First day at the Instituto

OK, we attended the largest Gay Pride Parade in the world on Sunday, really nice, and here's the photo that I'm most proud of. Aren't his wings fantastic??

Monday - Our whole group (all 15 of us) went to the IBM facility called Tutoia (Too-Toy-a) and were greeted by the "brass" in the auditorium. We had to get up and introduce ourselves and say a few words about our history and job and which non-profit we are assigned to. Then we met our clients (the NGOs) for the first time. Most of us have spoken on a call already, but this was the time to meet in person. Santhosh and I are assigned to the Instituto Rodrigo Mendes, and like I've probably said before, Rodrigo is in a wheelchair. So I *did* give the single cheek kiss, and you *do* make a smoochy sound! We spoke for quite awhile and went into the lobby for refreshments. Then we drove back in the vehicle with Rodrigo and his assistant, Adauto, to the Instituto. It's a really nice building with a backyard and offices upstairs with an art classroom. Then there's storage and another classroom downstairs also. We had a quick tour and met with Rodrigo in the conference room to hear what his expectations are. He's an absolutely brilliant man, and quite handsome, but I'm scared that we won't be able to satisfy the expectations. There's just SO much that is requested. So pray for me (and Santhosh).
And a funny thing happened in the afternoon at the Instituto - we were in the classroom with a group of 9 students and one of the instructors, Arturo, found something that looked like a big shell on the other side of the room. Everyone seemed to be really interested, so we walked over, and it's a GIGANTIC snail. I guess that another one of the teachers found the giant snail on the beach somewhere, adopted it, named it Apollo and brought it into class to allow the students to sketch it. Evidently soon thereafter Apollo went missing. One would think that snails, BIG snails, aren't particularly speedy, but he got out and ran away. So, weeks later he appears:



Alrighty - need to run to a team meeting here in the hotel. I'm tired and I'm coming down with a cold (horribly timing!)