January 18, 2019

Today, we began our day as we do most days, with a delicious breakfast at Antonio’s Palace! With stomachs full, we all made our way back to ESALQ for our first class with Dr. Shirota. Today, we discussed the agricultural development in Brazil, from the time of slavery to modern agriculture. It was interesting to learn about the relationship between US higher education and higher education here in Brazil. For example, Ohio State sent professors to start the masters program at ESALQ, and professors from ESALQ studied at OSU to come back and teach these masters courses.

Other than agricultural history, we also began to cover some economics basics. Even though half of our class has studied economics, Dr. Shirota still made sure that he took a step back to explain everything to the rest of the class who had not. Shirota explained how he understood that everyone was on different levels of understanding, so even in his regular courses, he takes time to fill in any learning gaps that his students may have before moving on to course topics. The professors here really show dedication to their career of teaching!

After class, we all gathered in the lobby of the hotel to await the arrival of our host families. One by one, we all were picked up. My family, along with Todd’s, Johnny’s, and McKenzie’s families went to a samba party in Piracicaba. We had a lot of fun dancing, eating, and getting to know our host families. After a long night of samba-ing, we all went back to each of our families, and rested up for the jam-packed weekends that we all had in store.

-Shem Pond

January 17, 2019

Olá!

Today was an awesome day filled with service and fellowship. The group started our morning out with our usual breakfast at Antonio’s. This morning however, we were joined by several students from ESALQ and the leader of a local group that helps build homes for low/no income families. The 4 students from ESALQ had come to join us on our day of service. The local groups goal is to help break the cycle of poverty in the favelas, or slums, surrounding some major Brazilian cities.

The organization we chose to work with, UCAPP has a simple motto: Construindo casas, Reconstruindo vidas. In English that means, building houses, rebuilding lives. The organization has built over 20 houses since its creation! The houses are built at almost no cost to the owner, and help give the community a sense of hope. The idea is that with each house that is built, that families life will forever be changed. They may even be able to help others in their community. The organization also provides basic health care information to individuals who need it. Common topics are how to avoid pregnancy, how to make healthy meals, and how to treat basic illness. The owner of the house we worked on today chose to have her house painted a vibrant blue!

After a long day of sanding, priming, and painting the group was more than happy to take a quick afternoon siesta. Many of us chose to journal about our trip or prepare to meet our host family.

The dinner with our host family was fantastic! After introducing ourselves in Portuguese, our host family was called up to the front to meet us for the first time. Dr. King was quick to get a picture of the moment. Each person sat with their host family during dinner and started to get to know them, sharing stories and experiences. The entire restaurant was filled with laughter. For most, it was almost as if there was no language barrier at all. It is safe to say that we are all looking forward to spending the weekend with our new Brazilian families.

Painting houses for those in need!

This was one of the houses we painted!

Selfie with Shirota!

All the best,

Johnny Cottingim

January 16, 2019

As always when we are in Piracicaba, we start our morning bright and early with breakfast at Antonio’s Palace. The morning pao de quejio and coffee really help our day to get started off right.

We then had our last class with Professor Caron! Over the past few days, we have enjoyed learning about the history and culture of Brazil. We learned about Brazil’s beginnings as a colony of Portugal, and how it quickly became it’s own nation. Today’s final lesson was a crash course in the culture of Brazil. We started off with the art of Brazil. The art during Brazil’s beginnings were influenced both by science and their European roots. As Brazil became it’s own country, a stand against European influence rose in the art community. This culminated into the Week of Modern Art in 1922.Tarsila do Amaral was inspired by this movement and painted “Aboporu”, as a birthday present to her writer husband, Oswald de Andrade, and it moved him to write the Anthropophagite Manifesto. This book created a movement that made Brazil “swallow” European culture and officially create a Brazilian culture. As Brazilian art evolved, it adopted the principle that art is a symbol of what’s going on in the modern world. Portinari was a famous Brazilian artist who commonly painted about the hard lives of workers in Brazil. Migrants, coffee, and construction workers were some of his popular subjects.

We then discussed Brazilian music. Brazil has similar genres to America, like pop and country, but also has ones that are unique to Brazil. Some of these genres are:

• Noel Rosa
• Bossa Nova
• Tropicalismo

All forms of Brazilian music enjoy musical diversity in terms of instruments and sound. Fast or slow, loud and soft, Brazil prides itself on being unique!

We are thankful for Professor Caron’s lessons and will miss him as our adventure in Brazil continues!

-Evan Callicoat

January 15, 2019

After an eventful weekend in São Paulo, it was fun to be back “home” in Piracicaba. Just like usual, we enjoyed a large Brazilian breakfast from Antonio’s Palace and headed to class. We were excited to be back at ESALQ, but were we may not have been mentally prepared for the three-hour classes again…

“Let’s take a coffee break.”

These words have never meant so much to us. When this phrase is said, it means that we are halfway through a class and get to reset our minds outside with strong Brazilian coffee and snacks (We would all be in trouble if it was a typical Brazilian typical college class, because they are four hours long and don’t have a break). Although we may be recovering during our break, it doesn’t mean we are done learning. In fact, we often get into a good conversation with the professor, or dig up entertaining and insightful stories from our pasts. But like all good things, it must come to an end after 10 short minutes so our learning in the classroom can continue.

In class today, we learned about the historical periods of Brazil and the leaders in power. We then touched on modern agriculture and discussed how the definition of family farming differs in each country. Then we ended the day looking at Brazilian art, which was done to observe what was happening in society at given times.

So how about we all take a coffee break? Today or tomorrow, let’s step away from what we have been diligently working on for an hour or two and regroup. It doesn’t mean that we are closing ourselves off from the world, but rather engaging with our thoughts and/or others in a refreshing way.

-Philip Eberly

January 14, 2019

This morning we checked out of our hotel and had a short drive to a state park. We had about a mile walk in the rainforest before we would arrive at a private beach. Our journey to the ocean was amazing. The view as we made it to the top of the hill and we could see the ocean and boats was beautiful. The hike concluded at a stunningly secluded beach near the city of Santos. I cannot explain the beauty of the coastal mountains through which we hiked. The ocean was just as great as it was yesterday, even better because it wasn’t crowded! The jungle itself was breathtaking. It is nothing like the deciduous forests of home. I don’t think I will ever forget the sounds of the wild birds and other creatures. It felt like I was an explorer out of the movies! I was very surprised by just how taxing the trip was though. The humidity was very high today and made the hike quite difficult.

Once we made it to the beach we ran to the ocean and we swam in the ocean. We saw sand dollars and crabs! We then took a break and covered Milan in the sand. Once we were ready to leave we had to pack up and begin our hike back to the bus. On the way back through the rainforest we saw beetles and a lizard. The hike back was much harder then in the morning because it was much hotter. We had to make several stops to rest and drink water. We were all very excited to see the bus with the AC.

We stopped for lunch at a mall on our way back to Piracicaba. We were all so excited to see Taco Bell, KFC, Burger King, and McDonalds. We needed comfort food after that long hike! After lunch we had about a five hour drive back to Piracicaba, which feels like our home now. We made a short stop for ice cream and to stretch our legs at a rest stop. I was so excited to be back at Antonio’s. We had Subway for dinner and then a few of us did our laundry. Tomorrow it is back to ESALQ for class!

Preparing for our hike!

The view from the top was amazing!

The ocean!

The flowers smelled so good!

-Meredith Oglesby

January 13, 2019

Today we started off with breakfast in our hotel, getting up and packing to go to adifferent area and therefore a different hotel. We all got on the bus and travelled to the “Hippie Market” as it is called, where you can buy tons of different souvenirs, located at Praça da República in São Paulo. We spent a few hours there, truly leaning how to bargain for goods, and learning more of the culture here in Brazil. We all purchased many things we thought our families would love, ranging from maps to figurines.

This experience will stick with us all, knowing now how people speak and bargain, as well as common tourist prices for a lot of goods. We all even observed the culture through the art that was being sold. There were tons of paintings with various topics from religious,  to nature, to family, and more. There were also family focused hand carved wooden signs being made in person too. A large majority of tables were selling things with stone, whether it be figurines or with jewelry. There were places to buy foreign currency, knitted clothing and bags, things made of leather, and much more. It all reflected well the community we were in. Each vendor was kind at first and then got serious as we bargained. Sometimes it took leaving and coming back in order to get adecent price on a certain desired good. It was all almost a mind game at times! The more you buy from a vendor, it seemed the more likely to get a better discount. If you payed certain ways, most preferably in cash, they might throw in an even better discount. It was pretty fun to learn!

Once we had all gotten the goods we wanted, we travelled to Boi-Preto Restaurant. It was a true Brazilian style rodizio, where they bring out quite the array of meats for you one by one and cut you a slice of whatever you choose. It was truly amazing food! We all ate until we could eat no more, and a few of us even surpassed that! A part of the way through our meal, we were given the opportunity to go back into the kitchen to see where the real magic happens. Many skewers of meat and cheese were roasting over fires all along one wall, and others were being prepared on the opposite. It really put into perspective how much work it takes to have a great rodizio, especially since some of the meats have to cook for hours on end before being served.

Once we were all unable to take another bite, we left made our way to the beach!

The view an hour later as we descended through the mountains was spectacular. You could see for miles and the beauty took your breath away. There were a few buildings here and there, but most of the view was the unbridled beauty of the naturally wooded area. All too soon we were done with the mountains and starting into the city. It didn’t take us long to get to the hotel and to the beach soon after. The beach was very beautiful, especially with the surrounding mountains as you looked around the area. We were out there for hours, playing frisbee, chicken, and finding sea animals like crabs and sand dollars.

As the sun began to set, we left the beach and returned to our hotel. We got dried off and changed, and some of us decided to go get dinner, or at least a snack (after the meal we had had earlier!). We got a recommendation from the front desk, a map, and ended up walking for a while until we found a restaurant called the Pizza Bar. We all had some Brigadeiro Pizza, which is a chocolate desert pizza, and some fries. It was a cute place with lots of license plate signs and a wall people would write what they want on it. When we were finished, we made the trek back to the hotel and a few stayed in the lobby area to play cards. The entire night was fun and eventful, and we can’t wait to see what we do tomorrow!

The hippy market we visited!

Shirota showed us some cool things in the market!

The brazilian rodizio was so much food!

The beach!

-Laina Green

January 12, 2019

Today was our day to spend an entire day in Sao Paulo and really get to know the culture. We left the hotel at 8:30 a.m. to go to a company where they make cures to venom and poisons. At the exhibit we saw various species that can be an issue, including snakes, spiders, and certain insects. Some of the native species were ones that we had never seen before. After this we went into a museum to see the history of microbiology.

From there we travelled to the Art Museum at the University of Sao Paulo. We started on the top floor and worked our way down the exhibit. From the top we had an amazing view of the city. The building was surrounded by a large park, similar to central park in New York City. As we worked down different floors, we saw many beautiful Brazilian works such as the ones below.

For lunch, we went to the local mall. It has always amazed me how much American influence has come to Brazil. In the mall there was McDonalds, Taco Bell, and Burger King. An interesting point, though, is that here they are not trying to be the most cost-effective, but rather because of the taste and quality of food.

That afternoon we visited Ohio State’s Gateway office in Sao Paulo. Here, they work to recruit students from Brazil to go to OSU, as well as developing programs to get OSU students to visit Brazil. It is cool to see how Ohio State is reaching out to students and alumni from all around the globe. Around the corner from there was a small ice cream shop, where we had fresh fruit-flavored ice cream, such as orange or strawberry!

That night we had a light dinner at our restaurant, as we were looking forward to a big lunch tomorrow. While we were there they had the NFL playoff game on the TV! I had not realized that American Football had become that popular in Brazil. We finished our food and went back to the hotel to get ready for the next day.

It was cool to see the snakes and spiders that are native to Brazil.

The view from the top of the art museum was gorgeous!

We were able to see art from painters in Brazil and around the world.

Thank you Jane for sharing with us the influence OSU has in Brazil!

Go bucks from Brazil!

-Milan Pozderac

January 11, 2019

This morning we had breakfast at the hotel as usual and checked out of our hotel, ready to begin the journey to São Paulo. We first headed over to the John Deere dealer here in Piracicaba. Here we watched a presentation on John Deere’s facility and the demographics of their clientele. We had a Q&A session speaking on all details of what they do at this location, and the history of how they came to be in Brazil.

Next we went out to see the rest of the facility, obviously getting in every tractor we were allowed! We discussed the meanings of the numbers that are seen on the side of every tractor, and made comparisons between the tractors used in the United States versus the tractors used in Brazil, most seeming smaller in the latter. We walked through their tractor lot, saw the large majority of where they work on the tractors, and even got the opportunity to see a sugar cane harvester work.

It was a huge, loud piece of machinery, and comfortably sat two in its enclosed cabin. It was so tall, we had to climb a ladder to get up to the controls, and there were at least four of us up there at one time all checking out the view, controls, and how comfortable the seats were. Once we were finished, we got a picture with our guides, and presented them with a gift and card to express our gratitude. It was so awesome of them to allow us to see their facility snd to demonstrate the power that a sugar cane harvester has for us.

Once we said our goodbyes, we headed back onto the bus to go to the Natura facility. Natura produces lots of body washes, lotions, make up and more, all of which are environmentally friendly. We were first offered water and coffee while we waited to begin, and then were directed to a room where we would learn about the history and current information about everything Nautrua does. The company’s past was very interesting as we saw the current shift from using consultants to having stores, but also making sure to incorporate those consultants in the design of their company as it progresses.

After we were fully educated on all things Natura, we began the tour of their amazing company grounds. The design of the facility was obviously taken into extreme consideration, whether we are talking about the panels disguised as butterflies, or the use of the open concept where there was always natural breezes flowing through, often having no doors or complete walls on buildings.

We continued the tour walking through their factory buildings. We observed the packaging of one of their products sold in stores, as well saw how certain products were made in certain areas of the facility. As we went,  we were taught how well Natura stands behind its name with how green the facility is. Additionally we learned of the many great things it provides for its employees like extended maternity leave, day care, and transportation to the company grounds. The company truly was one of beauty and environmentally friendly products. One of the last stops we made was in the store on grounds that they have, where our guide told us a bit about what was popular and more about the productsthat they sold.

As we finished the tour, we took a picture with their logo and presented a gift and a card to our guide who in turn also gave each of us a gift of body wash from the company. We said our goodbyes and headed to our hotel. The majority of us napped at this time, and we all went to have dinner at the local mall. After the short trip to the mall, we made our way to a samba school, specifically the Golden Roses, or Rosas de Ouro.

There we waited for a bit in an area full of different vendors and people selling food and drinks. When we were finally able to enter, we waited in the huge area for the fun to begin. The building was massive with souvenir shops all the way around it, as well as second story VIP areas above that. In addition, there were two huge signs with the name of the samba school on it, one on the ceiling, and the other as giant letters you could get pictures with.

While we waited, we noticed a man being recorded, and realized the school was currently on the news. We had been informed that this samba school had won the competition between schools in the last year, making it a very busy place. We ended up asking to get a picture with him, learning from Leticia, our student from ESALQ who helps run our program, that he was a very famous news reporter. It took a while, and a lot of watching of the recording they were doing, but we finally got a photo. It was a rather interesting experience as we obviously do not speak Portuguese well, but it didn’t matter to him. He hurriedly grabbed and hugged the girls and gladly took a photo with us, being very energetic.  As the night drew on, Samba time started and we watched a bit of samba from the professionals and listened to the live music. It was a lot of fun, and a great new experience, but we very quickly grew tired after midnight and went back to the hotel for a good night’s rest,excited to see what tomorrow would bring.

Johnny was in heaven at the John Deere dealership!

Selfies at John Deere? Muito Bom!

Sugar Cane Harvestor

Thank you for a great visit John Deere!

Thank you Natura for sharing your facilities with us!

Samba school!

-Laina Green

January 10, 2019

Bon Gia!

This morning we had a delicious breakfast at our hotel, Antonio’s Palace  here in Piracicaba. The weather was fantastic on our walk to ESALQ, and all the usual dogs greeted us. The morning class session was our final session with Professor Fernando Perez. We had a very productive discussion about the global environment and the role brazil plays in helping keep our climate healthy. Did you know that Brazil still has over 80% of its historic old growth forest? For comparison Europe has less than 2% of its historically forested areas. Fernando’s insight comparing the average Brazilian’s feelings concerning the rainforest to ours was enlightening.

Over our lunch break we visited ESALQ’s microbiology lab. We heard a lot about the work they do with The Ohio State University concerning sugar cane and teak wood. Teak is a tree native to Asia, but it thrives here in Brazil. The combined knowledge and skill of our universities are attempting to create a faster growing teak tree and a sugar cane plant that yields more sugar and takes in more carbon. Both of these initiatives will help make our world a more sustainable place!

The afternoon was more relaxed than usual. We experienced quite a lot that Piracicaba has to offer. A typical Brazilian bakery and spa were some of the places we had the opportunity to experience.

Over dinner we broke into small groups to try different restaurants near our temporary home. We used our new Portuguese skills to order our food and interact with some locals. The food was amazing all around.

Hopefully all of you back home are enjoying the great winter weather. It reached almost 90 degrees Fahrenheit down here! Today was one of the first days we didn’t experience one of Brazil’s classic pop up showers.

Thank you Fernando for sharing your knowledge with us about economics in Brazil!

ESALQ does work with OSU in research of microbiology!

Thank you for the tour of the lab!

We were able to dive into the culture and have manis and pedis! Dr. King even took part in the fun!

All the best wishes,

Johnny Cottingim

January 9, 2019

After five full days of classes, it was fun to break up the routine! Today, we got to sleep-in 45 minutes before walking to ESALQ for a tour of their horticulture department. Leticia met us there and showed us the university’s land labs. There were a wide variety of plants, including:

• abacaxi – pineapple
• uva – grape
• banana – I’ll let you translate this one (:
• pitaya – dragon fruit
• romã – pomegranate

And lucky us, we were there the day they were harvesting grapes, so we got to try fresh, off-the-vine grapes! And that’s when we collectively decided that Brazilian grapes are the best.

Due to the sweltering hot weather, we made a small edit to the schedule to head back to the hotel to get out of the sun. Here, we were able to rehydrate, catch up on journaling, and swim. We also got Subway for lunch, where in fact the $5 Footlong still exists (thanks to the exchange rate of USD to R$).

Our last event of the day was after lunch, where we toured Coplacana, an agricultural cooperative. Cooperatives are businesses owned by the farmers to get more purchasing power on supplies such as fertilizers and equipment. What was unique about Coplacana was that it was made up of four parts: the co-op (buy/sell supplies), the association (policy), a bank, and a hospital. These services have been helping farmers in Brazil since 1948 when it was founded (celebrating 70 years!) and was the first sugarcane Cooperative in the country.

After touring the headquarters, we went to one of their branches that had test plots and a soil and nematode research laboratory. But what stuck out to all of us the most was their recycling facility. Brazil is the first country in the world to recycle agrichemical containers, in which it successfully recycles 94% of them. The facility that we saw contributed to these efforts by recycling 370 tons per year! Talk about sustainability!

Being our first day of tours in Brazil, it was so good having the opportunity to apply what we learned in class to start getting a grasp on Brazilian and global agriculture. Although this was just one sustainable act, it started the conversation and impacted us all. How are we making the world around us more sustainable, and how are we going to develop the conversation?

…Stay tuned for more as we continue our journey in Brazil!

Abacaxi!

Fresh grapes!

Thank you Coplacana for the tour!

Seeing the sugar cane, cattle, and other research areas was cool!

They shared a little bit about the research that is done!

-Philip Eberly