Things are a Little Different Down Here

I am sure you could have guessed that, but did you really know for sure (QM).  This week (after 2.5 weeks here) we had our first FULL free day.  We could do whatever we wanted.  We chose to spend it at Denises lake house.  It was just what we needed to re-energize before we had to get back to work.

On Tuesday, we visited an Ethanol factory. You may be thinking to yourself that this is no big deal.  What if I told you that the whole process takes so many people that they have their own school for employees children as well as what seems like their own fire department (I might have made that part up, but according to the video, that is what it looked like.)  The family that owns this factory grow their own sugarcane.  They are the second largest land owners in the world.  They own 95% of the next state from where we are staying.

We have been visiting a lot of schools funded by different foundations and hospitals too. Tonight, we got to visit an orphanage for about 60 kids.  For the Brazilians reading this, I found this fascinating, because we do not have orphanages in the USA anymore.  We have a different system where children live with foster parents.  The children that we met all seemed REALLY well taken care of and REALLY happy.  Some of the kids put on a performance for us.  After dinner, we talked, danced and laughed with the kids.  For me, this was another difficult moment of the trip.  I fell in love with a little cutie, that is too young to know that her living situation is not the only way of life.  The kids made it hard to leave.  How are things different in Brazil besides that we have orphanages and the USA doesnt, you ask.  This place receives $500 a month from the city government to take care of the almost 60 kids.  It also receives some money from the state, but most of the funding comes from a foundation and an Italian mission.  I can not even think about these beautiful children in their previous living situations.

Another Week Gone, Another Round of Goodbyes

What a test of endurance this is.  I am not talking about all of the going, going, going that we do every minute of every day.  If you would have told me that in my 31 years, the hardest thing I would have to do would be to go to Brazil for a month, befriend some of the greatest people in the world and then leave them a week later, I would have called you crazy.  Well, as it goes, here I am with my third family already.  I can not imagine how hard this would be if my new family was not as amazing as the last.  I have only been in Ourinhos for 3 hours, and already I have made friends with the lazy cat, watched my Soccer team (Santos) lose to The Corinthians, and witnessed a Leopard adopting a baby baboon and protect it from a pack of hyenas.  Do not get all worked up, that was on t.v. too.

I have not had real internet for the past week, so I apologize for not updating earlier.  Also, do not forget as you read this, that the Brazilians apparently do not have quotation marks or question marks, so I type out things like (do not) instead of don~t, and I put things in ( ) instead of quotation marks.  I do not normally type this way.

Highlights from this past week:  Everything.

Being in the music capital of South America (I might have made that factoid up, but it sounds about right), we got to see a choral concert of Beatles tunes on Friday as well as a Saturday night symphony.  After the symphony, Mom and Mom let me have my friends over for another party including some delicious wine, some AMAZING tortellini, and the best people in the Tropic of Capricorn.

I got to see the difference between facilities with money and facilities with none.  This included schools and places for homeless elderly and people with disabilities.  One of the facilities I got a chance to visit houses 60 people.  There are about 12 people per room and the facility receives $800 a month from the government.  That works out to be about 43 cents per person, per day.  The rest of the money comes from individuals who care enough and believe that humans should be treated with a certain amount of dignity.  The local Rotary clubs are behind MANY of these facilities and their projects.  When I have toured some of these places and I see all of the Rotary plaques, I try to imagine all of them disappearing at once, and thinking about how sad of a place this would be.  The children on the playground with nowhere else to go but the streets, the elderly making crafts with nobody to help them live.  A very sad place it would be, indeed.

I do not even know where to start with the people of Tatui.  We were greeted by a family of Italian-Brazilians upon arrival in Tatui.  We got to know our new families over pizza and beers.  Enrico, our pizza chef, was my guide for vocational visits and has a special place in my heart.  Toss in Tambelli, Lu, my two moms, and the rest of the crew, and the people of Tatui give the Sorocabians a run for their money (Do not tell the people of Sorocaba).

Week two would not have been complete without a visit with the Mayor of Tatui, a visit to TV TEM, or a dance class at Delmas club, complete with a dance mix designed for the Americans!  And... Let us not forget our trip to the distillery where caçaçia is made.  This may seem like a fun thing to do (Are we really down here doing work), but I promise that taking shots of 151 sugar cane liquor at 10 am before a meeting with the Mayor, is not all it is cracked up to be.

 

So... A Hooker with a Gun?

Well, I can not prove that she was a hooker, per say.  It all started when we had a day trip planned on Monday to Sao Paulo, so I had a sleep over at Andrea's house on Sunday night.  As we were parting ways with the rest of the group Sunday night, I decided that I wasn't tired enough to go to sleep, so I begged for Andrea to take me dancing.  Feeling a little guilty about leaving Mark behind, we had Daniel and Mark meet us at Bozo for some MPB (Popular Brazilian Music).  We walked into the bar and were quickly approached by a tall blonde with long legs and a short mini-skirt.  Don't forget, this is Brazil so that part is not too unusual.  She quickly realized that I didn't speak Portuguese (Eu Fala Portugese Pocino).  She made the international sign for "you wanna go out back and get high?" but I declined.  She nodded as though to say "your loss dude" and then grabbed my hand.  The music started back up and we danced.  Now, I've never claimed to be the BEST dancer in the world, but I definitely can't be the worst.  This is where things get a little fuzzy.  After being yelled at for having no rhythm and repeatedly stepping on her toes, she backed away far enough to yell at me, and lift up her shirt to reveal a gun tucked into her skirt.  Don't forget, I only speak the Portuguese of a three-year-old, but I'm pretty sure that she said something to the effect of "if you continue to suck at dancing I'm going to shoot at your feet while yelling "Dance Boy, Dance!""  Thankfully the song ended soon after allowing me to quickly take a seat.

It was at this moment that Mark and Daniel arrived.  Because we were international travelers, the owner of the bar offered us a shot.  The rule was that if we could take it in one drink, it would be free.  If it took more, we had to pay double.  We're from Wisconsin.  Enough said.  After the shots we had a beer or five.  Out of this period of time came the alternative title of "The Hooker Got Her's Too."  She helped herself to our beer, naturally.  At some point in time, she took a Tazer out of her purse and showed us how it works.  Honestly, I was more scared when she showed us the Tazer and fired it up than when she showed me her gun.  Maybe it was the buzz and bright light and the thought that "this crazy chick might decide to just shove that thing into my side at any time."  We left soon after this.

The music was good.  Our friends are fantastic.  While walking out, we heard from Andrea's friend who was with us that our new friend might actually have been a cop.  They sure don't make cops like that back in the states!

Week One Officially Over in a Couple of Hours

May first is the Brazilian Labor Day.  How does GSE Brazil choose to spend their day (question mark: I have to do it this way because I am on a Brazilian laptop and apparently they do not believe in question marks in Brazil)  We took a tour of a Bakery.  I will just say WOW.  The breads were the softest and with the gooeyiest stuffings that I could have ever imagined.  It was a long tour, so we thought that we deserved a little rest.  While considering all of the places that we could have gone to rest, my house was chosen.  Mom (Angela) and Dad (Rodolfo) let me have my friends over to play by the pool while eating Brazilian BBQ and drinking beer.  For dessert, we had a cake that was decorated for us earlier in the day at the Bakery.  

For my first vocational visit, I got to visit a factory that makes car door hinges for GM and Volkswagon.  How in the world does that have anything to do with anything that I do in the states you ask.  I was meeting with the Human Resources team.  They have quite a system of doing things in Human Resources.  Of course, it could not all work in the states because of the culture of workers rights.  Since I know that you want to know what kinds of great ideas they have in a Brazilian factory, I will tell you.  To reduce workers injuries, they have a physical therapist on staff to go around and lead people in morning stretches.  So of course, I also got to do some stretches with the team.   My visit was cut short, because Suzana (who also happened to be a GSE team member to Nigeria a couple of years ago) had to negotiate a labor dispute with the steal-workers union.  

My first week included 2, count them 2 visits to the zoo.  Why do I love the zoo you ask.  Because it inspires little kids to grow up and love animals so they can fund conservation projects.  This thought is brought to you by Mark Morris.  I hereby declare him, Good Attitude Mark.  

So as of Friday, I am feeling conflicted as to what the biggest honor is.  Is being greeted by a school band, playing a private performance for us, the biggest or is being honored at a ceremony by the Policia Militar bigger.  It is hard to say.  Our fabulous GSE host, Andrea, got to raise one of the three flags at the ceremony.  Being played Stars and Stripes Forever and the American National Anthem were mind blowing, but there was a little humor in all of it, as their is a resident dog that sings while the band plays the Brazilian national anthem.  Apperently the dog does not recognize the officers when not in uniform and has been known to bite.  We rounded out Friday with a visit to UNISO, a University that has an equine studies program as well as a medical school, gastronomy school and engineering school. 

Somewhere in this first week included a visit to the Church of Santo Daime for a couple of us.  When I was a child, I thought that Catholic 1.5 hour masses were long.  That is because I never could have imagined the 5 hours of Santo Daime.  If there was ever a church that could speak to me, this one might be it.  It promotes a lifestyle in conformity with the motto of Harmony, Love, Truth, and Justice.  It is allows one to step outside of themselves to better reflect on the person inside.  

This does not sound like such a busy schedule.  There is a lot of beer drinking and food eating in between, so   I wondered why I am so tired (consado).  Because none of this even touches the Rotary meetings that we attend, and the presentations that we give.  Let us not forget how we got here and the central place of congregation for us and our new international friends.  

This is Mike, signing off on a perfect first week in Brazil.  Boa Noite.  

 

 

 

 

Bad Blog Part Two

(So, I promise that this isn't supposed to become a running joke.  I will add the words REALLY soon. :)  This technology stuff is exhausting.)

Some one once told me that just because architecture is ´´interesting´´ doesn´t mean that it´s attractive.  While I don´t disagree, I happen to really like the Sorocaba City Hall.  Another day of warm greetings, this time by the mayor of Sorocaba.  What a lucky guy.  He´s got the best view in the city.  It made me wonder if our mayor was possibly meeting with our Brazilan counterparts at the exact same time.  Most likely they would not be meeting with the Governor.  You know what I love about traveling around the world?  You get to do things like visit water treatment plants and walk around in places that in America, there are too many rules and safety concerns to allow.  I´m not going to say that Mark got scolded for messing with the controls... because he didn´t, but he could have.  Look how excited he gets when he is near industry!  In the afternoon, we got to visit ´´city school´´ where children learn things like boxing and guitar.  Don´t let me forget that this was the moment where I first heard Brazilian Funk.

Bad Blogging Start?

(Ok, I know that I haven't even finished my personal blog post (Ola Amigos) yet, and now I'm leaving this one with more place holders, but it's almost 2 O'clock in the morning, and I'm trying to finish our presentation.  Give a guy a break, will ya?  I will say for now, that it was an AMAZING first day.  Details to follow.  For now, I'll tease you with the photos and let you guess the adventure.  Tchau!)

Ola, I´m back.  So here´s the skinny:  We´re in a town of 600,000 people called Sorocaba.  These pictures tell the story of the beginning.  We got the whole voltage/plug thing figured out for the most part because they have multi region plugs.  Skol is one of two beers that I see all over the place.  We were greeted at the airport by two of the greatest ladies on planet earth, Andrea and Delma.  You´ll see them pop up in pictures in future posts.  When we got to the hotel, we took a quick tour of downtown Sorocaba including a visit to a church.  I think it was Catholic because they were saying the Lords Prayer (you know, the one that starts, ´´Our Father who art in heaven...´´).  Some of us took a quick nap and some of us took longer naps (not calling out anyone who might have been still sleeping while we were supposed to be meeting with the Rotary District Governor. :-)  After dinner, we got some help from Andrea and Virigiana with our Portuguese grammer and then it was off to the mall where Melissa´s host has a fruit juice shop in the cafeteria.

                                                 

                                    

For our first full day in town, we visited a newspaper/radio station that is a foundation for a hospital and school.  I was hoping to see what happened when I shouted ´´ Stop the presses!´´ but they weren´t running at the time we were there.  In the afternoon, we were greeted warmly by the students at the school which the foundation supports.  This was my first emotional moment on the trip as it was clear how many people were doing what they had to, to make us not only feel welcome, but special.

The Little Things

If you thought the language and cultural differences made traveling difficult, what about the different electrical sockets?  Am I right?  Lucky for us, our team is comprised of smart people that take these details into account.  No problem!

What about trying to call us?  I can't speak for the rest of the team, but I'm hoping that nobody needs to be calling me during the month abroad. :-) Of course, if you're calling just to send a message of well-wishes, here is a website that will come in handy.

http://www.howtocallabroad.com/results.php?callfrom=united_states&callto=brazil