Rotary International Convention 2015
Sao Paulo, Brasil
June 6-9
Day 2, Saturday, June 6th
I woke up much later than I wanted to, but sleep was good. Camila made me breakfast consisting of Tapioca fried in a pan with chicken lunch meat and white melted cheese. It was like a breakfast sandwich with Tapioca instead of bread. It was very good!
For lunch we talked to a nearby mall and ate lunch in the food court. The lunch we had was like a buffet but it was not all you can eat. You get one plate and you weigh the plate. You pay by how much food is on your plate. The food was surprising very good. I had rice and beans, and some sushi!
I ran into the Canadian sisters I had met the day before at this mall. They were checking out the place before going to the convention which started around 2 pm that day.
After lunch I took the Hotel shuttle to the convention. As I arrived at the convention and was greeted by Gabriela “Gaby” Cavassana who was waiting for me at the door. Gaby was an exchange student in District 6250 living in La Crescent, MN 2013-14. She lives in Sao Paulo. I saw her smiling face and we hug and kissed each other’s cheeks (common greeting in Brasil). It felt so good to see her.
We hurried into the opening session which had already started. Most of the seats where filled. We sat in the last row in the back. The convention center was like a huge warehouse like building with open walls to the outside. There were temporary walls put up, but they didn’t touch the celling. So it kind of felt like you were in a car port. The convention sound/speakers were good and they had several large screen TV’s all over to it was easy to see what was going on.
I told Gaby that I was looking for someone that was at the convention. Agassis Martins Junior is a district chair of the Youth Exchange program in Brasil for D4520. He is also a past district governor and the grandfather of Bruna Perez who is currently on exchange in Madison attending Edgewood High School. Agassis and I had become Facebook friends last year since I work on the district 6250 staff for youth exchange and his granddaughter was in my district. I had brought him a Wisconsin Tee shirt as a gift and I wanted to give it to him.
Technology is amazing. This conference, in my opinion, was very tech savvy in many ways. I learned how to use WhatsApp and I used Facebook messenger to communicate with people during the conference. These app’s made it easy to find people. I was still looking for Agassis, but his English is not great. I had Gaby translate using WhatsApp and we told Agassis where we were sitting. Remarkably, he found us in the general session. I shook his hand and presented the tee-shirt as we sat in the back row. He was shorter than I had imagined him to be and I hope that the XL tee shirt will fit him. He was grateful for the shirt and he told me he will be visiting Madison soon. Meeting Agassis and others along the way are some of my highlights of the convention.
Gaby and I watched the Rotary Flag Presentation as each nation’s flag was shown on the big screen. Over 200 flags were shown. They saved United States and Brasil for the last. The crowd roared for both. It gives you chills when you are there and feel the excitement. After the flag ceremony Gaby and I left the plenary and sat down to catch up on life.
I had send Bill Pritchard a message and asked if he wanted to join us since he also knew Gaby very well. As we were waiting for Bill one of Gaby’s exchange friends from Brasil walked by and he stopped and talked with us for a while. His name is Gabriel Moreira de Castro. He was on exchange the same year as Gaby in Normal, IL. Little did I know this, but Gabriel would be someone who I see often during the convention. Soon Bill Pritchard joined us and we had a small reunion with all of us.
I was on another mission to find Frederico Malab from Terra Brasil. I’ve known Fred for many years because he arranges the bus tours for the Central States Rotary Youth Exchange students every year. I really only know him on Facebook and we only met once in Grand Rapids many years ago. Fred helped me get my inter-country Brasil flights booked. My credit card was NOT accepted because it was not Brazilian, so Fred paid for my tickets on his credit card. I owed him some money and I needed to find him. I used the Facebook Messenger to locate him and soon he found me. Fred also knows Gaby, Gabriel, and Bill Pritchard since they all have been on the bus tours. We all talked until the house of friendship closed and they kicked us out.
Rotary had prepared a Carnaval Parade for the entertainment that night. It was a ticketed event that was sold out. Bill Pritchard had bought a ticket and lost his. I had a ticket, but nobody else in our current group was going. I decided I wanted to keep the magic alive and go to dinner with the group and skip Carnaval. Gaby sold my ticket in less than 5 minutes, so I got my money back and a Rotarian got to see the show.
As we were deciding on where to go to dinner we ran into Karen Hubert from Chippewa Falls, WI in our District 6250. She had hosted Arthur (RYE student) from Brasil last year and she also went on a GSE to Brasil a few years back. We invited her to come along and so we had 6 people ready for dinner. We took a restaurant suggestion from Gaby and Gabriel.
We took two taxis to the Italian Restaurant and we arrived around 8 pm which was really early for Brazilians. We were seated quickly. This was a family style restaurant so we ordered pasta, beef, and fish dishes to share. We enjoyed a couple bottles of good wine. The conversation was good and it was like magic was in the air. As we were eating a small band of 3 began singing Italian songs at tables. When the band realized we were Americans he played a piece of New York, New York. It was a memorable night.
After Carnaval ended around 10 pm, many Rotarians were looking for places to eat. Bruce and Sue Goldstein contacted Bill Pritchard and he told them to come to the restaurant we were at. Brue and Sue are big-wigs in Central States Rotary Youth Exchange. They arrived shortly before we left. We gave up our table to them. It was good timing since the line for the restaurant at this time was out the door and onto the street.
After dinner Gaby and Gabriel showed me around Paulista Avenue. We walked for a couple hours and everything seemed so new and exciting. They showed me places, I would never have seen if I didn’t have someone like them to show me.
They both live near where I was staying. They walked me home and then they walked to their own places. I really enjoyed their company and the good conversations we had together. This was a night I will not forget.
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