"The Team"

Well, I've met my team. Nicole,(a physician), Claudia, (a graphic artist) & Becki,(a child advocate) and the team members going to Lithuania along with some Rotary mucky-mucks (just kidding) came to my house on Saturday for the initial training session. My team is great, all different, but we seemed to mesh pretty well. Mostly we got to know each other and Rupi (GSE Chairman) talked to us about his experiences as a team leader to India and had the team less worried about the turmoil in Venezuela. WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A BLAST! I personally cannot wait for this trip! Next week "the girls" are going shopping without the mucky-mucks! Well, we HAVE to choose a uniform so we're heading to the mall! No LL Bean uniforms and sensible shoes for us! We are going to be the most fashionable team in Rotary history! Adios y hasta la proxima vez.

Maracaibo is in the northwest corner...on the lake. 

Well, there are only 48 more days to go! They've moved up our departure date to April 1st and we have so much to do. The worst part about that is I'm going to miss my friend Sam's wedding.

The interviews are over (except for the team going to Lithuania) and I've met two of the team members and spoken to a third on the phone. I haven't met the last one. Their names are Claudia, Nicole, Becky and Sally and we're going to be spending a fair amount of time together in the next month and a half.

Training should start in the next week and we have to pick out a "uniform!" Haven't worn one of those since I worked at Bonanza in 1976!! We'll definitely pick something a little more stylish. The training manual is well on it's way to being a major novel! Those of you who know me know that I tend to overdo and I think I've done just that!!

Lots of things are going on in Venezuela and I thank all of you who have called or e-mailed, worrying about me traveling there. Please be assured that Rotary, as an international organization, has it's finger on the pulse of current events and they have no qualms about canceling our trip or removing us if the situation got dangerous. We'll be fine!

Regarding the bridge from the Caracas airport that is apparently out and will remain so for the immediate future; we will be traveling to Maracaibo which is on the Northwest coast of Venezuela. Caracas is more centrally located on the coast and lucky for us Maracaibo has it's own airport. I've posted a map so you can all see where we're going...especially those of you like me who are geographically challenged!! The best news I had this week was that the time difference between here and there is only ONE HOUR!!! YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I don't do well with jet lag!

Well, I'm off to add more pages to the "Speaking Spanish" section of my Training Manual! Notice I capitalized that...I did say it's on it's way to becoming a major novel!! Adios para ahora! (Bye for now!)