FogHorn May 31, 2018  - Exchange Student Presentation - Louise

Posted by Editor: FDBobko
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The FOGHORN 
ROTARY CLUB OF HALF MOON BAY
May 31,  2018
 
   Exchange Student Presentation 
Louise Chielens
Louise and her  current host Mom, Grace Hammerstrom
               
Article by   Richard White 
Photos by  Dianne Bobko
 
Louise Chielens: My Year as part of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program
Louise is from France and her home town is Lille, which is about a 50 minute train ride from Paris. While she was in Half Moon Bay she was hosted by two Rotary families: Steve and Kathy Wilson, and John and Larkin Evans and Half Moon Bay family, Grace and Kris Hammerstrom and their daughter, Dana.
 
 Louise gave a very animated, well illustrated and enthusiastic account of her adventures in Half Moon Bay and around the USA. She felt very weird leaving home for the first time, knowing she was going to ne away for a year. After a long fight to SFO she met with her new surrogate family, the Evans, for the first time. The next day she was off to a car show in Carmel and met with Rafa, a fellow exchange student from Spain. Soon she met with other exchange students from the area (six of them altogether), and they became fast friends. She celebrated her birthday on September 21st with a cheesecake birthday cake and went to watch a Giants game for the first time along with ‘Fish n Chips’ and all that crazy food! She was soon experiencing her first In and Out Burger and managed to see the Golden Gate Bridge without fog for the first time. As you will notice a lot of firsts for her during this special year!              
Her first day at school revealed to her just how different the French and American High School systems are, especially the dress code! Then it was time to watch her first High School Football game. Tennis was Louise’s sport of choice and she had a great time on the school tennis team and of course made a bunch of new friends! Had a shot at surfing but it was tough, but her fellow exchange student Rafa did well at it.  Helped out at our annual Pumpkin festival along with the other exchange students, a truly unique Half Moon Bay experience. At Halloween dressed as a witch and went ‘Trick or Treating’ with the grandchildren. Visited Alcatraz, the MOMA, went ice skating in Union Square and drove up to Clear Lake. Took the chance to visit Pixar animation studios and saw all the figures from Coco. What an amazing travelogue this was! She managed to get to the Maui during the spring break, see Pearl Harbor, the Hard Rock Café, and the most beautiful beach she has ever seen. Her parents and brother came over to visit her, must have been a relief to speak French again! Went to Yosemite and did a tiring but rewarding 3 ½ hour hike. Went to a Taylor Swift concert at Levi stadium along with 52,000 others and became an instant fan! Visited the Berkeley campus and loved it but will not go there to college (will probably go to college in Lille). Finally, a memorial-day weekend visit to Chicago and to experience another renowned Baseball stadium, Wrigley Field.
What an amazing year for an eighteen-year old!
This is clearly a very successful program and a lot of credit must go to the host families themselves who put in a lot of effort to making this so rewarding for the students. However, I think it must also be said that its success has depended a lot on having the right choice made of students to send here.
 
May 31, 2018 Meeting Recap
 
Article by Bill Johnston
Photos by Dianne Bobko
 
 
                              
                                 
 
Kevin used his dulcet tones to lead us in the pledge. For our Inspirational Thought,  Mary Corcoran invited us all to participate in a moment of silence in memory of those who had fought and died for our freedoms.
 
Guests and Visitors
Visitors included Heather Bodmann, Ayn Johnston and Doug Mallon.
 
smiley Happy/Not So Happy Newssad
 Mary Rogren described a wonderful European tour that included 2 nights with our exchange student from last year, Carolyn and her family in Belgium and a visit with next year's Italian incoming exchange student Gianna and her father and brother. Poor Kevin O'Brien informed us that he was going to miss the following week's meeting because he was being forced to attend a bachelor party in Cabo San Lucas where his duties would include keeping the boys out of jail and going fishing. Kevin also told us that our community net worth shot up about a trillion dollars because Gates, Buffett and Branson were all in town at the Ritz-Carlton for some kind of summit. Stacy advises that she also would be missing a couple of weeks worth of meetings to attend an engagement party for one of Doug's relatives in Southern California. Liz fed the foundation Kitty in honor of her 40th wedding anniversary. Steve Wilson's happy news was that he and Kathy had a delightful jazz cruise. On the crappy side he came back and in an unfortunate gardening incident he has been rendered disabled. (Details were not forthcoming and we are all left to speculate). John Evans had the pleasure of attending the high school event where scholarships are awarded. The frisbee booth run by the Rotaract Club generated funding for two $500 scholarships. Dianne was proud to report that her daughter, Michelle, who is an accomplished singer and poet surprised people with an art installation that includes shadow pictures shot in Half Moon Bay. On the crappy side, she told us that one of her husband's space shuttle crew members, Donald Peterson, had passed away and that Bo would be speaking at the funeral.
 
Announcements
Mitone announced that Shelter Box has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
 
Dianne reported that Rusty is tolerating her cancer treatment well and she is looking really good. Unfortunately, the news from Germany was not as positive. EJ's mother is out of the hospital but she is completely dependent and it is difficult for the family to witness her loss of independence.
 
Sunshine committee chair Teresa came prepared to lead us in the celebration of Erika and Catherine's birthday. Unfortunately, neither were in attendance so, instead, Teresa use the occasion to honor Liz and Mary for their wonderful work on the Magic fundraiser.
 
In the venue of community service, Warren acknowledged the volunteers that joined him at the monthly Rotary homeless breakfast; specifically: Paul, Diane, Joe, Rose, Rosie, Heather, Stacy and Doug.
 
Liz reported that the Foundation board is in continuing negotiations for library signage to appear in the Plaza of the new library honoring Rotary.
 
There was an update on the preparations for the Magic event all of which will be moot by the time you read this because by then we will be celebrating the success of the event at our upcoming celebratory meeting at the Sacrilege Brewery which will take place on Thursday, June 7, 2018 in lieu of our normal meeting.
 
 
 
 
                
REMINDERS
 
Our Monthly Rotary Day at the Community Free Breakfast (held at the Lutheran Church will be the last Wednesday of JULY.  Please sign up for a shift for future days (last Wednesday of each month.)
 

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