Plans Are Coming Together

Daniella, Jun, & Luchino all came to the Ipe today, even thought Dani and Jun were still fighting the flu.  We hadn’t seen any of them this week because they have been dealing with a nasty illness.  (Fortunately, no one had to be hospitalized.)  Neither Dani nor Jun were close to feeling 100% better, but Friday was a day where many questions had to be answered to finalize the Ipe Atelier’s business case.   (Remember, Ipe Atelier is Ipe’s eco-fashion start-up business.) 

For about 90 minutes, Toni, Dani, & Luchino discussed the logo, Twitter account, and business model with Paul & Leslie.  While they all gave the Ipe Atelier their undivided attention, Hajira and I continued to fine tune and finalize our 8 – 10 deliverables. 

           

Toni juggled many things on Friday:  an RFP (Request For Proposal) which was due at City Hall by 5PM BST, an upcoming community painting event where the CSC Team spends a half day (Tuesday, 10/1) at a local NGO, and planning his birthday event.  The RFP was assigned to Marcela (Chiago’s wife).  If this didn’t get submitted by 5PM to City Hall, then Ipe wouldn’t be eligible for special funding next year (2014).  If the paint didn’t arrive on Friday (or Monday, 9/30 at the latest), then the community service project would probably have to be canceled.  As for Toni’s birthday celebration, Toni and a small group of his friends were planning on going to “Club London” in downtown Uberlandia.  However, the fun and revelry weren’t going to start until about 11PM.

    

Just before lunch, Toni’s preoccupations were equally shared across all 3 items.  By the end of the day, all was well.  Everything that was worrying him just hours ago had been properly handled & completed; or at least well on the way of being complete.

The CSC Team shut down at Ipe a bit early (approx. 4:30PM) on Friday.  Itamar wanted to drive us to the hotel, but before going there, he wanted to show us some of the white ipe trees, that were in full bloom, near City Hall.  When we arrived at the stretch of road where the white ipe trees grew, we saw the trees, but none of the blooms.  Itatmar mistimed his drive to the outskirts of town.  Because the white ipe only holds its blooms for a couple of days, we must have just missed them in all their glory. 

One surprise made up for the lack of blooming ipe trees.  While driving in one direction on the road, I noticed a pair of corujas (a.k.a. burrowing owls) on the other side of the median.  One was on the ground right next to the road and the other one was in the tree.  On the way to the hotel, we were able to slowly drive by and take several pictures.  

I spent most of my night working on our deliverables and getting caught up on my blog.  Friday, 9/27/13 is now officially "in the books".

                     

This friendly lizard was sunning itself on Ipe's wall.              Amora sunning herself.

     

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