Some may have been concerned by the fact that we were split up at first, with Rhonda hosted farther away. But all is well. The team is back together for our first adventure outside the greater Sao Paulo City area.
Rhonda was being sponsored by the Piretuba Rotary Club, where they have many projects related to illiteracy. There are some very poor areas near this club. According to Emi, because this club hasn't as big a budget as some of the others, they could only sponsor 1 team member Also, as it was so far removed from the other clubs sponsoring us, that it was a bit of a hardship on the host to drive back and forth each day. Imagine someone from the Santa Fe club hosting a member when the rest were in Montgomery. Similar situation, traffic and drive-wise.
I am so proud of my team! They have been so willing to adapt to last minute changes, and what seems like little foreknowledge about the next day's activities!
Emi is wonderful. She's so funny, cheery, and a very hard worker. She is one of the most intelligent people I've met in a long time. She can make puns in 3 languages and even bilingual puns! She is Japanese-Brazilian, an Opthalmologist, a mother and a dedicated Rotarian. She speaks Portuguese, English, Japanese and maybe just a touch of French and a bit of Spanish. She's our fearless leader, the chairman of GSE in her district. She is also my host "mom." (Probably more like older sister!)
Today we are in Botucatu, the home of a very important branch of UNESP, the State university of Sao Paulo (State). They have very impt. biotechnica and veterinary programs. We were to meet with the mayor of Botucatu (Bow-too-cah-too) today, but he was apparently called out of town for an important last minute meeting. We met instead with the assistant mayor, or Secretary or something. He didn't speak English, so Emi translated. It's amazing how I can now understand the gist of what they are saying!
Emi wasn't pleased that the mayor was a no-show. To her, nothing is more important than the visiting GSE team! We are once again adapting to the situation! We were glad to be done early with what may have been a long, possibly boring meeting, with a politician!
The Secretary was very nice and presented with a nice book about the city, it's history and all about the area. I'd like to read it excpt it's in Portuguese!!Well, this was a bit long-winded, and no pictures, yet either!
Mais tarde-
Betsy (or as the Brazilians tend to pronounce my name, Bet-che)
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