A Week Has Passed…

…and this is literally the first moment when I have had the time to enter a post.  I am sitting in the kitchen of the Metardier family who have all left for work and school.  It this is a beautiful room, perfectly outfitted with all kinds of modern stuff, but set is classical French kichen chic.  Chris is still sleeping.  He and I are billeted here, Kelvin is with Denis, and the two women off somewhere else.  We had dinner last night with the President of the local club and his wife, together with the Metardiers and the President elect.  Another beautiful home, this one contemporary and  magazine cover perfect in every way.

Last week was centered in the city of Toulon HQ of the French Navy, and a serious place.  We were entertained wined and dined (and wined some more) by the six clubs from the city and its surrounding municipalities.  It was a very full schedule, and a definite energy fade by Sunday.  Le Pradet is a city which borders Toulon to its East, and we started there on Monday with a tour led by their club, which included a visit to the municipal art center, a modern facility where local performance groups can stage their plays and practice and rehearse.  Christina was very impressed.  They took us to lunch on the central plaza and we sat “outside” (under the enclosed awning) and had a huge meal including lots of wine and desert.  The next stop was a museum in a 19th century copper mine and its dark wet tunnels provided adequate cover for droopy eyelids. From there to the   sailing club (founded by the ex president) was next for a beverage, and the chance to see 80 kids from the Ardeche region (about 3 hours inland ) being introduced to the sea paired up in Optimist prams.  Very cute. That evening we attended our first club meeting in a sumptuous hall called Les Gulles Casse, (broken faces) – not too appetizing a name but the site of the world’s first plastic surgery hospital established after WWI.  The team made their first presentation reading their paragraphs in French, a gesture very much appreciated, which brought applause to every one.

The five of us were housed by three Rotary families in Toulon, ladies together gents together and the old guy given a private apartment in the home of a third.  Very,very nice digs for all, with great and friendly hosts.  Not much English spoken, but everyone seemed to get along fine.  Since Toulon was heavily bombarded in WWII , and the downtown hastily rebuilt, the fancy buildings that once occupied the waterfront of the City have all be replaced by blocks of not very interesting apartment blocks.  Consequently the best addresses are on the hills overlooking the harbor.  We were all up there, in my case the view was across a pool on a terrace surrounded by romanesque columns vines and so on.  Looks an ad for a Mediterranean vacation. My hosts were retired jewelers who had established and built a very successful business with six outlets on the Mediterranean. Couldn’t have been nicer, we ate breakfast every day which featured my favorite “ficelle” a long skinny baguette, sweet butter and cafe au lait.  Alain would “decend” to the Village each morning before I arrived at the table to make sure the bread was fresh.  I dream of this breakfast when I am at home.

The wine from the Cotes de Provence region – the legal name for registered wines produced here – is primarily rose.  That is to say REAL rose, as it comes out of the winemaker’s vat, as opposed to mixes of reds an whites  a practice which is clearly carried on elsewhere in the  world,but much frowned upon in France.  It is good stuff, served cold and goes down a bit too easily.  So far no major adverse effects noted other than a little drowsiness after a big mid- day meal, all of which are BIG.

We got a special tour of a huge hospital (800 beds) construction project in the center of Town, conducted by the project manager himself. It is a year away from completion and I recognized all the tradesmen fitting up the mechnicals and wall finishes.  Loved it.  I think some in our party might have been a little bored, but… hey.

There is a Rotary club with exclusive female membership (do you believe it?) and we went there for lunch.  The women were all impeccable, with their very proper attire beautifully augmented with just the right scarves, broaches and so on.  Stunning really.  The youngest member, a lawyer, took us to see her parents farm just on the edge of town.  That was a shock.  This couple (exactly my age) is operating a major vegetable operation based on the CSA model they found at the Roxbury Farm in Columbia County in upstate NY.  It is a huge operation that includes four full time and two part time employees .

So after some technical dificulties…

I THINK I can post from the road here in France.  So far I have lost two blog posts…but here goes:

Today is Wednesday, the fifth day of this adventure.  I will recap.

We left Albany on the Delta Connection (operated by blah blah) which is another way of saying “small plane”  There was no service on board, but fortunately I never travel without a pb&j so I was sufficiently fed upon landing to send the crew off into the wilds of the terminal to seek their last hit on the American fast food system while I watched their bags.  The flight down was very pleasant, following the Hudson for a long way, turning out over the Catskills, down the west side of Manhattan over Ms Liberty & Brooklyn, up the Rockaways and into Kennedy.  Fascinating that the entrance to the terminal was down the stairs, onto the actual “tarmac” (a phrase used only by those who are familiar with the movies of John Wayne) and into the ground floor where we had to climb fully non=handicapped accessible stairs to the main floor.

The international flight left right on time, and 7 hours later we were in Nice-Cote d’Azur at 8:00 AM local time on May Day, a national holiday.  That meant that there was only one fellow at the passport control and he did his best to process the proceeds of a 767400.  No matter really, because there were even fewer people staffing the luggage carels and we still had a time to wait for our bags.  Thankfully they all made the transfer (accross the tarmac) at JFK and we were able to circle the wagons – as in rolling luggage- and head into the wilds of Southern France.

We were quickly discovered by M. van der Strict and Remi Metardier, the two Rotarians who arranged the trip from this end.  They handed us the traditional forget-me-not bouquet sold everywhere for labor day, and led us to the brand new Fiat van they had rented for the duration of our stay.

one hour and forty minutes later, we were at the home of Remi Metardier in Sollies, just east of Toulon.  He is a veterinarian, and with his wife Sylvie, daughter Delphine (21) and son Benjamin, live in a beautiful house on the side of a hill with a drop-dead, only in the South of France type view.  Loved this place.  They built it.  Practical, simple yet gorgeous.  Plus a great spot to sit outside and have an only in the South of France type of BBQ. And so we did, which is when  Bertrand (don’t have his last name handy) showed up to take over the Fiat and drive us all to our lodgings in Toulon.

Organizing for a GSE Exchange

The decision to exchange GSE teams between districts must be ratified by Rotary International which often makes modifications to the original plan and/or suggests alternative pairings.  Once an exchange is approved, the work begins at both ends of the project.  Both Districts must organize a committee which will see to the recruitment and preparation of their team, and to the hosting and care for the team they will receive.

For the Capital Region District (7190) this process began in the late Winter of 2009 when Ellen Schaeffer of the Shenendehowa Rotary Club was named chair of the GSE committee .  Appointed to that committee were other senior leaders of the District Rotary who had experience with previous GSE encounters. This group included John Eaton, the sitting District Governor, Past District Governors Harriet Noble and Anne Cargile, District Governor elect Dan Stec, District Governor Nominee Bill Nathan and several others. 

In the Spring a notice was sent out to district Rotarians seeking a “Team Leader” for the district’s out-going team.  A GSE team leader is an active Rotarian from a district club who will travel with the team and be responsible for the orderly completion of the program abroad.  Team leaders are asked to demonstrate appropriate  travel experience, knowledge of the area to be visited, language capabilities or other skills which would lend themselves to the role.

After applications had been received, the GSE committee, conducted interviews and on August 8th issued the following press release:

Rotary District 7190 Names Team Leader for Group Study Exchange with France

Rotary District 7190 is happy to announce the selection of David W. Roberts as Team Leader as we prepare to share Group Study Exchange (GSE) teams with District 1730 in France.

Mr. Roberts’ extensive professional leadership experience, as well as his long standing membership in Rotary, makes him an ideal candidate to lead young business professionals on this 4-week exchange. He has traveled extensively in France and is fluent in French and well versed in French culture and customs.

Our team, consisting of Rotarian Team Leader Roberts and four non-Rotarian team members will travel to France for a four week stay during the month of May 2010. The 30-day exchange provides an opportunity for young business professionals from the Capital Region to share their knowledge of American business with the people of France while learning about the culture, business practices, and history of that nation. Round-trip airfare and accommodations in France are paid for by Rotary International Foundation and the host district, making this a great opportunity for young business people to experience how their profession is practiced in the host country. In addition to valuable professional contacts, long term personal relationships are often formed during this period.

Capital Region Rotary District 7190 is also actively recruiting candidates to represent us and our country in this important exchange. The ideal candidate is a professional or businessperson between the ages of 25 and 40. He or she should be mature, have at least 2 years of work experience in their chosen field, be open to new and different cultural experiences, food and lifestyles and well grounded in their American citizenship.

For more information, or to obtain an application to participate, visit the District 7190 web page at http://www.capitalregionrotary.org/study.asp or contact Ellen S. Schaefer, Rotary District 7190 GSE Chair at 518-371-0364 or at gse7190@nycap.rr.com

The Districts

District 7190 is in up-state New York and is know as The Capital Region Rotary because it is roughly centered in Albany, the state’s capital.  There are 44 clubs in the district.  Details about the district can be found at http://www.capitalregionrotary.org/

District 1730 is in southern France, along the Mediterranean Coast between the City of Toulon and Nice/Monaco and including Corsica.  There are 63 clubs in the district and details can be found at     http://www.rotary1730.org/main/roMain.php?langue=fr

Group Study Exchange to France May 2010

The Rotary International Foundation is one of the World's primary advocates for exchanges between countries and cultures. The Foundation sponsors several programs putting its money and members on the line doing so. One such program is called the Group Study Exchange through which young professional people of one Rotary District are exchanged with a similar group from another across international borders. The Foundation expedites and funds the international travel, and local Rotarians provide the hospitality, transportation and educational opportunities in their respective countries.

Rotary itself is an international movement dedicated to the principal of service; service to self, service to community, and service to the World. The fundamental organizing block for Rotary activities is the myriad of local Rotary 'Clubs' located all over the World. Clubs are organized into Districts, Districts into Zones and so on. The over-arching organization is Rotary International with headquarters in Evanston IL. Through regularly scheduled meetings at a club level, at which attendance by members is strongly encouraged, members share experiences, learn of problems and opportunities in their communities, and explore service projects at all levels. Through the discipline of regular meetings and the educational opportunities presented there, the individual Rotarian serves him or herself. By devising and participating in local projects in their communities members serve that community, and by supporting one of the many international initiatives or the International they help in service to mankind.

One of the most visible Rotary programs is the Youth Exchange through which high school-aged students are sent to be enrolled in schools in countries beyond their borders and are hosted in the homes of Rotary members around the world. It is one of the most basic of Rotary efforts with exchanges arranged by local clubs themselves. It is also the largest such program of its kind.

It is principally through its International Foundation that Rotary sponsors the major projects for which it draws support from its vast club-system network. The huge "Polio Plus" program, a $650,000,000 effort to wipe Polio off the face of the Earth is currently the most visible of such efforts. The Foundation also sponsors on-going cultural and educational opportunities of which the Group Study Exchange is one. In addition to Group Study Exchanges, the Foundation also sponsors the Ambassadorial Scholarship program for students seeking advanced degrees abroad and the Peace Fellowship Program located at 5 major universities around the World.

Group Study Exchanges are arranged between Rotary Districts. Rotary Districts are typically made up of a constellation of clubs in geographical proximity to one and other. Each District has its own hierarchy headed each year by a Governor. In the year preceding their governorship, the Governors Elect attend the annual meeting of the Rotary International hosted each year in different part of the World. It is at these meetings that the Group Study Exchanges are arranged.

This year, in May 2010, District 7190 in up-state New York will exchange a GSE team with District 1730 in Southern France.