Today was another great day!
We we started with a trip to the São Paulo Zoo. It was very large, but exhibits were somewhat close together. I asked the students to pay attention to signage to see if they could pick up on any cultural differences, who the zoo catered to, what the purpose of the zoo was (entertainment, education, conservation, breeding, etc). There was a lot of educational signage sponsored by Coca-Cola and vending machines around all the turns. They served drinks in cans but had signs with displays of cans animals had eaten that had been thrown into the pens.
It wa different than the Columbus Zoo in a number of ways. It was built into a hill with lots of paths up and down and a lot of green space. There were no maps around and the signage was designed with a point, but they weren’t arrows, which allowed for a lot of exploration. There was also an ambulance and Doctor right there on the grounds.
After the the zoo we went back to the mall for lunch. It is a super nice mall with all sorts of US and European stores. The food court had a lot of US chains. Outback Steak House is a big deal in Brazil and people will wait 2 hours for a table. They also had McDs, Carl’s Jr, Subway and Birger King.
Our afternoon stop was at the OSU Brazil Gateway Office. The office is a mini OSU embassy supporting students, research, alumni and partnership relations. Luke Barbara is the director and received us with coffee, candy and an office decorated with a lot of Buckeye spirit. The students learned about OSU activities and partners in Brazil, leadership differences, the South American Dream, an alternative view on the role the Brazilian president plays in the current economic crisis and what a Brazikian fire alarm sounds like. Thanks for receiving is Luke!
The students are out for a night of dancing in São Paulo I feel like I’ve sent them off to prom Going out is a bit of a coming of age I love and trust this group, but still pray they make good decisions. We have a code word, “sunscreen.” If a Brazilian is dancing a little to close, a student can start talking about needing sunscreen the next day to alert another student that they should intervene (pretend they are a boyfriend/girlfriend, be annoying, whatever works). We also now have code “aloe” in case a Brazilian needs rescuing from one of us… It goes both ways!
