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April is Just Around the Corner - Time to Sign up for The Brantford Rotary Classic Run

Lansdowne Children’s Centre Christmas Party a Rousing Success Despite the Weather!

Clowns for Kids is run by The Rotary Club of Brantford
as a keystone fundraiser for children's charities.
More than $10 million has been raised for
community programs since the club's formation.

The 2021 JCI Santa Clause parade has been cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions. Let’s not be a Grinch.  Clowns for Kids charges ahead! Please join us for Brantford Lights at Glenhyrst on: 

Wednesday December 15, 2021   

2019 Charity Air Show Wrap-Up

What a huge success!

Supporting Why Not Youth Centre

On Friday December 14, 2018 the Rotary Club of Brantford delivered an estimated 300 pounds of food and winter clothing to the Why Not Youth Centre.

2018 slapshot program

recruiting now

find out more

2018 rotary international convention

registering now

Molly Varey's youth exchange journey

Making Canadians proud

Started in 2005, the Brantford Rotary Clowns for Kids is a unique, unforgettable, and extraordinary annual event unlike any other. Quite simply, clowns help kids. And no other single-day event can deliver more benefit to Brantford's kids in need than the Rotary Clowns for Kids Program.
	In partnership with the Brantford Santa Claus Parade, the Rotary Club of Brantford developed the Clowns for Kids program to help kids' charities here in Brant, mixing unbridled fun with serious charity fundraising. While 'doing good' might be your primary motive for becoming a clown, you will also lead the Brantford Santa Claus Parade with 3 miles of smiles, enjoy fun food and fellowship, and have the experience of a lifetime.   Clowns for Kids is run by The Rotary Club of Brantford as a keystone fundraiser for children's charities, where more than $10 million has been raised for community programs since the Club was formed. Click here to find out more!

"The journey of arriving to Japan is one I will never forget, it was the hardest and most exciting thing I’ve ever done. Knowing that i achieved this all on my own is something I could not be more proud of. I’m so thankful for this opportunity and excited for the year ahead :)"  These are the word of Trystan Wylie, one of our two exchange students this year.

The Royal Canadian Air Force is pleased to announce the appointment of Captain Adam “Manik” Runge as the pilot for the 2014 CF-18 Demonstration Team. Flying his specially painted CF-18 commemorating the 90^th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Captain Runge will dazzle audiences across North America throughout 2014.

A native of Hanover, Ontario, Captain Runge’s fascination with aviation began as a toddler and air shows had a major influence on him as a child. He’s grateful to now return that favour.

“The Snowbirds came to my hometown to do a show when I was nine. After seeing the performance, I was hooked on everything about military aviation,” he said. “I’m thrilled about having the chance to inspire the next generation of youth to set goals and chase their dreams, all while working with some of the most professional technicians and support crews.”

The CF-18 Demonstration Team selects a theme for each year and 2014 will feature the 90^th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The specially painted CF-18 Hornet will feature unique artwork on the tails and dorsal parts of the aircraft designed by veteran Design Director, Jim Belliveau, at 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alberta. The Demo Hornet will be revealed later in 2014 before the start of the air show season.

“The RCAF has enjoyed a rich history and it is an honour to share that with audiences all over North America,” said Major-General Pierre St-Amand, the commander of 1 Canadian Air Division and the Canadian NORAD Region. “Captain Runge is a talented pilot who has embraced the challenge of representing the RCAF across the continent. I am confident his skill and professionalism will make him a great ambassador for the Canadian Armed Forces.”

Captain Runge is currently a member of 409 “Nighthawks” Tactical Fighter Squadron at 4 Wing Cold Lake. Upon joining the Canadian Forces in 2003 under the Regular Officer Training Program, he attended the Royal Military College of Canada where he spent his summers as an instructor and tow pilot at the Central Region Gliding School in Trenton, Ontario. Captain Runge graduated from Royal Military College in 2007 with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree.

After earning his pilot wings in the summer of 2009, Captain Runge trained on the CT-155 Hawk – the Royal Canadian Air Force’s advanced jet training aircraft. That was followed by training on the CF-18 Hornet where he reached his goal of becoming a fighter pilot in the summer of 2011. Captain Runge has accumulated more than 800 hours of military flying in high-performance aircraft and is excited to tackle the challenging role of the 2014 CF-18 Demo Team pilot. He notes, however, that he can’t do it alone.

"There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make each show a success. Our technicians and other support personnel work tirelessly throughout the year,” said Captain Runge. “It’s a real team effort and we’re excited to showcase the Royal Canadian Air Force as we interact with thousands of people across North America.”

 

To the Stars – Fuelled by Legacy

The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) celebrates its 90^th anniversary in 2014.

During its 90 years of existence, the men and women of the Royal Canadian Air Force – and the organizations that preceded it – contributed to two world wars, the Korean War, the Gulf War and more. During our most recent air combat mission, Operation Mobile, the RCAF contributed fighters and other aircraft that flew 1,539 sorties over Libya enforcing a no-fly zone in order to protect its civilians and civilian-populated areas.

The 2014 CF-18 Demo Pilot, Captain Adam “Manik” Runge, along with Canada’s other fighter pilots, today carry on the tradition of courage, pride and professionalism established by Canadians who distinguished themselves as fighter pilots in the First and Second World Wars and in the years that followed.

Fighter pilots like Wing Commanders James “Stocky” Edwards and William George Barker, Flying Officer George Frederick ‘Buzz’ Beurling, Flight Lieutenant Charles W. “Charley” Fox and, more recently, Canadian astronauts Colonel Chris Hadfield and Major Jeremy Hanson have all contributed to propelling the reputation of the RCAF into the stratosphere and beyond. 

From humble but distinguished beginnings, progressing through the amazing developments in powered flight and all the way into space, the RCAF will continue to embrace its motto, Sic Itur Ad Astra, reaching towards the stars – fuelled by our extraordinary legacy.

Join The Boys n Girls Club of Brantford in sending a clear message to our community - that Brantford will not tolerate bullying.  We need your support to help make this one of the biggest anti-bullying movements in history.  Get your children, your employees, your peers and your families involved by giving them an opportunity to take a stand and have their voices heard. Rotarians in Brantford sure will be supporting this wondering cause.

With December all most over its time for another report. December was a chance for me to see a lot of the Belgian culture and how they celebrate the holidays. Here in Belgium, it is tradition that every city sets up a "Marche du Noel" or in english, 'Christmas market'. This is not just limited to Belgium, most countries in Europe have these as well. The funny thing about them is that they are all relatively the same to some extent. 

 it has just been one adventure after the other.......visit my blog http://www.peterinbelgium.blogspot.ca/

I think my family is coping well back home, we've only skyped 2 or 3 times and I think they are numbing the pain of being empty nesters ( ;) )with travelling which is great!
I have met my counsellor and she is lovely! I've attended only one meeting thus far but I hope to attend regularly in the future now that I've got my feet under me. They are very welcoming and I'm supposed to do my presentation in November! It is an excellent opportunity to exercise my language skills so I hope to make it habit.

Ich hoffe du wirst ein gute Monat haben!


Micaela Hadley

After a two year hiatus, it was great to see the 2013 Air Show Dinner buzzing again last night! A record turn-out enjoyed seeing the pilots rehearse their moves. The weather cooperated remarkably, with the rain only starting once the dinner started! Whilst we were enjoying the stories of the pilots and crew at our tables, money was raised through the silent auction, the live auction etc. Thanks to all the came out and supported this event so generously, thanks to the sponsors and the hard workers behind the scenes that made this possible!

The Rotary office will be closed for Holidays starting Friday August 2nd and will re-open again on Monday August 12th at 1:30 p.m.

During this time you can still purchase your Rotary Charity Air Show Dinner Tickets from any of the Scotiabank locations in Brantford!

Greetings again, today I am going to talk about my families past and current. My first family consisted of a single mother, a daughter in university and a son who is currently being hosted in Canada. So most of the time I was home I was alone or with Uschi (the mother). I had a lot of fun with Uschi as we often went hiking and visited friends of her's. The only downside with my first host family was the location, I was in an incredibly small village (20-30 houses max) and a 20 minute (in good weather) bike ride from the small city nearby. However I had a great time there and have made some friends that I hope to keep having for the rest of my life. Since leaving Uschi's house I have returned once briefly so that we could go skating together and I am now in contact with her son in Canada making plans to visit with him once he comes back to Germany.

My second family was the Tahers. They are a larger family with two older daughters both off in university and a young son at home. The father works as a travel agent and so is constantly out of the house on trips planning trips for clients. The mother is a Wald-Kindergarten teacher and works with very young children twice a week out in the local woods. The son is an energetic, fun-loving and fashion conscious young lad who also likes to play video games. I got along with him quite well though at times he was a little annoying which reminded me to apologize to my brothers and parents once I get home. While with this family I went to a new school and took a week long intensive Deutsch course with University students that I continue to go to weekly. I have also taken to once a week helping the neighbour's son with his english and have continued to do this at my new family. 

My final family that I am currently staying with are closer to my age. There is a brother who finished school last year and was in Vancouver, Canada on working vacation, the middle brother who is just finishing with school this year and the youngest daughter who is quiet good with languages and even visited France on a short ten day exchange. The mother is a secretary at the travel agency that my second family's father works at and the father works for a Canadian paper company as one of their European contacts. I am getting along here well and can't wait to see what the future holds. I hope to fill you in more on my adventures more fully sometime next month as I am going on a tour of central Europe and will have many good stories to tell.

Love Sjoerd

Moin!

The last half of my exchange has officialy started, and it makes me sad to realize that so much time has flown by, and that my year is already half finished. But by no means does that mean my year has been half wasted. I have grown more than I could ever have had I remained at home, and this exchange has been the single most important event in my life concerning my d...evelopment as person in general. I have seen, experienced, and lived through so many different events from my time here in wonderful Germany that it would have been impossible for me to remain an unchanged person. The fact that I have changed (in my opinion) is something great, because it entails that I have learnt, grown, and adapted to life. Everything changes, it is a fact of life.

Where to begin? I have been doing as many different things as I possibly can in the short timeframe of a week, and in between sports and youth groups, I often find myself wondering why there are no more hours in a day. Almost everyday I have a different 'group' I am with, from volleyball, shooting, scouts, youthgroup, grammatic lesson, more volleyball, and everything spontanious in between! There are often events or special occasions with every group, and so any spare time I thought I had is gone aswell! But I am happy with things going this way, and I very seldom find myself 'with nothing to do'.

Joining scouts in Germany has been one of the greatest experiences for me. I am with my group everyweek, but several are in my school, so we see each other everyday. I have done so much with this group, from bike trips to bowling, from going to another city for indoor skating to going to a theater to see the latest movie, or simply sitting around and talking about what is new in the world. They are incredibly well planned and feel like a family to me. Not to mention they are understanding about my non perfect grammer. Recently we had a winter scout trip to the mountains (in the south of my state) and we stayed there for 4 days. It was a great experience, but we had no snow! And on the final night I had a swear in ceremony in the dead of night in the mountains, and it was really incredible and it was a great surprise for me. They brought everyone into the mountains that were gold blue scouts (older scouts, they have yellow scouts with yellow neckers for the youngest, blue for the middle, and then gold blue for the full initiated members) and the new blues that would became golds. The blue scouts were then initated, and it seemed like the ceremony was over, but then the scout leader started talking about world scouting and about how I was a Canadian scout. And then he said that I was now a part of German scouting and initated me. It will be something I will remember for the rest of my life. I had to jump over a fire, and then swear on the flag the German scout promise. I then had to walk around the circle and shake hands with everyone (left hand) with the scout sign and say 'good/safe travels' (gut Fahrt). I do not think I have ever had a bigger smile on my face.

I am incredibly thankful that you have provided me this opportunity to live halfway around the world. It has changed me and the way I look at the world in so many different ways, and I wish everyone the best of luck in their respective travels, and I have my 'thumbs locked' (the German 'fingers crossed') for everyone.

Vielen Dank und eine gut Fahrt!

... Joel Dzuba

http://joeldzuba.blogspot.de/p/update.html
 

Rotarians,

You can follow Sherry Kerr and her Group Study Exchange members by following them on their Facebook group page  - GSE.Philippines2013. Here is Sherry giving the District Governor his gift from our District Governor Rick Sterne

WE WELCOMED OUR 3RD EXCHANGE STUDENT LAST WEEK.

Welcome to Brantford, Canada Sofia!!!!

Christmas in Germany was great, and is very similar to Canadian Christmas, but I believe more time is spent with the family. But it is strange that there is so many English songs for Christmas. And there are live burning candles on the trees! It strikes me as dangerous and really really awe inspiring seeing live, burning candles on the Christmas trees in Germany. The first time I saw this I couldn't stop watching the tree to make sure it didn't go up in flames. But apparently trees burning are really rare. And so I lowered my guard and treated it like a normal Christmas tree. except, well, it had fire on it. And I made the mistake of walking to close to it. My leg shook a branch and my eyes opened wide, but luckily neither me or the tree burst into flames. I am only glad my family did not see so they could make fun of how foreign I am. New years was also an incredible experience. All of the exchange students and families were together in a business party in the nearby city of Bremen, and we had an incredible amount of fireworks! It sounded incredibly like a battle was taking place in the city, because of all the pops and bangs of fireworks in the sky. And when new years struck, the sky went ablaze with fireworks! I think I counted at least 15 minutes of non stop fireworks in the skies. And when everything was finished, all of the children and teenagers went onto the street and we had even more fireworks. It was an incredible night. Things have been incredibly busy for me, but I am loving every minute of it.I love Germany and all of the friends I have made, and I am doing tons of things during the week.I have just recently also moved houses, I am still in the same city so the only thing different is the family and house. Every week seems incredibly busy. Last week I spent 5 days in the mountains in Germany with the Scouts, (and they made me a German scout officially!) and then the night I came home I had an hour of sleep before once again heading off somewhere else. On Tuesday I spent a total of 12 hours in the school with work and extra curricular, and yesterday as soon as school was finished I had to catch a train to the next city for grammar school, and then when that was finished, I had to catch the train home so that I could go to a new youth group for the night. I often do not realize how much I have done in a day until I am at home thinking about it while trying to sleep. My new host family is amazing. My siblings are in University and my father in Austria for work, and so the week is only me and my mother. I think it is helping my German a lot because I am able to just talk to my mother with no rush, and she has helped me incredibly with my grammar. School is great, I love my class, and my teachers are nice. Just a brief overview of my week;
Mondays-Rotary, Tuesdays-Vollyball,Wednesdays-Shooting,Thursdays-Vollyball,Fridays-Grammer,Youthgroup,Badminton, Saterdays- Free! sleeping day Sundays-Scouts
and in between all of this, spontanious events or plans. I must however keep trying to avoid too much english. I feel like I belong in Germany right now; It feels like home to me.

Vielen Dank, and if you have any questions then don't hesistate to ask! ! I need to write in my blog once more, about christmas, travel, sports, and scouts, but I have not finished my blog yet. If you need photos then I can send you some. I think tommorow I will be uploading a ton onto facebook. Thanks, Joel

I have tons to share! I just returned to my home (in Germany) after I was traveling across Germany for two weeks. I spent a week in the Rhine river area (St.Goar) with my host-family, and a week long bus trip to Berlin with Rotary; with stops in a DDR (east german) border, Buchenwald Concentration camp, Berlin, and then Wolfsburg Volkswagon museum (unfortunatly in Wolfsburg my camera was kaput (broken, and I did not know before Deutschland that kaput was a German word!)) I have taken many photos, and have had a fantastic experience travelling across Germany. It is a unique and special feeling finally seeing in person everything you have read about in books or seen in films. I felt like the luckiest person in the world finally being able to see what I have dreamt about all of my life.

 Leibe Alan;

 

I am sorry about not communicating with you but remembering to keep in touch with people in North America is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Anyways, the most boring things that I have been doing is lots of paperwork of sorts for busing and school. The more fun stuff is hard to recap due to the amount of it. So the stuff on my not updated blog(http://sjoey4545.tumblr.com/) is fairly easy in that I have been swimming, hiking, exploring(local areas and places like Heidelberg!) and having fun with Uschi(host mother) and Gisela(friend of host mother) and doing a lot more biking than I would in Canada. Once school started almost all international communication sort of died out and I am planning on fixing that this weekend. The most recent things that have happened to me are the Inbound Orientation and a Piano Solo Concert (not exactly sure what to call it) that I went to yesterday(reason that I am sending this email today and not yesterday.). I sadly do not having any pictures of the Piano Concert as I forgot my camera and my phone decided to play a fun game of turning on so that it could immediately turn off again. However the inbound orientation was awesome and I got to go to the Schwarzwald!(It's beautiful by the way)!!!! I met all the other exchange students which was really fun and they are all great people with whom I am also trying to remain in contact and may be seeing fairly soon :D. so I am attaching some pictures that have yet to be seen by anyone else and may be posted on my blog this weekend along with others (I have a lot of to look through). Anyways, will try to remain in contact and speak/email with you again soon. :)

 

Alles Gute;

     Sjoerd

 joeldzuba.blogspot.com

Everything has been moving fast, and the fact that it is a month since I arrived in Deutschland is hard to believe. It is hard to put into words what I have already experienced and seen, but hopefully a little of the adventure that I have already had, and the adventure I will be having, will be captured in my messages, so that all who read them can share in the adventure. It is thanks to many different people; with their dreams and their help, that I am living my dream by spending a year as an exchange student - spending a year in Germany.

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こんにちわロータリー、

As I sit and write, I’ve a month left to go. My host Dad told me, though I’d been doing my best to ignore the date. It’s hard to imagine that this new life of mine will screech to a halt. I won’t be prepared for, try though I might. I’ll be prodded back into my old life, the old mold, but it won’t fit right anymore. It’ll always be uncomfortable enough to remind me It’s time to depart. Your time in Brantford… it’s done. For once I’ve bid farewell to life in high school so too will I bid farewell to the grimy nostalgia that is my hometown, and once again, begin anew. But despite the hope for many meetings and so many new beginnings, I still cling desperately to what left I have here.
This weekend will be my last orientation, the very last time all of the exchange students will be harmonized under one roof. In three weeks we will begin to depart, one by one until there is nobody left. I’ve only three weeks of school left, something I will admit to being grateful for.

Bonjour Rotarians,

The last few months have been like a dream. I have done more than some people do in an entire lifetime. I am so lucky and I am extremely grateful for everything I have had the chance to see, do and experience.

          After the ‘Vacance d’Hiver’ my host family decided Miso, an exchange student from Taiwan and my host sister,   and I could take another week of vacation and took us to the Alps. We headed to the Foux d’Allos , Les Alpes in the south. It was a week of lovely skiing and a perfect chance to get to know my host parents. It was really warm and the snow was not fantastic but we had a great week anyways. Miso skied for her first time and by the end of the week she was pretty good. The Alps were unlike anything I had ever seen before, so gorgeous.

          A few weeks later I went on a little trip with my Rotary district.  We visited Luxembourg, Neufchatel, Switzerland and Colmar, France before arriving in Anncey, France where there was a huge weekend with all the exchange students in France. It was an opportunity for everyone to come together to share their culture, rejoin with old friends and celebrate our year in France. I saw Annie, the other Canadian from Simcoe who lives in the South of France which was really nice. We had a lot of fun and the Town of Annecy was so beautiful.

          Easter was the next weekend which was an interesting experience. In France, there is no Easter Bunny, it is the Bell from Rome that comes past and drops eggs in the backyards. The ‘Closh de Paques’ passed by and gave Miso and I slippers and lots of candy. Easter was not a big deal in my host family but my host sister and her boyfriend who live in Lille came for lunch and we had a big meal. We ate a typical Easter meal here that included salmon, duck, lamb, vegetables,  etc. I always have so much fun with my host brother, sister, Miso and Pierre. That night I went to my friend’s Birthday Party, so Easter was not like at home.

           On the 23^rd of April, I went to Barcelona, Spain with Caio, a friend from Brazil and his host brother. It was one of the best trips I’ve been on this year. We spent four days exploring Barcelona; going to the beach, climbing to the top of a mountain to see the view of Barcelona, seeing the work of Gaudi, admiring the Famillia Sagrada, eating some tapas, going to markets, a football game, and getting a taste of the night life. I had never been to Spain before so it was nice to explore the culture and speak a little Spanish.

          I came back to my host house for less than a day and then left for the trip of a lifetime. During the twelve day bus trip of Europe, we visited Paris, Reims, Strasbourg, Nuremburg, Prague, Vienne, Vienna, Lido di Jesolo, Milan, Mont Blanc, Chamonix, Geneva and Dijon. I cannot even explain how amazing it was. The other exchange students were awesome and we had so much fun together, without a good group of kids, the trip would not have been the same. We had awesome supervisors and the bus driver was really cool. We had perfect weather during most of the trip besides in Milan where it hailed all day. Prague and Venice were my two favorite towns. The Czech Republic was amazing and I saw some of the most beautiful things. The bridges and buildings, the water and gardens are all so perfect. It was a town with character and I really enjoyed it. Venice was breathtaking, really, it was lovely. We took a boat to the island early in the morning and had a perfect day filled with a gondola ride through the channels, Italian pizza and gelato, getting lost in the little roads and enjoying the atmosphere of the city. The city was busy with boats and gondolas, tourists, people selling their art, street vendors selling masks which are typical to Venice and yet I did not see one car, which was pretty neat. The buildings are old and each unique, the bridges are so pretty and the waterways were filled with gondolas. It seemed perfect to me, I have trouble finding a flaw with this city. The whole Euro Trip was amazing and I have created memories that will be with me forever. If you’ve never seen Europe, I strongly suggest you embark on an adventure that will surely be amazing.

I never realized how beautiful our world really is. This trip has urged me to see more of the world; I cannot wait to explore Asia and Latin America. I feel like there is so much I have to see and I cannot wait to travel the world.   I guess that is what Youth Exchange is about. To give you a taste of the world and to make you want to see more and learn more. It allows you to make contacts all over the world which permits you to stay with your friends in Taiwan, India, Brazil, Argentina, etc.

I cannot believe that the trip I had been looking forward to all year is over. It always seemed so far away and it being finished means I am going home soon. In less than 40 days I will be on an airplane home to Canada, which seems so weird. I have my best friend coming in a few weeks and some other little trips planned that I am looking forward to.

I am not rushed to go home but I think that when June 19^th arrives I will be ready to go home. I am not home sick but I miss home a lot. A year without a hug from your mom is hard. Although I love France a lot and I am super happy here, I do miss Canada. Who would ever think they could miss Brantford! Seems crazy!

          See all of you on June 25^th.

 

Bisous,

Paige Smitiuch

Ps. Please excuse my English, it has become horrible in the last 10 months. I hope my University understand next year. Haha.

Not writing sooner, I think I'm going to blame it on the time zone here and just stay here. We're clearly two weeks ahead, not only six silly hours. 

Bonjour!

Ou la la, I am turning into a French person…

It’s not how much time you’ve got, not anymore. It’s how much time you’ve got left.
I’ve hit a point that every exchange student hits during their exchange—the halfway point. And at the time, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal. Then, time inches a little further along, and still you shrug it off. Then suddenly you’ve only got four months left.
Four months.

みんなさんこんいちわ。
Hello Everyone!

Much has changed since last I wrote. It’s been a very busy time. I changed host families in early December, missed a Christmas and had a crazy Japanese New Year.

Chère Rotarians,

Time is still flying by and I continue to make memories and discover new things in the lovelt France.

Hi Everyone! 

I've been doing really really well here for the past few months! I can't really remember the last time I wrote, so I'll just fill you in on everything. December was probably the busiest month of my exchange so far, I couldn't believe how much there was going on! The first weekend, I had my gymnasium Årsbal - the school's birthday party. We all got dressed to the nines, had a fantastic themed dinner with our class (my class' theme was bollywood, mmmm Indian food!), and danced all night. However, before any fun could be had, we had to dance a traditional Danish dance, Les Lanciers (yes, it is french). The night was fantastic, and everyone was ridiculous. I swear, they have the coolest teachers (aside from BCI's Mr Utting) in Denmark. 

 

Japan so far has been an experience that compares to no other,

Check out my BLOG

http://olivianeale.blogspot.com/ 

we've already started to prepare for the graduation at the end of the year! I'm so ridiculously excited....

Tune in to my BLOG:

www.taledansk.tumblr.com

 

 

France is fantastic, as per expected. The old buildings, the fine cuisine, the beautifully romantic language and the rich history unfold something new for me each day. I discover something new every day and am learning so much about France, the World, people, culture and myself. Although leaving the known to enter the unknown is scary and maybe a bit crazy, I am feeling very comfortable here and France feels like home, finally.

Check out my BLOG

www.paige-infrance.blogspot.com

 

France is fantastic, as per expected. The old buildings, the fine cuisine, the beautifully romantic language and the rich history unfold something new for me each day. I discover something new every day and am learning so much about France, the World, people, culture and myself.

 The uphill battle of living in another country has progressively become less steep and it is leveling out more and more each day. The pattern of things getting better has continued and I’ve adapted more to the French lifestyle, for the most part. I am a lot less lost when it comes to school, the area and the language.

Even though I've only been in Denmark for 6 weeks, it already feels like home, I don't think I could imagine being happier in any other country. I've kept in touch with a lot of the other outbounds from our district, and I don't think a lot of them are doing quite as well, at least socially.

Sunday 15 May 2011 saw the successful completion of the 29th edition of the Brantford Classic Run. For a brief video of the event, please go to http://www.rotaryclassic.ca

Jen Middleton’s 4th Annual Garage Sale!

Donations of gently used items are being taken now!
Contact her at 519-761-0108 or middleton.jen@hotmail.com

Day of sale is May 28th
All proceeds going to Let Kids be Kids project

The organizers of the Rotary Brantford Charity Air Show regretfully announce that the
Air Show will not take place for the 2011 year. Due to a number of factors that
challenge the success of the show, it was decided that not proceeding with an air show
in 2011 is in the best interest to maintain the integrity of this renowned Air Show.

Catherine Giles is our Youth Exchange student, currently enjoying a year living in Tenerife, Spain.

Click here to view a really good illustration by Bill Gates on why the fight against polio is so important.

Rotarians make a stand in pink The Brantford Rotarians put on pink shirts on Friday with hopes of raising awareness for Pink Shirt Day, which will be celebrated in Brant on Feb. 23. Watch it on video here.

I just recieved the lovely christmas card!! It arrived a little late but nonetheless it warmed my heart. Great, I will probably cry after writing this E-mail. I feel very loved in both countries and thank you very much for everything. 

Sarah Wei, our exchange student in Brazil reports.

Its been a long time since a wrote to anybody in Canada, so I wanted to take sometime of and write you a small message... Here in the Faroese we just got our first snowfall, which is nothing compared to the fist snowfall in Canada. ;) how is the family and the Rotary club ?

Two girls have been chosen to represent the Brantford Rotary Sunrise and Friday Clubs next year!

25,000 visitors, searing hot weather and screaming engines once again met to create a great air show! An event that will benefit many children in the Brantford area for quite a while to come, given the money that was raised.

This was the second year of our club's involvement in the Brantford Rotary Airshow and again it was a success, with many spectators and over $40,000 raised for charity! Below please find a review of the show from the airshowreviews.com website, which rated us 8.5 out of 10. Well done team!

 Oct. 3, 2014 the first Brantford Rotary Perch Fry will take place at the Boys & Girls Club. Buy your tickets now, as we're nearly sold out!

The best part of my year in 2013 was meeting so many incredible people who have became my friends and family – people who have changed my life, outlook on the world, and taught me more about myself. People who have become my everyday heroes, mentors, and people who I aspire to be. As well as getting to spend more time with the people I love. A special thanks to everyone in District 1650, and District 7090, my peer tutoring class, my host families and Rotary clubs in Concarneau and Brantford, my friends in France, my friends from Provincial Leadership Camp and Citizenship Seminar and everyone else who I happened to meet as well as my friends and family who have always been there for me.

Once again Rotarians and their friends took part in the annual JCI Christmas parade in Brantford.

Saturday November 30th, Rotarians took part in the annual Christmas parade in Brantford.

Sunday 1 December saw most of us hard at work at the Lansdowne Childrens' Center Christmas Party.

Friday, November 22nd our club is welcoming Rose Adams as our speaker.  Rose has been engaging local, national and international audiences for more than nine years. In 2008, Rose founded Oxygen for Success, an organization committed to educating individuals and corporations adapt to change, develop resilience, enhance leadership and achieve desired results

October has been an even more eventful month then September.

Peter Giles, our exchange student currently in Belgium shared the following story on his blog.

Given that following Thanksgiving we probably all need to get rid of a few pounds, we thought we'd share it with you.

Visit the Rotary Club of Brantford on FACEBOOK to view photographs of our activities
Rotary Club of Brantford Facebook Page

I can't say that I've been up to much that could be considered particularly new and exciting since I last wrote, which I think was after my trip to London? Well, if you didn't know I went to London in March.

Towards the end of March I had a two-week long vacation of lunch for Easter, it wasn't overly eventful, I just spent a lot of time reading, and relaxing, and going out with friends from school. For Easter though, my host parents took me up from Helsingør, Denmark to Helsingborg, Sweden. We drove through Skåne in Sweden, and visited various gardens and parks and lovely things like that. It was such a beautiful drive along the coast of Øresund! One day that week I also spent the day shopping and wandering in Malmö, Sweden, it was such a sweet and inexpensive city, I quite enjoyed it, but I really haven't come to appreciate the Swedish language, it just sounds so vulgar and crass with its differentiations in pitch and harder consonant sounds.

At the beginning of April my school had its biggest, and most anticipated party of the year, it's called O-Show. The entire idea of O-Show is to have the last party of the year, and have it the best possible time for the 3rd grade, as it's our last year. To start, we all had to arrive in some sort of creative fashion (my friends and I went in wagons pulled by the one girl's brother's friends), after there was a show with awards and entertainment hosted by students, and then there was a dance until 3. It was the funnest night I've ever had, and it really helped that O-Show also had a 1950's theme, it was perfect!

 

The 2011 Clowns for Kids program was once again a success! The weather cooperated and the clowns brought many happy moments to the 34,000 spectators along the JCI parade route.

Catherine is writing a blog, which you can follow on www.canadacatherine.blogspot.com
Following are some quotes from her blog over the last few weeks.

I am having a wonderful time in Brazil. I have been here for 2 months now and I am very pleased that I came here. My family here are very loving and patient with my broken/slow Portuguese. Everyone here is patiently helping me through these rough times. With the Interact and Rotary here in Brazil, we planted trees, helped troubled kids who are in rehabilitation from drugs. I have also made many friends and often go out and watch movies with them. I have tried many new foods.

Received the following email from Sarah Wei, our current Outbound student to Brazil.

"There honestly is nothing more amazing in this world then to visit Africa, especially when you have outstanding Rotarians to receive you and take care of you on the other end." Middleton

Hannah Vlaar, our exchange student to France writes:
Hello Rotary, Family and Friends!
One more month has slipped away from this wonderful year, and time seems to be flying by. I can hardly believe that in a few short weeks I will be leaving what seems like my whole life behind me. Wow.

Given the current volatile situation in Thailand, you might be interested to read the following email that we received from him recently.

Galina Karaivanova, a student and the special events coordinator for Brantford Rotaract recently traveled back to her home country.

Please send your best wishes, congratulations and comments to Rick Stern to info@paulatysoski.com to be posted here!

The Rotary Club of Brantford is pleased to announce that Rick Sterne will be our nominee for District Governor of Rotary Distict 7090 for the 2012-2013 Rotary year.

Famous landmarks light up with End Polio Now message! See them all at http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAndNews/News/Pages/090223_news_landmarks.aspx

Hey Everyone! Greetings from France! It's been a few weeks since I sent a big update, which can only mean one thing – I've been left and right, up and down, all over France and living vicariously!

District 7090 Newsletter is now available in the bottom right under downloads. The articles featured include one regarding the Airshow itself and an article from the Sunrise Club.

See bottom right for downloads including the Rotary Youth Exchange Brochure and our Club Brochure!

Each year, more than 7,000 young people have the opportunity of a lifetime - a chance to live in another country and see the world from a new perspective through Rotary Youth Exchange. Currently, both Rotary Clubs of Brantford are doing information sessions in the local high schools and will be conducting interviews with candidates applying for the two positions available for next year.

*See new links under Club Links* Visit The Brantford Rotary Club online for updates, links and your duties for the month. Click on over to the Rotary eClub http://www.rotaryeclubone.org/ not only to make up a meeting but to find out about the many different Rotary initiatives and projects going on.

The Snowbirds, CF-18's, Skyhawks and many more are set to take to Brantford skies, all in the name of charity.

2009 - 2010 Rotary Theme

Illiteracy is a major contributor to poverty in Pakistan.  Rotary Brantford is making a difference in the lives of many through this unique program.

The Snowbirds, CF-18s, and aircraft from the Canadian and US Air Forces will fly Brantford skies September 2 to raise money for Rotary Charities. VIDEO

Natalie's parents pass on pictures from Argentina.

A message from former Youth Exchange Student Stephanie Cox who went to Brazil on the Youth Exchange Program in 2004 / 2005.  It is an amazing testimonial to the impact of the Youth Exchange Program.