PACER
APRIL 6,2004
Once again we have the request to host an exchange student. Although we asked to see if we could get a male or female who was agriculturally inclined, there were no candidates who could fill that category. A shame really as this area has so much to offer from that perspective. Our representative came back from the Ohio-Erie region meetings with what he thought was the closest match. It is a young lad from an agricultural area in Hungary. He speaks/writes reasonable English , is bright and talented. Plays the guitar. Has a great school report, both for academics and general behavior/friends etc. He comes from a small town of 1000 population, so should fit into the Dresden scene. His parents are both trained economists, whatever that means in Hungary.
I have lots more info. with his application.
We have one Rotary host at present and need at least a couple more. Will you please think about accommodating this young lad for 12 to 14 weeks? It will be on the agenda for next weeks meeting or better yet contact me.
...Ewan
A letter from Tamas...
MAY 6, 2004
I am Tamas. Thank you very much for the letter. First of all
I would like to say thank you. I feel so lucky that I got the chance to
be an exchange student. That is one of my greatest dreams. Maybe the
greatest. I feel lucky because I will spend this year in Canada, close
to the Great Lakes. I have seen pictures about this area and I think it
is beautiful. Sorry for the little late reply but I don't have so much
free time because of the school. May is the last month in the term so I
have to learn so much. I always try to do my best in school. That is the
reason why I couldn't answer yesterday. Since February I am
very excited about my exchange year. I hope I will be able to answer the
requirements.
So I have a few questions.
What kind of credit cards are accepted in Ontario? Because I can have problems with my credit card.
I think it could be a good idea to land in Toronto and not in New York.
I will buy the winter coat in Dresden. I am interested in your opinion in these case. Maybe the Hungarian coat is not suitable to the Canadian climate. I think the weather is perfect there. I love the summer and winter too.
I would like to bring my guitar. Is it possible? As you know I love play the guitar and I think I can't live without it.
To my mind this year will be the most beautiful year in my lifetime. I red your description about Ontario, Dresden. I visited the Rotary Club's homepage and Dresden's homepage. I think one of my dream come true.
So once again I would like to say thank you to the Dresden Rotary Club to you for accepting my application. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Tamas Gaal, from Hungary
Youth Exchange
Update May 18, 2004.
Claudia will be leaving soon, on the exchange student trip across the USA. This is a two week sight seeing trip. The first leg is to fly out of Detroit to the mid west and then travel by bus through the scenic parts of the continent to the west coast, down through California and return by a southerly route back to the east. It is action packed, demanding and sleepless.
July 5th, Claudia returns to Switzerland, so she has only a couple more nights at our meetings.
Our next inbound student is Tamas Gaal, from Hungary. He is presently finalizing flight arrangements to arrive in Canada around the third week of August. Tamas will be hosted by the Melton family then by the Thompson family. We are presently short one host family. Any volunteers? Tamas would appear to be an enthusiastic lad and certainly very prompt at getting organized for his exchange.
Our Out bound student, Renee Vriesema has heard from her Rotary Club in France. She will tell us the details, when she visits and is the guest speaker talking to us about he recent Rotary Adventure in Citizenship in Ottawa.
RYLA. Rotary
Youth Leadership Awards. 2004. All comments by the students attending
RYLA held at the Ridgetown College are very positive. The speakers were
outstanding , the leadership exercises challenging. Why do we have so
much problem persuading students to attend, when they come home so
excited about what they experienced? Congratulations go to the Rotarian
organizers of this great weekend. We were represented by three Lambton
Kent C.S. students ,exchange student Claudia, Alyssa Fisher and Megan
Thompson.
...Ewan
Centennial Project
The Centennial Project consists a sign placed on the
corner of 78 HWY and 21 HWY. The cost of this is approximately $5000 and
includes a large, wooden, sandblasted sign, massive boulders at the base
of the sign, lighting, and landscaping. The boulders would have the
Rotary emblem sandblasted into its surface. Some of the landscaping has
already been put in place by the Dresden Horticultural Society. This
project will provide a welcoming approach to the town.
...Paul W.
Donnations approved
- LKCS Scholarships: $1800
- Ag Society fireworks: $200
-St.Vincent DePaul camp: $370
-Dresden Co-op Nursery: $100
-Dresden Pool Friday Swims: $250
-WDSS CD Yearbook: $50
-Loan to reprint "Stepping Back in Time" book: $5200 from the
Regis investment account.
Dresden Rotary sponsoring
-A Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) grant through the Job Creation Partnership (JCP) to hire an employee through dresden.ca employee. This person will be responsible for developing tourism materials, planning the fall Pansy Festival and planning Dresden After Hours events. This program is sponsored by HRDC with no cost to Dresden Rotary.
-Trillium Application to assist Uncle Tom's Cabin. This is a $21 500 request to the Ontario Trillium Foundation to fund the development of resource materials aimed at increasing the number of visitors to the site. There will be no cost to Rotary for this project.
-Oberlin Papers Transcription Project : This is a project of Marie and Jeff Carter and other local historians. There are 43 original letters dating to the time of Josiah Henson in the archives of Oberlin College, Oberlin Ohio. The interested parties will pay for the cost transcripts of these historical papers. Rotary has volunteered to collect the funds from the donors and send the cheque to Oberlin. There will be no cost to Rotary.
...Paul W.
19 things that took me 50 years to learn
1. Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."
3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.
5. And when God, who created the entire universe with all of its glories, decides to deliver a message to humanity, He WILL NOT use, as His messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle.
6. You should not confuse your career with your life.
7. No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.
8. When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that individual is crazy.
9. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
10. Never lick a steak knife.
11. Take out the fortune before you eat the cookie.
12. The most powerful force in the universe is gossip.
13. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.
14. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
15. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age 11.
16. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.
17. The main accomplishment of almost all organized protests is to annoy people who are not in them.
18. A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.
19. Your friends love you anyway.
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