Tuesday, March 12, 2024

March 12 Meeting Notes

President Craig opened the meeting today.  He welcomed visiting Rotarians Robin DeRock (Confluence) and Mark Shorb (Cashmere).

Announcements

Alan asked for volunteers to serve as parade marshalls for the Apple Blossom Youth Parade on April 27.  This is a fun service we've done for the past several years.  Go to this link https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090C4DAFA72DA7F58-48442481-2024 and sign up for the youth parade, and the first option (Youth Parade Route).  Enter your info and shirt size.

Road Apple Roulette tickets sold at 1400+ so far.  Some activities coming up where we can sell.  More on the dates and places later.

The club Board and members will be getting the new communications website (DACdb) and app (Ignite) training over the next few weeks.

President-elect Rebecca will be sending out a club survey soon.  This will help her in planning for next year.  Watch you email, and please fill out and submit (it will be online).

Julie talked about the conference she and Joel attended in Vancouver, BC.  The North American Youth Exchange Network attracted over 500 youth exchange leaders for around the world to discuss various issues related to the YE program.

Craig invited members interested in joining the Board for a strategic planning session facilitated by district leaders on March 23 (9:00 - 12:00).  It will be by Zoom, and people can connect at their homes.  Contact Jim Adamson if interested and he can get you the link.

Mark Shorb of the Cashmere Rotary Club announced the they are doing a pickleball tournament June 29-30 at their Founders Day event.  He is looking of business sponsors and players.  See Jim Adamson if you need a sponsor form.  Player sign ups will be later.

Brags & Confessions

Earl bragged about the UW beating the Cougs in basketball (an upset).

Carol bragged about Laerke doing such a great job when we visited the other clubs in the area, and bragged on Julie for the great work she is doing in the YE program.

Kevin had a birthday on Feb. 22.  He and Lynn were on a 17-day ski trip, but it was interrupted by Kevin's brother-in-law passing away.

Chris went to California for a wildfire mitigation conference related to power lines and utilities.

Rebecca bragged that she attended a women-only power tool workshop, but failed to recognize Jennifer's husband, John, who own the shop.

Wayne S. went to the Chelan club with his wife and Laerke to sell RAR tickets.

Alan bragged on Julie and Joel and their son Zach for the good work they for the YE program.  Alan also said his brother did some work on the family tree and got it back to Adam and Eve (is it the truth?).

Sgt. At Arms

Wayne gave Craig a chance to brag about his trip to Florida.  Craig attended the Echo Global Farming conference.  The EGF helps people from developing countries learn farming and nutrition methods.

Julie was fined for the nice photo of Cashmere that had in the Foothill magazine.

Wayne also mentioned that one of the Australian Group Study Exchange team members who visited the Wenatchee area several years ago has passed away following a long battle with cancer.

Program

Laerke (our Denmark YE student) gave her presentation today.  She had a great program with slides, and talked about Denmark.  She discussed their government, traditions, food, schools, sports, language, geography, economy, and history.

Laerke talked about her life before coming on the exchange,and the differences she has observed in the US.  She has been very involved in activities at WHS  and in our community.  She has visited many places around the state, and will be leaving for Hawaii for a week, and then New York and DC on YE tours.

After Notes

Mark's raffle ticket was drawn.  He opted for the marble pot but didn't draw the right marble.

Monday, March 11, 2024

March 5th Meeting Notes

Scroll down to read an update from Pearl!

Announcements
  • Kathleen - April 2nd is a training for the ignite app, waiting for confirmation for 2 other dates
  • Kelly - justice gala, membership meeting is at Cashmere Valley Bank on March 15th
  • Alan - social is not tonight, next Tuesday night, tap room, 
  • Laerka - busy week, joined tennis, joined theater, skiing, arcade, bowling, lunch with rotary counselor
  • RAR - 1251 tickets sold, senior center article, sell tickets at senior center lunch time Wednesday the 20th, thank you Allie for the shirts, send Emma an email, first shirt free second one costs $20
  • Rebecca - Made apple pecan bread



Brags

  • Eric - 4th grand baby, spent 10 days in france with Joseph their exchange student skiing, met with son in Israel 
  • Wayne - confession, hot steaming water, held it out the window
  • John Schapman - school auction went well
  • Jim - WSU cougar basketball team is finally ranked, cashmere club Wednesday, East Wenatchee club Thursday, Leavenworth Friday, confluence club Tuesday
  • Alan - He put a dinner with him and Kelly up for auction 4 years ago, they finally had the dinner last week
  • Rebecca - Astoria Oregon, fisher poets, caught a cold
  • Wayne Steele - Chelan club today


Chad Holiday

  • race car driver super oval
  • 2-20 cars a day, always working on a race car
  • Super Oval is 50 years old
  • Racing since he was 15, won races and was hooked
  • Upgraded facility
  • Saturday nights
  • Starting when you’re 7, like a little league
  • Racing full size cars at 12
  • Racing with no one in the stands, NCW Life broadcasted it
  • $35,000 cars
  • 11 cars in 2021
  • 2022 had 20 cars in that class
  • Currently have 23 cars in class, quickest building class in the northwest
  • Racing is stupid expense, there should be AA for it
  • Buy engine locally
  • No electric race cars in his lifetime
  • 4,800 square foot shop at his house
  • Wife used to race
  • He worked at McDonald’s to afford his first car
  • More sponsors equal more work for the racer
  • Most people have lots of sponsors
  • Build car, sponsors to help run on a weekly basis
  • Went to a lot of NASCAR races
  • 3rd weekend of April is opening night



Raffle

Bill's ticket was pulled, he chose to spin the wheel and won $5. 



Mark's joke: A snail was having trouble racing, so he got rid of his shell. It made him more sluggish!



Update from Pearl:


Time is flying! I can't believe it's already March! Here is my recap of the month :) -


February was so fun, maybe one of my best months here yet! The first week of February here there is something called Chrysostomos. It’s the graduating class’s ‘big thing’ kind of like the senior prank in the US. They get to lock all the younger grades in the school courtyard and basically just chase everyone down and completely trash them for an hour. They all bring lipsticks, hair coloring spray, smoke bombs, whipped cream, and basically whatever they can think of. 

At the end of that, the two grades right below the graduating class are invited to a show the graduating class puts on where they make fun of a ton of different teachers and students who end up on their ‘blacklist’ and bring them on to stage to do funny challenges and get even more filthy. I got to go to that but the lower grades still have to go to class, although the classrooms are also all completely trashed. It was super fun. The one not so fun part was by the end of the day everything and everyone smelled absolutely awful from the whipped cream. 

After Chrysostomos there’s a short vacation. My host mom took her last host daughter and I to Spain together for almost the whole week. Spain was so beautiful. We visited Madrid, Valencia, and Barcelona. I think Madrid was my favorite city, but La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona was my favorite activity. It was so intricate and beautiful. 

The weekend after school started back up was carnival. The carnival in Flanders is a very unique carnival. The carnival ‘royals’ spend around 30k each on things to throw into the crowd during parades so I now have more candy and stuff than I know what to do with. There was so much color and fun music, it was a really unique experience. February was a great month! 


Me after Chrysostomos


Friday, March 1, 2024

February 27 meeting notes

 Announcements

Laerke gave her weekly report.  Kathleen took her and a friend to Seattle for the weekend.  Lots of food and fun.  She will be playing tennis and doing some theater this spring at the high school.  She leaves in a couple weeks for Hawaii, and then to New York shortly after getting back.

Earl reminded everyone to pay their quarterly dues.  Next quarter's dues will be emailed out in April.

RAR - Wayne reported that about 1200 tickets have been sold so far (3800 to go).  T-shirts will be made at Allie's home next Monday at 5:00.  Everyone is welcome to help.  Her address is 1400 Westpoint Pl, Wenatchee.     Wayne S and Chris will be going to the Chelan club to sell tickets.  Jim & Carol will be visiting Leavenworth (3/8), Cashmere (3/6), Wenatchee (13), and East Wenatchee (3/7).  Let them know if you'd like to join them.  Anyone want to do Confluence?

March 23 will be a non-profit day at Pybus for organizations to set up booths and talk to people about their groups.  We will have a booth to sell tickets and answer questions about Rotary (new members?).

Kathleen reported that we will soon be switching from ClubRunner to DacDB for our website.  There will be a training on the new web system on 3/19 or 3/26, and another on 4/9 to go over the new app we can use to access club and member info.

March 23 from 9-12 the Board will be doing a zoom meeting with district facilitators to work on strategic planning for the coming few years.

Brags and Confessions

Earl has a new grandbaby (Ethan and member Kaity VanWeerdhuizen) named Isabell.

Kelly got to have time with her grandbaby.

Allie spent 3 days skiing at Mission with a friend, but got run into on the first day, so is bruised up.


Wayne (Sgt. at Arms) had Julie come up and recognized her (and fined her $2) for the nice color picture in the paper.  She had an article as a Master Gardener.  He also recognized her for the great work she does in the district youth exchange program.



Program

Mark introduced Ruben Payan Jr. as our program speaker.  Ruben is a former Marine who has climbed the 8 major mountains in the world over the last 10 years.  He talked about how he transformed his life, and is now promoting positive thinking and motivation through his climbing.  Each climb is to honor taking on life's mountains, and inspiring others to reach their full potential and live beyond their limits.

Ruben does motivational speaking, and is a realtor in the Wenatchee area.

Ruben has written a book on his journey and has created a short film.  He is now writing a second book and making a longer film.  More info can be found on his website at www.powerfulhuman.com.

Wayne won the raffle draw.  We now have the option of trying to draw the marble for what is in the pot (now $65) or spinning the wheel to get anywhere between $2 and $30.  He chose the wheel and won $10.



Sunday, February 25, 2024

February 20th Meeting Notes

Announcements

  • Laerka went to Bellingham with her host family, visted a llama farm, met extended family members of her host family
  • Craig - next Tuesday after the Rotary meeting we reserved the space to meet about challenge scholarship, Stacy Gold left the club
  • Kathleen - The club is working on the move to DACDB, documents that were stored in Club Runner are now in DACDB
  • Wayne - RAR 1008 tickets sold
  • Rebecca - Went to PETS and it was amazing
  • We will do Sergeant at arms after brags


Brags

  • Jim - $1 for grandson who went to state for wrestling and is top 10 in state for his weight class, vacation $2
  • Jennifer - 3 date nights $3, snow shoe dinner, greatest piano man, Leavenworth wine club tasting, and she won another raffle
  • Rebecca - some of her RAR tickets got ruined, protect your tickets in a plastic bag
  • Laerka - $3 for the only 3 days of school she is attending this week, going to Seattle on Friday
  • Alan - had his grandson for 2 days
  • John Schapman- wife’s birthday, school auction
  • Wenatchee club - roast and toast, $125 for tickets going to SAGE



Program

  • Pete VanWell, VanWell nursery
  • Top agriculture products are apples, milk, potatoes, wheat, wine is sexy so they get what they want
  • Nursery brings in about $368 million
  • Cross pollination, apples have something like an autoimmune response to other pollens and it’s own pollen, Galas don’t pollinate themselves, the apple varieties need each other
  • Reproduction, asexual, grafting, 20 year process to replace a certified tree
  • Grafting down by hand, 2 million buds hand grafted, the bidder and the tie-er
  • Tree = rootstock + scion
  • Takes 20 years for a variety to go through the process
  • The VanWell nursery has 100 acres of orchard, Quincy and Moses lake, 124 people full time, office in east Wenatchee, seasonal work
  • Unique cider apple varieties, sweet apples, golden delicious, pippen varieties 


Raffle

  • Kevin, $54, didn't win

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Meeting Notes February 13, 2024

The Tuesday meeting of the Wenatchee Sunrise Rotary Club was brought to order by President Craig Reese.
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag was led by President-Elect Rebecca Lyons.
Club member Becky Cummins led the club in a brief prayer.

Announcements

President Craig announced that this would be a service day at the club, and we would be talking about club business, instead of having a speaker. (This occurs once each quarter.)

Our Youth Exchange student from Denmark, Laerke, introduced our club's out-bound student Abby, who will be going to Spain next year.

Youth Exchange Coordinator Julie Banken discussed the recent trip to Merritt, BC, in-bound and out-bound YE students. Many Native cultural events and foods were experienced by all. Several "rebound" YE students, who have already been abroad and returned, spoke at the event. Some of them have joined together to form a club called Ro-Techs. For the last two years, our District 5060 has not had any "rebound" students because of CoVid travel restrictions. The YE students in Merritt attended a hockey game between two 1st Nation teams, and then enjoyed time in a heated pool. Laerke said she had very little exposure in school regarding 1st Nation people.

Both Allen Walker and Jim Adamson sent reminders of tonight's Rotary Social at the Taproom in Pybus at 5:01 pm, Tuesday, Feb. 13th. Food and beverages are available. Please attend if you can.

Rebecca Lyons had tickets for "The Greatest Piano Men" at the PAC but could not attend as she would be in SeaTac for PETS (President-Elect Training Seminar). She auctioned off the tickets. Wayne Massing gave her $20 for them. The money goes to the club's treasury. 

President Craig announced that Pybus was increasing our room rental rates by $20 per meeting, from $50 to $70. He also said we would be charged a $35 cleaning fee unless we put our chairs on the chair cart at the end of the meeting. We agreed we could do that. Pres. Craig reminded us that within our budget we have allotted $100 for room rental and set-up. We are well below that amount now.

A major fundraiser for the club has eluded us, but we will keep our eyes and ears open for one. Contact Craig if you have ideas.

Earl said that Allie Schank is working on Road Apple Roulette t-shirts for those who have ordered them. The delay is because we want to get the logos for our sponsors on the back of the shirts and Allie is waiting for some sponsors to provide those. The t-shirts are work-in-progress.

Sargent-At-Arms

Wayne Massing asked Emma CrowE for $1 for forgetting to bring the Road Apple Roulette ticket "thermometer" to the meeting. Jennifer Moraski was asked to pay $1 for being late to the meeting. Several 49er fans were asked to donate $1 each to the club for their team's losing the Super Bowl. Wayne Massing was fined $1 by President Craig for asking him to buy Road Apple Roulette tickets at dinner at Wayne's house. (Craig bought $250 worth and gave Wayne a check for them.)

Road Apple Roulette

Milt asked why the prize for the Road Apple Roulette wasn't lower at $5,000. Earl said they wanted it to be a significant prize and $10,000 was agreed upon. Also, he said the ticket price was set at just $5 because a $10 ticket is a bit high. We want to sell out all 5,000 tickets for RAR this year, then we MAY increase the number of tickets in each section to beyond 1,000.

Tickets are now available from either of the club Wayne's. If you need more tickets, bags, rules, map, flyers, let either Wayne know. Also, bring your sold tickets stubs and payments for them to either way at the social or at the weekly Tuesday meeting. Please use the small white money slip to indicate how many tickets were sold by "your name" and how they have been purchased (cash, check or credit card). The Wayne's keep the stubs to enter into the drawing, they enter the names into the RAR spreadsheet, then pass the monies on to Treasurer Earl.

Sell, sell, sell!!!


Wenatchee Sunrise Rotary Club "Challenge Scholarship Program"

Pres. Craig opened a discussion about our Challenge Scholarship Program. "Finish high school" has always been the main goal of the program. Several club members (some mentors) asked about which high school(s) the students have come from and why only from Westside High School? David Barshes, co-program director with Craig Reese, said that repeated requests to Wenatchee HS and Eastmont HS went unanswered, so only Westside students were entered into the program.
President Craig acknowledged that we needed to have more discussions about Challenge Scholarship Program overall in the near future.

Club Goals for Rotary Year 2023-2024

Pres. Craig reviewed two of his major goals for his presidential year: club membership levels and member donations to The Rotary Foundation.
His goal is to have 45 members in the club. We have lost a few members, and we have 2 honorary members who can't be counted in the membership.
We currently have one club member who has bequeathed $10,000 to The Rotary Foundation. Another donation suggestion is to give The Rotary Foundation $1,000 over the course of a year. See Craig if you wish to donate.

Raffle

Carl French was the lucky member to get his raffle ticket drawn, but failed to find the silver ball worth $41 today.

Mark VanHorne closed the meeting with a Dad Joke and a groan! Meeting ended at 8:00 am.

Saturday, February 3, 2024

January 30th Meeting Notes

January 30, 2024

Announcements:

  • Wayne talked about Road Apple Roulette had started and if you needed ticket packets, please see him.  Also, if you have money to turn in with the ticket stubs, please turn them in to him or Wayne Massing when he gets back.

  • Kathleen brought up about the NWC Home show this weekend Feb 3rd and 4th.  She thanked every one that signed up for selling RAR tickets at the event.

  • Earl brought up that if you win over $600 in our weekly raffle it needs to be reported to the IRS and taxes paid.  It was discovered by the Club Accounting firm because Wayne Massing last year had won over $600 and so paperwork had to be filed.


Brags and Confessions

  • Allen bragged about Kelly and his trip to Maui.  It was very relaxing, fun and he got a good tan.  Kelly chimed in and said she was a little afraid about a sightseeing helicopter ride but the ride scenery “beautiful”.




Program

  • Kathleen introduced Dory Foster Chief Executive Officer on the Wenatchee YMCA.

  • Dory was hired in 2016 as the first female executive in the YMCA’s 114-year history.  She is a certified Organizational Leader with the YMCA of USA with 23 years of servant, chief executive, and executive level leadership in non-profit management in small and large YMCAs in Pennsylvania and Albany, New York.

  • Under Dory’s leadership, the Wenatchee Valley YMCA in now debt free, has increased revenue by $1.5M, is financially sustainable, and has led the charge for licensed childcare in the valley, serving 450 children daily in seven locations.

  • Last year they gave $489,792 in scholarships and subsidies to eligible daycare families.

  • Dory talked about the YMCA’s vision to address the evolving needs of the YMCA family and that the exciting progress on building a new facility on the old PUD property off of Wenatchee Avenue and 5th Street.

  • Dory showed a flythrough of the building and how it will address the future needs of the YMCA and showing slides of what the present facility building is now.  Dory pointed out a designed changing room off the pool. She then talked about a disabled individual that because of the need to have a changing room that allows the person to be lifted onto a table to be changed this is what drove the design of the changing room.

  • Dory discussed the funding projection and a need for additional donations either in-person, Mail, Online, or Multi- Year Pledge. She gave some examples multi-year pledges by some businesses.  She expressed gratitude to all the community support because that drives the possibility of both State and Federal support.

  • Dory brought up that right now there is an opportunity to get matching monies from Cordell, Neher & Company and the CNC Financial Group of up to $162,000 until Valentines Day for anybody that donates until then.

  • Question from the floor: How solid are State and Federal funds?  Dory said that they are pledged for 5 years but not totally committed but the nice thing is that they can be scaled up if needed.

  • Dory also talked about that they streamlined that Design/Build process by using a firm that can do both so as soon as the design is done building costs can be calculated.  Essentially Design=Cost.

  • Dory was presented a book to sign for donation to Pinnacles Prep Charter School Library.


Raffle

  • Raffle amount was $16.  Bill’s ticket was drawn, but no luck, pot is building up.


Joke

  • Mark: “My friend’s kids made a PowerPoint presentation about why they should go to a water park.?  Answer: It had many slides!”   Ba-da-bum (cymbal clash)

 

Monday, January 29, 2024

January 23rd Notes

Announcements

  • Glenn will be absent temporarily
  • Laerka had a quiet week. She hung out with family, went sledding, and she's looking forward to next semester. Denmark is winning all their games in handball.
  • Craig announced that instead of doing the marble raffle draw, we will be using the wheel.
  • RAR tickets are available to club members. 
  • Wayne Massing, packets, 50 tickets, 10 in each section, receipts, contact Wayne Steele for more tickets or for turning in money
  • Email from Jim and Carol on selling tips. 
  • Earl sent out invoices.
  • We can take cash or check for ticket sales, not allowed to sell tickets online or through the mail, no Venmo, very strict gambling laws, we can accept card at club events with Square.





Brags

  • Earl, $53 because he had a birthday, $1 because he passed a kidney stone
  • Jim, him and Carol had birthdays recently so $75
  • Wayne Massing, attended dancing with the Wenatchee stars, fun social event
  • Julie, went to brunch with parents of outbound parents 


Program

  • Taro Masudo
  • Medtronic
  • 22 years
  • Moved to Wenatchee in 2004
  • Clinical specialist
  • In 2001, trained in South Carolina, pacemaker school
  • Checking electrical values of heart
  • New, small pacemaker goes through the femoral artery
  • New pacemakers can disperse heat from an MRI
  • Occasionally called into the open heart room
  • On call 24/7
  • GED, gap year in Spain, university of Utah, best skiing, Spanish degree, pacemaker school for 4 years, a year of training at company



Raffle was $9. Bill's ticket was drawn, but no luck! Try again next week.


Lifeflight - everything is in


Joke - Mark “One of my friends is a train operator. I asked him how many trains have derailed? He said It’s hard to keep track."  


Pearl sent an awesome email update about study abroad. The email and some photos are below. 


Hello! 


This is my recap of the last few months!

The past months have been so full of so many incredible experiences, and I can't believe that I'm already halfway through my exchange. I've been so busy. Almost every week has been a new thing and there are still so many things I want to do and see while I'm here. I think that the last time that I sent an update was in September, so there is a lot to write about. I'll try to contain myself to just the highlights of each month, but we'll see how I do. 

In the beginning of October, I got to go to Paris, which I think I mentioned in my last email. Paris has been a city I've wanted to see for as long as I can remember. My host family took me and we went with two other exchange students and their families for two days and one night. It was so beautiful. I got to see the Eiffle tower light up at night, practice my French, see the Louvre and the Notre Dame remains, along with the Champs-Elysees and so many more spots. It was a heavily packed two days. 

I think my favorite thing was seeing the Eiffel tower at night. It was just so beautiful to see. It was actually funny though because I was sitting with my friend's host mom and we realized that we were both watching the same couple and I was about to say something along the lines of 'wouldn't it be cool to see someone get engaged here?',  but right before I could say it, she said word for word what I had been thinking.  Less than a minute later, the guy couple in front of us that we had been watching proposed. I guess that's not a crazy coincidence considering it's Paris, but it was still cool timing. 

In November, I went on a trip again with my host family and a Thai exchange student to a Belgian city called Ypres. It's a super historical town, and I got to see some incredible immersive museums and walk in trenches used during the World Wars.  We also stopped at the Belgian coast on our way home which was beautiful. Although, we did go during a crazy storm which actually made it hard to walk just because of how much rain there was and how much it was raining. I thought that it was a really fun adventure. I was definitely enjoying it more than the others. 

December was full of day trips with Rotary, concerts, and new Christmas traditions. The Belgian kind of have some American influence with a Santa figure they call  Kerst-man, but what the kids actually believe in and what is way more popular is Sinter Klaas. Sinter-Klaas is a Dutch story and rather than being from the North Pole like Santa, SinterKlaas is from Turkey. On the nights leading up to Christmas starting in November , you put your shoes by the fireplace and when you wake up there is a cookie or a chocolate or some other snack. Normally only really young kids do that, but my host family thought it would be fun for me to experience so I got to join in. Then, on December 6th, SinterKlaas brings lots of candies and gifts to everyone. 

Another fun thing about SinterKlaas is that it is super well organized. He "arrives from Turkey" by boat in Antwerp and slowly makes his way across Belgium on a planned schedule. It's not the same person playing him every time, but there is only one Sinterklass in every city and he follows the schedule so it really feels real to the kids. It's definitely not like in the US where every store has its own Santa. When SinterKlaas arrives, he comes on horseback with his helpers and they play music and throw candies to all the children who came to welcome them. There is actually a lot of political controversy around the helpers- the Zwarte Piet, and when I was learning about it everyone was very enthusiastic about giving me their opinion. 

In December there were also a ton of Christmas markets that were really fun to see. My favorite had to be Dinant or Brussels. Christmas we celebrated on Christmas Eve, and it was not super different from what I'm used to. It was just different food mainly, but one thing I really liked is that you go and visit your family on Christmas day (or at least my family did). We would go have coffee and talk with my host moms parents, and then a different family member would come so we walked to the next house of another family to catch up with and so on. It was really sweet. 

On New Year's Eve it's typical that you go visit the grave of a deceased family member but it was raining too hard for us to do that. I spent New Years with my friend Ozzy, his girlfriend, and his host brothers, which was really fun. We went to their local Christmas market, checked out the parties that were going on around town, and then came home and played cards and danced until midnight with the family. I also had a Rotary New Years Gala a few days later. It also snowed around then. It was maybe 5 inches and everyone was outraged that schools were still opened which I thought was really funny. Most of the schools actually did close. Only two other girls showed up from my class and we did basically nothing all day.  

I tried to keep things in this update somewhat short, but I've also gotten to do so many day trips throughout Belgium, the Netherlands, and even Germany a little bit with my families, with Rotary, and with friends that I didn’t mention. It's been really cool. One of the things I love about being an exchange student here in a small country is that I really feel like I've gotten to know it so well. I also recently moved host families. I really love this host family, and things feel really good with them. I was having some difficulties in school, nothing big, but I actually switched my class so now I have all my classes with my host sister. It's really nice because we are super similar and get along really well. My host brother is obsessed with all things American, especially American snacks so we get along too. My host mom is also taking my friend and I to Spain in a couple of weeks while the rest of my host family goes to NYC, so that's something I'm really looking forward to.  

Everything is going so well, and I'm loving my time here so much. I'm so grateful that I got this opportunity. 

I also want to thank everyone for the cards. I'm lucky and I haven't really had any issues with homesickness but spending the holidays away from home was a little weird nonetheless, and it was nice to know that I had people at home thinking of me. 

Thank you for everything! 

Pearl Spurrell






March 12 Meeting Notes

President Craig opened the meeting today.  He welcomed visiting Rotarians Robin DeRock (Confluence) and Mark Shorb (Cashmere). Announcements...