Rotary File - May 20, 2014
President Casey opened the meeting at 7:10 am.
The President asked Chris Knapp to lead us in the songs: “My country ‘Tis of Thee” and “Smile”
President Casey made it a point to thank everybody who volunteered at the Golf Tournament on Monday. Mike Messier later said that about 50% of the club members participated. He also thanked everybody.
The Sargeant-at-Arms reported on the visitors, who were introduced by their hosts, and the make ups. Since there were so many that had volunteered on Monday at the golf tournament, he just asked us to stand up.
Guests and Visiting Rotarians: Allison Pestotnik, guest of Connie Pestotnik; Ann Romanowski, guest of Bryan Clemons; Kermit Sheker, Iowa City Noon.
Announcements
* Brian Adamec asked us to remember the Auction on June 10th.
Mike Messie thanked the club for volunteering at the Golf Tournament.
Nancy Pacha showed the picture of the twins born to Katya. The mother and the babies are in good health. The picture shows the twins holding hands.
Rick mentioned that Sue Cronnin’s sister had an accident, and requested prayers for her.
Mike reminded everybody that today is the last day to take advantage of the discounted price of $125 registration for 2015’s District Conference.
It was pointed out that the Board will meet Thursday next week.
Happy Bucks
Many Rotarians shared their happiness during more than 20 minutes.
Program
The program for today was a talk by the INBOUND student hosted by our club, Tae-Sung Yun, from South Korea, Timmy, as he graciously told us to call him when Chris introduced him to the club. Tae-Sung will be returning to his home country, on June 2nd. We will miss him.
He first told us that we should visit South Korea, his homeland, and that he would give us the reasons why. Tae-Sung described his flag. Light blue as the base colour, for purity, love, traditions, yang (plus) and ying (minus) to the center. Everything in the Universe has its opposites: mother / son; winter / summer; harmony / discord. There are lines in the four corners of the flag. The three lines on the upper left hand side corner mean: father, spring, sky and justice. The ones on the upper right hand side corner mean: son, winter, the moon, and wisdom. The lines on the lower right hand side corner mean: mother, summer, earth and vitality. The lines on the lower left hand side corner means: daughter, autumn, sun and fruition. Four elements, four seasons, the family. The South Korean flag represents Peace, Unity, and Creation.
March 1st is to celebrate and cherish; in 1945. August 15th is their independence day.
Tae-Sun, then, compared the size of his country and the number of inhabitants to that of the USA.
South Korea 38,691 sq. miles 50 million inhabitants
USA 3,900,000 sq. miles 319 million inhabitants
He also showed a picture of an ordinary home in the USA and the high-riser where he lives with his family.
Busan, SK, is his home, to the South East of the country. Its population is around 3.5 million inhabitants. Seoul, the capital city, is to the North West. There were pictures of a beautiful yet crowded beach, where people rent tents for the summer, and there are vendors walking around the tents selling tasty, yummy food. The Fireworks Festival in Busan is always in October, this year, it will be Oct. 24th and 25th. The fireworks come from ships on the river, and from the bridge. The Festival is so big that it can be seen from Japan.
The South Korean peninsula is divided by the Major and Minor mountains from North to South.
The Buddhists temples are places not to miss. Find them in “templestays.com”. They are places where one goes to meet oneself, to connect with oneself, to throw away thoughts and rest. It is an experience not to be missed.
Tae-Sung then talked about his school. The schools for boys are separated from the schools for girls. Students wear uniforms, they attend school between 8 am to 9 pm. At 6 pm, they have dinner; then, they have self-study time, music, art. Students have no choice of subjects; students are always in the same room, the teachers are the ones that go from one classroom to another. Students can choose to attend Art, Music or language schools, but to be accepted they have to be very good.
Boys have to have their hair cut short, very short; there is lots of competition; students are smart, but it is depressing because of requirements and demands.
About his family, his mother is a Teacher of English, and a nurse. She works at the airport. Her hobby is to study interior decoration.
His father works for the government. His hobbies are ships, maps, writing books, and Korean politics.
His brother attended the University of SEBU, Philippines. He returned home, however, and now is learning Japanese in Shinala, South Korea. He was also a Rotary exchange student in Japan, but his stay was cut short due to the Tsunami.
Before coming to Iowa, Tae-Sung was in Maine for a year, as an exchange student.
He started learning English with his parents, and also at school, in 1st grade.
Tae-Sung was asked what he will do when he returns home. He wants to use his knowledge of English.
It was then 7:55 am. President Casey thanked Tae-Sung, and mentioned that a book will be donated to a school in his name.
The meeting adjourned at 8:00a.m.
Respectfully submitted by Nenu Piragine.