MAY 1 TO MAY 6 LAST DAYS IN SANTAREM

May 1, 2008 Thursday District Conference Day 1

5:50 AM

Awake. I have been using earplugs and an eye shield and those seem to help me sleep alittle better. The birds here are soooo noisy in the morning: roosters, exotics, sparrows.

My room mate got here late last night and I didn’t wake up ---yesterday wore me out.

I don’t use the curtains, as the open windows are the only fresh air.

Since I have been in Santarem, I have gotten into a nice routine. Shower in the morning, do my hair, workout with the isoaerobic machine, have breakfast by 7. Try to head to the computer lab across the street by 8 and have an hour before we do the daily activity. Come home and just before bed, shower again, do the baby powder thing, put on pajamas and go to bed.

12:30 PM

This morning we attended the RYLA conference (Rotary Youth Leadership Assembly) It was awesome. It was very hard listening to speeches in a foreign language, and the dictionary was used a lot. But the passion was fantastic.


May 2, 2008 Friday District Conference Day 2

6:45 AM

Last night we attended the Opening Ceremony of the District Conference. Carol, Haroldo’s daughter carried the Brasilian Flag. It was such a late night that I fell asleep before the GSE Team was introduced. The language translation is very difficult and it just tires my brain. We got home at 12:45 AM and need to be ready to go at 7:45 AM so Vera can make sure all is well with the conference.

We arrived at the Conference by 8 AM and Vera was soooo mad. She is the first woman to be District Governor ever in this region and she has certain ideas on how a conference should be run so it is more accepting of all people. Not a heirarchical caste system like it has been in the past. So out went the head table and in came the couches and plants and coffee table. It was a very warm and inviting environment.

While we were watching the presenters speaking, people would raise their hand and the monitor at the podium, would write their name down. Once the presentation was over, the people who raised their hand would then line up and grill the presenter for an hour or more on their presentation. Oy vey. After the first speech of the morning, our presentation was delayed one hour already.

At the 11:45 AM coffee break, even though the speaker was still presenting, the entire crowd got up and went to the back of the room to get their coffee and cake. I felt bad for the presenter. The people in the back of the room were so noisy you couldn~t hear the speaker any more. Also cellphones would ring during a presentation and people would answer their phone, stand up while talking and head to the back of the room. It was shocking for me to see this behavior. But it is typical for this region.

We finally got to the podium at 2:15, two hours late. Not a problem, except no one has eaten lunch yet because we were supposed be done the entire conference at this point for the day. We did have a few people in the room while we spoke. My portuguese was totally terrible. But everyone was happy I attempted. I just got so tongue tied. Dean, Steve and Mike did a great job. But I am glad it is over, now we can go back to FE and get some food and take a nap before the evenings festivities.



May 3, 2008 Saturday District Conference Day 3

I COULD HAVE DANCED ALL NIGHT!!!!!!!!

Last night was a talent contest. Singing, dancing and poetry reading. We met up with Celia and Haroldo and their children Carol and Larry. The dancing didn~t start right away, but when it did, I was asked to dance by a Rotarian who is working at the clinic, I think his name is Ben. Well he tried to teach me the Boliero. I got it right a few times.

The rest of the night was a blur and I danced the rest of it. I learned the following dances:

Canimbo which is a local Santarem dance. Somba, with a lot of crazy hips, feet and shoulder movements. Boliero – woman walks forward 4 back 2 ¼ turn and repeat. Forro which is a northern Brazil dance. 2 right two left, and lots of crazy hip motion. This was my favorite and I want to go dancing again soon. OMG this was my best night in Brasil. These Rotarians know how to have a great time.

May 4, 2008 Sunday District Conference Day 4

This morning we had a church service and then a tree planting. Before the tree planting there was a peace offering. We had lunch with Paparazzi, the man at the wh took pictures at the conference all weekend. It was cool, every night they had a slide show of the days events. After lunch we got a taxi home and I took a nap. This language barrier, the late nights, the lack of exercise have made me tired and the heat, can’t forget about the heat. Most people in this region don’t do siestas anymore, but I do. :-)

Mike woke me up to tell me the Germans from SEARA were visiting us. We found out it is DAY OF THE MEN(according to the Germans). DIAS DOS HOMMENS or some such spelling. They were with their friend Fransico who works at the school with them. They had been to several of their other male friends’ houses, but they were all busy with their girlfriends or wives. Lol

Mike was not feeling well so he went to bed. Dean, Steve and I headed to the city for a night on the town. The crowds were enormous and we got a pizza and beer and just people watched for a few hours. It was nice not having much to do.


May 5, 2008 Monday Last Day in Santarem

Dean and I got a taxi and went shopping for soveniers. Sorry if my spelling is wrong. The spell check doesn~t work on ENGLISH words. Lol Things you don~t think about until you get somewhere new. Dean, Steve and I went to the city again and went back to MACOSTE and sat outside, drank beer, ate french fries and listened to loud music. Dean ate two cheeseburgers and they were quite good. The best so far in Brasil.

1:30 AM

(Notes written in the dark)

Thunder and Lightening Storm. Heavy rain. Writing in the dark. 2 miles off and getting closer. The breeze feels great. The first Wednesday in Manaus, we had a terrible storm for two hours. This storm is less than 1 mile away.

6:30 AM

Rain still falling, but it is a light rain. I love sleeping in the rain.

2:30 PM

Today was a quiet day. I did most of my packing yesterday. I just had my desk to pack up. We got to have a nice breakfast and lunch with Ron, Vera, Ed and Betty. Before we knew it it was time to go to the airport and catch a plane to Belem.

I have a ton of photos and someday I will get the chance to upload them. Please have patience.