My First Rotary Meeting

Tonight I went to my very first Rotary meeting in Taipei at my host club - Taipei Tung Ho Rotary Club! It was very exciting! The meetings are run very similar to my sponsor clubs - Vail and Edwards Rotary. However, at the Rotary meetings here everyone is dressed to the nines. I mean seriously! The men wear suits and the women all look as though they are going to a wedding. I love it!

In the car ride to the Golden China Hotel, my host mom and dad and I practiced saying in Chinese "Hi! How are you? My name is Anna. Here is my business card. Thank you for yours! It was very nice to meet you!" Over and over again, I said "Ni hao. Ni hao ma? Wo jiao Anna. Jian huan, mieng ping. Xie Xie ni. Hen gao xing jian dao ni."  Saying the sentence all together and fast like they do takes practice though. By the end of the night I had become an expert at saying this (I will never forget how!), I received many business cards (not all Rotarian's had theirs), and most important began relationships with the Rotarian's at dinner! 

Dinner consisted of a large buffet, all you can eat. It was all very good! The thing is though, in Taipei everybody eats A LOT. After my first plate I was full - something I think is normal. They all tell me every meal I am with them, you eat too little. You need to get big and strong. Meanwhile, they are on their third plate almost ready for their fourth. If I ate like this here three meals a day, everyday, for an entire year I will assure you I could possibly be majorly obese when I come back to the states. As much as I am embracing myself in the delicious cuisine and their culture, I will not be eating like this! Ha!

While eating my host dad made the daily announcements and had other members come up and talk about their guest or make a speech about a certain topic. Another exchange student from Texas and I were told to introduce ourselves to the club. Very nice! Two boys from Taiwan gave their presentation on their exchange years in Canada and Missouri!

When all the important business was finished, my host dad put on a magic show for everybody! In the afternoon, my host dad told me that today was Valentine's Day in Taiwan so he would do something special tonight at dinner. He does not speak very good English so when he came and told me this he kept on saying "Wo ay ni!" which means I love you. I didn't understand why at first but then he pointed to my calender on the wall and said love day. Then he said that he and I were going to go to the general market to get love items and things for the magic show!

Final product with all of the purchased items!

Overall my first Rotary meeting at Taipei Tung Ho was very successful! Thank you for being my host club D3520!

Anna