Farewell Dinner

Last night we had our farewell dinner at a local Pizzeria with Rodizio, where they come around with various offerings, sort of a buffet brought to your table.

The highlight, of course, was not the food, but the opportunity to formally say "Good-bye" to the many people we learned to know here. As Kirsten said at our presentation, "We arrived as friends but we leave as family". Well said, Kirsten.

I don´t think anyone from Astorga came and we hoped to see João Carlos and Rita and others, though several from Astorga told us at the conference that they could not make it, including Aran.

Manoel and Beth from Arapongas were there as well as the da Costa family, Luis Octavio and Ana Maria along with Nalini, and Luis Carlos and Marcia.

From Apucarana, we had Gilberto and Val and their daughters, Joacir and Eliete with Maria Clara, and others. Of course, many people from Londrina were there including Jose Botelho and spouse, Dimas and family along with Andrea from Matamoros and the youth exchange fellow from Belgium, Jose Pelayo from the Rotary Foundation, and all of the local host families.

After some formal good-byes, it was time to say our final farewells to those from out of town, with some tears of course.

Both sides sincerely opened their homes to their new family and hoped to see each other at some future time. Whether or not that happens. . . . .

Okay, so it´s noon on Monday and we meet at the airport in two hours for our departure. Not sure about the others, but my bags are packed and I did not need to leave too many things behind. Recommendation for the future: either bring along plenty of things to leave behind or bring back things for the other exchange group to lighten their load, or leave plenty of space for gifts from your hosts. You´ll welcome any extra space you have.

This may be out last post from Brazil but hopefuly we can add some photos once we get home on Wednesday.

Roz is staying with a friend for some extra days in Rio while the rest of us have less than a day on our own. The busy pace there should help us sleep some on our flight home, otherwise we´ll be sleeping in the Miami airport on arrival.

My wife, Sharon, is planning to be in Indianapolis by the time we arrive to take the Fort Wayne people back to Fort Wayne before we get back to Goshen. Some parents of Fort Wayne people may meet us in Indianapolis. We´ll see.

Thanks for following our experience and we would love to show you our pictures when you have several hours!

Doug

Last Supper 2

I just wanted to mention that I, Kirsten Tenille Maria Bombom Weaver, wrote that last blog about the last supper. I cañ´t believe that the month is already over. It went entirely too quickly.

The Last Supper (heh)

The district conference was great. Everyone´s portuguese has improved of the past 4 weeks. Both of the GSE teams gave a presentation and both went well.

We had our last full day in Paraná today. I´m not sure what the other´s did today, but I spent the day at my families coffee farm. It seems as if everybody here has a coffee farm. I guess that wuold explain why everyone has such great coffee :) . We had churrasco (portuguese for barbeque). Its very similar to ours but at teh same time, completely different and I must sy totally yummy.

We had our last dinner at a pizza place tonight. The waiters walk around with all types of pizzas and they ask if you want a pieice. You never have to get up and you eat entirely too much. IT was wonderful. Many of our families from the other cities came. I was very happy to see them. I´m going to miss everybody I´ve met here. All of the people here in Paraná have been wonderful to us. We couldn´t have found a more welcoming place to visit. Everyone wants us to come back and visit again. I hope that I can because I truly feel what I said at the Rotary district conference. We haven´t found friends her. We´ve found family. The people here are as much my family nw as the people I grew up with back in the states. I now have many mothers and sisters and fathers and brothers.

After the Conference

It´s Saturday night, after the District Conference, where we made our presentation.

We were supposed to start at 4:00 pm but didn´t take the stage until 45 minutes late. Luis Octavio gave his speech on the importance of the GSE program (IGE in Portuguese) followed by the GSE team that came to Indiana. They did a nice presentation with Nalini speaking first and followed by each of them. It was great to see all of them again and hear their impressions of Northern Indiana as well as see their pictures. They did a professional-quality presentation with graphics, music (Take Me Back to Indiana), their photos, and words.

We did our schtick with Justin playing his Brazilian soccer Corintianos vs Palmeiras line that got a response. We did our little speeches in Portuguese with help from others and got plenty of Parabens )Congratulations) for our efforts and comments that our Portuguese ahdimproved over the four weeks. I would be disappointed if it was still so bad!

Next year the Brazilian GSE program with interchange with the Philippines. Our US district will interchange with Argentina and Juan Pedro Torroba from that District was the official representative of the President of Rotary International. We should have a great program.

Lots of photo taking including the first time that both teams were together as Lisa missed the District 6540 conference in Muncie due to her Dad´s death. Also some tears as we knew we were saying good-bye for the last time to some friends. Nelissa and Carlos came up from Arapongas and Roz could not help but cry when they also cried. Made me cry as well.

Plans for tonight pretty much fell through from too many things being planned to almost nothing planned. We are each having dinner on our own with our hosts and with Dimas taking me (Doug) out. Aftr that, most of us are getting to gether at Fernanda Gorini´s house (Fernanda was in the group that came to the US and is hosting Kirsten in Londrina) at 10:30 pm tonight.

Tomorrow is a free day, so we will be packing and spending time with families. Roz thinks she has a solution figured out for getting her stretched canvas painting home if she can get it to Rio on Monday.

If you enjoy reading these postings, please feel free to comment!

District Conference

Today is Saturday and we make our presentation at District Conference this afternoon.

Last night was the formal opening of conference with a dressy dinner. It was the first opportunity for all of us to dress up, so finally glad I had brought along a suit.

This afternoon, we´re on at 4:00 pm and I´ve instructed each person to have about three minutes on whatever topic they wish but encouraging them to reflect on what this experience has meant to them.

Tonight will be get-together after the day´s activities and Sunday evening will be a final farewell dinner for all who wish to participate.

Sorry I don´t have more time to write now (Saturday at 10:15 am) but we´re meeting at 11:00 to see what all we have prepared.

Doug

Last Week in Brazil

It´s our last week here and everything is great. We went to a coffee factory (1st pic) and many other factories this week and during the whole trip. I also took a picture of Londrina at night from the window of Lisa´s apartment. We did indeed go to a biker hangout. Lisa and I nad her host father in Londrina and his daughter went. It wasn~]t actually a biker bar. It was more of a biker club. A hangout really. Everyone was really nice. It turns out that the entire country of Brazil is Hell´s Angels territory. Who would´ve thought. I guess we learn something new every day, huh. The district conference is this weekend and then we are off to Rio de Janeiro for 1 day for us and 5 for Roz. Last night I went to a Flaminco show at a place calle Vilão with Fernanda (My host sister) and Duana our neighbor who was part of a 1yr exchange to the U.S. in Minnesota. We had a lot of fun. The show was wonderful. We had Brazilian Chile which I have to say was good but American chile is better. I also had my first brazilian hot dog this afternoon. They laughed because I told them it wasn~t a real hot dog. It had sausage, chicken, lettuce, tomato, etc... and the bun was really big. I told them it was actually a sandwich and not a hot dog because it had too much stuff on it. LOL. I´m having a wonderful time. The tours have been very interesting. The people are wonderful. And now I have to go. See everyone in a few days.

-Kirsten

Winding Down

Things are starting to wind down.

I think we have finished our scheduled visits and vocational days now.

Today started with a visit to the UEL, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, the state-supported university. The University has 1350 teaching staff, another 3000 other staff, more than 14,000 undergraduate students, and 2800 graduate students. We met the President in his office and he presented each of us with a university pin. While walking through the campus we visited one of hte first wooden houses built in Londrina back in the 1940s. Interested to see.

Londrina several years ago was Brazil's fastest growing city and because of that has a low median age. There is almost no one over the age of 50 who was born here. Londrina means "London's Daughter" in Portuguese.

After that we drove through the University's "urban farm" before visiting a bookmobile at a local park. Enjoyed a nice walk through the park in the sunshine. Numerous capibara inhabit the park as well as monkeys but did not see the monkeys.

After that we went to a Londrina version of the "pay by the kilo" buffet. Several of us then went to Rotarian Jose Botelho's apartment and met his wife, saw his art collection, got a nice view of downtown. before heading to our vocational day appointments. Kirsten and Lisa were going to an American School and I think Roz was going along as well. Justin was going to City Hall for his day. I went to the local TAM Airlines office but our scheduled appointment never showed up after we waited about half an hour. The good news was that while there I reconfirmed our flights and found out that we have decent seats on the return flight, much better than we had coming down.

Since that meeting bombed, I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the central part of Londrina, tried on some shoes but didn't buy, but did buy a couple of shirts. I was told that my flowered shirts from the US immediately identified me as an American (and they did) so I bought two shirts so I won't stand out so bad.

Not sure what is going on tonight but since we don't have morning plans tomorrow, I think several are planning to stay our late. At this point, the team leader has not been invited.

BTW, Justin was out late last night but totally bummed about it. His host "father" had two tickets to something and asked Justin if he wanted to go. Turned out to be a seminar at a hotel selling a self-improvement program and Justin had to sit through the two-hour sales pitch. It didn't sound as intersting as Lisa's visit to a "biker bar" that hosts the Brazilian verson of the Hell's Angels, the "Black Iron".
She can tell you more about that.

One week from now, we will be home. At this point, the time has gone fast.

Doug

Tuesday May 23

Justin is getting well again after being on his medicine. Should be okay in another day and Roz is pretty much over her cold and coughing and almost has her voice again.

Today was a long day of visits: first was a visit to IAPAR, the research center for agriculture (we're getting lots of Roz vocational days!). They have developed specific varieties of wheat and soybeans for this area. Most interesting was their area of medicinal herbs.

Following this was a visit to an herbicide factory. This was themost like a US factory as we have seen but not much to see since it is all automated.

Final factory was a large plant for making instant coffee, including freeze drying for Folger's, which was more interesting. This was located in a small city about an hour from Londrina, quite scenic.

Our evening is free and we are all hoping to get a good night's sleep before another day tomorrow and then followed by two free days!

Sorry we haven't posted any photos lately but that will need to be done by someone other than me (Doug).

Londrina is a city where we feel at home and safe, the kind of city where we would like to get out on our own and explore and do some shopping.

One week from now we leave Parana and head for our one night in Rio, excptt for Roz who will stay a few extra days with her friend, JoAnn. Lucky!

Monday in Londrina (Doug)

First full day in Londrina. I think we all are going to enjoy the Big City.

Justin is sick. Didn't sleep last night, had the chills, so we sent him home to rest and take it easy. Hopefully, he will get some sleep and perhaps have time to work on sorting photos for our presentation at District Conference this weekend.

Roz is getting better but still has her cough.

Today was kind of a waste. We wre all looking forward to being in the city but the day that was planned for us took us out to the country to visit a alcohol distillery. We had already visited one near Arapongas and when they learned of that, we cut it short. It took about 75 minutes each way and since it rained today, they could not process cane so they were doing maintenance. This afternoon we visited a local museum--interested to see what a msueum contains when the city was started only in the 1930s!

Then spent about an hour at a small downtown mall. Getting together for dinner tonight at a larger mall, same one where I dined last night for pizza.

My housing situation is pretty good--private room and bath with hot shower, closet space, an adult son who speaks English, internet access, located right in town on 11th floor of an apartment building.

We also learned that we will not attend any Rotary Club meetings this week--only the District Conference on Friday night, all day Saturday (with our presentation), and Sunday morning. Sounds as though they are planning a nice dinner on Thursday night. We have all day Thursday and all day Friday free except for the planned dinners! Yeah!

Lisa did not write about Itaipu Dam that we visited on Saturday. The dam is the equivalent of 55 stories high and is 5 miles long and straddles the Paraguay--Brazil border. We actually went back and forth between Brazil and Paraguay about a dozen times. Later in the day we visited Peurto Iguassu, Argentina but only to go to the Duty Free store. But at least that day we visited Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay even though our passports are not stamped.

That night we attended a folkloric Show of the Nations that was great.

Doug

Good evening from Londrina (Lisa)

Hi all! We arrived in Londrina tonight after an hour delay at a farm protest roadblock AND being stopped at a police checkpoint. We had a busy but relaxing time in Foz do Iguaçu this weekend. The waterfalls were absolutely amazing, and we took a long walk (about 2 hours) along the falls and just enjoyed the surroundings. Another highlight for me this weekend was the show last night at Rafain (sp?) - Dance of the Nations. Very cool.

My big news: I HAVE A NEW NEPHEW! He was born at 11:08 AM today, weighing 8 pounds and 20 in long. I received photos via text message at 11:20. I can't wait to hear what Lex and Jasmine think of their new brother, Jacob William.

I am in my new home in Londrina, and my host family here is great. They speak no English, but my Portuguese is now sufficient enough that that doesn't matter. I have ample closet space (yeay!) AND they brought me a beer while I was unpacking. (Bonus!) And to top it all off ... (drumroll) ... they made me spaghetti for dinner. This will be a good last week!

Friday Night at Iguaçu Falls

This is our tourist weekend.

We left Apucarana on Thursday morning around 9:30 am, half an hour late andarrived in Foz do Iguaçu around 7:30 pm--tow and halfhours late due to a late start, road blocks due to a protest, and several stops along the way.

Today, Friday, was cloudy and the first rain we have had during our trip. Still, the falls were great. This is the first time for me (Doug) since around 1985 and things have changed quite a bit but for the better.

In the afternoon, we toured the bird park followed by shopping at at tourist trap, once of those developed for tour groups which pay a commission to the escort. No one bought anything significant--just small things.

Tomorrow we go to Itaipu Dam, the largest in the world when it opened in 1984, rising 55 stories high and 5 miles wide. Google it if you´re interested in knowing more. I expect Justin will throughly enjoy it.

Roz´s sore throat is pretty much over but now she´s real congested. Think I´m getting it now as well. The walking in the rain today did not help any of us.

Doug

Late night update from LISA

Hi all! I wish I had more time and access to keep this updated. We are kept so busy here with visits (to factories, farms, universities, libraries, government offices, etc.), social activities organized by our host families, and Rotary meetings that I usually just fall into bed at night and crash. We are having a lot of fun, and friendships are being created that will last a lifetime (my current host family wants me to come back in summer – January or February here in Brazil – and go with them to the praia – aka beach ... what do you say, boss), but it is quite exhausting. We are very much looking forward to going to Foz do Iguaçu this weekend for a sort of minibreak. Luis Octavio and his family will be joining us, so I anticipate a very good time. And we are counting on Nalini to take us shopping! (Not that I need to go shopping. I am going to have to mail shoes home as it is...)

A few words about libraries in Brazil ... They are very different. From what I have gathered so far – and this comes from extensive interviews with library employees – reading is not as popular a hobby in Brazil as it is in the U.S. That along with the fact that no library we have been to hás a budget, none have government financial backing, and none that we have visited so far own more than 3,000 books equals a very different situation here in Brazil. Some of the libraries have a librarian on staff, but the education requirement is just the equivalent of a BA. And many libraries do not have a trained librarian. Last night Kirsten and I visited a university library in Apucarana, and it was the first library we have visited that had barcoded books or an online catalog. Looking forward to sharing more upon return.

Something of note.... I feel like my English writing skills have deteriorated since I have been here. I am now so used to trying to convey my thoughts in the most elementary Portuguese, that I feel like I can no longer construct intelligent sentences in English. I am not sure if this makes any sense, but I guess what I am trying to say is that if I sound less than educated in this blog, it is because I am conversating in short choppy sentences here, and I hope it will not take me long to get out of that habit when I return!

Alrighty. It is after midnight and I have to tour a cashasa (sp, i am sure) factory (a rather strong Brazilian alcohol, comparable I think to tequila) at 9 am. So I am off to bed. Hope all is well stateside. You will have to do without us for two more weeks.

Update from Justin

I apolgize for not writing more earlier; however, I cannot seem to find a free minute in any day and my Internet access has been somewhat hit and miss.

Brasil is a beautiful country. The landscape is beautiful, the shops are beautiful, the cuisine is beautiful, and, most importantly, the women are beautiful. ;) Moreover, it must be the friendliest country on Earth. So friendly, in fact, that at times it can quite exhausting trying to reciprocate the wonderful hospitality that we have received.

The State of Parana is served by a state-owned water and sewer utility, SANEPAR. At one point, several municipal utilities were acquired by a privately-owned French consortium. Service was unreliable and they had many infrastructure problems. A few years ago, the State of Parana acquired the utility and has made numerous investments in piping and treatment plants throughout the state. Given that the utility serves such a geographically-large area, it operates on both wells and surface water.

For the most part, the water treatment plants I have seen are similar in quality to those at home. However, some are better than others, with the larger ones appearing to produce the best quality of water. I have been drinking the water since I arrived, and have no stomach problems to report.

Since the utility is state-owned, there appear to be few economic development efforts undertaken by SANEPAR, as the State of Parana's economic development agency likely fills the role. This, however, is a disadvantage to the municipalities that must compete with one another for job creation, because the incentives come from the state level.

Sewer treatment, on the otherhand, is many, many years behind Fort Wayne. I certainly would not want to swim in the rivers after seeing the sewage treatment plants. They do no screening, so the solid matter goes directly into the digesters if it is not caught in a little 6' x 6' x 6' concrete basin. Basicially, a worker monitors the basin, and if he/she sees something large pass through, he/she will scoop it out with a contraption that looks somewhat like a swimming pool net. At one plant we visited, they found a fetus a few hours before our arrival.

As we were leaving the sewage plant, I asked the superintendent, "So what do you guys do about toilet paper that goes into the digesters?" He replied, "It is not customary in our culture to flush toilet paper, as the sewers cannot handle it. We simply place it in the trash can." Oops! If anyone hears of a major sewer backup in Brasil, it is likely my fault. Old habits are tough to break, and I'm not about to change - nor am I ready to look in the trash cans. And no, I have not tried the bedays (sp?).

More Photos

...descriptions later.

Lisa's photo update (Cheese)

Okay, the pics are from top: Lisa with a woman originally from a city near Salamanca, Spain (where Lisa once lived), Aran (President of one of the clubs in Astorga) with family, Lisa and Roz posing at Carlos & Nelisa's party after a few glasses of wine, Lisa with "sister" Paula (from Arapongas) when the Arapongas fams surprised us by visiting a mtg in Astorga, Paula and Lisa avoiding Brazilian paparazzi, Roz with team scarf after much Skol, Lisa with Apucarana sister Maria Clara, Lisa with a flower that Felipe gave her during visit to NOVA, Lisa & Felipe (Mexican exchange student) at an Astorga Rotary meeting, out on the town with our Astorga friends ... at about 2am, and (finally) Lisa ... losing at pool to Aran.

Word from Lisa

Okay, I am gonna type some musings first and add the pics in another blog so that if one messes up it doesn't affect the other. SO, we are in Apucarana. The city is on a steep hill. It reminds me a bit of San Francisco, and the views at any given intersection are gorgeous. That said, all my photos that I will be posting are mostly face shots with little actual Brazilian background. Because you know how I like to pose.

When we first arrived in Apucarana we visited the newspaper, and our photo was published the next day. All of you who know about our myspace paparazzi phenomenon will find it humorous that the next day photographers actually showed up to photograph me trying on shoes at a local shoe store. (I bought two pair. They are awesome. And Val talked talked them down to $145 reis instead of 175.) At any rate, the photo appeared in today's paper. Hilarious.

Last night we did another presentation at a Rotary meeting. Since the meeting was on a Saturday night, they had a dance after. SO, I got to practice my Samba skills some more. Fun, fun. Also during dinner, Roz and I took inventory of all the nicknames we have given people here. So far we have The Man, El Presidente, Willy Wonka, Mr. Soprano, Meg Ryan, David Hasselhoff, Michael Jackson's lawyer, El Meshicano, and Jude Law (the mayor's son, whom we hope to see again).

We are also starting to keep a list of silly things that have come out of our mouths, like "Um, did you guys come in the VW bus?" and "I just took a shower in glacier melt." Some of the others aren't fit for publication.

Okay, I will now attempt to post photos. The house I'm at right now has a super fast connection, so hopefully this will work. And then I am going to chill in the sauna. Oh, this is the life.

Even more pictures from Kirsten

More Pictures!!! The first is the big cathedral in Astorga.

Me and my host sister in Astorga.

The next two are at a silkworm farm. I have to say I'm not to fond of anything of the worm variety but it was pretty cool.

Then we visited a water park called "ODY PARK". Justin may have had a bit too much fun in the kiddie pool (seeing as it teh place was close and there was no water.)

Doug´s Update

Thanks to Lisa for posting. Some of the others will have better internet access and I know people would like to read what they have to say.

What Lisa didn´t say was how late they stayed out at that open air bar after the other party! Not early!

Justin and Lisa thoroughly enjoyed their evening, though they didn´t seem to enjoy the following morning as much. Ask to see Justin´s pictures.

The party was great and helped to bring together our hosts and the team. In Arapongas, almost every evening, we enjoyed a get-together in one of the homes and most of the host families participated. I think that is why we feel so close to all of them. That never happened quite the same in Astorga.

Today (Friday) we arrived in Apucarana, a city of 118,000 and the largest we have stayed in to date. We visited the local newspaper plant and were interviewed there and then visited the city offices, meeting with the mayor and city council president.

Apucarana is the largest producer of caps in Brazil (about 70% of Brazilian caps come from here) and they intend to get in the Guinness Book of World Records by constructing a cap big enough to be worn by 280 people at one time. Kirsten came with one cap, now has five, and is certain to get more! Kirsten is also proud of her new sunglasses, complete with case and cleaning cloth.

Tonight was an evening with the families. I hope others will post their thoughts and activities as well as some photos.

Doug

Lisa's Update

Hi all! Quickly catching up on email and such at Kirsten's casa in Apucarana. We arrived here today, and our host families and homes are all very nice. It's almost time to eat (again ... we eat constantly), so this will be short. I'm very much enjoying visiting the libraries here (VERY different), and my language skills are improving. I can understand about 90% of what I hear, and the conversation is coming much more easily - which is good since my family this week (like last) speaks no English.

I hope to post some pics soon so you can all see what great fun we are having. The trip to the fazenda that Doug wrote about was definitely the highlight of my week. The home and family were amazing, and the views were ... unbeatable. A slice of heaven. Also, our last night in Astorga was quite an event. Big party at a nice country home followed by a trip to an open air bar with all our local friends. I used my good camera, and I can't wait to get the film developed. Should be some very good photos.

Okay, I'm being beckoned to the table. MOM, I'm doing just fine. I'm glad to see you're keeping up with us! And to my dear boss, just wait till you hear "the whole story." :) I'm loving the Brazilian culture.

Thursday, May 11

First reporting on last night´s meeting.

Smaller group than the night before but much the same format.

We gave our presentation and Roz decided to switch to English, which Aran (the club president) translated. I also gave some concluding remarks in English which he translated, though not real well. At least we got done by 10:45 pm. The dessert was a birthday cake for Kirsten and, of course, they sang the Brazilian version of Happy Birthday to her.

My understanding is that the entire family does not always attend but that these were special meetings and last night´s meeting again saluted mothers for Mothers Day.

Today was vocational day and for me, it was a good experience. On last week´s vocational day, I (Doug) accompanied Justin to the water treatment and sewage treatment plants. I think a similar day was planned for him here in Astorga. Roz was to go to Arapongas, which she was eagerly anticipating, but her translater was the teen girl who accompanied us to Maringa last Sunday and Roz did not think she could speak well at all. I´ll get the 411 tonight at our final dinner with our hosts in Astorga. Supposed to be another churrasco.

Not sure what our librarians had planned but I think they were hoping for a free day to explore town and shop.

Well, my day was quite good. I met Rosana, a former GSE participant who works in a small two-person agency here in Astorga and we started out in her office and then went to Maringa to visit others. The road continues to be clocked by demonstrators protesting the low amount they receive in government subsidies for their farm products in relation to what they have to pay to the National Bank for their debts.

Rosana gave me the history of this area of Parana and it is interesting. Back in the 1920, this was all thick mato, or forest with underbrush. A group from England treid to clear it for cotton but could not get their products to market because of the lack of roads. In the 1940´s, after the second world war, the English developed this area for coffee. Until 1975, this was almost allplanted in coffee. As reported earlier, the hard freeze of 1975 completely wiped out the coffee production.

Back to the story: The English developed these colonies in various ways. They founded four larger hub sities, including Maringa and Londrina ("Little London") and numerous satellite cities, including Arapongas, Astorga, Apucarana, and others. The large "V" formed by the streets in front of the Astorga church are to symbolize the "V" for Victory of WWII.

Maringa is a well-planned city and every avenue downtown is a boulevard with trees down the center. The streets all are either boulevards or have trees down each side. All are quite wide by comparison with northern Indiana cities. There are numerous "roundabouts" or traffic circles, similar to what one finds in Washington DC.

The unusual traffic lights in this area were developed by a person from Maringa. They count down both the red and green lights so both sides know when it is going to change. People are not surprised by a short yellow as in the States.

Anyhow, Maringa is neat city and I eagerly anticipate Londrina, a larger version of the same.

My visits in Maringa included a fairly large travel agency that takes a group of 100+ to Disney World each year, a visit to the largest tour operator in Brazil (CVC), and a visit to a person developing tourism in poor out-of-the-way northern Parana. Also visited the GSA for TAM Airlines and told him his airport service sucked but in nicer words. Supposedly Maringa has 50 travel agents--more agents than restaurants. The issues are similar to the US but they are 10 years behind us with commission changes, cooperatives, automation, and just how they do business in general. A lot of opportunities for the right people.

We´re looking forward to moving on tomorrow from Astorga to Apucarana, not so much for arriving in a new situation as much as getting out of Astorga. Too small town for some of us, though we have enjoyed our days here.

We understand that numerous people are going to "surprise" us in Apucarana, both from Arapongas and from here.

Sorry to be so long-winded so I´ll wind up now and post more tomorrow if I have an opportunity. Sorry about the inability to post any new photos, but we´ll get some one as soon as we can.

Doug (for the team)

More Wednesday May 10

A rather leisurely day. For the morning visit, we toured the mineral water bottling plant of Safira in Iraguaçu, about 15 minutes from Astorga. It was mostly closed down as the town of Maringa is celebrating their anniversary of founding.

After that, we toured a new water park in Iraguaçu but it also was closed for the season. Quite nice, however. Lunch was with our host families back in Astorga.

The afternoon was kind of fun as we visited another fazenda, again one with cattle and grain but we enjoyed the beautiful day in the country. The trip was great and off in the distance you could see the skyline of Maringa. Nice people, beautiful home, great snacks. It was the first time for Roz, Justin, Lisa, or Kirsten to drink fresh coconut water. Lisa wanted to get the recipe for the "cheese bread" but not sure we have the right kind of manioc flour in the US. Also great dessert made from mango, cream, and a bit of gelatin.

Kirsten showed off her new necklace she received from her host family for her 28th birthday today. Happy Birthday, Kirsten!

Got home around 5:00 pm s we all had time to either rest or go shopping before our club presentation tonight at the Rainha de Amizade Rotary Club. Going to try something different tonight. I´ll let the team members speak in English if they add something to their talk about something they have learned while here in Brazil. The club president speaks good English and should be able to translate for us. We´ll report tomorrow on how it all works out.

Tomorrow is our vocational day. I (Doug) will visit a tour company in Maringa with Rosana, a former GSE participant who spent a month in Delaware and Maryland several years ago. Since a Rotarian family member can not participate in GSE, her father had to drop out of Rotary for three years so she could participate and then rejoin later.

Wish us well!

More Wednesday May 10

A rather leisurely day. For the morning visit, we toured the mineral water bottling plant of Safira in Iraguaçu, about 15 minutes from Astorga. It was mostly closed down as the town of Maringa is celebrating their anniversary of founding.

After that, we toured a new water park in Iraguaçu but it also was closed for the season. Quite nice, however. Lunch was with our host families back in Astorga.

The afternoon was kind of fun as we visited another fazenda, again one with cattle and grain but we enjoyed the beautiful day in the country. The trip was great and off in the distance you could see the skyline of Maringa. Nice people, beautiful home, great snacks. It was the first time for Roz, Justin, Lisa, or Kirsten to drink fresh coconut water. Lisa wanted to get the recipe for the "cheese bread" but not sure we have the right kind of manioc flour in the US. Also great dessert made from mango, cream, and a bit of gelatin.

Kirsten showed off her new necklace she received from her host family for her 28th birthday today. Happy Birthday, Kirsten!

Got home around 5:00 pm s we all had time to either rest or go shopping before our club presentation tonight at the Rainha de Amizade Rotary Club. Going to try something different tonight. I´ll let the team members speak in English if they add something to their talk about something they have learned while here in Brazil. The club president speaks good English and should be able to translate for us. We´ll report tomorrow on how it all works out.

Tomorrow is our vocational day. I (Doug) will visit a tour company in Maringa with Rosana, a former GSE participant who spent a month in Delaware and Maryland several years ago. Since a Rotarian family member can not participate in GSE, her father had to drop out of Rotary for three years so she could participate and then rejoin later.

Wish us well!

Wednesday May 10

It´s good that last night´s presentation was pared down. The Rotary Club meeting was to start around 8:00 pm but never seems to start until 8:30. Maybe that´s the reasl starting time.

Anyhow, after our presentation, they had women´s choral group perform for Mother´s Day, presentations of gifts to all of the mothers in the audience, our mutual presnetation oc Rotary Club banners, and all of that stuff. Anhow, we didn´t eat until after 9:30 pm and didn´t leave the Rotary House until after 11:00 pm.

A real surprise for us was that three of our hosts from Arapongas showed up at the meeting, Jaci &Vera, Manoel, and Luis Carlos & Marcia. Lots of hugs and kisses. Our first host families will always be special. They also plan to come next week to Apucarana.

Sometime I want to post about the diffeences between Rotary in Brazil and Rotary in the US. Superficial differences are apparent in that we meet in restaurants while they own their own buildings, they meet at night while we meet in the morning or for lunch, and their meetings are for the entire family while ours are attended primarily only by members. But I think there are deeper issues and involvement inRotary serves a social function that church provides for many of us in the the US.

Doug

Tuesday May 9

Okay, so I got the date wrong yesterday and today is the 9th.

Today was Ag Day so Roz was in her element.

We visited a cooperative today, starting with a visit to the office first and followed by a visit to the grain processing facilities, mostly soybeans and corn but also wheat and coffee. According to Roz, much like the US in many ways. Roz can load some of her 400 pictures in case anyone else really cares!

More interesting was the afternoon when we went to the sugar cane fields and observed up close and personal the harvesting of the cane. The fields had already been burnt off to get rid of the unnecessary stuff and harvesters were using machetes to cut the cane by hand which was then loaded onto Julietas (trailers) for transport to the mill. Each ton of cane will produce about 15 liters (under 4 gallons) of alcohol.

From there the Julietas were dumped and the cane crushed and the liquid extracted. From that, the liquid was distilled into alcohol for use in cars and the remaining pulp was either burned to generate power or to be spread on the ground as fertilizer. So far, this was the only place that has required hardhats and ear plugs as we got right into the heart of the factory. Kirsten was bothered by all the heights and open flooring up in the mill.

After returning to town, we all went to Justin´s home and refined our presentation for the Rotary Club presentation tonight. As much as we improved it from the first to second time, I think we are improving it again as much. The last time we cut the time and subject matter to just speak about us and our interests and this time we got the spelling and grammer right and changed/added some photos to be more interesting.

Aran, President of the Astorga Rainha da Amizade Club, helped with the translation. When we finished at Justin´s home, we visited Aran´s dental office where he proudly showed us his massaging dental chair and hand-held camera. He said that Fernanda Gorini, who visited our district in April, worked with him earlier today. We look forward to seeing her again as well.

Enough for now--we´ll add more later as we have time.

Tuesday May 9

Monday, May 9

Monday May 9

Busy day around Astorga as we started out first by touring a factory that manufactures notebooks of al kinds as well as filler paper. Intersting to see how the paper is lined, cut, holed, and spiral bound before shipping.

I spent lunch with a local travel agent who had been with the same GSE program some years ago in Maryland and Delaware. Enjoyed lunch at her home.

The afternoon tour was to the country for a visit to a silk cooperative. Intersting to see how they feed the mulberry to the silk worms and then get them to make cocoons. Also visited a dair farm as well.

Ended with a visit to a women´s clothing factory here in town owned by the mother of the travel agent.

Tonight will be dinner at the home of one of the Rotarian women. The Rotary Clubs (2) here in Astorga differ in that one is a mens club and the other is mixed.´ The men´s club has a "Rotary Ann" auxiliary that does things together once a month and raises funds for charity.

I hope we cna post some photos again soon. Sorry about that!

Picture Update

Description of pictures: Lisa at the lake in Maringa Doug & Justin at the water treatment plant in Arapongas Arrival in Astorga Justin and his Lorinha, Gisele Justin and Gisele again Justin and the head of Sanipar, the Sanitation system of Parana Justin on the mechanical bull at the Fair Dinner at Manoel and Beth´s house Racks of ribs on the grill at the Fair

Astorga

Sunday, May 7

These blogs may get shorted since I can´t hook up my laptop to the internet here.

Yesterday was a time for tearful good-byes as we left our first host families in Arapongas to move on to Astorga, a small town about half an hour from Arapongas.

After time to settle in, we all got together for pizza downtown with our new hosts.

Today, Sunday, about 15 of us headed to Maringa, about an hour away from Astorgas. Maringa is a larger city, perhaps 250,000, and quite nice. We stopped by the Cathedral, a remarkable building built from concrete and towering about 500 feet high. It was started in 1972 and dedicated in 1982. I would think that if you went to Google Images and typed in Maringa cathedral or catedral, you would come up with something. It was the most distinctive church I]have seen since Brasilia or Helsinki.

After that, we ate at an all-you-can-eat buffet in town. The cost for men was R$8.95 and $R7.95 for women, about $4.50 and $4.00 USD.

We spent the afternoon and early evening at the Maringa agricultureal exposition, much like the Elkhart County Fair or a samll state fair back in the States. Except that at the Elkhart County Fair, they do not serve beer. Been eating a lot of food but this was about the first that I´ve eaten junk food. Maringa is big enough to have a McDonald´s but we did not eat there.

Enough for now and hopefully some others will post.

If you are reading this, please post some comments so we know it is being read and by whom. Just click on the comments link.

More pictures :D

The first three pictures are picturesat Luis Octavio´s English School. One of them is his family. They have been a huge help this week. At least one of them has been everywhere that we go. The fourth picture is me and my host family at the dinner that we had in their house last night. It was lots of fun and also our last night her in Arapongas. Everyone here has been so wonderful that we almost don´t want to leave. The last picture is also the party last night. As you can see, lots and lots of fun.

Friday evening update

Friday, May 5

We had a neat experience this morning when we visited a day care center here that is run by the Rotary Clubs. The center has around 80 kids ranging from six months of age up to six years old. Most are children of domestic help. Local donations cover around 70% of the costs with Rotary the largest benefactor.

When we arrived, they had the team enter first and we were greeted by about eight children holding signs saying “Welcome, Friends” and “We Like You” and then a group of about twenty kids sang us a welcome song. Brought tears to Roz’s eyes and mine as well.

The program has a tremendous influence and the staff says that they see an improvement within months of the children arriving through better nutrition and socialization. The kids were happy, active, and engaged. These kids will do well.

The center grows much of their own food in a garden at the rear. The kids get a good lunch and have a good supply of donated toys to play with, including clothes for paying “dress up”. We each dug into our pockets for a contribution of 20 reais each with Lisa contributing 50 as she had previously worked in a child care center. Our $100 may help make a difference.

We then returned to Doug’s place for about an hour to discuss changes to our program for tomorrow, to download some photos, and for Roz to call back to work using Skype.

After lunch at another buffet, this one with food from Minas Gerais, Doug and Justin visited the city water treatment plant and the sewage treatment plant, Justin thoroughly enjoyed it and I (Doug) was okay with it but did not appreciate the stench of the sewage plant! After that, spent several hours at home reading and going on the internet, cleaning out e-mails. Heard from Sharon in France and she is having a good time, as I knew she would. Her ship is only half full.

Roz went to the hospital where her host, a cardiologist, works. Lisa and Kirsten "went shopping".

Tonight is our last night in Arapongas and we all hate to leave. We have been treated so kindly and it has been great to have the resource of Luis Octavio, his wife Ana Marie, and his son and daughter who have shepherded us during our week.

Our last dinner in Arapongas is at the home of Manoel Martins and his wife. Manoel has been present at everything we have done, including chauffeuring Justin and me around this afternoon. I don’t think he has a regular job but lives from business income and real estate holdings.

Kirsten´s Pictures and thought

Ok, We all know that I´m not normally one to take lots of pictures (wink, wink) but here are some of the ones I´ve taken in the last couple of days.
This first picture is me at a farm where they grow and process coffee. I´m sure you all know of my deep and undying love for coffee. I think the picture says it all. :) The next one is me and Paula. (pronounced powla) Third, all of our host fathers (Mine is the 3rd one from the right) his name is Manoel. Our Host Mothersare in the nextpicture. (My host mother is the 3rd from the right) Her name is Beth (pronounced Bechee). This is the CRAZY clock.

We get fed lots of wonderful food here. We eat so much that we may not be allowed on the plane when we come home (too much weight :D ) Just kidding. We´re haveing a wonderful time. Everyone we meet her is very nice. I couldn´t ask for a better place to go or a better reason to be here for my first trip out of the country. More soon

-Kirsten

May 4 update and observations

Thursday, May 4

We all got to sleep in today after a late night last night. Last night went late because we were interviewed by the local TV station, Paraná 2, and that went on for about an hour to do the entire taping. Hopefully it went better than our presentation!

This morning we toured one of the major industries, Pennachhi, a company with several divisions. We toured two: the distribution business and the candy manufacturing business.

Their distribution business has 175 trucks on the road distributing mostly foods, cosmetics, and household goods to stores in southern Brazil. Trucks bring in quantities and the packaging is broken down to small units as ordered by clients, and shipped.

The candy business produces 16 tons of candy a day. First time we had eaten hard candy still warm from the factory. The company takes care of its 650 employees, with a nice fitness center, free medical clinic each day, free lunch, and a “food basket” they provide the staples for one person for one month (pasta, rice, beans, etc.). One of the four sons that run the business is a Rotarian and he showed us around and gave each of us a bag of assorted candy.

After lunch we rested for about an hour at Kirsten’s home with Manoel and Bette Martins. Another beautiful home with a huge entertainment center with a large pull down screen. From there we walked over to Academia Washington, the English language school run by the people who run the GSE program in District 4710, Luis Octavio da Costa, his wife Ana Maria, daughter Nalini (who led the team that visited in District 6540 in northern Indiana), and son Sudharto.

At the school, each of us visited with a class and spoke English and answered questions from the students (pretty basic English). The school is impressive and quite successful, and poised for continued growth. The da Costa family has a good thing going and with the next generation primed to continue.

The afternoon concluded with all of us wandering around the downtown district of Arapongas with Ana Maria and Nalini before getting home around 6:30 pm. Justin bought a pair of jean that need to be fitted and delivered tomorrow. Kirsten tried on some shoes but has trouble finding her size.

Roz and Justin are looking forward to working out at the gym tomorrow morning with Nalini. Roz still complains that her back was thrown out when she was “dipped” at the dance class by Luciano.

Tonight our dinner was at Roz’s host family, Dr. Carlos and Nelissa Bueno. He is a young cardiologist (43) and their daughter is now in Mumbai as a Rotary Youth Exchange participant. The home is big and new. Since it was cool outside again tonight, we ate indoors. Beautiful home and Nelissa likes Africa and things African and her décor shows that. Also, she is quite accomplished as an artist painting on porcelain. It’s been cool lately, though sunny by day. Lows are around 50 degrees.

On the way, we stopped by a feira da rua, a weekly street fair held in the shell of a burned out complex. There were food stands, a band playing, and just people socializing. I guess it’s a big thing during the summer. At the street fair, we bought something similar to the humitas we had in Bolivia, a mixture of corn and cheese baked in corn husk.

It’s been great to have Nalini around for the day and hearing some about her experience in northern Indiana. It seems that she and the team particularly enjoyed their final week in Warsaw with visits to Manchester College, Rochester, and Warsaw itself. The last week for them was more leisurely, which they appreciated after a busy first three weeks. They all had a great experience but were tired. Our experience seems to be much more relaxed and coordinated. As I perhaps explained before, the northern Indiana districts uses four hub clubs and each hub club works with another 3 or 4 clubs who take responsibility for one day each. The northern Paraná district has all of the clubs in one city (from 2 in Astorga to 4 in Londrina) who plan the itinerary together. We will visit only 5 or 6 club meetings in all before the district conference.

Some observations:

I (Doug) have spent quite a bit of time in Latin America, so I’m trying to think about what might be of interest to the team members and I hope they are writing in their journals.

Cars: With the prize of gasoline or ethanol higher than in the US, cars are small and efficient. Although small, some cars are quite nice. About the only SUV I’ve seen was driven by Carlos Pennacchi who owns the candy factory. He has a large family, including triplets 3 years old. As in much of Latin American, the space concept is closer and perhaps that has something to do with smaller cars as well.

Domestic help: All of the host families and indeed most middle class families have domestic help for laundry cleaning, cooking, yard work, etc. In the US, we tend to do more of the hiring a house cleaner for once a week cleaning, someone to fertilize and mow the yard or trim the shrubs as it needs to be done. Or, we live in condo communities where all the outside work is included in one monthly fee.

Commerce: Retail commerce in a city such as Arapongas is much like te retail in the US thirty years ago, before the big box stores took over, and much like going into a jewelry store now would be. You are greeted and someone will work with you to find what you need. No Kohl’s, J.C. Penney, or Meijer here, though they are in Curitiba, Sao Paulo, and other big cities.

Traffic: Arapongas uses a lot of speed bumps to control speed. Most corners have yield and stop signs with traffic lights only at major intersections. The stoplights count down so you have a good idea how long until will change for both green and red. No “walk” and “don’t walk” signs. Cars and trucks have to share the road with horse or donkey-drawn carts and there are separate bike lanes along major streets. Lots of motorcycles with helmets required. Seat belts are required as well.

Rotary: Rotary here tends to be a family affair, with spouses and teens attending along with the members. Instead of meeting at a restaurant, they have their own “Friendship House” that they own and the meals are catered. Many clubs meet at night and this encourages family to attend. Those clubs who meet in the morning or at lunch have fewer family attending. Similar to elsewhere in the world, Rotarians seem to be well-connected and know the influential people in town in addition to being influential as well.

Food: As elsewhere in Latin America, food is prepared fresh, not frozen or from cans and with little junk food. As a result, we have seen few obese people, but not nearly like in the US.

May 2-3

Tuesday, May 2

Today we began our official visits in our team uniforms, starting with a visit to Conex, an organization for the export of furniture, followed by a visit to a local furniture manufacturer, Caemunn.

After lunch, we visited the Mayor’s office where we enjoyed meeting with him and learning more about the city. He presented a large City flag which Justin will present to the city of Fort Wayne since the majority of the team members are from there. After the city offices, we visited a cultural center (watched a children’s show of SnowWhite), park, municipal library, and performance theatre.

Doug’s host family hosted the evening dinner at their home. Got quite cold outside, so it was moved into a closed-off area. Everyone seems to be building good friendships, getting into the Brazilian culture, and picking up little by little on the Portuguese.

Wednesday, May 3

This is Roz’s day, a day on the farm, in this case a fazenda that produces coffee, oranges, soybeans, and cattle. Great to get out into the beautiful countryside and enjoy the tranquility of the setting. Learned about the production of coffee, from beginning to end. This region of Brazil formerly produced double the amount of the total coffee production of Brazil today. A heavy freeze in 1975 wiped out the entire production and many producers changed over to other crops, primarily soybeans, corn, and wheat.

The afternoon was ours to prepare for our presentation tonight at the joint meeting of the three Arapongas Rotary Clubs. Justin and Kirsten had worked on Powerpoint presentations presentations but we had never had a time to get together to discuss what we were doing since back in February as Lisa could not attend District Conference.

Our intent was to keep it short and despite our poor Portuguese, to present it in Portuguese.

Well, it didn’t come off as well as we had hoped. It ran long, much of what we had on our slides was the same as what we were reading, we ran long, and we covered too much that was not of interest. We need to condense, practice more, and revise what we’re saying to better reflect what is interesting to our audience rather than what is of interest to us.

Lisa, Lisa, Lisa, and more Lisa

Everyone knows I like to pose for the camera. Here I am with Sasha from Canada, samba-ing with Profesor Luciano, in the library, and with my wonderful host parents. :) Having a blast!