Pilot Boat Ride and Transfer to Salisbury, Maryland

The Monday the 20th was my last day with Rieley family and both John and Lou Ann came to drop me. We had a look at the Pilot Boat ride Operation in Bay & River Delaware.

The next stop was Salisbury, Maryland.We arrived at the Dove Pointe managed by Don Hackett. He was a recipient of the GSE and we were welcomed by the host families and few Rotarians who were present.

My host for this stay is Maggie & Gunner.

Maggie took me to her factory which makes welding transformers (http://www.arconweld.com/) and introduced to Gunner and all the staff. I also met Dave from Huston who will be with me during my stay at Maggie’s. We had a fine dinning with cavia and baked salmon fish. (of course with rice)

Rehoboth Beach

Saturday and Sunday were had little programmed work except for Shopping and Fellowship. Morning I spent time riding the Horse with both Thomas and John. Lou Ann organised a Barbeque for dinner and few friends were also there.

Sunday Dinner was organised by Bonnie & Hank at their residence.

West Farms & Dog Fishhead Brewery

17th April 2009

We attended Rehoboth Beach SunRise RC Breakfast meeting. They too meet in a lovely Golf club and this is the 3rd golf club we visited.
Bonnie (Bonnieta) picked both me and Ash for our VD. I met Stanley of West Farms. West Farms cultivate about 12,000Acres which includes Corn, Leema beans, Barley, Spinnach etc etc. Their facilities include washing and packing and maintenance for all the combined harvesters and land preparation, seeding and transporting trucks etc.
After lunch we visited the town of Milton where Dog Fishhead Brewery is. Milton reminds some what an old city in a Hollywood movie.

Canoeing
Evening weather was quite a treat and John and I went canoeing. We weren’t lucky to see any Eagles or a type of animal which looks like the Otter. Nevertheless I enjoyed the couple of hours we stayed in the lake. We went to see Deer which were coming quite close but it ran away when we tried to closer. W had a full house for dinner with John. Lou Ann, Thomas, Chris, Mathews, Ian and my self.

Stay at Millsoboro with Rieley's

John and Lou Ann have eleven kids and only 6 remain at home now. All the kids attend home school and study at their own pace. It also helps the smarter ones to attend College at younger age than the rest. This is conducted by Lou Ann her self. The Family Farm has about 90,000Chicken, 3 Horses, Sheep & Cattle. They also grow soya bean, corn etc. There are plenty of dogs. The kids work in the farm and get paid once in two months. Part of their money goes into investment and rest is available for spending.
I had Kebabs with Rice for Dinner and looks that I am here for a treat. We went out for dessert to a down town Restaurant.
The Rieley family was very interested to know more about Sri Lanka and my family and all of them are extremely knowledgeable on many disciplines.

Dover Final day

16th April 2009

It’s our last night with Malcom. My self and AJ hosted them for a dinner at a nearby Mexicon Restaurant.

We visited a Chicken Farm and Amesh people were doing a new construction.

We did a presentation to the Capital City RC at Sheraton Dover. It was well attended and we did it again!

It was time to say bye to Rich, Suchi, Tonda & George. And we left Dover and arrived in Georgetown-Millsboro with Rich and Suchi. There I met John and we left to his Office Edward Jones. Well we talked for couple of hours about the US stocks and Money market. John really enlightened me on these subjects and it sounded that my next Investments can be right here.

Visit to City Hall, Millsboro RC, Maple Dale RC

City Hall where the Mayor of Dover city Mr. Carleton E. Carey is a beautiful building sorounded by lovely flowers. We also met Mr. Deprima-City Manager.

We had our 2nd Presentation at the Millsboro RC, Georgetown. On our way back we visited the John Dickinson Mansion & Plantation.

My self and AJ went to Suchi's and she made us some Indian food and Kerala coffee.

The final presentation for the day was at Maple Dale Country RC.

Dover Down Town RC/ Archives and Legislative Hall

After the VD we visited the Dover Down Town RC for our 1st Presentation. It went off well except for few technical hiccups. Suchi took us to see her office where she's a grant writer for an NGO Girls & Boys.

The highlight of the evening was the visit to the Public Archives & Legislative Hall.

We head back to Malcolms place and it was fun driving the 4WD scoter. But it was not so fun for me when I crashed to flag pole trying to cut grass using a Kubota.

A dinner was organised by Sushi at Flavour of India. I did enjoy Naan, Rice and Thandori chicken and the onion salad with green chillies.

Vocational Day

My 1st Vocaional Visit was to Fifer Orchards. I met Mike Fennmore. He showed me around every thing. Fifer grows Peaches, Apples, Strawberry, Rasberry, Tomatoes, Sweet corn, Cabbage and Pumpkin. Their processing facilities are excellent and uses many techniques to minimise post-harvest damage. Mike was very interested to import Ceylon Tea to sell in his store.

Easter Lunch and Dinner

Our first host family Malcolm Sandy arrived at Sheraton to pick my self and AJ and took us for a family Easter Lunch about 5oKm from Dover. It was his mother in law's place and all her sons and daughters were there with their children. And the food was prepared by her and wasn't that delicious.

Got back to Malcolm & Terry's Home which is situated in a 8Acre property. It has it's private lake and it has all the amenities one could look for a cosy living.

Left to Tonda & Joe Park's residence for an evening get to geather. She has made lovely garden on the backyard and her newly built bed room is quite romantic. Suchi, George and Marilyn, Malcolm and the team enjoyed the salads and the chicken. And finally I did the honours by serving UDU's green Tea to all and didn't they enjoy it.

Easter

I got up and had a much needed workout at the Sheraton Gym and I was to join with the Team to attend the Easter service at near by Church. (even tough I am a Buddhist I really liked the idea of attending the mass with the Team)
Gerry (a lawyer by profession) from Dover Downtown RC picked us up from the Hotel. We attended the 9am mass and it was well attended. I really liked the architecture of the church particularly the roof. We were taken for a drive around the downtown and it is a small town with 35,000 population.

Arrived in Philadelphia

After 30Hrs of flying and layovers we arrived in PHL international airport at 11am on Saturday 11th April. Quite an uneventful journey. At the airport GSE Chair Richard Harper and Jen received us. As planned we checked in to Dover Sheraton. After a quick lunch we set to Wallmart particularly to buy my Camera. Canon EOS (digital SLR). As it was not available there we moved to Dover mall by a taxi and cost us USD5. I bought a Canon EOS Rebel XSi and I was thrilled to own my 1st digital SLR. AJ too bought one and I'm sure he is happy too. We walked up to the hotel and the T around Dover is 2-3C. As we were tired( oh! all were really exhausted) we had a nap. Well when I got up it was 12midnight. Later AJ, Ash and myself had sandwiches at WAWA just across Sheraton.
I played with my camera till around 4am and went to bed.

Last Supper

The Team met at Clarence's place for a brief session. We finalised the gifts, meeting ourway to the airport etc. Had few drinks with Clarence and ended up at Moon River for a well deserved Dinner!

I need to buy few more gifts and also pack some loose Tea. The ceylon cinnamon will be in high demand!

Keep posted folks next 4-5weeks will be exciting!

5Days More

It is long time since my last post. Eventful weeks pass by and many preparations.

The Brochure prepared by the District 7630 is very descriptive. The Host family details and the daily agenda gives adequate info for my preparation. Did some shopping with Ruvini (mainly some gift items for each host family)

Presentation

To date the group has done 3 presentations to 3 different Rotary Clubs. The Governor Nalin was present at all 3 occasions. We got great feed backs from different individuals. The final presentation will look so good thanks to a Team effort.

Visit to Mahendra Tea Factory and Southern Tea Producers

Last Friday and Saturday I was at the Factory before the One month visit to the USA. This will be my longest trip since my marriage that I am going to be away from family and also from my business. (since the year 2000 when I started the business). We had a good Friday night dinner and a sing song and I will be back in mid May.