Yesterday was Brazilian Independence day. On September 7, 1822, the Portuguese prince Dom Pedro (who was living in Brazil) cried, "independência ou morte!" and shortly after became the leader of the Brazilian independence movement. How do Brazilians' celebrate their independence? From my informal survey, it seems like most other holidays/Sundays: lunch with family.
We didn't do anything particularly interesting, since we had a birthday party invitation and my husband had to play a concert (state orchestra+national holiday=husband works). But two things happened on Friday that made me feel like celebrating this wonderful, crazy place that we are calling home.
My oldest daughter started a new school this year. It's been a challenging transition, because she actually now has homework and expectations about what she is supposed to learn. This is good. One of the expectations is that she has to write 3 short essays every week. The topics vary, and some of them are as short as 4 sentences. But it has been a very difficult process to convince her that she can do it. In fact, just yesterday she spent 3 hours to write about 20 lines. Arg. But the good news is that her school had a Honors Assembly on Friday, and she received 2 awards. The first was because she has the best grades in Math in her class, and we knew that she was going to get this award. The second award was a surprise to us. In preparation for 7 do setembro, her class had to write an essay about Brazil and what it meant to them as Brazilians. My daughter wrote the best essay! Not only is she NOT a Brazilian, but she has only been speaking Portuguese for 3 years!!
And secondly, at the end of the assembly, Dora got to hold the flag. They principal started playing the Brazilian National Anthem, and Beatrice turns to me and says loudly in English, "I LOVE THIS MUSIC!!" Ah, love my little Brazilian children!
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