Go Galos!

It was so hard to say tchau to all of our new friends in Sao Pedro but we were reassured that we will see them all at the District Conference in a few weeks (didnt stop me from crying like a baby anyway!) We spend an amazing weekend with our families eating, sightseeing, and shopping. It was very busy but a nice change of pace from all of the fun things we did in Campinas. On Sunday we spent the first half of the day with our family which was nice since it was Mother’s Day. This was a nice cultural experience to see how the families celebrate a holiday! Then we all got together and walked around the town one last time. Monday morning we said our "see you laters" and headed to our next stop in Limeira. We arrived at the meeting place and met our new families and our dear friend Alda (the team leader that visited our district in Virginia and Tennessee 2 months ago). We settled in with our families in Limeira then got ready for a Club meeting. We only had one club to present to this week. The rest of the week was very busy with vocational tours to a jewelry manufacturer (Luiza Bijouterias), a tile manufacturer (Batistella), vocational schools (Senai and a school that teaches blind children), and a Marketing Company (Dephinitiva). It is so interesting to visit these places because we can compare them to what we know about their industry in the United States. This week we absolutely felt like A List celebrities! We were interviewed by The Jornal de Limeira, then on a LIVE TAPING of Reinaldo Bastelli in which yours truly got 15 minutes of fame, and last we got a grand tour of a popular radio station in which we also had a live interview on their talk radio station. We are so fortunate to have some hosts that speak both languages so they could translate and I’m not sure what we would do without Chris who has had to translate for us and speak on our behalf for these interviews!! We had so much fun!! We also had the great pleasure of touring the art gallery of Atelier Marciel Oehlmeyer, and were invited to an opening at a posh furniture store where his work was displayed, we were quick to accept this invite and very glad that we did as we had such a good time! I will not even try to describe how amazing all of the food is because I don’t think I could do it justice, but this week was our first Brazilian BBQ hosted by Alda and her family. The meet was perfection and we got to try some of Alda’s peppers that she grows in her garden, Jose and I could not get enough!! Muito Bom!! Before we knew it we were saying more “see you laters” to our wonderful new friends and off to spend the weekend in another city, Araras. So much more to add to this week’s experience but not enough time, sorry for lack of photos but we are having a hard time uploading and some of us do now have wireless access (photos are on our computers and we are using our host’s computers). We will post lots of pictures just as soon as we can!!