Bulletin No 36, 2017/18

Bulletin report by Russell Bridge

President Ken Jenkyn opened the meeting at 7pm and welcomed all Members, Member’s Guests Lee Warner, Ramon and Damian and Honorary Rotarian Paul Goldie.

Invocation: Jamie Hart

Raffle winner: Paul Mather

President’s Report: Ken Jenkyn Bulletin error from last week: the board meeting was held March 28 There will be a Board Meeting on Wednesday May 2 at Bob Boord’s place.

President Ken will let Directors make their individual reports We need to be careful that comments made in front of non-members are not

derogatory. We may ask questions. Last meeting a statement was made suggesting our Club did not support international projects. This is not so. I believe we judge projects on their merit and support those that we decide are worthy of our support

Secretary’s Report – Barry Rollond: Leave of absence request received from John Gray from May 1 until August

Treasurer’s Report – Brian Colliver: No report

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Bulletin

Rotary Club of Esperance

Meeting: Rotary Shed, April 16, 2018Bulletin No 36, 2017/18

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Club Administration – Director Rob Gurney: Club Officer training April 28/29 in Kalgoorlie requiring an overnight stay.

Venue is the Tower Hotel with start time 1.00pm Saturday, finishing lunchtime Sunday, allowing Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon for travel. Suggest those going run a car pool. John Honey would like a lift if possible. It is recommend that all newer incoming board members attend. When booking accommodation mention the training seminar and ask for a discount. District training team members are staying at the hotel. As Rob will be on leave in Perth his attendance is doubtful

Community Report – Director Allan Timmins: Anzac day coming up, job sheet passed around for volunteers on the day

Youth Report – Director Scott Mackie: Received an application for youth exchange for next year from Lewis

Florisson

Vocational Report – Director Matthew Scott: No report

International Report – Director Rob Leiper: Julie Starcevich spoke last week, she didn’t ask for funds on the night but

maybe we can help with the water pump she spoke about at an approximate cost of $2500

Membership Report – Director Bob Boord No report

From the Floor: President Ken spoke on some ideas for projects in which we could get

involved Nursing home extensions/internal fit out approximately $90,000 Cambodia project Jetty issue Waste disposal site Adventureland playground upgrade $6,800 for a new boat for kids to climb

on

Lookout could be improved/added to. Lighting was mentioned as something that we were going to do

Club mentoring Clontarf/ Wongutha has fallen away Fathering project: encouraging fathers to spend more time with their children

one on one. Hugh MacKenzie spoke on the Anchoring Project mentoring youth at risk or those who are disadvantaged

Ken has been asked for an article for Rotary Down Under on a project that we have been involved in. Paul Goldie volunteered to write

Kim Beale reported that council has a group looking at the Dempster Headland

Jamie Hart suggested our Lookout walkway needs attention very soon

Sergeant’s Session

Sergeant - Chas Brodie-HallSergeant’s Assistant – Paul Mather

Various members were fined by the Sergeant for offences great and small:wine winner Paul Mather; Wes fined for his horse winning again; Ewan fined for his caravanning exploits, not quite making it home before his axle snapped after towing it all over Australia; Lee Warner for somehow being responsible for Gracetown shark attacks; President Ken for his boring shirt; many taxes; various birthdays and anniversaries; Russell for letting Paul take the rap from President Ken for bulletin errors.

Guest Speaker – No speaker

Guest Speaker introduction: -Guest Speaker thanks: -

Attendance Report – John Harding:

Members 40 Present 28 Honorary Members 1 Leave of Absence 0 Apologies 4 Silent 2 Club guests 3 Member’s guests 0 Member’s wives 0

Visiting Rotarians 0 Exchange students 0 Percentage 77%

Next meeting’s program – Ewin Stewart:

April 23 at the Golf Club

Guest Speaker: Sonja Andrews from the RSL

Invocation: Bob Boord Sergeant Assist: Jim Spence Student Host: Guest Speaker Intro: John Bridges Guest Speaker Thanks: Neil McCallum Standby: Paul Mack

President Ken thanked Members, the Honorary Member and the Member’s Guests, closing the meeting with the National Anthem.

Calendar reminders

April 23: meeting at the Golf ClubApril 25: Anzac DayMay 2: Board Meeting at Bob Boord’s place

Please note: if you have not received your Bulletin by Friday of the week of the meeting please inform Paul Goldie at paul.goldie1@bigpond.com

The Club has a dedicated phone for apologies either by verbal message or SMS text.Please notify by 10am on the day of the meeting. The phone number is 0419 924 686.

Club Website details: www.esperancerotary.org.auLog-in and password: as per Rotary email 17/4/14

Ken Jenkyn is available to assist any members who are having difficulty in accessing the Rotary website. He can also assist with recovering forgotten passwords and log-in details. Contact him at ken@perdita.com.au or 0411 119 003.

Letter From Katie Q in Czech Republic:

Dear Rotary Club of Esperance,

Dobry Den (Greetings) from here in the Czech Republic. I’m sorry I have not had the chance to sit down and give you an update on my exchange life so far- but I was going to wait until I felt more settled with my environment before I could describe to you all my new life over here. So now, sitting on the grass outside my second host families house, the sun shining and the day feeling like a spring day back in Australia I thought now would be the best time.

I hope all is well and all the rotary projects are going to plan- I’m glad to see how well the rotary lookout is going! I’m also thinking that you must miss Kei a lot and his interactive personality. It was great getting to know him a bit more, not only learning about his Japanese culture and his great humour but also learning about what should be expected from a rotary exchange student.

Before coming on exchange, I decided that I would share Kei’s outlook. Saying yes to anything that could grant me more experiences and would help make the best of my exchange year. So far, I’ve already met so many new and interesting people and I’ve already done things I never thought I would and it hasn’t even been 3 months. I’ve already done skiing, and I tried snowboarding for the first time, I tutor a friends brother in English, I’ve joined a swimming club and a volleyball club and that’s only to name a few.. And yet I already find myself loving this rollercoaster of a ride that not only has my family supported me in partaking but also through the support and hard work of your Rotary club of Esperance. Before sharing my experiences with you I would like to express my gratitude that you have been able to support me in giving me this experience. The leap you took when deciding to send two students and not one on exchange. And for that I am entirely grateful.

Now here’s a little/ big update on what I’ve been up to. First let’s talk about my rotary club. It’s a very small club with only men which was daunting to me at first. However, at my first meeting, I met my host councilor and my rotary president who I found out are very understanding and have both hosted multiple exchange students from all around the world. Although It has hosted many students from all around the world such as Thailand and Brazil, it’s a pretty small rotary club with only around 5-7 people who meet on a weekly basis. Due to its small numbers it does not host much funds to raise awareness and do more rotary events around the community. However, in the summer we will be hosting an event day for the community around my town where I am looking forward to helping out to show my appreciating back to my host club. Every first Monday of the Month I am asked to attend, although I have visited a few extra times in order to get to know them better so in case I have any problems I will feel comfortable to going to them in confidence. I will also be giving my presentation about my home in Australia in a few weeks where I will be speaking about what you all do as a rotary club and your projects you do for around the community as well as a little bit about me as an exchange student. However, I will be doing the whole presentation in Czech language which will be a struggle, but I am

looking forward to the challenge as I am always interested in finding ways to improve my Czech as well my pronunciation and expanding my vocabulary.

Now a bit more on my town and school here. The towns name is Jindřichův Hradec, about 2 hours south of Czechs capital Prague and is infamous- like most surrounding cities in the Czech Republic- for its Castle located in the center of the city, surrounded by a large lake. My school is called Gymnasium, which is a popular schooling system across Eastern European countries. I have found the schooling a very different class system to how we would expect in Australia. Firstly, there is a lot more respect upheld in Czech schools and in society for teachers, or younger people to their teachers or older people you might meet. For example, when you enter a room, as a sign of respect you must always greet the oldest people in the room first with a ‘Dobry Den’ (in the morning/ day) and at night ‘Dobry Večer’. Also, when leaving you must shake hands, and sometimes kissing on both cheeks whilst saying ‘Na schledanou’ (Goodbye). However, I soon had to learn quickly that you greet students in a less formal way, only an ‘Ahoj’ or ‘Čau’ for a hi/ bye to friends. Another positive experience I’ve learnt useful through exchange is wearing the rotary smile. I’ve found a lot of ice breakers is when you know how to laugh at yourself if you say something wrong in the language and making sure to try to use the language as much as you can. You can tell people appreciate when you try and make the effort, especially when you keep calling the fridge an aero plane because they’re pretty much the same word or you can’t say two words in the Czech alphabet because their frankly impossible for non-Czech speakers.

I attend 6. A with my second host family sister, here we all share the same classes, doing history, art, English, Geography, physics, maths and social studies. I have come to know my classmates quite well and they have been such a welcoming bunch to start with. I have found the age barrier to not be a problem, as most are turning 18 this year or the others are 16 turning 17. A problem I did think I might have at the start of my exchange year.

My first host family were a very welcoming family and they did nothing but make me feel like their own. I had great host siblings, a younger host sister- Josefina (12) and a host brother Matyas (17) who came and stayed with me during the summer who is completing his exchange in Bunbury, Western Australia and will be returning to his home here in July. Both children are heavily involved in the local swimming club, and 2 days after I got off the plane in coming to my new home I was straight away in the pool and I now do up to 7 hours a week of swimming training with an age group from my younger host sister to a school friend who is 20 and in his final year at school. Another experience I am glad I used the rotary ‘yes’ because not only am I managing the exchange weight (because Czech has THE best food) but I also found a way to make friends out of school and to broaden my connections. In my new family I’ve also found a new passion for beach volleyball, and I will be attending a beach volleyball camp in Italy in May for a week with my host sister and my host father. There’s 6 of us in my new host family. My two host parents run a pediatric surgery in a flat beneath our house. I have three host sisters, the oldest recently just turned 20 and was past rotary exchange student who completed her exchange year in

Columbia only last year. My host sister who is 17, also has had some experience with exchange, as she spent 6 months in Adelaide for a special volleyball school 2 years ago. Then we have recently had another sister joining our family, who is only 30 day year old baby apart of a foster care system my host mum volunteers for. I already think of these lovely people as my second family and I’m trying to take in as much time as I can with them because my weekends have already been packaged with a lot of travelling and events in the upcoming weeks.

I have met other rotary exchange students from all over the world. Another reason why I am grateful for the experience is that now I have so many connections from all over the world, including places such as Canada, Brazil, Argentina and so many places I’ve never even heard of. I was fortunate enough to meet these incredible people on a rotary ski week in February in the low tatra mountains in Liptovksy Mikolov, Slovakia. Here 72 exchange students from both Czech and Slovak districts came together for skiing/ snowboarding in undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places in the world. We all came and left with many different skills, some of us, including 3 of the other Australians who had never even been skiing before were able to go down a hill without knocking anyone over and others were good enough to be able to compete in a local downhill skiing competition. With these same people on the 24th of April I will be going on a short 3 week tour around Europe, including places such as France, Spain and Italy and I am looking forward to seeing what the trip holds as I am so excited to do some more travelling and make the most of being in Europe where 20 minutes away from where I live is the Austrian border. Saying this still blows my mind about how close everything in Europe is.

Another element I have been enjoying greatly on my exchange is learning about Europe’s modern history, especially the spread of communism era and the iron curtain which left Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia) with a very sad history. Having studied the wrath of both totalitarian leaders of Hitler and Stalin for my ATAR in modern history I have found learning more in depth, in person about the real effect of communism on everyday people, more ways than any history book or documentary could have taught me in school so interesting. My first host father shared my passion for history and was a self-taught historian who was more than willing to teach me about their past. It not only has opened up my eyes more towards the world and how other cultures have lived and struggled throughout the years, but it has also improved my Czech language skills and I now grasp a better understanding on why most Czechs do not like talking about their history or why some are more reserved towards western outlooks as a large majority of the population grew up in the influence of the iron curtain, and it’s all they’ve really ever known.

Speaking about tradition and culture on a lighter note, you will be very surprised about how they do Czech Easter here. Easter (‘Velikonoce’) is a very significant part to Czech traditions as traditionally, it marks the first signs to spring, which is a praised holiday as the winters here were usually very rough and not everyone survived the cold and barren weather. There a lot of weird and wacky celebrations as a part of this holiday. Firstly, they too have plenty of eggs. But sadly, for me these

eggs aren’t full of delicious Lindt or Cadbury chocolate (although my first host family did fall in love with the Cadbury caramel koalas my Aussie family was kind enough to send over for me). Instead they use chicken or goose eggs and paint them beautifully and reserve them for Easter Monday. The eggs here are beautiful and full of a vast array of colours, and delicate edgings and scratches. Second of all, they do have a big hunt, but the first difference is that it is on Easter Monday not Easter Sunday. The next difference is that this hunt isn’t for the children and women, it is instead only for the men, and it isn’t eggs they’re looking for. Traditionally, boys in villages go around from door to door on Easter Monday to hit women on the backside with a very large wooden willow rod, braided and decorated with ribbons by their victims with sore bottoms from each house, sort of like notches on a gun barrel. Not to mention the victims are also supposed to reward these men and young boys with a vast majority of treats, including the painted eggs, alcohol and chocolate. Despite the pain and redness, Czech women are supposed to welcome the tradition as the boys whip them they sign a song wishing them for youth and good health.

I’ve also had the chance to get my hands muddy, and everywhere else for that matter because on Easter weekend I was lucky enough to go hand carp fishing in a large pond belonging to my current (2nd) host family. Here we caught over 35 fish which are grown each year especially for this weekend and then caught again. I was equipped with long gumboots and a net and I was off and ready. However, 3 steps in sadly my legs realized that mud is a little trickier to run after an 80 cm carp and I stacked it in the mud. A lot of laughs happened that day and I loved remembering that I’m still a country girl at heart as I nibbled on the delicious fried carp by an open fire trying to get warmth back into my frozen toes from the 4-degree water.

There is so much I have to share already, and I feel like there’s no way I can recap all of the best things that have happened to me so far in the three months that I have been here. But it feels good knowing that I still have a long way to go to still make the most of my exchange and to get to know more people, learn the language and to experience as many things as possible.

So, once again thank you for helping me send me here and I will write to you again soon. Feel free to contact me at any time and in my next email I will send the website address to my travelling blog which will be packed with photos from my trip.

Na Shledanou, and all the best wishes.

Katie Quinlivan

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… just for a laugh

Sixteen Logical Reasons Why Some Men Have Dogs And Not Wives:

1. The later you are, the more excited your dog is to see you.

2. Dogs don't notice if you call them by another dog's name.

3. Dogs like it if you leave lots of things on the floor.

4. Dogs' parents never visit.

5. Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across.

6. You never have to wait for a dog; they're ready to go, instantly, 24 hours a day.

7. Dogs find you amusing when you're drunk.

8. Dogs like to go hunting and fishing.

9. Dogs won't wake you up at night to ask: "If I died, would you get another dog?"

10. If a dog has babies, you can put an ad in the paper and sell 'em.

11. When you drop a silent one, dogs don't run around frantically with room spray.

13. Dogs never tell you to stop scratching your genitalia. Instead, they sit pondering why you don't lick 'em.

14. Dogs will let you put a studded collar on, without calling you a pervert.

15. If a dog smells another dog on you, it won't kick you where it hurts; it just finds it interesting.

16. If a dog runs off and leaves you, it won't take half your stuff.

To verify these statements: Lock your wife and your dog in the garage for an hour.Then open the door, and observe who's happy to see you!

Contributed by John Honey

AUSTRALIA AND AUSTRALIANS

The following is by Douglas Adams of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" fame.

Australia is a very confusing place, taking up a large amount of the bottom half of the planet.  It is recognisable from orbit because of many unusual features, including what at first looks like an enormous bite taken out of its southern edge; a wall of sheer cliffs which plunge into the girting sea.  Geologists assure us that this is simply an accident of geomorphology, but they still call it the "Great Australian Bight", proving that not only are they covering up a more frightening theory but they can't spell either. The first of the confusing things about Australia is the status of the place.  Where other landmasses and sovereign lands are classified as continent, island or country, Australia is considered all three.  Typically, it is unique in this. The second confusing thing about Australia is the animals.  They can be divided into three categories: Poisonous, Odd, and Sheep.  It is true that of the 10 most poisonous arachnids on the planet, Australia has 9 of them. Actually, it would be more accurate  to say that of the 9 most poisonous arachnids, Australia has all of them. However, there are few snakes, possibly because the spiders have killed them all. But even the spiders won't go near the sea.  Any visitors should be careful to check inside boots (before putting them on), under toilet seats (before sitting down) and generally everywhere else.  A stick is very useful for this task. The last confusing thing about Australia is the inhabitants. A short history: Sometime around 40,000 years ago some people arrived in boats from the north.  They ate all the available food, and a lot of them died.  The ones who survived learned respect for the balance of nature, man's proper place in

the scheme of things,  and spiders.  They settled in and spent a lot of the intervening time making up strange stories. Then, around 200 years ago, Europeans arrived in boats from the north. More accurately, European convicts were sent, with a few deranged people in charge.  They tried to plant their crops in autumn (failing to take account of the reversal of the seasons), ate all their food, and a lot of them died. About then the sheep arrived, and have been treasured ever since.  It is interesting to note here that the Europeans always consider themselves vastly superior to any other race they encounter, since they can lie, cheat, steal and litigate (marks of a civilised culture they say), whereas all the Aboriginals can do is happily survive being left in the middle of a vast red-hot desert, equipped with a stick. Eventually, the new lot of people stopped being Europeans on 'extended holiday' and became Australians.  The changes are subtle, but deep, caused by the mind-stretching expanses of nothingness and eerie quiet, where a person can sit perfectly still and look deep inside themselves to the core of their essence, their reasons for being, and the necessity of checking inside their boots every morning for fatal surprises.  They also picked up the most finely tuned sense of irony in the world, and the Aboriginal gift for making up stories  Be warned. There is also the matter of the beaches Australian beaches are simply the nicest and best in the world, although anyone actually venturing into the sea will have to contend with sharks, stinging jellyfish, stonefish (a fish which sits on the bottom of the  sea, pretends to be a rock and has venomous barbs sticking out of its back that will kill just from the pain) and surfboarders  However, watching a beach sunset is worth the risk. As a result of all this hardship, dirt, thirst and wombats, you would expect Australians to be a dour lot.  Instead, they are genial, jolly, cheerful and always willing to share a kind word with a stranger.  Faced with insurmountable odds and impossible problems, they smile disarmingly and look for a stick.  Major engineering feats have been performed with sheets of corrugated iron, string and mud. Alone of all the races on earth, they seem to be free from the 'Grass is greener on the other side of the fence' syndrome, and roundly proclaim that Australia is, in fact, the other side of that fence.  They call the land "Oz" or "Godzone" (a verbal contraction  of "God's Own Country"). THE IRRITATING THING ABOUT THIS IS THEY MAY BE RIGHT.

TIPS TO SURVIVING AUSTRALIA

Don't ever put your hand down a hole for any reason WHATSOEVER. The beer is stronger than you think, regardless of how strong you think it is. Always carry a stick. Air-conditioning is imperative. Do not attempt to use Australian slang unless you are a trained linguist and extremely good in a fist fight. Wear thick socks. Take good maps.  Stopping to ask directions only works when there are people nearby. If you leave the urban areas, carry several litres of water with you at all times, or you will die.  And don't forget a stick. Even in the most embellished stories told by Australians, there is always a core of truth that it is unwise to ignore.

HOW TO IDENTIFY AUSTRALIANS

They waddle when they walk due to the 53 expired petrol discount vouchers stuffed in their wallet or purse. They pronounce Melbourne as "Mel-bin". They think it makes perfect sense to decorate highways with large fiberglass bananas, prawns and sheep. They think "Woolloomooloo" is a perfectly reasonable name for a place, that "Wagga Wagga" can be abbreviated to "Wagga", but "Woy Woy" can't be called "Woy". Their hamburgers will contain beetroot.  Apparently it's a must-have. They don't think it's summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle. They believe that all train timetables are works of fiction. And they all carry a stick!