Update and Questions For Suresh

John blogs ...

I've just emailed Suresh at D3220 with our news and some questions.

I reported that our team had a very good first meeting together, full of ideas and enthusiasm for the exchange, and that they are busy getting their profiles uploaded on the website with photos-a-plenty. I'm finding it fascinating, the range of things that young people engage with these days.

Some of the team are keen to develop the design of the website over the next couple of weeks, so it may go through various iterations before we settle on a final form.

I also shared the news about Becky's withdrawal from the team.

As we would like to feel comfortably dressed to undertake both cultural and family activities and our Rotary meetings and presentations, I asked Suresh to provide detail of what the temperatures/climate will be like during our visit, and therefore appropriate dress codes for both formal and informal occasions with which we will be engaging. I want to scope what we'll need for team uniform.

I reminded him our team's vocational interests in Primary Education, Journalism/Media, Packaging, Occupational Therapy, and Conservation, and that we like to theme of 'Regeneration' which was shared with us in an earlier email. The team have purchased a variety of guide books and thus starting to become fascinated by the cultural heritage on Sri Lanka. They have expressed an enthusiasm for visiting the well-known sights of Sigiriya, Kandy, Polonnaruwa, Tea Country as well as less familiar temples and natural sights/National Parks. Part of our team-building activity will be to research various aspects of Sri Lanka - economy, politics, religion, tourism, family life etc - so we have a sound footing of which to build our understanding when we get to stay with our Rotarian host families. Hopefully Suresh is able to share some of District 3220's plans with us at an early stage to help our researches become even more focused.

Here in Britain, we are well plugged into the internet and social networking sites. Some think this is a good thing, whilst others are less enthusiastic. I'm having an interesting conversation with those in the team who vary widely in their use of these forms of communication. This led me to ask Suresh about how easy it will be to access the internet in Sri Lanka and also whether we will have access to data-projectors when delivering our presentations at Rotary Clubs. We're more than happy to improvise but it would be helpful to know what we can typically expect to be working with.

I finished my email with an invite to Suresh to contact me through Skype - something my wife and I used on a daily basis when we were in Australia.

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