Exchange Student Part One (Mar 15, 2022)

Miscellaneous

Repeat from last week or until no longer relevant or until I delete it:

The external Paul Harris Dinner is now scheduled for June 15th and tickets will be $75 each.

The Hanging Basket Sale will be going on line again from March 8th to 26th. Pick up will be on April 30th at the Banquet Centre. Lunch provided for volunteers.

Let Sandra know how many tickets you need for the Gala and if you are going to etransfer.

Debbie M. will send an Email about the External Paul Harris scheduled for June 15^th at 6 pm at Quilchena costing 75$ per person.

Amanda looking for baskets for the April 10^th basket making.

Zoom Meeting Rules

THE LINK TO OUR THURSDAY MEETINGS WILL NO LONGER BE EMAILED BUT ACCESSED THROUGH THE LINK BELOW.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86855229058?pwd=c1pxUklLeDMwWGpCdjIrOS9Oak4wUT09

Meeting ID: 868 5522 9058
Passcode: 473892

1) Mute your microphone if you aren't already muted. Background noise is distracting.
2) If you are not engaged in the presentation, turn off your camera.
3) Chat function should only be used to address the speaker, not for Club member remarks during the presentation

4) Unmute when harassing the Sergeant at Arms or taking your turn during Sergeant at Arms.

Presidents Report and Announcements, committee and board news and other stuff.

Next week Tyler Choy, another Youth Exchange student presents

March 15, 2022 Board meeting minutes coming soon – please read.

Shelter Box Canada will be our method to give to Ukraine.

Joint board meeting May 31 – present and incoming board at Richmond Country Club

April 10 Gala/Auction Basket making at Life Centre

Flower baskets pickup date April 30/22, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m; Chris Pughe has circulated list of who has purchased.

Rotary awards – anyone can nominate Club of the year, Rotarian of the
year, Don Evans People of Action Award – see applications on the district
website. Send to ADG Dean Hsieh

Steveston beer sales still on - $20 for 6 pick

Shredding events: Ladner Club April 2/22, 10 – 2, behind Delta Cable; Rotary Club of Richmond, April 9 at the Caring Place; Rotary Club of Steveston, May 14/22 - check with Pat

Paul Harris recognition for Pat Atkinson who is now Paul Harris +4

When Is the First Day of Spring? In 2022, the March equinox happens on Sunday, March 20, at 8:33 A.M.

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.

Henry Van Dyke

Please direct any questions to the President or a board member of your choosing and we will discuss any and all questions or concerns during our board meeting. Also please refer anyone who may be interested in attending a meeting or joining the club.

Be kind and be calm and safe...

Visitors

Peachy Magistrado – Elena’s friend

Jason Ruus

Guest speaker: Julia Ruus – Hugh Boyd virtual exchange student

sergeant At Arms Tidbits

Only 3 zoomers this week! Everyone else was present, including Mark!!

Your Bulletin Editor wants to thank Christine Marin for the great work she did recording the Bulletin notes this week. Aloha! Image result for Lei Emoji. Size: 120 x 170. Source: www.pngfind.com

Mary Lou - After unmuting, Mary Lou expressed her thanks for a great Board Meeting, said she likes seeing us with no masks, went to Home Show to get used to being with lots of people in a big space – felt weird. Nice hair cut! She recommends The Rack (Afghan restaurant) at 7^th and Main.

Bob Shoker thanks Judy for wearing green, but that’s all he could see from Zoom.

Richard (aka Dick) reads rotary magazine, and in the spirit of diversity and inclusion, notes that the new president of RI is a woman, Jennifer Jones, first time we have a female president. Dick belongs to the Probus Club in Vancouver which is men-only which is archaic! They had a special meeting this week but 59% are against inviting women, so we are renaming it the Dinosaur Club!

Danny is just back from Alberta, hiking 3 sisters mountain, a difficult place, drove to Banff to another of the hardest hiking areas then to Lake Louise and back to Calgary. Go, Danny! There are no masks in Calgary since March 1, so when Danny was doing lots of sneezing and coughing, he took a Covid test and it was negative! Yay!

Elena, automatically unmuted in person, has her birthday this Sunday and will celebrate with a family gathering. She was invited by Rotary district 5050 to be the speaker for Rotary World Health at Kwantlen on April 9. Congratulations, Elena! Rotary World Health is working on a container – details to come.

Gordon is in the flesh, and checked to see if it is the real him - stubble and all. He had a busy week with rotary stuff and notes that we will be donating $10 000 towards Ukraine via the Shelter Box project. Thank you for all for that support. Gordon will let DG Lorne Calder know about our donation.

Sandra will be on her first business trip in two years next Monday! Although the air fares are expensive, she gets a welcome back bonus from the hotel. She might be on Zoom next Thursday as will just be getting back.

Bobby is happy to see more people live. He was at the Home Show, finding out how to make more space in his house. Might rent out his attic. He went to his first Canuck game and to a restaurant, and did shopping and looks good in his new top!

Garth was in Whistler skiing with only 10% of the people masking. Even New Zealand is giving up on masks. The Probus Club is a good idea – retired rotarians or just retired people who meet monthly with speakers, but Garth didn’t realize it was still men only. Just FYI, Shelter Box was developed by Rotarians, with food basics, water purification and is kept ready for disasters throughout the world.

Christine is practicing golf as she has signed up for a Ladies’ League – The Peter Principle in practice!

Dalbir attended a Peace Conversation with Vancouver Mountain club – they have only a core group attending on Zoom meetings but had good discussion questions, one of which is “When did you join rotary? When did you become a Rotarian?” This could be a good inspirational quote for us!

Larry absolutely hates the clock change and almost died this week getting up early. Larry thinks he will get pinched because he didn’t wear green – did he?

Carolyn is missing the kids (who are in Victoria) but she is living in a tidy, quiet house. The 4-year-old hit her head bouncing on the couch and slit her ear open! After 9 hours she had a purple glued ear - a new medical discovery! She was very brave!

Mark “who”? He hasn’t been here for awhile – was in the Kootenays, on the lake in the forest, in mobile home, will buy the whole acreage! He’s now into a new international company. Mark’s son, Nathaniel, is now one of the most sought-after supervisors for safety in the world. But there is no need for a DNA test because younger photos of Nathaniel show that behaviour is genetic. Angelica is the manager, doing the paperwork and Mark is the hammer. Bella is good with the horses and the dog turned 6 yesterday! Lots of news!

Melinda has the grandkids because of spring break and is exhausted. A clean house is only clean for a few minutes and books are flying off the shelves. So much fun! With kids, everything else that is going on in the world goes away. No office work is getting done. Happy St. Patrick’s Day – she forgot!

Amanda is happy to be back after her interesting week. She went with her sister at Lift Restaurant and had a hilarious server. Then, on Sunday she had a bath in the evening, fell asleep and woke up later – thank goodness! The next day, she was at work for an hour then felt sick and learned that she had knocked herself out with a concussion in the bathtub! Graham did say that he thought she was acting weird. Larry says that drowning in the bathtub is common. But Amanda wasn’t too worried. She wishes us a Happy 2-year anniversary since the shut down for Covid!

Marg’s father-in-law belonged to Probus and wonders why Dick hasn’t quit. She missed the Board Meeting because of the Canucks’ game, but her tickets were booked a year in advance. She’s going to see Kim’s Convenience at the Stanley. We need to appreciate our medical system so that broken arms are given casts, not two sticks of wood and a wrap.

Peter’s grandson was chosen to be part of the MacNair mini program. The group will stay together all through high school and will do neat stuff like outdoor recreation! The hook is you must maintain grade average so there is pressure to be scholastically adept. There will be social activities like the soup kitchen, opportunities for all-round character building. The grandson is elated and the younger sister wants to sign up, too.

Kal reminds Judy that they are twins and wants to go to Vegas. He noted that Michael is just Mark with a tan.

Bill welcomed Julia and Peachy. Enjoyed Canucks boxes for both games!

Sam - Pride night at TD box at canucks game on Friday. Part of LGBT community and interested in hockey game – Sam only one.

Debbie M. is in the land of the living and doing much better. Miles breezed through Covid. She took her 5 month old granddaughter to Kits Beach to see the volleyball players who are out – yay! She loved it (Debbie or the granddaughter). Never too young to start enjoying memorable moments! Her auction bottles of wine and baskets were dealt with by a well-meaning mom!

Judy was in Birch Bay for week, some time with her daughter and some on her own. She is getting used to it and was able to appreciate the gorgeous sunset, with a. glass of wine on beach and a toast to Ralph. She’ll be back next week, to replace the 13 year old couch with a Ferndale replacement that was 1/3 off. A sentimental family, as her son is sad that he won’t be able to say a proper goodbye to the old couch. Grandma went down playing foosball with the 5 year old twins! C’mon Judy!!

Michael is busy with work, is going to Whistler with family this weekend, and is finishing Inventing Anna on Netflix while starting “world’s most dangerous prisons” – sounds lovely – a good recommendation this time??

Pat forgot it was Saint Patrick’s and needs to be pinched. Her car is in hospital getting repaired after a rear-ender a few weeks ago so she was late as she couldn’t find the defog buttons on the rental car and had to drive with the window open. She was also late because she is dog-sitting and had to let the dog out in the morning before coming!

speaKER

Julia Ruus Is a Hugh Boyd student who participated in the Rotary virtual exchange. Our club sponsored her to participate in the exchange with Brazil. This is the first time the virtual exchange is offered by District 5040, and was to imitate an in-person exchange, without travel. The girls were paired up with partners via bios and interest, with 8 students from each country. They had weekly zoom meetings, discussions, and she got to know her exchange sister, Isabela, through text, mail, packages and online zoom. The Brazilian girls were from District 4571. Discussion topics included a day in your life, music, national holidays, food, arts and culture, Presentations were done by both groups. The main jobs were to learn about the other county and immerse in other culture and to get to know the exchange sister and build a friendship. Isabela was her sister, 17 years old with a very long name. The exchange lasted from October to December. Isabela lives with her parents and brother in small village, is in a band, plays the clarinet, and is very involved with her interact club. The two girls are thinking they would love to do a service project with their clubs. Saturday meetings started at 10 a.m. (2 p.m. in Brazil), with an interactive activity such as games such as running around the house putting lots of clothes on – Julia thought she’d won with 4 hats and 5 jackets, but was outdone by someone from Prince George who had 18 shirts on because it’s cold in Prince George! They also had some speakers – Canadian aboriginal artist, Brazil showed tour guide landmarks. The girls were responsible for assignments where they worked with their sisters and presented together. Recipes were exchanged and they did a movie night, teleparty on Netflix, where you can watch a movie together even though apart – they watched a Brazilian movie in English. Julia learned about Brazil’s carnival celebration In Rio, for which they get 2 weeks off from school (she’s jealous), about the public school system which is not the best (so most try to go to private school. In Brazil they call their teachers by their first name – Julia thinks that’s cool. The big take-away was Isabel’s friendship, and the realization that we can get along despite cultural differences. Julia’s final thoughts were about the great experience, and is hoping she can eventually meet Isabela in person when they’re older. Thanks for a wonderful presentation, Julia!

Meanderings

Okay so last Thursday's meeting was St. Patrick's day. Discuss! Oh and my stand in Christine also did a meanderings on St. Paddy's day as well. Enjoy.

Although the holiday originally started as a Christian feast day celebrating the life of St. Patrick and the spreading of Christianity to Ireland, today, it is a day of revelry and a celebration of all things Irish.

St. Patrick’s Day is officially observed on March 17 each year, though celebrations may not be limited to this date. The significance of March 17 is that it’s said to be the date of St. Patrick’s death in the late 5th century (circa A.D. 493).

The man who would eventually become St. Patrick was born in Britain (part of the Roman Empire at the time) as Maewyn Succat in the late 4th century. His family was Christian, but it’s said that Maewyn himself was an atheist throughout his childhood.

That would change at age 16 (around A.D. 400), when Maewyn was kidnapped from his home on the west coast of Britain by Irish pirates, who proceeded to carry him off to Ireland and force him to work as a shepherd herding sheep. After six years, he escaped his captors, walking nearly 200 miles through the Irish landscape and convincing a ship to carry him with them back to Britain. This harrowing experience certainly had an effect on Maewyn, who was convinced it was the Lord who protected him and delivered him safely home.

Upon returning home, Maewyn received his call (in a dream) to preach the Gospel—in Ireland, of all places! He spent the next 15 or so years in a monastery in Britain, preparing for his missionary work. When he became a priest, his name was changed to Patricius, and he returned to the land of his captors to begin his teachings.

Although some Christians already lived in Ireland at the time, the country was largely pagan, so spreading a foreign religion was not an easy task. Patricius traveled from village to village to share the teachings of the Lord, and was successful enough to eventually found many churches there.

We wear a shamrock on St. Patrick’s Day because, legend says, St. Patrick used its three leaves to explain the Holy Trinity in his teachings. (The Trinity is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit as three divine persons who are one divine being [God].) The truth of the St. Patrick legend, however, is in question, as there is no direct record that the saint actually used the shamrock as a teaching tool.

Note: The symbol of St. Patrick is a three-leaf shamrock, not a four-leaf clover. However, long before the shamrock became associated with St. Patrick’s Day, the four-leaf clover was regarded by ancient Celts as a charm against evil spirits. In the early 1900s, O. H. Benson, an Iowa school superintendent, came up with the idea of using a clover as the emblem for a newly founded agricultural club for children in his area. In 1911, the four-leaf clover was chosen as the emblem for the national club program, later named 4-H.

And from Christine

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, here are a few interesting St. Patrick’s Day facts!

Saint Patrick didn’t wear green. His color was “Saint Patrick’s blue.” The color green became associated with St. Patrick’s Day after it was linked to the Irish independence movement in the late 18th century.
Despite his Irish notoriety, Saint Patrick was British. He was born to Roman parents in Scotland or Wales in the late fourth century.
According to Irish legend, Saint Patrick used the shamrock as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity when he was first introducing Christianity to Ireland.
Saint Patrick is credited for driving the snakes out of Ireland, but according to the fossil record, Ireland has never been home to snakes as it was too cold to host reptiles during the Ice Age. The surrounding seas have kept snakes out since.
There isn’t any corn in the traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal of corned beef and cabbage. The name is a reference to the large grains of salt historically used to cure meats, which were also known as “corns.”
Saint Patrick was born “Maewyn Succat” but changed his name to “Patricius” after becoming a priest.

Upcoming Events

External Paul Harris June 15th, 2022.

Please note the date for the Auction

Friday May 6th 2022 Auction Fundraiser with final details to be determined but anticipating live and in person.

TODAYS CHUCKLEs

😜

Life is short smile while you still have teeth.

Did you hear about the fellow whose entire left side was cut off? He’s all right now.

If you're sitting in public and a stranger takes the seat next to you, just stare straight ahead and say, "Did you bring the money?"