Rotary Party and Speeches

On Saturday night, Mike and Judy picked me up and drove me to Peter and Iris Raine's house in Coventry. Peter is a member of my host club, and every year, he and Iris host a big party to support a charity. This year, the theme was "Are You Game?" There were thirty people, and it was a sit down dinner. In between courses, we played fun games like Bingo and Beetle Drive. Beetle Drive is a lot like the game Cootie. I tried to explain that to some of the people at my table, but they had never heard the word "cootie" before! At first they couldn't understand me...someone thought I said "cutie," and another person thought I said "cooley." But basically, the point of Beetle Drive is to construct an entire beetle bug, including legs, head, tail, and antennae, and be the first at your table to do it. But you have to roll the dice, and each number represents a different body part. We also played a game where we were given clues, and we had to guess which British candy bar the clues described. There were fifty different candy bars on the sheet! Luckily, being the chocolate lover that I am, I was able to contribute some answers. Gustav, the Swedish exchange student, was there, too, and he and I have gotten to be good friends, so it was fun seeing him! Dinner was great...instead of new potatoes, we actually had mashed potatoes, or "mash," as they call it here, which I haven't had in so long. And of course, we had cooked carrots. Pate is a popular dish in England, but I'm not a fan of it at all. That was our appetizer, and although I like most British food, I just can't make myself like pate. The party lasted until 12:30 a.m., or "half twelve." On Sunday night, Michelle and I went to see "Walk the Line" again. I just love that movie! Today, I gave two Rotary speeches...one at lunchtime in Stratford, and one at dinner in Tamworth. Two Rotary meetings...that means a double dose of new potatoes and carrots! The meeting in Tamworth was actually a Foundation evening, where all of the ambassadorial scholars in the area come to speak. I love Foundation evenings, because I get to see all of my friends from different universities! Jessica from Texas, Rebecca from Utah, Rinko from Japan, Amber from Taiwan, Clement from Malawi, Alex from Italy, and Kaz from Japan. All of us go to different schools, so we usually only see each other at Rotary events. All of the other scholars are really nice, and so much fun! I didn't get home tonight until midnight, though. Rotarians in England are definitely night owls! Mike, my host counselor, is so wonderful...he drives me everywhere! He's so great! I just found out tonight that we set our clocks forward for summer a week earlier in England than in the U.S., so for a week I'll be seven hours ahead of the U.S.! I hope everyone had a great weekend!