| Rotary International Youth Exchange Student Year 2001 Ng Jo-Han, Sponsored by The Rotary Club of Tebrau, District 3310 Date : 11 August 2001 Host Country : Germany Host Club : Rotary Club of Schw�bisch Gm�nd , District 1830 Report for the second term - The second four months with my first host family My first host family. Introduction to my first host family. Name : Messner Members : Dad - Willy Messner Mum - Ursula Messner Brother - Tobias Messner - Daniel Messner My host father is Willy Messner. He�s a director of a big company in Schw�bisch Gm�nd. Besides being a Rotarian in the Rotary Club of Schw�bisch Gm�nd, he is also the club�s �Webmaster�. Like my first host father, Dr. Eberhard Kienzle, he has a great sense of humour too and also always take the trouble to explain everything which is strange to me. Although he works a lot, he always has time to do a little gardening which is probably his top hobby. He has a magical touch for plants which I supposed was developed during his childhood days in the farm in Trossingen. Besides gardening, his other hobby is renovating and furniture making. He has a great workshop in the basement of the house. I�ve also learnt a lot about creating Internet website from him. Mama Ursel (Ursula Messner) is an extremely patient host mum who will explain everything to you till the last bit of detail. She can claim most of the credits for my German language ability. It was her patient style of speaking that enable me to learn my German language that well. Her ability most probably came from her profession. She is a teacher in primary school in Ruppertshofen. Talking about being a great teacher, she is definitely one. We usually worked together in her classworks. We always discussed about ways to improve and decorate her class. Our last few project was the report book, new students enrollment letter and also the decorations for her new class. Tobias is the eldest son of the Messner family. He is currently in Freiburg studying. He hopes to be a �Gymnasium� teacher when he graduates. As he is only at home during long holidays, I seldom get to see him but he is a real nice guy. Daniel will be 19 in November 2001. He was an Rotary International Youth Exchange Student sponsored by the Rotary Club of Schw�bisch Gm�nd to Mexico. He just completed his term in July 2001. He studies in the same school as me, the Roseenstein Gymnasium, Heubach and will be in my class for the 2001/02 school year. My School Rosenstein-Gymnasium Heubach Rosenstein Gymnasium , Heubach is still my school for my exchange year. But unlike my earlier days in the �Gymnasium�, I am now an active student there, no longer �the boy who sit for five hours in school everyday�. Now I am able to participate in most subjects. School still starts at 7:30 a.m. and I still miss afternoon classes (except for July) as my German course is scheduled in afternoon. Classmates are still ever helpful and even friendlier now after 7 months with them. Gone were the days of communicating in English, now we only speak in Deutsch .(German) Going to school now is a luxury instead of a struggle in the past because I no longer had to wait for bus early in the morning in the cold winter morning. About school lessons, I must say, it is getting much better now. I used to be only able to understand subjects like Mathematics and Physics which required very little language. (and of course English) But it is not the case anymore. Now I participate strongly in every subject except for German and French which is beyond my ability. You don�t expect me to write a test in German with only 4 months of German course while the others had at least 17 years of German language in them. I am also unable to write test in French because I have no basic in French while the others had 5 years of French language knowledge with them. English and History remained as my best subjects. My �Natur� or �triple science� (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) subjects are quite good too, and sometimes I do surprise the teacher with my test results .Other subjects like Geography, Politics and Art are getting well too. And after a rather serious attempt to do well in school, I was rewarded with a �Report Book� after I had a talk with the school director and secretary. (Also after showing them prove of my examination papers which I�ve taken for the whole semester). So this is my results : (Note 1 is the best while Note 6 is the worst) English : Note 1 History : Note 1 Religion : Note 2 Chemistry : Note 2 Biology : Note 2 Art : Note 2 Geography : Note 3 Politics : Note 3 Physics : Note 3 Mathematics : Note 4 Average : Note 2.3 (a very good results) Missed out on a certificate. Students with an average Note 2.2 or lower (better) qualify for the school�s certificate. To qualify to the next school year on merit (or to avoid having to repeat that particular year), one must score an average of Note 4.0 or lower. Finally end of a full semester in a German High School, the Gymnasium. Also proud to say that I have one of the best attending record, as I had only missed one day of school and that was also because I had a Rotary programme that school day. Rotary Club of Schw�bisch Gm�nd Club Chronicles The club was founded during a meeting on the 19th of July 1961. Their first official meeting involving the 23 founding member was on the 27th of July 1961. In the year 1966, they form a partnership or regard RC Belfort-Montb�liard, France as their �Friendship Club�. And in 1977, RC Siena-Est, Italy became their second partnership club. In 1986, the club celebrated their 25th Annivessary. Latest News (May - August 2001) Rotary District Conference for District 1830 was held in T�bingen on the 19th of May 2001. A couple of Rotarian and three exchange students from the Rotary Club of Schw�bisch Gm�nd participate in that conference. 19th of May 2001 was also the day the president (at that time) , Dr. Dieter R�sch had his �Pr�sidentseinladung� (President�s Invitation) Kurt von Niessen took over Presidentship from Dr. Dieter R�sch since the 27th of May 2001. 59 people from the club (including wives) and 13 guests from Montb�liard, France participated in a trip to Berlin for three days from 22nd till 24th of June 2001. District Governor Rueger, Esslingen visited the club on 19th of July 2001. From the 6th till the 10th of August 2001 was the club�s annual �Ausschw�rmmeeting�. Rtn. Scheide officially joined the Rotary Club of Schw�bisch Gm�nd from RC Schleiz while Rtn. Muchtar AlGhusain transfered to RC Hannover-Ballhof and Rtn. Treier had transfered to RC Ludwigsburg-Backnang. Other update include the grounding of a new Rotaract club in east of W�rttemberg which will have their meeting every even Sundaaay at 17:00 in �Stelzer� in Aalen. Project 2001 / 2002 News on the project the club will undertake this Rotary year is still not yet released on the official website. Rotary International Youth Exchange Programme For year 2001/2002 there will be four inbound exchange students and five outbound exchange students ( including me ,although I only have about four months left) The four outbounds are : Alexandra Kienzle - Baja California / Mexico Tina H�rmann - Venezuala Nadja Gr�fe - Ohio / USA Carolin Fiehm - Arkansas / USA There is also a short-term outbound exchange student, Tina Aigner to California for the summer holidays. Contact List President Kurt von Niessen Tel. 07171/75158 Fax 07171/72737 e-mail:[email protected] Vice President Dr. med. vet. Stephan Gaebler Tel. 07171/84143 Fax 07171/84143 e-mail: [email protected] Secretary Dr. Eberhard Kienzle Sonnenrainweg 2 73563 M�gglingen Tel. 07174/6095 Fax 07171/6051522 e-mail: [email protected] Introduction of Bargau Bargau, a small town or village which belongs to Schw�bisch Gm�nd. Although Bargau belonged to Schw�bisch Gm�nd and uses the postcode from Schw�bisch Gm�nd, but weirdly the telephone code number is not of Schw�bisch Gm�nd but rather of another town nearby, Heubach. Bargau is situated about 54 Kilometres away from Stuttgart. The population is only about 3000 people. Like in M�gglingen (my first town), people here are really friendly and everybody seems to know each other. Although farms can be seen, it doesn�t mean that the infrastructure here is imcomplete. Besides a train station, Bargau has nearly everything M�gglingen has, for instance a kindergarten, primary school,administration office, church, cemetery, sport field, sport place and others. Commuting with the bus is much more convenient here in Bargau. Buses come regularly and in lager number which means we do not need to wait for a long time for a bus unlike in other towns. It seems that, since May there had been festivals every week. It is not wrong to say that Bargauers (people who live in Bargau) organise a grand festival every weekend. It seems to me that, Bargauers are a very close knitted community. Like any other part in the Schawben region, people here speaks �Schw�bisch� (dialect) instead of the �hochdeutsch� that we learnt in school. And unlike any other dialects, �Schw�bisch� is really difficult to understand for foreigners. I can understand Baddisch/Allemanisch (another dialect) better than I can understand �Schw�bisch�. As the state is called Baden-W�rttemberg , it clearly shows that it is a combination of two different states , Baden and W�rttemberg. Therefore identities are important here as to where they belong to and speaking the dialect is enough to prove their identities. Crime rate is really low and fences are only �decorations� without any protective uses. One can afford to leave their front door open for the whole day without worrying about break-in by robbers or thieves. German Course I had completed the �DaF Intensiv 1� course (German as foreign language Intensive 1) after 90 days of lessons at the Volkshochschule (VHS) situated in the Unipark of the University of Maryland, Schw�bisch Gm�nd. It started on the 12th of February and ended on the 28th of June 2001. The official number of people in the course were uncertain as there were new coursemates from time to time and most of them who had paid for the course decided not to attend the course anymore. Even though we had a relatively cramped class at the beginning, there were only about 8-9 students left towards the end of the course. Since the beginning towards the end, I was the youngest in the group but that wasn�t a disadvantage for me, instead I was one of the high flying student in the group. Towards the end, it was more to speaking the language rather than learnning the grammatical rules which is dreadful for most of them but was a nice change for me as I prefer speaking and acting out a scene than writing out from a board. My language course for Intensive 1 was held every weekdays from 2 to 5 p.m. It is still not too clear when the second part of the course (Intensiv 2) will start but I will be continuing what I had begun in �Intensiv 1� with the same lecturers (Frau Valentina and Frau Alexandra) in September 2001. 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. 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 |