4/7/12

In the morning, we had a fourth of July party with the same students from the English immersion program. A representative from the U.S. Embassy came and spoke, and then we sang both the American and Brazilian national anthems. Afterwards there were hotdogs (both American and Brazilian style). The Brazilian students were such a good example to me of being respectful of other cultures. They showed a lot of interest in learning about how we celebrated Independence Day in the U.S. and participated wholeheartedly in the  activities we did.

Later that evening we went on a boat ride that passed under several of the famous bridges in Recife. The most famous is the Mauricio Nassau Bridge.

It was built by Nassau, the Dutch governor in the northeastern region of Brazil. In order to build the bridge, Nassau had taken out a substantial loan. He needed money to pay back the loan so he told all the townspeople of Recife that there was going to be flying bull at the bridge's inauguration. However, to see the bull fly, people needed to pay an entrance fee. Of course, no one wanted to miss out on an opportunity to see a flying bull, so Nassau was able to make back enough money to start paying off the loan. On the day of the inauguration, he replaced the real bull that was on display with a paper one, and then the paper bull "flew" across the water. This story illustrates the kind of ingenuity that Brazil is famous for displaying.