IFAM Idiomas: Distrito Industrial Campus

This week we were lucky enough to be invited to talk with the Saturday morning English classes at the Distrito Industrial campus.  The courses are part of a program called IFAM Idiomas, the project provides English classes at a very low cost to IFAM students and members of the community.  The program is designed to accomodate basic to intermediate levels of English.  Some objectives of IFAM Idiomas include: equipping students with communication skills, written skills, an enhanced vocabulary, as well as the development of cross-cultural experiences.

One Professor mentioned that many of his students travel long distances to get to classes because English is becoming an in demand skill for the workforce.  Manaus is experiencing some major growth in it's eco-tourism industry, and the upcoming games of the 2014 World Cup will be hosted here.  Manauara cab drivers and hotel staff are beginning to make more of an effort to learn some basic English. I have been surprised at the lack of English in Brazil especially regarding hotels and tourist areas.

We visited several classes at different levels of English, the classes were composed of a range of ages.  We were interviewed by the students who had some pretty hard hitting questions, such as "Do you live to love or love to live?" and "Are you satisfied with your personality?".  We had so much fun meeting everyone and participating in the classes, hopefully we can visit again!      

Feeling Fences

In every city I have visited so far except for Brasilia, there are fences and fences and more fences.  Most houses, buildings, and space in Brasil is privately owned.  It's a strange feeling because parts of Europe and North America feel more open and accessible.

PROSAMIM has a radically new vision of Manaus and the importance of public space.  Here is Parque Senador Jefferson Péres built by PROSAMIM, this area used to be a slum area.  Now the park has a playground, an orchid greenhouse, and food stands.

Arts & Crafts PROSAMIM Style

Here are some cool crafts they have been making out of recycled materials at the PROSAMIM base in Quadra 3.

São Paulo vrs. Tambaqui Urbano

This is the Sampa skyline from the Banespa building, which was built in the same style of the Empire State Building.  Banespa was the tallest building in São Paulo until 1960, it still has the best 360-degree view of the city.  Is this really a skyline? There is almost no sky!

MASP is one of São Paulo 's best modern art museums.

Museu Ipiranga and Parque da Independência was built in commemoration of King Dom Pedro I who declared Brazilian independence in 1822. The museum examines Brazilian history from early settlement to the 1950s, it also has a very strange exhibit on old baby photos.

Liberdade the Japanese district

Mercado Municipal, where you must eat a massive sanduíche de mortadela (they serve about 900 of them a day here).

The graffiti artist Invader invaded São Paulo, you can spot his artwork all around the city in random places.

Petrópolis: Is this England?

Catedral de São Pedro de Alcântara

The catedral was built in 1884 by King Dom Pedro II in French Gothic style.  It holds the royal chapel where King Dom Pedro II, Princess Regent Dona Teresa Cristina, and many other members of the royal family are buried.

Petrópolis is a beautiful city with a lot of history in the mountains just one hour outside of Rio.  Petrópolis is known as the imperial city because the Brazilian royal family decided to build their summer palace and summer seat of the monarchy in 1843.  The city has many royal historical attractions and fantastic mountain scenery.

 Palácio de Cristal was built in France in 1879 and was used as the royal ballroom, now it is an exhibition space.

Casa de Santos Dumont built in 1918.

Possibly the coolest tree house ever built, Santos Dumont (1873-1932) was a famous Brazilian inventor who created the wristwatch.  Dumont was also one of the early pioneers of aviation.  There is some major controversy over whether the Wright brothers or Santos Dumont built and flew the first airplane.

Quitandinha

This Norman style palace was built in 1944 as the largest casino in South America, many of it's guests were royalty and Hollywood stars.  Today it is used as luxury condominiums.

Palácio Imperial

The Imperial Museum is the main attraction in Petrópolis, it holds the Imperial Crown Jewels as well as many other possessions of the royal family.  King Dom Pedro II built the Imperial Palace as his summer residence in 1845.

Serra dos Órgãos

This is the Serra dos Órgãos mountain range outside of Rio, it is spectacular!  In the morning the mountains are really misty and foggy.

Cidade Maravilhosa

The view of Pão de Açúcar and Baía de Guanabara from Corcovado.

Cristo Redentor is really really high, view from Pão de Açúcar.

The second cable car up to the top of Pão de Açúcar

Copacabana

Ipanema

Historical Santa Teresa, and its tram which constantly slides off the tracks...

Santa Teresa is a really nice area, with lots of restaurants and bars. It is more historical and the old fashioned tram is really cool because it goes over the Arcos da Lapa bridge, offering another great view of the city from it’s hills.

The beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana are spectacular, even when the weather is cold. I was surprised at how rough the ocean waves were, this is the best place to eat biscoito globo and sip a matte ice tea. The mountains pouring out over the beaches are so beautiful and make everything seem extra dreamy. At the end of each beach there is a mirante, or lookout point. 

The areas of Ipanema and Copacabana are located in a massive bubble. The rest of Cidade Maravilhosa is not so marvelous, because of the shock you get from moving between areas of extreme poverty and wealth. The sheer size and verticalness of the favelas is at the same time terrifying and mesmerizing, it`s like a giant maze of stairs and walkways. It is impressive to see how people can create their own homes, jobs, lives, and vibrant societies while the government leaves them stranded. I am not sure how to feel about favela tourism.  My friends had a great time on a favela tour. They loved seeing and celebrating another side of rio, they said it was amazing. I don’t know if the Cariocas living in the favelas think it is so amazing, nonetheless the favelas remain an important ink blot on the lens of Brasil`s new era of economic development.

 

Niterói

Niterói is the city across from Rio, Cariocas say the only good thing about going to Niterói is that you can see Rio. This is mostly true except for Niemeyer's wacky James Bond style MAC!

PROSAMIM Event

Recently PROSAMIM has begun a partnership with two universities in Manaus, where physiotherapy and medical students visit and consult with families living in their residential parks on medical issues. This is meant to encourage greater dialogue between lower income families and the public healthcare system. One of the event organisers commented that doctors never have enough time to properly meet and develop relationships with their patients. Here are some pictures of the PROSAMIM presentation to the medical students.