The Rotary Club of West Vancouver
Ashley Henze, Youth Exchange Student 2006
- Report from Ashley, October 10th, 2006
Health Report: Fit as a fiddle! Little sun burnt..... but that is easily being fixed! The Aussie sun is very hot.... my poor Canadian skin!
School Report: Sorry for this coming in a little late! I moved host families, and then the computer at my host house broke down.... so i have been computer-less for too long!. We are just getting back into our second week back from school holidays...so not much has been happening at school. We only have 6 weeks left.... Summer is going to be here soon as excited as i am... summer means crazy hot weather, and i am not looking forward to melting!
Rotary Attendance Report: I have missed 2 rotary meetings, because i was away for holidays. But last week i was able to go with the rotary club to go to another debate in Rutherglen. The Debate team from Nathalia secondary won their second debate and they will be advancing once again! Last week we had the District Governor come to the club, it was very good. He seemed to be very impressed with our club!
Other Activities Report: Well as i said before, we had school holidays. I spent most of the holidays at Jacindas work. She works at a Dog Kennel and Cattery. I would help feed the dogs and do other stuff around the place. I also got to go to Melbourne with my host family. We went to the Melbourne show, it reminded me of the PNE.. but a little bit bigger. The second day Jacinda (my host sister) and I went SHOPPING! What us girls do best you see! It was amazing and i had a wonderful time! I had a little dent into my money pocket... but I am now saving up once again! I also went to the Nathalia show.... a knock off of the Melbourne show! I entered a cake contest, and I came second. I won .50 cents! I’m rich now! This is where i got (refer to health) Burnt.... not cool.... It alright now and I was not too harsh... but i have learnt my lesson now.... DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE AUSTRALIAN SUN... It is not like our wimpy Canadian sun back home...
Comments-Requests: ITS TO HOT HERE! SEND US RAIN!
It is early spring and already starting to be into the early 30 degree....
IM GOING TO MELT!
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Report from Ashley, September 12th, 2006
Health Report: I am doing great, i kind of had my first thing of home sickness. It was a couple of weekends ago. I just had an upset stomach and when you are sick all you want to do is go home, but Glenda my host mum was amazing and and made me feel at home and it was great. Other than that i have been doing just perfectly!
School Report: Last week i had two school field trips! one was for Biology, and we went to the Bharma forest! Sadly it was raining :( so we did not get to see much. We went on a boat tour of the river. It was good fun. It was just a shame that it was THE ONLY DAY THAT RAINED THAT WEEK.... come on like what are the chances!
Then on Thursday i went to Echuca for track and field. I was in Shot Put and Javelin. I came third in shot put and 6th in javelin! We played against 5 other schools. It was a fun day and a little chilly! Other than that school has been awesome! i am finally starting to get a group of friends. Before i just hung out with everyone but not i have a group of people i am with. It is really nice. I spent the weekend at a friends house. I watched her play netball and watched the semi finals for her brothers team!
Rotary Attendance Report: Rotary has been awesome! I have attended > almost every meeting except for one! The people are very welcoming! One Rotarian even gave me a head band! He let me pick it out of the store for free! it was very cute! We had another weekend with the in bounds and out bounds. we went to Mt Beauty, and stayed at falls creek just outside! We went SKIING! There was not alot of snow but it was sure nice to go out, and see everyone!
Other Activities Report: I went to " SKATE JAM LIVE BAND" it was fun! it was at a skate park in Yarrawonga. They had live bands and people in the skate park on bikes and skateboards. It was really fun, it was an amazing day, and we were right by the water!
I slept over at afriends house...soooo that means i have FRIENDS! haha it was fun, It was at the girls house who i am going to be at next! So that was cool.
Comments-Requests: I have been doing awesome trying not to get fat! horse back riding and walking/running whenever I can! Everyone is
always trying to feed me! eeek! I have been adding to my jacket like crazy! My host mum has been amazing! She is always getting me stuff! she
has made me feel right at home, and it has made coming here soo much easier!
Report from Ashley, August 8th, 2006 (to view Ashley's blog, click here)
Host Club: Nathalia
Host Family Name: Ian and Glenda Harding
Host Family Address: RMB 1037
Harding's Road
Picola, Victoria.
3639
Health Report: My health is fine, not even a cold or anything like that. Just happy to be here!
School Report: School is really fun. But, since i came halfway through the year all of the sports right now are just in the middle of the season. Kids at school are very nice and are willing to chat and talk. I feel as if i have been at school longer than i actually have. I take the bus to school which is something new for me. I get on near the end so it isn't bad. About 20 minute drive. At school i am known as Canada, Soupy, or Canadia. I have been doing a lot of riding though!
Rotary Attendance Report: I have been to three out of four rotary meeting. I am trying to go to everyone even though they have told me that I don't have to come every week. My rotary club here is very laid back!! They have 23 members. The other week I went to a debate hosted by the rotary club. We won! So in a couple weeks time we are going to be debating again. People are already asking me out for weekends, and I have been asked to houses just to talk, and have tea. (not dinner... just TEA):P
Other Activities Report: I have been very busy during the weeks and the weekends. Kids from school have taken me to Footie on Saturdays, and have also asked me to come out on weekends for birthdays etc. Last weekend i went on a fox hunt! It was something i had never done before! There was about 7 people on horses and we push through the field and push the fox's towards the shooters. At the end of the day we had a total of 7 foxes, and 3 hares. It was a long day and i was glad to come home and just crash. This past weekend we had our first orientation for inbounds and outbound! It was a blast. Right now i am functioning on less than 5 hrs sleep, I feel that there are going to be more of these weekends coming up. I could not believe the amount of English that the European kids knew was amazing! All in all I am an absolute blast!
Comments-Requests: Nope :)
A letter To Chris Loat, Past President, September 2005
This is Wendy, Jacquelyn's mum. Thank you for calling to enquire about Jacquelyn. She left Sept. 9th and arrived safely Sept. 11th in Biysk, travelling via Toronto/Moscow/Barnaul. She went to her first Rotary meeting last night (Sept. 19th there) and I understand it went well. She met another Canadian girl from Quebec also there on Rotary exchange in Russia, although she goes to a different school. There is one other student from Wisconsin, USA, so quite a group of foreign exchange students there right now. I expect they are located in different cities even though they are in the same region but hopefully, they will have a chance to get together occasionally.
Her first host parents, Elena and Eugenie Baev, have been very kind and welcoming. They speak a little English which of course makes it a bit easier. Their own daughter (16 years old) is away on the Rotary sponsored exchange study program somewhere in the United States. Elena has sent us quite a few photos already so I'm attaching a few of them. Unfortunately, their computer at home is very slow and internet is very expensive so the photos were all sent from Elena's work. Jacquelyn had set up a photo page on the internet http//:in-siberia.fotopages.com but I guess she is realising that she might not be able to upload photos from her camera as easily as she thought so I'm not sure if she'll end up using this web page. Perhaps once she knows her way around better, she'll find internet cafes where she can access the internet a little better.
I'm sure she won't forget to file her monthly reports, but I'll remind her anyways.
Jacquelyn is picking up quite a bit of Russian so I think she will be fairly competent in the language by the time she returns. School is a challenge right now of course as she does not understand what the teachers are saying but the English teacher (whose English is not very good!) has agreed to work with Jacquelyn after school and they can help each other improve their language skills.
In The Woods
Jacqueline in Atlay Forest picking muchrooms
Jacqueline with Friends
Jacquelyn with Elena, Eugene and 2 friends
Jacquelyn
