Well, a lot has happened since my last blog entry - I've been exposed to Australian wildlife (and seen my first kangaroo, finally!), travelled to the South Pacific and climbed a volcano, snorkelled with a dugong and of course have given several Rotary talks around Sydney. I'm planning to split this into two entries so it's not quite such a long post, and I thought I'd start with all things Rotary.
Invitations to talk at clubs have started to be regular now, which is great. I've met my host club, a small and cosy outfit in Rockdale made up of very interesting people, including former Olympiads and headteachers and artists. My Host Counsellor is now the Club President. I had a wonderful welcome at Rotary Five Dock, where I was adopted by Rotarian Peter (possibly in return for a double helping of pavlova!), and I travelled out to the Lower Blue Mountains to give a talk in Penrith. This also gave me the opportunity to walk around the Mountains in the daytime: they're blue because of the mist that appears as the eucalyptus oil evaporates in the heat. This was the biggest Rotary Club I've spoken at - well over 50 members, and very diverse. Interestingly, they support a similar project to the Young Carers initiative here in Sydney. Last week I spoke at my nearest Rotary Club (literally 5 minutes away from my house), Sydney Inner West, a vibrant club which gets very involved with the Scholars and Rotaract and holds fun evenings such as the now infamous Rock and Roll Night.
In my presentations I've been talking about Rotary back home, about Bedworth and Coventry and my unviersity experience as well as my work experience overseas. I am now most famous however for my one-time Bollywood appearance in the film Oye Lucky Lucky Oye! My talks seem to have been very well received which I'm delighted about, and it's a real pleasure getting to know the different clubs and they all seem to have completely distinct personalities. Club meetings often take place at the local "Club houses" around Sydney, some of which are in beautiful spots, including boat clubs on the harbour. I have a booking for a Central Club that meets on a boat every Friday morning opposite the Opera House!
Rotary has also been a lot of fun. Last week we had a scholars' get together where we were provided with High Tea (frightfully English!), and in my own honour we're planning a Bollywood themed party. We're very lucky in that most of the scholars live nearby in a cluster and we all seem to have similar interests, studying international health, human rights and political economy or development type issues.
I'm afraid I do seem to have been struck down by my first bout of Antipodean flu (which is apparently very much like British flu), but I'm valiantly struggling on. In my next entry I will talk about Australia, my travels, observations and experiences here so far from home, as well as my plans for after the semester ends in November.
I wish everyone the best back in Blighty and will revisit soon.