Joint meeting with 9 clubs

This special event was created to give the Canadian Team an opportunity to meet Rotarians from other clubs in the District. Nine clubs chose to substitute this evening for their regular one and so the eight of us split up and each sat at a different table. Expecting only 50 people, the staff were scurrying to keep up when nearly twice as many showed up.

On our way down we were talking about music and singers and I mentioned that I was very fond of Andrea Bocelli. "Well, there may be a surprise for you when you get there."

"Andrea Bocelli will be there???" I exclaimed.

Not excactly. But a damn good substitute. Emile, of whom you have never heard, has a sensational voice and is quite well known locally. Somehow he was given the word that there was a request pending, so he called me up to the mike. I seriously feared that someone had told him I had requested to sing. And those of you who have heard me sing would also be fearful.

Fortunately, it was just to announce that he would sing "Let this be my Prayer" by Andrea Bocelli, and darned if he didn't come over to my table to serenade me. What a delightful touch to kick off a great evening.




Lots of speeches, mutual thanks for the Livelihood project which our club funded and theirs brought into being. Gifts were exchange and we presented each of the club presidents with a Canadian hockey jersey. Neil had already brought an extra jersey, but as a ninth club decided to participate we were short one. A bit embarassing that.


And Ray, hamming it up with all the spouses!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Sounds like you're having a wonderful time (and traveling light too!!) Now I suppose Hans will want his own water buffalo for the Halo Ranch.

Keep us posted on the wayward luggage. Or this will be your best excuse for a new wardrobe.

Vern

Ted, says Hi... she just got back from the pool (we're in Arizona....not mental in Kelowna.

TTYL
4:13 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Summer Palace

Image
Wow. Our days are full of strange sights and long hours. In the bus every morning at 7:00, and never home before 5:00. The summer palace was built by Rama V to commemorate the village where he met his wife. How romantic is that! Lo hiding between the antlers The gardens are gorgeous, with topiary herds of elephants, deer and rabbits. Sounds of peacocks echo through the gardens but they remained frustratingly elusive. Their cries were augmented by the screech of other unseen birds in faraway branches. But we did see an amazing variety of bougainvillea in all colours. Hans standing by the elephant's trunk. From the walls in the Reception Hall, yellowing faded faces of Ramas I to IX gazed out from acestral photos. Each Rama is believed to be an incarnation of Vishnu. Other rooms held lacquered furniture inlaid with mother-of-pearl and stunning teak carvings. As with all Buddhist buildings, we have to remove our shoes and in some cases, we were asked the night before to dress respectfu...
Read more

At Sea

Image
Today we were scheduled to stop in Marseille but overnight the wind picked up and we apparently have heavy swells. Too heavy to allow a vessel of this size to dock safely, so the port was cancelled. Didn’t matter much to us since we hadn’t scheduled a tour and were just planning to take the shuttle into the old part of the city for a walkabout. Instead, we have a day at sea and that’s never a bad thing when you’re on a fabulous cruise liner. Already, I was part of a losing team at a game this morning and now I’m catching up on blogging. Later, who knows? There’s never a shortage of things to do on the ship. And there’s always the fitness room. I can only hope it will be full.
Read more