Highlight video
Class recording
Audio
Chat & additional resources…📚
Resumo rápido
A reunião foi uma conversa informal entre amigos discutindo diversos tópicos, incluindo alienígenas e ovnis. Alexia compartilhou uma história sobre Varginha, Minas Gerais, onde três irmãs relataram ter visto um ET em 1965, resultando na intervenção do exército brasileiro e dos Estados Unidos, que levaram o objeto para estudos mas nunca mais foi falado sobre o assunto. Os participantes também discutiram como a identidade geográfica e cultural é percebida em diferentes países, especialmente sobre como os brasileiros se identificam em relação aos latinos e americanos. A conversa incluiu discussões sobre cidades dos Estados Unidos, com destaque para Detroit, New Orleans e outros locais, além de experiências pessoais de cada um com diferentes regiões do Brasil e dos EUA. Bryan compartilhou atualizações sobre a recuperação de seu cachorro Luther, que passou por uma cirurgia de joelhos, e a reunião terminou com planos de se reunir novamente na sexta-feira às cinco horas.
🛸 Aliens, UFOs & the Unknown
OVNI (objeto voador não identificado) — UFO; also commonly called disco voador (flying saucer)
ET / extraterrestre — alien / extraterrestrial
acreditar em ETs / OVNIs — to believe in aliens / UFOs (Eu acredito em extraterrestres)
assustador / assustado — scary / frightened (the thing is assustador; the person feels assustado)
dá medo — it's scary / it gives me the creeps
as profundezas do mar / o fundo do mar — the depths / the bottom of the sea
coisas estranhas — strange things
surreal — surreal
recolher — to collect / pick up (o exército recolheu o objeto — the army collected the object)
passar longe (de) — to steer well clear of (eu passo longe disso — I keep my distance from all that)
A ignorância é uma bênção — Ignorance is bliss
🗺️ Geography & Identity
as Américas — the Americas (there's North, Central & South — não é só uma América)
América do Norte / Central / do Sul — North / Central / South America
a fronteira — the border
o continente — the continent
etnicidade / etnia — ethnicity
preencher (a caixa) — to fill in (the box on a form)
egocêntrico — egocentric / self-centered
uma visão centrada nos EUA — a US-centric worldview
termo carregado — a loaded term (tem muito peso, muita bagagem — it carries a lot of weight/baggage)
pode ser polêmico / controverso — it can be controversial
dupla nacionalidade / dupla cidadania — dual nationality / citizenship
o sotaque — the accent (perder o sotaque — to lose your accent)
identificar-se como — to identify as (eu me identifico como europeia)
Somos todos cidadãos do mundo — We're all citizens of the world 🌍
🏛️ Historic Buildings & Preservation
demolir / demolido — to demolish / demolished
destruir — to destroy
renovar / a renovação — to renovate / renovation
revitalizar / a revitalização — to revitalize / revitalization (used for Detroit's comeback)
tombado / tombada — landmarked / listed for protection; officially protected by the government for historical or cultural value (the noun is tombamento). Literally, tombada can also mean "tipped over / knocked over."
a fachada — the facade, the front of the building (in Porto, often only the facade is preserved while the interior is rebuilt)
prédio histórico — historic building
lista de proteção — protection list / heritage register
🏞️ Nature & National Parks
parque nacional — national park (há 63 parques nacionais nos EUA)
a serra — mountain range / hill country
a mata (densa) / a floresta — (dense) woods, jungle / forest
o deserto — the desert
o cacto — cactus (milhões de cactos — millions of cacti, at Saguaro)
o escorpião — scorpion
a serpente / a cobra — snake
perigoso — dangerous
🐝 Stings, Animals & Recovery
fui picada (por) — I got stung / bitten (by) (fui picada por uma abelha)
abelha / vespa / marimbondo — bee / wasp / hornet (marimbondo is the common Brazilian word for a hornet)
a pantufa — slipper (where the wasp was hiding!)
resgatar — to rescue (ele resgata animais — he rescues animals)
a cirurgia / cirurgia de joelho — surgery / knee surgery
a cicatriz — the scar
recuperar / a recuperação — to recover / the recovery
deu alta — (someone) was discharged from the hospital (já deu alta?)
🗣️ Useful Expressions & Everyday Words
dar um pulinho — to pop over / drop by quickly; lit. "give a little hop" (vou dar um pulinho na sua casa)
passar um tempinho — to spend a little while somewhere
buscar (a gente) — to pick (us) up (o pai dele foi nos buscar)
valer a pena — to be worth it (vale a pena visitar)
de jeito nenhum — no way / not a chance
não entra na minha cabeça — I can't wrap my head around it
levar um susto — to get a fright / be startled
por aí — around there / roughly (nos anos 50, por aí)
enfim — anyway / in short
✍️ Grammar Highlight — Diminutives (-inho / -inha)
Brazilians love diminutives, and this class was full of them. They don't always mean "small" — they often add warmth, affection, or softness.
pulinho — from pulo (a jump); a quick little visit
tempinho — from tempo (time); a little while
pertinho — from perto (near); really close, nice and close
pezinho — from pé (foot); (affectionate) "my little foot"
casinha — from casa (house); a cozy little home (the wasp's nest)
quentinha — from quente (warm); nice and warm
🇧🇷 Brazilian Places & Stories
O caso do Paraná (May 2026) — the viral story Alexia opened with: a man living in a very remote rural area who rescues animals heard all his animals panicking at once, then at nightfall saw strange lights over a round mountain that looked like a flying saucer.
Varginha (Minas Gerais) — Brazil's most famous UFO case. Three sisters reported seeing a strange creature; the police and Brazilian army got involved, and the object was allegedly taken away to a research center and never explained. The town embraced it — even the city signage features an ET — and it's now a UFO-tourism destination.
Vitória / Espírito Santo — capital of the small southeastern state of Espírito Santo, an island city known for its port and seafood, especially moqueca capixaba. It's about a 7-hour drive from Rio.
capixaba — the demonym for someone from Espírito Santo (those specifically from the capital, Vitória, can also be called vitoriense).
Natal & Campina Grande — cities in northeastern Brazil.
Porto, Portugal — where Alexia has lived for 7 years; full of casas tombadas where only the historic facade is kept while a brand-new interior is built behind it.
🇺🇸 US Cities & Places
Roswell, New Mexico — famous for the 1947 "Roswell incident"; home to the International UFO Museum & Research Center and a magnet for alien tourism.
Detroit, Michigan — an industrial powerhouse that declined and has since been revitalized into a modern, interesting city. Bryan's home state; he visited last summer.
Chicago, Illinois — Maddie lives in the suburbs near Naperville; great jazz clubs. (Bryan's dad was from "East Chicago," which is technically in Indiana.)
The Carolinas — Foster is from Spartanburg, SC (near Greenville, home to BMW), close to Charlotte and Asheville, NC. Charleston, SC is a class favorite; Myrtle Beach was mentioned too.
Travel wishlist — New Orleans, Denver, New York City, Providence (Rhode Island), and Oregon all came up.
Washington, DC — Alexia loved the International Spy Museum.
National parks — there are 63 in the US. Mentioned: Zion & Bryce Canyon (Utah), Yosemite (California), and Saguaro National Park (Arizona, near Bryan — millions of cacti, plus scorpions and snakes).
🎬 Culture: Music, Film & TV
"Marinheiro Só" — a traditional Brazilian folk song, popular in Candomblé and capoeira circles, famously recorded by Clara Nunes and Caetano Veloso. The lyrics tell of a lone sailor and it's become a beloved part of Brazil's musical heritage.
"Project Hail Mary" — sci-fi story Kyle recommends; he says it offers a different perspective on extraterrestrials than the usual.
"The Bear" & "Chicago Med" — US TV shows set in Chicago that came up in conversation.
"Luther" — a British crime drama; Bryan named his dog after it (and noted British shows love a good serial killer).
Baseball — the Detroit Tigers were playing the Seattle Mariners (os marinheiros) that night. Kyle's a Mariners fan; baseball is growing in Brazil and is popular across Hispanic countries.
💬 Discussion Questions from Class
Você acredita em ETs ou OVNIs? Por quê? Quais países fazem parte da América do Norte? O que é a "América" para você? Como você responde quando alguém pergunta de onde você é? Se você pudesse visitar qualquer cidade dos Estados Unidos, qual visitaria e por quê? Quais parques nacionais você já visitou?
