It's "Sábado", and Off We Go (In All Directions)

Saturday would be a day for me to reflect on the week’s accomplishments, plan for next week’s CSC activities, get caught up on some life maintenance activities, e.g., run errands, drop of laundry, & sleep in (until 7:30AM BST), go to the Banco do Brazil ATMs to withdraw some reais (Brazilian currency), and prepare for Sunday’s activity.

The hotel has shorter breakfast hours on the weekend, so I opted to head down a bit earlier.  On the way, I ran into Jill (an IBMer from Ireland) on the elevator.  Our conversation quickly turned to last night’s event.  Jill and I both agreed it was a memorable get-together.  Mike, an IBMer from New Zealand, was the lone person in the breakfast area, so we had the whole place to ourselves for about 30 minutes.  

  

The hotel has quite a variety of fresh fruits, sucos (fresh fruit juices), meats, grains, and scrambled eggs.  As we talked, other IBMers (Michael, from Germany, Olaf, from the Netherlands, Cecilia, from China, & Anna from Poland) joined us at our table and joined in the conversation.  Today, the IBM CSC Team would be going in several different directions: some went to Uberlandia’s Mercado Municipal, some slept in, others just chilled out, while others were heading over to Club Cajuba for the afternoon.

  

Tomorrow involves a hike to some local waterfalls.  Uberlandia, even in the dry season, is a land of water.  (Itamar has told me on several occasions that Uberlandia, as well as the rest of Minas Gerais, sits on top of the largest aquifer in the world.)  Larissa (our local program consultant) worked with a local eco-tourism company to coordinate a hike to 2 different waterfalls; as well as rappelling down the face of the drop off next to one of the falls.

To be continued… I hope you are enjoying my blog and plan to continue sharing the "journey" by reading my posts & looking at my pictures.   Boa noite.  (Good night.)

”Tapas” Brasileiras Número Três (#3):

=> The purpose of this "tapas" is to share some more details about our interns.  Alene & Lumia split the day into two segments:  Alene assists us in the morning and Lumia in the afternoon.  They attend a local university in Uberlandia.  For being such young women, they already have a mature, global perspective on the world.  This week, I’ve had several personal, in-depth conversations with both of them.  They have impressed me with what they have already accomplished. 

Lumia teaches 4 English classes every week; 2 each on Tuesday & Thursday afternoons.  She has traveled to many different countries.  She easily translates from English -> Portuguese, and vice versa, and she comfortably interacts with each member of the CSC team.  International Relations is her major focus of study at the university.  From my view, she is well on her way to achieving success.

Alene exhibits very similar traits.  When I challenged her to a difficult question, (i.e., How do Brazilians in your generation view the U.S.?), she proceeded to quickly & confidently give me a 3 – 4 minute answer that I knew came from the heart.  It was definitely unrehearsed.  Alene presented a view I would have expected to come from someone much older than she.  As I got to know her better, I found out she studies full-time, she assists her mother & father at their restaurant, and has traveled abroad. International Relations is also her major area of study at the university.  

In my opinion, both interns are well on their way to accomplishing great things.  As the saying goes, “The world is their oyster."

      

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