Maddy’s August Report

Maddy is certainly enjoying her exchange year. Read below.

I really believed this month was going to be the hardest of exchange so far because

1-         I was leaving my amazing host family that I’d become comfortable in and moving in with a new family that seemed great but none the less different

2-         I was moving onto year 11 with all my friends but didn’t know if school would be stricter and give me stress.

But I have now found out it has all taken the opposite effect that I thought it would be

1-         My new host family is a lot like my old family in Australia and so I fit in here amazingly well, I speak and understand German ok so we don’t have the language barrier again.

2-         Moving into year 11 was sooo simple because I’m in the same classes as all my friends, I’ve met new amazing people and we don’t have 10 hour long days anymore the max would be 6 hours.

So really I have no stress at all! I’ve gotten to the part in exchange where everything is right and perfect.

On the 3rd August was the day I was leaving my old family and moving onto my next, I’d cleaned out my room and packed my bag, I was nervous! We were just about to drive away when I realized I’d forgotten to say goodbye to the dog, I’d kept strong that long, saying goodbye to everyone but when it came to saying goodbye again it suddenly hit me that I was indeed leaving this amazing family, so a few tears leaked out and that sort of set off everyone, my host mum even started crying! When I arrived at my new host family though, as soon as I felt my new host mum give me a hug that was full of love and warmth I knew I would like it here. On the first day we went cart driving, which was a lot of fun. Over the past few weeks I’ve really gotten to know my new family, I’ve become close with my 2 host siblings and we’ve had a lot of fun together. For a family day we all drove to Oldenburg for a shopping trip, that was a very nice bonding experience, I’ve been to Bremen twice and discovered it’s a wonderful place to go shopping! September and part of October is going to be a month of travel for me because my parents from Australia are coming to Europe, so I will be travelling to Amsterdam and meet them there, from there on we will catch a train to Paris and meet my last host parents there, we will stay in Paris for 4 days then ride back to Holland and catch up with family there, then drive back to Wilhelmshaven in Germany and show my parents around where I live for a few days, THEN they will head off to the north of Germany and hopefully meet up with Nici (our exchange student from Germany) while at that time my host family are taking me with them to a Spanish island for a 2 week holiday!!!!! I AM SO LUCKY! THANK YOU SO MUCH ROTARY!

President’s Report 30th August 2010

Well, August has been a pretty active month. A couple of highlights are:

-       DG David Piper and Aileen’s visit on 19^th August. The Club presented the DG with a cheque for $500 for the Rotary Foundation Polio Plus campaign and Aileen with a cheque for $100 for the District Literacy Program

-       The Club’s stand at the Frankston Business Chamber Hot Deals Expo attracted interest from a number of people who attended the Expo. A couple of them will be attending our meeting this Thursday

-       The Bunnings Sausage Sizzle on Sunday netted the Club over $1,980. A Club record. Thanks to all members and friends of rotary who worked the sizzle. Special thanks to Steve Cernotta for organising supplies, roster etc

In the area of Youth the Club received the news that the Club’s nominee for the Youth Exchange Program in 2011 Orlaith McAlinden was selected to go to Brazil. Sarah Last who the Club endorsed to participate in the National Science Youth Forum was also accepted to take part in the NYSF in January 2011.

To support the aid effort in Pakistan the Club has donated funds to Aquabox to purchase kits to be sent to Pakistan. Also, The Rotary Foundation has established the Rotary Pakistan Flooding Recovery Fund for the purpose of collecting funds in the form of cash and District Designated Funds (DDF) to be used to assist disaster affected areas of Pakistan. The funds will be collected until 31 December 2010.  Details about the fund are available on the RI website.

Don’t forget to register for the Club’s team for the Frankston Relay for Life on October 23^rd and 24^th October. You can join the team by going to the Relay for Life website (relayforlife.org.au).

Another date for your Diaries is the Charter Night on Friday 8^th October at Judy’s Place. I had a sneak peak at the menu on Sunday and it looks fantastic, Cambodian with a touch of Thai.

See you all this Thursday when our guest speaker will be Tony Hampton who will tell us about the relocation of the Frankston War Memorial.

President Brad

President’s Report 15th August 2010

Wow! We had over 80% attendance at the last Club Meeting. Thanks to all members for fighting the urge to stay in bed on these cold winter mornings and making it to the meeting.

This Thursday’s meeting will be highlighted by the visit of District Governor David Piper.

At the last meeting Joan Ciastkowski spoke to us on the assistance provided by Fitted for Work to unemployed disadvantaged women to help them gain financial independence. The Club has donated $250 to Fitted for Work which will support a client.

Preparations are going well for the Club’s stand at the Frankston Business Chamber Hot Deals Expo on this Tuesday 17^th August from 5.00pm to 8.30pm at the Frankston Arts Centre. Hope to see you there!

Other Club activities for August include: new fundraiser activity at Janet’s place on Friday 27^th August from 7.00pm to 9.00pm ; and Bunnings Sausage Sizzle on 29^th August. If you have not already done so send Steve Cernotta a text with your availability for a two hour shift.

Future events include: Movie Night on Tuesday 28th September and Charter Night/Cambodia Fundraiser at Judy’s place on Friday 8^th October ($30.00 per head).

Also don’t forget to register for the Club’s team for the Frankston Relay for Life on October 23 and 24^th October. You can join the team by going to the Relay for Life website (relayforlife.org.au). For those of you who are entering or thinking of entering another team the team information and registration night is this Wednesday 18^th august at 7.00pm at Dolphin’s Football Cub.

If you have a minute watch the latest Rotary Minute to hear everyday Rotarians talk about how they have served their communities http://www.rotary.org/en/mediaandnews/Multimedia/RotaryMinute/Pages/ridefault.aspx

See you on Thursday.

President Brad