Newsletters from Brazil

I witnessed a wide variety of areas of Physiotherapy during my time at Pestalozzi, which was great as it gave me an in depth insight into the career. It also helped me to consider the many possibilities for specialising in specific areas for the future. I particularly enjoyed the days I spent in the 'Early Stimulation Centre' working with children from 0-7 years old.

Having spent nine months travelling the world, Rio was to be my last major port of call. I'd done the World Cup in South Africa, The Ashes and the Coral Reef in Australia, Bungy Jumped in New Zealand, spent my New Year in Fiji, hiked up to Machu Picchu in Peru and for some reason Brazil continued to call me, perhaps it was the football culture that awaited me, or the fact that carnival was on the way. To put it simply, I couldn't wait to get to this country.

It was my first week in Brazil. I couldn´t wait to discover all the beautiful sites this country as to offer. On Saturday morning we meet with volunteers at the ferry station to visit Rio de Janeiro symbol. The statue of Christ the Redeemer. Elected as one of the 7 wonders of the modern world.

It is pretty much impossible to visit Brazil without, at some point, dancing! There are so many different music genres and dance styles, but one of my favourite is Forro. Forro is a style of dance typical from the Northeast of Brazil. A theory often heard popularly in Brazil is that the word forró is a derivative of the English expression "for all" and that it originated in the early 1900s.

On November 2nd, Dilma Rousseff was elected President of Brazil. Born in Belo Horizonte on the 14^th of December 1947, she was head minister during Lula da Silva’s presidency. She will continue in Lula da Silva’s footsteps, with her main goals being to eradicate poverty and increase employment rates for all Brazilians. In her acceptance speech she mentioned these ideas and whereas some love her infinite optimism, others find her ideals rather unrealistic. She has plans to improve the education system and to tackle Brazil's over complicated tax system as well.

Candomble is an Afro Brazilian religion: a mixture of traditional Yoruba and Bantu beliefs which originated from different regions in Africa and came over to Brazil during the slave trade. It has also incorporated some aspects of the Catholic faith over time and as it combines elements of many religions, is called a syncretic religion.

Brazil is full of Capoeira. Capoeira is a Martial Art with a difference. This difference is precisely what creates Capoeira’s magic, but also what makes it impossible to define with ink, on this page.

A silver-lining to Brazil's colonial past comes in the form of the influences that so many cultural groups brought to Brazil. Each cultural group brought, and continues to bring, limitless resources of cultural knowledge, which mix together to form a unique explosive energy and joy which is essentially Brazilian.