A Steep Learning Curve

Our GSE team to the Philippines has two important responsibilities.  First, we are ambassadors of the United States and Rotary District 7370 to our host country. As such, we are teachers and like all teachers, we communicate as much by what we say as by how we conduct ourselves.  Second, we are students. A GSE exchange is a program of professional development. We are committed to learn from our counterparts in the Philippines and bring back to the U.S. new insights, practices, and tools that we can apply. 

So there is much to learn in the short time we have between the time the team is selected and the time we depart. We have to learn about Rotary International, its organization, and its values.  We have to learn about the host country and its culture, history, and economy. 

We have to prepare and rehearse a Power Point presentation about ourselves.  Above, Stacey and Nicole work on the presentation.

We will present this presentation at Rotary Club meetings throughout District 3860 during the exchange.  There are over 100 Rotary Clubs in the district. It's likely many clubs will double up, but it is entirely possible that before the exchange is over, we will have given the presentation more than 25 times.  Then when we return back to Pennsylvania, we will give the presentation to a number of Rotary Clubs who want to hear about our experience in the Philippines.  We will also give an extended version of the presentation at the District 7370 District Conference in April.  

Preparations Are Well Underway

  We began our official preparations only three weeks ago and they are already well underway for our trip to the Philippines. Anticipation grew after our training session January 29.  Along with our usual meeting preparations, we were joined by Rotary District Governor Alice Kissinger and GSE Chair Bob Lombard, who came to review our progress and see our team in action. They provided valuable feedback, as District Governor Alice led a GSE team to Germany and  GSE CHair led a team to Finland.  Both gave us also gave us great insights into issues we may expect to encounter on our journey to the Philippines.

  We were then joined by some amazing guests from the local Filipino community.  Dr. Pedro (Pete) and Salve Servano, a couple who grew up in the Philippines before moving to the U.S.  It was a real joy to meet three international students from nerby Bucknell Univesity.  Judy and Quinn are from the Philippines.  Yiyi is from Burma.  Their willingness to share provided us with much insight on their culture and how it compares to our culture in the U.S. We continued our conversations over a delicious Filipino dinner prepared by John's wife Anna Beth that was followed by dessert and what else but the Philippines' favorite activity, karaoke!

  We have just three weeks left until we step on the plane and already we are having a blast! Thank you so much to our visitors! It was so great to be able to interact with people of Filipino culture and if most of the people we meet are anything like these people we were fortunate enough to get to spend time with, we are guaranteed to meet wonderful people with the happiest and most caring of hearts. We can't wait!