Rotateller Rotary Club of Owego, NY
Tuesday August 8, 2006 Gary Williams, Editor

Guests:

Our own Exchange Student for the last time, Chihiro Fujisaki, back from her cross-country trip; speaker for the day, Chelsea Solan, 2005-2006 Outbound Exchange Student recently returned from Germany; Chelsea’s mother, Rhonda Bennett and her grandmother, Mary Inman.

Happy Birthday: Mark Dixson, who was reminded of his special day in song, and Gwen Smith.

Announcements:

*Eastern Cities dinner to be held 9/11/06 in Rochester, with Bill Boyd, RI President, attending. President Al has details.

*District 7170 Foundation Dinner will be 10/19/06, with Luis Giay, Past Rotary President, and two-time and current Chairman of the Rotary Foundation, attending.

*District 7170 Rotary United Nations trip will take place 11/2-11/4, 2006. Registration must be received by 9/15/06. Information available on www.district7170.org .

*Volunteers for Bike Tioga are still needed. Contact Judy Kip or Al Sunderwirth.

*Training for bike weekend safety workers will be Wednesday (8/9), 6 PM at the Tioga County Chamber of Commerce/Tourism office.

*Also on Wednesday (8/9), workers will again meet at the home of Jody Rose, 32 Armstrong Place, Owego, from 5-8PM to help remove flood damaged plaster walls in the first floor.

Youth Services information:

Inbound Exchange Students’ arrivals: Mrinalini Koka Siddhartha, from India, attending Newark Valley, arriving Monday 8/14/06, at 7:16 PM; Suzanne Schagen, from Netherlands, attending OFA, arriving Tuesday, 8/22/06, at 6:48 PM. Please come to the airport to greet these girls and make them feel welcome. Regular monthly Youth Services meeting tomorrow, Wednesday 8/9/06, at 7:30 AM, Treadway.

Program:

Laura introduced Chelsea Solan, from Newark Valley, who spent the last year in Germany. Chelsea became interested in being an exchange student when she looked into housing Lisa Jane a couple of years ago. Chelsea couldn’t be a host but became interested in becoming an exchange student when she viewed a video provided by her guidance counselor. She applied, interviewed and was accepted. She had taken German and liked “The Sound of Music,” and her wish to go to Germany came true.

Chelsea was awed by German sights and liked her travels and times with the 45 other exchange students in her district who were from all over the world, including five from the Northeast USA. She was surprised by how much German kids were like Americans in their dress and their taste in music and films (in German) and that there McDonald’s Restaurants everywhere. Through it all, though, traditional Bavarian culture has remained strong.

Her school in Bavaria, the largest of the 16 German states, was completely different, with the class staying together all day and the teachers moving in and out of the room. The school day ended at 1 PM and there was no lunch served. Special activities like gym met in the afternoons. It would not be unusual for one student to be asked to recite the lesson for the day. A student can be asked to leave the school if they don't do well enough academically.

Thanks to the efforts of several Rotarians, the projector finally was able to show Chelsea’s photos. Her pictures, gathered throughout her experience, were excellent and she had them displayed extremely well in the Power Point program. Chelsea gave a top-notch presentation which was really enjoyable as well as informative.

50/50: Chelsea Solan!

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