Durham-Great Bay Rotary - Newsletter - Archive (Jul 22, 2009)

Pres. Rich Meetings in the month of August will be at the Three Chimneys; cost will be $14. The Board will continue to investigate other options and bring a recommendation to the club as soon as possible.

Ric New scribe and prayer sheet was circulated which will run for the year. Members filled in the early months and checked themselves off.

Pres. Rich Jud and Henry went to the 100th anniversary of the RC of Boston and heard the new President of Rotary International speak. Both reported a delightful evening.

Bill D Of the 46 club members, 35 are active. The average age is increasing. We need to attract more young people to the club. He'll be back with some ideas and recommendations in the next couple of month.

John W From the road, John informs us that 4 Tall Ships are coming to Portsmouth on August 7-9 starting with a Parade of Sail Fri, at 8 AM. Tours are available for all ships. Click on Tall Ships for contact info.

Happy Bucks:

Dave L Great week in Acadia National Park

Joe P For our speaker and encouraging the recruitment of younger

members

Arthur Nice conversation with PDG Craig Wellman, now in

Glastonberry, CT

John B More sun, less rain

Jud Happy birthday to Henry

Henry $5 for missing yesterday's board meeting; encouragement for

the recruitment of new members

Pres. Rich Real estate market looking better: listed a house on Friday

and sold it on Monday

Program:

Adam Melvin, son of Don. His service with the Peace Corps in Jordan

Adam began his service in June, 2008 starting with training in culture and language in Irbid. His permanent site is Mirwid, a small village of 500 near a large university so he has some of the amenities of living in a university town.

Jordan is more liberal than many of its neighbors and has a relatively large Christian population.

He teaches English language at a school which runs to 10th grade, and also teaches a conversational English class at the university. During the summer, he ran a summer camp focusing on dramatic arts. Jordanian schools are segregated by gender, but this is not true at university level. The young boys do most of the repair work and cleaning under the supervision of a fella whose primary duty seems to be brewing tea for the principal. Tea is a very important part of the day.

Jordan grows wheat and other grains, fruit and vegetables. A great deal of herding is done. Jordan is facing problems in agriculture because of very little rain or snow in winter. It is very cold there in winter. There is no central heating and no insulation in the buildings, so everyone depends on stoves on wheels.

Peace Corps volunteers are not permitted to drive cars or motorcycles, so must take public transportation. The Peace Corps entails a 27 month commitment - three months of training and two years of service.

Megabucks:

John B could not find the six of spades. The $89 pot rolls over.

Upcoming Programs:

Jul 29 Leslie Wood, Lonza Biologics, Inc and the pharmaceutical industry

Aug 5 Mary Stampone, State Climatologist

Aug 12 Peter Wellenberger, Great Bay National Estuarine Research Res.

Aug 19 Official Visit, DG Jeffrey S. Pelkey, RC of Kittery

Aug 26 Chip Noon, Classification Talk

Your Scribe:Ron