United nations - São Paulo

International Day - all photo credits to Rainy Russ, except as noted

My kids attend a very small private school here in São Paulo. It is not as well-known (or large) as the American school or the British school or as many of the other Brazilian private schools here. We were looking for a small English-speaking school for them that would provide a bit of diversity (tough at a private school but the public schools are not where you send your kids here, if you can avoid it), allowed them to be in separate classrooms (they are twins) and provide a good education. 

Through luck or skill, we found everything we were looking for. It is a wonderful school in a labyrinth of converted houses--the latest addition is a pretty nice artificial turf soccer field created from crushing a neighboring house. We are particularly lucky because the parents of the grade my kids are in are a tight group--and the kids are too. 

Yesterday was International Day, an event held only every two years at the school. While I have some minor complaints on how the event is run (costs are covered by the parents, not the PTA or the school), I was reminded yesterday just how lucky my kids are to attend this school. For seven hours yesterday (yes, I was there for all seven), my kids played, danced (gangnam style, of course), ate, visited and learned from 23 country stands. 

And these stands were amazing--the food, the decorations, the happy helpful people inside. Some countries enlisted help from family if they were the only representatives of the country at the school--Taiwan in particular was amazing. Only one mom involved, and her mom did the cooking early in the morning, they had a lion dance that the whole school loved, and at the end of the day, she was just as friendly and energetic as at 9 am! Australia was also a parent team running the whole show--at one point I passed within grabbing distance and ended up with an Australia tattoo on my arm and a yummy cake in my mouth.

It was impossible to try all the foods. After I set up the USA (we had a college football tailgating theme--how American can you get?), I did a visit around to the other stands. Ceviche from Peru, pasta from Italy, curry in India, wine in France, beer in Belgium and sausages from the lederhosen (sp???) wearing folks in Germany--by 11 am, I thought I was going to POP! Which didn't stop me from eating more when the sweet Japanese kids came over to the USA with little boats of sushi, and then the Brazilians with brigadeiro sweets. 

And through all of this, I chatted a bit with a couple of high school kids attracted by the Michigan helmets and Northwestern banners at our stand.  I tried hard to convince them away from Notre Dame (kidding, folks, kidding, not really). Smaller kids came by to try on the helmets and have their pictures taken. The chili, cupcakes and chocolate cookies disappeared. A special thanks to Sophie & Theo's Cupcakes which donated red velvet cupcakes that were a smash hit! One South African man came by asking for Southern Food (I don't even know what chitlins are but he did!) and fortunately we had the red velvet! The only thing that did not disappear was the cornbread--we've learned that local tastes run sweeter and the cornbread was a little stuck in the middle--neither sweet nor salty.

So, here's a little photo essay. I'm so proud of my school. 

A tiny tip of the USA, Dominican Republic and Mexico

Vegemite anyone? Set-up Australia

Brazil hard at work!

La Belle France

Germany with a sushi visitor from Japan

India and henna tattoos (my lone photo here)

Pakistan

South Africa

The lion dance from Taiwan

USA! Chili anyone?

Venezuela

South African National Heritage Day - São Paulo

One of the biggest joys of living in São Paulo is the international friendships I have made over the years. The downside of this is that many of these friendships are with expatriates or consular employees who are off to the next place after a couple of years. I have good friends now in Brussels, Beijing, Rome and Pretoria, but very little chance of seeing them any time soon.

One of the more recent friends I have made is from South Africa. A country that I had never had in my top 10 list of places to go until fortune dropped it in my lap in 2010. One of my husband's co-workers could not go to the World Cup at the invitation of a service provider, and we were invited in their place. 

Folks, I fell in love. Beautiful country, wonderful people, extraordinary history. Since that first trip, we have returned twice, and will be heading back with my sons soon for their first safari. My kids tell me (and anyone else who asks) every day how excited they are to go to Africa.

Tuesday was South Africa's National Heritage Day. I was invited to a celebration of the holiday by a friend connected to the consulate. Not knowing anything about the holiday, I spent a bit of time looking it up. Though there seems to be a long and short version of how it developed, it is a holiday that originated with a Zulu king and today celebrates South Africa's multicultural heritage. And barbecue. In a Heritage Day speech, Nelson Mandela said: "When our first democratically-elected government decided to make Heritage Day one of our national days, we did so because we knew that our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to help build our new nation”.

On arrival at the party place (a beautiful building in Pinheiros), I was greeted by women in traditional dress and had three dots of white "paint" applied under my eye.  I was warmly greeted by my friend and by the consul-general, who is a woman (when I told my six-year old son this later that night, he said "reallly??? Girls are taking over everything!" He meant it in a good way...)

I also met the recently arrived consular officer of Switzerland and we commiserated about how long it takes to get stuff out of customs. I chatted with a few other people until, after a short introduction, a group called Afro II came in. Loudly. Pounding drums and feathered headdresses, painted faces and chests. And extremely athletic!! I am not actually sure if the dance was traditional for South Africa but it was fun and energetic--the group was filled with enthusiasm and theatrics. 

 

My photos of the event are not good--I had only my phone with me and it could not handle the lighting. While I was looking for photos on the web of the Afro II group, I found out some other information about them but I would like to know more. All I can find is that they are based in a neighborhood of São Paulo called Itaquera, in one of the public housing projects. One of their videos on youtube mentions that they are a socio-cultural organization. 

After the show, the consul general spoke about the holiday and South Africa, and then told us about the traditional South African foods about to be served. I so wish I could remember the names of these dishes, but in the end it doesn't matter--they were all delicious.  My friend told me that several of the spouses of consular officials had made the food (joking that she had just stirred the pot) so I guess having this stuff catered for my birthday is out of the question. Unfortunately, because I had to pick up my kids later at school, I did not have any of the South Africa wines or the Amarula that were offered--it was hard to hold firm when the Pinotage made the rounds. Then a delicious dessert ("melktart"? sorry, I am really not good with names) and rooibos tea to finish up.

As I walked to my car, I thought about Heritage Day. And I thought about my five years living here in São Paulo and how this city is filled with its own multicultural experiences. This is the idea of Brazil in My Eyes and how open I hope to be to learning new expressions, customs and meeting new and different people here. And not just Brazilians. I am lucky to call Scots, Australians, Germans, French, and Americans friends here. We are multicultural. Try that in Connecticut (oh dear, now I will get hate mail from all five people who live in that state, yes, yes, I was one)...

Thank you, South Africa!