We're here!

It's Wednesday, April 30, and it's the first chance I've had to sit down and write about our adventure.

We arrived to a banner waving gang of Rotarians in Culican on April 24 and headed for our hosts' homes. The flights were uneventful except for trying to find the tiny turtle that had fled its little owner's hands on the flight from Mexico City to Culiacan. Fortunately, Annie found the thing under her purse. So, anyway, we're here and each day has been filled almost beyond capacity.

We made our first PowerPoint presentation with Amy at the helm the evening we arrived. The Rotary Club of Culican Oriente Adalberto Espinoza and his fellow (literally fellow) Rotarians introduced themselves to us. Their pledge of allegiance is quite impressive, ending with a resounding Viva Mexico. The girls did a nice job telling about themselves and our efforts seemed to be greatly appreciated.

The next morning we met for breakfast at El Gallitto ... coffee made with sugar, cinnamon, a sugar beet juice was a real treat for me ... and we were off ... and we haven't stopped.

A van of us observed vocational day as a unit. Our first stop led us to a multi-sponsored facility that rehabilitates disabled children. The mother of a teen son who has muscular dystrophy gave me a folder of information to take back to the U.S. so that I can help her contact a facility in NJ that is supposed to be the state of the art. She has tried to reach them, but they will not return her calls. The director is interested in a multi-Rotary grant for a van for their clients. The Rotary Club of Culican Tres Rios is very involved in helping this facility.

After a chat-up with the mayor's wife, who heads a non-profit program for the disabled, we visited a state/regional special ed rehab center. Lines of people needing help, from babies to the aged, were waiting for a turn for service.

One of the 3 Rivers Rotarians, Maria del Rosario Gonzales Perez is the prinicpal of an award-winning high school, and she allowed us to meet with an English class. We introduced ourselves, took a photo and gave them Pez as a thank you. One of the murals at the school says "many hands build the future" and the leaves on the trees are handprints.

Then on to the local TV station located at the highest point of Culican. The principal, Israel, and Tono and his wife have spent all or most of the day with us. We signed off on TV with the sportscasters, talked with the producer, and made contact with Jose Chepe Zazveta who is interested in being a GSE team member.

Lunch at a jam-packed Chinese restaurant, Tai Pak, and then a stroll through City Hall where murals depicting Culican history engaged us. There's a big league baseball player from Culican and his image is part of the photo history. We toured an antique building that is now a museum, ate gelato (plum, coconut ... yum) and we're taking the long way back over the black bridge that is symbolic of Culican.

For dinner we met with all the three clubs of Culican. They were proud to show us the centennial projects of Rotary and the dedication to RI's first Mexican President Conseco.

April 26: Street artists and then a hospital where a Rotarian who is a pediatric cardiologist took us on tour to see the preemie babies, heart patients and traumatic injured patients. We talked about a matching grant and accepting outdated medical equipment. Then off to a pediatric hospital of Sinaloa. More later.

District Welcomes & Bids Bon Voyage to GSE Teams

On Sunday, April 20th, Rotarians from around District 7980 gathered at Racebrook CC to welcome the Group Study Exchange teams from Mexico and the Philippines. Meeting the Mexican team (bottom), headed by Jorge Aguilar Pimentel, a dentist who is in the Rotary Club of Colima, was a big hit for the District 7980 team headed to Mexico District 4150 (which includes Colima). The team members chatted about the weather, the District Conference, and the sites they'd be seeing. The Philippines team (top), headed by Lina Hilario of the Paranaque Metro Rotary Club, was tired after the recent 26-hour flight but managed to be a lively group. Both teams are shown here with DG Ernie Luise, and District GSE leaders Bob Runde and Alan Hurst.

Host families and friends and relatives of the 7980 team enjoyed the lunch and seeing all of the teams receive pins and exchange District Governor gifts. It was fun meeting our team's loved ones. It's great having their support.

Our team is leaving on Thursday and each of us really appreciates the good wishes and fellowship shared at the bon voyage lunch. We'll try to keep this blog updated and share our trip with you. Hasta luego.

Gabriela edits our Spanish presentations

We met at Amy's spacious apartment in New Britain and practiced our speeches while Gabriela coached us and corrected our grammar. It's so great having a fluent Spanish-speaking member on our team. We decided we'll give club presidents we visit some whole nutmegs (in addition to our club banners) and explain how Connecticut came to be called the Nutmeg State. I'm sure they'll laugh at Yankee ingenuity! After all, nutmeg hails from Indonesia.

We're really excited, but at this point we are also anxious. Our flight arrangements have not been confirmed, and we're leaving in less than a week. Amy's hard work on the PowerPoint presentation is paying off. It looks professional and really sharp. The captions are in Spanish as well, so our hosts won't have to struggle with all our pronunciations.

We meet the incoming teams from Mexico and the Philippines on April 20th at Racebrook CC in Orange. Meanwhile, the District will say bon voyage to us. If you get the chance, see Gabriela's artwork on exhibit at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury through Aug. 10th. Check out www.mattatuckmuseum.org

We'll do our best to keep you posted.

Reviewing our presentations

The team met at Annie's in New London on March 29th where the club president, Bill Edwards, sat through our first run-through of our presentations. As a former team member and later team leader, Bill offered us many insights about our upcoming trip. Our favorite bit of advice involved the "red light" technique he suggested to shut down any possible stressful situation among us. We may use our Milford Bank blinkies with the flashing red light as a visual aid!

On April 5th we met at Rupi Rupwani's office in Naugatuck where PDG Alan Hurst gave some sage advice on how to spruce up our presentations. We've got some rewriting to do! Jane Walsh, a past president of Naugatuck club and team leader to Germany, gave us a heads-up on what to expect from our vocational adventure. Jane took our photo in front of a photo of the Mexican flag.

We're looking forward to the GSE bon voyage and welcome lunch at Racebrook CC on Sunday, April 20th. It'll be fun meeting the Mexican and Philippine teams. We were happy to hear that the Mexican team will be back in Mexico when we're still on our tour. Sharing our stories should be awesome.