District Conference

hey fellas from the land of cheese n watches

yesterday i came back from the district conference in narrabri. but first some stuff from last week. on monday it was rotary and it was a normal meeting until they all started to sing happy birthday and brought in a cake. i was really happy that they had remembered and enjoyed the meeting a lot. on tuesday it was soccer practice as always and cause we dont have any goals yet it's pretty much all physical stuff which is alright. wednesday i went to the beach with some friends and thursday i was golfing with steve. he also told me where they are going for lisa's 40th birthday. they're heading off to new york for 2 weeks. wow i think that they will really have a great time over there. the kids of his are still sure that they're destination is fidji but yeah they dont know yet and neither does lisa....anyways on friday the adventure began:
i got up at 5 a.m. and was really tired but also excited because it would be the first time that i will meet the other exchangies! i drove to narrabri with steve wines from my rotary club and with valerie because nobody from her club went to the conference. we left at 6 and got there just after 1 so it took us quite a while to get there..... on the way we saw lots of australian bush and also a kangaroo on the way back. when we got there we first picked up our badges which had the emblems of all the meals that we would attend on them so it was like an entry ticket. after we did that i met renat. he's from russia and he stays in tamworth which is about 2 hours from narrabri. narrabri by the way is west from forster so out in the nowhere.... after that poii from thailand arrived. and soon all the others started to come and i finally got to meet them. in total we are eleven exchange students in our district:
renat from russia
mika from finnland
annalina from sweden
vini from brasil
anne from denmark
poii from thailand
minami from japan
carlos from mexico
judith from germany
valerie from belgium
and me.
once we had settled and got all our gear out of the car we stored it somewhere in the building and waited for out hosts to pick us up. all the exchangies stayed with hosts from the local rotary club of narrabri. i stayed with a very nice couple together with vini and renat. me and vini will be the only ones that stay in australia after the safari because everyone else has arrived in july last year...
by the way safari is 31st of july until around the 20th of june i think.....
so after meeting our hosts we went to their houses and got ready for the first dinner. casual dressing was planned so i went there in shorts, tshirt and flip flops.... it was a funny dinner and all the exchangies were able to sit together.
after the main meal we were told to sell raffle tickets to everyone and thats what we did for about half an hour. after desert we left and went to sleep at our host's house. saturday morning was the first formal part of the conference. this meant blazer, pants and a nice shirt. we all met at the theater, which was where the conference took place, at about 8 so we didnt get too much sleep.... that morning it was the flag ceremony so every exchange student carried his flag onto the stage and put it in a wooden thingy where it would stay for the rest of the conference.... after that we listened to several presentations which was uhmm BORING. but because we were all together with the other exchange students it was alright.... during that day there was morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and governor's dinner so lots of food.there was also maccas and KFC next to the theater so that where we were usually hangin out between the sessions. so after several presentations some people from the local rotary club felt sorry for us and took as to a place where there was an amazing wall with rocks that were the remains of a volcano. it was very nice and also a good opportunity to stretch your legs a bit. the drive out there took about half an hour and this was a welcome sleeping opportunity. after that visit we all went back to our host's houses and got changed for the most important part of the whole conference: the governor's dinner.
dress code was the same as in the morning but also with a tie. at this dinner all exchangies were spread out and nobody new anyone at the table they were sitting at. this was good to meet all sorts of new people and good fun. i sat next to a guy that looked excactly like silvio berlusconi. his name although was a different one... not that i'd remember it! so first we had a very nice thai beef salad and after that uhmmm some chicken which was really nice and fancy so then there was only desert left to come... i had some chocolate cake with raspberry sauce which was very good. the dinner finished at twelve so everyone was very tired and slept very well that night i think...
on sunday morning we all met at 8 again and there was presentation about the exchange program and all exchangies went on stage. valerie and carlos had been asked to make a little speech about them becoming an exchange student. they did very well but in very different ways. valerie's speech was well prepared and carlos's was all improvised and very funny. after that it was morning tea again and then after 12 everyone left. it's a pitty that australia is so big when u think that we only see each other very few times but maybe we can get all the others to come down to forster for a couple of days in the holidays. that would be great and otherwise i will see them on safari next. so at 1 p.m. valerie and i left narrabri again and at 7 we arrived back in forster. very tired i fell asleep yesterday and still feel it a bit now. tonight its rotary again and this week i might finally start surfing because my friend jake wanted to start last weekend but i was gone....
well i'll post some pictures and for those who want to see more go on
www.facebook.com