulo.  Sao Paulo is one of the biggest cities in the world! 

We visited Independence Park, which commemorates Brazil´s independence from Portugal.  It also hosts the mausoleum for Dom Pedro, the liberator of Brazil.

The park is beautiful. 

 

We had some activities and a short skit on the history of Brazil´s independence. 

The official cast of the traveling version of "Dom Pedro Liberates Brazil"

We also experienced another of Sao Paulo´s famous things – really bad traffic!

 

We´re Off…

For the weekend!

The kids will be spending the weekend with a Brazilian host family.  Another great opportunity to see some of Sao Paulo and experience Brazilian culture!

Darci will be spending the weekend with Mari from Costa Rica, Delaney will be chilling with Mili from Argentina, Will is off with Hector from Peru, and Thomas is partnered with Matteo from Argentina.

Leah will be hitting the beach this weekend with the other leaders, JCs, and staff to relax and plan the second half of the camp!

We will most likely be offline until Monday, so happy weekend to all!

 

Sharing Cultures, part 2

Yesterday, we had two national activities – Guatemala and Australia!

Australia let us write a story using Aboriginal symbols and gave a clinic on how to play Australian football.  The Australian football is similar in shape to the American football, but is much bouncier.  We also tried Vegemite and learned a song and a dance.

The Crocodile Hunter, an Aboriginal person, a beach lifeguard, an Australian football player, and a kangaroo!

 Thanks Mates, for a great day!

Guatemala started their activities with Loteria, a Bingo game with Spanish words.  Later that evening, we had pinatas, a video and an amazing traditional dance.  And one of the best parts – frozen chocolate covered bananas for dessert!

Thomas trying to hit the pinata

Muchas gracias, Guatemala!

 

A Typical Day – in pictures

Will playing Romeo and Juliet, a tag game

Darci showing her team spirit during a bridge building activity

Thomas entertaining us with his height trick

Delaney making friendship bracelets - a popular activity

The USA delegation, creating an American Johnny Pigeon. (Johnny Pigeon is our camp mascot)

 

Sharing Cultures

So far, we have had two national night presentations.  National nights are our opportunities to show a little bit about our different countries – what we eat, what we do, who we are.

Argentina was the first national night.

(The Tango)

We ate empanadas filled with beef, peppers, onions, and egg.  Darci liked them so much she ate 6!  We also saw two traditional Argentinian dances, including the tango.  Gracias, Argentina, for a great night!

France was next.

(Lyon´s Salade)

We ate a Lyonnaise meal, went on a scavenger hunt to learn about France (the current capital is Paris, the old capital was Lyon, the higest mountain in France is Mont Blanc, and we know more French words than we thought we did!)  Merci beaucoup, France, for a wonderful evening!

 

Trees

As we posted before, the theme of our camp is Footprint Village – what´s the mark you leave on the world?

One of the ways that humans leave a mark on the world is through our impact on our environment.  And in order to help make our footprint smaller, we have planted two trees here at our campsite – a mango tree and a lemon tree.  The CISV song, which we sing every morning and every evening, says “sow a seed and plant a tree, beneath whose branches there may be, all the nations gathered free.”

(taken in our pre-Will days)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We´ve also been told that the parents of the Swedish delegation will be planting trees to cover the carbon footprint of flying from Sweden to Brazil round trip!

And speaking of trees, check out this sneak peek of our beautiful campsite!

 

Happy New Year!

 Happy 2009 to all, and best wishes for a Happy New Year!

 

Musings

Some quick notes from the camp computer lab…

1. We are across the street from a Buddist temple and can sometimes hear them chanting. It´s quite nice actually.

2. It is definitely summer here. Hot, hot and hot!

3. There are monkeys that come down from the trees and watch us do activities sometimes.

4. Learning 70 new names is hard work and takes more than 24 hours to do.

5. I have a GREAT delegation and I´m so happy to have them here (and for Will to arrive in the morning!)

6. The Americans have become fast friends with the Canadians and the Australians.

I promise our next post will have some pictures. Happy New Year to everyone!

 

Boa Noite from Brazil!

Just a short update post…

We have just finished our first day of camp – kids, leaders, JCs (junior counselors) and staff!

The kids arrived this morning to quite a fanfare, including footprint “registrations” – think bare feet, paint, a banner and a theme of Footprint Village and you can probably connect the dots.

We also had a car wash that didn´t involve any cars…oh yeah, we are having fun!

We are really excited about this month. The kids have already made new friends, and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Will – hopefully will be sooner rather than later.

On a personal note, my email is not working from the camp site as of right now, so I haven´t been able to open any emails sent to me. Please send to ldonelan at nonprofitctr.org instead if you need me.

Besos from Brazil!

 

New Friends, Part III

And finally, our North American neighbor and our friends from Asia-Pacific!

Canada

Australia

Japan