Wednesday 08 April

A welcome sleep-in kicked off the day, followed by a exit interview with Ernie Bentley. The team attended their final Rotary lunch meeting with the Rotary Club of Woodstock, and were delighted to have their old friends Bill & Earline Orndorff of Salem surprise them to say a final farewell (although the team is enthusiastically penciling in dates for the Orndorff's visit early next year).



After brief vocational visits, the team members met for a reception with the Woodstock Rotarians. We are sad that our trip is coming to an end but we look forward to an enjoyable last day in Washington!

Tuesday 07 April

The team met early in the morning at 05h45 to be greeted by a cheerful Cindy Soltis armed with coffee and breakfast goodie bags. We then departed for Washington DC in the company of Ellen Nash and Doug Harpine. After 92 minutes, or so, we arrived at the Vienna/Fairfax Metro to ride into DC. We had fun being crammed together on a crowded morning rush-hour train. We disembarked in Washington city-centre and had our first sight of the famed Capitol building.

We were taken on a guided tour of the Capitol and the Library of Congress with an interlude for lunch inside the Capitol (where Norah had the best Wrap of her life). After the Library of Congress tour the team split up and went to see places of interest.



The team reunited for dinner at The Old Ebbitt Grill, the oldest Saloon in Washington and 5th busiest restaurant in the entire USA. Amazingly delicious food was served and the Blondies were particularly dense and decadent. Whilst the team discussed their day they discovered that they had all done and seen the same things (and that they had ignored each other, or at least Norah and Anna had ignored the boys!)



Some of the places seen included Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, World War 2 Memorial, a host of other memorials and of course one cannot go to Washington DC without seeing the eponymous White House and famed Cherry blossoms.

Monday 06 April

After a relaxing weekend, the team reassembled in Woodstock to be collected by the President of the Luray Rotary Club. We had a fascinating drive from Woodstock to Luray which included a meander on some side-roads hunting for the Bear and Raccoon (or at least a Bison) that Trevor was hoping to see.

The team then split up for Vocational day. Trevor and Grant spent the day at Luray Elementary school being quizzed on South Africa by intelligent Grade 7's. Norah-Ann visited the Page Memorial Hospital to see their food preparation and to talk with a Nutritionist! Annelize joined the Racey Engineers to talk about building projects in the area. PJ had lunch with the Luray Board of Supervisors and discussed law and governance with them.



After a fascinating few hours the team met up for a presentation and dinner with the Luray Rotary Club at The Vault (an old bank that has been converted into a meeting venue and bar). Our last presentation of our Exchange. A bittersweet moment as we are glad that the presentations are over but we have enjoyed interacting with the clubs and Rotarians.

Saturday 04 - Sunday 05 April

The team enjoyed a leisurely morning with their respective hosts before assembling outside the YMCA in Staunton for more wrenching goodbyes as we bade farewell to our Area 4 friends.

On the trip towards Woodstock we stopped off in Newmarket for lunch with some of the local Rotarians there. We then split up to go different ways with our new hosts from Area 2. The rest of Saturday was spent getting to know our hosts and the new area.

Sunday was a welcomed rest day and most of the hosts and GSE members used the opportunity to tour the countryside, and enjoy the scenic beauty of the area, all except Grant who used the opportunity to get some ploughing done!

Sunday did have a serious aspect for a few hours as the team delivered its penultimate presentation to the Woodstock Rotary Club who were joined by some visiting Rotarians from nearby clubs.

A busy week in Luray and Woodstock lies ahead, with a long-awaited highlight being the trips into Washington DC on Tuesday and Thursday, which the team are most excited about and grateful for!

Friday 03 April

Monticello, that we visited today, is a World Heritage Site, and the former home of Thomas Jefferson. It is indeed a beautiful place, the buildings dripping with interesting history, and the gardens a kaleidoscope of flowers, especially tulips. It is incredible to see how many people visit Monticello every day! Thomas Jefferson is known to have been a wise man, who surrounded himself with books and who loved his garden.

We had lunch, after our tour, at Michie Tavern, and have all agreed that we are getting far too comfortable with the large portions, which we complained so vociferously about when we first arrived five weeks ago.

The University of Virginia, envisioned and established by Jefferson, was our next stop, and we joined the Historic tour of the buildings and grounds. Having seen many fine academic institutions over the last few weeks, we were struck by the beauty of UVA.

We always knew that today was going to be a busy one, and by the time we met at Stonewall Jackson Hotel for drinks, we were starting to show signs of fatigue. Dragging heels were left at the door of the American Shakespeare Theater, however, as no-one could resist the contageous enthusiam of the members of the cast of "A Comedy of Errors". The Theatre is a wonderous "replica" of those in the days of old, the stage thrust forward so that the cast are amongst the audience. This troupe capitalise on the fact, and effortlessly include the audience in the chaos and confusion of Shakespeare's masterpiece. Sides sore with laughter, we retired for the evening, each knowing that we had not wasted a moment of the day.

Thursday 02 April

Specialty Blades was a question mark for most of us on our itinerary, until we got there. We found our tour of this facility, which focuses on the production of blades for medical use, fascinating. The success to this company, in our opinion, lies in the vision of its leadership, and the dedication of its staff. It is impossible to say, after a visit, that this company "just makes blades". A large team of engineers constantly works to ensure that their product, if you'll excuse the pun, remains on the cutting edge of technology. The staff are all obviously proud of their work and one leaves with a sense that this environment, where the professional integrity of staff at every level is valued, is the recipe for success.

At 10:00, the team were taken to the birthplace of President Woodrow Wilson, and also to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, both interesting tributes to a well respected national leader.

Although the morning was a good one, the afternoon's experience at the American Museum of Frontier Culture overshadowed all else. This "living" exhibit allows the visitor to explore life as it was for the people who would become the first settlers of America. In order to do this, the Museum literally bought and brought homesteads from Ireland, England and Germany.

Each brick and beam was numbered, the whole structure was disassembled, shipped to Virginia and then painstakingly re-assembled. To further create the sense of what life was like in these communities, a permanent staff "live" the life of these people, and later pioneers, by re-enacting cooking, weaving, farming, log cabin building, blacksmithing and so on, all day long. The team agreed that it is surely a sin to live anywhere in Virginia and not visit this amazing exhibit.

To top off a great day, the five of us took a little time-out from Rotary Group Study Exchange and ate together at the Depot Grill in Downtown Staunton. The opportunity to sit and chat amongst ourselves for a change, and laugh and reflect, was relished almost as much as the super food we enjoyed.

Fun at the Frontier Culture Museum:

Wednesday 01 April

One can never fully appreciate the work done at the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Centre or the extent of its facilities unless you visit it! The center's aim is to provide vocational retraining and skills for people who have been physically traumatized and disabled in someway or another. Students need to qualify and show potential for rehabilitation, and the center pushes students to take responsibility for their own skill acquisition. It is a 'tough love' environment where students are prepared to enter the workplace as competitors. The centre caters for over 4000 students a year and has more than 300 fulltime employees ranging from Occupational therapists and audiologists to carpentry lecturers and rehabilitation Engineers. They have accommodation facilities for about 350 students at any given time.

We ate at Basic City Luncheonette; a typical greasy spoon for the working class. Henry Ford famously said that one could purchase a Model T in any color as long as it was black. At Basic City you can order a variety of food but it will all be brown. Tasty but brown!

Only because we had some time, Jeff Ward, our host for the day, took us to Gassman Automobile Services, a company which restores classic cars. Some of the cars can spend as long as two years in his workshop before being completely restored. The owner obviously loves what he does and pays attention to every detail. This was every little boys (and girls) dream carshop!

The Virginia Wildlife Centre was the team's final stop of the day's tour before our presentation to Area 4 in the evening. The centre relies on members of the public to bring in injured indigenous animals. The team had hoped to see a few large mammals, a brown bear maybe. This was not to be but we were fortunate to see both a Bald Eagle (America's National Bird, which almost took second place to the wild turkey, if you can believe that) and a Golden Eagle.

The presentation was to our biggest audience, outside of district conference. Some say that it was the fantastic Barrenridge Wine Estate that attracted over 160 people, others suggested that it was the spirit of co-operation between the 5 clubs that had worked so closely together to organize the Homestead Weekend. However, we are convinced that our reputation precedes us! We thoroughly enjoyed presenting to our most responsive crowd thus far.

A major honor was the attendance of Staunton Mayor Lacey King who presented each team member with the key to the city - we will test them all tomorrow evening when we have a team night out!

Tuesday 31 March

Vocational Day #4

PJ CLOETE

PJ met up with Janey Cleveland from CASA - Court Appointed Special Advocates - whose mission is to collaborate with other professionals, and to provide trained volunteer advocates to represent the best interests of abused and/or neglected children involved in the Juvenile courts of the area. From there they headed to Dave Metz the Vice-Mayor of Staunton who took PJ to lunch with the City manager, Steve Owen and City attorney Doug Guynn. An interesting discussion was had about the system of City Managers that started some 101 years ago right here in Staunton. A note from a nearby town of local politicians who visited to see this new fangled position was that a street sweeper was needed but not a town manager!! After coffee with Dave and his delightful wife Debbie we set off to the circuit court, meeting Grant on his way to the Barbershop for a haircut. A great day was rounded off in the office of Circuit Judge Victor Ludwig where matters judicial and legal were discussed. A really super day was enjoyed by PJ. (The pic below shows the mayor of Staunton).

NORAH-ANN DE WET HAYES

Norah spent her vocational day in Nelson county with Mike Lacanche, an extension officer for Virginia Tech. The day started off at Polack winery and included a chat with Jake Busching about Quality management and export markets. The next stop was at a Nelson County elementary school to see the cafeteria. Norah was surprised at how many children were choosing to eat salad! As a first timer to American schools, she found the facilities exceptional. After lunch, She and Mike meandered towards Democracy vineyards, a farm that is only just starting to plant vineyards. The poles were being knocked in with a small Cat (before you call PETA that is a machine not an animal), which was amusing as in South Africa you would have seen two men knocking in the poles. Lovingston winery was next on the list, where Norah had a chance to practice her Afrikaans while chatting to Riaan Rossouw, an South African now living in the US. She also had the chance to taste a pinotage, one of the few made outside of South Africa, and she was most impressed. The wineries in Virginia are still small in comparison to those of the South African Wine industry, but Virginia's Wine industry is growing. There are currently about 150 wineries, but more vineyards are being planted continuosly. It is great to see the amount of enthusiasm being shown by Vineyard owners so that they can improve the industry. Norah looks forward to hearing more about these wineries in the future.

GRANT BUTLER

Amber, from the USA GSE team to Brazil, picked Grant up at his host's and they drove to Fort Defiance, where Amber is on staff. The school draws largely from the rural area of the couty, and there are over 1 000 students at this impressive high school. The atmosphere of the school is a happy one, and many of the students gather socially in the foyer (halls) to chat before school. The principal, together with other staff, mingles amongst them on Hall Duty, so to speak, but you can see that the interaction with students is a pleasure for them. It was Grant's over-riding opinion that the staff obviously enjoy working at Fort Defiance, and that they have established excellent relationships with the students. Grant attended a Social Studies class and was immediately impressed by the complex social issues that the Grade 10 class was covering. Part of the period was spent at the bank of computers in the school library, where the students worked individually on an "intranet " of activities. The most moving (and inspiring) part of Grant's morning was the time that he was afforded with students in the Special Needs class. Some of these students have significant challenges, yet, surrounded by a staff of totally dedicated individuals, the these challenges are being met, to some degree. Grant's second stop for the day was at Stuart Hall, a private school in Staunton. This 150-something year old school caters for all three bands of education; elementary, middle and high school. Each phase has an administrative head, who fall directly under the principal. The school's strength is undoubtedly the small classes, as well as the emphasis on accelerated learning, and drama. As an example of accelerated learning, Mathematics is taught in sets, the stronger group focussing on pre-algebra in Grade 6. The difference in the level of the content covered was obvious. Grant attended the two Maths streams, and also an English and a Civics class.

Monday 30 March

The weather was fresh as we met outside the YMCA to start our travels into Nelson County. It became even fresher about 10miles down the road in sight of Humpback Rock when we stepped out the car to look at the old wood cabins made by early settlers in the area. Norah's face was hard to see, hidden as it was deep in the folds of her scarf and jacket.

A picturesque drive along mountain roads ensued and came to an end at the Wintergreen Resort. Unfortunately for Grant and Trevor who had been hoping to ski the slopes had been closed 2 weeks earlier. However desperate as they were they still walked out onto the icy, browning snow for a photo opportunity. Wintergreen is a co-operative holiday resort where private individuals allow there houses to be leased to tourists within an 11 000 acre area which includes the aforementioned ski-slopes, 2 golf courses, 35miles of hiking trails, a spa and much more.

After a good lunch at The Edge restaurant the team headed down the mountain along gravelled back roads to Pharsalia. Pharsalia is a 40 acre wine and apple farm that was started in 1814. The current resident and our gracious guide is the great-great-grandaughter of the original farmer and she described to us a number of stories of their families early farm life.

On our return to Staunton we stopped off at an Apple-packing factory where we ate Red Delicious and Pink Ladies whilst having the packing process described to us by the amiable owner and demonstrated to us by capable Mexican Labourers. We then drove past Crab-Tree falls (the tallest waterfalls on the East Coast) before being delivered safely back into the arms of our waiting hosts.

Tuesday sees us all off on our vocational visits, before Wednesday is spent visiting the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Centre and Virginia Wildlife Centre. In the evening we present to the Area 4 Rotary Clubs at a banquet on Barrenridge Winery.

Saturday 28 - Sunday 29 March

Saturday started with a trip to Applebee's for Pancakes to support another local service club. Farewell's were then said to our Blacksburg hosts before we were transported to Lexington to meet up with our new hosts in Area 4. In Lexington, a delightful old-style town, we visited the Washington & Lee University and the Robert E. Lee Chapel where the great man is buried.

Later that afternoon we were introduced to our new hosts in Staunton. After an hour or so to settle in, everyone gathered for a potluck supper at 'The Oaks', a historic home where Trevor is being hosted. A good time was had as we all got to know our new friends. Sunday was spent with our host families experiencing real American weekend life.

Friday 27 March

YeeeeeHaa! Today was spent in Floyd county, just South of Blacksburg. Floyd is reputedly known for it's 'alternative' (hippie/eccentric) community. Much has been done to maintain Floyd as a small traditional town and no influence of large chain stores could be seen as in other areas.

The team started off the day with Peter Ozolin, an architect who specializes in green architecture. We visited the Floyd hotel, a 14 roomed boutique hotel, where each room has been decorated by different artists of the area to a specific theme e.g. Writers room, Malawi room etc.

Next we visited the Wall Residences, an office block that is designed to be almost self sustaining. As such the building has 48 voltaic cells to provide electricity (estimated to contribute about 50% of the buildings power requirements) and 2 solar geysers. It also has a 8 8 000 gallon (32 000litre) tank underneath the building to capture water for the office's use. Other interesting features were skylights to provide lights to the offices, movement sensored lighting and recycling areas.

The rest of the morning was spent wondering around Floyd, looking at art, ceramics and other knickknacks. The girls managed to find a massive fabric store and spent much of their time in the old school house looking at fabric. Lunch was enjoyed at a Mexican restaurant in town with Ernie Bentley and Les Myers.

The team then proceeded up the Blueridge parkway to visit the Mabry mill (one of the most photographed mills in the world). By this stage the mist had enveloped us and it was rather eerie up on the mountain. Nancy's Candy Company provided a bit of comfort with their lovely confectionary such as pumpkin fudge, and peanut butter & cayenne pepper chocolate truffles. Anna & Norah also managed to do some Christmas shopping on top of the mountain at a Christmas shop.

Next it was wine tasting time, at the Chatteaux Morrisette. They took us on a tour of the winery, before the wine tasting, which was rounded off with a delicious dinner at the Chateaux's Restaurant. All the hosts joined us for this part of the day and it was fun having time to chat to everybody over good wine and food.

The evening was perfectly rounded off with a jamboree of Blue grass music back in Floyd. Different bands are given the opportunity to play at the old country store every Friday night, and during summer it becomes a real street party! The team had a chance to show off their skill (or their lack of it) by flat foot dancing. Some lessons were given by a range of people from 5 year olds through to 80 year olds who were only too happy to show us the steps. We loved it but don't expect us to introduce the Floyd 2-step in South Africa anytime soon!

Tomorrow we leave Blacksburg and our new friends here and we travel to Staunton to meet up with our new hosts. We look forward to the next set of adventures.