Rotary District Conference

Well, it's Sunday night and I just returned home from Rotary District Conference in Southport, England (right next to Liverpool). My host counselor, Mike Taylor, and his wife, Judy, picked me up Friday morning and we headed to Southport. Southport looks different from other English towns I've seen because it's not very old. Most of the buildings and houses are Victorian style, instead of 400+ years old like every other town in England. :) When we first arrived, I went to a tea dance with Mike and Judy. We had cream tea (scones, jam, and tea), and many of the Rotarians were doing some old school dancing (and by old school, I mean the Charleston). All of the Rotarians stayed at the Prince of Wales Hotel, and the ambassadorial scholars and youth exchange scholars stayed at the Carleton House Hotel. My roommate for the weekend was Bianca Reis from Brazil, and she was wonderful! She's a Youth Exchange Scholar who has been living in Coventry since last December. She lives with different families in Coventry, and is going back to Brazil in 6 weeks. Bianca and I got along really well! The other scholars included: Jessica from Texas (her husband, Hector, is from Venezuela and also getting his ph.D. at the University of Birmingham, Rebecca from Utah, Rinko and Yoshi from Japan, Amber from Taiwan, Vilma from Lithuania, Clement from Malawi (in Africa), and Gustav from Sweden. Gustav speaks flawless English...I was very impressed! He barely has an accent! The scholars pretty much stuck together the whole weekend. On Friday and Saturday night we ate at a DELICIOUS and very posh restaurant, compliments of Rotary, that served very beautifully arranged gourmet food. On Friday night, we watched the Smackees perform, which is a group of four singers (one guy and three girls) who sing selections from different musicals. It was really great, and many people sang along. On Saturday morning, we ate a full English breakfast, which consists of hash browns, baked beans, poached, fried, or scrambled eggs, boiled tomatoes, boiled mushrooms, and bacon. I just ate scrambled eggs and a croissant...I'm not quite ready to go all out! We listened to speakers until 1 p.m., and had the afternoon free to shop and roam about the town. One group that spoke on Saturday was a Group Exchange from England that spent a month in New York. I was excited about hearing them speak, because I love hearing what the English think of the U.S. Well, some people in the group didn't have the best things to say. In fact, me and the other two Americans got very offended. At first I thought we were just being sensitive because they were talking about our home country, but after they finished, Bianca turned around and said, "Are you ok? They were really rude!" One man said that all Americans ever think about is the Revolutionary War, and that he enjoyed telling the Americans what REALLY happened...that the English didn't care about the U.S., and how we think it's some big victory but the English didn't care if they lost the American colonies or not. He continued talking about the negative aspects of our school systems, and all of the crime. Throughout all of this, he would make jokes about Americans, and the whole audience laughed. Jessica, Rebecca, and I just sat there like, "Is this really happening?" Another guy who spoke is a journalist in Birmingham, England, and heard about a group of kids in New York who electrocuted a dog just to be mean, so he wrote an article that said all Americans electrocute their dogs. Afterwards, Rebecca and I talked to the journalist and told him that we hope he doesn't really think Americans are like that, because neither Rebecca nor I electrocute our dogs. We told him that it hurt our feelings that he would be so negative and generalize a whole country based on what a few people do. His only response was, "Well, Americans are much nicer than the English." We said, "Well, return the favor!" He apologized twice and was much nicer the rest of the day. We even joked about it later! Honestly, though, I couldn't imagine returning to my host club in Mississippi and speaking negatively about England. I'm sure the Rotary Club in New York that hosted this group would be very hurt if they had heard how their hospitality was repaid. Saturday night was the Fancy Dress (costume) party, and the theme was Musicals. The Rotarians went all out! One club went as Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, another went as Singing in The Rain, and there were many more. The funniest and most disturbing was the group that went as the Rocky Horror Picture Show...one man came dressed in a bustier and garters...nothing else! Wow! The party was a lot of fun! The ambassadorial scholars dressed as Cats, and we showed those older people how to break it down. :) The band played fun oldies music and we got in a circle and danced. Clement showed us some funny African dance, and Gustav lip synced to ABBA. Even Mike and Judy got out there with us! On Sunday morning, we listened to more speakers, and the last one was Angela Baker, who started the Calender Girls. Remember the movie "Calender Girls," about the older women who pose nude to raise money for charity? Angela Baker came up with the idea to raise money for leukemia research after her husband died. She was a great speaker, and had some interesting photos! After the conference, we packed up and headed out. On the way home, I explained to Mike and Judy what jack o'lanterns and sororities are (they had never heard of either of those things!), and they told me that "back yard" is a derogatory term in England...what we call back yards, they refer to as gardens. The English think of back yards as old, dirty, stone areas in the back of houses. So don't tell the English that you like their back yard, or they just might get offended! :) Mike and Judy were wonderful and fun to be around, as usual, and I really liked getting to meet other scholars my age. Overall, the conference was a success and lots of fun.

Ballroom during the Fancy Dress Party

Bianca and me - her club was dressed as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Angela Baker, one of the "Calender Girls"