I usually hate last days. They are always a hurry up and wait scenario. Wake up, get packed, get everything done you need to, then wait around typically to travel home or to somewhere else. But this last day doesn't feel like a last day. Though I'm leaving Iracambi today, all of my fellow volunteers are coming with me for the first 2 legs of my trip, which makes it a fun and very special last day. We all decided to make a trip out of my leaving, so today all of us are taking the school bus into Rosario da Limeira and then another bus to Muriae, the closest biggest city to here. So this afternoon will be filled with shopping and eating things that aren't beans and rice and hanging out (likely playing cards). Then late tonight I'll hop on a night bus to Rio, wake up at the bus station, get on another bus to Buzios and head to my hotel where my husband will meet me a few hours later. So, seems like in terms of last days, this one won't be so bad.
Documenting my Brazilian adventure, from trip-prep, to finding my way to the Atlantic Forest, to my month at Iracambi, to whatever comes next.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Sunday, November 1, 2015
The final hurrah
Friday, October 30, 2015
Dinner with the Monks take 2 - aka Pizza Party
After the last dinner with the monks and friends, we made plans for them to make us pizza. After weeks of beans and rice, this was the best dinner invitation I've ever received and we were all looking forward to it all week. Though there was some hesitation - could they pull off good pizza? The answer was yes, overwhelmingly, outstandingly yes. As usual, dinner started much later than planned, since first we were waiting on someone to arrive with the oil, then someone else with the bread. We had brought the beer and cachaca, so we were fine waiting around and drinking. When finally the pizza-making began, we all jumped in to help out, chopping vegetables, sprinkling cheese, mixing sauce.
The pizzas were all consumed with in minutes of them coming out of the oven and with each empty tray, a new pizza was assembled and then put back in the oven. We could barely finish everything, though we certainly did.
After pizza, there was some leftover cheese and onions which we used to make pao de queijo (not sure if this was planned or spontaneous). I've had this cheesy-bread concoction twice since I've been here and wasn't super impressed, but this one was what I'd been hoping for when I first heard about this dish. It was perfect, and such a perfect night.
The pizzas were all consumed with in minutes of them coming out of the oven and with each empty tray, a new pizza was assembled and then put back in the oven. We could barely finish everything, though we certainly did.
After pizza, there was some leftover cheese and onions which we used to make pao de queijo (not sure if this was planned or spontaneous). I've had this cheesy-bread concoction twice since I've been here and wasn't super impressed, but this one was what I'd been hoping for when I first heard about this dish. It was perfect, and such a perfect night.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
One week to go
In one week I'll be leaving Iracambi and I'm starting to feel nostalgic. Perhaps it's because it's a bit gloomy out and I'm listening to sappy music while working alone in the Center. But I think mainly it's because I'm really going to miss this place. I've never experienced anything quite like it - the people, the place - everything has felt so new and exciting. I'm shocked with how easy it was to fall into this life here with the bugs and the food and the pace of life. The people have definitely been the best part. Everyone is so different and yet we not only get along, I think we actually all like each other and our difference. And with very few distractions out here, we've really gotten to know each other.
So today I'm going to highlight some of the fun and silly things we have done over the last 3 and a half weeks.
So today I'm going to highlight some of the fun and silly things we have done over the last 3 and a half weeks.
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Tom tormenting Mischa, one of the 2 kittens. Of course after he did this I had to introduce him to "Hang In There" Cat |
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There was the night that Janet and I finally found the frog that lives in our bathroom. This is just before it fell into the waste bin next to the toilet. |
We've been playing lots of games and this is us playing "Who Am I." I'm really terrible at this game, but I have been given some pretty difficult people like Russel Brand and Jamie Oliver. |
We recently celebrated Jet's birthday. His cake was what we were going to have for breakfast the next day. And I gave him a handful of peanuts as a birthday present. |
Monday, October 26, 2015
Presentation Day
It's funny, but until Binka came over this morning for our meeting, I hadn't even thought about the presentation I'd be giving. I knew I wanted to take her and the rest of the team through everything I've been working on, but I really hadn't thought of it as this is the BIG presentation, the culmination of my work. Guess that's a good thing.
I did spend much of the weekend finalizing everything. But when this is your office, it's very hard to complain about working over the weekend.
I wanted to make sure I had covered off on all of my deliverables - strategy, segmentation, contact lists, emails, forms, website updates, even logos and merchandise. Sadly my go-to designers weren't available to help me out on the logo, so thought I'd try something myself and if it flopped, I'd have time this week to get some actual design help.
So this morning we sat down - Binka, Janet, Imran and Binka's friend who is in town visiting, who also happens to have worked in Universities handling development (not a bad sounding board at all). I took them first through the strategy - what is our goal, who is our audience, what does our audience want, how do we talk about the existing education program, how should we talk about it, what should we say to who. This led to some good conversations and insights about audience motivation, from differing points of view around the table - Binka knowing her donors, her friend understanding university administrators, Janet and Imran understanding the student perspective. Then I took them through my executions and my idea for a scholarship program to offset the student costs. Everyone seemed really pleased with the email templates I put together, the ideas for social outreach and they even liked my logos. I'd say it was a pretty successful meeting.
I feel like an enormous weight has been lifted. Weeks 1 and 2 were full of uncertainty about what I was doing here and personal doubt, week 3 it finally started to come together but I was worried I wouldn't have enough time to do it all, and now in week 4 I just need to put the finishing touches on everything and hand it all off in a nice, organized package. WOW! What a ride.
I did spend much of the weekend finalizing everything. But when this is your office, it's very hard to complain about working over the weekend.
I feel like an enormous weight has been lifted. Weeks 1 and 2 were full of uncertainty about what I was doing here and personal doubt, week 3 it finally started to come together but I was worried I wouldn't have enough time to do it all, and now in week 4 I just need to put the finishing touches on everything and hand it all off in a nice, organized package. WOW! What a ride.
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Dinner in a thunderstorm with the Franciscan Monks
Thursday night, Imran made plans for us to make dinner for the Franciscan Monks who live near by. They actually live in Robin and Binka's first house when they moved here from Washington DC to start their farm. Imran wanted to cook them Indian food, since it's pretty rare to find it in these parts. That also means it's difficult to find ingredients for a proper curry. But between Limeira and Muriae, we gathered what we could and set to cooking.
The Monks are an interesting group - it seems they are focused much more on community and living in harmony with the land than with religion. They are a bit of a rowdy, fun bunch. Aside from them, we also had a local organic farmer at dinner, a farmer/Tae Kwon Do instructor, several children running around and Toffee, Binka and Robin's dog who followed us to the Monk's house from Iracambi.
We made 2 vegetable curries, one which we needed to use black beans instead of chickpeas since Gui wasn't able to get back from Muriae with them in time for dinner due to the thunderstorms. Surprisingly, everything turned out really tasty, though several of the locals thought the dishes were a bit spicy - spice is not very common in these parts.
There was also a very interesting game that was played during the evening - try to make sure the glasses of beer don't go empty - initiated, of course, by the monks. And they were very good at the game. The second game was every time the lights went out due to the thunderstorm, we all shouted "Oopa!"
Though my Portuguese isn't very good, I managed to follow most of the conversations and even was able to get some thoughts out myself. Everyone really enjoyed themselves and we were invited to do it again this week when the Monks are going to make us pizza. Very excited for that!
The Monks are an interesting group - it seems they are focused much more on community and living in harmony with the land than with religion. They are a bit of a rowdy, fun bunch. Aside from them, we also had a local organic farmer at dinner, a farmer/Tae Kwon Do instructor, several children running around and Toffee, Binka and Robin's dog who followed us to the Monk's house from Iracambi.
There was also a very interesting game that was played during the evening - try to make sure the glasses of beer don't go empty - initiated, of course, by the monks. And they were very good at the game. The second game was every time the lights went out due to the thunderstorm, we all shouted "Oopa!"
Though my Portuguese isn't very good, I managed to follow most of the conversations and even was able to get some thoughts out myself. Everyone really enjoyed themselves and we were invited to do it again this week when the Monks are going to make us pizza. Very excited for that!
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Week 3 - Why does time move faster the closer you are to a deadline?
After the first 2 weeks went by a snail's pace, this week has flown by. Part of it has to do with the fact that we've had the WiFi go out several time (electricity too) so it makes working on parts of my project difficult. The other part has to do with the fact that now that I know exactly what I need to accomplish, I feel like I don't have enough time to get it all done. But I'll do my best.
On Monday, when the WiFi went down, we all helped out with nursery duties. This is us breaking open pods to harvest seeds to use in the nursery.
I also spent some time filling up bags with dirt and compost for the new seedling. I really enjoy these types of breaks, when I get to take part in what most people come to Iracambi for. When the WiFi was working, I spent my time organizing a list of Binka's University contacts that we'll be reaching out to for the Iracambi Strong program. As I was doing this, I was realizing again how similar working for an NGO is (well, at least this one) to working in advertising with clients. I can't even tell you how many times the information that came in from a client was poorly organized or incomplete and I was told by my account team "It may be easier if you just adjust it yourself, since the client probably will take a long time getting back to us, or just not understand what you need." So, in this case, I re-organized the list, added in additional, useful information and after 2 days, felt like I've got the details I need for the next step in the process.
Tuesday was similar to Monday - drizzly with intermittent WiFi. When it was working, we all huddled in the Center to get everything requiring internet access done. And when it was off...
we played cards and had a few caipirinhas.
The rain lifted on Wednesday and the heat came back. I've always been most productive in the mornings, and here is no exception. I usually get most of my work done before lunch and then try to get a few more things accomplished after lunch, but then I peter out, typically due to the heat. At least here, when I peter out, I can climb down to a waterfall and go swimming (wish we could somehow implement this at Wieden).
And now just a small note about food. Food has been really great here. It's homemade, healthy, a bit on the salty side, but probably much better than what I usually eat at home. The only issue, is that it's very repetitive. Dinner and lunch both include beans and rice, a side dish and things for a salad. To mix things us a bit, we add one or more of the salad items to the beans and rice, sometimes even mixing in the side dish with it. This gives us some sense of variety. We also all like to discuss what we wish we were eating instead of beans and rice, which tends to make the beans and rice concoctions go down easier. But Wednesday night was a big night for us. Aside from the beans and rice we had spiral pasta with a light tomato-ish sauce and french fries...and there was ketchup. We were all beside ourselves with joy.
On Monday, when the WiFi went down, we all helped out with nursery duties. This is us breaking open pods to harvest seeds to use in the nursery.
I also spent some time filling up bags with dirt and compost for the new seedling. I really enjoy these types of breaks, when I get to take part in what most people come to Iracambi for. When the WiFi was working, I spent my time organizing a list of Binka's University contacts that we'll be reaching out to for the Iracambi Strong program. As I was doing this, I was realizing again how similar working for an NGO is (well, at least this one) to working in advertising with clients. I can't even tell you how many times the information that came in from a client was poorly organized or incomplete and I was told by my account team "It may be easier if you just adjust it yourself, since the client probably will take a long time getting back to us, or just not understand what you need." So, in this case, I re-organized the list, added in additional, useful information and after 2 days, felt like I've got the details I need for the next step in the process.
Tuesday was similar to Monday - drizzly with intermittent WiFi. When it was working, we all huddled in the Center to get everything requiring internet access done. And when it was off...
we played cards and had a few caipirinhas.
The rain lifted on Wednesday and the heat came back. I've always been most productive in the mornings, and here is no exception. I usually get most of my work done before lunch and then try to get a few more things accomplished after lunch, but then I peter out, typically due to the heat. At least here, when I peter out, I can climb down to a waterfall and go swimming (wish we could somehow implement this at Wieden).
And now just a small note about food. Food has been really great here. It's homemade, healthy, a bit on the salty side, but probably much better than what I usually eat at home. The only issue, is that it's very repetitive. Dinner and lunch both include beans and rice, a side dish and things for a salad. To mix things us a bit, we add one or more of the salad items to the beans and rice, sometimes even mixing in the side dish with it. This gives us some sense of variety. We also all like to discuss what we wish we were eating instead of beans and rice, which tends to make the beans and rice concoctions go down easier. But Wednesday night was a big night for us. Aside from the beans and rice we had spiral pasta with a light tomato-ish sauce and french fries...and there was ketchup. We were all beside ourselves with joy.
Monday, October 19, 2015
A quiet weekend
This weekend was mostly a relaxing one. There was a holiday on Monday (Children's Day) which apparently was a week long around here, so it shut down the buses to Limeira as well as pretty much everything in the town. So it would have taken a lot of effort to try to get out of here on Friday night to travel anywhere in the area (and the buses don't run on the weekends either). So we stuck it out at Iracambi, which is pretty normal for me now that I'm 2 weeks in and haven't really seen much beyond the Iracambi grounds.
Saturday was hot. I mean really hot. Like that one day in August in New York that you close the shades and crank up the air-conditioner and don't go outside. No such luck here, so we took it easy most of the day. Surprisingly the WiFi signal was really good in the morning, so I thought I'd do some quick fixes to the Iracambi website. The WiFi is very hit or miss here, so you need to take advantage when you can.
After lunch, Toni, the nursery manager invited Cliff, Jet (our newest volunteer from Australia) and I up to his home. Outside of having the greenest thumbs I've ever seen, Toni is also an amazing painter (with a studio I'm envious of), and apparently teaches acting classes as well. Even though he doesn't speak much English, and our Portuguese is quite limited, we had a wonderful afternoon - discussing religion, philosophy, homeopathy and happiness over homemade lemonade.
There was a drastic change in the weather on Sunday. It had rained over night and we awoke to overcast skies, fog over the mountain tops and much cooler weather.
It's funny, when it's drizzling and overcast here it's almost the same feeling as in London - the cold sticks to you due to the humidity and makes you feel much colder than the temperature should dictate. So all day I was piled in layers of clothes and still couldn't get warm. Even the cats were huddled together for warmth.
But in the afternoon, Imran got us digging holes in the nursery so we can build more tables to hold more seedlings, which got us warmed up pretty quickly.
He also bribed us with alcohol, so hole-digging was followed by wine and cards, followed by dinner, which was followed by some Gabriellas (which are some sort of hot drink that includes cinnamon and cachaca) and a few rounds of the "Who am I" game - which when played with a bunch of young idealists at an NGO you will almost certainly be given some sort of an activist or political figure.
Saturday was hot. I mean really hot. Like that one day in August in New York that you close the shades and crank up the air-conditioner and don't go outside. No such luck here, so we took it easy most of the day. Surprisingly the WiFi signal was really good in the morning, so I thought I'd do some quick fixes to the Iracambi website. The WiFi is very hit or miss here, so you need to take advantage when you can.
After lunch, Toni, the nursery manager invited Cliff, Jet (our newest volunteer from Australia) and I up to his home. Outside of having the greenest thumbs I've ever seen, Toni is also an amazing painter (with a studio I'm envious of), and apparently teaches acting classes as well. Even though he doesn't speak much English, and our Portuguese is quite limited, we had a wonderful afternoon - discussing religion, philosophy, homeopathy and happiness over homemade lemonade.
There was a drastic change in the weather on Sunday. It had rained over night and we awoke to overcast skies, fog over the mountain tops and much cooler weather.
It's funny, when it's drizzling and overcast here it's almost the same feeling as in London - the cold sticks to you due to the humidity and makes you feel much colder than the temperature should dictate. So all day I was piled in layers of clothes and still couldn't get warm. Even the cats were huddled together for warmth.
But in the afternoon, Imran got us digging holes in the nursery so we can build more tables to hold more seedlings, which got us warmed up pretty quickly.
He also bribed us with alcohol, so hole-digging was followed by wine and cards, followed by dinner, which was followed by some Gabriellas (which are some sort of hot drink that includes cinnamon and cachaca) and a few rounds of the "Who am I" game - which when played with a bunch of young idealists at an NGO you will almost certainly be given some sort of an activist or political figure.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Week 2 - Still trying to figure it all out
As to be predicted, the discovery period of this project has extended well into
week 2 when we should be getting into strategy and execution. There is
just so much to learn about this place. One issue that keeps coming up
is that since so many volunteer hands have touched so many aspects of
this place, with limited handover between them, we're sifting through different
styles of documents, written by people with very different skills over
several years. I think it's doing Janet's head in a bit trying to figure
out budgets and expenses, and I'm doing my best to help her with that
as well.



Wednesday night was the big dinner meeting with Leandro (aka the Muriqui Monkey man). He is one of the leading experts down here on the Muriqui Monkey and he also is the main point-person for the Iracambi Strong program - helping to organize the course and bring in the professors. Over dinner we nailed down the course structure, the overall teaching philosophy and how we can get the course in place for January. Binka is heading to Rio with a pamphlet Janet and I worked on with her to try to sell the January course to students of the International Schools of South America. Know her, she'll probably get to many people to sign on than we can handle.

Following our meetings with Binka, she took us to the waterfall by her house to go swimming, since it was unbearably hot in the afternoon. These pictures don't do the place justice at all. If only all 3 hours meetings could end this way, with you and the client relaxing in a cold pool beneath a waterfall. The last meeting itself was a really good one too - just the project reset we all needed, to realign on the project objective and finally define what I should leave this place with when I go. Now I just need to get to work and focus.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
When life gives you lemons...
With drinks in hand, we also welcomed 2 new volunteers to Iracambi who showed up a few days early - Mimi from Germany and Cliff from Alaska. Mixed up more drinks and had ourselves a little welcoming party.
Monday, October 12, 2015
The mountain house
This weekend we decided to camp out at Iracambi's Mountain House. I had been there by car so realized it was not named that by accident. Since we were hiking up to the Mountain House this time..and I do mean "up"...we decided to go after lunch on Saturday (aka the hottest time of day) so we only needed to bring enough food for 2 meals. We also decided to forego things like blankets for beer and cachaça. This was my first hike here and I did warn everyone in advance that I'm no good with "uphill" since I come from New York where the biggest hill I climb on a daily basis is the 1 flight of stairs up to my apartment.
It was a beautiful hike, first on the edge of a Eucalyptus plantation then alongside farmland and cow pastures. After much starting and stopping, due to me, we did make it to the Mountain House.
Aside from just camping out, we did go up there with a job to do - make the place presentable for the bird watchers who are coming to Iracambi next weekend. So after we caught our breath a bit, we set to work sweeping and unpacking hammocks and moving building supplies out of the house (for Robin to pick up in the Land Rover).
Since we only had one broom, I tried my best MacGyver impression and made this lovely broom. It worked pretty well until the bristles started to fall out and cause an even bigger mess.
As it started to get dark, we realized that since we had no electricity we should hang up the hammocks while it was still light out. Sadly, we are not knot-experts. For some reason people remembered I said I grew up sailing and looked to me to get the hammocks in place. I did my best to remember how to make a bowline, but don't think my knots were quite up to snuff. I did recall how to make slipknots and thought this would be good to tie around the metal hooks, but during the night the knots continued to slip and most of us ended up almost on the floor. This is what happens when a New Yorker is asked to perform outdoorsy tasks.
One thing we were all good at was making a fire and I think we ended up burning through all of the wood we could find.
Though the beer and cachaça warmed us temporarily, the lack of blankets and the wind coming down from the mountains made it a very cold and sleepless night. However, the beer and cachaça did make the cold and our hammocks hitting the floor all night far more enjoyable and full of lots of laughter.
Aside from just camping out, we did go up there with a job to do - make the place presentable for the bird watchers who are coming to Iracambi next weekend. So after we caught our breath a bit, we set to work sweeping and unpacking hammocks and moving building supplies out of the house (for Robin to pick up in the Land Rover).
Since we only had one broom, I tried my best MacGyver impression and made this lovely broom. It worked pretty well until the bristles started to fall out and cause an even bigger mess.
As it started to get dark, we realized that since we had no electricity we should hang up the hammocks while it was still light out. Sadly, we are not knot-experts. For some reason people remembered I said I grew up sailing and looked to me to get the hammocks in place. I did my best to remember how to make a bowline, but don't think my knots were quite up to snuff. I did recall how to make slipknots and thought this would be good to tie around the metal hooks, but during the night the knots continued to slip and most of us ended up almost on the floor. This is what happens when a New Yorker is asked to perform outdoorsy tasks.
One thing we were all good at was making a fire and I think we ended up burning through all of the wood we could find.
Friday, October 9, 2015
The way things are done
I'm learning quickly that the way things work in Brazil, or at least in this little area between Belisario and Limeira, is not what I'm used to. I come from a world of contracts and meetings and deadlines. This world seems to work fine without any of those.
For example, before I come up with a communications plan for Iracambi's education program, I actually need to help them set the program up again. Minor set-back, but I'm rolling with it. It then took 3 days to find out who was in charge of setting up the program before, who handled the budgets, who brought in the teachers and set up the courses (some of this information I'm still trying to hunt down). Then came the talk of "are we sure these people will want to do this again starting in January." The response was "Of course" but I remained skeptical. So I asked that we talk to the former organizer. We invited him to come to dinner last night, but he was too busy building his house, so we drove up to his house this morning to talk to him. When we got there, he was working on his roof and slightly reluctant to come down and talk since he had so much work to do. The rainy season is coming. When we discussed him coming back to do the program next year and to organize it all, his response was "Of course." Guess I was wrong to doubt. A quick chat, a hug and we were off all feeling pleased that we had nailed him down. No contracts, no discussion of next steps, no follow-up meeting scheduled. But at this point, it seems like it will all work out.
Now on to the next tasks of finding students for the program and interest from one of the local schools.
For example, before I come up with a communications plan for Iracambi's education program, I actually need to help them set the program up again. Minor set-back, but I'm rolling with it. It then took 3 days to find out who was in charge of setting up the program before, who handled the budgets, who brought in the teachers and set up the courses (some of this information I'm still trying to hunt down). Then came the talk of "are we sure these people will want to do this again starting in January." The response was "Of course" but I remained skeptical. So I asked that we talk to the former organizer. We invited him to come to dinner last night, but he was too busy building his house, so we drove up to his house this morning to talk to him. When we got there, he was working on his roof and slightly reluctant to come down and talk since he had so much work to do. The rainy season is coming. When we discussed him coming back to do the program next year and to organize it all, his response was "Of course." Guess I was wrong to doubt. A quick chat, a hug and we were off all feeling pleased that we had nailed him down. No contracts, no discussion of next steps, no follow-up meeting scheduled. But at this point, it seems like it will all work out.
Now on to the next tasks of finding students for the program and interest from one of the local schools.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Getting down to business
This week has been a bit of a whirlwind and it's only Wednesday morning. Monday started with a 3 hour conversation with Philippa from TIE which included myself, Binka (head of the Iracambi NGO), Imran and Janet. Little did they know they'd all be put in the hot-seat by Philippa regarding my project, their projects and even the future of Iracambi. During our discussion, we formalized my objectives and my deliverables and put together a schedule for the next four weeks.
The objective of my placement is to come up with a way to communicate the Iracambi Strong program and work with the team to get it up and running for 2016. The larger objective is to figure out how to communicate the different programs and aims of the NGO in a simple, direct way for the various people these programs will touch - the local community, the students, the researcher and the donors. As I'm writing this down, this seems like a pretty pursuit. But I'm going to try to start small and then see how far I can take it in the 4 weeks I'm here.
The last two days have been spent fact finding - contacting past students who were involved in the program, talking a lot with the group about their overall goals for the project and how it fits into the larger goals for the NGO, even going through finances.
Outside of this, I've also been lending my social media skills to help with a donation campaign that's happening today. Interesting note: scheduling Facebook posts and Tweets from where we are needs to be flexible, since the Wi-Fi is not always working too well. Our 9am Facebook post had to go out yesterday around 1pm since we couldn't actually get on Facebook. Será o que será.
Also been working on a full website audit for Iracambi and working with the web master in Zimbabwe to start making some immediate updates. Also, trying not to forget to get up from my laptop to roam around and really experience this place and all it has to offer. Yesterday, we took a quick hike to see where the water we drink comes from.
And just a little bit about my new normal:
The objective of my placement is to come up with a way to communicate the Iracambi Strong program and work with the team to get it up and running for 2016. The larger objective is to figure out how to communicate the different programs and aims of the NGO in a simple, direct way for the various people these programs will touch - the local community, the students, the researcher and the donors. As I'm writing this down, this seems like a pretty pursuit. But I'm going to try to start small and then see how far I can take it in the 4 weeks I'm here.
The last two days have been spent fact finding - contacting past students who were involved in the program, talking a lot with the group about their overall goals for the project and how it fits into the larger goals for the NGO, even going through finances.
Outside of this, I've also been lending my social media skills to help with a donation campaign that's happening today. Interesting note: scheduling Facebook posts and Tweets from where we are needs to be flexible, since the Wi-Fi is not always working too well. Our 9am Facebook post had to go out yesterday around 1pm since we couldn't actually get on Facebook. Será o que será.
Also been working on a full website audit for Iracambi and working with the web master in Zimbabwe to start making some immediate updates. Also, trying not to forget to get up from my laptop to roam around and really experience this place and all it has to offer. Yesterday, we took a quick hike to see where the water we drink comes from.
And just a little bit about my new normal:
- Bugs are everywhere and there's nothing you can do about them. This is their home, not yours.
- Cats don't care that you're allergic to them, so just get over it
- Sometimes cold showers can actually warm you up
- Stream water beats out New York tap water
- Afternoon naps are not only acceptable, they are mandatory
- Brazilian wine is not the greatest - at least what we can get locally
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