From Klamath to Lakeview to Klamath to Aspen Ridge to Klamath.

The group presented to both Klamath's Morning and Lunch-time clubs.

My host family at Klamath was absolutely amazing.... Barry and Holly Card really made me feel like their daughter and I can't thank them enough for their kindness. I was close to Holly's size so she was kind enough to lend me some warm clothes in preparation for my trips to Lakeview and Aspen Ridge.

Barry and Holly Card

At Klamath, Nerys and I met with Ryan Pfeil, Herald and News where we visited several volunteer-run organisations. And I was also grateful to meet with Dave Groff, City Attorney where I sat in on one of the Public County Commissioners Meeting. These public meetings take place weekly and are televised live with a repeat in the afternoon. This is to ensure transparency in the decisions that are made.Dave Groff, City Attorney, Klamath County

The team transferred to Lakeview for two days soon after arriving in Klamath. At Lakeview, we presented to their club, caught the view of the city from BlackCap, did a walk-about tour of the town and their geothermal facilities and visited the Lakeview Interagency Office where presentations were made by Rick Newton, (Fremont-Winema National Forests) and Scott (can't remember his last name) of the BLM.



Not too long after returning to Klamath, we drove to Aspen Ridge Resort for our R&R Weekend. There I tried to work on my blog but to no avail. Since my laptop hasn't been picking up wireless internet since leaving Barbados, I haven't been updating as often as I would like. The picture below is not a dramatization. (Do not believe the Bajans...no matter what they say...heheheh)

Getting there....

My loyal blog followers (or should I say follower)- you may have noticed that I have been motivated to write more about the great people I’ve met since I got here and all the fun I’ve been having. However, I assure you that I have been attending my vocational visits and I have been learning a lot. Many of the towns I’ve visited so far are small and like all cities and towns in the US they are governed by their own laws- state laws and further by their own city laws....in other words the laws are different in Ashland, Oregon to those in Klamath Falls, Oregon- which kinda makes things complicated. Don’t you agree? But they have their reasons- the people, population, climate, demographics, issues and needs are different in each city.
Oregonians have faced the challenges of increased taxes and little to no grants since before the economic downturn and have survived. What I admire the most about Oregonians is that when they see a need in their communities for schools, youth activities, hospitals, libraries, museums, hospices, children’s homes, community gardens etc. they find creative ways to complete it or make it happen and many times this is facilitated through service clubs such as Rotary. There is a high level of volunteerism and fund-raising here – something I wish we had more of at home. Many institutions in Oregon are open and functioning strictly because of people who volunteer their time. Imagine only volunteers! Nerys and I saw many such institutions during our vocational visits at Klamath Falls and had the opportunity to say a few words to the Klamath County via an interview with the Herald and News which reiterated our admiration for their spirit.

My vocational visits and group explorations to date in Ashland and Medford,Oregon:
Thursday 29 April: South Oregon Regional Economic Development Institute (SOREDI); Ashland, Oregon. Ken Ogden, GSE coordinator for the Ashland District and a great architect accompanied Liesl Harewood and I to SOREDI. After a very informative session we attended the Ashland Rotary Club’s Meeting. There, I was not surprised to see a Rotary Club of Port of Spain West Banner already up. The world to me becomes smaller with every passing day.

Thursday 29 April: Ashland City Hall with Martha Bennet (City Administrator) and Ann Seltzer (Director of Communications); Ashland, Oregon. After the Rotary Meeting, we walked the streets of Ashland for a while- unfortunately it was raining cats and dogs- before my meeting with the City of Ashland. Ann Seltzer shared vital information about their branding initiatives, the city’s communication methods and the challenges they face in the Government Service. Branding is one of the many projects the Ministry of Finance in Trinidad has been working on and hopes to achieve in the coming year. After an absolutely delightful dinner at the Winery House with Ken Ogden, Lisa James and other Rotarians, we were lucky enough to see Pride and Prejudice (Yes my absolute favourite book written by Jane Austen!) performed at the Shakespearian Theatre. It was wonderful!!!!



Friday 30 April: Lanphier Associates with Ric Moir ; Medford. At this vocational, I was lucky enough to see an advertising firm in action developing a range of ads for a hospital in the area. I even gave my two cents here and there. I was very impressed by the quality of their work and the way they meet their clients’ expectations. Ric (a Rotarian as well) and I then left for the lunch time Medford Rogue Club Meeting where the GSE team received a standing ovation for our presentation. Kingsley Kelley, the President of the Club, will always start his meetings off with a poem about whoever is on the head table and presenting. He’s a fun guy. Poem? Our afternoon was spent exploring the historical little town of Jacksonville and having our pictures professionally taken by yet another Rotarian- David Gibb. The ice-cream in Jacksonville was GREAT! Dinner was at Greg and Allison Koenig’s- everything was so yummy….I can still remember that heavenly tiramisu.

Saturday 1 May: We climbed Table Rock! Yay…Getting to the top was worth it. The view was “absolutely gorgeous”..a very Nerys thing to say…lol… she’s gonna kill me if she reads this.





Sunday 2 May: Wine tasting and KTVL Channel 10 with Kingsley Kelley, General Manager and Host Father … … The pictures say it all.

 A great day! This was our last day in Medford and to say thank you to my host family, in my drunken stupor (after all the wine tasting), I wrote them a poem. Ahum
Diana it’s a while since I’ve met someone so pretty and kind. I’m sad to go now…I feel I could cry.
Kingsley, you made me laugh so much-such a great host. Log on to my blog now and then…read all my posts.
Can’t thank you enough for breakfast, lunch and movie. Mr. Kingsley Kelley? Did I mention you’re a looney?
I had so much fun that words cannot tell. Ooh thank you for our day of wine tasting as well.
I hope Trinidad is on your list of places to visit. Gimme a call when you’re ready and I will arrange it.
This is not goodbye…Cause I’ll be in touch..I’ll end with four words…Thank you so much.

Not bad for an amateur right?... Anyways…I’m sleepy and tomorrow is another long day……Stay tuned for details on Klamath and Lakeview… I’m still way behind on my blogging but I’ll get there…

Catching up...catching my breath!

So I've been such a delinquent....So many things have happened since California but I unfortunately can't blame it on being too busy because Liesl and Nerys have been updating their blogs religiously! Great way to make the Trini feel bad guys! :)

Anyways, Northern California was great! The people, the scenery, the snow- everything was just wonderful....

Southern Oregon was next and the first day we arrived in Ashland- guess what we bought- umbrellas!.... The weather was crazy- snow coming into Ashland, sun, rain, hail and then sun again.

After roaming the streets of Ashland for a bit, we found the cutest little coffee shop where we could unwind from the long trip into Oregon. Dinner was at Ellen Naumes' house. Her son did make the best cheese burgers! There I met my host dad, Kingsly Kelley and not too long after my host mom, Dianna Kelley. Both Ine (GSE teamleader) and I had the pleasure of staying with them for the next five nights.

Thursday 29th April was Liesl's birthday.....Happy Birthday again Liesl! We must have sung the Happy Birthday song about five times in two days. lol. So that day started off with breakfast at Brothers where we met Ken Ogden again- the GSE co-ordinator of the Ashland Club and Olivier's host - along with several other wonderful Rotarians who took us to our vocational visits.

I will however tell you guys more about my vocational visits in my next post....For now, I have to get ready for dinner....Good thing cause I'm hungry.

Mount Shasta

We had an absolutely lovely day today with our hosts...It started off with my vocational visit to the Public Broadcasting Studio which gave me a better appreciation of what happens behind the scenes at a television station. I got to play with the cameras and edit footage etc.... real fun! It's a small studio and what amazed me most is that the facility was run strictly by volunteers! They volunteer because they know it would benefit their community.I love it!

There was lunch at Lilly's and then the drive up to Mount Shasta. Mount Shasta literally blew me away, as you can probably see why...

The winds started to pick up though...we're expecting a storm. I hear it's supposed to snow tonight..We'll see..I'll turn the electric blanket on from now.

Senior Projects was really cool.. We went to this highschool where Seniors had a couple of months to work on a project of their choice. We saw everything from concrete tabletops to smoke sheds to cake decorating and even taxidermy (the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display)....... hence the bear in the picture.... Ahhh! what a day! I'm tired so off to bed... I have laundry to do early in the morning....so wish me luck! :)...and warmth....Until next post.

Snow!

Etna is a really beautiful place! I've experienced snow for the very first time guys! It's only the first day and I know this trip was worth it already. Can this get any better?

My first day here..... Thanks Lorraine! Thanks Gary!

It's 11:30 AM here,Oregon time - which means it's actually 2:30 PM in the Caribbean- a 3 hour difference. I didn't sleep much 'cause I was too excited! So I've created a blog- thanks to Google- so everybody will know what I'm up to.

My host family is Gary and Lori Fleck! I can't thank them enough for opening up their home to me. Lori is a hard-working member of the Rotary Club of Scott Valley, a small club of 26 members but very active in the community. They focus more on youth activities. My hosts are certainly making sure that I'm comfortable a.k.a. warm..LOL. Gary hooked me up with an electric blanket last night and Lori lit up the fireplace...It's all nice and warm...inside :).Outside isn't so bad though..14 degrees celcius... Don't know if I can handle anything lower than that. We'll see.

Anyways I know my "dog-loving" friends will appreciate the picture I've taken of my new friends....Gunner and Sylvia. Aren't they cute! They're so well behaved as well.....Tonight we'll be attending a fund-raiser for the Scott Valley Local Family Resource Center so I'll keep you guys posted on that.

Thank you Rotary 7030 and 5110!!!

Hello friends,

I'm here in California !!! And excited! After several stops and 26 hours in the air or waiting at the airport- I can definitely say that it was sooo worth it. We got the best welcome at the airport. Some pictures were taken of us with our extremely sleepy faces so if you do see any of those going around-it wasn't me.. :) So I'll be in California for three days and then we transfer to Southern Oregon. Everyone has been so nice and what I've seen so far of the country is that it's absolutely gorgeous! Let me take this opportunity to thank my sponser club- Rotary Club of Port of Spain West- for the opportunity to participate in GSE Oregon. And a special thank you to Rotary Districts 7030 and 5110. I sincerely look forward to the experience that lies ahead.