Rotary meeting Janury 6th, 2016
Rotary Wed. 6th January
Guests Valentin / Krista Burnham/Don Klassen /Bill Lawrie /Yolanda Broderick
Rotary Anniversary - Dan Gallant 13 years with the club
Ian MacPhail was recognized by the Tri City News as a top newsmaker for 2015 for his work on the RibFest.
Brian reminded everyone that it is clean up Heritage Mtn Blvd on Saturday the 16th January at 9:30am
Ian gave a brief update on the 2016 Rib Fest – Scott is working on the sponsorship. Alan is in touch with a winery and they are looking for a coffee sponsor. Next meeting is 7pm on the 14th January in
the meeting room of Ian's building.
Peter will be calling a meeting for the Search for the Perfect Pint, date and time TBA. SFPP is Thursday May 12th at the Galleria.
Gary gave an update on RI Paul Harris donations, in future tax receipts will be emailed from RI. Keep copies of receipts for your income tax returns.
Tickets available for 15th January Coquitlam Express hockey game, tickets are $10.00 and proceeds go to support the backpacks for kids campaign.
Trudy needs numbers for Chamber of Commerce Gala dinner, we are nominees for an award
Rotary theme for January is Vocational Service.
Local businesses have been invited to attend the meeting on 27th January, Isabella to follow up to see if any takers.
Dan Gallant gave us the Rotary Minute and focused on the years 1921 – 1930. Rotary expanded from 2500 members to over 144,500 in 59 countries in that time.
Darrell was the Sgt. At Arms for fines and happy dollars. Dan Gallant was happy to report Marion is doing very well since her recent surgery.
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Gayle introduced Valentin, our exchange student, he presented today. Valentin is from Bavaria, Germany. He told us Germans are seen as being two things, very serious and always on time. One of them is accurate. They are also known for the beer and there were many references to beer during his presentation, I am not sure why....... It is normal to have pretzels and beer for breakfast, if you have these after 11 am the locals will know you are a tourist.
Valentin comes from a city called Wasserburg Am Inn - translated means Water Castle at the Inn
The city has 5 schools and approximately 6,000.00 students and 12,000 inhabitants. It is a 15- 16th Century town with many original buildings remaining. The city holds two festivals a year, one in the spring and one in the fall.
Valentin's hobbies are Track and Field and on line gaming, he became a professional gamer and has earned money doing this.
Credit cards are not readily accepted there so cash is “king”
Valentin remarked that there is a difference in restaurants between Canada and Germany, in Germany the waiters are very formal, very professional and can come across as unfriendly. In Canada it is much more relaxed with friendly informal wait staff who smile a lot. The service in Canada is much friendlier. Germans can be very unfriendly if you speak to them in English.
Schools are very different in Germany, there are 6 classes of 45 minutes duration daily and your classes are assigned to you. In Canada you can have choices as to the classes you want to take and you often only have 4 classes a day. He feels the education system in Germany is better and the students leave school with a better education than the Canadian students.
Things that surprised Valentin on his arrival in Canada are bears and cougars, he did not expect them to be in the cities. He also feels we have too many “plastic” Christmas trees, in Germany every one has live trees.
Valentin's presentation was probably the best presentation we have had from a visiting student, it was informative and extremely entertaining. One member remarked that it was the best presentation all year.
Gary's ticket was pulled but he did not pull the Ace of Spades so the jackpot continues to grow.