July 2009
Jul 27, 2009 9:30 PM
It was Amanda's final presentation to a Rotary Club and President Rosie, a long time supporter of the Youth Exchange programmes, kicked things off in a wonderful way. She gave Amanda a very special present - a necklace that had been made locally in Birmingham.
We provided a form of 'double act' for the evening's speaker slot. I began with an update on Youth Exchange generally, starting with a nice connection back to a speaker from two years ago - Sandra Vasiliauskaite from Lithuania - whom...
Jul 26, 2009 6:00 PM
Our final day in Lithuania was a more relaxed affair, beginning with a late breakfast (although some had a much earlier start to the day when Amanda set of the alarm when she attempted to leave the house to go for a swim in the lake).
The first stop today was the church in the heart of Kupiskis. The third largest church in Lithuania. The priest was able to spare us a few minutes to talk while he waited for the remaining guests of a baptism party to arrive.
We then went on a walking tour of...
Jul 25, 2009 10:00 PM
The penultimate day of our Lithuanian visit began with a drive to Birzai, which is around 50 km from Kupiskis and the home of Sandra - who we had just visited in Klaipeda. The wonderful thing about the journey for me was that I was travelling with Ieva - the first girl from Lithuania that Lorna and I had hosted - and her husband Modestas - our first meeting and it is clear that he is a really nice guy. It gave me a chance to congratulate them on the news about the first baby - due next...
Jul 24, 2009 10:00 PM
After a very late night, day three of our tour began with a late breakfast at Dagne's house, which included some wonderful Lithuanian pancakes which, together with the amazing cakes the night before, demonstrated that Dagne's mother was a very talented cook.
After breakfast, we headed off into Klaipeda for a walk around the "old town". The included a constant stream of people in wonderful costumes who were attending the Europeade 2009 festival there. The market featured some...
Jul 23, 2009 10:00 PM
The second day of our Lithuanian "tour" started in a very wet and rainy Panevezys. Amanda and I paid a visit to the central church with Kotryna and her mother, Laima. The main feature of this was a trip up the church tower, which involved a long climb up some very rickety stairs/ladders. The view from the top was amazing. The light that illuminated the cross at the top of the tower was broken and, since fixing it involved climbing out through a window at the very top of the tower,...
Jul 22, 2009 10:00 PM
A flight at 7.15am from Birmingham International airport meant a very early start for our latest trip to Lithuania meant a very early start, but at least the weather was fine and and it was not too far a trek to begin the journey this time. A direct flight to Kaunas also meant a fairly easy journey, especially compared to our last journey across, which went via Frankfurt and involved hours of delay and some lost luggage....
While the immigration officer did seem a little lost when presented...
Jul 21, 2009 1:00 PM
The first in the annual cycle of joint meetings between the Coventry North and Bedworth Rotary Clubs included a speaker who was well known to both Clubs. Long Term Youth Exchange student Amanda Amaral has been living on the edge of Bedworth for most of her year in Rotary District 1060 and members of Coventry North had been very helpful to her, not least of which being David Butler, who had been a tremendous support to her and her hosts for many months.
Amanda gave a fantastic talk, focusing...
Jul 15, 2009 6:00 PM
With Amanda's busy diary, we had to grab the opportunity for another West End Theatre visit, so Wednesday morning had us heading down to London at around 10am. It would have been earlier, but we were only home around 3am that morning anyway!
The SatNav managed to get us around the major blockage on the M40 and, after dropping off the car at the Park Royal Travelodge, we managed to get to the Tkts Booth in Leicester Square in plenty of time to grab some discounted tickets to see Sister Act...
Jul 4, 2009 4:00 PM
The Rotary Club of Lichfield St Chad's Cars in the Park event has become a major in the local community calendar. Lorna and I visited the 2009 event on the first day - Saturday 4th July. The weather was just right and allowed us to explore the various stalls and exhibits without fear of getting wet.
The Rotary Roadshow took pride of place and seemed to be generating a fair amount of interest. The local Interact Club was making its presence felt as well, with the several of the members...
