Sycamore High School Spanish teacher Mitch Doty gave a Rotary Exchange travelogue about his visit to Argentina during Wednesday’s Sycamore Rotary meeting.  Following an Argentinean exchange to Sycamore, Doty spent a month in Buenos Aires where he helped as a school instructor. He expounded on the incredible welcome he received by his Rotary hosts.  He also said he was inspired by the international connections of Rotary after attending their local Rotary Club meetings.  He was particularly complimentary about the local coordinator of the Exchange program who worked tirelessly to make sure his visit went flawlessly.
 
Doty learned that beef is an important meal staple.  He showed pictures of woodfire grills with racks of beef cooking.  He attended five special cookouts including at a cattle farm.  According to Doty, almost every home has some type of grill for open-air cooking.
 
For Doty, the most challenging part of his journey was adjusting to the daily schedule of activities.  Unlike here, school began at 7 AM and would go to 1 PM.  Then there was “siesta” for three hours where everything was shut down and everyone napped.  Shops would reopen at 4 PM and stay open into the evening.  He said it was normal to have dinner at 10:30 PM and not go to bed until midnight.
 
Doty said he valued the experience and it left him with a better cultural understanding of the country of Argentina.       

 

October 18, 1939 – Chicago football legend and Hall of Fame member “Iron Mike” Ditka is born in Carnegie, Pennsylvania.
 
October 20, 1632 – British architect Christopher Wren is born in Wilshire, England.  Considered one of the greatest minds of his time, he designed the famous St. Paul’s Cathedral in London plus 52 other churches and various government buildings in the city as well.
 
October 22, 1811 – Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt is born in Raiding. 
 
October 21, 1917 – Modern jazz great Dizzy Gillespie is born in Cheraw, South Carolina.  The trumpet virtuoso and improviser was also an accomplished composer and band leader.

October 19, 1781 – British General Lord Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington at Yorktown effectively ending the Revolutionary War (although the final peace treaty is not signed until September 1783).
 
October 20, 1944 – During World War II in the Pacific, General Douglas MacArthur set foot on Philippine soil for the first time since his escape in 1942, fulfilling his promise, “I shall return.”
 
October 21, 1805 – The British thwart Napoleon’s invasion of England by defeating a combined French and Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar.
 
October 21, 1879 – Thomas Edison successfully tests an electric incandescent lamp at his Menlo Park, New Jersey laboratory keeping it lit for 13 hours.