Rotary Bulletin - April 19, 2012

CHAIRPERSON

• O’Canada
  
• Blessing
  
• Breakfast
  

Ove chaired today’s meeting.

VISITORS

No visitors.

GUESTS

• Several…
• Felix brought his three host families: The Sianchuks (Peter and Gayle), The Wooly-Burrys (Paul, Christine, Dylan and Katelynn) and the Zwickers (Garth and Gwyn).
• Pam B. brought Diane Stephens, a Veterinarian

The Zwickers, the Wooly-Burrys, and Diane Stephens

MAKE-UPS

• Leslie hosted a meeting, attended by Dale (from our club) about a District project involving the Moncton, Dieppe, Riverview and Sackville clubs.  More to follow…??
• Pam H. attended Moncton Sunrise.
• Ken, Brian, and Dale took care of some club business on Tuesday night.
• Patricia, Louise, Dianne, and Pam B. all met with regards to RYE.
• The Fundraising Committee also met.

BIRTHDAYS

Laing celebrates on the 25^th (though he didn’t divulge the year).  Best wishes, Laing!

ANNIVERSARIES

Beth celebrates six years of marriage this week.  Congratulations, Beth!!

PIN PAL

None.

50/50 DRAW

John drew Dale’s ticket for a big win of $15.00!  Spend it wisely, Dale.

HAPPY DOLLARS

Ken spoke to Frank, who is returning in a couple of weeks.  Frank sends Greetings! to the club members.

Dianne was happy to be out in her garden yesterday (agreed!).

Dale is happy to have won 50/50 and paid $2 (penance?) for missing the Institute meeting last Saturday.  He was…doing something else, obviously.

Josh was happy to have fished even though he didn’t catch anything.  Happy to say that the girlfriend (Skye) did!


“Yes, the John Murchie running for Mayor is me,” says John Murchie.

Wayne is happy that the golf club opens next week.  (I’m so happy we’re going to get to hear some more golf stories during happy dollars…oh, no, did I write that out loud?  Have fun!)

Beth is happy to be back at Rotary!  Also apologies to John Murchie for not being able to vote for him…she’s outside of town limits.

NEXT

Chairperson - Pam Bowman

Greeter - Brian Muir

Introducer - David  McKellar

Thanker - Josh Cormier

Guest Speaker: RYE Student, Pernille

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Silent Auction – Sue P

Sue would like items as soon as possible.  We have an opportunity to display them at the Scotia Bank prior to the Wine Tasting evening.  Thanks, Ken!  She will send out a reminder via email.

Club Runner – Wayne

There has been a problem with emails via Club Runner.  This problem has been resolved since April 13.  Please resend your emails prior to this date.

Wine/Beer Tasting – John

John has only received monies from the sale of 23 tickets.  Our event is two weeks from tomorrow.  (Silence.)  John encouraged us to just make that first sale.  After that, it gets easier.  Gayle circulated a sheet for volunteers.

RYE – Patricia

The committee has secured their first host family for the in-bound student, Coralee (sp?) from Belgium.  She asked club members to consider hosting our RYE students.  It is a three-month commitment.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

Regular weekly meetings.

PRESIDENT’S TIME

President Ken opened by welcoming all of our guests this morning and thanked the host families for their contributions to Rotary.  Ken feels that the club has been blessed to have the program as part of our club.

Ken gave us some words of encouragement for selling tickets.  The club’s goal is for every member to sell 10 tickets.  He handed over the podium by wishing everyone an excellent week!

GUEST SPEAKER

Dianne first introduced our club’s outbound RYE student, Dylan, who was a guest this morning.  Dylan is off to France this summer.  Without further ado, Dianne said it was a pleasure to introduce our inbound RYE student, Felix Szilagyi, from Germany.

“Far Away at Home”

He started with the map of Germany and showed us where his home town of Marburg is located (central).  Felix’s next few slides were about German stereotypes (e.i. beer-drinking men, dressed in green bib-shorts, white dress shirt and a leprechaun-hat, at Octoberfest).

Felix shared with us his favorite scenic area.  One of a castle, for all seasons.

Moving around the map, Felix explained that Bovaria was very religious and traditional.  They are a bit closed-minded but “humourous”.  This small section of Germany would like their independence and form their own country under the leadership of a King.

Berlin is alive! very cool and a big city.  Felix showed pictures of the ‘iron curtain’, the icon left over from the Berlin wall, which is an archway.  Peaceful demonstrations took place there, his father even participated.  There are remnants left of the (grafittied) wall which serves as a tourist attraction.  We also saw a slide of their Parliament building.

Felix estimates Frankfurt’s population to be between 1 and 2 million people.  “In Frankfurt you can get everything your heart desires”, says Felix with a smile.  There are concerts and museums and modern architecture (even though Felix prefers the ‘old’).  It takes him one hour on the train to get from his house to Frankfurt.

Marburg, his home town, is in the middle of the country.  It is one of the oldest towns with the ‘old’ buildings still intact after the war.  Felix calls this a ‘little’ town but it still boasts 81,000 residents.  Many tourists visit as it is a place of “opulence and flare”.  There is a fountain in the middle of the town where local events take place.  This is beside the Town House where a rooster calls the time each hour.   And then a funny little story about the tourists who wait for this…  “We do have snow, by the way” he says.  The town also hosts a B(u)y night when all of the shops are open.

Felix showed us a picture of a church (circa 1300) in Marburg, built in honour of the Duke’s wife, Elizabeth, who devoted her life to helping the poor.  The church’s lightshow changes colour every few minutes.

Another slide we got to see was Felix’s favorite spot along this river where he goes swimming, canoeing, and plays water polo (a tough sport, he assures us).  Along this river lies the first free university which was a Partisan movement (protestant area).

Conclusion, “eh!” he says…

Germany, for him, is defined by its buildings, the environment, and the places he loves.  Canada is the same for him.  “It’s all the little things wrapped together.”  The biggest difference…the language!

Q&A

Have you been homesick?  No.  I’ve missed home but I have not been homesick.

What are your future plans?  Hmmm… ‘garbage’ business…school…our university has a great exchange program with Mt. A….

How difficult was the language barrier?  I spoke English before because of what I was interested in…like the internet, certain bands.  I also learned with my mother who is a primary teacher.

Josh thanked Felix saying it was a pleasure and presented him a book from our literacy initiative.
Banners were then exchanged between Marburg and Sackville Rotary clubs.

President Ken adjourned us with the stating of the 4-Way Test.