Prepared by Ed Touhey

President Wendy opened the meeting at 6 PM with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by
Dan who led us in prayer:

“Dear Lord our Father in heaven, With all our gratitude please lift our hearts with
renewed energy to bring together our aged souls each of whom know the preciousness
of life with friends. Let this be a celebration (Senior Christmas Dinner) for when it is our
turn to look at life lived behind us that it is a life of purpose to our family, friends and
nation. In Gods name we pray. – Amen”

Announcements
Tim extended his gratitude to the many Rotarians and others who expended both time
and effort on the Page Pond Project. The walkway is now handicapped accessible for
some distance. Go and see it, if you haven’t!

 

Betsey brought us up to date on the Senior Christmas Dinner on December 3.
Presently we have 255 registrants although we are prepared for 300 guests. Gift bags
(jellies from Moulton’s, candies and a tree ornament) and raffle tickets will be
distributed. Arrangements are being made for additional coat racks. Dean told us
Interact Club will be working the event starting with set-up and throughout the
morning. Betsey enlisted a few more Rotarians to fill out the work force.

Happy Dollars

Bob Kennelly won the 50-50 raffle.

Guest Speaker
Eben Misavage, our Exchange Student to Argentina, was introduced by Dean. Eben
proceeded to entertain and inform us with the saga of his stay in the Southern
Hemisphere.

 

There were ups and downs and twists and turns. There were moments of
frustration and those of shear joy. It all started a year ago September when his flight
out of Boston was cancelled without a successful rebooking for days and luggage
astray for a whole week. His first ‘host family’ was less than desirable and his limited
knowledge of Spanish didn’t help with open communication. School was supposed to
open upon his arrival but was delayed a month by a teachers’ “strike”. All of this called
for Eben’s self-confidence and stamina which he successful drew upon.

 

Eben’s second ‘host family’ was a ‘dream come true’. He felt welcomed in every regard;
got a better handle of the language; met many good friends and became a part of the
culture. He did discover that he had to be selective about those he ‘hung with’. In
response to one party invitation he found it was “just not my thing”. And then there
was the World Cup (Soccer)! While Dean watched the event from Meredith, Eben was in
the stands when Argentina won the championship. Eben claimed it as the most
thrilling experience of his life let alone his student year there. The emotional response
of the tens of thousands of fans present moved him like nothing before. It was than
that he was truly engulfed in the Argentine culture.

Their academic year, like ours, follows a seasonal calendar so summer vacation began
in December. When school was about to reopen in late January, it was once again
delayed another month. The time was not wasted. Eben had the wonderful opportunity
to join 49 other Exchange Students for a 20 day tour of parts of this diverse country.
This included agricultural lands to the south; horse country, the Andes to the north and
the most impressive waterfall he would ever hope to see. There were vast deserts
complete with dinosaur tracks! It was this experience and others when deep
friendships were made and tears, knowing all was about to come to an end, began to
flow. He had become so much a part of the culture and its people that with much self-
confidence he accepted the invitation of his classmates to learn and perform solo a
‘traditional dance’!

Eben left Argentina more confident in himself than when he arrived. He was now fluent
in a new language. He had immersed himself in a very different culture. His emotions
had been raised to a peek he had never experienced before. He had developed
confidence in being independent and ‘out there on his own’. He felt he had truly
developed as a person and that having ‘survived’ all of the ‘twists and turns and ups
and downs’ of this exchange year, he could handle just about anything!

Eben is now assisting Dean in promoting the Student Exchange Program at Interlakes.

 

The meeting adjourned at 7:15pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our own Rotary Members Fred Strader (left) and Chuck Thorndike as featured speakers.