Rotary GSE - Business & Cultural Exchange

GSE: A FANTASTIC professional & personal opportunity happening around the world every year!
Pictured above, the 2009 GSE teams exchanging between the USA and Taiwan:
D5650: Team Leader - Mailani Veney
Team Members - Jill Orton, Jeff Barclay, Meagan Morris & Chris Gorman
D3500: Team Leader - PP Peter (Wu Te-kun)
Team Members - Wayne (Peng Gwo-wei), Liber (Chen Jia-jun), Alice (Chen Pei-Chun), Jessica (Chang Fang-Chieh)

The Rotary Foundation’s Group Study Exchange (GSE) program is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for businesspeople and professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 who are in the early stages of their careers. The program provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits in paired areas of different countries. For four to six weeks, team members experience the host country's culture and institutions, observe how their vocations are practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.

In a typical four-week tour, applicants participate in five full days of vocational visits, 15 to 20 club presentations, 10 to 15 formal visits and social events, two to three days at the district conference, three to four hours per day of cultural and site tours, and three to four hours per day of free time with host families.

For each team member, the Foundation provides a round-trip airline ticket between the home and host countries. Rotarians in the host area provide for meals, lodging, and group travel within their district.

For more information, contact your local Rotary or visit www.rotary.org

We're Always Prepared for Surprises!

It's hard to believe that we've been in Taiwan for almost 2 weeks! Every day has been an exciting mix of surprises and Saturday was no exception. Our gracious hosts told us to dress casually because we were going into the mountains. The entire team dressed in our finest hiking gear and we set out for the day. Our first stop was a beautiful stream. Next up, an aborigines dancing performance in the mountains. It was so fun! The dance troupe was comprised of men, women and adorable children who even invited us to dance with them!


Next up, lunch! We asked if we needed to change into more formal attire, but they told us that it was just a casual lunch and not to worry about what we wore. But, when we walked into the restaurant we quickly realized that it was a formal engagement party! We definitely stuck out like sore thumbs, so we asked to go back to the car so we could change.


We didn't have a place to change our clothes, so we make the street into an impromptu changing room (don't worry, we were discreet and there was even a small trailer right by the car where I ducked into to change my shirt.)

After changing we went back to the restaurant where we enjoyed a nice lunch and toasted the adorable couple. Mailani even went up to say a few words of thanks..luckily our clothes were changed, otherwise it would have looked like she was teaching one of her Jazzercise classes!

The afternoon was a relaxing mix of shopping and sightseeing. We capped off the night with a lovely aborigines dinner and a cocktail party at the Past District Governor Porite's beautiful home. We even sang a little karaoke (my favorite activity!)


I'll definitely remember this day as one of my favorites on the trip. Now, time to get started with another day of surprises!

The National Acrobats of China

Xie xie to my mom, Gwen Cook, for arranging for our GSE team to see the National Acrobats of China performing to a sell-out crowd at the Lied Center. The acrobats were amazing - using their incredible strength in simple but beautiful routines using props like cloth, bikes and spinning plates. Plus, for the team it was fun to hear so much Mandarin being spoken in one place.

Sharing the Excitement

The best thing about Group Study Exchange is the opportunity to visit Taiwan and experience their culture on both a professional and personal level (obviously!)

The second best thing about GSE is the opportunity to share our experiences with Rotarians throughout Rotary International District 5650. Mailani, Chris and I gave our first official GSE presentation about our upcoming trip last Friday, January 30th, with the Lincoln South Rotary club held at The Knolls Country Club.

We each had the opportunity to talk a little bit ourselves and about Taiwan as a whole. It was a wonderfully positive experience as the Lincoln South Rotarians are just as excited as we are for the trip. It was bittersweet for me because Lincoln South Rotary is the club sponsoring my trip to Taiwan. I tried to thank them as much as I could..but I'm not sure I have enough 'thank yous' to express my gratitude.

Friday night also found us celebrating our upcoming trip with the 2008 GSE Australia team. Australia team members Aaron Babcock and Jennifer Jones graciously welcomed us into their home where we were joined by the other team members - Christine Billings, Matt Novak and team leader Judy Peschio - along with District 5650 Governor Sharon Wherry and her husband Dan.

The get-together was a great energizer for the trip. We were able to spend some time getting to know the Australia team. I think they were questioned-out by the end of the night - we had so many questions about their experience and they definitely gave us some wonderful ideas and pointers that we can use on our trip. I think the thing that struck me the most about the Australia team was their camaraderie. They became genuine friends during their time abroad and I'm looking forward to that with our team as well.

Thanks again, 2008 GSE Australia team, for a wonderful and eye-opening time!

Oh, How Time Flies!

It's hard to believe that we're only about two months away from leaving for our GSE trip to Taiwan! Time is going by so fast..but don't think we've been slacking. Quite the opposite, really!

So, what have we been doing? Well, learning Mandarin Chinese, of course! One of the main languages spoken in Taiwan is Mandarin. We want to learn as much of the language as we can before we leave to help bridge the communication gap and show just how excited we are to be immersed in the Taiwanese culture.

We tossed around several ideas on ways to learn Mandarin. We thought about Rosetta Stone software. We also considered using YouTube videos and books for self-study. However, no book or computer software can take the place of using a real, live tutor to help us understand and learn the language!

Our wonderful tutor, Jeremy Jewell, is an expert in all things that have to do with Taiwan and the Chinese language. We've had three lessons with him so far and will continue working with him until we leave for Taiwan. He's been an invaluable resource for us - giving us lessons on not only the language, but culture and ettiquette as well.


Of course, we already have some favorite phrases that we're learning, including:

Nǐ hǎo - Hello

Wǒ tīng bú dǒng 我聽不懂 - I don't understand

Duì bù qǐ kě shì, wǒ bù xí guàn zhè ge cài 對不起 可是 不 习 慣 这 个 菜 - Pardon me, but I am not accustomed to this
**This is our favorite! There's no doubt that we'll encounter some foods in Taiwan that we're not used to eating, so this phrase will come in handy!**

The most important thing is that we're having fun learning Mandarin. Be sure to quiz us on our Mandarin skills the next time you see one of us!