Angenoo, Ildeu and Elasticity!

A taxi picks us up at the hotel to take us to Museu Da Vida, for meetings about the next stage of our collaboration.

The taxi driver asks for "Angenoo". That's me! That's how he pronounces Geinor- I love it.

So off Angenoo and Ioan go to the museum.

Museu da Vida is described as...

"A space of integration between science, culture and society, the Museum of Life aims to inform and educate in science, health and technology in a creative and entertaining manner, through permanent exhibits, interactive activities, multimedia, theater, video and labs"

Diego and Bruno take me and Ioan around the beautiful castle, which encapsulates the idea of merging science and art. This beautiful building was created as a laboratory, for scientists to discover vaccinations, but the setting is breathtaking. Moorish inspired architecture, which when you are inside reminds you of a Escher drawing. The carving of the wood and glass panels, that decorates the interior are unique to each floor and room.

We then arrive late to a meeting (very brazilian!) with Rosicler, Clara, Wanda and Gustavo, to discuss the next step in our collaboration with the museum. They explain that the children who see our play take part in activities related to themes of evolution. It's fascinating, because we have a similar model back home with our collaboration with Swansea Museum.
They have an excellent exhibition about Wallace and Darwin, with images and pictures which will be great for our project in the autumn, and some of the activities which illustrate evolution are fantastic and I ask if it would be ok for us to use the same activities for the children back in Wales.

I discuss how we at Theatr na n'Óg create our education resources by working with the Professional Reference Group and also having teachers seconded to the company to create the resources with us. They seem impressed by the way the company collaborates with teachers.

It make me realise how well set up we are in Wales, and how advanced we are in what we provide for young people in Wales. It is unique and priceless.

The meeting is held in English and Portuguese and we discuss the potential of our Webplay project, where children from our area will be able to communicate with young people in Rio, using the play about Wallace as a focus. It is very exciting and everyone is enthusiastic about its potential. We set an action plan and now the true collaboration begins.

We bid them all goodbye, and exchange pens!

Luisa meets us and takes me and Ioan out for food with her husband Ildeu Moreira.
Don't even ask how you pronounce that! Apparently no one can.

It is a lovely evening Luisa and Ildeu are very funny, and we discuss a variety of things from trips up the Amazon to the theory of elasticity! Yes and all over pizza and chips.

Ildeu shows us books about Robert Hooke, the scientist who is famous for many things but mainly for first applying the word "cell" to describe the basic unit of life. We are shown his microscopic illustrations of bugs, fleas, flies, from the 17th century. It is fascinating, and could be a great show for young people. I start to think about the story.

We end the evening with Ioan signing up to a trip up the Amazon in 2013, and Luisa and Ildeu signing up for a trip up the Usk in February.
I know which one I would go on....