Southam Rotary Club

Tonight I gave my first "for real" Rotary speech - power point presentation and all! At 6:00 p.m., Iain Cockburn (pronounced Coburn) from the Southam 2000 Rotary Club and his wife, Claire, picked me up in Stratford-upon-Avon. They were really fun and very sweet! They actually got married in the U.S., and we had some good conversations on the way to the meeting. Southam is about 20 minutes from Stratford, and the Southam Rotary Club meets at The Fox and Lion pub. Since it was Foundation Night (where they raise money and have guest speakers), the Southam 2000 club was also there, along with the Mayor and Mayoress of Southam. In England, all of the mayors wear large gold medallions, and their wives wear smaller ones. On the way to the pub, Iain told me that the riots in Paris are under control, and even if we had gone to Paris while they were happening, we wouldn't have been anywhere near them since the riots weren't near any of the tourist areas. He also told me about the strict gun control laws that England has. It is VERY hard to own a gun in England, and if you do own one, you have to store the gun and ammunition separately. Police aren't allowed to carry guns, either. Iain said that if the U.S. had stricter gun laws, it might cut down on the school shootings. He definitely has a good point! Tooley and I always read in the paper about students in England stabbing other students with knives, scissors...anything! There are never any shootings, though. Rinko, an Ambassadorial Scholar from Japan, also spoke tonight. She and I met last month at District Conference, so it was good getting to see her again. For supper, we had onion soup (ew!), porkchops and applesauce, cooked potatoes, and carrots...of course! Dessert was a sponge cake with creme and raspberry filling. I sat between the Mayor of Southam and the president of the Southam Rotary Club. Everyone was really friendly. A funny fact about Rotary Clubs in England...it's not unusual for one or two people to get drunk at meetings! Haha! After the meal and loyal toast (I thought it was called the royal toast when they toast the Queen, but it's actually the loyal toast), I gave my speech. I think it went ok! I'm glad it's over, though. People asked me about Hurricane Katrina and what I thought about England, but luckily there were no political questions. I've heard horror stories about Ambassadorial Scholars getting bombarded with a number of questions about Bush and the War in Iraq. Luckily, I had a great crowd tonight. After the meeting (it lasted til 10:30!), Iain brought me back to Stratford. Tomorrow I'm going to the Coventry Phoenix Rotary meeting to hear Bianca's farewell speech, so it'll be nice to go to a meeting and not have to speak. I hope everyone had a wonderful day!