A Relaxing Sunday in Toledo

We enjoyed a relaxing Sunday fishing, chatting and soaking up the sun. The meal was delicious with freshly caught tilapia.

Rotary Club Meetings

One of our roles throughout this experience is to be ambassadors for Rotary - to build relationships across cultures and across clubs. In each city visited so far we have taken part in a meeting of one of the local Rotary Clubs where we have presented about ourselves, our vocations, Canada, and a little about Canadian culture - all in Portuguese. The Rotarians here in Brasil are very kind people ... and are patient with our attempts! 

                                          Iga speaking at the Guarapuava meeting

                                          Our group with Rotarians in Guarapuava

Francisco Beltrao

It's been a couple of days now that we have been in the beautiful city of Francisco Beltrao. As in the other cities, our host families have been very welcoming. We have been able to spend some quiet time with them which has been much appreciated. So far we have also toured the Flessak and Morel factories, had some vocational time, drank great wine at the beautiful Urio Park (where we had a tree planted in honour of the last GSE experience), sat in (and in some cases, took part in) a capoeira demonstration, and climbed up to see the Cristo. A great experience so far! 

Snapshots from Pato Branco

A few photos from my Pato Branco experience, I had a great time and met many great people, thanks to everyone who made the stay so enjoyable.

Watching the game with the guys

Caught two tilapia using a very primitive bamboo pole!

Traditional Brazilian tea, chimarrão, everyone drinks this in Pato Branco! Tasted like green tea.

Hydro Electric Power Plant

Beautiful church, the mosaic took 10 years to complete.

Me and my host family, very nice family!

Worshiping the sun! The view was amazing.

Last day in Pato Branco

Our last day in Pato Branco was a great one. We kicked off the day with a tour of the radio and television station, then off to the newspaper for a tour and interview. 

After yet another delicious lunch we were taken on a bus for a beautiful country drive to tour the hydraulic electric plant.

For a little relaxation, we visited a gorgeous home on the lake where we picked fresh oranges. Ohhh so sweet! Thanks to all those that made our stay in Pato Branco so enjoyable.

Arrival to Pato Branco

On Saturday morning we said our goodbyes to everyone in Guarapuava.  Two hours later we had a very warm welcome to Pato Branco with over 30 people greeting us with a welcome banner. After meeting our host families, we went to the local TV station for a quick hello and introduction on TV, we will be going back for an interview on Monday. We then went for a typical lunch which was delicious as usual. We all split up for a few hours and rejoined for dinner at a nice pizzeria and bbq place... the dessert pizzas were amazing!!

We were on after these guys......

Guarapuava Day 3 - Eric

At this point the group is getting split up for different activities and vocational visits. We do some things together, like eat lunch, but then we split up the group to see our vocations, or related fields here in Brazil.

I started out the day with breakfast with my host family, it is pretty quiet as they don't speak any english. I get by with my phrase book and google translate. Edder, the son of Doralice can speak a little english so that definitely helps.

The group met to get a tour of the University Unicentro and meet the director. It was a good overview of all the programs and we had the help of a translator to fully understand. It is great that as long as the student has good marks here, they do not pay for University, it is paid for by tax dollars.

After the tour we went out for yet another delicious lunch and then went to our vocation visits. I didn't have anything scheduled for a little bit so Edder took me to his families cottage just outside the City. It is a beautiful piece of property with a cottage and even a soccer field.

After that I went for a vocational visit to the water and wastewater treatment plants. Very similar to Canada in design and operation, with some differences. It was interesting to see their processes, the water treatment plant was under construction due to some changes in environmental policy and also to increase efficiency and recycle more water.

Tonight, we are off for a nice dinner and then I have heard about a party with my host families son so it should be a fun night, stay tuned for more pictures!