Ijui

We have now been in Injui for two days. Major thunderstorm yesterday all day and night, we have been very lucky to only have had 2 days of rain so far. My host family again is so wonderful, Gerson and Roseane Feldman have two sons Martin and Igor (14 and 15). Long nap on my first day in Ijui and settled in with host family. We had our presentation and met lots of very nice Brazilian people from Ijui. Before getting into our day - Roseane taught me how to make flan and we watched the full process of how to make polenta - two really common things here in Brazil (so fun). Today we toured a museum about the Indians of Brazil mainly the Ge, Guarani, and Pompeano, and history of Ijui, very interesting and again the lush green plants and flowers are amazing. We then went to the Unijui University which is a community run university with 7,000 students. We met host families for lunch and then toured a public hospital where we were able to view an angiogram being done as it was happening. This clinic particularly provides treatment for cancer and many people are referred here from other small clinics in the state. I was able to visit with a psychologist that works with families to help them with learning of their cancer diagnosis. There is only one psychologist in this hospital, however, there is also another hospital that specifically works with those that struggle with mental illness. We then went with Gerson and Rogerio to a shop where the Ijui Rotary bought us very beautiful (bonito or lindo) havannas with beaded flowers on them. Jill and Quinn headed off to get manicures while Gerson took me to some shops downtown and in the city center park. We later went back to my host home where I met their three dogs and picked bergamot, oranges, an orange lemon (which I ate thinking there was no such thing as an orange lemon - my face would have been a good picture. Fantastic day! We will be meeting up with all team members for Feijoda tonight. One more full day in Ijui and we leave for the conference later afternoon on Friday. I will again miss these wonderful people.