GSE Team 9940 to Brazil

Sao Carlos City - last city

2008-05-24T18:02:00.000-07:00

Ola,
We are in Sao Carlos City at the moment. Our last city & only 2 more nights to go. Time has flown by! We will upload photos from Sao Carlos to the blog soon.
We had a great day today(sat 24th) - visited a boutique winery this morning -Vinicola Bonucci, then to another amazing place for Almoço (lunch) - Damha. It was just fantastic! You must see photos (coming soon) and then an Aeroplane museum this afternoon.
Tomorrow (Sunday) we are heading to a lake/activity park for most of the day with our families, and then Monday we drive to Ribeirao Preto to catch our plane to Sao Paulo. We are all sad to be leaving our wonderful families!
More updates & photos coming.....
Tchau,
Sara

Photos from Araxia - Conference Weekend

2008-05-24T17:35:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Here are a few photos from Araxia - conference weekend. A fun weekend it was!

Tchau, Sara.

2008-05-24T17:03:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I have done the map below in an attempt to give you an idea of where we have been. I searched for quite some time to find a map with all the cities and this was the best I could find with two cities not on it. I have added them in to their closest proximately.

Tchau. James.

A day in Araraquara

2008-05-21T04:14:00.000-07:00

Wow! We have just been in Araraquara. Very hot place 28 degrees however the city is known for its many trees which provide the shade needed to survive these temperatures.

The population is around 200,000 with the main industies in citrus, cotton socks, lingerie and recently a move to more technology based businesses.

Our first visit was with the Mayor who was very impressed by us and we with him. Interesting to hear about their social programmes and incentives for IT companies to set up in this city.

One place we visited was a local government run type of community restaurant. Pictured above feeds about 1300 people a day including their employees. The only meal served is lunch as this is the main meal of the day here in Brazil. Its very nutritious food and costs around $1.50 or half that for the elderly or very poor.

Something for you farmers. Here we visited Cambury Farm owned by the bank, Uni Banco. 14000 hectares of orange, coffee and rubber trees. 7000 ha in orange trees from which they produce around 5 million cartons of juice a year. The farm has its own nursery producing 300,000 orange trees/yr employing around 1600 people. They also have 4300 ha in native forest. This is fenced, protected and monitored containing many species. One species we did get a glimspe of was the wild pig. Both James and myself were keen on running down one of these beasts, and you'd think we'd know better by now but four legs are faster than our two (including piglets)!!

Here is one of our many superb hosts imitating the cutting of the rubber tree. The end product being car tyres.

And fencing . . . Have a close look you perfectionists out there. Could be some openings for contractors, although i havent seen many fences!

And fishing . . . could this be you? I believe this is one of the biggest country clubs in Brazil. Membership $3000 and then around $500/yr. Awesome place to hang out with jet skiing, beach volleyball, walking tracks, swimming pools and of course FOOD.

If you were wondering how our diets were going . . . well James found his best dessert so far. He liked it so much that we all came back the next day for an encore.

We are now in Sao Carlos our last city. Temperature today 32 and they told us this was the coldest place!!

Tchau for now.

Petra

Rotary Conference at Araxa

2008-05-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

We have just spent a fantastic 3days at the Araxa Spa Resort for the annual Rotary Conference here in Brazil. What a magnificent setting up in the state of Minas Gerais still within the 4540 Rotary district. I believe around 1500 people attended, with all sorts of presentations and activities to cater for all tastes. Most came with their families as activities for the kids were organised all day, everyday. And by the way this is the view from our room on the 6th floor.
The Spa Resort has a wee lake out the back, surrounded by a small park. The food was amazing and on a huge scale. So it was good to be able to go for walks, play tennis, kayak, swim, participate in aqua aerobics, sauna, massage and of course sunbathe by the pool. And for one of the team who loves to have her hair done a hair salon!

Oh yes we did earn our keep giving our presentation which was well received and at the opening ceremony Brenda led the flag parade with the NZ flag, closely followed behind by the flags and presidents from the other 82 clubs in the 4540 district.
This is the grand entrance where the district governer and his wife spent one day welcoming all the guests and another farewelling!

Now yes its fair to say our team leader has been pulling her weight and fully deserved a little R & R by the pool. However she asked me to ask you Dave if you could provide her ultimate home in Taupo, something similiar to this, forthcoming decisions could be very simple. . .

Anyway one thing we have all learnt about Brazil is they know how to party. We attended the Conference Ball on the Saturday night which was just a blast. There are plenty of pics which will be forthcoming in the next blog.

Tchau Petra

2008-05-19T03:49:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Sorry for the delay inupdating the blog. Here are some pics from our trip to Araxa. Below is Sugar Cane fields which just when for miles and miles lining the highway.

And Coffee plantations which also often went as far as you could see.

On the way I got to stop at Franca and spend some time with a lovely lady called Luiza. She is a shareholder in the company Magazine Luiza (similar to Harvey Normans) and they have 14,000 employee's and 400 stores. Definately the best vocational so far.

Gotta go so will edit this blog but below is the Hotel we stayed at in Araxa. Mouto Bom.

Our first day at Jaboticabal

2008-05-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

So today we met the Mayor Jose Carlos Hori in the lovely City of Jaboticabal. For me the most attractive City so far. Lots of old buildings and parks. The City has a population of 74,000 which 10,000 of these are students. Their main industry is peanuts and sugar cane. The Mayor's focus initially was creating structure within the council and motivating the employees to work more passionately for the city. His focus when elected was on the social issues and he is currently working on the storm-water network. He seems well liked by the people and is expected to be re-elected next term

Here we see the Mayor exchanging gifts with Brenda

And a group photo of the team with our hosts and the Mayor.

Tchau, James.

Hi and Bye from Sertaozinho

2008-05-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

We´re just zipping up those bags once more after a fab few days with the Rotarians of Sertaozinho. Here we are planting a tree of friendship in an ecological park being developed by the local Rotary Community Corps, which joins others planted by previous GSE teams. Rotary is running a very cool project centred on this park creating facilities for the poor ´burbs including a community drugstore, dentist, enviromental education, Spanish and English courses, football coaching, a daycare centre, a shelter for the elderly, two classrooms, a church and more.

We´ve had some awesome vocational hook-ups in this city of 100,000 which is THE place to come to in the world for all your sugarcane machinery and technology needs. Variously, we´ve visited marketing companies (Sara), a supermarket (James), a very successful biocontrol company for the sugarcane industry run by two women (Brenda, Petra and Charlotte), an asset manager (Brenda) and a sustainability management consultancy (Petra and Charlotte). Petra loved her time with the local military police and their dogs and I wrote an article for the local newspaper and convinced them to profile good ol´Enzed for their next travel feature.

Lotsa time for some R & R here, too, with a couple of lazy lunches by the pool hosted at the downtown 'bach' of a Rotarian. Above a sugarcane juicer in the back of an old Kombie (yum!); one of Brazil'´s quirky details (a chandelier created from Coke bottles); and a piccie of a Brazilian rock concert Brenda and I checked out with our hosts.

A big hi to the Rotary Club of Plimmerton from Charlotte xxx

Sertaozinho Programme

2008-05-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

Ola Everyone,

I cant upload any photos yet again, so just a few words from me.
Thought you may be interested to read our programme for the new city we are in, Sertaozinho, Sao Paulo State.

Weds 7 May:
Arrived Sertaozinho 7pm & to host families. 8.30pm - Rotary dinner & special Mothers Day evening

Thurs 8 May:
Beef AI & genetics ranch, Sugarcane & Alcohol factory. SMAR electronic factory.
8pm - Dinner & presentation evening.

Fri 9 May: Own vocational day
James: Visit supermarket & bakery
Petra: Visit Police dept where search dogs trained, Biocontrol company & Grupo CLS (not sure what this is yet?)
Charlotte: Still to be confirmed
Brenda: Visit Incubator, Biocontrol company, Grupo CLS
Sara: Visit SP Studio marketing company & Mensagem Marketing Agency
Evening with our host families

Sat 10 May:
Planting a tree & visiting an ecological area?
Midday onwards we all head to a family leisure centre for BBQ lunch, relaxing & swimming.
Evening with host families.

Sun 11 May:
Dad with host families, and its mothers day.
Depart 4pm to new city & familes - Jaboticabal

Tchau,
Sara

Last day in Franca

2008-05-07T12:04:00.000-07:00

Yep it was on with our unique GSE uniform once again, this time to visit a factory making various products from milk.

And as a team we do everything together even cleaning!

Milk in action.

Lunch today was at a ranch. Absolutely supurb food and of course Blender is into her Cachaça, just couldnt help herself.

On behalf of the team like to say a BIG thanks to all our hosts who have made our stay unforgetable.

Lastly a visit to a candy factory and yes we were thinking of you Will Coop. I ate enough to feed your family for a while and Im sure I saw Sara fill up her back pockets and handbag

Tchau from us we are now off to Sertãozinho about an hour away from Franca.

Another tough day at the office!

2008-05-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

Well you cant come to Brazil without experiencing the coffee. So first stop this morning was a coffee plantation.

And of course our man got to sit behind the wheels of this harvester, although not sure if orange was really the colour for James!

Then Brenda leading from the front, dived head first into coffee tasting Brazil style. This involved a smell test, then tasting with sound and lastly spitting. Brenda did us proud and now totally addicted to coffee was offered a job on the spot.

As for James, he also stepped up to the mark. It just took a while to coordinate a smile with a slurp but got there in the end. Watch out Otaki as freshly ground Brazilian coffee could be coming your way soon!

Then you wouldnt believe it but THE Brazilian BBQ once again for lunch. Being old hands here we had it sorted. Good control turning our token to red to pace ourselves but the waiters, who I´m sure are colour blind kept rolling that food out.

I even did my bit but somehow ended up with 5 chicken hearts . . . not exactly the tastiest item on the menu.

Then after lunch, not sure who did the planning here, it was down to the water treatment plant. A bit hard to handle on a full stomach but managed to get a pic of Brenda talking a pile of s . . . , sorry that was standing infront of . . . .

Then the highlight for me today was a visit with the commissioner for the environmental police. These police deal with illegal activities such as hunting, deforestation, fires, rubbish dumping and pollution. They even spend time educating the young. I really appreciated the time this guy had given up for me and as a result have a better understanding of some of the issues they are facing.

And of course to finish off the evening our Rotary presentation. This time the 6 clubs from Franca came together to hear us talk and ask questions. Brazilians are always interested in what we knew about Brazil before coming and what we think now. The people from Franca have been so welcoming, informative and given us some really good stories to tell.

Oh I should mention, some members of the team (no names to be published yet) did some serious shoe shopping today. Their other halves may want to check out credit card statements to just understand what I mean by serious.

Good day had by all. Time for some shut eye.

Tchau Petra

Shoes, shoes and more shoes

2008-05-05T14:22:00.000-07:00

What a day! First off to a specialist school which teaches young college children a trade in either electrical, mechanics or engineering. Industry has input into the school and also pays a levy which goes towards buying the machinery. The Senai centre of excellence has 70% of its students finding jobs at the end. These students are motivated, as they go to regular school in the morning, to work for the afternoon and then to this school for evening classes until 11pm.

Next stop the tannery. This one was the 3rd largest in Brazil, using 12, 000 hides/day in a number of factories. The majority of the tanned skins exported to USA, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Then the shoe factory. Well I now have a new appreciation for good shoes. This factory did one 8 hour shift, producing 5000 pairs of shoes, with each shoe going through 60 pairs of hands in the process. What detail involved in each stage and each person has their own little bit to contribute.

Now comes the good bit. Girls and shoes are like cheese and wine! Sara and Brenda (now known as Blender) were in heaven. However one problem, this factory only produced shoes for men. So guess what Sam and Dave. . . .

Bring out your tuxedos these girls are bringing you home the latest trends from Brazil. You are both the proud owners the shoe front right on this picture. Hope that wasnt swearing I heard as these were not cheap and both Sara and Blender were over the moon with their purchases.

And just to finish off the day a visit to the Franca shoe museum.

Thats enough shoeing from me for one day. I´m off to talk about NZ wildlife.

Tchau Petra

Sunday Market - Feira livre

2008-05-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

Just been to the Sunday morning market. Most foods were recognisable and very cheap - 20 corn cobs for $2. For those of you that havent been to South America can you guess what my host Rubens is holding? Tchau Petra

Welcome to Franca

2008-05-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

Traira (fish dish) muito bom! Delicious once you got past the teeth!

Rio Grande National Park, tour on boat around lake and canyons.

Basketball - Franca verus Araraquara final score 86 to 49

Hello from my Franca host family Rebens and Lidia Vaccari !

We are now in Franca. A city of around 350,000 people about an hour from Ribeirao Preto. This city is famous for its shoes, coffee and number one in basketball.

We are here for 5 days with some free time over the weekend and our programme covers visiting a shoe factory, tannery and museum, coffee farm, milk industry, candy factory and sewage plant (high tech best in Brazil).

Today we visited Rio Grande, a National Park which includes a hydro dam\lake. Very beautiful canyons and crystal clear waters. Plants also very different from anything in NZ including cacti hanging off cliffs. Lunch was delicious, a local treat from the lake. Traira (looked exactly like a Piranha) and I´m sure if some of us had been told about them we wouldnt have been so keen on swimming. . .

Having a wonderful and very informative time. I met a Rotary exchange student today from Fielding who has been here for 3 months and her Portuguese is amazing. My Portuguese is improving each day although I may have to stay a year to have it really sorted.

Tchau Petra

Week 2 Programme - Franca

2008-05-03T16:39:00.000-07:00

Ola,

Programme for Week 2 - Franca City.

Sat & Sun 3/4 May - Weekend with host families

Mon 5 May - Professionals school (we think?), Leather company, Shoe Company, Show Museum. Evening with host family.

Tue 6 May - Coffee Farm, Coffee Association, Water Company (not sure what this is?), Shoe shopping. Evening - Rotary Club meeting & presentation

Weds 7 May - Milk/cheese company, Sweet factory/company. Evening - head to next city: Sertaozinho

Tchau,
Sara

A few photos from Ribeirao Preto

2008-05-03T11:56:00.000-07:00

A few photos from my host family in Ribeirao Preto.

Photo 1: Team photo in the city. Photo 2: Presentation to Ribeirao Preto North Club. Photo 3: Brenda & I with my host Mum & brother. Photo 4: Us speaking to the English class at the Public primary school. Photo 5&6: My host Mum & Dad - A Fantastic family!!

We are now in Franca city.

Tchau, Sara

Just For Dave

2008-04-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

Brenda looking a bit serious here, has a lot of exceptional talents to lead us as a team and doing a superb job I might add. However the team, talented as we are have created a very light workload for our leader. So caught by the camera, this is how she has spent some of that spare time . . . ha ha

Anyway thats enough from me. Memorable day for all.
Muito obrigada, Boa noite! Petra

Big Boys Toys

2008-04-30T16:54:00.001-07:00

Yep what a day! First the visit to the public school, then the peanut factory and then no matter how busy you are there is always room for the largest agricultural show in Brazil, which is on right here in Ribeirao Preto. James is modelling the 2008 Maquina Agricola harvester/sprayer used for soya, corn and I guess carrots from Ohakune are always an option downunder. Let us know if there is anything we can pick up for you guys back home!

And something else for you farmers back in NZ, and correct me if I'm wrong a New Jersey bull. Definately the best looking male at the show!

New look for GSE team!

2008-04-30T16:22:00.000-07:00

How about this for a uniform? Yes this was all part of a tour of a local factory producing sweets from peanuts. Very interesting with security extremely tight as kidnapping of owners from companies like this for ransom is very common. In addition all our jewels, watches and pockets emptied so nothing I guess could get lost along the way and end up in a peanut slab. However one of the team, wont mention his name dropped a $50 note. Now that wouldnt be such a bad find aye!

Now this is for Sam. Why is Sara not wearing her wedding ring AND she has such a big smile on her face?

Public School Experience

2008-04-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

Today we visited a public primary school which I can say on behalf of the team was probably the most memorable and emotional experience we have had, and will be with us forever.

The students come from one of the poorer parts of Ribeirao Preto. However you wouldnt know from the smiles, laughter and playfulness of these guys.

We turned up to the entire school welcoming us with song. Firstly their National Athem and then the NZ National Athem, in Maori and in English. Then there city song and lastly, "Its a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong. It brought tears to not only our eyes also our host families, very moving experience.

We also got to share our knowledge of NZ with a class who had lots of questions and were really keen to learn from us. Some of the most memorable were: " Do we all have blue/green eyes, how long did it take to get to Brazil and did we stop to eat?

This school provides lunch and dinner as kids can come for 5 hours in the morning or 5 hours in the afternoon for classes. There are animals in the school which provide education but also go towards feeding the kids like chickens, cows and of course the vege patch.

In addition Rotary has a project with this school where they have brought the machinery for them to have their own bakery.

Being able to provide these kids with a decent meal each day, along with the exceptionally motivated and passionate teachers has made huge changes in their lives and hopefully options for a good future.

Governer Adalberto and his NZ Greenstone

2008-04-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

We have just attended our first dinner with presentation at Rotary Club Riberato Perto Norte. This evening the club was welcoming new members and celebrating a few birthdays. We showed our presentation which was well received and everyone believes as we all know NZ is a beautiful place.

This was also the appropiate time for Brenda to pass on the gift from Melva and Pat Waite our District 9940 Governer to Adalberto Memegasso District 4540 Governer. AND was he ever pleased with his gift. What a great night!

Week 1 Programme

2008-04-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

Ola,
Just a quick note with our programme for this week.

City: Ribeirao Preto.
* Sun 27/04 - A day with our host families.
- Welcome dinner

* Mon 28/04 -AM: Visited private high school & then private university
- Buffet BBQ lunch - we all ate far too much!
-PM: Visited private kindergarten / pre-school. Very interesting!
-Happy Hour at famous bar Pinguim

* Tues 29/04 (today) - AM: Visited the Commerce & Industrial Assocation
- Visited Ribeirao famous theatre
- Rotary Club lunch meeting
- PM: Brenda: Business Incubator, James: Bakery, Sara: Chocolate & Candy Factory/Marketing Company, Charlotte & Petra: Sugar cane factory
- 8pm Rib. Preto Rotary Club meeting. First night to do our presentations.

* Weds 30/04 - AM: Visit a public school (experience the big difference in public vs private schooling). Share breakfast with the students
- Peanut Factory
- Lunch back at the school
- PM: Agricultural Show (biggest ag show in South America held all week here in Ribeirao). There are farmers everywhere in the town at the moment!
- Evening with our host families

* Thurs 1/05 - (Brazil public holiday)
- AM: River Club (we not quite sure what this is yet? Our programme is all in Portugese)
- PM: Museum & other visits
- Evening with our host families

* Fri 02/05- AM: Meeting with the Mayor of Ribeirao Preto
- City Tour & some shoppng
- 2pm: Depart for our next city - FRANCA

Not sure what is planned f0r Franca but we will update once we know more.

I cant seem to download photos on my host familes computer, so no photos from me yet sorry.

Tchau.
Sara

BBQ Brazil style

2008-04-29T03:58:00.000-07:00

Well take a look at a Brazilian BBQ! It works like this. First you help yourself to the salads and veges served as a buffet. Then you go to your table where there are small tokens for each person, on one side they are green and the other red. Green means go for food, red means stop. So turn your token to green and the waiters turn up with all kinds of meat, fish, chicken, cheeses and garlic bread on kebabs which are sliced for you at the table and put onto your plate. Absolutely delicioso! We found even when our tokens were all red food still kept coming. Then when you thought you couldnt eat anymore the desert trolley came out, and this was just lunch. All I can say is I've started running in the mornings. . . Petra

Our Private School Experience

2008-04-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

Today Carlos took us on a tour of a private educational institute called COC, to contrast with a trip to a public school tomorrow. The level of technology in the school was phenomenal; they had a a whole classroom rigged with virtual reality equipment sitting unused as it is now outdated. It's been replaced instead by 3D technology so the students sit in a science class with a pair of IMAX glasses on, while the tertiary level distance e-learning is an impressive explosion of live broadcast online interaction between the lecturer and thousands of students off-campus. Meanwhile the tots are busy in their 'tiny town'- a miniature city which features pintsize versions of a bank, post office, home, farm, supermarket, etc. They have kiddie cheque books and even their own mayoral elections!

2008-04-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

We have just attended our welcome dinner hosted by the Rotary Club Ribeirao Preto North. We met Governor Adalberto and his wife Sueli, Carlos and Henrique (Brenda's host family) Jose and Teresa (Sara's host family), Plauto and Garcia (James host family) and Adalberto and Solange (Charlotte and my host family). Of course there were lots of other wonderful people there and the meal was wicked (quote Brenda). The hospitality and generousity has been overwelming at times and I speak for all the team, and its only the first day.

We are all staying with our host families for the first 6 days and they have been amazing, opening up their homes for us. My hosts know as much English as I do Portuguese and my Raetihi Club will know exactly how much that is! However I was lucky to have a nephew visit, who had done a year as an exchange student in the USA and could inteprete for me. So on the first night the conversation and Brazilian beer went well into the wee small hours of the morning.

The Brazilian food is not so different from ours. Breakfast is usually fruit drizzled with honey, bread with a variety of spreads and of course coffee. Lunch is the main meal and so far I've had big steaks, with salad, polenta deep fried and rice.

Our welcome dinner was a delicious green salad with tropical fruits, shrimp mixed with brazilian spices in coconut milk and rice, tomato pasta with cheese and basil. AND the deserts are not made for those watching their sugar intake. We had 5 different ones to try, absolutely delicious and consequently we'll ALL be up early to burn some of those calories off before the next meal!!

I look forward to tomorrows adventure.

Petra

What a Welcome!

2008-04-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

We were greeted at the ariport at 11 at night by Carlos, our host families and a wonderful performance by this local music group singing, playing and dancing!!! We were all completely blown away. These children are from a local school in a low socio-economic area, and are participating in a Rotary funded project - a comprehensive programme which teaches them music and life skills.

2008-04-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

We arrived safe and sound after four flights and 21 hours in the air. Highlights had to be flying over the Andes between Santiago and Sao Paulo - wow! - and seeing Sao Paulo from the air at night: the lights below the stars of 18 million residents in this vast, flat city. Here we are with Carlos and our host families on our arrival at Ribeirao Preto, where we'll be for the next six nights.

2008-04-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

Setting off from Auckland Airport on the 26th April!

District 9940 Welcomes the Brazilian GSE Team

2008-04-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

What a pleasure it was to meet the incoming Brazilian GSE team at a welcoming function hosted by the Rotary Club of Plimmerton on the 19 April. They are pictured here with us - they're the ones wearing their blazers to ward off Wellington's autumn night! We feel so well 'sent off' after an excellent farewell at the Rotary Club of Awapuni in Palmerston North the weekend before, as well as the warm speeches on Saturday night by the Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, Porirua Mayoress Jenny Brash and our Rotary leaders. Our thanks to all!

2008-04-14T03:28:00.000-07:00