On Tuesday we had our last class with Cristina. The students love her and wouldn’t mind having Portuguese lessons during the entire program. Today we talked more about buying things in the market. There were some very funny exchanges with students buying back their own tennis shoes. Video of the exercise: IMG_1085
Dr. Peres teaching
After Cristina finished we had a quick cafezino and it was back to class. Time it was with Dr. Peres for the first time. Dr. Peres will be presenting about agricultural economics, but started off his lecture series talking about the beginnings of civilization and democracy. We talked about the Enlightenment, Adam Smith, Ben Franklin, the difference between studying how things are and how they should be, Plato’s Utopia, Gunnar Mydal’s research on racism in the US and much more. This deep history brought us to the point of understanding GDP and GNP. The five points are capital are physica, natural, financial, human and social/institutional.
Fruta Gurt
After class there was a huge downpour. It lasted a long time so we went ahead and walked back the 1.5 miles to our hotel in it. We all got soaked but it was an adventure! It is an El Nino year, so we will have a lot of rain this year. Students broke up into small groups depending on how willing they were to brave the rain for dinner. I ended up with group that had their favorite pizza and ice cream. It was fun to hang out with the students. It keeps me young!
Wednesday has begun and we are learning from Dr. Peres again. He is very relate-able and wise. To solidify his lecture points yesterday, he asked us how commerce has impacted global development. He then showed us a Ted Talk by Matt Ridley from 2010 that explained the evolution of technology and divisions of labor. We then covered the different biomes of Brazil and how the soil types and environment impacts agriculture and development in Brazil. Most of their country falls between the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn, so there is a lot of tropical agriculture. This allows for good land for planting corn as well as grass lands for cattle.
Joel getting coffee
Cafezinos of very much looked forward to by the students. Each morning and afternoon there is a class break for about 15 minutes. Students get cookies, crackers and little cups of coffee. The cups are about the size of a ketchup container at Wendy’s. The stretch break, coffee and sugar provide a much needed boost for the students. Today and tomorrow we will have class from 8-10, 10:15-11, 1-2:30, 2:45-4:00pm.
Chicken, fries, rice and beans
Lunch is supposed to be 2 hours long, but our students have a hard time with that. They usually negotiate a shorter lunch with classes starting sooner and being finished earlier in the day. Some bring their lunch from the grocery store, some go to the Cantina on campus, and some will go off of campus to get something else. Today I got a very good lunch for $3!
Fun mix up today when Alex thought she ordered chocolate cake and got hot chocolate!
This afternoon we talked about physical capital such as cattle that are sold abroad very easily. Dr. Peres reviewed the breeds of cattle and told us about how and why the hybridize the breeds. Brazil also exports a lot of wood pulp.
Financial capital is a bit more complex. Inflation is a major issue here and Brazil has had seven constitutions in modern history. In 1988 those who were illiterate were allowed to vote and the government has been very populist ever since.