Brazil is a federation of 26 states and one federal district. our GSE team will be traveling to District 4660, in the southern part of Brazil to the city of Santa Maria in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. On the map at the left, Rio Grande do Sul is the southern-most state, in the blue section.

I have travelled to this state on one occassion - to go hiking and touring around the tourist city of Gramado.

Being in the southern-most state of Brazil, the climate is likely to be similar to our autumn (remember that, although we will be leaving New York in the springtime, it is the opposite season in the southern hemisphere). Yesterday morning I checked the weather for Santa Maria and found, to my surprise, that Santa Maria had exactly the same weather yesterday as Pine City NY - at the moment I checked it was 63F and raining. No part of Brazil regularly sees snow - although the most likely state in which one MIGHT see snow is where we will be traveling.

Wikipedia (the online free encyclopedia) has a great entry for Brazil that provides a lot of historical, geographical and political information.

I really appreciate those of you who have posted comments on my blog, or have sent me an email. As I am new to blogging, and thinking perhaps others of you checking this blog might also be new to the process, I want to point out that it is pretty easy to post a comment on any of my blog entries. At the end of each blog entry there is a line giving the date, the number of comments, and a small icon that is an email link. If you hover your cursor over the word "comments" and click once, a comment window will open. You can write your comment and then simply hit the "post" button.

Looks like it is going to be a beautiful autumn day here ... not unlike the autumn days we will experience next May in Santa Maria, Brazil.

Response Ability

I've been thinking a lot about the GSE experience unfolding for me. My mind has been working overtime with thoughts, ideas and questions that will follow in subsequent blogs. But tonight I wanted to capture my thoughts today about responsibility.

I'm not so much thinking (at the moment) about the responsibility of a Team Leader. Rather I've been thinking about the dual task of a GSE team in shouldering the task of responding - and building our ability to respond - our response-ability.

I've been thinking about how to prepare to respond to our hosts in Brazil. What do we need to think about and do in order to be able to respond to situations, questions, and opportunities in a way that will convey to our hosts not only who we are as individuals, but who we are as the embodiement of the United States. Like it or not, how we handle ourselves will lead to conclusions and assumptions about how ALL North Americans handle themselves.

{OK - note time. I am struggling with the words we use to refer to "us", who live in the United States and the words we use to refer to "them", who live in Brazil. We often refer to ourselves as Americans. But what, then, are the people who inhabit South America to call themselves? In truth we are all people of the Americas. I've been chided on my travels in Brazil when I have identified myself as an American. My companions have pointed out to me that the term is too generic. They ALSO are Americans. I am more appropriately a North American. I have also reverted to being a "New Yorker" - easier to say that a "United Statesican". OK, back now to the substance of this blog.}

So we need to think about and practice our response-ability in the context of a much larger task than simply our personal opinion.

But wait, there's more!

Our task as members of a GSE team does not end when the return flight captain turns off the seat-belt sign signaling it is safe to deplane. This district - the people of our Clubs, and in a larger sense, the people of our country will be waiting for us ... curious to know about the people with whom we have lived and worked and traveled. We need to prepare our ability to respond in a way that captures the fundamentals of what we learn of Brazil and its people. We will need to work at our response-ability to convey a culture and a people to our friends and neighbors.

So all of this is leading me to more and more thinking about the make-up of a team. The diversity with which we imbue our out-going team will "speak" about the diversity of people and views from the United States. How we look as a team; how we respond to questions about life here, and work here, and politics here, and religion here, and the economy here; and how we interact with each other will "speak" more clearly and with a more enduring message than any of the words we use.

As a team leader it occurs to me that life would be profoundly simpler if I could magically clone myself five times and present a single unified voice and persona to the people we will meet in Brazil.

But we all know that life is not simple. Profound, YES. Simple, NO.

So .. I am forming thoughts about what might be the characteristics of a team of five individuals who, together, might more wonderfully embody the grand experiment known to the world as the United States of America.

I need your help.

I know that the magnitude of the success of this GSE experience will be directly an outgrowth of the character of the people who make up the team. Will you share with me your voice? Can I ask you to think about the characteristics that YOU think would be important to consider as the committee interviews and selects the team?

We will have four weeks to build a bridge of peace and understanding between "us" and "them". Help me in my ability to respond as I join others on the district committee as we build this team.

The next formal step in the district process will be on November 22 when the committee will meet to interview selected applicants. Help me be as prepared as I can be to embody not just my point of view, but yours also. Post a comment here ... or send me an email to tweidemann14871@yahoo.com

how I got started in GSE

For me it started when I thought I was going to do a nice thing for a friend. In 2002 our district also had a GSE exchange with Brazil. At the Elmira Club, Dick DuBois was our GSE committee chair. Week after week, Dick stood before the club asking for volunteers to host a member of the incoming team. It would be for a week, you would be responsible for providing a bed, some meals, and hospitality to welcome these people into our country. And, like so many others on so many occassions, I sat there thinking that someone else would step forward - someone more appropriate to the task, or someone who had more time, or someone who had a nicer house. And week after week Dick still asked and we all sat there. So finally I decided that I would help Dick out of this bind. I volunteered to take one of the team members. I had no idea that I had just stepped onto a path that would significantly change my life. I met Washington Dias (who stayed with me) and Patricia, and Janice, and Telmo, and Jose Neto. We became friends. At the end of their stay in Elmira they said "come to Brazil" ... and I couldn't think of any good reason not to. So I went - the first of now seven visits to this wonderful country and these terrific people.

I have traveled pretty extensively through Brazil. Brazil as a land mass is equal in size to the continental United States. Brazil ranks fifth in the world in terms of population (the US ranks third). Over 188 million people make their homes and lives in this tropical country. The image above gives you an idea of where the population of Brazil is concentrated - mostly along the coast. There are vast stretches of country in the northwest that are almost impenetrable - the Amazon Rain Forest. I've traveled to the north east coast; inland to the historic city of Ouro Preto; south to the canyons of Gramado. Everywhere I've gone, the people have been so warm and welcoming to this foreigner who does not speak their language. The colors of flowers and trees; the sounds of music and laughter; the majesty of ocean beaches. Brazi it truly a land of wonder that most Americans don't consider in their travel plans. And it is relatively easy to get to ... a 7-hour flight out of New York airports overnight lands you in Sao Paulo, the largest city in Brazil and, with over 19 million residents, just slightly smaller than New York City. Brazil, for the most part, is east of us here in New York. That came as a surprise to me - I had always thought South America was directly south of us. Depending on the time of year, Sao Paulo can be 1 to 3 hours ahead of us in time zones.

I am coming to realize that, while having had many wonderful experiences already in my travels to Brazil, I will have to be vigilant in order to remain "in the moment" for this entirely new experience as a GSE team member. The past has been part of my preparation. There is much preparation ahead as we build a team. Our work and our pleasure will be in becoming part of families and communities in the unique way that only Rotary can open for us.


And it's only day 2 for me.

Day 1 - congratulations

My first blog.

Yesterday my life changed ... again. I appeared before the Rotary District 7120 GSE Selection Committee to interview to become the district Team Leader for our GSE exchange with BRASIL next May. In the previous week I had spent a good deal of time trying to prepare for the interview. I read the online manual for GSE teams. I read the expectations for Team Leaders. I thought about why I wanted to be the team leader. I visualized myself in front of a committee answering questions. But yesterday, as I drove to Rochester, I vowed to clear my mind of all of this preparation and try to focus on the moment with as much candor, honesty and integrity as i could muster. I would listen - to the questions and then to my internal response. And then I would try to voice that internal response. And then I'd leave the outcome to the committee.

I think I did pretty well with the questions and my presentation. As I left, Bob Hunt (committee chair) told me he expected to call me in the evening as the committee's intention was to reach a decision before the end of the day.

I kind of though maybe I'd get a call before I actually reached home - a 2-hour drive. but 5:00 came and no phone call. I went out with a friend to show him my work and construction we have been completing. No call. We went to dinner at the local chinese restaurant - no call. I drove back to my house - and the answering machine was flashing. Bob's voice asking me to call him ... or that he would try to call later. How had I missed his call? Well, it didn't matter - what mattered was calling him back. As I picked up the phone, it rang. And Bob was offering me congratulations.

Wow. I'm going to be the leader of a team of five young professionals who will travel to the opposite side of the equator to embody Rotary's objective of advancing world understanding, good will and peace by living with and sharing the work experience of families and Rotarians in Brasil.

The impact of this commitment is just beginning to solidify for me. How should I best prepare? Can I learn the language with enough proficiency to handle coordinating this experience for a team that will look to me? I've got six months before departing - what should I do and in what order?

Bob has assured me that he and his committee will be available to help me. He will also connect me to prior team leaders so that I can learn from their experience.

I am really excited --- and a bit fearful. But I think that is good. It is a good combination. I've got a lot of work to do. I want to do well ... for my own sense of self ... for my Rotary Team members, for our District, and for the image of Rotary to those with whom we will live and share.

I'll try to use this blog to capture and chronicle the journey for me as this experience unfolds.

It's day 1. I can check the first item on my list of things to do ... I've started my blog.