Finishing up Semester 1

Hello all,

I haven't written much recently because I haven't had a lot to write about. I've been a bit crook (sick) recently, and that has prevented me from doing a whole lot. But I am going to the doctor on Monday to see if he will give me some prescription meds to get the crud out of my system.

Although I haven't participated in as many activities as I would have liked to these last two weeks, I have spoken at two Rotary clubs, The Rotary Club of Bateman's Bay and Canberra North Rotary Club. Bateman's Bay is about a two hour drive from Canberra. It's the closest beach to Canberra, so in the summer months it's a pretty popular place. It also tends to be a place where people retire. My host counselor, Ian, drove me down there on Thursday afternoon for the Thursday evening meeting. We spent the night a Rotarian's house, and late Friday morning we came back to Canberra. It was a good trip. We didn't have time to see a lot of the area, but we did walk on one of the beaches, which was really nice. Hopefully, I will have the opportunity to visit the city again.

The Canberra North Rotary Club is an older club as well. They meet at a golf club in one of the suburbs in Canberra. It was my first meeting to speak at without my Powerpoint slides, so it was a good challenge for me to practice speaking with just the help of some notes. The presentation went really well, and I extended my Rotary network.

Last week, I also went to a public lecture at the Old Parliament House. A scholar from England spoke about the 1944 meeting between Australian Prime Minister Curtin and President Roosevelt, and he used that meeting to discuss a bit about Australian-American relations. I've been reading a book called The Last Bastion by Kristin Williamson that my host counselor loaned me. It discusses how Australia entered WWII and its relationship with England and with the United States at that time. I highly recommend the book to anyone who is interested in learning about the history of WWII from a different perspective.

Besides the events that I've listed above, my main activities have been school work and getting healthy. The semester ends in about a month, so I have a final essay to write and one final exam. The time is flying by!

I hope that you all enjoy your weekend.
Cheers