July 2010

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Harrisburg Exchange

President's Message

More Exchange Opportunities

Meetings

Exchanges News 

New Members

Harrisburg Inbound Exchange

June 12-16, 2010

Report from Jim Bourn:

We welcomed the Harrisburg Club, for a return inbound visit, with a short but fun-filled exchange from May 12-16. It started on an unhappy note when we learned that the ED, Harriet Steele, had been hospitalized on arrival day with a severe headache. The good news is that she is back home after suffering a stroke, and is on the mend.

Harrisburg ambassadors: Peter Calcagno, Ginny Covaleski, Sandy Marrero, Annette Ventura, 

Gene Ventura, Don Covaleski

We met three flights, and the third one was two hours late due to bad weather between Dallas and Chicago. We visited the mustangs at Los Colinas as well as Grapevine Mills Mall, Grapevine main street, and convention centers. The Venturas visited Heritage Village. 

That night we enjoyed a chuck wagon barbeque dinner and the Mesquite rodeo.

                           Enjoying the rodeo                                            Carolyn Williams, Ginny and Don Covaleski         

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Home hosts had free time with their guests on Sunday. Some went to the ballet, while others toured the SMU Meadows Museum and Highland Park. That night 41 of us welcomed our ambassadors at my home for appetizers and desserts. We were happy to see some of the Fort Worth members join us. Then about 15 of us went to Matt’s for Cajun food and New Orleans jazz.

Welcome party: 

Lee and Mary Latham, Carolyn Williams, Wanda Hamilton

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On Monday Paula Rose led the group through the Arboretum where we enjoyed lunch.

Paula Rose and Ginny Covaleski

At the entrance: Sandy, Jim Bourn, Carolyn Williams, 

Wendy Whaley

Monday evening Diana and Marty Behannesey, Jim and Lanell Naughton, Lee and Marilynn Cowley, and Ava Vorosmarty Rowe hosted dinners for eight where members got to meet and greet our guests over Texas feasts.

Marty Behannesey, Ginny Covaleski, Georgia Anyzeski, Paula Rose, Diana Behannesey, Darlene Anyzeski, Don Covaleski

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On Tuesday we met to see the downtown area including Pioneer Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum. Some also saw the Museum of Art and Crow Museum, Thanksgiving Square, Fountain Place, and/or farmer's market - with lunch for all at the YO Ranch Restaurant. The last evening was left free for the home hosts and ambassadors. 

 Paula Rose, Ginny and Don Covaleski at the DMA and Crow Museums

     Covaleskis with Paula Rose and Mary Williams

          at Pioneer Plaza and at Fountain Place

Gene Ventura, Carolyn Williams, Sandy Marrero, Annette Ventura at Pioneer Plaza

Don takes a photo of the 

Thanksgiving Chapel ceiling

                       Lunch at YO Ranch Restaurant                                     Walking with Jim Bourn in the West End

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On Wednesday, the group was taken to Fort Worth where our visitors met their hosts at the Japanese Garden to continue with three more days in Texas. 

Jim Young [FF of Fort Worth] leads a tour of the Japanese Gardens            Entrance Japanese Gardens

Our visitors, Don and Virginia Covaleski from Harrisburg, Gene and Annette Ventura from Raleigh NC, Sandy Marrero and Peter Calcagno from Harrisburg wish to thank their home hosts - Paula Rose and edward perez, Ava Rowe, Jim Bourn and Ed and Dora Stahl. Carolyn Williams, Pat Peters and Ana Marie Lee helped with several events and Mary Williams and Zia Shamsy day-hosted. 

Again, thanks to everyone for their participation and helping everyone to have a memorable time.
Jim Bourn
Exchange Director

Photos Ambassadors/Hosts:

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hosts and Ambassadors:

Ginny and Don Covaleski; Paula Rose and      edward perez

President’s Message

Well, the sun has reached its zenith and summer is here! It would be nice to get away for a cool summer vacation! Like Colorado or Montana!!

Meetings

July Meeting

August Meeting

Exchange News

Domestic Exchange Update

Dale Klosterman is looking for EDs for two exchanges for the years 2011 and 2012. An outbound is scheduled for October of 2011 to go to San Francisco. FF Bay Area has already named two people to serve as EDs and they are waiting to hear from us. This would be an easy exchange because we would be going to SF and most of the planning would be their responsibility. 

The other exchange is scheduled for April of 2012, an inbound from Sacramento. This is some time in the future, but the date is set and they are waiting for us to begin having contact with them. This type of inbound would take more work, but there is plenty of time and it is not difficult to get lots of support from our club members. Contact Dale Klosterman at daleklosterman@sbcglobal.net

International Exchange Update

The international exchanges for the Dallas club for 2011 are now confirmed. Friendship Force International has informed us that all of the clubs have accepted and the exchanges are a “go.”
Our outbound exchange will be in March (exact date not yet set) and will be two weeks with two clubs of Melbourne and Tamworth in Australia. Jim Bourn was chosen as Exchange Director by the Board and he is already in contact with them to determine the dates, maximum number of participants (at this point it looks like it will be limited to 20 ambassadors) and the order in which the clubs will be visited. He is also working diligently on an optional extension. Among other possibilities it could include a yacht trip up the coast of Australia to visit several others Friendship Force clubs in Australia. Everyone interested should contact Jim Bourn for more details and to get on the list - airbourn@tx.rr.com.

Our inbound exchange will be from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and will be in May. In the past we have had two visits from Canada, from Medicine Hat and Haliburton Highlands, and both were great and we are looking forward to this one. The exchange director for this exchange has not yet been chosen and the club is looking for volunteers. 

Anyone interested or wanting more information should contact Ray Enstam, International Exchange Coordinator at  enstam@sbcglobal.net. The selection needs to be made soon so don’t delay. 

FF International Conference

On October 16-18, 2010, Friendship Force International will be hosting the international conference in Washington DC. So far, more than 350 people have registered. This is a great event where you can learn about cultures, clubs and exchanges as well as meet people from all over the world. Lots of information and fun!! There may still be some spaces for an optional four-night post-conference homestay in North Carolina and Ontario Canada; homestay fee is $100.

The conference fee is $280; hotel rate is $199/night for up to 4 in a room. Contact edward perez at erperez@acm.com for more details. Or see the FFI webpage:

http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=792335

If you go, FF Dallas will provide you with a memo indicating you are attending as a FF Dallas representative - helpful if you itemize deductions as some of your expenses are tax deductible.

Spotlight on New Members

Sandy Kaiser, our membership chair, asked our new members to tell us a little about themselves. Please say hello to ChiChi, Stan, Leyla and Darlene at our next get together and tell them a little about yourself! Watch for more ‘spotlights’ in future newsletters.

ChiChi Hoquee

I was born in the Republic of Panama. I am Chinese, Hispanic, and Jewish. .. . to explain this will be another full story to write, ah? . . . . . so you can ask me about it when I get the pleasure to meet you.

My most rewarding accomplishment has been to have raised a wonderful son Jim and a wonderful daughter Kim. I am also very proud to have five very loving, beautiful, and intelligent grandchildren: Cat, Lizy, Mat, Bekah, and Colt.

I was an Information Technology Consultant for over 25 years. My job gave me the opportunity to travel around the US and to meet very interesting people. When I decided that it was time to stay close to home, I became a personal coach. I believe if we live a conscious and balanced life you can reach happiness, good health, and success.

I have visited many states for work and for fun. The only states I have NOT had the opportunity to visit, (and as soon as I can, I will!) are: Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. I have lived in Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and New Jersey.

I enjoy different cultures and I have visited many countries: Germany, Italy, Denmark, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, Netherland, Scotland, England, Belgium, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Puerto Rico. I lived in Germany for six years.

I joined Friendship Force because of my interest in traveling and meeting people. Since I joined Friendship Force I have attended two events and I found the people to be very friendly, very interesting conversationalists, and very open to new experiences. I am still among the 8 to 5 working people, but I hope that in the near future I can be a more active participant. Other things I enjoy to do is read, write, play cards, dominoes, paint, swim, gardening, musicals, plays, operas, talk, and family and friends activities.

I thank my friend Mary Williams for introducing me to the group, and I hope to meet and have a meaningful relationship with each one of you.

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Stan Parker

I was a bachelor until age 57, when Taylor rescued me. At that time, I was also an Administrative Judge in Dallas. I heard and decided employment law appeals by Federal employees. Now I am an attorney who works only as a mediator. My specialty is helping people settle home mortgage foreclosure lawsuits.

Beginning in 2006, Taylor and I traveled with Friendship Force to Mongolia, the Gobi Desert, Beijing, New Zealand (twice), Australia, and Japan. After hosting a couple as part of an Exchange from St. Catherine, Canada, we made a return trip when they were hosting an Exchange from Russia. We look forward to FF trips in 2010 to Colorado, Ottawa, and Turkey.

We dug at an archeological site near Georgetown, Texas, where Paleolithic stone tools were found. A few weeks earlier, the archeologists on the site found the skull of a pre-historic horse. All horses in North America went extinct about 12,000 years ago.

I recently completed my oil painting of slippers that I photographed at a Japanese temple last summer. The painting and two more of my paintings are in an art show during May 2010.

I started reading science fiction stories when I was a teenager. Now I read about exoplanets, real planets that orbit stars beyond our solar system.

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Leyla Akgerman (Photo: Leyla at a fruit cart in Peru)

My occupation is or was computer programmer. My marriage status is widowed, I have 2 children.

Accomplishment and rewards that I am most proud of are: I learned programming on my own before Windows. I wrote a couple of accounting programs for college of science department at A&M.

The states and countries I have lived in: Virginia, Texas, France, Germany, Australia, Turkey. The states I have visited: Washington, California, Colorado, Nevada, Florida, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, DC, New York, Rhode Island, Mass., Missouri, Ohio, North and South Carolina, Missouri, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, Illinois.

The countries I have visited: Spain, Italy, France, Hungary, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Yugoslavia (former), Bulgaria, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Norway, Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Africa, England, Germany, Morocco, Dubai, Qatar, Mexico, Singapore, Tahiti, Caribbean Islands, Colombia, Peru.

Favorite things that I like to do that are not related to FF: Play bridge, mah-jongg, tennis. Go dancing and learn new dances. Traveling. My hobbies are: Paper marbling, mosaic making.

My favorite book: Atlas Shrugged

Something that few people know about me is: Being fair is very important for me.

I was interested in joining the Friendship Force because: I would like to know the countries through the local peoples eyes and make friends for life.

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Darlene Primm

My occupation is paralegal at the American Heart Association. I am married, I have 4 children. 

Accomplishment and rewards that I am most proud of are: raising 4 children and spoiling 3 grandchildren.

I have lived in Ector and Dallas County, Texas and have visited California, New Mexico, Hawaii, Colorado, DC, New York, Canada, Ohio and Costa Rica.

Favorite things that I like to do that are not related to FF: quilting, gardening and spoiling
grandchildren. My hobbies are: quilting and gardening. My favorite book: The Bible.

Something that few people know about me: I’m pretty much an open book.

I was interested in joining the Friendship Force because I love to travel and meet new people. What I have liked best about the Friendship Force since joining is the people.

Exchange Opportunities

The FF clubs of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Baton Rouge have openings for the fall exchanges. They are listed in full on the Other Clubs page. If you are interested, contact the Exchange Director listed to see if they still have openings, what is needed to join them, and any other questions you have about the exchange. We have met many of the members from each of these clubs at past regional conferences and have enjoyed visiting with them. 

October 31 - November 15, 2010 or November 19, 2010 with post-exchange tour.
Join us for FFI's initial foray into amazing Argentina followed by homehosting in central Chile. The final (optional) adventure will be a flight down to Puerto Montt where we will traverse through the spectacular Lakes District of Chile and Argentina. 

See Other Clubs for more worldwide travel opportunities with other Friendship Force clubs, or the current Friendship Force International Catalog at: http://www.friendshipforce.org/catalog/default.aspx