Hey, everyone! Thank you for joining me today. You may have heard of my crazy plan to travel
all around the world, visiting all its different countries. Who knows when that trip's coming,
but until that day, I've been learning as much as I can about as many different countries as
I can. I've been going to the library and taking up books, I've been watching videos,
and I've been writing letters to people from all different parts of the world. I've got some
awesome letters from kids, just like you, who do a great job telling me what their life is like.
It's a really fun and interesting way to discover firsthand what life is like
in these different countries, and I love sharing these letters with you.
Today is our lucky day! We've got another letter fresh out of the mail right here,
so sit back and relax as we explore in today's episode of... Let's Take a Journey: Brazil!
Alright, and here's our letter from Brazil. You ready?
Dear Justin, my name is Antonio. I live in Brazil. It is the largest country in South America. Okay,
so today we're going to be talking about the country of Brazil, which is in South America.
South America is a continent, so it's made up of a lot of different countries. The United States
is a country that's located in the continent of North America. If we travel further south,
we'll find the continent of South America, and here's where we'll find Brazil.
My city is Rio de Janeiro. It is very close to the Atlantic Ocean. We have beautiful beaches.
Here's where Antonio lives: the city of Rio de Janeiro. And if you see this blue section
on the map, that is the Atlantic Ocean. Alright, let's get back to the letter.
Rio is not the capital city of Brazil. It used to be, but now the capital is
the city of Brasilia. Huh. Well, I wonder if it's close to Rio de Janeiro or not.
Rio is almost 600 miles from Brasilia. It is a long, long car ride. I bet it is!
I'm nine years old. I'm in the third grade. This is my picture. Hello, Antonio! I can't wait to
read your letter and learn all about your country of Brazil. I live in an apartment with my family.
We live in a very tall building with lots of neighbors. There's me, my mother and father, and
my sister Adriana. She's 11. Well, really 11 and a half. I took this picture of my grandparents. They
live with us too. That happens a lot in Brazil. They're like second parents. My volvo (that's
my grandmother) always says that grandparents are parents twice. Do you know what that means
I do know what that means! It means that grandparents are parents first. They have
kids – those are your parents – and then when their kids have kids – that's you – it's like
they're parents again. They have a second set of kids, so they take care of their grandkids,
which is you, but you're not really their kids – you're their grandkids – but they're
like parents all over again. So, yeah, I know what it means. I know some of you probably
have your grandparents living in the same household as you too, and even if you don't,
your grandparents are probably also like a second set of parents. Grandparents are just like that!
My mom works as a tour guide. Many visitors come to Rio. It is a beautiful and fun city. Rio de
Janeiro's nickname is "a cidade maravilhosa," which means "the marvelous city." Sometimes
my mom works with my dad in his store. He owns a little store in the heart of the city. He's
busy too! He likes to meet people from all over the world who come into the store. They
buy postcards, handmade goods, and all kinds of souvenirs from Brazil to take back home.
I'll tell you about my school. This is Tia Helena, my teacher. She's the best teacher I
ever had. She's very kind and yet strict too. Well, hold on a second. "Tia" means "aunt,"
so why would he call this teacher... Oh, hold on. In Brazil, using a word like "aunt" is a sign of
respect when we speak to adults. Oh, okay. So instead of calling your teacher something like
Ms. Cindy, in Brazil, you would call them Aunt Cindy, or in this case, Aunt Helena.
When my class divides up into groups, I try to sit with my best friend, Márcia.
It was a special day at school, and I took this picture of her. She's carrying
the flag of Brazil. Márcia makes me laugh... sometimes too much, and we get in trouble. Oh,
I know all about that! There were plenty of times when I was in school that I would find something
funny and laugh out loud right in the middle of the lesson. Teacher did not like that very much.
We walk to school together, along with our friend Pablo. Pablo looks so serious in this
photo. He said he forgot to smile! Hey, Pablo! I wonder if Antonio snuck up on Pablo and took that
picture before he got a chance to smile, huh? There are 22 kids in my class. We learn math,
geography, and history. I like math! I'm learning new things every day.
Here's one of my favorite things that I just learned in math yesterday. Do you know the answer?
What number, no matter how many times you multiply it, the answer is always zero?
One number, no matter how many times you multiply it, the answer is...
zero? I don't remember. I hope he's got an answer. It's zero! Anything times zero is zero. Oh,
you're right. Even a hundred times zero still equals zero. That's a good one, Antonio!
In Brazil, our main language is Portuguese, but we speak other languages too, like German, English,
and Spanish, and some of my friends speak a language passed down to their families.
I only know Portuguese and English. I could teach you a few words in Portuguese. Oh,
yes please! Learning stuff in new languages is one of my favorite parts about these letters.
"Olá" is "Hello." "Tchau" is how most people say "Goodbye" in Brazil.
Okay, I think I got it. "Olá" is "Hello" and "Tchau" is a way to say "Goodbye."
Well, now I'm thinking, if I'm gonna go to Brazil,
what's the climate like? I mean, I know they've got a big tropical rainforest there, but is the
whole country a big tropical rainforest? Let's see. Now I will tell you that it is hot here in
Brazil. Hot and steamy and sticky. The beaches get very crowded. Ah, so it is pretty warm down
there in Brazil and, according to Antonio, "steamy and sticky." We have summer when you have winter.
Our summer is December through March. Those are our hottest months. It is also our rainy season.
Antonio's right! In Brazil, the summer months are December, January, February, and March, where we
in the U.S. have our winter months. Winter begins for us in June. What's June like where you are?
Hmm. Well, some places in the United States are hot all year round,
while other places get cold in the winter but still stay warm in the summer,
so I guess June is pretty warm and nice for everyone here.
Now, Brazil's got a big rainforest in it, and some of it is smack dab in the middle
of Rio de Janeiro. And it looks like Antonio's going to tell us about it.
My city has a big, big, big urban forest. That means the forest is right in the middle of the
city. It's called Tijuca Forest. It is a national park and a tropical rainforest. Wow, could you
imagine that? Having such a large forest right in your city? You get the best of both worlds!
You have the big city with all the shops and the schools and the transportation,
and then you also have the rainforest, full of animals and plants and nature too.
This is a picture of our most famous landmark. People recognize it right away as a symbol of
Rio de Janeiro. It is a statue over the city, and it looks out over the whole Tijuca Forest.
It's called Cristo Redentor. Cristo Redentor is the statue's name in Portuguese. In English,
it's called Christ the Redeemer. Christ the Redeemer is an important symbol to Brazil,
especially a very recognizable symbol of the city of Rio de Janeiro. It's kind of like how
the Empire State Building is a symbol of New York City, or how the Arch is a symbol of St. Louis,
or how the Space Needle is a symbol of Seattle, or... hold on, gotta focus. Focus. Letter. Letter.
Brazil is known for its large rainforest. Almost half of our country is covered in
the Amazon rainforest. This is a picture looking down at the treetops. It's filled with many, many,
many, many, many different plants and animals that only live here.
I have some pictures of just some of them. It's home to jaguars, sloths, lots of different
kinds of monkeys, capybaras, maned wolves, giant anteaters, and lots of different kinds of birds,
including the rufous-bellied thrush, the national bird of Brazil. Like I said, so,
so many I can't mention them all here. I hope you like my pictures. Well, I certainly do,
Antonio. The Amazon rainforest can be found all over South America, but half of it is in Brazil.
We could do a whole video about the Amazon rainforest, but back to the letter.
Brazilians like to celebrate and have fun! My favorite time of year is when
we have our Carnival. It lasts for a whole week. We wear costumes. We have parades.
There's lots of music and dancing. We love samba. That's a type of music in Brazil.
I invite you to come here for Carnival. It is so much fun! You would have a great time. Oh,
what a nice invitation, Antonio! I may have to take you up on that someday. I'm meeting
my friends soon to play football. We play in the park near my house. Do you play football?
I do, but here in America, we call it soccer. But in most countries, people call it football.
So what do they call what we in America call football? They just call it American football!
I almost forgot! Before I go to play football, I want to tell you about my favorite foods. Ohhh,
we're getting to the food part of the letter! You guys know that this is my favorite part.
When I get home after playing football, I will be so hungry. I'm lucky that my mom is
a great cook! Tonight we will have feijoada. That is the national dish of Brazil. It's a
black bean stew. It's made with black beans and meat. We eat it with rice. And I love farofa.
Farofa? I've never heard of that. What is that? Farofa is made from yuca flour.
Yuca is also called cassava. It's kind of like a potato. My mom adds bacon and other
ingredients to the flour. I'm not sure what they are. I think onions, too. It ends up toasty and
so good. It's kind of like the bread stuffing you eat at your holidays in the United States,
but it's not soft. It's kind of crunchy. My mom can send you the recipe in my next letter. Yeah,
I'd love to try farofa! If it's popular everywhere in Brazil, it must be good, right?
We always have a lot of fresh fruit that my mom buys at the market. I love mangoes,
oranges, and bananas the most. One last thing I'll tell you that we eat here is
hot dogs! And what do we put on our hot dogs? Everything! My dad likes his with corn, eggs,
olives, raisins, cheese, and potato chips, but I like mine just with corn and peas.
Corn and peas on a hot dog? And raisins? Huh, neat!
It's like a five-course meal in a bun. Huh.
I'm going to go play football now. I hope you enjoyed this letter. Please write back! Your
friend, Antonio. I certainly will, Antonio! Thank you for the letter. Whoa, that was a lot
of great information about Brazil and Antonio's life in his city of Rio de Janeiro. What about
Antonio's life do you think is similar to your own? Is there anything that's pretty different?
So that about wraps up our journey to Brazil for the day. Ready to stamp our passport?
See you again soon, and in the meantime, remember to always be clever!