Rotary GSE Netherlands Team 2009

Week 3 In Rewind! June 7, 2009

2009-06-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

Hallo,

Ok-We're off to our fourth and last :( family so its time for a Netherlands update!

Monday we were hosted by the local rotaract club, or the rotary affiliate of 18-30 year olds. They took us on about a 10 mile bike tour that you can do around the city to view the city. It was a very clear sunny day (every where we go they assure us that this is not their normal cold rainy weather during this time, but we have only had rain the first day we came and one half a day-its fantastic because I heard its really hot in Florida...). They made us sandwiches of fresh cheese, ham or salami. We got to visit one of their apartments in a new development and it was really nice. Being able to bike in a complete circle around a city would be a fantastic thing to bring to a city like Gainesville or other smaller cities, or downtown Jax to create tourism, exercise opportunities, and lovely family outings. It was a holiday when we did it and everyone was out biking from 5 year olds next to their parents to 80 year olds with special bikes that have small motors and that are easy to climb onto. Have I mentioned that their trail systems are fantastic?

Tuesday we went into Eindhoven, the local large city. Karrin Bakker, who came on the Netherlands exchange team, planned the day for us. She works for a group that helps organize all of the municipalities in a province, like the North Florida regional planning council. They are trying to create a green cooridor for recreation, ecology, water, and wildlife. They will buy land from the local farmers. This is similar to what Robert and the District are trying to do except they are on the back end trying to get back natural areas. We can learn from their post planning and try to really push for clustered developments and wildlife corridors before it is too late and too expensive to go back. We also visited a local business park called a Brainport, or area with lots of businesses that invent or do research. The city is reworking the local highway to make the area more appealing to businesses to relocate to the business park. This is the A2 highway that runs from Amsterdam to the South of France. We asked why they are allowing each city to plan different things for this highway (actually Sean had a meltdown when he asked this and died laughing as we all pictured an I-95 route planed by individual Florida cities...). We drove around the highway after lunch, which is always a mistake to put us in a car after we eat for obvious reasons...

Wednesday we went into Helmond, where three of us are living and where my host dad is the city manager. A water engineer and an urban planner took us on a tour of various housing developments as Helmond was declared a growing city so they have been allowed to build homes. The first area was a flood control project. In a low part of the city water tends to collect on an agriculture area. They have paid this farmer to compensate for allowing his farm to flood in the past as a kind of drainage easement. The local waterschapp is planning to purchase the area for the city and dig a reservoir, similar to the C-1 rediversion project-but on a Dutch scale-smaller. We went to a development that is considered sustainable. They oriented the houses north south to get the most sun, many of the roofs have gardens on the roofs, many have solar panels, and there is an "ecological area" (when they pointed this out I was looking for it-they only have a small amount of space so they just dug a small stream and the banks have grown in and there are ducks....no 46,000 acre Three Forks...). We went to a new development modeled after Amsterdam that is just like the St. Johns Town Center-except it has a town center, there are houses on the stores, everything is in walking distance, and everyone bikes.

Thursday we visited the family owned and family maintained Bavaria Brewery and had a presentation about water conservation efforts. They treat their own water and use the biogas from the bacteria cleaning the water to create steam for their own energy-so they are actually making money from treating their own water as most cities make all water go into the local water treatment plant. They have one of only 21 well water withdrawl permits in the Netherlands (the farmers don't have to get permits until they use a certain amount per day). They pay E600,000 for water taxes per year. They use 3.8 Liters of water to make 1 liter of beer, which is top 10 in the world for breweries in low water use. Needless to say we, especially our sustainability program manager Sean, were really impressed with their system-especially after we got to try the La'trappe-or tripple beer with the 9% alcohol! We then went into Eindhoven and learned about an inner city soil remediation project in a park. The soil has heavy metals and they are covering it up. We shared our soil flipping project and Inlet Groves' project.

Friday we went to Sarah's host dad's company and had an amazing presentation about energy efficiency. These cities are REALLY DOING carbon neutral projects no matter the cost up front. Europe is WAY ahead of the states on energy efficiency as this is their everyday language. He builds geothermal heating and cooling systems and partners with a man who helps cities work towards becoming energy neutral. The city of Eindhoven has the goal of becoming energy neutral by 2035. They are doing things like heating the olympic training pool with biofuel-cow slaughter house fat remains and another pool with wood leftovers, installing geothermal hvac systems, renovating their buildings, multifuel gas stations, and providing energy savings low interest loans to residents. We were really impressed and again Sean was especially in awe with renewed motivation and ideas for Gainesville. We later went to an area called De Peel where they had been drying many acres of peat bogs, taking out the peat, and selling it for biofuel for hundreds of years. They stopped the harvesting and it has been flooded and put into a conservation area since 1997. They must keep the water at a certain level to promote plant growth to regrow the bog as the entire area-the one we saw was 6,000 acres, is 4 meters too low. They utilize goats and cattle leases to keep shrubs from growing back and they cut trees as there were historically no trees (they deal with the public on their land management choices as they like the trees, but don't understand bog ecosystems). We demanded to know why they are not utilizing prescribed burning, but they can not put too much nutrients into this acidic system as the plants must have a certain acidic level water. They have nice recreation trails with the infamous slanted gates that will always slam shut when the public goes through them.

One last thing! On Saturday after the District conference (I'm sure it was a great conference, but is was in Dutch!) the GSE team from the Netherlands took us Boerengolfing! In english this is farmer golfing. Still don't know what this is? We didn't either. This is an ingenious agrotourism game some farmers have in their fields similar to frisbee golf, but with a stick with a wooden shoe on the bottom and a very small soccer type ball. You take one stick and one ball with a small group and you all take turns hitting the ball to the flag in the fields. We "golfed" through cow dung, cows and horses, and corn fields! It was really fun, especially as we hit the ball right in front of the cows who just stared at us as we stared back at them. Luckily Sean hooked it and after one cow tried to kick it with his back legs and they all ran, they quickly ran back to the ball and they all tried to smell it at the same time. We shooed them away and proceeded to hit the next shot into the canal and you get the picture. To get through the canals they have wooden bridges, to get to the next field they have wooden steps over the barbed wire fences. The barn is a renovated cafe. Really cool and innovative!

One more week! Our Rotary coordinator this week said that we have a full week and that Sunday we rest and then we must WORK (with the typical Dutch emphasis on the last english word of the sentance-I'll do it for you when I get back)! I am REALLY glad to have him and his energy to round out our trip and hope we can keep up with him.

Tot ziens!
Terri

Week 2 in the Netherlands! Sittard-Gelen

2009-05-31T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hello!

We're ready to begin our 3rd week and we moved to our new families in in Helmond (we're slowly moving further north and more flat) so I thought I'd share some of our week in Sittard-Gelen.

Monday started the week with a visit to the local water board. They are very similar with some significant differences. First, their Kirby is appointed by the Queen and their board is elected. They work closely with their "nature conservancy" groups to buy land and they only buy the river banks and space for recreation. They don't have a large recreation budget, but they find money somehow because they have very connected trails on the perifery of the nature conservancy and water board land paved for multiuse including handicapped access. Their issues are different in the southern province we visited because they are well above sea level as apposed to the western provinces which are 30 meters below sea level (Neder means down in Dutch-it all makes sense now...). Their flooding comes then from water coming down from the hills flooding the valleys so their flood protection consists of dams on the Maas and Rodebeek and another creek to slow water down before it gets to the valleys. They do not pay for flooding problems and also do not provide flood insurance. The national government will pay for determined natural disasters and the public can sue if they think flooding was due to the government.

Attached are some photos from their public recreation with innovative access with cattle grazing. One is a gate that has the hinges at an angle so the people can push the gate open, but it always swings closed because it is at an angle and the cows can not push out. Also, they have similar grooved ground that we have that the cattle don't want to walk over, except theirs are actual holes in the ground with bars across it so the cattle definately won't cross because their hooves would go down in a hole and they have a path across for bikes/disabled access.

We also visited a center that is a restored brick making building where they are also coordinating the purchase or exchange of land for a greenway cooridor for hiking and biking and wildlife cooridors (they have a very important endangered hamster) and also a tourist cooridor. They have 45 million E over the next 25 years to create these. They feel these are important to create green spaces and tourist spaces to keep people in their shrinking cities (all the kids want to move to Amsterdam). We thought this was a very important lesson for Florida to learn-leave cooridors (or more!) now so we don't have to go back and create these highly important areas. All the cities within the province are working together to do this.

Wednesday we visited the Ancient City of Maastrict (side of the Maas river translated). They are restoring old catholic churches (no one has used these 2 for 100 years and the catholic church can not maintain them). We visited 2-one restored and transformed into a bookstore and one restored and transformed into a hotel. Thursday we visited the city of gelen where they are restoring the downtown area to keep people living here by providing new housing and shops. They say part of the key is to build parking underground and to not have malls that disperse people from the city center (Jacksonville.......). Friday we visited the city of Sittard and hiked all around the city (they are also redeveloping to keep people here so we are learning a lot about planning issues, working together with other cities, and how the city makes the plan first and then the developers can come in and work on what the city planned-good idea huh!) and hiked the farm fields. Yes, I said farm fields! That is one of the most astonishing things we have learned that the public can hike in the farm fields. The crop fields are not fenced and people can walk out of their front door and access miles of farm roads. You see them running, walking their dogs, biking, hiking. They do not sue and everyone is happy. What a cool concept! And England does this too.

Thursday we also visited the most innovative new hospital in the world (attached photo). Everything is build around the fact that their cities are shrinking and they have only old people left and few people to take care of them. They call these old people the white wave (I'll just stop there...!). They have the hospital organized as a hotel so it is not dreary and there is a couch that transforms into a bed in each room so the patient can always have a comfortable visitor. The rooms are completely automated so the nurse can do nurse things. Automation includes a computer that can be pulled over to the bed with internet access, patient/hospital information, a button to dim the lights, a button to lower the blinds, a button to close the door. The food is in the hallway so if you are able to you can feed yourself. The hospital simple work is run by robots! These are flat, oval like machines on rollers and they roll up to a cart of food or towels, raise them selves to attach to a cart, travel to and go up or down in the elevator, don't bump into people, and drop their stuff off where needed and return. They said this was a must because there are not enough people to work. Their doctors offices are located there and all patient records are automated and the nurse/doctor/patient system is organized to a t. It was amazing!

So, we're in Helmond and start a busy week of learning. I am staying with the City manager of Helmond and we visit his office on Wednesday. We rode Solex bikes Saturday for three hours (with a break for beer!). These bikes go about 20 miles per hour and are bicycles with a motor on the front wheel. I can't tell if we were more amazed at the fun we had or the AMAZING trail system that enabled us to go up to 20 miles per hour throughout many towns, the city, the country and the farm fields. Did i mention they have an amazing trail system here? Thanks!

On a side note, I figured out the translation of what Robert said I needed to know-nog pilsner. This means further or more beer! You can only buy one type of beer in each pub so you only need to say pilsner and they bring the only type of beer. Plsn is a city in the Chech republic I think and beer is brewed there. That is where the word Pilsn in Dutch comes from and the english word pilsner. Cool!

Tot ziens!
Terri

Thursday, May 21-American Cemetary, Belgum, Shooting Tradition

2009-05-22T00:09:00.000-07:00

Hallo, Thursday we had a more relaxed day. We went to the American Cemetary that we were all touched by. We learned a lot about WWII and couldn't believe that Netherlanders adopt the grave markers to clean and put flowers by as a fundraiser for the cemetary. There are 8,000 american men buried there. We went to a small town in Belgie-Teuven. It has rolling hills with farmland, old hotels, homes, and shops, and a hotel where the queen will come to stay when she wants to walk around on her own and be invisible. It was ascention day and everyone was out of school and work and there were church services that we saw and many people celebrating oerste communie or first communion. There are lots of people and lots of bikers-just regular people and serious bikers. Hugh's dad would love this! We went in a cafe converted from the oldest school house, Cafe Modern, and had cakes and beer. Some of us had Grimbergen beer which is made by the abby monks and the one I had was 10% alcohol and was nut colored and did not have that beer taste-perfect! We then went to the schuterij, the shooting tradition. Its almost like agrotourism because it was someone's field where the public comes to drink beer, eat, and wait your turn to shoot. Good income for the farmer, however this has been going on for hundreds of years. Everyone stands around drinking and waits their turn to shoot a wooden duck on a stand about 50 feet in the air. It takes about 250 shots to actually shoot the bird down-first its head goes off, then its wings, then the shots go in its stomach and that realy doesn't do anything, and then the wood starts getting weak and one person goes and the bullet finally blows the remaining wood off. Jason was actually the second to last person to shoot before the last shooter actually shot the whole thing down. We had beer all day and french fries met mayonaise or curry katchup (yum!) and sausage. I went up in the anouncer's box and got to call some names to go shoot. I spoke with an old couple who was visiting and celebrating their 45 wedding anniversary. I spoke with some teenagers who spoke little english and some old ladies who spoke no english. Getting to know Netherlands! Tot ziens (see you later), Terri

Wednesday, May 20 Beautiful Vaals near Aachen, Germany

2009-05-22T00:07:00.002-07:00

Border and Language Problems Story

On the border of Belgium, NEtherlands, and Germany, their emergency management systems and fire response don't communicate (feelings about WWII, wanting to be individual in attracting residents). On one of the mountains within Netherlands they don't have water pressure and since Netherlands no longer uses fire trucks due to everywhere having fire hydrants, they have a problem. They decided to fake a fire in a structure and see what would happen and they sent a fire chief from the Hague (capital far away who don't typically understand the problems near the border). When the alarm sounded, water fire truck from Belgium arrived, water fire truck from Germany arrived and NEtherlands people arrived. Immediately they all started trying to communicate in flemish (i think?), german, and Dutch. However, we all know that fire fighters communicate well for emergency and they immediately began speaking the local dialect, they put the fire out, and the only person that couldn't communicate was the Hague commander in charge! Afterwards they all went to lunch and were immediately at separate tables speaking their individual languages. They learned that in emergencys everyone will get along for a cause, but have a commander that speaks all languages!

Tuesday, May 19

2009-05-22T00:07:00.001-07:00

We had same breakfast (yes!) and got picked up at 8:45. We always have a new driver and never know where we are because all of the homes and cities look the same, they just have different names and were small villages that have grown into each other. We went to the Thermen Museum where Elsbeth Raedt, from the Netherlands team that visited the states last month, organized a FANTASTIC morning. The museum has roman bath remains! I just thought these were in Italy (susie and hugh know these), but the city of Herleen was a cross road in 4 AD where the romans had expanded. They have preserved this, but again, in order to develop toursim, they will tear the building down because its 30 years old, has bad humidity for the remains, and is ugly (they said) and will build a more romanesque building to attract and educate the locals and be more energy efficient. We got to go inside the old baths (my first time touching something 4 AD in age. I always get nervous in places not as high quality in restoration and preservation as Rome..Guatemala, ahem...take care of this stuff!). The local farmers who found these remains are celebrated in an exibit in another part of the museum. I shared that in the US private land with native american remains can just develop over them. On our land we try to keep the areas quiet so we don't have to preserve them, or the Seminole and MIckosukee dictate what we can do with them, and we don't celebrate the locals who find them because this may cause work, and the public steals stuff. They said they have similar issues. We had and AMAZING talk by a famous NEtherlands artist, a man named Michelle Huismond, who was born here and does art that makes you think or heals serial killers, or traditional art. He does not like the modern, quickly built and poorly planned city that Herleen now is, as the locals say. He is now getting involved with planning through art instead of by math architects and this was a really interesting concept to us. I got his autograph and took an artistic photo with him that he designed. HEre are some of his quotes all related to how we should think about planning: -Mediocrity is accepted because it is not bad or good and it has the highest profit of margin.-History is what defines us.-Thinking is moving.-There are solutions, but not answers.-We have been educated to separate art from science so we can only base decisions on research and facts.-We don't live to comfort our ratio (she cooks good, she is smart, she has a good job), we live to comfort our soul (I love her!)-Entrance to your mind is emotion.-Our strength and weakness is defined by the choices we make.-Hit them emotionally and not with ratio (science based decisions)-Buildings could be based on poetry and art-Our history is our story and it has communication, it says something, it is not a ratio.-Art is the highest form of empathy possible in material form.-Humans destroy their own nest, no other animal does that. I asked them if there was a city in the US that he though was based on art. He said he is a starving artist (until he began working with the city to plan this last year, but he doesn't like to have money), but he likes NY. I asked him how he would suggest to plan with nature like we still have in the states. He said we must cluster and not only keep open space on the outside, but also have a city center with natural space on the inside. I got his auto graph that is art too. We also had a talk from a policeman about operation heart beat for Jason. He said they had many drug addicts so they build shelters for them, allow them to do drugs in the shelter, allow them to work by cleaning the city, they have put up cameras in the streets, and made longer sentences for them and since word travels fast in that community, they get scared and behave. We also met a lady who adopted an african american from Jacksonville in 2007. He is a year and a half and she came to see the presentation just to meet us. I always meet people I know adopting children when I'm traveling! We then went to a housing building that has incorporated thermal cooling and heating from the old mine shafts-completely energy efficient and probably carbon neutral. They put pipes in the old tunnels and as the heat rises as you go further underground, the water heats, they harness the energy, and provide heating and cooling-oil independent. Wow! We always have to explain that the states doesn't really do these things yet. At the District this is too expensive and will not recoup costs for 60 years. Sean explains that Alachua County is working on this, but they are very unique and not representative of the US. They say that the US wouldn't sign the kyoto protocol and won't do these things, but in europe, they are responsible for energy efficiency due to the kyoto protocol, to help the world, and because energy is expensive here. These investments are expensive up front, but they have a social responsibility and they hope Obama will help with this. They like him! We went to our first Rotary Club meeting tonight-ALL MALE, ahhhh! We all did a good job on our presentations which we had to wing because SOMEONE (we won't name any names Sean) forgot our presentation on his jump drive. Jon helped me translate my presentation into Dutch. Let's just say that we hope it will get better over time It started with, "Whar zijn het mevrowen?" Where are all the women? They still don't believe that Oprah has a better marathon time than me... I didn't think I was pronouncing clearly so I said the dutch sentence then said it in English. They interrupted and said, "Why are you translating dutch, we are dutch!" We had a new driver take us home in our stick shift rental vehicle. He was over 70 and has an automatic car. Our GPS was not working well (karen...) (everyone has a GPS!) and we ended up going around in circles in this city that looks the same as the last city as the last city... So he decided to back up on these small roads. There was a car coming so he went forward. When the car left he went backwards, onto the curb. We were stuck for a minute there and Shane, Jason and I just died laughing and didn't know where we were and didn't know if this old man was going to get us home and if some small european pugeot was going to come around the car and hit us. We asked directions and it turns out JAson's family home was just around the corner.. Up at 6:30 am for fitness at the gym and breakfast there. Tot ziens (see you later), Terri Keeping record:How many times we have had koffee:Sunday May 17-3Monday-May 18-5Tuesday-May 19-4Total-12 How many times I have walked into the herlen bathroom (men's)2 Dutch mistake of the day (THis was actually from today):Ik bedonkt neit.Should have said "ik begriept neit"-I don't understand. Instead I said something similar to bedonka donk (or in the country song big country butt"".) Not only did the dutch man laugh at me, but so did Sarah, Jason and I!

Monday May 18, 2009

2009-05-19T14:26:00.001-07:00

Hallo,
We are very busy but this is how you travel in Europe-gone all day and your hotel/home is only for sleeping. Shane and I (we're staying in the same home in Kerkrade, everyone else is staying alone with families and are all in different staaden (cities)) were picked up last this morning at 8:45 after a wonderful breakfast of yoghurt from a milk carton, fresh toast with brood (butter) and salami and fresh cheese, fruit and koffee-yes, I have now had coffee twice. You can not do anything without having coffee. When we get to a place they say hello, well, let's have coffee. I decided not to fight it and it is good! With lots of milk and sugar.

The theme of this area is figuring out how to keep people living here, bring tourism, and bring jobs. It is similar to people that used to live in hasings or something and are now moving to Jacksonville and there would be no jobs in hastings anymore. (only instead of people leaving hastings, we are just selling the farmland and developing it-actually having more people live there) We visited the Kerkrade Museum Monday where they are remodeling. They will now showcase products made in this region and how people use the products like the heart pacer, chemicals, and such. Then people will appreciate the area more if they know about it. The area supported 200,000 people with coal mining from 1830 to 1964 when one day the government closed all mines because it was cheaper to extract from Australia. People were out of jobs and very poor and left the region similar to Pittsburg. Today the cities are still shrinking as people want to live in Amsterdam and people here are getting old. They are all trying to figure out how to get people to stay here. Now they have a zoo, an indoor ski slope built from the old mines, mining museum, turning black (coal mining) to green by being carbon neutral and having more green space, more tourism, having a steam railway, and a theme park about the region. They want people to be proud locally. We visited an abbey from 1500? It was nice. Then we went to a castle and had open faced sandwiches (hugh and susie know) with fresh bread, fresh cheese, and smoked meats, asparagus soup, and salad with orange juice. The City of Kerkrade spoke with us again about how to get people to stay here, how to bring tourism (amsterdam citizens will drive here for a day, but not stay the night). They want to have green spaces, advertise the castles as resorts, utilize belgium and germany which are very close, etc. We had fleckt or local pies with rice or fruit in the middle like apple pie. Then we went to Gaia Park (zoo) where they have won awards for their more natural habitat. For example the monkeys are only separated from the public by water because they don't swim. The giraffes are separated by not being able to climb out of such a high wall and we were face to face with them in the open, etc. It was nice because they have similar animals, but I''ve never had a guided tour of a zoo. THEN, yes there's more, we went to a cooking club where we thought we would be the cooks. Instead, 12 men cooked for us (yes, men only you know I don't like this). It was a four course meal with lobster over spinach salad, then vegetable lasagne, then ostrich with a pastry cover with vegetables and potatoes, then ice cream with caramel sauce with puff pastries with homemade slagroom (whipped cream) and different wine with each course including sweet wine for dessert. We were there until 11:00pm and everyone was nice and we got to practice much dutch and they thought it was weird how much we pay for insurance and of course we had coffee! They kept assuring me that the wives come once a year and they cook for the wives-I don't think that counts. We were ready to sleep and our house mom gave me another blanket and we sleep with the windows open. Tot ziens (see you later), Terri Keeping record:How many times we have had koffee:Sunday May 17-3Monday-May 18-5Tuesday-May 19-4Total-11 How many times I have walked into the herlen bathroom (men's)2 Dutch mistake of the day:Ik bedonkt neit.Should have said "ik begriept neit"-I don't understand. Instead I said something similar to bedonka donk (or in the country song big country butt"".) Not only did the dutch man laugh at me, but so did Sarah, Jason and I!

And we're off May 16, 2009 is here!

2009-05-16T03:06:00.001-07:00

The day has finally come and we're here! We're packed, ready to say our goodbyes, and ready to experience something similar to what the Netherlands team has gone through here-lots of events, meeting lots of people, and speaking lots of another language, learning about our vocations, learning a new culture, learning a new language, and of course learning about new beer! Thank you again Rotary for making our Dreams Come True!

Netherlands Team in Palatka

2009-05-16T02:58:00.000-07:00

The Netherlands team entered Palatka with a bang! At a fantastic mansion on the river the team dined with hors d'ourves, the Mayor of Palatka, the chief of Police and the owner of the local funeral home, not to mention, past District Governor Shann Purinton. As we visited we got caricatures done. We thank the host family!

The team visited the St. Johns River Water Management District on Wednesday, May 13. They were treated to a talk by the executive director and asked very honest questions such as why don't you pay more for water, why isn't there a cap on use per person, why not more conservation, why do you let the water go out into the ocean at Jacksonville. Kirby had good answers-we are not there yet but we are now working on it. Wow. My director from operations and land resources had studied abroad in the Netherlands and did a water management tour in the Netherlands last year and had a lot of good exchange to offer. He explained how farmers in the Netherlands are paid for crops lost to geese eating them for example (here we kill nuisance wildlife that damage crops). In the US we do something similar to paying farmers for losses. We pay farmers to not develop their land. It is for the common good of water storage, less infrastructure needed to manage water, and wildlife habitat. They took a tour of the District, ate lunch at fabulous local Italian restaurant-Nikos, and went on a tour of the St. Johns River south of Palatka.

In their last week they were still going strong. We hope to see them at the airport on their departure.

Netherlands Team Host Family Reception April 30th Orange Party in Waldo

2009-05-08T03:23:00.001-07:00

On April 30th we were saddened to hear about the attack on the Dutch Royal Family and the deaths of the innocent parade attendees. However, even though the celebrations were cancelled in the Netherlands, we celebrated for the inbound Netherlands team anyways. Jim Craig and the Gainesville Rotary Club hosted the reception on part of beautiful Lake Santa Fe overlooking Santa Fe swamp. We all dressed in orange to signify the political party of Queen on her birthday (good thing we are all gator fans and had plenty of orange!) (except outbound team Shane who is arguably the biggest gator fan in the world, but only owns blue stuff...). The Netherlands team took a boat ride and various guests attempted the paddle bicycle (contrary to the paddle boat). The Netherlands team, VERY good sports, sang for the group some Netherlands songs (hey guys, I thought we all agreed that neither team would sing...). The BBQ and the fellowship was great and we thank everyone for inviting the outbound team. We love the Netherlands team and I know I want to see them as much as possible while they are here and am thankful for that opportunity on April 30th.

The team talked about the day at the beach catamaraning after the District conference, the day at Kennedy Space Center (note to self: have discussion with parents about why the Netherlands visitors have already gone to the space center and as a native I have never been....) and they talked about the hospitality of their host families. They were really looking forward to the weekend condo at the beach as planned by the St. Augustine Rotary clubs. They were ready for some rest and were looking forward to getting a tan to brag about back home!

On May 11th Palatka hosts their host reception and on May 13th they are visiting the St. Johns River Water Management District for a talk with the directors and an air boat ride on the St. Johns. Can't wait to see them again.

The USA team has 8 days left until we leave and I think we are all really busy finishing up loose ends at work, packing, and saying good bye to family. We are really excited about leaving soon and getting back into some cooler weather (temperatures will be low 40s to high of 70!). Can't wait!!!!! Thank you!

Rotary District 6970 Conference April 24, 25, 2009

2009-04-30T18:51:00.001-07:00

Terri, Sarah, Karrin, and Nienke at the Friday night reception.
Team Leaders Peter and Sarah with Robbin-the only male team member and boy is he excited.
District 6970 Group Study Exchange Coordinator Karen Weiss and Elsbeth.
Netherlands Outbound team before our presentation.
Netherlands Inbound team out near the beach and glad their presentations are over.
Both teams together, awww!

The Netherlands inbound and outbound teams attended the District 6970 conference this weekend in Daytona Beach. It was very exciting to meet the inbound team! Their English is fantastic, they are very knowledgeable, they are very witty and funny, and they are extremely nice! Sarah and I are very interested in how stylish they are! We loved their matching outfits-black dressy/professional outfit with lime yellow scarfs (AWESOME!) and nice white 3/4 length sleeve jackets. I WILL be getting a scarf while I'm there! The reception and dinner were fun with superb food. Each team gave their presentations in the morning and the Netherlands team was fantastic with great English and fun facts like: the donut was invented in Netherlands and while they are very popular in the US, the Dutch don't eat them, don't say "Go Dutch" when you go out to dinner there because this is not something they say and they don't know where the term came from, etc. They gave interesting facts like 4 Netherlands fit in the size of Florida, Netherlands is the tallest country, and other interesting facts. Good job! Thank you District 6970 for this great experience!

GSE Meeting #8 Palatka Police Department Detective Unit

2009-04-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

Thank you Jason for letting us use the Palatka Police Department Department Detective Unit for our 8th planning meeting on April 8, 2009. Karen brought our brochures and business cards and gave us each a gift of business card holders. Thank you Karen!!

After going over important goings-on over the last two weeks in catching up with each other and celebrating Shane's birthday (it turns out he is NOT the oldest member of the team...), we went over Sean's masterful power point. We practiced the power point that we will give on April 25, 2009 in Daytona Beach at the District Conference.

We are extremely excited that the Netherlands team will be here on Saturday (in 3 days-I'm sure they are estatic!)!

Also, we received our schedules for the Netherlands trip this week!!! It looks very exciting with the perfect balance of vocational visits, nature preserve hikes, tourism, and Rotary meetings. The schedule also includes a cooking class, a bike tour, Guild sport traditional shooting, and a breakfast fitness-sounds new and unique to the Netherlands-perfect!! We sincerely appreciate the Netherlands team putting this schedule together and thank the families for hosting the five of us. Also, dank u wel Monier Ton Sijstermans oit RC Kerkrade and Monier John van Dijk oit RC Hoensbroeck for joining our blog. Also, dank u wel for helping to organize the first week of our Netherlands experience beginning with a Welcome BBQ at the Hoensbroek Castle (visit http://members.tripod.com/hoensbroek-castle/index.html).

Thank you to Sarah and the St. Augustine Sunrise Rotary Club for a wonderful breakfast and a warm welcome and presentation of the Club flags. I gladly take them to represent you and thank you again for sponsoring me on this once in a lifetime experience!

With less than five weeks left until the trip, we need to get packing and continue with Dutch! See you at the District Conference on April 24th!

Planning Meeting #7-Gainesville, Florida-Comments from the Team

2009-03-11T16:50:00.000-07:00

Comments from other members of the GSE ploeg (team)!

Oh, the blog....With a matter of weeks to go before departure the team gathered to review the final draft of the presentation...sans UF marching band music. Stay tuned for the district conference when we have our first public review. Sean

Despite all the cat allergies, I made it through the night. Red nose and eyes, loss of breath and itching all the way home. Tonight I let my hair down - Jason.

Tonight it was revealed that I am the "old man" of the team. Personally I think I look pretty good for my age...well preserved - Shane.

Even though Jason sat next to me, luckily he never sneezed on me. We are busy dividing up the shirts and Shane just said we are not allowed to call him professor. Sarah

This team is, as they say, awesome. I am so proud of how well prepared they are. Karen

Eive kijk-mijn ploeg es krankzinnig! (Let's have a look. My team is crazy!) Thank you for coming over and bringing wine. Our shirts and polos are schoon (beautiful). Looking forward to the caribbean cookout with Rotary members and meeting the GSE team at the District 6970 conference. - Terri

Photo: from left: Sean, Sarah, Shane, Terri, Jason, Karen Weiss

2009-02-28T16:09:00.000-08:00

The inside of our brochure. Thank you Rotary!

2009-02-28T16:06:00.000-08:00

Our brochure is done! The next couple of posts are photos of our brochure. We will take copies with us to Netherlands and pass them out at Rotary meetings and vocational visits. It discusses our backgrounds and gives some bullet points regarding land conservation, water, sustainability, law enforcement in Florida along with Florida and Rotary District 6970 facts to share with the people we meet. Click on the photo to make it larger.

2009-02-23T17:03:00.000-08:00

The USA group met on February 7, 2009 in St. Augustine to pick up their blazers and take some glamour shots for the USA brochure. We enjoyed a Mexican potluck lunch as we modeled in our new attire. It was nice to spend time together as we continue to prepare for our travels.

Next up:

March 5, 2009-Some of us will be attending the Wild Game Feast in Gainesville.

March 7, 2009- We meet again in Gainesville to finalize our power point presentation and of course work on some Dutch.

April 18, 2009-Netherlands team Arrives!

April 24, 25, 2009- We will be attending the District 6970 Conference in Daytona along with the Netherlands team.

May 16, 2009-USA and Netherlands teams leave for the Netherlands!

Meeting # 5

2009-01-24T13:43:00.000-08:00

January 14, 2009 the USA team met again at the Palatka library. We turned in our power points for the trip and Sean will compile them into one. We also turned in our insurance/medical forms. We discussed a few points about Florida community planning, environment, and criminal justice to list on the back of the brochure we will bring with us to the Netherlands. Our next meeting is on January 31 when we will travel to Jax Beach Rosemblums to pick up our blazers, finalize our powerpoint, and hopefully work on our Dutch! We are amazed and excited that we only have less than 4 months until we leave and less than 3 months until the Netherlands team arrives!!

The Rotary 4 Way Test-In Dutch!

2009-01-11T16:57:00.000-08:00

Sean, Terri, Sarah, Walther, Jason, and Shane at the Plantation at Ponte Vedra January 3, 2009.

As we met with Walther, as described in the previous post, we additionally solicited him for a translation of the Rotary 4 Way Test into Dutch. Here it is below:

Met betrekking tot alles wat we denken zeggen of doen, geldt:

1. is het waar?
2. is het billijk voor alle betrokkenen?
3. bevordert het onderling vertrouwen en vriendschap?
4. komt het alle betrokkenen ten goede?

In English:

Of the things we think, say or do:

1. Is it the TRUTH?

2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?

3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Meeting #4 Rosenblums Jacket Fitting and Meeting with Walther at the Plantation at Ponte Vedra

2009-01-07T03:26:00.000-08:00

Pictured from L to R: Terri, Shane, Jason, Sean, Fitz, Sarah.

The Netherlands Team met again on Saturday January 3, 2009 and had a nice outing! First stop (well the first stop after getting a bit lost anyways...) was Rosenblums in Jacksonville Beach. We met with Fitz who fitted the guys for our Rotary blazers we will wear on the trip and the girls found our sizes. We then headed down to the Plantatation at Ponte Vedra to meet with Walther from the Ponte Vedra Rotary. Walther is Dutch and has been living in the US since 1978. He graciously volunteered his time on a Saturday to give us a behind the scenes look at the updated Plantation House and the management of this over 500 acre establishment. He also gave us some first hand insight into the Netherlands. Here are some of the things we learned:

-The US through the Marshall Act helped rebuild the Netherlands after World War II. Therefore the Netherlands have a very thankful attitude, but US policy shouldn't push this thankfulness too far.

-Law enforcement is automated there. If you run a red light, the camera will take a photo and you will be mailed a ticket. If you get on the highway, it will mark your time and will mark your time when you exit. If you get off too early for what it should take you for that distance, you will be sent a ticket. Drunk driving accidents are not covered by insurance. Drunk driving accidents are left on the roads for everyone to see on Mondays as a reminder.

-Things are very regulated in the Netherlands including soft drugs.

-Walther gave us some places to visit as side trips such as an amusement park, the newly opened Rotterdam interpretive museum, Belgium and Germany for beer stops (we must find the best beer while we're there, right?), soccer match, and an area where the rivers meet.

-He said that our families will probably want us to get seconds on food so don't get too much the first time and make sure to clear your plate. Sounds like we Southerners will fit right in!

-Tips may be only at 10% which is normal.

-Families like to drink sherry because historically ships used sherry for long voyages as this would preserve longer.

-It is nice to give flowers as gifts when we move to a new home.

-Netherlands phrase-ik ik ik, everyone else can stick it. This means, Netherlanders may like to get ahead for themselves, maybe not wait in line, but push forward. Maybe the nature is a bit competitive there.

-Netherlands phrase-If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much. We hope to say this in our presentations!

-Dutch we learned-

Doie-hip way to say goodbye

Proost-cheers

Bedankt-Thank you

Thank you Walter for spending time with us and for giving us so much interesting insight into the Netherlands!!

Next meeting January 14.

GSE Netherlands Inbound Team Announced!

2009-01-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

The Netherlands GSE Coordinator sent the Bios of the Inbound Team! They look like a great group and all work in the field of the theme of the exchange-Community Planning. Here they are:

Team Leader-Peter Van der Tol-58
Regional Development Manager

Elsbeth Raedts-29
Strategic Advisor for Housing and City Networks for the City of Meerlen

Karin Bakker-25
Rural Development Advisor

Nienke Verhagen-30
Planning and Spatial Developments of Housing

Robbin Bouten-30
Economic Feasibility of Urban and Spatial Development

Can't wait to meet you guys!

Netherlands Planning Meeting #3 December 17, 2008

2009-01-02T06:56:00.000-08:00

USA GSE Netherlands team meeting to discuss all aspects of Rotary International December 17, 2008. (L to R: Sara Owen Gledhill, Terri Mashour, Laura Massee, Shane Williams, Mr. Bill Griffin, Sean McClendon, Jason Shaw, Shann Puritan. Not pictured, Karen Weiss)

Hello Again,

On December 17, 2008 (wow, that was, like, a year ago!) the USA half of the Netherlands GSE met at a sports restaurant in Palatka, Florida to learn about all things Rotary! Honored and very insightful guests were District Governor, Bill Griffin, Past District Governor, Shan Puritan, GSE Team Coordinator, Karen Weiss, and 2008 GSE Brazil Team Member, Laura Massee. Each member discussed their initial interest in joining Rotary, and how Rotary has changed their interest in the organization. Most of the members concurred that they initially joined due to the networking capabilities Rotary has: due to the high quality of ethics aspired by each member, doing business with members is an honest bet. However, in the process of meeting people, volunteering, and helping others, they remain in Rotary due to the good works of the club. This year's Rotary theme is, "Make Dreams Real." Guests also discussed the many local and international programs of Rotary such as ending polio, water projects in developing countries, and how the experience of an exchange and learning a new culture can help many of the world's problems.

Laura Massee, GSE Brazil Team Member 2008 gave an excited report of her GSE experience. She discussed the late night culture of the Brazil Rotary meetings, the meat she ate, the nice and interesting people she met, and how to pack (lets not bring up undergarments here...). Her experience sounds just like what we are hoping for and she gave us some excitement to take with us!

Thank you to everyone at the meeting! We appreciate your insight and knowledge that will help us on the trip.

Dutch Lesson #1

2008-11-22T06:34:00.000-08:00

Hello- Hallo (hullo)

Good morning - Goede morgen (hoo-der mor-hen)

Good Night - Goede nacht (hoo-der nukt)

Yes- Ja (yah)

No- Nee (nay)

Thank you- Dank u (dunk oo)

No, thank you- Nee, dank u (nay dunk 00)

I'm sorry Het spijt met (et spate mer)

Please- Alstublieft (uls-too-bleeft)

Excuse me- Pardon (par-don)

Do you speak english? Spreekt u engels? (spraykt oo eng-els?)

That's good- Dat is goed (dut is hoot)

How are you- Hoe gaat het (hoo haht et)

What is your name?- Hoe heet u? (hoo hate ooo?)

My name is- Ik heet (ik hate)

I am American- Ik ben amerikaan (ik ben ah-may-ree-kahn)

I'm from Ik ben van (ik ben vun)

How do I get to the bus station?-hoe kom ik naar het bus station? (hoo kom ik nar et bus stats-see-on?)

left links (links)

right rechts (rekts)

it is near/far Het is dichtbij/ver (et is dikt-bey/vair)

Take the bus Neem de bus (name der bus)

Take the train Neem de trein (name der train)

In english please In het engels, alstublieft (in et eng-els uls-too-bleeft)

What time is it? Hoe laat is het? (hoo laht is et)

It's one o'clock Het is een uur (ayn oor)

twee uur (tway oor)

in the morning 's morgens (smor-hens)

It's noon et is middag (et is mid-duk)

midnight middernacht (midder-nukt)

five past five vijf over vijf (veyf over veyf)

ten past five tien over vijf (teen over veyf)

half past five half zes (hulf zes)

At what time does the train leave? hoe laat vertrekt de train? (hoo laht ver-trekt der train?)

At 13:00 Om dertien uur (om dair-teen oor)

In ten minutes binnen tien minuten (binnen teen mee-nooten)

monday maandag (mahn-duk)

tuesday dinsdag (dins-duk

wednesday woensdag (woons-duk)

thursday donderdag (donder-duk)

friday vrijdag (vrey-duk)

saturday zaterdag (zahter-duk)

sunday zondag (zon-duk)

yesterday gisteren (histeren

today vandaag (vun-dahk)

tomorrow morgen (mor-hen)

day after tomorrow overmorgen (over-mor-hen)

Netherlands Applications Added to Blog

2008-11-15T08:23:00.000-08:00

In order to learn more about the Netherlands, we have added the world clocks, a Netherlands news feed, and a web cam from Amsterdam.

Netherlands Planning Meeting #2-November 12, 2008

2008-11-13T04:33:00.000-08:00

The Rotary GSE Netherlands Team 2009 met last night to continue to plan. The team brought power point drafts about themselves and Northeast Florida they were assigned to work on to take on the trip. We brought our bios to review and everyone paid tribute to their pets except Shane! Sean had good ideas for the shirts we are designing. Karen and Sarah continue to plan for our name tags, when to get fitted for our blazers and pick up our polo shirts, and for meeting with a Dutch man to practice the language. Terri will convert the blog into USA colors. Lots to do! Many thanks to Jason for letting us use the Weed and Seed center in Palatka for our meeting. Until our December meeting we continue to work on our power points and of course learning Dutch!

GSE Netherlands Team 2009 Announced!

2008-11-11T16:30:00.000-08:00

L to R: Sean, Terri, Jason, Shane, Sarah

Welcome to our Group Study Exchange Netherlands 2009 Blog! The team has been selected!

Team Leader-Sarah Owen Gledhill, Florida Wildlife Federation, St. Augustine Sunrise Rotary

Team- Shane Williams, Ph.D., Marion County

Sean Mclendon, Alachua County

Jason Shaw, Palatka Police Department

Terri Mashour, St. Johns River Water Management District

We are currently meeting to plan our visit and get to know each other and of course learn Dutch! We are all very pleased and excited to be part of this team and look forward to the planning process, meeting the inbound Dutch team, and traveling to the Netherlands. We will keep you updated on the planning process and our progress with Dutch! We leave May 16, 2009 and have lots to do!