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)
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)
posted by Doug Risser at 1:50 PM
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