I knew very little about Brazil other than the fact that it
is a huge South American country with rain forests, Reef sandals, scantily
dressed women on Copacabana beach, the huge Christ statue above Rio de Janeiro,
colourful cities, shanty towns and of course the 2014 football World Cup!
That all changed in June when sixteen year old Naiara de Salvo Lisboa came to stay with us for two
weeks. Nai was on a month long tour with her school visiting Paris and London
before spending two weeks in Paignton at the Devon School of English polishing
her already excellent English. Her only linguistic stumble was the
pronunciation of ‘ed’ where words like finished become finish-ed. I speak no
other language with any fluency and therefore folk like Nai have my deepest
admiration.
Over evening meals we were
introduced to the beauty of Brazil and its colouful culture. Nai is a Catholic
and shared Sunday mass with me, commenting on the similarities here with the more
vibrant Brazilian celebration. Thinking about the World Cup I loved her comment
that Brazil should win because whilst the pope is Argentinian she thought that
God was probably Brazilian!
Nai enjoyed her time with the the
Devon School of English and thought their standard very high. Every
morning was spent in the classroom and afternoons were packed with interesting
visits around the English Riviera and atmospheric Dartmoor National Park. They
even managed a day surfing!
The overseas students bring a
special vibrancy to South Devon and a welcome boost to the local economy. Their
interaction makes the world a smaller and perhaps safer place, which has to be
good for all of us. Nai is back in Belo Horizonte now enjoying almost endless
sunshine and we miss her boundless energy.
