| Rotary International Youth Exchange Student Programme Report : Second Term Report (May- August 2001) Name: Ng Jo-Han Email: [email protected] Date: 11 August 2001 Hosted by : Rotary Club of Schw�bisch Gm�nd Youth Exchange Officer's Name: Mr. Dieter Gerrmann Second Host Family: Messner Street Address: Heideweg 9 City: 73529 Schw�bisch Gm�nd - Bargau Home Phone: 07173-12311 Email Address: [email protected] Father�s First Name : Willy Mother's First Name: Ursula Host Siblings (names & ages): Tobias (25) , Daniel (18) Third and Current Host Family: Gruber-Ballehr Street Address: AlbertLortzingStra�e 15 City: 73529 Schw�bisch Gm�nd - Stra�dorf ,Germany Phone Number : 07171 - 41916 or 07171 - 41989 Date of move to the second host family: 11 August 2001 ACTIVITIES : CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS 29 April 2001 - Officially part of the Messner family 5-6 May 2001 - A trip to Lauscha with the choir group from the Evangelium Church from Heubach as my host parents, Willy and Ursula Messner is part of the choir. 12 May 2001 - A visit to Trossingen and Aldingen to visit my belated host grandparents grave. Also visited the Farm in Trossingen where my host father had grew up as a kid. Later to Birnau Bodensee (the largest lake in Germany) and Meersburg (a very touristic town) before completing our one day tour around the state. 19 May 2001 - Rotary District Conference for District 1830 in T�bingen. Sang a song in the Schwaben dialect with the other exchange students which was probably one of the most interesting event of the whole conference. Later in the evening was the �Pr�sidentseinladung� (President�s Invitation), another Rotary event. 23 May - 10 June 2001 - A trip to France , Paris-Montreuil to attend my Uncle�s wedding. Visited many places in Paris including the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame, Lourve Museum and others. 16 June 2001 - Gustavo�s (an exchange student from Venezuala who was with me together with the Messners) farewell party. The club now has only 2 inbound exchange students. 19 June 2001 - Visited the Heubacher Brauerei (Heubacher Beer Brewery) as part of Biology lesson. 20 June 2001 - End of the Spring season. 21 June 2001 - Start of the Summer season. 25 June 2001 - The unofficial �Abi-Fest� of my school. Host brother Daniel Messner officially ended his one year stint as an exchange student in Mexico. 27 June 2001 - A year ending class trip to Augsburg , Bayern. 28 June 2001 - Finally ended my German course, �DaF Intensiv 1� after 90 days of lessons. 28 June 2001 - Attended my second Rotary Club meeting. This time it was the Rotary Year Ending meeting, where the club has officially a new committee. 29 June 2001 - Attended a concert by �Rejoice� in Heubach. 30 June 2001 - Kinderfest (A grand children�s festival) in Heubach. 4 July 2001 - Rosenstein Gymnasium�s �Bundesjugendspiel� at TSV Heubach. It is like sports day but without competitions and medals. 7 July 2001 - Visited the Limesmeseum (Limes Museum) with �W�lflinger� from Stamm B�bingen B�ren (Scout troop) and their leaders. 7 July 2001 - Attended the �Jugendtag� (Youth Day) gathering from the B�bingen Youths. 10 July 2001 - Julia Barton from the USA returned home to USA after 10 months as an exchange student hosted by the Rotary Club of Schw�bisch Gm�nd. So I was the only inbound exchange student left at the club. 14-15 July 2001 - Visited Freiburg, Staufen (famous for Goethe, the writer of �Faust�) , V�gisheim, Black Forest, Trossingen and Aldingen. Missed out on watching Tour de France live as it was raining heavily. 18 July 2001 - Joined the Rotarydamen (Rotary Club Members� Wives) as in their excursion to N�rdlingen and Bopfingen. 19 July 2001 - A class trip to Stuttgart�s Planeterium as part of Physics lesson. 21 July 2001 - First host brother , Philipp Kienzle is back home after a year in the USA as an Rotary Exchange Student. 22 July 2001 - Celebrated my best and most meaningful birthday ever. 23 July 2001 - Went for the Stamm B�bingen B�ren�s Rovers meeting to prepare for a camping trip. 24 July 2001 - Year ending class party. 25 July 2001 - Last day of the 2000/2001 school year. Received a report book like the other students. 26 July - 4 August 2001 - Participated in a �BPS Bundeslager� (A German National Scout Jamboree) as a guest with the B�bingen B�ren Scout Troop. 11 August 2001 - Officially ended my term as part of the Messner family. Place I had travelled : Other Country : France In Germany : Lauscha , Trossingen, Aldingen, Birnau Bodensee, Meersburg, T�bingen, Aalen, Freiburg, V�gisheim, Black Forest , N�rdlingen, Bopfingen, Stuttgart and Rothenfels/Zimmern. List of Group that I had spoken or met with : Rotary Club of Schw�bisch Gm�nd Protestant Church Choir Heubach Youth Group from Protestant/Baptism Church B�bingen Stamm B�bingen B�ren Many other Scout Troops from all over Germany What subjects are being studied at school? Language : Deutsch (German), Englisch (English) and Franz�sisch (French) Nature (Science) : Physics, Chemistry and Biology Others : Mathematics, Politics, History, Sports , Music and Art How is your language proficiency progressing? Language proficiency is progressing very well. Although my German grammar is still not 100% perfect but others are able to understand me very well. I do not need to use English anymore, even new words are explained in German. Strangers do not believe that I came to Germany 7 months ago without a word of German. Although my German is relatively good, but there is still much to improve. ROTARY ACTIVITIES: Number of Rotary club meetings attended: 1 (2 in total) Have I attended any Rotary Youth Exchange meetings of conferences? May 2001 in T�bingen Am I receiving my allowance regularly? Yes Amount? DM 120 Has contact been made between my host Rotary club and sponsoring club? No, but perhaps indirectly through the URL of the web site http://www.rc-gmuend.de which I had sent to my sponsoring club the Rotary Club of Tebrau. Am I corresponding regularly with: My family at home? Yes Sponsoring Rotary club? Yes, I have been updating my sposoring club regularly about my progress. How is my relationship with: My host family? Very good My host Rotary club? Very good My fellow students? Extremely good My youth exchange officer? Good, but we do not really keep in touch often My opinions of the programme and how Rotary had changed me Even after about 7 months in this programme, I still find this programme an excellent programme. Like what I had said, this programme had not only benefited myself, but also my family back in Malaysia, my host families in Germany, my classmates and others. And after 7 months in Germany, you don�t learn their culture, language and way of life anymore, you adapt to their culture, speak their language and life their way of life which is to me a great experience which I had never expected. To those who know me, Malaysia is not only Sepang and it F1 races, it is now Malaysia a multi-racial country,a country envied by many and described by some as paradise. Although some still insist that Malaysia is part of China, most of them can already name the neighbours of Malaysia and most of them actually look up information on Malaysia and ask me if their information is true or false. One had even chosed �Tigers of Malaysia� as a topic of their presentation. Earlier they were fascinated Malaysians who can speak many languages and dialects, now they are fascinated by a Malaysian who can speak their language and trying very hard to speak their dialect, �Schw�bisch�. Before coming over to Germany, I had this fear that I might not be accepted by the locals, but now the fear is still there, only that the fear is for the fear of seperation. After using 7 months to build up friendships, you realised that you have only about 4 more months to go before you have to say goodbye, and that is really fearful. You just fear that you last 4 months will just be as fast as the first 7 months! But it is also this programme that helepd me to know more about the true definition of friendship and familyship, not only the Germans but also family members and friends back home. Homesick is never a question as you know that people back home are supporting you and waiting for your return. Giving speeches is now a luxury, you just wait for your chance to give speeches. Although the stage fright factor is still there but the satisfaction after receiving full applause is unexplainable. The only difference now is that you no longer give speeches in English but in German instead. Weirdly, giving a speech in German is easier than giving one in English. After being out of Malaysia for 7 months, I am now braver and calmer than before. Take for instance, my train ride back home from Paris to Germany. The train broke down and all passengers had to board other trains and if it was me before this exchange programme, I would have been panic and might not even make it home, but after being �outside� for so long, you�ll automatically be calmer and braver. With a new, braver and calmer Jo-Han, I managed to arrived home safely although it was an uphill struggle all the way back home. Now I don�t just shout for my parents whenever I am in trouble, but I�ve learnt how to act for myself. In other words, this programme had made me a more independent person than before. Thanks to Rotary for ist wonderful exchange programme and everyone who helped me to be in this wonderful programme where I learned more things in this short period than any other period could have been. Thank you. Reported by : Ng Jo-Han |