Rotary Valencia Centro

Yesterday I spoke at Rotary Valencia Centro, the biggest Rotary club in Spain. It was certainly the meeting most similar to the American meetings that I've attended... they were more down to business and organized in their agenda, and used multimedia (twice!). I learned about one of their annual projects- visiting a elderly persons' home on the Día de los Reyes Magos, armed with costumes, gifts and, of course, a giant paella. There were also quite a few guests- friends of Rotarians as well as a visiting Rotarian from Sao Paulo.

Finally, we also heard a presentation from a Rotary Youth Exchange participant who just returned from his year living in Texas. Let me say, it was quite interesting to hear a 17 year old Spanish boy's take on American high schools... some things that he seemed to emphasize were how big a role sports have in high schools, as well as how big and elaborate the actual school itself seemed (he said it looked like a university to him rather than a high school, and actually I agree... superficially, the high school did in fact have everything that UPV has). The Rotarians were curious about everything from the level of education and religion to the relationship he had with his host family to the Rotary clubs in Texas. Anyways, what a wonderful opportunity it was that Rotary gave him!