Heather here - Wow! Can't believe we hadn't posted anything since the 15th! That last week was quite busy!

While we were with the Pitlochry club, they took us to the theater. We saw The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. It was very well done and quite entertaining!

After a whirlwind couple of days in Pitlochry, we headed up to Avimore for the District Conference and the last leg of our trip.

Friday night we attended the dinner and listened to a little bit of history from Mary Queen of Scots, in her own words.

Saturday, Kylee and I made our trip to Loch Ness. We took the train to Inverness and caught a boat for a 3 hour tour on the Loch. It was a beautiful, but chilly, day to be on the Loch. It must have been too cold for Nessie though, we didn't see her at all! The sonar on the boat showed the depth of the Loch, nearly 800 feet in some areas.

Saturday night's formal dinner at the confernce was a lot of fun. The food was great, the company at the table interesting and the music lively (though a bit too loud for the size of the hall!). I got to put into practice some of the Scottish Country Dancing classes I'd taken!

Sunday morning we gave our final presentation to the delegatees. We had quite a large audience - very nerve wracking! But they were all friendly faces and quite a few of them were well known to us already from the clubs we'd visited. We each told a little bit about ourselves and something we'd learned or would take away with us from Scotland. Everyone loved Scott's lament of the midges, and also Karen's Scottish Vocabulary lesson. Who can forget words like dreich or braw?

So now we're home. I've been intending to get this blog done since Tuesday but apparently jet lag has hit me too much! My kitties were certainly glad to see me and they are sticking so close I can barely walk without tripping over one or the other of them. My horse was also glad to see me - until I saddled him up and made him work!

I thought that seeing people drive on the right side of the road, and actually driving again after a month, would seem strange and take some getting used to, but it really hasn't. Seemed perfectly normal to drive on the right! I have forgotten my phone numbers at work and where I put things for safe keeping before I left. Eventually I'm sure I'll get things reorganized!

It's good to be home, but I do miss Scotland already! Especially all the wonderful people we met, the green countryside, cool weather and awesome sights!

Heather here! I'll add one of my photos from Loch Brandy but I think Levi has the best. Hopefully he'll put one on! It really was quite a hike but absolutely worth the effort when we got to the loch. The water tasted wonderful!

My favorite part about Kirriemuir was that I got to go horseback riding!!! Karen and I went for a short hack (what we would call a trail ride) through town, up a hill and back down past an old quarry. It was really fun and I think I now have Karen sold on the English style of riding rather than just western :)


People have asked me what has been my favorite part of Scotland so far and that is just an impossible question to answer! We've had so much fun at all of our clubs that it has been very hard to pick any one thing that stands out as my favorite. If I really had to narrow it down, I'd say my favorite thing so far has been the people. We've met so many wonderful, generous, fun, helpful and kind people here that this truly will be the best thing I remember about Scotland!

I'm back!

Hi there, Kylee is back! Well I see Caitlin has beat me to the blog, so be sure to scroll down and read her entry after this commercial break. Ok, all jokes a side. I have been having the time of my life here in Scotland for real. The Kirriemuir club was great. I haven't drank and laughed that much in years. The whole club went well out of their way to show us a good time. Caitlin talked about our hike ( up Mt. Everest!) and the Burns theme dinner last night, well I'm not sure what one hurts more but I'm going with the dancing! It was great fun being swung around on the arm of a HOT guy in a Kilt! And... I tried Haggis for the first time and I actually liked it. It wasn't so scary after all! Kirriemuir is where the author who wrote Peter Pan came from and we were able to see a few of the monuments. On Saturday we were lucky enough to meet the Queen Mothers cousin, Mary Countess of Strathmore. It was by far one of the highlights of the trip. She autographed a book for each of us, and posed for pictures with our team. Today we landed in Pitlochry, and into the hands of great new hosts. We are now in the highlands, and the views are amazing! I'm looking forward to all the new memories to be made on our last week here. Catch you later, Kylee

Kirriemuir to Pitlochry

Hey there - Caitlin here.

We just arrived in Pitlochry today. I felt a little bad for our new hosts - I think we were all a little exhausted after the big day we had yesterday.

Kirriemuir Rotary Club took us to the Guide Dogs training centre in Forfar (we made it onto the front page of the newspaper with one of the dogs!)


and then we went on a gorgeous hike in Glen Clova to Loch Brandy. This is about an hour and a half hike uphill but it was sooooo worth it. This was my favorite place so far. Kylee filled her empty bottle with water from the loch and it was crystal clear spring water - delicious! It was a little weird drinking water directly from a lake but it was really good.

We hurried back down because our hosts were waiting at a pub at the bottom and we each deserved a wee dram after all of that :)

After getting cleaned up, we attended a Burns night. We ate haggis after it was blessed in the traditional way with a Robert Burns poem, toasted with whisky, and danced the night away. Nothing like red wine and whisky followed by Scottish men flinging you around in circles. I'm not going to lie, my body hurts today!

We were delivered to our Pitlochry Rotary Club hosts this morning and we went straight into the meeting to do our presentation. Afterwards, we all went back with our host families to relax. Kylee and I may have shopped a little bit...

Tomorrow is a vocational day followed by an evening out at Pitlochry theater.. I'm excited for a fancy night out!

That's all for now!

Caitlin

P.S. Pictures will come soon...

P.P.S. Attn: My fellow GSE Team - please insert pictures above!! I don't have my camera cord :) XOXO

last day in Fraserburgh

We had another very active day in Fraserburgh. In the am, we enjoyed the MacDuff Marine Aquarium so I had to include a photo of my favorite...the cuttle fish. It seems as though he is a distant cousin to the octopus. Can you see the resemblance?

Already it was time for lunch so we headed over to Banff And Buchan College, where they have the Dept. of Hospitality and Catering. The students practice their skills as wait staff, maitre de, chef, etc within their in-house Wallace Restaurant. The food was delicious and came with an outstanding presentation. Many Rotarians from the Fraserburgh Club came to join us for lunch.


Afterwards, Ann(Heather's host) and John(Levi's host) drove us over to Hackley Bay between Colliston and Newburgh for some free time on the beach. This beach is pristine, as it is within the confines of a nature reserve. We practically had it to ourselves once we made the the trek down the cliff and on to the beautiful white sand. The hike was well-worth the effort...yup, we are having as much fun as it looks, even though the water is cccccold!

Fri am we are on the move again. We had a great time visiting Fraserburgh area and its Rotarians, as well as Debbie (Kylee's host), who visited New York as a previous GSE team member. It is difficult to move on, but we are certain that history will repeat itself in providing us with wonderful Rotary hosts, friends and great experiences. Karen

Heather here! Thought I would add a little bit to Caitlin and Karen's blog for today! It truly was a very pleasant day for the weather. The beach walk was a bit windy and brisk but enjoyable. We've seen some wildlife while we've been here. Birds of prey, seals, horses, sea gulls galore... And I did actually see a wee highland coo yesterday - that's a little highland cow for those of you back home! But the cutest wildlife so far came to visit us at my host's home tonight. She was outside having a smokie (cigarette) when the doorbell started to ring furiously. When I went to the door, Ann told me to grab my camera and pointed to a little ball on the ground. Turns out it was this guy - a hedgehog! He came skittering over from the neighbor's yard and stopped long enough for a photo op, then toddled off again.

Adventures in Fraserburgh

Hello!

This is Caitlin and Karen in Fraserburgh (pronounced Frazer-bura). Today was a lovely sunny day, in fact, the nicest day since our arrival in Scotland. We started the day with an extensive tour of a massive fishing boat with the skipper, Andrei. Fishing is the leading industry in Fraserburgh and fresh fish, including herring & haddock, is readily available to the locals.



After a nice walk on the beach, we went to the nearby village of Gardenstown for hike through the hills. The views of the countryside were unbelievable - see for yourself!





The boys didn't make it into the water again today but here's a shot of Scott in the North Sea yesterday..



Our group presented at the Fraserburgh Rotary Club last night. At my table (Caitlin), the Rotarians were talking about the sport of curling. It would have been interesting had I been able to understand a word of it - they were speaking in Doric. This dialect is ridiculously hard to understand as an outsider.

Karen was sitting next to the club president, Pauline, who is a general dentist so they were able to talk shop. All in all, the evening was a great success!

Tomorrow we are off to the Macduff Aquarium and then to a college for a catered lunch prepared by culinary students - nice!

That's all for now - Haste ye back!

Highland Games and a Day Off

Hello everyone, Levi here. So we just got to go to Braemar yesterday for the Highland Games. This is in the area of the Balmoral Estate, where the Queen sometimes spends a few weeks. She is a patron of the games at Braemar and often attends. We were lucky to be present when she arrived and I took this very blurry picture.



You can see some of the beauty of Scotland that runs right through Braemar here. The surrounding area is an amazing combination of woodland and hills of heather.



Here you can see the caber in mid-toss. The gentleman was successful in his toss of the heavy caber. Called the Braemar Caber, it is 19' 9" and weighs 132lbs. The goal is to get it to go end over end, in a straight line. Some cabers are heavier, but this one is particularly long and that makes it more difficult than it already is. Until you watch it, you think it is purely brute strength. But after watching, you realize the timing and skill involved.



This is the inter-service tug-o-war competition. The effort required is immense. It is a fierce competition and requires 100% effort from everyone involved. This picture is of special importance to me. It captures a memory that I will never forget. While this tug-o-war was going on, there was a group of singers on the stage in the background to the left of this image. The group is called Highland Heartbeat, and the music was haunting and beautiful. The strange dichotomy of the beautiful music and violent struggle just seemed to epitomize the essence of Scotland. Beauty and struggle, hope and despair, victory and defeat. It was almost overwhelming...


A day off.


So yesterday afternoon, after the games we checked into the Thainstone House Hotel. It is a very handsome building with attached grounds that make you feel a thousand miles away from anything.



We went for a few walks around the grounds and discovered many wonderful areas.



Including an ancient looking door from the woods, into more woods.



Tomorrow we are off to new hosts in Fraserburgh and new adventures. The time off was very nice and relaxing... Talk to you soon.

More Aberdeen

Hello All, Karen here. First time ever writing on a blog, which is in keeping with all the "firsts" of this incredible trip the GSE team and myself have been fortunate enough to be experiencing. Today was again so much fun! We have all been looking forward to going on a tour of a whisky (Scottish spelling...no "e" in whisky) distillery and today was the day. The distillery was named Glen Garioch (pronounced Glen Geery) in Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire. We learned all about the process for creating whisky, which ended in, you guessed it...a generous tasting of a dram of whisky. The process is quite interesting and the tour was educational for all of us, possibly with the exception of Levi, who is already a whisky expert extraordinaire.

In Inverurie,Aberdeenshire, we visited Castle Fraser from the 17th century, with all it's intriguing history and ghost stories. Some of us even heard unexplained ghostly sounds! We were allowed to wander around inside this very large castle but, sorry no photos were allowed.

We ended the day with a wonderful celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Rotary Club of Oldmeldrum. This was quite the event with kilts and bagpipes and champagne and as many as 26 visiting clubs present to participate in the celebration. It was an absolutely beautiful and thoroughly enjoyable evening. This club is impressive with all of it's accomplishments in such a short period of time. I can't wait to share their story with my club at home. The speakers were so full of humor that my cheeks actually hurt from laughing so much. There was the perfect mix of humor and pride in Rotary accomplishments (and wine) to round out a perfect celebration. Congratulations to Rotary Club of Oldmeldrum and thank you for inviting the GSE team to join in the festivities. The photo includes the GSE team along with current president Hilary Gordon, Gordon McNally, Past R.I.B.I. President and RI Director, current DG Bill McFarlane Smith and Andrew McCartney, current AG. The evening ended at around midnight, which is why this post is entered on the following day.

Tomorrow we are off for a day at the Braemar Highland Games where the Queen will also be in attendance. Another great day to look forward to!

Aberdeen !

Hi again, It's me Kylee. I just wanted to let everyone know that we had a fantastic time in Cupar. " IT'S SUPER IN CUPAR!" We were able to get to know our Host as well as each others Host pretty well. I had a hard time saying good by this morning. They really went the extra mile for our whole team. I had Nikki who was an amazing chef! Our BBQ with Diane, Sandy, and the rest of the club was a lot of fun. We played many games and drank quite a bit! I was able to finally spend some time on the beach, and Marley the Lercher had a blast! Levi and I went with our Host families to Edenbough and hit up the pub after seeing all the sights. I even got to play dress up in an local antique shop!
Today we rode the train to Aberdeen where we were greeted by our new families. Everyone here seems nice as well. I have to say good night for now, I think I have picked up a cold and need my rest.
Kylee

Blair Castle

Hello everyone, Scott here. Yesterday most of the team went their separate ways touring with their hosts. My hosts happened to be out of town for the day so I tagged along with Caitlin and her hosts. We did quite a bit of driving around the countryside through curvy roads at a speed that seemed to be pushing the edges of safety, but we seemed to make it without incident. Well...besides the flat tire on the way back, but we're getting used to that. On one of our last GSE team meetings before we left, we drove up to Flagstaff for their Highland Games in Caitlin's Toastermobile (Honda Element) and had a flat as well. So at least I'm getting a little practice.



Our major stop for the day was at Blair Castle in Fife. It was really a gorgeous castle with some interesting history. Part of the lower levels of the castle were decorated with some cross sections of trees that were planted in 1737. They were quite massive and quite beautiful. Photography was not allowed in the castle, which was unfortunate because it was full of ornate inlaid wood, intricate weapons, clothes, tapestries, china, etc. Another interesting tidbit is that the castle boasts Europe’s only remaining private army.

After a nice lunch at the castle of haggis, neeps, and taddies (Caitlin tried a bite) we wandered outside to see our very first piper of Scotland...it turned out to be a private show for the most part as most of the crowd was attending an equestrian event held at the grounds, but it was very enjoyable anyway. We spent most of the rest of the day at a nice shopping area known as the House of Bruar and then back home to our Hosts. Another eventful day.

Important to note...

Today I learned that I should not ask where the "restroom" is - A restroom is a place in a funeral home where you can view a body before it is laid to rest. Not a place that is appropriate to pee.

Just an FYI for everyone out there..

Caitlin

Wow, well I guess it is my turn. Levi here. As the others have already been saying, what an amazing experience. The hospitality we have encountered here is nothing short of humbling. The people we have met are true testaments to the quality of individual that Rotary attracts.

One of the benefits of our being hosted by different families is the fact that we each get slightly different experiences of Scotland. So far, I have been hosted by three wonderful families. First (along with Scott) I was hosted by Jim and Judith Slater, then Jack Dempsey, and now with Graeme and Ann Bain. All have been amazing. Every one of them has tried to show me what they thought I might enjoy. As a direct result of their efforts there hasn't been a single place that we've gone since hitting the ground that I haven't enjoyed tremendously.

It has been a whirlwind so far. We've seen some fantastic historic sites like Loch Leven Castle, Edinburgh Castle, the village of Culross including its 12th century abbey, where the church is still open for services every Sunday. I've laid down on the foundations of the pillars which once held the roof of St. Andrews Cathedral. I've walked around the grass field that became, and still is, the first and oldest golf course in the world. I've been to the site of the oldest Highland games, first started after the victory over the English army at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. I've been to the headquarters and museum of the Black Watch Regiment, a proud regiment that was started almost 300 years ago and has distinguished itself at every battle it has fought in, up to and including current combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The history here is almost overwhelming, and I feel like I could spent a year and still miss more than half of it.

On the other hand, we have seen some of modern Scotland and the industries that employ so many people. We toured Carnegie College (yes that Carnegie) where students are challenged to enrich themselves and the world they enter to seek employment. We toured the historic linoleum plant at Kirkcaldy (pronounced kircoddy by everyone I've come across). It is one of the few places in the world making linoleum. They showed us some of the intricate things they can do with the stuff utilizing high pressure water jet cutting machines to cut very intricate designs to be reassembled with contrasting colors. I had no idea...

We went to a modern laundry that services a major portion of the restaurants and hotels in Scotland. They practice "just in time" service. A logistical nightmare that they execute with aplomb.

We spent part of an evening in a local pub as a team, where we were lucky enough to be able to watch a local traditional music group have a jam session.

One thing I have immediately learned is just how rich and diverse Scotland is, much like Arizona. You could try to pigeonhole Scotland or Arizona with one sentence descriptions, but you would be doing each a disservice. And this is all in the first week!

While we have an itinerary, I don't know what our future travels will hold. But if this first week is any indication, it will continue to be amazing.

Levi

It's my turn now! Hi there it's just me, Kylee. I am having so much fun here in Scotland! This trip is like a dream. Quick, someone pinch me! You already have heard of all the places we have been so far so I'll leave all that out. Today we had our first free time away from our family's in St. Andrews, we were like kids in a candy store. After a nice cup of coffee with our Hosts we headed off to the aquarium to see the seals. His name was "Mossy-Head." We went to a fabulous cafe called West Port for lunch as a team, then split up to go sight seeing. St. Andrews is the birth place for golf, and we passed by some beautiful courses. The castle and graveyard at the end of the town over looked the rocky beaches, and was quite the sight to see.

A few days back we toured the ecology center and I had a great time. There were Fairies and Ogres, even a bunny hole the boys and I crawled through! I learned quickly what nettle was when I stuck my hand in a patch and gave myself burning warts. I'll "nettle" do that again! And the day we went to Lock Leven, the island where Queen Marry was held prisoner was amazing. We had the island to our selves and I felt like a princess playing in and around the castle! Well, we are off to our BBQ and I should be getting ready so I'll close here for now. Peace!... Kylee

Heather here! I'm finally getting a chance to catch my breath and get some thoughts together to post! It has been a wonderful trip so far and the best part is that we don't have to go home yet! We have another three weeks to go!

I've had two wonderful host families so far, the Chorleys in Dalghety Bay and the Sopers in Kircaldy. Both have taken me walking along the beach. I've found some nice shells and a fabulous fossil too. I enjoyed the cats at the Chorleys and the dogs at the Sopers and now I have horses at my new hosts' for the next few days, the Blacks. They breed Clydsedales - just a bit bigger than my little Arab at home!

So far I've been able to cross a few things off my wish list including standing in a field of wild heather. This was at the Vane Farm Nature Preserve near Lochleven Castle that Caitlin talked about earlier. It was quite a steep hike, but well worth the beautiful views.

I've also been able to visit both of my company's Scotland branches. The managers and I had a nice visit and compared notes about workers compensation in the U.K. versus in the U.S. I discovered that there is no governmental board regulating workers compensation in the U.K. and that any work injuries are covered under employer's liability insurance. The injured worker also has to prove that the employer was at fault, or in some way caused the injury in order to obtain any benefits. This is very different from the U.S. where it doesn't matter who was at fault for the injury.

As a group we have toured a linoleum factory and also a commercial laundry. I was happy to see that the laundry looks very much like my client's laundries I have toured in the U.S. We have also visited the Kirkcaldy Town House and the Kinghord Ecology center as well as quite a few other museums and art galleries.

We are so busy that I'm barely keeping up with my journal, and I have to check our itinerary to be sure of what day it is!

The food has been absolutely wonderful so far! Each of the clubs we have visited so far has fed us quite well and with generous amounts of food! It's a good thing that I've been able to take many walks on the beach so far!

Well, that's all for now. We're going to be visiting St. Andrews tomorrow. My hosts may be able to take me to a horse show later as well - I hope!

--Heather

Week One...

Hello! Caitlin here... Kylee and I are packing up to leave our host family, David and Myra Muncey, in Kirkaldy. So far, this trip has been amazing and jam-packed! My favorite adventure to this point would have to be when the Dunfermline Carnegie Rotary Club took us to Loch Leven Castle. This castle sits on an island in the middle of a lake in Kinross. We took a boat out to the island and, other than one Swiss tourist, we were the only people on the island!

Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here for a year (on charges of conspiracy to murder her husband) and she abdicated the throne to her son, James VI. She later escaped the island... Quite a contrast to the frolicking that our team was doing through the castle this week.

Today we all had our separate vocational days and I was lucky enough to meet the hardworking people at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organizations (SCVO). We had a great meeting and I learned a lot about the structure and scope of the sector here in Scotland. Thank you, again, to SVCO for your time and to the Kirkaldy Rotary Club for setting all of this up!

I'll stop blabbing now... Kylee, it's your turn to talk!

~Caitlin

Orientation

Our first team activity in Scotland arrived at 10:30 last Sunday morning. We were all quite a bit travel weary but happy and excited to finally be in District 1010. We had an orientation scheduled at the Queensferry Hotel overlooking the Forth Bridges. It was a great first glance at all we were scheduled to see and do. Helen Houston a rotarian and tour guide, gave us a wonderful background on much of the Scottish history that we would be in contact with.

We had a nice lunch also in a gorgeous room overlooking the Forth bridges and set out to do our first bit of touring. We headed towards Culross, an old preserved harbour village where we learned about the value of coal there and why all of the building had red tile roofs. The coal ships needed to use something as ballast to increase their stability, and they used these tiles to keep their ships upright. This made for a rather distinct and attractive town with white buildings and red roofs set against the green countryside of Scotland. From what we've been told, most of the buildings on the coastal edges of Scotland will have red roofing, for this very reason.

We had a nice walk through the town and got to see the ruins of the abbey as well as the portions inside that are still being used for service today.

Right before we left Culross, we were allowed to walk through the palace garden which had spectacular views of the harbour and was full of gorgeous flowers and other plants. The sights and smells were quite overwhelming to the senses.

At the end of the day, we had a fantastic dinner party, barbeque style, with many of the members of the Dunfermline club. It was the most extravagent barbeque I've ever attended, with enough food to feed an army. The food, drink, and company was so much fun...it really made us feel at home. Before the night ended we had been visited by Dunfermline's newest mascot, Fergus the bear. I don't know if it was the whisky or bulky costume, but he wasn't the most agile of bears. We all had our picture taken and eventually made our way back with our hosts to cap off a wonderful day in Dunfermline.

~Scott

Touchdown In Edinburgh

After months of preparation and anticipation, our departure date had finally come and the six excited representatives from Rotary District 5510 began their month long journey and traversed the globe, making our way to our final destination, Edinburgh, Scotland.

The day of travelling was not without it's hiccups, we had a very tight connection in Newark and a late arriving plane from Phoenix to make things interesting however after Kylee flagged down an airport transport and arranged for a ride to our gate, we thought we had beaten the system. I'm not sure if the man had a horn or not, but regardless he decided not to use it and spent most of the ride yelling, "beep, beep" "coming through" and clapping his hands. We annoyed most of the people in Newark quite quickly. To be fair, some of them looked annoyed before we got there.

It was all for not, as the plane ended up being several hours delayed anyways and we grabbed a quick bite in an airport diner.

We made it into Edinburgh and ran into a slight stumble at customs but they were finally overwhelmed with our charm and decided to let us into the country. After meeting with a lovely welcome committee we quickly went our seperate ways and headed off with our first hosts. Levi an I (Scott) were extremely fortunate to be staying with Jim and Judith Slater. Two amazing rotarians, generous hosts, and great people.

The both of us decided to try to push through on no sleep in effort to acclimate ourselfs to our new Scottish time zone. We headed out for a beautiful scenic drive along a narrow windy road and stumbled upon our first touring oppourtunity. ook us to a local cranog center which was a site of excavation and recreation of how certain Scottish people lived on the river over 2,500 years ago. Their tools and methods had many parallels to our native americans. We had this fabulous tour guide who was German, but had a thick Scottish accent and he was very passionate about demonstrating his skills at building a fire from scratch.

We both felt a bit like zombies, but after a bite and some coffee, we were able to stick it out through our fatigue and had a wonderful first day in Scotland. We all anxiously await our next destination and chance to interact with the wonderful people of District 1010.

~Scott

Rendezvous with Swiss GSE team

With Swiss GSE team in Sunrise

Barbeque in Pinetop

Roger and Nancy Bonngard

Last Memorial Day weekend some of the members of our team had the chance to rendezvous with the GSE team from Switzerland that is currently touring the district. We met up with them at a small family rodeo in Eager and after watching a few young kids fall off of some sheep, we made our way over to Bryon and Jackie Harrington's house for a quick bite and to get better acquainted with the Swiss Team. Next up, we headed to Sunrise ski resort to take a ride up the lift to get a better view of the surrounding countryside and get our fill of the cool mountain air. Some of us decided to go for a little hike down the mountain to stretch our legs and to take in the scenery. Our team got a preview of what to expect from the weather in Scotland. It was a tad cold up on the mountain and that encouraged some of us to rethink our cool weather wear for our trip. Even though the Swiss team was more used to the falling temperature, judging by their anxious hop in the van, they were not expecting to run into our vastly diverse climates that we have here in Arizona.

We were then off to the joint rotary club barbecue in Pinetop. We ran into Marina from the outbound Swiss team and had a chance to meet and talk with many other interesting rotary members and to share a burger and macaroni salad with some great people. The daylight started to fade and it was time to say goodbye to our friends from Switzerland and to meet up with our rotarian host that was kind enough to offer lodging for our team for the night.

Roger and Nancy Bonngard were exemplary hosts and their selflessness and generosity was truly overwhelming. We stayed at their beautiful cabin which had been completely renovated from the ground up by their own hands. They went out of their way to make us feel welcome and treated us to many insights on their experiences with Rotary and their life in general. They taught us how to lose at a new card game, and we shared several stories and laughs.

In the morning, we had a nice breakfast and a quick tour around their property. Unfortunately, it was time to end our quick adventure into the mountains. We said our goodbyes and hopped back into the SUV to make our way back to the valley.

A very special thank you to Roger and Nancy, and to Bryon Harrington (GSE Chair) for making this trip a possibility. It was a great trip and I think we are all ready for our next adventure.

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog site for the Rotary District 5510 Group Study Exchange to Scotland! Our tentative dates for travel will be 08/21 through 09/22. While we don't have an itinerary yet, the district we will be visiting is 1010 which is basically the entire northeast section of Scotland. If you take a diagonal line northwest from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye, the district covers pretty much everything to the right of that line.

Our team leader is Ahwatukee Foothills Rotary member, Karen Panietz, an endodontist. Our team members are Scott Turpin, web designer; Levi Coffelt, lead pump technician/water well drilling and pump installation; Kylee Seely, independent hair stylist; Heather Bilodeau, workers compensation claims supervisor; and Caitlin King, non-profit consultant. Our two alternate members are Mariel Olson, grade school teacher; and Benjamin Powers, construction; and our alternate team leader is Scott Slusher, insurance agent.

If you haven't heard of the Rotary GSE program, it is a cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for non-Rotarians between 25 and 40 years old. The program began in 1965 and is designed to develop professional and leadership skills among young adults so that they can address the needs of their communities and an increasingly global workplace. GSE team members make vocational visits, experience cultural and fellowship opportunities, and share the culture of their home country with the host country. Check out www.rotary.com if you know of anyone interested in participating in the GSE program!

Our team is busy getting ready for the trip, meeting every other week to learn about Scotland, brush up on our Arizona history, and plan the presentation we will be making to Rotary clubs in Scotland. We are excited about attending the Scotland District conference and the potential to meet the incoming Rotary International president, John Kenny.

So what do you know about Scotland? the capital city of Edinburgh is the second largest city at a population of about 468,000, while Glasgow just to the west, is the largest city with a population of about 582,000. The total population of Scotland is approximately 5,144,000. The country has over 790 islands and covers 30,414 square miles. The highest point is the summit of Ben Nevis in Lochaber at 4,406 feet above sea level. The longest river, the River Tay, is 120 miles long. Scotland averages about 31 inches of rain a year, and sometimes get 120 inches in the Highland mountains. Winter averages about 42 degrees, and summer averages 64 degrees. Scotland is about the same size as South Carolina.

How does this compare to Arizona? Phoenix, Arizona's capital, is the largest city in the State with a population of about 1,513,000. Arizona has a total population of about 6,500,000 and covers 113,998 square miles with - sorry to say - no islands except the little uninhabited ones in various lakes! Our highest point is Humphry's Peak in Flagstaff at 12,633 feet above sea level, and our longest river is the Colorado, running 500 miles from the border with Utah, through the Grand Canyon and down the Arizona/California border to Mexico. The Phoenix area averages 7 inches of rain per year, with our winter temperature averaging 70 degrees and summer averaging 104 degrees. Edinburgh has about the same population as Mesa, and Glasgow has about the same population as Tucson.

And while Scotland may have the elusive Loch Ness Monster (which we do hope to sight on our trip!), Arizona has the equally shy Jackalope hiding throughout our deserts.
Keep checking this site! We'll try to post at least every month until we leave, and then as often as we have time and internet access during the trip.
----Heather