Curitiba, Parana, Brazil

This past week was the annual 8th grade trip to Curitiba in the state of Parana. Seven teachers, one nurse, two security guards and 67 eighth graders assembled at Tom Jobim airport at 6 a.m. Sunday morning for our flight and the start of a very busy week. Every day was filled with activities beginning at 7 a.m. and usually ending at 7 p.m. We went to parks to play catch and rest in the grass, the wire opera house to test acoustics, a soccer game to cheer one Brazilian national team, on a train ride through the mountains, to a forest preserve to plant a tree, high ropes climbing to test our courage and limits, the recycling plant where they sort garbage that is not garbage, the university for urbanization and research development to better understand how much planning goes into a planned city, and a youth community center in a local favella to interact with other teenagers. The days were busy, the busses were full of napping students (and teachers) in between stops. The kids were great. They ate up all the activities. They were fully engaged and taking notes. And we had a lot of fun! Here are a few pics from the adventures.First of many self-portraits. Me at the Kyocera Arena.
Self-portrait #2 with some of my advisees.
One of the beautiful sunsets we were blessed with.
Self-portrait #3 at the entry to the botanical gardens in Curitiba.
This is a shot of the botanical gardens looking toward one section of the city. The climate is very different in Curitiba. It is much like Minnesota actually where one minute it is sunny and warm and a few minutes later you can have rain and a ten degree drop in temperature. It was actually pretty fun to be in the cooler weather for a few days and wear a couple of the sweaters that I have tucked away in my closets.