First Everwell Rotary Meeting and Total Solar Eclipse

Today I attended my first Everwell Rotary Club Meeting in northeast Taipei. I met my host counselor, CP Simon, who is a dentist. I also met the the club leader, President Blue, the District Scholarship Coordinator, Dr. PP Pi-Song, and many other Rotarians. Since Rotary is like a second family, I have been instructed to fondly refer to the Rotarians as "uncles" and "aunties".

The lunch meeting was very jovial. In addition the the standard officer reports, the members sang a few songs, including "We are the Men of Rotary" (in English) and "You are my Sunshine" (in Taiwanese). The immediate past president, or IPP, was the keynote speaker. He talked about his hometown and life growing-up. I only understood the parts that were graciously interpreted for me by Uncle Danny, a Rotarian sitting at my table, but from what I could gather his personal stories were informative and light-hearted at times.

In addition to celebrating a past president, the club also welcomed a new member, Kevin Chang. He went to college in Houston, Texas and is currently the general manager of an electronic company. I have included pictures of him and IPP below.

The Everwell rotary Club was founded in 2004, and has more than 20 members. The club is part of District 3480, one of seven Rotary districts in Taiwan. The district is composed of 83 clubs, which each engage in a unique mix of service activities. Everwell's key service projects include providing breakfast meals to local schools in need, as well as hosting seminars to train local primary school teachers on how to incorporate basic lessons on law and ethics into their curriculum. The materials the club passes on to the teachers were developed by a professor at Harvard University and translated into Chinese. Dr. Pi-Song Tsai informed me that the program has been widely successful in schools across the district, and through this program the Rotary organization has helped to enrich local students' educational experiences.

I am thankful for the opportunity I had today to meet so many wonderful Rotarians. As I told the club in my brief introduction this afternoon, I am looking forward to serving with them and learning a great deal from them during my time in Taiwan. I want to end my post with a special thank you to Uncle CP Simon, President Blue,Uncle PP Pi-Song Tsai, and all of the members of the Everwell Rotary for their warm greeting and friendship.

First picture: Officers of the Everwell Rotary Club; second: President Blue and Immediate Past President (IPP) Resin; third: President Blue with new member, Kevin Chang.

I have also uploaded some pictures showing a view of the total solar eclipse from here in Taipei. It was a bit cloudy, but the sight was incredible nonetheless. These pictures were taken outside my school building in between classes.