Rotary Lunch

Today the students from my school (who are going abroad next year) and I went to volunteer at a local rotary lunch. It was a free lunch for senior citizens that our rotary club put together. There were about 250 people who came. There was a jazz duet that played music and a raffle for a bunch of different kinds of prizes. We got to the school where it was held pretty early in the morning and helped decorate the school cafeteria with Valentine’s Day decorations. Then we served lunch and desert and then cleared the table. There were a lot of Rotarians there, and a Boy Scout Troop was helping as well.

We were asked earlier in the week if we wanted to attend the lunch (it was totally optional) and we decided to go because it was a good chance to meet our rotary club members and because, well, it’s just a nice thing to do anyway. I talked to several elderly couples who were of Polish decent (Poland is the country I’m tentatively assigned to) and learned a few new Polish phrases and some helpful tips. Some people were offended when I mentioned living in Poland for a year– something that surprised me a lot! I suppose it could be because of the time period they grew up in, but I don’t know. The rotary club members, however, were very enthusiastic and talked a great deal to me, and the other people who came with me.

When I first applied to be an exchange student, I was told that rotary expects you to help them with service and dedication. So I guess today is a perfect example of what they expect of out us. Anyway… the next orientation is still March 15th.

Some News

I found out the other day that the person from my school who was accepted as an alternate has now been promoted. Now he is going to Poland too! I am really excited about this, because I think it will be good to have someone in my time zone to talk to. The other student and I will be on opposite ends of the country, but we’ll still be experiencing similar things I’m sure. That’s the only news I’ve received since the orientation in early January.

I have yet to get my passport, so that’s next on my list. I’ve been trying to study Polish but I haven’t been very successful. I know how to say stuff like yes, no, hello, goodbye, thank you, and I don’t speak Polish, but that’s it. I have also been reading daily news from the two places I might live in. I actually have a dinner scheduled this Friday night with someone who spent several months in Poland a few years ago, so I’m hoping to learn some new stuff. And I’ve started collecting pins for my rotary jacket. The rotary blazer is something I really don’t understand. We were instructed to collect pins, but we haven’t been told what for yet. I have all sorts of things on the blazer… political pins, track pins, American flags, pieces of an old ipod. Pretty much anything I could find lying around I pinned on the thing.

There’s really not much going on right now, so there’s nothing to write about. The rotary assignments (or suggestions, anyway) for this month are to:

1) make address book of family and friends
2) write out personal goals for exchange year
3) start planning speech/presentation for host Rotary club (I don’t even know what this means)
4) apply for debit/credit card
5) take pictures/video of home
6) study language and culture

Anyway. The next orientation is still in March. So yeah…