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.
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.
posted by Doug Risser at 5:03 AM
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