Hello from South America!

August 27, 2008

Hello!!

I am finally writing as I am on the last leg of a long journey this summer. My classmate, Sara McReynolds, and I have been traveling throughout South America since June 1. Both of us are finishing up our Field Experience for our Master of Public Health degree. Our field experience was meant to introduce us to the international aspects of public health and to learn about disease eradication in developing countries.
We flew into Buenos Aires, Argentina and spent a week there taking intensive Spanish lessons. We explored the city and saw quite a bit of it! It is a beautiful city with a very European type atmosphere.


Left - One of the many beautiful buildings in Buenos Aires

Right - Plaza de Mayo and Presidential Palace

Our next stop was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There we attended the RIMSA Conference. RIMSA is an annual meeting where the ministers of both health and agriculture from all of the Americas meet. We met several veterinarians involved in international public health and made good contacts with them. We also were able to see the sights of Rio including Sugar Loaf Mountain, Christ the Redeemer, and Ipanema and Copa Cabana beaches.


Left - Sara and I at the trolley on our way to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain
Right - We met a famous soccer player (even though we really have no idea who he is!)


Left - Sara and I in front of the Christ the Redeemer Statue

We had the opportunity to visit PANAFTOSA, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) center for the eradication of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in South America, located just outside of Rio. We met several important people there, including the Jorgen Schlundt, the Director of Food Safety, Zoonoses, and Foodborne Illnesses for the World Health Organization (WHO.)

The majority of our time was spent in Paraguay. Through the Partners of America Program, Kansas and Paraguay are paired up. Many Paraguayans study at Kansas universities. We stayed with Marcos Medina and his family. He is a veterinarian who studied at Kansas State for a Master’s Degree. Marcos, his wife Delia, and his sons Juan Marcos and Jose, were wonderful hosts. We always felt at home with them!


Left - Marcos, Jose and Juan Marcos with one of their Grandpa’s Santa Gertrudis bulls

Below - Sara and I posing with the guards in front of the Presidential Palace in Asuncion, Paraguay



Below - Sara, our tour guide (who coincidentally looks exactly like a former president of Paraguay) and I in the old congressional house in Asuncion


While in Paraguay we worked with SENACSA, the Paraguayan equivalent of the USDA. We learned all about their vaccination program to eliminate Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD). Paraguay right now is considered free of FMD with vaccination. This is very important because the European Union has just opened up their market to Paraguayan beef. It was interesting to see just how much international trade pushed the Paraguayan government towards elimination of FMD.

We also spent a month in the "wild" Chaco of western Paraguay. This are was settled by Mennonites from Canada and Russia in the 1930’s. Originally all of the Mennonites spoke only Low German but now most are bilingual speaking both Spanish and Low German. Luckily, most of them also know High German, which is what I learned in high school, so I was able to practice some German with them. Many people also come from Mennonite colonies in the US and Canada so there was a lot of English spoken.
Left - Necessary for vaccinating in the Chaco…a syringe gun and a real gun!!

The Mennonites are very organized and have made the uninviting Chaco one of the most productive parts of Paraguay. They have dairies, farms with cotton, soybeans, safflower, sesame and peanuts, and they raise a lot of beef cattle! Most of the cattle are Brahman or Brahman crosses. They also formed cooperatives early on and that has been a big reason for their success. The cooperative we worked with had a lot of Brahman - Santa Gertrudis crosses. We were both able to go on many calls with the veterinarians of the coop. We also did a study to determine the prevalence of antibodies against anaplasmosis, a disease spread by ticks that causes anemia. We drew blood from almost 500 cows and we became experts at drawing blood from the caudal tail vein!!



Drawing blood for our study

We are now traveling in Argentina, we’ll head to Mendoza tonight on a bus. On Sunday we visited Iguazu Falls which is just amazing! We’ll fly home on Sunday night. I will be in Nebraska for about a week and then Mom and I will drive to my new place of residence, Las Vegas! I plan to start working before the end of September. I will be renting a house and will have plenty of room for visitors!!
Joan

Steve and Winfred Crash the East Coast!

Greetings one and all!
Quite a summer! Kids graduating, wedding planning, babies arriving, storms blowing, lots of travel adventures, and much more. Suki says it’s time to join in the posting flurry.

First let’s go back a couple of months. Thanks to all who came to Marian’s 80th birthday. It was a beautiful day and she and the rest of us enjoyed very much seeing everyone. Extra thanks to all of you who participated in the reminiscences book. Mom says she reads it often and it is now among her most valued possessions.

Seems New York City is the place to be! Last month Grandpa & I stopped there as well on our Saunders County Livestock Assoc. tour. Here we are at Yankee stadium.We traveled to the stadium by subway. Getting 44 wandering characters from the country down the crowded sidewalks, down the crowded escalator, which was broken of course, and through the turnstiles to the train platform was a challenge. So was shouting instructions to the group over the din. You can imagine most not hearing too well, and the rest not listening too well. We were told to “spread out and get on the 4-train when it arrives and the doors open!!! Well we did, barely. Our guide did get left behind as he pushed the last ones on. As we stood up against the characters on the subway there were two 20ish black guys, from Jamaica I’d guess, talking loud & gesturing wildly. I could hear over the noise one of our wide-eyed guys (who was pressed up against the Jamaicans) shout “Jim, do you have your billfold in your front pocket like Keith told us to???” Guess he figured since he couldn’t understand them, they wouldn’t understand him. It was great entertainment being among the red-capped characters on the trip. (We all wore matching red caps making it easier to find each other & be found in the crowds of the East coast). I thought this was interesting. On our Circle Tour around Manhattan, we saw a barge carrying old subway cars to be dumped in the ocean for a marine habitat.

Besides New York, we toured the Amish area of Pennsylvania. We even had the good fortune of visiting an Amish family on their farm.This is a rare privilege according to the locals. Very interesting & pretty unbelievable how these people live and farm & make a living with horses, hard work, lots of kids & no electricity. The teenage boys (not the girls) get their own horse & buggy when they get around 16. These buggies are a prized personal possession. The boys fix them up and some even get a radio! Wish I had a more descriptive picture, but we were asked to be respectful of the Amish family wishes that we not to take their picture or climb around on their stuff.

This is a funny picture of Delbert Otte & one of the draft mules. You might remember Delbert… he & his family of 7 or 8 lived near Yutan for a while around 1960. As for the mules, they are bigger & stronger looking than any I’ve seen.

We also spent some time in Delaware and went to their State Fair, which was very nice. Also stopped at a giant mushroom farm. Of course I saw many of the fellows sampling the produce, oblivious to the fact they had just explained how they are growing them in chicken manure compost. The boys knocked off the big chunks, for the most part. One of the great parts of a trip like this is you get to go to places most visitors would not. Keith Glewen, the County Extension Agent does a terrific job getting everything planned. So my adventures did not include the satisfaction of finding my own way around the big city like Nancy & Stan & John & Sue. But a good time was had by all.

As you may have read in Janice's blog (in clear violate of HIPAA law, I might add):o) I did have a short visit to the hospital. I'd like to report there is nothing particularly seriously wrong with me and my stay was short. I'm fine. Let it be known I'd rather watch men's synchronized diving than discuss the condition of my innards. (However I thank you for any concern you may have had).

Looking forward to seeing you all the 23rd.
Steve

Aunt Marian's birthday party

We want to thank all of you who were able to attend Mom's birthday open house and also those who took the time to jot down a Marian memory for her scrapbook. All contributions were very thoughtful and are treasured by Mom, who LOVES her memory book. It was a day filled with laughter, tears, and love. We are all so blessed.

I am including this final picture, not because it is so good, just so funny! How could 4 of the 5 people have their eyes closed, and why does Mom looked so pained?!

Love you all,

Janice

Thanks, Elissa, for the pictures

Yes, Grandma Janice (can you BELIEVE that's our little cousin?) is right! Taylor is very cute, indeed. Never having actually given birth myself, I was extremely impressed by your account of labor and delivery (and leg shaving, no less)! It sounds to me like you must be very well-suited for the whole process. We do hope you will make it to the picnic. It would be so much fun to meet the first little ladies of Generation 5! From G3#1 (Mary Jo)

p.s. Thanks to Sue, too, for the pictures from NYC. I'm glad John (and all of you) made it to see the old Yankee Stadium. I don't know where John's allegiance lies now, but as a kid, he was a total Yankees Fan (learned from our Dad).

Taylor Elizabeth Bright

Well, we made it through the first week! Matt's having daddy time with Taylor, so I thought I'd take the chance to finally post...

So you may have remembered that little miss Taylor wasn't expected until August 26th, but I kept telling Matt that she was coming early or she truly was going to kick a hole in the side of my stomach and escape! In fact, I told my doctor just that week that she was coming early (I don't think she believed me). I actually went into the hospital to be monitored on Thursday because I was having consistent contractions in an hour span. But they were only Braxton-hicks contractions and they sent me home in under an hour.

I went to bed thinking I'd probably go into labor that night, but tried to psych myself out by listing off all the things I needed to do that weekend (didn't work). Around 2:15am I woke up when my water broke. I woke Matt up who jumped out of bed and threw some shorts on. We finished putting our things in our hospital bags and I took my time getting ready - I wasn't going to go through labor without shaving my legs first! *This made Matt just a little anxious :)

We got to the hospital just before 4am and when they checked me I was already dilated to a 4 - almost 5. Just before 6am I was fully dilated but I didn't start pushing until 7am because I was feeling good and they just let the contractions and Taylor do most of the work. Then 3 pushes and Taylor Elizabeth (Elizabeth being the family name from Grandma's mother) was born at 7:21am on August 1st! I had such a lucky and smooth labor and delivery and although Taylor was 3 1/2 weeks early, the doctor said the only sign that she was a premie is her feet don't have wrinkles all the way down. She weighed in at 6lbs 13oz, 18 1/2 in.

Taylor accommodated everyone by showing up for her own shower that Sunday, much to all the out-of-towner's pleasure. We ended up having the shower at our house and had a great turn out to meet Taylor. My parents stayed a couple extra days to help with baby projects and run errands because we had planned to do a few more things that weekend before the shower. But lucky for us I just knew she was coming early so I had quite a bit set up already. Kelly was also great help and finished cleaning up our house for our guests (and taking care of our dog :).

Matt and I have been settling in and loving our new baby girl! She's been great this first week and we've already been out and about a lot with her (walks, shopping, out to eat) and she couldn't be better. Taylor's already learned 2 tricks...kicking to roll to her side and mountain climbing up my chest! Unless something comes up, we do plan on making the Bull Family Picnic/Kelly & Paul shower event with little Taylor in tow! Here's the link if you want to see more pics of Taylor http://picasaweb.google.com/elissawiles.

Love,
Elissa, Matt & Taylor

New travel bag, $50; baseball tickets, $120, John at Yankee Stadium..Priceless!!

Well, Theresa....when you decided to get on this Blog, you did it in a big way! Good job! Joe was greatly impressed with Jacob's waterboarding skills and claims to know how hard that is to do..

We had decided that for John’s 60th birthday (last November) and our 35th wedding anniversary, we’d take a trip to see Yankee Stadium before it’s torn down at the end of this season.
We spent last weekend in NYC… it was great… Our really only anxious moment was when the shuttle bus driver from the airport let us off at our hotel stop…we stepped off the bus and had absolutely no idea where we were and where the hotel was…. Turns out the stop was one block south of the hotel and all we had to do was walk around the corner to find our hotel.. but I imagine we looked pretty pathetic dragging our luggage around til we figured out where we were!

Our impressions are much the same as Nancy and Stan’s. Way too many people and way too much traffic. I asked a taxi driver if it got less crowded once the summer tourists went home, and he said, "oh no…then the holiday shoppers come to town and it’s even busier." I can’t even imagine!!
We were proud we figured out how to buy a Metro Card, today’s version of subway tokens, and we hopped on for the 15-minute ride to Yankee Stadium. Our seats were five rows from the top, literally with the pigeons,
but it was still a great experience. We were there early enough to get the give-away koozie and to take the tour of Monument Park… pretty much overrated. The next day was Old Timers Day and John and Joe went back for that, but I chose to stay behind. I found Madison & Fifth Avenues, went into SAKS, just so I could say I had been there, and thoroughly enjoyed walking around and just looking. On Sunday, we took a cruise around Manhattan, saw Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty, got off that, then took a bus tour around lower Manhattan. We hopped off near Ground Zero and walked to the site, and saw the church and fire stations that were both in the news.
We walked the streets, saw Times Square, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral. Ate at a great deli, found a pizza place and enjoyed NY style pizza… ate our final lunch at Mickey Mantle’s restaurant near Central Park, after we walked around there for a couple hours.
We all agreed it was a great place to visit but we’re all happy we live where there is a little more room to roam!
Progress on the condo renovation continues, slowly… Last week they hung drywall. Hopefully they can get it taped and mudded this week, so painting can begin soon. All six units have to be completely done before anyone can move back in, so we all hope no one unit holds up the others being able to move back in. All the common areas are also being redone… stairs, hallways… so there is still plenty of work to be done.
See you all at the picnic!
Sue

Mary Jo is glad to hear from Theresa...and Jake

WOW! One never knows what we might see on the family Blog. I was impressed with the handsome young men on Jake's video and all of his fancy maneuvers on the wakeboard...but I wasn't quite prepared for that "Roast Beef trick"! I am loving this intergenerational interaction...

Went to the Y for water therapy last week. My moves weren't as fancy as Jake's, but I think it will really help. I plan to go 2 more times with the therapist and then work on my own. I went Saturday by myself and felt I did pretty well.

Can't wait for the pictures of Taylor.

Wakeboard Film Created by Jake

Hey Family,

Thought you might enjoy some footage of Jake's Hobby. He has been wakeboarding 4 summers now.

Silhouette of Jake doing a Back Roll

Well oooops!! Let's try this again.



CALIFORNIA BOUND ON AMTRAK

Ervin, Warren, Helen & Marianne Bull at

Warren & Helen's home in Modesto, CA

The latest addition

You have probably all heard there is a new great-grandchild in the family. Taylor Elizabeth Bright entered the world a few weeks early on August 1. Elissa had quite a brief labor and easy delivery, and Taylor weighed in at 6 lb. 13 oz., in spite of being 3 1/2 weeks early. No significant problems due to her early arrival, thank heavens.

I already had a flight booked to attend a baby shower on Sunday, so the Friday arrival was perfect for me! A baby is more of a treat than a shower any day! Elissa felt so good, that we did do a modified shower at their home Sunday afternoon, the day they came home from the hospital. (We think she is as cute as Carlie, who is a very pretty baby! Pictures will follow when Ed gets them out of his camera and onto my computer.)

My tiny garden went nuts while I was out of town. I am making pickle relish this evening and we will grill summer squash for our dinner side course.

Can't wait to see you all at the family picnic, after which I will spend a couple of days in Nebraska with Kelly and in Yutan, before heading back to KC to finish up some baby projects (curtains for the baby room for my part, ceiling fan and light in the baby room for Ed, don't know if we'll get the room painted.....) and hold baby Taylor some more.

Hope MJ's recovery is progressing as well as Aunt Marge's condo renovation.

Love,
Janice

Hello family!!! This is Theresa in OKC just checking to see if I can actually make an entry and include a picture and/or a video. I, first, wish to apologize for not being a faithful contributor. However, I have been a faithful and thankful reader. Thank you all for your great stories and photos!!!
I now need to exit this computer so Jake can take an on-line college exam without interruption. I'll check in later.......I'll explain the picture and/or video later......
Love, Theresa

Whoops!

It has been kindly pointed out to me that the paper invitations did not include a time for our picnic on August 23rd. 12:30 p.m. is the appointed hour. We will eat whenever all or most of the expected participants arrive.
Sorry for the omission---
Connie