Leaving this morning!!!!

Well after months of planning, meetings and anxiousness, today we finally leave! Our last team meeting was last night where we ran through our presentattion one more time and with the help of team member Katie, got some last minute coaching on our pronunciation. I for one was VERY thankful. Portguguese is a fun language and I'll get some more practice on the plane. We also celebrated Kristy's BIRTHDAY (I won't say which one!) with dinner, birthday cake and song! Our hosts are as anxious for us to arrive as we are. Although we'll all be missing our family and friends her for sure, we are looking forward to making new friends and meeting our Rotary family of District 4410. So Bon Voyage to everyone here at home and the next time will be from Espirito Santo!

District 4410 Team Arrives!

After a long and weary flight, the incoming team from District 4410 arrived safe and sound on Friday afternoon, April 23rd. They were very happy to finally be here and they brought the sun from Espirito Santo along with them! District Governor John Cox, GSE co-Chair Chandra LaHusen, local coordinators Don Arkell and Camille Ronzio along with a hold group of Rotarians from Southtowne, Airport, Twin Rivers and Delta clubs and I were there to greet them and get them started on their journey! Our outbound team has it's last meeting the Thursday night before we leave the morning of Friday April 30th. Our team will be there for when they return home and we will all meet at their District Conference. My next post will probably be from Espirito Santo, so follow along!

Team presentation...err...check?

This last Sunday, the team met again to take care of final trip departure details. The majority of the 5 hour meeting was spent fumbling through our presentation...in Portuguese. Did I say fumbling?  Portuguese pronunciation is H.A.R.D, which would probably be pronounced something like JAHUDRLU or something if it was a Portuguese word. Someone should really tell them those letters aren't supposed to make those sounds ;) Let's just say we have some room for improvement and will definitely be working on our pronunciation and speed of delivery.

If you want to see our presentation for yourselves CLICK HERE. It's all in Portuguese but you'll get the gist of it by all the photos. Let us know what you think if you get the chance.  We should be pro's at this by the time we get back.

Besides the presentation practice, we also received GREAT pronunciation support, cultural information, and trip recommendations from some Brazil Experts. THANK YOU to our lovely native speaker guests. You have helped us prepare immensely!

In the remaining 18 days, the team will be practicing our language skills, buying gifts, putting together photo albums, packing and a million other small things needed to get ready. Also, in case you didn't know already, our team now has a facebook page so FAN US!

Polishing our Portuguese

We all learned that pronouncing Portuguese is not as easy as it seems! But thanks to the efforts of Bob and Dalva Crites and Nilcea Marques (who suffered through my pronunciation) we all got some some great tips on how to pronounce our scripts and in the case of Luke, what not to say! They also gave plenty of tips and suggestions on what to do and more importantly, what not to do!

Ever the one to make sure we don't miss something special, Hillary asked the key question of the day, "What do we absolutely HAVE to eat while we are there?" The answer was more than I have space to list, so let's just say we're (or at least I'm) hoping we won't have to buy bigger clothes when we get back. That shouldn't be a problem with 11 cities in 30 days and we'll be burning calories on what looks like a very full schedule of vocational and cultural visits. DG John Cox managed to squeeze some time into his busy schedule to visit and to see the beautiful gift for DG Almiro Schimidt (I can't say what it is or it would spoil the surprise!) that Lynda Kristoffersen brought with her from the coast.

Ready, set .....

Only 3 weeks to to before we put our Portuguese to the test! Many hours have been spent preparing for our trip and many hours are yet to go. Thanks to our crack computer expert, Hillary, we have a world class presentation to show our hosts. Thanks to our crack journalism and marketing expert, Kristy, we have great business cards and brochures. Both have put many, many hours into these tasks and it shows. Marc's gearing up to keep this updated while we're away so be sure to follow along. Thanks to my INCREDIBLE alternate team leader Lynda Kristoffersen, we've got our shirts embroidered, DG gift being transported and keeping Luke on track! She has really helped me be a better team leader and I am ever so thankful for all her input and being a sounding board when I've really needed one!

This coming Sunday afternoon will be our last "formal" meeting before we leave and are blessed with help of Bob and Dalva Crites and Nilcea Marques who have agreed to help us with learning more about the area, correcting our grammar and with our pronunciation. Our next meeting will be greeting the incoming team and hosting a Mexican Fiesta dinner for them. Thanks to the generosity of fellow Rotarian Doug Bales for the use of his beautiful home on the McKenzie for their rest stay when they arrive!

After all the hours spent in meetings, planning, preparation, traveling we are almost on our way and I am looking forward to learning about our host district, country and people, and the time I will spend with these 4 wonderful professionals I have been given the gift to be a part of.

Espirito Santo, HERE WE COME!

Tickets, Visas, and Itineraries CHECK!

Only 24 days until the team leaves for sunny Brazil! We have visas in our passports, the plane tickets are booked, and we have a TENTATIVE team itinerary.  Following find the planned itinerary with a map of where we are headed within Espirito Santo:

Vitória (State Capital): City tour; Individual vocational days; Hope Mountain - children at risk help project; 3H Project; Vale Train Museum visit (mining company's railroad museum); Integrated Emergency Response Center tour; Vale comany tour (ore pellets plants, ore harbor, railroad); Acacci - association against childhood caner.

Colatina: Festa do Cafona - Brazilian costume party; Mother's Day - usually with the host families; Coffee Farm visit; School visits; Other industry visits.

Linhares: Tamar Sea Turtle preservation project site visit; Vale's Forest (preserved forest maintained by Vale mining company) visit.

Aracruz: Aracruz Celulose plant - pulp (used to make paper) visit; Social projects in the city sponsored by Rotary

Back to Vitória: Fund raising concert held by a former GSE member musician - for Polio Plus fund; Rest and evaluation meeting.

Guarapari: Samarco plant (also ore mining and export company) visit. Beach visit.

Cachoeiro de Itapemirim: Milk cooperative visit;  Marble and granite industry visits; Tourism; Vocational day.

Guaçuí: Tourism; mountain tours.

Venda Nova do Imigrante: Ecotourism and "agrotourism" visits.

Back to Vitória: Arcelor Mittal (metalurgic plant) visit; Cajun (at-risk children support organization) visit.

Linhares: District Conference

Should be a blast!