Sunday - home!

Hi. Well we are home! Wow, 26 hours flying: a 4.5 hour flight Chicago to LA, a 14.5 hour flight LA to Sydney, and a 3 hour flight Sydney to Chch. And 42 hours in the same clothes! But lovely to see everyone at the airport, great to see the sun and then afternoon tea at Mum and Dad's with everyone. A tea party and photos on the lawn with baby Hannah then after much chatter we sat down to a fab family meal - roast chicken, thanks Mum! - and then to bed about 9.00pm. Now up and about but waiting for luggage that didn't quite make it all the way to chch and trying to tidy up the receipts and paper work, do the washing and generally acclimatise back into life and a busy couple of weeks ahead. As Dad said, so great and exciting to go away, but wonderful to be home.
Thank you all for supporting me and following the GSE Journey. So many wonderful friends and stories to tell. No doubt most of what we've seen and done will sink in when we work on the scrap books!


P.S. The Team Blog is www.gseteam2008tochicago.blogspot.com


Naomi

Friday - Sound bites from our last week

The economy.
In the last ten days of our trip, issues surrounding the economy have really come to the surface, especially with the government’s multi billion dollar pay out, It seems fear has really started to kick in. In our first few weeks, we drove past half finished subdivisions, and empty houses, and we saw for sale signs and mortgagee signs and we talked about it, but it seemed everyday Joe Blogs was unaffected. By this last week the everyday Joe Blogs we were staying with were personally affected! Our hosts, just hours before we left for the airport were inviting their son home for the weekend to talk about his application for medical school. They’d just lost his college fund and he might have to consider applying for a different college now. Another host, her son was about to buy a car. The car yard at the eleventh hour said they were unable to loan any money. Student loans might even be affected for the following semester.
As I sat waiting to go to the airport I read an article about the new homeless. Apparently tens of thousands of Americans are now spending each night sleeping in their cars in covered car parks. One woman stays in her 4WD with her dogs each night, up until a few months ago, she owned two properties, both about $2 million each. She was unable to sell them, and unable to make the $10,000 month mortgage repayments so she declared bankruptcy. Now , while she still has her job and her gym membership, she sleeps at night in her car, gets up goes to the gym in the morning and then to work. Her work mates are unaware of her situation. She is one of about 10others in a similar situation staying each night in the car park.
And then there are the 25,000 foreclosures in Chicago City alone and just in the last few months. And the worst thing is, that its affecting tennants, regular rent paying families, who are getting kicked out of their homes with one hours notice and left sitting with all their belongings on the sidewalk.
As someone in Sector One said, and they were in the real estate industry, ‘History isn’t going to be guide this time’.

All this contraction in the economy just makes the political situation more important.
People I talked to said ‘People are really frightened, what if McCain does get in. He’s not a well man. That could mean Palin becomes President. If Obama doesn’t get in we could be on the brink of civil war. The blacks will be upset, the educated liberals will be upset, those with any intelligence will be up in arms. This is an incredibly important election.'

Apparently Jefferson once said: “Every Election is a mini revolution.”

Thursday - Chicago Stock Exchange

hi y'all. well today was our second to last day in the great city of Chicago but for the most part we didn't think about it much. we were too busy straining our heads to see the top of buildings as we walked along - still very much looking like tourists wth our matching polos and backpacks on! Anyway, great weather, a sunny day and warm and we were driven into the city by our day hosts in order to see the Chicago STock Exchange. This was incredible, not only did we stand and view the trading and have it all explained to us by a wonderful rotarian, but then we were also taken onto the Trading Floor. This was amazing, 70,000 square feet of craziness,paper everyhwerere, people shouting and it takes 10 hours to clean each night. Apparently there are approx 150 trades every third of a second, thats 2 billion trades per year and involves approximately $1000 trillion US dollars!



As i write this one day later, the markets are in free fall across the globe and so who knows what the world will look like in the future. In the hour and a half of trading before we arrived at the Stock Exchange, General Motors stocks fell about 19% and now this mroning Ford shares are the same value as they were in the 1950's! There are stories all around us of college Funds that have disaperared, car loans refused and businesses and families under immense strain. Obama says that now is not the time to be democrat or republican but to be an american and band together.
well as a team we banded tog ether and after the stock exchange we headed to museum of science and industry and toured a german submarine and the biggest model train you've ever seen with a incredible model of the city of chicago. Then dinner as a team by ourselves (our last supper) before going to the comedy 'Second City'. THe political situation was a frequent topic for the evening's comedy. But right now its not a laughing matter.
I'm sitting here writing this wiht my bags all packed, we're going to head off to a shopping mall before heading to the aiport. This action packed wonderful warm and friendly american adventure is coming to a close.

Wednesday

Sorry this is really brief...
Up early for breakfast rotary meeting in another fabulous yacht club.
Then off to Rotary International Headquarters - great fun visiting and seeing the presidents office and taking photos.



then i separated and met wiht the former deputy director of development at Northwestern University. really interesting given northwestern is ranked 13th in the US by endowment.
Then lunch, a quick tour by car of northwestern and i popped into a sorority, then met up again iwht the team and we visited NEw Trier High School - very hgh socio economic school, 95% go to college (university) and many of those are to ivy league colleges.



Then a visit to the baha'i temple - which is the only one in the US and home for a sandwich before heading off to a jazz club in the city which was just fab!

Tuesday

Another slow start which was delicious and then we headed to the west side of the city to see Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity temple building. Wonderful church, very angular and in need of restoration but fabulous to see it and touch it.



Then past the Ernest Hemingway museum and into the Hispanic area of town for a cuban sandwich before visiting an incredibly interesting school. Its a charter school - state funded but now with its own independent charter etc. They ahve recived initital funding to restore buildings and now in thrid year of new school with uniform codes, responsiblity and behaviuoral codes and prime prupose to get students to u iversity. Incredbily well presented studnets and it was an impressive institution. Apparently tehre are 600 shcools in inner city Chicago, 162 High Schools and this charter shcool si ranked 10th in the city!
anyway it was tehn home to one of our host families who hosted a fabulous sit down three course meal around a huge dining table. it was a wonderful night.

Monday

Relaxed start... 9.00am pick up ...practically the afernoon!
And off we went into chicago city and we went first to the Field Museum. We saw Sue the Tyranasurs Rex (sorry about the spelling) this is all written in haste as always.
Two huge stuffed elephants (a little bit creepy) and wondeful egyptian and north american exhibits. Oh, and a couple of meteorites.



that took us till 2.00pm then lunch and the Shedd aquarium. Quite fun watching the fish =, sharks and anaconda!! Then t the World jazz music mart and a wee walk around the city before a pub meal and home. Big day, well walked but great to ahve a day in the city doing tourist things.

Friday and District Conference at the weekend

Up early with bags all packed including additional suitcases.
And off we went to the Naval Academy to watch the graduation ceremony. This was a real treat as this is the only academy in the whole of the US for the entry level training for naval recruits. 936 graduated with a heap of wonderful pomp and pageantry and we witnessed it all from the dias, and apparently graduation occurs every week! It was a neat experience.

Then off we went to Lincolnshire and the Rotary District Conference. Its all a bit of a blur but we joined the Paul Harris Luncheon and then presented in the afternoon and then had pre dinner drinks with the District Governor before sitting down to dinner with the Inbound GSE Team who arrive in NZ from Illinois in April 2009.
Friday evening the kiwis enjoyed wine tasting and swing dance in the Hospitatliy Rooms before finally getting to bed about 2.00am ish.
Saturday was bliss, we wore mufti, , I got my staples out, caught some ZZZZ's, went shopping (oh and how we shopped!) and then got our sparkly outfits on for the banquet dinner. Oh and by gosh there was dancing!! Some latin dancers taught us salsa and meringue and swept us off our feet and we finally got to bed about 2.00am ish!
Up early Sunday and Cheryl and I went to Willowcreek this mega church in the area. Its 33 years old, and it was a fantstic experience. Normally a congregation of 7000, the 9.00am service was only 4500 (!), and included a full rock band, 11 piece orchestra and afterwards you could get lunch in the food hall or return to your car (one of 1500 parked outside). Actually although it was a wonderful service and suprisingly personal for something so big.




This afternoon, Wayne, Brent and I got to meet Dan Seals, a Democrat Congressman trying for office and a close colleague of Barack Obama. There is a huge amount of support in this area for Obama and gosh its going to be interesting to see whats going to happen at the elections.



This evening, i met my host for the week, we've had a quick meal and i'm off to bed now before another busy week begins. This time though, it is our last week and all of a sudden we feel like we want everything to slow down as we don't want this great trip to end and we definitely won't want to say goodbye to the wonderful friends we've met.

Thursday - phew!

Up early for another breakfast Rotary meeting, but in fab venue. the most superb yacht club you can imagine, and the biggest on the lake i think i was told. Also, a native american indian had been invited to speak with us, he is from the Potowotamie Nation whihc is local to this area. Then back into the bus and we were off to a brand new specialist high school whihc has been open 5 weeks. Specialised in project based learning and it was quite interesting and made the other educationalists amongst us reflect quite positively on what we are already doing in that area in the NZ curriculum. Then back onto the bus and off to another ratary lunch meeting but this time wiht full presenation and thge club of our own host families etc. We had thansgiving meal - turrkey follwed by pumpkin pie and we were presented wiht a huge goodie bag and a beautiful book of Chicago. The generosity is overwhleming.
Then not time to dilly dally, we were off for a golf lesson wiht a pro. Sad to say, theat folloiwng the lesson my golf took a sharp decline and i had a rather sad and dismal success rate in our game, but it was fun nonetheless and great to be in the fresh air, and the head was fine too which was great.
Then.... finally home to our host families and this time by about 6.00pm. I have had a beautiful meal, and we curled up and watched the vice presidential debates on tv (along wiht 69.9 million other americans)and ahd a Black Cow each (thats root beer with icecream!). A lovely wee respite before repacking the suitcase for tomoorrows 7.00am start!!!

Wednesday

Well there is no time to sleep in this sector of the journey. It was up at five am to be ready to leave the hosue at six for another breakfast Rotary meeting, i think we're all doing quite well to sing the national anthem that early in the morning!
Then off to a local accounting firm after which, i separated from the group and was taken to the train station by one of our hosts. i caught the train back into chicago city and then a cab to Roosevelt university where i met with their development director. it was a great meeting, and afterwards i took myself on a self guided tour of the uni - well that building anyway. Great views of the lake and a wonderful victorian staircase and stained glass windows. Then , becuase I could, i took a cab to the Oprah Winfrey STudios and shop.




The shop was nothing much, but I was just in time to see everyone come out of the show and i stood talking to alady as i waited for a taxi. We eneded up sharing the cab into the city and heard all about the show. A wee stroll up Michigan AVe while i waited for the others who were at athe Botanic Gardens, then a taxi to the Mexican Restaurant where we met up.
Then...... we headed to the Goodman Theatre and saw a wonderful wee musical aobut ELvis, jerry Lee Louis and some other 1950's rock and rollers. Great music!
Home by 10.30 ish and starght to bed in readiness for another 5.00am start.

Tuesday ?? Was it?

This week has been just a blur but it is coming to an end and it will be sad to say goodby once again to our host families and our hosts for each day.
Tuesday:
We visited a high school technology campus - interesting, all the high schools in the area send their students to the tech campus for the vocational subjects like chef training, automotive etc.
Then Rotary lunch
Then we visited an elementary school and each went to a separate classroom and read a kiwi book to the kids. It was heaps of fun, most of the children are hispanic in this area and they loved that the Maori vowels are the same as spanish. they sang me the vowel song so i had to sing a waiata in return - solo! Very cool kids!





Then a tour of the local theatre that has been restored
Then we all headed off to the Methodist Church to feed the hungry. The team cooked rice and measured out drinks and served the crowd. They all loved the funny way we talked.
Then after changing in the loos and the van we headed off to the Yacht club to have dinner with the mayor, and finally home to bed

Well every sector is very different, this one being no exception. we are on a hugely busy schedule here, every fifteen minutes is allocated. Its just about 9.00pm here i've just got home and this will be my earliest night till thursday when i once again get time wiht my host family. Crazy! Good news is though we got to go to a ball game this afternoon, amazing. The chicago white sox playing the detroit tigers. we had to leave early to get back for our evening function but it was outstanding nonetheless to see a big game and we got on telly waving our new zealand flag!
Of course the congress decision today is huge and the ramifications are incredible. we are seeing signs of empty housees, for sale signs and half dveloped subdivisions. Mostly we are too busy during the day to hear much about it but when you have time wiht your hosts to ask what is happening you realise just what a big deal this is.

Saturday and Sunday

Up and packed again and repacked and repacked again into a second bag. Its riduclous the suitcase is meant to be getting lighter not heavier! then we all met at the train station and were driven into chicago city for a bit of down time. we stayed at a hotel in the central city and enjoyed a picnic in millenium park looking at the 'bean'. then the boys headed off for a boys tour of the city - this apparently included a tour of the art gallery and the library and a tour on the free tram, so we were most impressed. the girls headed of down michigan ave and found a few shops but we were pretty restrained, also the cultural centre and then we took a tour on the free tram aswell which included Navy Pier.
Back t the hotel to change and then dinner and then WICKED, which is a resonably new musical about the the wicked witches of oz - set in time before the story of the wizard of oz - and it was fabulous.
Then onto a sports bar and some pool with Cath - a GSE ALumnus who hosted us in her fair city.
A late night followed by an early morning start so we could make it to Waukegan MArina to go sailing. FAb drive with our host through some of the most expensive real estate and one of most exclusive post codes in the US. Also went past Northwester university and some frat houses - cool!





THe boat - a Catalina 42 Mk 11 2009 (!) was absolutely beautiful, sparkly new. Unfortunately we didn't go sailing though, a bit of a chop and wind and ominous clouds but our host was wonderful. we relaxed in the cockpit and then he cooked us BBQ lunch and we chilled out before being picked up by our new host families.
( MEntal note - lake Michigan is HUGE - takes three days to sail to the top part which is the annual MAch race. ITs crazy big and can turn to chop quickly.)



SO now i'm wiht my new host family and its been a wonderful afternoon so far. They organised for me to meet ith a Headmaster of a local private school with both boarding and day students. Beautiful campus with its own ice rink, and he was very generous wiht his time and i downloaded heaps of information. Similar size instittuion and age but crazy differnt scale of philanthropy.

THen on the way home we visited a supermarket, checked out US food and confectionary. Unbeleievable the cereals etc. Have got the major food groups covered now, we bought home new peanut butter flavoured M &M's, ice cream, root beer and candy. Yum!!

We are having a relaxing evening tonight, dining at home and might get to watch some american telly and chill before busy week ahead.
The head is doing well, i'm sporting a really bad hair day - the antiseptic cream looks like i've got really greasy hair and that a bird flew past with a wee deposit but apart from that its alright. I've been brave enough to have a closer inspection of the staples and they are literally metal staples!
Its not surprising that i set the store alarm off when i left the shoe shop yesterday!!

Friday 26th

well yesterday went pretty well and was a relaxing day in the end.
I joined the team at a lunchtime Rotary meeting where we all introduced themselves and tehn we went on a tour of a local YMCA. I missed out on the tour of the local library that morning as i just took it easy for a bit and did Kate and my washing (we were staying with the same hosts) instead. Anyway after YMCA tour our hosts for the day kindly took us to a local icecream parlour adn we went and sat by Lake Zurich and chilled out before heading to our evening function. This was an informal barbeque with the Rotarians and was a lovely relaxed evening and not too late. Super hospitality and kindness.
Did a bit of packing and had a good sleep and missed being visited by a skunk although i could 'sense' his presence. stinky!

thursday 25th and a wee bit of drama

thurdsya morning up at 5.45 to be ready in tme and at a breakfast meeting at seven. presented then off to meet a directtor of a foundation. interstingly a foundation for an education district, raiisng funds for elementray and high schools and totlay volunteers.
then to Barriington shcool, a great exampleof a v=really good high school, 3000 students but excellent facilities, a gymnasium just like in the movies and the band was having band practice for the football game at the weekend!
then quickly into the cars and off for lunch and then into the city to see a historic music museum specialising in folk music. well unfortunatelky i grabbed my bag out fo the back of the van as another team member was closing the van door wiht the end result that the door came down on my head. i tumbled to the ground but was ok - but wasn't really. i know head injuries bleed a lot so i wasn't too stressed but we decided to get it checked out anywya. this was agood call becuase it needed stitches and so i am now sporting 6 staples in my head (seriously they ar metal staples inserted with a staple gun) and they need to come out in 8-10 days. so anyway we took photos, the doctor was most obliging, and then met back up with the team about 6.00pm. we then heddaded off to our eveing function and spoke briefly aobut ourselves, i managed to sit and talk to bpeople mostly whcih was good, and then came home by about 10.00 ahving been pulled over by police first (they were also very happy to ahve their photo taken). so a bit of abig day, cheryl the team leaer was amazing and i'm having this mroning off and just taking it easy. presentation again at lunch time and i'll see how im doing but will probably hang out with team this afternoon before another functionnthis evening.

wed 24th

Another big day but one that proved really interesting. Actually we had our first sleep in for awhile and all met up at 10.00am, nice to begin with a slow start. we all went to Pioneer Press, a big weekly community paper and one of many. Interessting meeting the journalists and tlaking about an award winning story on homelessness that they ran, which involved one of their senior reporters living on the streets.
Mexican for lunch and then we went to the Daily Herald. a large chicago land newspaper with a delivery circulation of 145,000, our guide was 4th generation vice president. Dad, i took heasp of photos as there was the biggest offset press you have ever ever seen, cost $50 million, is three stories high. The black in tanks contain 5400 galllons of ink!

Tuesday 23rd

Up early for our Rotary Breakfast presentation and then a lovely stroll around the village. Its gearing up for Halloween over here so lots of fab decorations.



A visit to the Volo car museum was great, heaps and heaps of american cars (and a grass snake under one vehicle caused some excitement) was followed by Chicago hot dog for lunch and a visit to a hospital near by. Pretty lucky to see right inside A & E department and Cardiac unit, impressive although everyone is pretty envious of our health system.
A relaxing evening with our hosts which is fab.

Monday 22nd

Monday morning and after visiting McHenry Community College, we had a bit of time as a team to work on our presentation and then back home to our families to pack and say farewell. Our presenation went really well and it was a super way to say thank you to everyone for having us. then we were introduced to our new hosts and off we went to our new homes.....

Sunday 21st Chicago City

wow, what a great amazing fantastic wicked day out. the team and our respective host families all met at the train station and headed to chicago city for the day - about an hour and a half trip. the train was full of chicago bears and cubs fans all in their coloured gear. the cubs won theri league (or something) for the first time in 100 years on saturday and so broke their curse!
Firstly lunch in Billy Goats original burger place - surrounded by black and white and yellowed sproting pictures and with staff yelling "Cheeseborger, cheeseborger, cheeseborger!!"
Then a boat trip on the rier and out to the lake and wiht a commentary on the architecture. we were all swivelling our heads 360 degrees, fantastic buildings and now they're desgning Super Tall buildings!
The lake is enormous, we couldnt even see the horzion from the 96th floor of the Hancock building where i had a skyscraper cocktail - whcih is what you do of course!
I absolutely loved millenium park and the public sculpture 'the bean', its fantastic and magic how everyone young and old engages with it.
a great day and home on the train and straight to sleep!

Sat 20th

Well its the weekend! to summarise.... I'm staying with a lovely family in the country. we are surrounded by corn fields and soya bean fields. Friday night we had a birthday tea for my host's birthday. Saturday i was taken on a bike ride...wahoo!! Four hours on a harley davidson, so much fun. (shirolee, it was magic!) We had breakfast in this country cafe, then drove to a nuclear power station, then followed the river home. i now know the secret harley davidson wave - heaps of bikers out for the day. Nobody wears a helmet which is ridiculous but don't worry mum i did!



then back home to get the family and we all headed off to Lake Geneva - which is actually interstate in Wisconsin - so that was cool. Beautiful lake, similar size to Lake Taupo, but huge massive houses. we took a boat tour and saw the Wrigley estate which is made up of 6 or 7 large residences and which has an Arabian Horse Farm and Polo grounds behind it. we also had a look at some of the visiting circus carriages on display and finished up with Mexican dinner which was great.

Friday 19th

up at 6.45 to walk with Marcos to the bus stop and see him get on one of those yellow school buses. then left home at 8.00 in the 4WD to beback at the police station by 8.30. We then drove to woodstock and visited the challenge centre. this place is really cool, its simulated mission control and space control for the space shuttle challenger and school groups come in and run mission to launch a satellite into a comet and record data. Very very cool and would be a great corporate event!
then we visited the market square - famous for being in groundhog day, then a tour of the jail house which is haunted. Very spooky when a white blue showed up i our photographs. Lunch and then we visited the chase bank and learnt about their drive through ATM money machines etc. Briefly popped into the harley davidson mega store (eat your heart out shirolee) then onto a meet an investment banker dude and we talked all about what is happening in the US markets at the moment etc. So interesting, what an incredible time to visit. I'll tell you more about this in another log but heres a thought.... most Americans have on average 5-6 credit cards and carry about $17,000 debt each. Then back to Police department, picked up, off home past more gorgeous red bans and silos and dinner with both sets of grandparents.
.... right i'm off to go for a ride on a harley and visit a nuclear power plant. Gorgeous sunny day...
Hope you are all ok, much love...

Thursday 18th

So packed up the night before and repacked in the morning. said farewell to my wee room and lucy drove me to Marks house where the team got ready to go again. Denny and Linda drove us for about 40 mins to LAke in the Hills (a wee town like Blenheim) Police Department where we met our new host. He is a chief of police and showed us around the police department which was really interesting.





Then we we got into the cars - one was the chief's mufti police car - and the other a 2006 Mustang and headed off to an elementary school (primary school). We visted a class which was grade 3 (about 7 years old) and told them all about new zealand and how we have christmas in the summer.

Then we had got lunch from teh school cfeteria including a plastic tray and chocolate milk just like in american story books, then we presented to another three classes. it was very cool to see inside a US school and to meet and chat to the kids.







Finally back to the police, i was picked up by Ron my new host father in the biggest 4Wd you've ever seen (8.6 litre engine and to think i downsized from a 3 litre!!) and headed home. The drive home takes about half an hour and they live right in th middle of th cornfields ina log cabin styled home. AFter arriving we went out to dinner at wild west styled restaurant complete with full size stuffed bison on display - it shoulder blades are taller than me.

Update - firstly wed 17th

HI all, well its been a busy few days (written sat 20th) so i haven't had the opportunity to update the blog recently let alone upload some photos but here is a wee summary of what i've been up to. If i get interrupted its because I'm off on a ride on a harley davidson!!
Wednesday 17th
up early (had a good sleep finally but still fighting sore throat and headache) and did some computer stuff and some washing down in the basement at Bob and Lucy's.
9.00 Met the team at Caribou Coffee
Worked on our presentation - the power point that Wayne did is so sharp.
Afterwards there was a little bit of time to wander around shops, visited a US post office and got stamps for postcards (which still haven't had time to write or post yet sorry), also checked out an antique shop then we were on the road...

ANd off to the Settlers Hill golf course. It was a great day, Uncle Bruce would have been proud of me. Didn't do too badly,m there were a few moments when i didn't do that great either but my playing partners Bruce and Mark made a rule that none of us would get double digits in a shot. FAb sun, and this week cart drove round and we bought a root beer then decided to hang up our clubs after nine holes.
Then onto the rotary club for a 'cook out (BBQ) and the biggest steak you have EVER seen. We did our presentation for the first time and we rocked, it was great and so lovely to share our country with our super generous and wonderful hosts.

Obama vs McCain - the great debate in soundbites

So, anyway after getting home from Starved Rock i went out for dinner with my host and her friend from chicago. we had a lovely meal - although i had dolphin apparently - and most importantly we had a great discussion. As you are all probably aware the american economy has experienced a few jolts in the last couple of days. There hasn't really been the opportunity to talk about it much, i haven't seen any TV news or read any papers. Our hosts during the day haven't mentioned it much but in their own words 'they're still pretty much in shock'.
It has been interesting arriving here from NZ where we are all consciously aware and watching our spending at the moment. Here, it is definitely the land of wide streets, big cars, big fridges, upsizing and convenience. And not in a greedy way but in a generous big portioned and comfort seeking way.Also, of course, the whole country is in a holding pattern waiting and watching and listening to the election noise.
So us three ladies had this big chat, and here are the sound bites....

Firstly about fundraising....
(My thoughts)...Its not that Americans are more comfortable talking about money but rather that the culture is that they expect to give philanthropically its just a matter of choosing the right project at the right time.
"People must be connected to the institution or project"
"They need to get something back"
" They need to feel important and needed"
'And need to feel that whatever they give has an inpact"

On 9-11
'Life hasn't changed but we're more fearful.'

On politics (and fundraising)....
'Obama asked everyone to give $5, now they've invested in him, therefore they want to vote. They're a part of it".

We don't research and fully read what politicians say, nor is the information available.'We don't have a long attention span, we making decisions based on sound bites'.

'Unemployment is at 6.1%, inflation is high, there is 0% gross domestic , an expensive war, the republican party is shrinking... so why isn't this a landslide victory to the democrats?'

On Politics and marketing....
Does Obama have consumer fatigue? Have we seen so much of him that we're tired and want a change?

And finally what my hosts didn't want me to write down, because that would mean its on record....
Why didn't Hillary win? It seems, and my hosts were uncomfortable to admit this, that USA was more ready to accept a black president than a female one.

Tuesday 16th - Visit to Starved Rock

Well yesterday was fantastic! So much to tell you and so much that was learnt so forgive me for bullet pointing some of it.
Firstly, early morning start, I was picked up at 6.50 for Rotary breakfast. Great group of rotarians and we sang the NZ national anthem in Maori and English and actually we weren't bad for that hour of the morning! And finally the sun was out and a bit of dew on the grass so fall is on its way.
Then we headed of with our host Mark, to kill time for an hour before the rotary district governor - Pam- joined us. It turns out that Mark and his family lived in the Frank Lloyd Wright house for 5 years!! So he took us there and explained the lay out and why he called it Frank Lloyd Wrong! Very cool architect apparently but not so brilliant engineer. Still it is a special house and noted for being low and horizontal just like the American prairie and with a hip roof (4 triangles). But also with an overhang that doesn't allow light, internal guttering so lots of damp, and a complimentary ant colony. Anyway Mark was responsible for lots of the restoration but now lives back in his own family home built in 1840, and this year is living there for his 50th year. Oh, and a tornado siren went off, as it does every tuesday morning at 10.00am I'm told.
So then we hit the road on our way to Starved Rock State Park. - A glacial formed huge rock that is the only high point on the flat landscape and where a tribe of native Indians defended and remained till they starved to death. Lots of detours due to the flooded roads etc. We had a wonderful lunch in a big log cabin restaurant built in the 1930's and then 'hiked' to the rock. Afterward we watched the video and visited the museum.

On the way driving and talking etc and passing huge corn fields, I noted these facts and figures:
*The area around where we were driving Ottawa, Illinois etc is one of three largest
water reserves in the world.

*Rail - we passed one of the two busiest tracks in the state (country ?), it has 150 trains a day, each with over 250 cars.

*Fuel is $4.15 gallon

*We passed pumpkins and scarecrows and red barns and silver silos

*There are 11 nuclear power plants in the state
mostly built in the 1970's before they fully understood it would take 10,000 years to break down the waste.

*US has more coal than Iraq has oil but needs the technology to reduce emissions in order to use it.

*Illinois is known as the world's bread basket - it has topsoil 8-12 feet deep.

*average farm size was 80 acres, now 900 acres!

*Ave income in Batavia - suburb where I'm staying - is $5-50,000, Houses are $300,000.

*Abraham Lincoln made world famous 'Gutenberg Address' in Ottawa, a town we passed through.

* $1000 is spent on health insurance for every new vehicle built by GMC in the US.

*40% of US truck drivers are women.

*The area of Illinois that I'm in, is home of Caterpillar, McDonalds, Boeing, and Sara-Lee.

*The Illinois River was really really really flooded.

*I saw two raccoon road kill, about seven squirrels, one chipmunk and one buzzard.

Monday 15th - Visit to IMSA

So today we met at Caribou Coffee at 7.45 and headed off to see IMSA Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy or something like that for gifted children. Very very cool slick institution. I spoke to the head of Student Life all about the residential side of the halls and most importantly spent time with their Director of Development - very cool. Their school is only 22 years old, and so oldest alumni is only late thirties but the students are well placed into the universities here including the Ivy League colleges so their alumni are already doing amazing things.
Visit the GSE Team Blog site for some more info on our site visit, but the other highlight was meeting Dr Leon Leddderman a Nobel prize winner. He met Albert Einstein when he was younger, he said it was a long time ago. In fact he said he was so old he can remember when the Dead Sea was the Sick Sea!!

Then on way home Cheryl and i got to see Fermilab pictured below. Centre for national acccelerator laboratory of something like that ... sends those neuron thingees round at high speed in a four mile radius in the 1970's like what they're doing in switzerland on a bigger scale. Anyway they ahve a prarie reconstruction thingee wiht buffalo too and that was also cool. Ugly beasts though they may be.





Anyway i was home by 5.0 and Lucy (host mother) and i went for a walk around the neighbourhood and here are some of the houses including a Frank Lloyd Wright one around the corner!!!!

Day Two - Sunday 14th

Well it is still raining and the river is really high and some streets are blocked off. But it didn't stop my host mother Lucy and i going for a walk. It was still really humid so we just wore big ponchos and went for a walk around this big (huge) corn field. It did feel like the mid west you see in movies, with dark moody grey skies. Apparently yesterday Batavia (the suburb i'm in) was on Tornado Watch. Great!! Actually i'm told that just means low grade warning, keep an eye out, the conditions are suitable. Cool! As per usual Naomi style, i was convinced i saw about four tornadoes forming that morning. Anyway i also saw about thirty yellow school buses all parked up and a toad. Then Lucy and i raced back home, quick shower and off i went to church. To the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva, Illinois. Geneva is the next suburb, and the church was a cute wee colonial style weatherboard church with geraniums outside and white washed pews with dark oak accents. (i liked the furnishings). The sermon was interesting... 'Do you believe in God?.... 'Please define your terms'. Anyway then off to Caribou Cafe - a bit like starbucks - and i met with the rest of the team and off we headed to the big city of Chicago!!! I guess it was a bit like driving from north of auckland to the central city. Except six lane highways of course, cars on the wrong side of the road and lots of heavy rain thanks to the tail end of hurricane Ike! All of a sudden there were tall building (like REALLY tall), the Sears tower was still in cloud and there we were outside the theatre to see Jersey Boys. THis is a musical about Frankie Valley and the four seasons. It was wonderful, the theatre was beuautiful, lots of gilt celings and the music was MAGIC. It really was super and our hosts Denny and Linda were so wonderful. AFterwards we went for dinner at a pizza house with Nick their son who played guitar and mandolin for the show from the music pit. AFter dinner a wee walk on Michigan Ave, we caught a glimpse of 'The Bean' this giant sculpture in Millenium Park and then it was time to go home......

Day One - Saturday 13th

Well after breakfast and hanging out with the family in our pyjamas and playing with Buoy the family dog - a big black portuguese water dog - i then had a wee mid morning nap. Sarah went to dance class and then Sam and i had a look at haka videos etc on Youtube. Then.... Coco arrived, she's a wee puppy, same breed but about 10 weeks old. Very cool. So we had lunch together and then i was picked up by Mary and taken to Don's house. Don was hosting the St Charles Rotary Alumni party - in a small mansion. So everybody met the new zealanders and i did a small obama vs mccain poll, which also took into account bumper stickers and signs on front lawns. So far its 5 to 3 in favour of Obama. The GSE team and some brave americans played ping pong downstairs in the basement - which was nearly the size of my house sitting house. From this party we were then taken to a welcome party at Don C's house. We were formally introduced and we all said a bit about each other and performed our first waiata. It was very relaxing and we met some wonderful generous and welcoming people. But it was great to get home to bed and chill out, pity that wee puppy coco had different ideas. She was a bit bereft wthout her litter mates so i had a wee chat to her at one point and encouraged her to go back to sleep!

Arrival in Batavia, Chicago

Hi y'all,
well I'm here and we have all arrived safely. three of us met in christchurch and then we all met up in auckland which was great. No matter how you wrap it up though it was still a big trip and we were all a bit over it by the time we got to chicago. Although it was only a 12 hour flight and then a four hour one, its still about 26 hours travelling. Having started with a whinge, we were so lucky! On both legs we were well seated with gaps in between the seats so we could spread out and sleep. And flying from LA we flew over nevada, nebraska and idaho and saw some pretty cool sights including (we think) the Grand Canyon. We were delayed a bit so arrived in chicago at 11.00pm which was pretty late for our hosts. I'm staying with Lucy and Bob, and their children Sam (9) and Sarah (12). Its lovely being in a family home, and i went to sleep listening to rain. This morning, I woke up to thunder and lightening and now there is water in their basement. The children have sport etc this morning and then this afternoon we have a welcome party with the rotary families etc so that will be fun. Wahoo... let the fun begin.

Build up... the week before ... in brief!!

well jst to summarise the week building up to USA take off...
Saturday 6th - Shifted out of house sitting, long day but got everything done
Sunday 7th - Dunedin - there and back for baby Hannah's naming ceremony, lovely ceremony. Kind of lost it at the end, a bit emotional and 4 weeks hard work caught up with me.
Monday 8th - up at three, at airport at four, flight at six, at melobourne at eight (or something). worked on presentation most of day, alumni reception that night, back to hotel at 9.00, bed by ten. Just a 21 hour day (or something like that)
Tuesday 9th - up at six, taxi at seven, flight at 8.30, sydney at 10.30, restaurant by 11.30 (or something), lunch with alumni, finished at 3.00,airport by 4.00 flight at 5.00, brisbane by 6.30 (or something) worked on presentation till nine and finally bed.
Wednesday 10th - up at 6.00, breakfast at 7.00, conference registration at 8.00, opening speaker at 8.45. Visited Rob ware, andrea and baby lawrence at 6.00, bakc to hotel at 8.00 (or something) and straight to bed.
Thursday 11th - up at 7.30, breakfast at 8.30, worked on presentation, to conference, presentation at 11.00 (which went really well or something), lunch wiht conference guests, taxi to hote, taxi to airport, 4.00pm check in, 6.00 flight and 11.30 pm arrival, 12.00pm midnight home (or something like that!)
Friday 12th - up early , washing in machine, packing, breakfast with mum, packing, cuddles with baby hannah, re packing with assistance from becks, phone call with anna, dad home from work, 1.00pm airport, met with other team members.....check in!!!!