Ambassador of Goodwill and Peace

Someone thinks I am good enough to be one of those...an ambassador of goodwill and peace. That is what they call us at Rotary.

Wow.

I went to an orientation this weekend which is required for all non-Rotarians travelling abroad in 2007 on behalf of Rotary International. There were scholarship recipients who are in the process of getting their masters degrees, university professors who are going to teach (and learn) at foreign universities and us; the GSE teams. Our entire team was there and one other GSE team who is leaving for Argentina next week.

The orientation was excellent. We learned more about Rotary, the GSE program and what is expected of us before, during and after our travels. They taught us public speaking skills to prepare us for speaking in front of Rotary groups as small as 12 people and as large as 200! I can feel the butterflies already! There was a special agent from the US Dept. of International somethin'-or-other...some fancy name like that...who spoke to us about travel safety. Some of these people are going to pretty scary countries where there is worry of kidnapping, surveillance, thievery, war, anti-American feelings and lots of other scary, scary problems!

Shortly after I walked into the welcome reception on Friday night, a lady named Jean asked for a ride to pick up her son at a nearby train station. I volunteered (mostly because then I could leave this room full of people I did not know!!) but also because she seemed nice, fun and if I were in her shoes, I would appreciate someone like me saying yes and offering a ride. She had directions and a map and said it would take 8 minutes to get there and we would be back in 20 minutes...no problem...except we returned 1 hour and 20 minutes later! She kept saying she was sorry to keep me away from the people I was there to meet and I kept thinking in my head "No problem! It scares the crap out of me to be in a room full of people I don't know!!" I guess I better get over that before I leave, huh??!!

All over this area were detours, construction, one way streets, events where streets were blocked off and nothing, NOTHING made sense to easily get on and off freeways. It was crazy! Jean was so nice and kept coming up with fun things about Rotary and telling me about her trip and her story. She was an Ambassadorial Scholar 16 years ago and travelled to England study teaching the deaf to speak and read. Did you know that deaf people can't read above the 4th grade level?? I didn't. Reading is sound driven so they usually don't know how to read. This was Jean's study focus and the scholarship she received from the Rotary Foundation has changed not only her life, but the lives of all her students. Some of her students have gone on to colleges after having learned to read, write and speak. She is nothing less than a modern day Helen Keller! I am so grateful to have had that one on one time with her on that car ride.

So...I learned a lot this weekend, and one thing I know for sure is that I need to polish my presentation and my speaking skills! I have my eyes on two different Toastmasters groups that I will join and hopefully get more tips on how to give good presentations. I can feel the butterflies swarming!!

Oh yes, and a few general updates for you:

Uniforms--the scarves have arrived and they are a slightly less offensive than I originally thought. I received one of the two black dress jackets I will use for uniforms and I love it! The other one should be here later this week...

German lessons--I can feel they are getting harder, but still going well. I am on Level 1, Unit 5, Lesson 4. Pretty good! Hopefully I can keep up this pace, there are many other things I am working on these days and sometimes I actually forget I am trying to learn a new language.

Next meeting--here at my house next week. I am pretty sure the focus will be presentations! The whole team freaked out a little bit at this past weekend's workshop! I think I will serve a German themed meal...surprise, surprise!! Sausages, potato salad and German beer.