Journal

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Watch our JOURNAL to keep track of our Brazilian GSE experience.

Sunday, April 30 - Departure

The team began congregating at the Syracuse airport at 10:00 am and as each member arrived the excitement level increased. Several Rotarians, including District Governor Jim High and GSE District Committee Chair Michael Jerome, came to see them off. After the team passed through the airport security the friends and family members who came realized we would be back in a month to welcome our GSE team home.

Monday, May 1 - Arrival in Brazil! This email correspondence from team member Zoren Bullock arrived Monday morning. See the photos!

"All is well in Sao Paulo. John got us here in good order. We are currently awaiting our flight to the North."

May 1st - Christine Liggio

Jeez, where do I start? At the moment I am completely exhausted. We
arrived in Petrolina to a huge Rotary entourage holding signs, taking
photos, you name it. We were then whisked away to several different
Rotarian's homes for food, drink and conversation. The Brazilians are so
friendly.

My first host family is amazing. They have two children that are
learning English--so they help me out.

We had about 10 new things to eat today--foods and fruits you've never
seen anywhere before. It all tasted great! One of our host families owns
a bakery--you should have seen the desserts at dinner! I tried coconut
ice cream--out of this world. We also had wine and some type of very
strong Brazilian liquor similar to tequila.

Off to bed now. We have an early morning tomorrow.

May 3rd - Christine Liggio

I can't begin to tell you how incredible this all is. Trying to capture
it in my journal but there is hardly any time. We are always on the
go--business, pleasure and social.

Brazil is quite interesting. The people are wonderful. The food is
delicious. The heat is intense. Tried to learn samba dancing--oh boy!
Gotta go--sorry so short, but we're off to dinner. This experience is
great!

Anita High, DG Jim High, the GSE team and GSE Committee Chair Mike Jerome before team's departure

Thursday, May 4th

From Frederico Amancio, District 4500 GSE Team Member to District 7170 in 2005

I hope that all is going well with you.I had a wonderful time in USA last year in your District. For me the best thing of the program was the people we met. I felt like home in every village/city that I visited. People were always very kind and friendly. I loved UpState New York. The GSE Program was very important for me. It was a lifetime experience, and I'will never forget.
Now I'm a Rotarian (Recife Rotary Club). You were my teachers about Rotary and its importance to the communities, to the countries and to the World.
We are working to make a wonderful program to your GSE Team.

I hope see you again. Why not in Brazil? I´m sure you will love it.
Attached you will find a photo that I took yesterday of the GSE Team D71'70 at Recife Airport. The group was arriving from the city of Petrolina heading to Garanhuns. It was very nice to meet them. I going to see them again at the District Conference in Natal on May, 19th, and here in Recife on May, 24th.

Best regards

Fred Amancio
GSE Team 2005 - Brazil

May 4th - Christine Liggio

We did our first presentation last night--in Portuguese. It went very
well. We have visited several agricultural facilities and an electricity
plant. We also went to a winery and had a blast at the tasting. I bought
two bottles; one for my host family and one for me!

My host family is fantastic. Last night we stayed up late listening to
many different types of cultural music. Between the late nights, busy
schedule and the heat we are pretty tired--we sleep in every car ride we
take.

Later today we fly to the next town to meet a whole set of new
Rotarians. Will try and write tomorrow if I have computer access.

May 5th - Christine Liggio

Yesterday, we flew from Petrolina to Recife and took a 3-hour van ride
to Garanhuns, a hillside town of 200,000 people. It is somewhat cooler
in the hills, which is nice. We saw many walled houses along the
way--and donkeys are everywhere, used for both labor and getting around.
Driving in the van, I felt like we were a traveling band or something.
Pretty cool. It is amazing how close we are becoming and how well we
travel together.

On the way over, we stopped at a truck stop type restaurant and had
carne del sol--salted meat that is dried in the sun. We have tried many meats and cheeses, and tons of root vegetables and fruits--some of which I can hardly pronounce.

We are now staying at a monastery with monks and other guests. The rooms are modest, but courtyard is simply enchanting.

Today we toured Unilever (a water bottling plant) and a coffee plant.
Then we had an unexpected opportunity to visit with the mayor. The
language and culture immersion is amazing. We are experiencing things
that I would only hear about, read in books, or see on TV. It is really
broadening my horizons.

Fred Amancio and the team at Recife Airport

Saturday, May 13: This email came in early this morning in response to one sent asking for news.

thanks mike, keep us posted - sorry haven~t been able to update more. there is literally NO FREE TIME it~s unbelievable! but every spare minute is - well, a rare commodity, so not much chance to get to email..right now it is almost 2am and only the 3rd time i have been able to get on..must go to bed as early day tomorrow but suffice it to say we (at least I) are having an AMAZING time, and in 2 weeks i feel so - so----BRASILIAN! well, loving it, comfortable, speaking lots of portugese, experiencing the culture through the people, the children, the teenagers, the cities, the country villages, the agriculture, the dance, the MUSIC, the food (LOTS OF IT!)...and the hospitality and genuine concern for humanity of it all..

ate logo,

tamar

Friday, May 19th: This email came in this morning from Mucio Souto, our Brazilian co-ordinator.

"Finally today I'll meet the Team in Natal, at our District Conference.
I'm just departing to Natal, and tonight at the inauguration I'll be with
the Team. Their presentation will take place tomorrow 8:30 am. I'm looking
forward to watching it.
I've been talking to John here and there by phone, and everything seems to
be fine with the program. I know some of them are suffering a little with
vocational visits, because in the countryside it is not easy finding museums
or industries for that. Anyway, in Recife, next week we'll have two fll days
of vocational visits, as we have car parts industries here and good museums.
There follows some photos of the team in action in Joao Pessoa."

GSE team outside a library with Brazilian hosts

GSE team at the residence of Flavio Jose, an internationally acclaimed artist, w/fresh souvenirs!

team visits Miriri sugar cane farm/refinery outside Joao Pessoa

Friday, May 19th: Team member Christine Liggio sent this brief report in the afternoon.

"We will shortly embark on 4 hour drive to our second to last city, Natal, a coastal city where we will attend the district conference.We have spent the last few days in Patos, an inland city with roughly 120,000 people. We all thoroughly enjoyed our time here, and it wasn't at all as hot as everyone kept telling us it would be. Some of the highlights: We hiked up to Pico De
Jabre, the highest point in the state of Paraiba, quite a steep walk the entire way; visited a central market with vendors of all
kinds---fruits,meats, clothing, leather goods, and much much moreç and we watched a demonstration on Capoeira in the town square, a traditional Brazilian dance that fuses martial arts with interpretive dance. We have been taking lots of videos with our hand-held digital cameras. We continue to enjoy our travels and all the Rotarians that we meet. We will write more as soon as we have computer access in Natal."

Oi a todos! we are now in natal - a beautiful coastal city of about 1 million (considered small) and this weekend attended the rotary district conference. Already we made new friends, reconnected with ´´old´´ friends and host families from the past few weeks, danced up a storm, talked about everything under the sun from politics to education to style to food and drink - and of course have continued our crash course in brasilian cuisine 101 (which consists of eating, drinking, eating, and eating more..). My apologies for the lack of journal entries and photos - although we have, together, well over a thousand photos by now (probably a few thousand) we almost never get the time or computer access to share them with you!) so now, i sneak a few rare moments of computer time at 1am and will post some photos from natal..hope you enjoy, and we~ll try our best to keep you posted! but in sum, the brasilians have continued to be absolutely incredible hosts - accommodating, generous, giving, humorous, and extremely informative and knowledgeable about brasilian history, culture, and politics (dare i say more so than the average american?) this weekend we had some fun and sun time on the beach, a lovely night ´hike´(or perhaps i should say -clamber) up a nearly vertical sand dune (called ´´bald man~s dune`´ because it looks like a bald spot in the midst of foliated dunes..), visited the world~s largest cashew tree (10,000 sq m, produces 90,000 cashews per year), went to an artisan market in an old jail, where each cell is a store, and visited casa de ribeiro, an incredible vibrant, revitalized cultural center of music art and theatre. tomorrow..more beaches, and dune buggying! is this real?!?!?!?! - Tamar