Rio De Janerio, Brazil

I traveled to Rio for a Google Apps in Education conference.  I went with two other teachers from my school and learned so many new exciting things I came home exhausted.  I'm already getting to implement many of the things I picked up and am excited to experiment with technology in new and exciting ways..stay tuned for a Google Site with my student's writing from the semester!  I met a lot of other international teachers, something I haven't had the opportunity to do yet and I made some great connections.  I have a date next week with a teacher in Sao Paolo to do a "mystery Skpe" call with our students and might get to meet up with another while we are traveling in Santiago next month.  I also go to explore Rio a bit, although not as much as I had hoped for.  I am looking forward to the opportunity to go back for sure, and next time with Matt! Swimming in the ocean, however chilly, was definitely the high point after 5 months of not seeing the ocean.  I was also humbled immediately when I realized that however good my Spanish is becoming, I cannot speak nor understand a word of Portuguese!

We stayed in Copacabana, very close to the beach.  It rained the first two days, but it was fun anyway!

People were building sand castles all along the beach.  I saw some pretty amazing sculptures.

 

I never thought I would be this excited to see a Starbucks, but after months of sub par coffee, it made my day.

This is the view from the top floor at the Escola Americano de Rio de Janerio, where the conference was.  The favela is called Rosario and is one where they have placed a lot of police presence to clear out drugs in anticipation of the World Cup and the Olympics.  They call this action "pacification." As expected, the reactions to this police action are mixed.

Another picture from the school. You can see the tiny Christ Redeemer on the left. I was definitely jealous of this place!  I would love to go to work here every day.

This is a Caipirinha, the Brazilian national cocktail.  It's made with cachaca (sugar can liquor), sugar and lime.  Not my thing, but I had to try at least one.

We went out one evening to Lapa, a popular neighborhood for dancing and night life.  We watched the samba partner dancers for hours, mesmerized.  The women here dance in 4 inch heels and twirl around at speeds that made me dizzy watching.  This particular club had men that you could learn to dance with, but I was too shy.

View from The Christ Redeemer statue on the hill, overlooking Ipanema.  We stayed up there for over 2 hours, amazed by the view and how it changed as the light changed.  It was fun to see such a big city from up high, especially after the general flatness of Paraguay.