October 31, 2018
Announcements
Pres. Tom: He and Ric inducted Chuck Goss who lives on the Powder Major's farm in Madbury ... Still need a few volunteers for football on Nov 10th (Ed.: Done) ... We won't have a meeting next week (nor the day before Thanksgiving, for that matter); Andy will run the meeting on Nov 14th while Tom is on vacation ... He asked for a vote on donating $500 to Arts in Reach whose director spoke with us this Fall - approved.
Andy: We're set for Bingo into January. Heather has put a link to the schedule on the website for easy viewing. You can send him an email and he'll put you where you want to be on the schedule ... Work on the Dover playground is scheduled for Thursday, Nov 1st and Sunday, Nov 4th (Ed.: latter date was cancelled by Dover and rescheduled for Saturday, Nov 10th at 9 AM).
Program
Sophie Nelson, Mark's daughter, came to share with us her experience of China. While in high school here, our club sent her to Slovakia for a year under the Youth Exchange Program and it changed her life. After taking a degree in Linguistics from UNH, Sophie accepted a job offer in the Middle Kingdom teaching spoken English to English majors in a polytechnic college in a town of 3 million in the middle of the country, which is about the same size as the US. The job lasted 5 years.
Her town had no direct experience with foreigners so she was the toast of the town. Whenever she stepped out of the house, folks would take pictures of her like we might take a picture of a bear. Perfect strangers would include her in their weddings. Local elementary schools competed to have her appear in their classrooms.
She traveled as much as she could on her periodic vacations and found that China ranges from the rural hinterlands to the middle income communities to the uber-rich skyscraper-studded megacities. She found it easy and cheap to get around China on the many bullet trains. She also found that authentic Chinese culture is a bit removed from the US version, e.g. many Chinese dishes are served cold, and their New Year celebration or Spring Festival is more a time for big meals and family gatherings. She couldn't say that she ever saw a Dragon at one of those festivals the whole time she was there.
She's back for good now with her new husband, James, a civil engineer. They hope to find jobs in the area and settle in.
Megabucks: $126.50
Editor: Ric
