We have come to that day every four years when we are blessed with one extra day. Some think it is good, while others do not. If you have a fixed monthly salary, it means that you are working one day for free!
In my post eight years ago, I explained the reason for why we have the 29th of February every four years, you may revisit it here: 60’2016 (2016-02-29)
You may remember that in my post of 356’2023 (2023-12-22) I showed a picture of Inhotim, the outdoor art museum that is considered to be one of the biggest of its sort, blendid in with a variety of bothany. Unfortunately, time has leapfrogged me, but here is finally more interesting facts about it. The name Inhotim is said to be derived from a former owner of the land where Inhotim is located today, a Mr. Tim, which the local dialect transformed to Senhor Tim -> Nhô Tim -> Inhotim, as simple as that. But it was thanks to a Brazilian mining magnat, Bernardo Paz, who bought the land to preserve it from exploitation and also bought contemporary works of art, that Inhotim could be created. He started with that feat in 2004 and could finally open the museum in 2006. In reference #1 below is the complete story.
You may have heard the name of Brumadinho, the municipality where Inhotim is located, in another, unfortunately terrible context. On 25’2019 (2019-01-25), a dam of a mine in Brumadinho broke and it led to a disaster where 270 people lost their lives and vast pieces of land, both built and unihibited, were totally destroyed. Luckily, Inhotim is located on a higher altitude, so the dam catastrophe did not affect it. More about the dam tragedy can be seen in reference #2 below.
Finally here are some nice pictures from Inhotim:
Pictures from Inhotim, taken during the visit Adriana and I paid there on 342’2023 (2023-12-08). This museum of contemporary art and bothany is fantastic and when one needs to recharge the batteries then there is this delicious restaurant demonstrating what makes the state of Minas Gerais such a fabulous place to visit, famous for its food and drinks.
Today’s header photo was taken by my friend Neide who recently visited the Southwest corner of Brazil. It shows the waters from Rio Uruguay falling down in a spectacular extension, in the so called Salto do Yucumã. More about it will come next month!
This post is a tribute to some of my Swedish language students and their families. What they all have in common is that during the month of May, 2023, normally the best of all seasons in Sweden, while being in Sweden, they also decided to explore its neighboring countries.
Adriana
Adriana lives in Brazil, but is enchanted by Sweden and its native language. The first time she went to Sweden with her family was 20 years ago and after that she went there on various occasions. It is a real pleasure giving lessons to Adriana, a very sympathetic person, who can make me laugh aloud with her stories, sometimes including black humour. Luckily, I am normally able to compete with her in that sense.
Paulo
Paulo moved to the region of Stockholm with his family 1,5 years ago and is getting well accustomed. In his company, he tries to speak as much Swedish as possible, although English is also commonly used as the corporate language. Our lessons are always fun, I try to include my knowledge about Sweden from the time I lived there, so that he can understand why certain things are the way they are. Paulo tells me good stories about his earlier life in Brazil and his business trips around the world.
Since Adriana and Paulo had both decided to bring their families to visit the Estonian capital Tallinn, I found it a good coincedence to join their narratives into one. Below are their family photos and some pictures taken during their respective visits to Tallinn. You can find facts about Tallinn in reference #1 below.
These photos from the old town in Tallinn were taken in May, 2023, by my Swedish language students Paulo and Adriana, who independently of each other decided to visit this UNESCO World Heritage site and get delighted. In the left, uppermost photo you can see Paulo and his wife Patricia, and from the left their two daughters, Sophie and Catherine. Paulo also took the big photo from Tallinn below. Adriana, in the lower right corner of the righmost, upper photo, which was taken in Stockholm, was travelling to Denmark and Sweden with her family and decided that Estonia was worth a visit. Here you can see her sister Camila to the left and behind them are Adriana’s son Humberto, wit his fiancée Paula by his side. Adriana took the two lower photos from Tallinn.
Giovana and Rodrigo
The Brazilian couple Giovana and Rodrigo left the state of Paraná one year ago and moved to Göteborg (Gothenburg in English) to live and work. Before they moved, we had already had some months of initial training and due to changes in the Swedish immigration laws during the first half of 2022, their travel was delayed, which in a certain way was good, because they could concentrate on the Swedish lessons, using the same time zone as I. As you may know, currently there is a 5 hour time difference between Brazil and Sweden, so while our lessons for me occur in the early afternoon, for them it is much later in the evening. But they are hanging in, and their Swedish is getting ever better!
Giovana and Rodrigo like to travel very much, every once in a while they tell me that they will go to one of the European cities that can easily be reached by airplane from Göteborg. The destination this time was the Polish port Gdańsk, also known by its German name Danzig. If you are curious about Gdańsk, see also reference #2 below.
Photos from the Polish city of Gdańsk taken between April 29 and May 1, 2023. The following work colleagues were there, from left to right: Giovana, Rodrigo, Gustavo, Paula, Igor, and Heloísa. The four smaller pictures were all taken by Giovana.
Joice and Elias
Another Brazilian couple, Joice and Elias, are newcomers in Sweden, also living in Göteborg. They are still in their first months living in Sweden, which means a lot of things to take care of. And it is not only living and working, they also have to see to that their sons are getting good schooling conditions. But from what I have heard, very soon the boys will help me in teaching Swedish to their parents.
During the long weekend in the middle of May, when Thursday was a holiday to celebrate Ascension Day, they decided to go to Norway together with some friends. Below you can some marvellous pictures from their trip. If you want to know more about their destination, Hemsedal and Flå, see references # 3 and 4, below.
Photos taken in Hemsedal and Flå, Norway, in the middle of May, 2023, showing Elias and Joice with their sons Matheus and Thiago. The nature photos were taken by Joice.
What did you learn in School today? 