Brazil A-Term - Day #7:

    Today is the start of the second week of our A-Term. The way we organized the schedule was that all of the activities from the first week would then repeat in the second week. So today we did the same thing that we did last week, Working in the Unbottling Minds vegetable garden and Spanish classes. But before the activities started, today, Fabby and I decided to provide breakfast for all the kids. Breakfast at Unbottoling Minds is always a great experience. Lots of laughs, conversations, and eating. Anytime there is breakfast being served, the kids always show up early and are very eager to start their day with friends.

    Since this was the second time I was doing this activity, I felt a lot more comfortable working with my hands, interacting with the kids, and participating in the activity. Although today we weren't just planting, but painting. We used the beets, carrots, and leaves that we collected from the vegetable garden to make different paints. I thought that this was a really creative activity. Not only were the kids learning about the environment and the vegetable garden, but also using creativity and working with their hands to make art pieces. We made the paint by first blending the vegetable, then we would take out the pulp using a special fabric, then adding a spoon of flour to add some thickness to the paint. We split the kids up into three groups of three and gave them one canvas each. By the end of the activity, the kids had made three unique art pieces using organic paint. I don't have a picture of all three but here is one that I thought was interesting:

    Today, we decided to walk all the way back home from the HQ, it's always really interesting to see how the look of the city changes as you get closer to the beach. It goes from dirt roads with houses densely packed houses to a fast-paced economic center with rocky roads, to a beachside area filled with hotels, restaurants, and large houses. This afternoon the activity was Spanish lessons. But today was very different compared to last week. Today we had a special guest, Leonardo. Leonardo was a traveler from Argentina who was also a singer, educator, and overall great guy. What was great about him was that he barely spoke Portuguese, forcing us as well as the kids attending the Spanish lessons to listen and communicate with him in Spanish. Leonardo was giving us a music lesson. He sang a song that is famous both in Brazil and Argentina, and this was the perfect song as it had a Portuguese version and a Spanish version. He would first sing a line of the Portuguese version of the song, then the Spanish version. The kids, Fabby and I would compare both lines, see how different they were, then learned how to sing it in Spanish. This activity was very bonding, interactive, and fun. I really like seeing how all of the activities that Unbottling Minds offer to this community always have something to do with art, no matter what the activity is. Whether it's working in the garden, literacy classes, English or Spanish lessons, it always points back to self-expression and art.