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.

Thursday 26 March

Anna and Norah ventured off to meet with an extension officer at the Human Nutrition, Food and Exercise Department who is doing work in nutrition education with lower income groups.

They found it enlightening as they realized that nutritional problems faced in the USA are essentially the same as those that South Africa is experiencing. People do not know how to make healthy choices and often healthy food is more expensive than unhealthy food. The strategy for intervention which they follow is to make small changes over the long term. This is a strategy that could potentially work well in our South African context.

While the girls were hard at work the boys took the opportunity to go shopping and eat some more Ben & Jerry's. Poor PJ missed out as he had to pay a visit to the doctor. No need to fear though, he'll recover from his bronchitis!

Wednesday 25 March

Today was Virginia Tech day, all day, and it was a good day!

Our guides Greg and Josh made sure that we had the opportunity to see many varying aspects of Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech unfortunately sprung to Worldwide prominence on 16 April 2007 when 32 students and faculty where gunned down on the campus. There is much more to Virginia Tech that makes it a university of National and International importance and acclaim!

Highlights of our tour round Virginia Tech's campus included 'playing' with computer equipment in the CAVE. A computer aided facility using Virtual Reality that allows one to interact (or be emmersed) in another world or with an object. Although Norah didn't particularly enjoy being chased by a giant spider...

The 66 000 seater football stadium impressed us! And we were allowed into the president's suite (but just for a look-see)! The university has about 27 000 students and yet it routinely sells out the stadium!

Another fascinating visit involved walking inside a hollow bridge that is part of a 'Smart Road'. A road specifically constructed to conduct research upon. The road has varying types of surfaces and can replicate weather be it, rain, snow or fog.

In addition we also got to see the School of Veterinarian Medicine, visit the Centre for BioInformatics as well as have lunch in the adjoining Skelton Conference centre! The amount of research that is carried out in some many varying fields left us all feeling a little ignorant! Anyone want to sponsor a team member to study a Masters at Virginia Tech-applications are now open!

Tuesday 24 March

Vocational day #3:

PJ CLOETE:

We broke away for our vocational visits on Tuesday following the previous days hike to Cascade falls. Waldon Kerns was PJ's guide for the day and together they observed the Local goverment in action and they learnt about Land usage and Zoning. PJ also spent some time with Marc Verniel the Town manager of Blacksburg. Marc was able to show PJ how the local town was run and the varying functions of his role. It is interesting that they have 7 Councillors instead of our 54! From there PJ went to the Virginia Tech Campus to meet with Leon Geyer and Jesse Richardson who both lecture law subjects to the Agri-Economics department. A valuable insight into land usage and land transfers was gained. Lunch was a date with Ron Rordan the Mayor of Blacksburg it was both interesting and insightful to see the political workings at play on both a local, state and national level. To top the day off, PJ then headed out to Montgomery county to meet with the County attorney and with Dan Berenato, of the Montgomery county School system. The manner in which Town, County, State and School Board all interact and interface was interesting. Waldon was a great guide and was a source of much information especially as he had served as a Councillor before. A wonderful, thought-provoking day was enjoyed by PJ.

NORAH-ANN HAYES

Norah spent her vocational day with her host, Janet Johnson. The day started with breakfast at Our Daily Bread in Blacksburg, breakfast included a tour of the restaurant kitchens, so it did count as a vocational visit (who's being defensive now?) The remainder of the day was spent on the Virginia Tech campus visiting various departments; including the Human Nutrition, Food and Exercise, and Food science department. A lot of information was gleened regarding regulations in the USA and general information was gained about the food industry. The most striking difference was that third party audits of Food Safety systems by international companies is relatively rare and most companies rely on government inspections. The most interesting part of the day was the time spent in the High Pressure processing plant in the food science department, a field that Norah has been interested in and researched, but has never seen in reality. As in South Africa, the barrier to wide-scale use of this technology is still the cost but the possibilities are large! Lunch was spent at the West End Market, one of the "cafeterias" at Virginia Tech. This cafeteria is set up in a market style with various food service stations: a pizza and pasta station, a wrap & sandwich station, a soup & salad station, a sports bar (with big screen tv's) and a fine dining hall. It was amazing! Each little area is decorated accordingly, so the more cafe style areas, looked like diners and the high end looked like a fine dining restaurant, with chandeliers. One can order anything from the menu and there are daily specials. The most entertaining aspect of the menu was the live lobster. One can pick a lobster and have it cooked to your liking. A dietician is also availible to advise students on eating plans based around menu items served according to any dietary requirements. Norah's head feels slightly larger than when she arrived, but luckily all this information has now been recorded for future use.
Thanks to all concerned for making this a wonderful day.

ANNELIZE CLOETE

Anna had a very interesting vocational day with Peter Ozolins - he is world famous for Green Building Design. This was fascinating as everyone is making a move toward building in a more environmentally friendly manner. It all has to do with minimzing the use of timber, electricity, loss of heat, and maximizing the insulation through sealing as well as making use of solar panels for heating of water. There is a movement back to older building practices, like wider overhangs - to keep out hot sun and allow in sun during winter. Peter showed Anna a research building being built on Virgina Tech Campus and she was impressed at the way Virginia Tech is introducing more and more technology and the manner in which they plan in advance for future expansion. They visited with numerous architects and engineers (Civil and Structural Engineers seem to work very differently to back home). It is interesting to hear that you can build your own house here - without an architect or engineer - as long as you adhere to certain building codes.

Monday 23 March

Today the team headed into the Great American Outdoors. First, driving up to Mountain Lake (which should be called Mountain, no-more-Lake) to see the hotel where Dirty Dancing was filmed. All of us had seen the film. Most of us remembered scenes from the film. Some of us even recognised things at the hotel that were in the film. BUT only one of us lived the film; Norah: script, cast, moves, soundtrack, drama, you name it. The team would like to publicly apologise to Shaun for how many more times he is going to have to watch it now that Norah has been there.

Our excursion for the day was a hike to the Cascades waterfall. The 4 mile circular trail follows the fast-flowing creek up a steep gorge, through huge moss-covered boulders and under overhanging Mountain Laurel (Rhodedendrons). It was well worth the walk, and we enjoyed a trail lunch alongside the clear plunge pool of the picturesque falls before making our way back to the car park along a simpler route with no stairs (an answer to PJ's prayers).

We presented to a large group of Rotarians at the Blacksburg Country Club this evening and thoroughly enjoyed the company. Tomorrow we will have our vocational day followed by a meeting with the Virginia Tech Rotaract. Then on Wednesday we will tour the Virginia Tech campus, something which we are all looking forward too!

Friday 20 - Sunday 22 March

The Homestead was every bit as luxurious as we had thought it would be! From the sprawling grounds, the majestic buildings and the uniformed bell hops, to the opulent interiors and tea at three; this place radiates class. Of course,as five South Africans, we soon discovered that our pockets responded by radiating dollars. Grant was forced, through sick obligation, to spoon the foam from his coffee cup when he calculated that it cost R55; it's not right for a grown man to cry.

The conference was very well run, and it was a real treat to attend. We found the GSE reports and presentations, by teams incoming and returning, varied and interesting. The returning team from Brazil impressed us as we discovered that they had done all their presentations in Portuguese! (Luckily nobody expected us to do ours in American English; it's just too much to ask!) The returning team from South Africa obviously held a special interest for us, and more than one team member confessed to being a little teary eyed when listening to The Scatterlings of Africa (except Grant, who was still upset over the price of coffee.) They did a good job and we all missed home because of it.

Overall, as with all things "Rotary", there was business, there was pleasure, but most important of all, there was the opportunity, within a community of people who put others first, to establish or renew friendships. We met some great people at the Homestead. Some we might never see again; others we will make deliberate efforts to stay in touch with, so that our paths might cross again.

PS: On Saturday night one of the employees at The Homestead shot and killed Two other employees (and people say crime and violence in South Africa are a problem). Have a look at the link below and it will take you to a video clip, from a local newstation, about the murder. If you look carefully at the point where there is about 1:30 seconds to go you will see 4 South African GSE team members sitting on the steps of The Homestead, on Sunday morning.

http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/article/shooting_at_the_homestead_suspect_missing/31189/

Thursday 19 March

We have reached the end of our visit to Danville and the surrounding area. As we prepare to leave after our second week in the USA and Rotary District 7570 we look back with appreciation at the GSE Co-ordinators, the Rotarians and our hosts who have made the trip so special thus far.

It was great to be back together today as we were taken to the Danville Community College were we the guest lecturers for an Economics class. Then we moved onto Averett College where our charming guide Megan showed us around before a sumptuous meal in the Averett dining hall. It was a lovely surprise to meet up with Dean Loock from Grahamstown who is at Averett College on a Tennis Scholarship. That was followed by a walk along the Dan river on a trail developed by the resources and labour of the Rotary Club of Danville-Riverview.

The GSE experience has shown us how our hosts and guides put their lives on hold to fetch and carry us and to show us around. We are surely experiencing the famous Southern Hospitality at its best!

Wednesday 18 March: Annelize

Vocational Day #2:

Anna visited Danville Community College's Draughting and Engineering Department, there she toured the new Medical Facility - designed by Dewberry Architects. She found it inspiring to see the amount of new technology being applied in new buildings - all the buildings (especially educational institutions) have high level technology. A huge drive is being made to educate and retrain a population that was previously a labour force. Grants are being made available to people so that they can take time off and study (paid for by the scholarships) and Anna met many draughting students on these programs.

After a good Southern meal of fried chicken, corn, creamed potatoes and biscuits, Anna visted Dewberry & Davis Inc. A company of land surveyors, architects, landscape architects and civil and structural engineers, all working together under one roof. Dewberry & Davis focuses on economic, industrial and commercial development. Anna sat in on a technical meeting where plans were being overviewed for a tender process. Thereafter she was shown around historical Danville -Anna met her match- someone else more passionate about oohing and aahing and photographing beams, windows, buildings and bricks...

Wednesday 18 March: Grant

Vocational Day #2:

Grant visited Bonner Middle School today and was once again very pleasantly surprised by the creative approach to dealing with multiple intelligences within one school.

Pupils who prove gifted, academically, are grouped in an enrichment class and stimulated through more challenging content that far exceeds the Standards of Learning (SOL's).

A Grade 7 class that Grant visited, as an example, was dealing with Frankenstein, and Mr Salamon, the English Arts teacher for this gifted programme, was using the text to stimulate lively debate over ethical issues as controversial as genetic engineering. By playing 'devil's advocate' he was able to challenge the students to think more deeply and express their opinions more convincingly.

At the same time, Ms Ross, a gifted teacher in her own right, worked in an upstairs classroom with a teacher's aid and a therapist, with a group of students of very diverse academic ability.

Grant was made to feel very welcome at this incredible school and what struck him most was how interested Dr Cocran and the staff were about his own experiences in education in South Africa.

Wednesday 18 March: Norah-Ann

Norah- Ann had the privilege of being allowed into the Nestle factory today- what a treat. The plant at Danville produces fresh pasta (plain and filled ravioli's and tortellinis), pasta sauces as well as Tollhouse cookie dough. For somebody that had never seen a bucket of cookie dough for sale the latter was a real treat.

The controls in place were all familiar territory, but it is always interesting to see them implemented in another facility. Not to get distracted in the technicalities, this is every kids dream: seeing enough cookie dough go by to last a life time and hoppers of chocolate drops big enough to swim in! A big thank you to Lacey, Jennifer and the rest of the Nestle team for organizing a well structured tour with an excellent tasting session at the end. (and for the couple of wine chats in between!)

After a great lunch at the Bronx boys bagels with Peter and the family it was off to the more serious stuff of Environmental health inspections. Linda Jones took Norah around for the afternoon to some of the restaurants the local department is responsible for. Although the department is over loaded with work, it is good to see a system actually working- hopefully it will eventually get to this level back home.

Norah's evening was spent with Bob and Wanda Vaughn in the nearby town of South Boston where they treated her to a wonderful dinner at Bistro 1881. A lovely little restaurant with great food.

So to all the rumor mills, Norah does in fact not spend her day shopping, but eating…

Wednesday 18 March: Trevor

Vocational Day #2:

Trevor went to George Washington High School in Danville today and they really made him feel like a celebrity. He was given a tour of the school which included welcoming banners placed at the entrance to welcome him. He was then invited to lunch with the principal and assistant principals and Heads of Department. George Washington is a large school (1400 students and 140 teachers). It is very racially integrated and has a huge campus on which it offers a considerable variety of courses including: hairdressing, EMT, dentistry, car mechanics, robotics as well as the more traditional school subjects. Trevor had the opportunity to address a few classes of well-behaved, intelligent students. At the end of the school day a reception was held in Trevor's honour which was attended by a number of the staff and students of GW (as it is affectionately known). This was a fantastic opportunity for Trevor to share about South Africa, and it left Trevor feeling both humbled and grateful for the experience.

The other school Trevor visited was Galileo Magnet High School, an International Baccalaureate school. Funded and established in the last 10 years using a grant from NASA. The school is extremely advanced in terms of technology with each class equipped with a set of laptops as well as data projectors, smart boards etc. What we couldn't achieve with a little South African enthusiasm and a lot of American Technology!

Wednesday 18 March: PJ

Vocational day #2:

PJ travelled out with Bob Vaughan, the President of the Rotary Club of Danville and a local attorney, to Rocky Mountain, where they attended the Circuit Court in Franklin County. While waiting for Bob's case to be called PJ observed the Local District Court in session on a matter of an assault in a barroom and then saw presiding Judge William Alexander send an accused away for 5 years for eluding the police! That seemed a bit harsh just for running from the cops until you heard his previous convictions. The moral of the story is: do not run from the cops in the United States of America.

Bob received a favourable judgment in his matter and to celebrate PJ and Bob enjoyed diner cuisine in the heartland of Southside Virginia at Carl's Diner. The day was rounded off by a visit to the Chatham Courthouse where the court room is kept locked when not in session so Pj was given a tour of the clerks office. It was interesting as all deeds and documents are kept at each County or City Courthouse and not at a central Deeds Office as is the case in South Africa. A most enjopyable day was made extra special by a knowledgeable and gracious host and guide. Thanks Bob!

Tuesday 17 March

Today we did our Rotary Presentations. Firstly, to the Danville clubs, around 100 people. Secondly, to the Martinsville clubs: where someone forgot to organise a projector so we had to do our presentation without powerpoint slides-I think it went off quite well under the circumstances.

We also visited the house where Lady Astor grew up (the first female parliamentarian in the UK.) that was followed up by a visit to the Danville Museum in the Sutherlin Mansion and a walk down Millionaire's row to look at the architecture of houses built in the late 1800's. In the afternoon after our presentation to the Danville clubs, we explored the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville and for a relatively small town of about 40 000 people it was fascinating to see the extent and technological resources of the museum. You wouldn't find anything like it in SA outside of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. The interactivity was enough to keep, even Trevor, out of mischief!

After our stressful evening of pictureless presentations some "horseing around" and ice-cream was much needed and received to put us in a good mood before going home to our hosts after another full day.

Monday 16 March

We all met at the institute for advanced learning and Research for a tour of this state-of-the-art facility conducted by Julie Brown. What impressed us most (other than the fact that the architecture creates the impression of standing on the flight deck of Star Treks USS Enterprise) was that the centre draws pupils from the surrounding areas' high schools every day to 'fast-track' their development in areas such as Mathematics and Science. This progressive model is recognised and accredited by local colleges, too. These young Einsteins are then bussed back to their own High Schools for the rest of the day's academic, cultural and sporting programme.

We were then driven to RCATT, the Regional Center for Advanced Technology and Training, which offers manufacturing technical career studies. We liked the 'growing machine' which can produce 3D objects from digital images.

After enjoying lunch at a diner called Short Sugar's and, because we heard that this was where President Obama dined when he was in Danville not so long ago, we thought, "Yes, we can!"

The afternoon was spent at the Tank Museum and, other than seeing a vast variety of war machinery, artillery as well as many different uniforms, we also learned that tanks need to be kept in a refrigerator after opening, because it was absolutely freezing in the museum.

We were then rushed through to Reidsville where we were to appear on live TV! Having had to get changed on the pavement because the station is really no more than a shop window, we impressed the one Rotarian that happened to be watching at the time.

Sunday 15 March

It's STILL raining (three days straight, now). The team have decided that, when we get back to South Africa, we are going to tour drought-stricken areas for money - Angus Buchan x5 - because it rains whenever we are together.

PJ's sermon was warmly received by the congregation of Trinity United Methodist Church of Danville, and after lunch we made our way to VIR, Virginia's International Raceway. Because of the inclement weather, races were cancelled for the day, and although we were disappointed not to experience the rush of adrenalin that NASCAR is said to cause, the good people of VIPER had something even better in store for us. We were taken to their very technologically advanced centre at VIR and given the opportunity to "play" on their simulator that replicates the sensation of driving a real race car.

Three thing we learned: (1) High speed racing is even more difficult than it looks on ESPN, (2) If you ever race with Trevor in an off-road event as a navigator, you WILL die, and (3) Driving with Norah is your safest bet - even if it takes a little longer and you don't mind the sound that a high performance engine makes in first gear.

Saturday 14 March

The drive from Salem to Danville seems long for most, we are told, but not when travelling with people like the Orndorffs. Their to-and-fro commentary on their two way radios had us laughing all the way, and we will miss them like family! We met with our new hosts, with whom we will be staying until Friday, and after settling in, all met for supper at Bob and Wanda Vaughan's. It was a most enjoyable evening and we left knowing that this will be another good week.

Friday 13 March

Today started off with some excitement and disappointment. It snowed (lightly) which caused great excitement for us sun-accustomed South Africans. Sadly, Norah-Ann's cold has developed into Bronchitis which is disappointing for her-we hope she gets better soon.

WDBJ7 is a local TV news station. We were invited to tour the TV-station, which included a pretending to be news anchors and playing around in front of the green-screen as weathermen, as well as discovering some of the more serious methods involved in producing, directing and recording the news so that it actually gets to the viewer every day.

With Norah being confined to the house, Anna decided to take a break from the boys and prepare (with Norah's help) Chicken Breyani, for our Roanoke Valley hosts as a farewell dinner. While the girls were doing a great ambassadorial job for South African cuisine, we boys headed off to meet the Sheriff.

Grant's host, Mark Henricksen had been threatening since we arrived to have Grant locked away. He organised with the local sheriff that we be given a tour of the town courthouse and holding cell facilities. An excellently managed facility, which South African judiciary officials could learn a lot from. The sheriff played along with Mark and asked one of the deputies to arrest Grant. The deputy not realising, it was all a joke, grabbed Grant by the arm and started to roughly drag him off, fortunately Sheriff Atkins intervened and so Grant was more genteely patted down, cuffed and chained before being placed in the cell. Unfortunately for us, fortunately for his family back home, he was allowed out.

The day ended with a delightful dinner party, including many of the people of Roanoke who had really had an impact on us during the week.

Thursday 12 March

We all met again at Bill and Earline's house and drove to the RR Donnelley printing plant in Salem to tour the facility. Bill worked for the company for 28 years and was our window of opportunity into this fascinating industry. The plant is high tech and state of the art and fully focussed on efficiency; yet we were shown around by two senior staff members as if they had nothing else in the world to do. We followed the printing of a hard-cover book from stock paper to coffee table, so to speak, and, from now on, we have all agreed that we will have a deeper appreciation for the work and craftmanship that went into producing it.

We presented to the Rotary Club of Salem at noon, and were warmly received. The club is the second largest in the district, and has a very active membership.

After lunch, we were taken to the Taubman Museum of Art. The architecture is futuristic and 'divisive', in that you either love it or hate it. (We were impressed!) The museum currently hosts several collections and the works range from classic in style to what appears to be the hallusonogenic scribblings of psychiatric patients during therapy sessions. Of course, art is a matter of opinion, and even in the wrtings of the Spanish poet, Miguel De Cervantes, we read: "Good painters imitate, bad ones regurgitate."

The evening was spent at the Rotary Club of Roanoke, one of the oldest in the district, and quite "posh" to say the least. Dinner was delicious and the guest speaker (not us) addressed the issues around the financial bank crisis in America and concluded by saying that economists are positive because the majority of the financial institutions in America are "just too big to fail". Funny how familiar that sounds: from David and Goliath to the Titanic, we hear echoes...

Wednesday 11 March

Vocational Day #1:

We all split up and visited our respective locations. We admitted later to suffering from separation anxiety, a good sign, hopefully we'll still feel the same in a few weeks time!

Lawyers jokes, the world over, are all the same. PJ had an amazing morning learning about Legal Aid and then visiting a Large law firm in downtown Roanoke. Although the Countries may differ we have the same problems and aspects of the Law to deal with. It was interesting to listen to how similar our approaches are in dealing with matters. From the Law-firm we headed off to the Roanoke Rescue Mission-WOW is all that can be said for what Mary Ellen and her team do. Lunch with those in need was a wonderful experience The facility is multi-faceted and privately funded feeding up to 900 people a day. The care for the homeless, the abused and for those in need with addictions, all centred around a Christian base, was an eye opener.

Anna visited Balzer & Associates Inc (a company complete with Land surveyors, architects, landscape architects, civil and structural engineers). She was introduced to the team and taken to various projects. The company developed a Mall called Keagy Village. Construction methods are totally different to those used in SA - no brick and mortar buildings are built due to price and labour. It is quicker to construct timber frame homes that are clad. Anna then had lunch with the Balxer employees and attended their "Lunch and Learn" - where a sales representative was doing a presentation on GEOTECH fabric. Anna also visited Timber Truss - a plant where timber frame homes are built; roof trusses, floor trusses and more are manufactured here too. Here one can choose a floor plan - have the house built and delivered to site, and choose windows, doors, kitchen and bathroom fittings under one roof - Very convenient - HOUSE IN A BOX! The highlight of the day though was the chance to drive heavy machinery!!! Mark Henricksen ( a local Rotarian) put Anna onto a Bobcat Scid Loader and a JCB Back Hoe - Contractors beware... Girl driver coming through!

Norah went shopping for her vocational day (as far as the boys were concerned) but Norah wishes to refute that rumour... Norah, in addition to doing Food safety management systems, is also a consultant in product labelling, hence she spent her vocational day in a Supermarket, Natural food store and speciality store doing research. The product range in the US is amazing and everything comes premade; from the chocolate milk (or any other flavour you desire) to pastry and biscuit cases (that is if you choose not to buy the tart ready made!). Even if you buy the pastry cases you are still not expected to make a filling: as you could buy that ready made too. The ice cream aisle would be most children (and adults) heaven, the Kroger Norah visited had aisle (about 100m long) full of ice cream, in every flavour imaginable- 5 weeks is just to little time in which to try it all. The biggest eye-opener has definitely been the convenience factor and the variety. Do not assume this is only a good thing as people do not know what goes into their food anymore. Another aspect of Norah's vocational day included visiting the Home depot- for those at home, this is like a Builders Warehouse on steroids. Home Depot is large! And fun! The point of the exercise was to look at what is happening in the kitchen market, which interestingly enough is skewed towards solid wood kitchens unlike South Africa's prefab melamine kitchens. Norah admits that the whole exercise did include shopping... but... with a purpose.

Grant visited Andrew Lewis Middle School and sat in on the Social Studies classes offered by Grade 6 teacher, Deborah Turner. The day begins with admin and the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, after which he was introduced. Grant came away filled with enthusiasm; Deborah Turner's style and passion had been inspiring, and the pupils' questions had been insightful. What a wonderful school. He said that he felt like a sponge that had been saturated. It is experiences like these that make GSE worthwhile!

After seeing Grant off at Andrew Lewis Middle School, Trevor was taken to Salem High School. One of the premier high schools in the region. Principal John Hall and Assistant Principal Scott Beleeb made him most welcome. Trevor started off with a grade 12 English class, where he shared some of the distinguishing features of South African schools with some very intelligent students. The rest of the day proceeded in a similiar vain with visits to various grade and subject classes and opportunities to talk about South Africa and South African Education. The Facilities of the school made Trevor drool and dream: Resources are wonderful but it was the people, the faculty (staff) and the students who really impressed, ultimately enthusiastic people trump advanced technology everytime. Below can be seen a picture of some school buses from Trevor's visit to Salem High School.

The day was topped off by sharing in a outreach program at Maryanne's (PJ's host) former church where the whole team went out in Church vans to load up the kids, share a meal with them and work with them in their groups. This church program operates 3 times a week and is supported by volunteers so that it can help these kids, from difficult circumstances, to do homework and receive a decent meal. We had fun and many of us lost our hearts to these precious kids!

Tuesday 10 March

We presented our program today at the Rotary Club of Roanoke Valley, which meets at the Roanoke Country Club. It went very well and stimulated some interesting discussion, especially around the topic of education. We were treated to a good breakfast and enjoyed watching the sun come up over the golf course.

The highlight of Tuesday was a visit to the Roanoke Higher Learning Centre where we had the opportunity to talk with the director of the centre, which co-ordinates co-operative studying facilities contributed to by 14 different universities. The heads of the programmes from Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia both joined us and contributed to a fascinating discussion about education in our respective countries.

Our afternoon was spent at the Virginia County Administration building, the seat of local government. We were formally introduced to the Board of Supervisors (which you can actually watch on their website, as it is recorded and televised). We had been led to believe that it would potentially be a bit of a 'yawn', but this proved not to be the case at all. We found the manner in which the meetings are run fascinating, and, as usual, were made to feel very welcome.

Grant's hosts are members of Salem's Choral Society, and he attended their dress rehersal at the Sholoh Baptist Church in the evening. The team are not convinced whether it was the amazing soloists or the cup of Mill Mountain coffee that brought tears to his eyes.

Monday 09 March

This morning, we met early at Bill and Earline Orndorff's house and they took us on an amazing sight-seeing drive through this breath-taking part of the world. We drove to Natural Bridge, said to be one of the seven wonders of the new world. The solid limestone arch is very impressive, to say the least, and the team enjoyed the tranquil walk along Cedar Creek Trail. Spring is definitely in the air, and every dogwood, poplar, red bud and beech threatens to burst into full colour at any moment.

After lunch, we drove to the Natural Bridge Caverns, deepest on the East Coast at over 34 storeys below the surface. The caves are cold (10 degrees C) and wet, but well worth the trip; the water-sculptured rooms and colossal flowstones mirrored in pools of crystal clear water.

[SIDE BAR: The 7 of us walk into the small gift shop and reception to the Caverns with our tickets in hand, which we exchange for tokens issued by Phyllis, the manager standing behind the counter. The shop is one-roomed, and we are the only ones there, except for a young girl, Tiffany, who would turn out to be our guide. Phyllis tells us that the next tour leaves in 4 minutes, and so we basically just stand around and wait. 3 minutes later, Tiffany makes her way from behind the counter and Phyllis raises a microphone to her mouth. She announces (as if we are not standing right there) that the tour group must please make their way to the entrance of the cavern (in the shop!) and hand in their tokens. She then comes out from behind the counter, too, and stands at the door to collect the very tokens that, not moments before, she had handed out to us. DAFT!]

The drive back to Salem along the Blue Ridge Parkway was spectacular. The ridge road affords one the opportunity to take in the vista of forests and valleys, and we could only imagine what it will look like in a few weeks time when the trees are once again covered in foliage. We are working on our dialect and have practised saying Peaks of Otter, which is said, "Peaks-av-odder" with an exaggerated 'odder'.

In his essay on American scenery, George Coleman wrote, "Over all, rocks, woods, and water, and the silent energy of nature, stirred the soul to its inmost depths." He must surely have been standing on the lue Ridge Mountains in Virginia when he thought that!

Sunday 08 March

Today we met Earline Orndorff, the co-ordinator of this part of our itinerary. She took us through the details briefly, and then Ernie introduced us to our first host families. We are all overwhelmed at the hospitality of these wonderful people, who have so willingly allowed us into their homes.

Earline and Bill (her husband) presented an early challenge to the team when Bill invited Anna, Norah-ann and Trevor to go cycling with him. Bill is an avid cyclist who has a certificate to prove that he has cycled all of Switzerland's cyclable mountains, including the famed Alps D'Huez. It was a super way to see a little more of Roanoke. While those three were being put through a strenuous workout, Grant enjoyed a visit to Smith Mountain Lake and PJ participated in a local church service, courtesy of their respective hosts!