I've not been very good at keeping on top of things here, as evidenced by this, my first new post in a week ! There's been lots of action going on over the past week, but I have had absolutely no time to organize my thoughts and write about the experiences. Here's my attempt at writing in small chunks.
On Friday morning, the President of Brazil, Dilma Rouseff, visited Uberlandia - her first visit to the city as the President of the Republic. My team was invited to attend the event, which was the graduation ceremony for the first batch of students from a vocational education program called Pronatec.
She entered the arena to a rock-star style reception. Crowd chanting her name (which, in Hindi, means "Heart Mother"). The mayor of Uberlandia, Gilmar Machado, welcomed her. When she eventually spoke, the crowd was cheering all along. Here's a small excerpt from her speech.
I noted that everyone spoke ex-tempore, without any notes. They all have a rousing and passionate style of speech delivery.
Quite surprisingly, after her speech, she mingled freely with the crowd, giving hugs and getting photos taken. Security concerns would have prevented any such close and direct display of affection with the crowd in the US (or in India, for that matter).
Here's the Municipality Tourism team at the event - from left to right - Vanessa, Marise, Pedro, May, Jill, Mayla, Radhesh (me), Cristiane, Marc. All were very excited, especially Vanessa, who confessed to getting goosebumps when the Brazilian National Anthem played.
Busy with other things while the Presidenta is speaking !
#ibmcsc brazil
On Friday morning, the President of Brazil, Dilma Rouseff, visited Uberlandia - her first visit to the city as the President of the Republic. My team was invited to attend the event, which was the graduation ceremony for the first batch of students from a vocational education program called Pronatec.
She entered the arena to a rock-star style reception. Crowd chanting her name (which, in Hindi, means "Heart Mother"). The mayor of Uberlandia, Gilmar Machado, welcomed her. When she eventually spoke, the crowd was cheering all along. Here's a small excerpt from her speech.
I noted that everyone spoke ex-tempore, without any notes. They all have a rousing and passionate style of speech delivery.
Quite surprisingly, after her speech, she mingled freely with the crowd, giving hugs and getting photos taken. Security concerns would have prevented any such close and direct display of affection with the crowd in the US (or in India, for that matter).
Here's the Municipality Tourism team at the event - from left to right - Vanessa, Marise, Pedro, May, Jill, Mayla, Radhesh (me), Cristiane, Marc. All were very excited, especially Vanessa, who confessed to getting goosebumps when the Brazilian National Anthem played.
Busy with other things while the Presidenta is speaking !
#ibmcsc brazil
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