Anyone have some gourmet cake mix?

Christine here with our latest blog update….

Before I give you the narrative of our Thursday (Day 11) activities, I need to amend the entry Aaron wrote for Wednesday, when we made our formal presentation to RC Essendon North. We prepared quite the little show prior to arrival…PowerPoint slides, talking points, photos of ourselves, our families and Nebraska. The slide show is the key element in our presentation as it serves to deflect the stares from us to the projection screen. Anyhow, Aaron who, seriously, carries around a gigantic black backpack with something like 5 lenses, the professional digital SLR camera, the mini digital recorder (message to Kim, Aaron’s wife….that was the BEST birthday gift EVER), and the entire battery selection from Duracell. Aaron is carting around Best Buy on his back. Anyhow, as the official team photographer, techy, blogger and all around computer-dude, it’s really his responsibility to not only cart around the laptop, but make sure it’s charged and ready to roll for our presentation. Thank goodness the Essendon North Rotarians are a hilarious, laid back bunch of people because our slide show crapped out about midway through our presentation. We (Matt, Jen and I) zoomed through the rest of our presentation while Aaron sat next to his laptop, trying to keep it going long enough to for us to make it through. We do love that Aaron….he managed to keep the hamster wheel turning so we could finish the presentation WITH photos!

Now onto Thursday….Thursday was vocational day. I visited Kangan Batman TAFE. The meeting started with lunch at their culinary arts program cafe (similar to the Metro CC cafe) and it was delicious. Who knew that mashed peas aren’t just for babies? Throw a bit of grilled salmon on top of those peas with a pile of mixed greens and it becomes a beautiful little dish. Lunch was followed by a tour of campus including the airplane hanger (seriously, with airplanes in it) and a visit to the Koori educational program. I’m going to visit the Koori education program at Campaspe College and I’m really looking forward to learning even more about the education efforts geared toward the indigineous people of Victoria.

We ended the day with a fantastic BBQ at the park. Lovely weather, delicious food (no worries…we’re getting recipes for some of the salads and desserts we enjoyed), amazing wine and lots and lots of laughing. The sun was setting and we were’t quite ready to take leave of each other (again, the team experiences separation anxiety), so we had a little after party at David & Terri’s house (Our Matt’s hosts). What’s the best way to gauge if the team’s a bit tired, punchy and had too much wine? When we all go to check out the bathroom like it’s a tourist attraction. Oh yeah….corn hanging out of our ears at that moment, as we oohed and aahed about this large, gleaming white space with a clear shower area made for at least 5 people, the deepest bathtub ever and, not even kidding, a landscaped, fountain area enclosed in glass. Forget candles….forget music…forget bubbles…if you want to take a relaxing bath, an Asian inspired landscape feature with bubbling fountain is the way to go. We had a great evening of singing, cheese eating (Jen, who eats white cake mix with water back in Nebraska - that’s going to be the next fad diet, I’m sure - has discovered that she needs a daily cheese fix in Australia), and laughing so hard that our faces were red, our eyes watered, and are abs were so sore that we didn’t feel guilty about not exercising. I’m not sure how late everyone stayed at the after party…I had to get out of there before I stopped breathing (that severe cat allergy thing gets in the way sometimes). Aaron, the generous team member that he is, offered to stick me with an Epi-Pen, except he wanted to do it Pulp Fiction style…you know, in the center of my chest. I politely declined.

Impressive Library

Impressive Library, originally uploaded by Barnstorm Creative.

Wednesday was “Transfer Day.” We are quickly learning that while Transfer Days are exciting because we get to meet a bunch of new people, they can be a bit of a circus and are usually mentally taxing after packing, loading luggage and leaving your prior families. Wednesday’s transfer was scheduled for mid-day, so the entire group loaded their luggage in the morning and met at the State Library in Melbourne.

It was great to have the entire group together on the steps of the State Library. Our group has really bonded, so when we go a day or two without seeing each other, it feels like a lifetime. I don’t know if the Australians find us funny, but we think we’re hilarious. Whether it’s Judy drooling on herself, Matt’s quick quips, Christine being offered another wine or some of Jen’s amusing stories, or Aaron trying not to forget something, we are constantly entertained.
The State Library is an absolutely gorgeous building and is another project funded by the gold rush in the 1850s. It is Australia’s oldest free library and is one of the oldest free libraries in the world. Our tour through was quick and to the point. We all enjoyed the gorgeous architecture and would have been happy to spend some more time walking the halls. The library is almost like a museum with some special exhibits. This one included a display of Ned Kelly’s armor. Without giving a history lesson, Ned Kelly was one of their famous outlaws and is quite a legend (much like Jesse James, Billy the Kid, etc.). If you want more information you can google him on your time.

Our next event was to visit the prestigious Melbourne Rotary Club for their lunch meeting at the Windsor Hotel. Every meeting is different and this is one of the more formal meetings. The fact that it was formal, usually wouldn’t be of note, but this time it was.

Several of the team members were engaged in some thoughtful conversation when we heard a loud crash. I expected to see a waiter with a mess, instead it was our Judy – who had just dropped her full glass of wine all over the head table. Nice. Again, we were probably in limited company, but we found it hysterical.

As always, we were greeted with open arms and met some tremendous business leaders in a short time. The meeting did not require a formal presentation from us, so we each basically did a 60-second introduction of ourselves. It was nice not having to break out the slide show and just enjoy the company.

Our luggage was waiting for us at the hotel, so following meeting, our new hosts (the Essendon North Club), hauled it off to our families while we visited. Our new Essendon group is awesome. A terrific fit for everyone. They hosted us at their meeting Wednesday night, which was a great setting. This is a group of about 40 members, but they had a terrific turnout and stayed LONG after the meeting was over to keep us entertained.

Yarra Primary Kitchen & Garden

Yarra Primary Kitchen & Garden, originally uploaded by Barnstorm Creative.

Tuesday was a vocational day for the group, so it marked another day where we didn’t see much of the other group. I spent the morning with Yarra Primary School in Richmond, and had a chance to see one of the older state schools in Melbourne. The school has 165 students from Kindergarten (or Primary here in Australia) through sixth grade. High schools are a bit different as they tend to run from grades seven through 12. Despite the fact that the schools are state run, principals pretty much have full autonomy over the school. They receive their curriculum from the state, but they really don’t report much to a their regional office, like U.S. schools report to a district office. Another major difference is that despite state funding, principals still must do significant fundraising.

One of the fantastic programs Yarra Primary is known for is its Kitchen and Garden Program. The program teaches students to grow vegetables, raise chickens, collect eggs and then cook and prepare the food. In addition to teaching students the basics of agriculture and farming, they learn to cook with an emphasis on eating healthy food. The kids absolutely love it and some parents in Melbourne actually select the school for their children because of this innovative program. Currently, Yarra Primary is one of just 20 schools in Australia running the program, but it sounds as if it will be rolled out nationwide in the near future.

During the afternoon, Jen and I shared a vocational visit to a company called Moco Marketing in downtown Melbourne. It’s a startup company that is developing mobile technology for rewards programs within shopping malls. For instance, a shopper who signs up for the program, would activate sign in with their cell phone when they step into a mall and would receive text messages with special offers to specific stores in the mall. As the rewards program builds a database of shopping history, the ads and offers would be tailored to the shopper’s preferences. It was an interesting concept and we will enjoy watching it progress.

It was the last evening with our families from the Richmond Club, so everybody spent the evening with their families.