Canada Day Weekend in Goiania

Happy Canada Day!! (note: This was written on the actual day). So after sleeping for 4 hours, I left to go to a town just outside of Goiania (a city 3 hours from Brasilia). I went to visit a small school where a group of 20 kids were awaiting to learn more about me and Canada. I couldn’t think of a better way to represent Canada but to 20 young minds that were willing to absorb and learn about this different culture that they never heard about. The kids all came from very poor families and never really got a chance to go anywhere besides maybe Goiania and some surrounding towns. They had never met an Asian before and said I looked like an actress from the TV hehe. They had a list of 20 questions prepared for me and I explained everything from the food, weather, school systems, clothing, sports and my family to them. Some of the questions were really hard like “Who is someone Canadians admire who’s Canadian and a Canadian that our country doesn’t like?” I thought of Pierre Trudeau, whom I just made up a reason why and I couldn’t think of anyone we don’t like. (Sugguestions?)
It felt really nice to be able to spend time with these kids who were so grateful for my visit and I got to share about my beloved country. They all wanted to take a picture with me individually, I felt like a celebrity hehe. It was so cute. I took a few with smaller groups to make them happy. One little boy, Wulliam, was eating by himself for some reason and we asked him why he was all by himself and he said he’s not alone, God was sitting with him. It was just so adorable. They all lived pretty simple lives with not much but they were all so happy and the kids with siblings took care of their little sisters so well. Its seeing things like these that make you hope that they’ll get a chance to have what you have and how lucky we are to come from good backgrounds. Its hard in Brasil to go from poor to having some money because only the rich get a good education because you have to pay for private schools all the way up to University since only private schools provide the best education so you can pass the test to enter university. So without an education you can’t get a good job and you’re stuck making bare minimum.

The kids

The kids, their teachers and I.

Other things I did this weekend:

-Took a 2 hour Salsa, Samba, Forro, and Zouk class. Wow, so much fun!! I was smiling the whole time!!

-Went to Parque Aeriao and saw about 5 monkeys just running around and climbing the trees. This is a public park!? So cool!!!

-Went to the best store in the world. This place was called "Frutas do Cerrado". It had about 50 different kinds of popsicles made from REAL fruit. I was eatting the mango one and you seriously get all the stuff stuck in your teeth like eatting a real mango! They also had the most amazing ice creams too. Unfortunately I couldn't bring any home so I just bought 6 popsicles and left.

The endline line of freezers filled with delicious goodness!!

7 flavours, from Caju (the plant of a Cashew), Caja-Manga, Murici, Jaga(Jackfruit),Manga (Mango), Coco Queimo...(Burnt coconut), condensed milk and another caju. (Burnt Coconut and mango were my favorite).

-Went to the Feira do Sol, its like a flee market outdoors with tons of stuff. I got to have Churrasco (Brazilian BBQ), including frango com bacon (chicken with bacon) and steak. It was amazing for street food and only R$7!!

-Tried more yummy food at a roadside market

-Met a guy who does make-up for drag queens.

-Saw a gorgeous sunset from my friend's apartment.