Life before Rotary for Cornelius

Cornelius wanted to give the Club an idea of his life before traveling to Canada.  He said Germany would take up only 3% of Canada but has 3 times the population.  Germany has 240 people per sq. km. and Canada has 3.  He comes from Gutting in Lower Saxony, a town that is 1,330 years old.  It's a university town and all the grads have to kiss a statue of a young girl in the square - the most kissed girl in Germany.

He showed pictures of the market square at Christmas and his school building which is 420 years old and has about 1,000 students from gr. 5 - 12.

He has many activities - he's been skiing since he was 5 and the family goes to Austria or Switzerland every year.  He goes fishing and hunting with his family - he was the youngest person to get a hunting license in his state but he hasn't actually gone out as he came here first.  Everybody in his family plays field hockey and he was good enough to go from the town team to the state team at age 11.  He had to take a train to Hanover to practice but the team was shut down and he hasn't gone back to it yet.  He plays golf and has enjoyed playing with Jamie and Ralph and for the school team here.

He has two younger brothers and an older sister who went on an exchange to Houston two years ago.  His father had managed a state forest and they lived there for 5 years which was fun but a little isolated but now he is a forestry professor and they live in town.  His mother studied the law but currently works at home.

Every year they take a vacation in the Netherlands and he showed us pictures of the beaches there.

He is enjoying his trip here- enjoyed beating Jamie at golf and is looking forward to skiing - and has made lots of friends.