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.