Germany District Convention

This blog is written by Mark Eisinger, the President of Civitan International for the year October, 2009 to September, 2010. I chronicle the times, travels, stories, ideas for service projects, fellowship and knowledge. Come back often and I will alert you to updates if you follow me via www.twitter.com/civimark and/or www.facebook.com/civimark. Previous Blogs are available, please see panel on the right. I encourage you to read "Cancun Rocks", a blog about Cassi and my preview visit to Cancun in preparation of the 2010 Civitan International Convention September 3-6, 2010. www.civitan.org More information for the Cancun Convention now available at http://www.civitan.com/template.php?t=sr&id=43.

Travel From Hungary to the Germany District Convention

The drive through pastures and hills reminded me of the Midwestern United States, there were many windmills, similar to the ones I saw in Indiana only weeks ago. It was very rainy, windy and cool. We drove through Budapest and John described that we were on the Buda side and we would cross the Danube River and be on the Pest side. We stopped high above the Danube so we would see the huge Parliament across the river. There was a beautiful cathedral, statues and square. We stopped in a couple of shops, but the rain pushed us back into the car to continue our journey.

We arrived in Gyor around 2:00pm. We checked in to our Hotel Kloister, a building built in the 1700’s that had been a church with a convent, a prison and a shelter for homeless, before becoming a quaint hotel in 1986. We wanted to get something light to eat. We explored the squares with many shops closed for Sunday. We had a light lunch at McDonalds (can you believe it?).

Then, the rain pushed us back to the hotel where we finally had some downtime to snooze or read a book. Later we went out into the heavy rain again and found a small restaurant nearby and had a wonderful dinner of breaded pork and roasted beef. I worked on a few things on my computer before going to bed. Cassi read and fell asleep early.

The next morning, we woke to still more rain and wind. We ate breakfast at the hotel and went out to explore the shops, only a few were open, we bought a few gifts in a glass shop. Then we began our Monday journey to Austria. We stopped in Batislava, Slovakia on the way and walked around the many squares and took photos of a clock tower and the castle. The rain and cold were too much, so we decided to continue driving.

On to Salzburg, Austria. Along the way we saw more windmills, the borders were near non-existent. There were border buildings/huts but no one stopped us. We drove around Vienna, but did not stop. The rain has finally stopped for now.

We stayed overnight in Salzburg, walked to old town and saw Mozart’s home, the castle on a tall hill, many old buildings including a cathedral. Some were built in the 1300’s. The alley ways were full of all kinds of shops, some for tourists, others for locals. We ate at a table with a couple from Slovakia, two women from Austria, and a mom and daughter from Japan. The daughter is studying violin in the city.

Tuesday, May 18^th, we went to Garmisch, a quaint town in Bavarian Germany, on the way to Weilheim. Garmisch had beautiful murals painted on the stores, homes and businesses. The half timber houses were beautiful. The rain would not go away. We left there and went to Weilheim.

Wednesday morning, awoke to a great breakfast at the hotel. We packed the car and headed toward Biberach, Germany, home of the Eisinger Bakery. We used the GPS and we were directed to the bakery/store/café. We went into the store and there was Hilde Eisinger behind the counter. One of the staff called Gustav Eisinger. While we waited, I took some pictures and looked at all of the Eisinger logos. Gustav arrived and we sat and sampled his famous pretzels, bread and cinnamon rolls, with coffee and cappuccino. Then Gustav began a tour of the bakery back room, where all the bread and pastries are made from scratch. After that we began a walking tour of Biberach, he said there were five Eisinger Bakery locations in Biberach and four in surrounding towns. Each location has a coffee service, pastries, sandwiches, pretzels and other things. It is similar to Starbucks with an emphasis on the pastries and bread rather than coffee. We had lunch in a private room of the Restaurant Ente with Gustav and Hilde. For the first time, I had fish, a local fish with fresh large asparagus.

We continued our walking tour as Hilde went to visit her friends. We went up many steps to the top of a hill, from there you could see the whole city. There was a large wall that went around the whole city at one time. In fact, a small portion of the wall is still in the bakery. Other portions are still surrounding the city. At the conclusion of our tour, Gustav mentioned that he is the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Biberach. We had a last coffee and gave Gustav Claxton Fruitcake. He gave us some Eisinger balloons, a mug, a cup and saucer and two plates, all with the Eisinger logo, which Gustav tells us has the pretzel in the logo. He gave us directions to Attenweiller, the small town where my great grandfather lived in the 1800’s. We drove to the mill pond, the mill and the area where great-grandfather lived. Although the mill is no longer working and the old homestead burnt years ago, it was calming to see the small stream created by the mill pond. This stream was described in a document written by my great-grandfather’s brother.

We continued our journey toward Rothenberg. This town was my mom and dad’s favorite when they toured this area. It is an ancient walled town that survived many battles and still remains a walled city today. The streets were cobblestone and the buildings were very old and architecturally beautiful. Although it was still rainy, we left the hotel to visit some stores. There were many shops with hand made items, souvenirs, beer steins, Black Forest wood coocoo clocks, and many others.

The next morning, Thursday May 20^th, was misty, but Cassi and I shopped for gifts for self and family. We bought a coocoo clock, and had it shipped to our home. We also bought a small suitcase to pack our many souvenirs and gifts from Hungarian and German Civitans. Around 11:00, we left for Heidelberg. This city was affected by war more than the previously encountered cities. Many old buildings were next to brand new glass buildings. Again beautiful architecture everywhere you looked. We saw a bombed out church that was left to remind the citizens of the tragedies. We also saw the old Heidelberg Bridge and drove to the U.S. military base, then to the castle.

The next day, we went to Hannover where this modern city still has some older buildings that are maintained. Our next stop was our final one, Sehnde, the site of the Germany District Meeting. We arrived at our hotel, dropped our bags in our room and met Hans Jurgen Grethe and his wife Renate and left to go to a local castle for dinner. We saw many windmills along the way. The castle was “only” 150 years old, they told us, a young castle compared to many others. We ate inside the castle walls, another authentic German meal with Governor Michael Koneke and Civitan members from the Sehnde Civitan Club.

The next morning, we met Hans Jurgen Grethe, Germany Governor Michael Koneke and the Sehnde Civitan Club President and many other Civitans in the meeting rooms at the hotel we stayed at. A representative from the Mayor’s office, Meike Vorholt, greeted us and made a speech in English. We found out later that she was a lawyer and had been a foreign exchange student in America when she was in High School. After a presentation of gifts, we all drove to Die Tafeln Sehnder Tafel, or food bank, a project of the Sehnde Civitan Club. We toured the facility and learned the history of this project. They serve many local hungry every week.

We went back to the hotel where the German District Meeting began, we gave gifts to each other. And Cassi and I tried to understand the many different discussions, some of the information was translated for us. We went to an Italian buffet dinner at Bei Baki for our final meal in Germany. Then back to the hotel room to pack our bags for the trip home.

It was hard to believe that our trip had come to the end. The time went very fast. We left for the airport in Hannover and the ANA flight headed toward Amsterdam, we had another very short layover, but made it to the plane for the Delta flight to Minneapolis. We were fortunate that the volcanic ash cloud had dissipated. A week earlier the Amsterdam airport had been closed. This plane had monitors in each seat. The monitor had a wide selection of free movies, television, games and many more time consumers. I watched Avatar while Cassi watched It’s Complicated. She also played some games as she likes computer games.

Fortunately, we had a long layover in Minneapolis, because when we gathered our suitcases to go through customs, only one of our two checked bags arrived. Our suit bag did not arrive. We were told to wait and it never arrived, so we finally went thru customs with only one bag and were told to report our other bag when we arrived in Las Vegas. After customs, we re-checked our one bag and then headed to the gate for our flight to Las Vegas.

Back on a regular domestic plane, we rested on our trip back to Vegas. We arrived in Vegas, still no suit bag. I reported it lost and the agent told me it never made it out of Amsterdam! It took two days for it to finally be delivered to our doorstep.

Cassi and I have many fond memories of this trip and thank the Civitans and the Civitan organization for allowing us the opportunity to represent them in Europe and throughout the world. It was truly a fantastic experience.

European Division Convention

This blog is written by Mark Eisinger, the President of Civitan International for the year October, 2009 to September, 2010. I chronicle the times, travels, stories, ideas for service projects, fellowship and knowledge. Come back often and I will alert you to updates if you follow me via www.twitter.com/civimark and/or www.facebook.com/civimark. Previous Blogs are available, please see panel on the right. I encourage you to read "Cancun Rocks", a blog about Cassi and my preview visit to Cancun in preparation of the 2010 Civitan International Convention September 3-6, 2010. www.civitan.org More information for the Cancun Convention now available at http://www.civitan.com/template.php?t=sr&id=43.

European Division Convention

The trip we have been waiting for, Cassi and I waited for Deluxe Taxi on the morning of Tuesday, May 11, we had waited an hour. After many phone calls, a large taxi van arrived. We had wanted to get to the airport early since we had no seat assignment from Salt Lake City to Paris, even after several attempts by Delta’s website and phone. When we arrived, the Delta kiosk would not check us in, then our bag was too heavy, so we had to transfer some of the gifts into the other bag, then they still couldn’t give us a seat assignment for Salt Lake to Paris, not even a boarding pass, this worried me. They said to ask at the gate. After many denials, the gate agent finally asked a supervisor and the supervisor was able to get us seat assignments for both legs.

We boarded the plane and our seats were in the bulkhead. This was okay for a short flight from Las Vegas to Salt Lake. Even thought we left late, the flight to Paris was a continuation of our flight number, but on a different plane. They held the flight and we boarded late. The seats were again in the bulkhead and had very little leg room. We were not going to be comfortable for a 10 hour flight. From the look of things, our layover in Paris had been reduced due to the late departure.

We took off going north toward Canada to go north of the volcanic ash cloud over Iceland. This volcano had affected many flights to and from Europe a month earlier.

We settled in, me reading my John Grisham book Ford County and Cassi reading her J.D. Robb novel. We were served chicken and pasta for dinner. Then we watched a movie titled Leap Year. I was able to sleep half the flight, which was unusual for me. Cassi, not so lucky. We were served a light breakfast near the end of our flight. We only had 20 minutes before our flight was to leave from Paris to Budapest. We walked quickly following the signs through passport check and then from the B terminal to the D terminal. The Paris airport requires you to leave the secured area and then re-enter through security at the next terminal. Cassi only had her purse, so while I unpacked the laptop and the bag of liquids, Cassi headed toward the gate. A lady who had followed us was stopped at security since she could not show her boarding pass from Paris to Budapest, I waited for her to be redirected, then managed to pass security and re-pack and run toward the gate. Cassi was waiting and indicated that we were safe. We were among the last to board this final flight of the day. A young couple with cowboy hats had been on the same flights as Cassi and I. I believe they were from Hungary.

We arrived in Budapest and followed the signs to baggage. It was Wednesday afternoon around 3:00pm. We waited as many bags arrived, ours were not there… we stood in line and described the bags and were told that there were two more flights from Paris that night, but the bags would not be delivered until the next morning once found. We left the baggage area and found Hungary District Governor Ference Stadler and Adrienne. Adrienne was holding a Civitan logo sign. Ference only speaks Hungarian and Russian, so Adrienne was our translator. We rode in Ference’s Suzuki, he called “Suzi”.

The two hour drive to Szeged was brief, but Cassi and I were quite tired of sitting. We dozed slightly until we arrived at the Tisza Sport hotel. The hotel room was small, with a large picture window and a balcony with two chairs. Two twin beds were separated until we slid them together. We had brought a change of clothes in our carryon and changed quickly and went downstairs, where Ference and his daughter Eva met us. We went in “Suzi” to the outdoor restaurant and had Hungarian Goulash (one of many types of Goulash we would taste this weekend). We then had “pancake”, but it was more of a crepe. One had cottage cheese inside, another with chocolate sauce on top. We met many Civitans from Hungary and Germany and Norway; and reacquainted with many familiar faces including current Civitan International Senior Director Svenn Manum and Synovve, incoming International Director Hans Jurgen Grethe and Renate, and Aud Aasland.

We then went to a theatre and saw the opera “Faust”. The theatre was quite old and ornate. The opera was rather difficult to understand in French with Hungarian sub-titles. Both Cassi and I are interested in reading the opera to understand better. The stage effects were very manual, but effective with platforms dropping from the ceiling and then propped up perpendicular to the stage. The stage also turned in multiple ways.

We walked back to the hotel and slept. The next morning, we ate the breakfast that was included. We had scrambled eggs which tasted different than we were used to. They also had sausage, cereal, cheeses, bread and cold cuts. Coffee was quite good and juices were plentiful.

We then took a walking tour to downtown Szeged and a tour guide told us stories about the different buildings and sites along the way. We went over the Tisza River bridge. Then to the Ferenc Mora Museum, then to the Serbian Orthodox Church, a very non-descript church from the outside but beautiful on the inside. Then to the Dom Cathedral with two clock towers and a nice square where we took a break and sampled a free Coke Zero. We were then taken to City Hall to meet up with the Deputy Mayor and other leaders of the Szeged city. Szechenyi Square was across from the beautiful City Hall and the Bridge of “Sigh”, a bridge from the tax building to City Hall. The nickname was due to the sighs people would make as they left the tax building with less money.

We left there and headed toward our lunch site, we stopped at a mineral spring where very hot sulfur water that tasted bad but many residents were bottling in empty 2 litre plastic bottles. We passed a spa that had the same mineral water, then on to Szent Istvan Square and The Water Tower. We went to this restaurant that looked old on the outside, but very new interior. We had goulash soup and then a fried platter of various types of turkey, similar to a corden bleu. We then walked the long walk back to the hotel.

We arrived back at the hotel around 3:00pm and the luggage had not arrived. We went into our room and called (via Skype on my iPhone) to the airline lost and found baggage. They stated that the bags had arrived at the Budapest Airport last night. We called the baggage delivery service and they said the bags should arrive in an hour. We dosed off until a knock on the door, our bags had arrived. We only had twenty minutes to change into our business suits for the evening conference and dinner.

We were welcomed with applause at the hotel lobby as the Civitans could tell that we had received our luggage. We walked to a conference building and were entertained by young teenagers dancing and singing Hungarian Folk songs. After a short break, we began the meeting. Welcomes were given and thank yous. Each had to be very patient as the speeches were translated in Hungarian, Norwegian, English and German. Svenn presented updates from the International Board meeting including the new Campus Club concept and the 2012 International Convention European site selection. We spoke on new opportunities to sell fruitcake and we passed out sample slices to everyone in attendance. I congratulated them on their service, their expansion with the first Campus Civitan Club and told the story of the 17 year old from Tennessee who had shared that Junior Civitan had saved her life. I played a card game and gave out Las Vegas souvenirs to many winners. I also gave Las Vegas Pens to each Governor, to Svenn and banner patches for each district and the division. Hans Jurgen Grethe presented Svenn Manum with the coveted European Award.

After more entertainment from young dancers, we went into dinner. We ate family style, pork and turkey, and had fruit baskets for dessert. We walked back to the hotel after a wonderful evening.

On Friday, May 14, Governor Ference Stadler and daughter Eva, along with Svenn Manum and Synnove, Hans Jergen Grethe and Renate and many others traveled to Zsambek for the charter of the first Campus Civitan Club in Europe. This technical school was a Catholic based school of over 500 of older high school students studying carpentry, brick mason, cooking, sewing and other skills.

Other delegates enjoyed the Szeged Aquapark and Thermal Baths near the hotel.

We enjoyed a lunch prepared and served by the students of the school. It included Hungarian Goulash soup, turkey and noodles and “pancake” for dessert.

Andrea Legerszki and Sister Polly, a graduate of the school took us on a walking tour of the school, an ancient church building that had been destroyed both by the war and an earthquake.

Sixteen Campus Civitan Club members were initiated by European Coordinator and Senior International Director Svenn Manum, and I installed the officers by using the rock speech. I gave them each a rock and a Civitan Rocks theme pin. The new Primo Primmessimo Civitan Klub was official.

We headed back to Szeged and after a quick change, went to the downtown Szechenyi Square for the Wine Festival. Over 100 booths had wine and a few food booths. We ate sausage and potatoes and chicken and potatoes and tasted a few wines.

Saturday, the final day of the convention, we boarded buses to go to the Opusztaszer Memorial Park. This was a very interesting walking tour of the history of Hungary in murals, exhibits in large huts and even a horse and “cowboy” performance. Unfortunately it rained most of the day, but the lunch was a highlight with soup, cucumber and sour cream salad and a roast beef dish with potatoes. Delicious.

We headed back to Szeged and some went to a shopping center, some to a Hungarian District Board Meeting and others back to the hotel.

The evening was the Good-bye Party, we walked to a very old building that had a hall with a stage. A singer with a wide collection of songs, mostly English versions was on the stage. The evening began, with some welcoming remarks from Ference, Svenn and me, translated into Norwegian, German, Hungarian and English. Torgeir Willadssen asked us how we liked this language tossed salad? I called it the Tower of Babel. A buffet of cold cuts, chicken legs, meatballs, potato salad and bread were available, gifts were exchanged and some danced to the music. It was a wonderful good bye party for all who attended.

On Sunday, many of the delegates had to catch a 4:00am bus to the Budapest airport, others took a 9:00am bus. After breakfast, Cassi and I began our journey toward Gyor, Hungary. Ference and his wife Eva and daughter Eva were also there to say so long to the busload of delegates and us. Peter Makra, the president of the Szeged Civitan Club rode up on a bicycle with a poncho, and we exchanged gifts, he gave us homemade wine, we gave him Claxton fruitcake as a gift!

Hungary ROCKS!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coming soon, more details about our road trip to Germany for the Germany District Convention. Special thanks to Hille Willadssenn for some of the photos included above.

Three Civitan Club Charters and North Carolina West

This blog is written by Mark Eisinger, the President of Civitan International for the year October, 2009 to September, 2010. I chronicle the times, travels, stories, ideas for service projects, fellowship and knowledge. Come back often and I will alert you to updates if you follow me via www.twitter.com/civimark and/or www.facebook.com/civimark. Previous Blogs are available, please see panel on the right. I encourage you to read "Cancun Rocks", a blog about Cassi and my preview visit to Cancun in preparation of the 2010 Civitan International Convention September 3-6, 2010. www.civitan.org More information for the Cancun Convention now available at http://www.civitan.com/template.php?t=sr&id=43.

Tennessee and Arkansas, Two Charters in Two Days!

I left on Monday, November 30^th on Delta Airlines for a trip to Knoxville, Tennessee. Past International Director Howard Yarnell and Past Appalachian District Governor Cathy Yarnell picked me up at the airport for an hour drive to Kingsport. We arrived at the Michael Dunn Center where individuals with disabilities go to school, learn skills and work. There I saw my Governor Terri Honeycutt, Past International President Betty Harrelson, International Director Sheila Idol and Becky Brunton, all club builders of the new Avery Trace Civitan Club. The new Civitan Club has 33 members and 26 members were present. I performed the initiation of new members, the installation of officers and presented the charter with Sheila and Terri Honeycutt to the President. The club is now looking at the many projects that they will be working on in the next few months. I provided a Presidential Visit patch for their brand new banner.

The next day, December 1^st, Becky Brunton drove me back to the Knoxville airport for my Delta flight to Little Rock, Arkansas. I was headed to another charter banquet in Hope, Arkansas. Master Club builder Mike Blackwood picked me up at the airport and we drove for about 90 minutes to Hope. Hope is the birthplace of President Bill Clinton and Former Governor Mike Huckabee. Mike had arranged for an interview for me and the charter President Kim Smith with the local television station KTTS TV 50 Jerry Westmoreland, the Hope Star newspaper and the local radio station. Great publicity for the charter of the new Civitan Club. I was able to go recruiting with Mike and saw his effective methods! After a few stops to talk to a few more candidates for membership, we headed to the Hope Country Club for the charter festivities.

We arrived and the Master Club Builders Connie Black, Ellen Vohs and Rita Blackwood were present. Others arrived including Heartland District Governor Debbie Juhlke and Tim, club builder Peter Zargari and Region 7 International Director Fred Norman. Then almost 30 of the charter members arrived for the banquet. Mark Keith from the Hope Chamber of Commerce provided the welcome to the city. After a keynote speech titled “Why?” and quoted the Civitan Creed “My Hope is for a better world through Civitan”, I initiated the new members with the assistance of the club builders.

Fred Norman installed the charter officers. I provided members with First Member recruitment pins and many qualified for the Member Sponsorship Team (MST) pins already. I also presented President Kim Smith with a Presidential Visit patch for their brand new banner.

Fred Norman provided me with ride back to Little Rock. We talked about upcoming events and meetings and brainstormed on many ideas for recruitment and retention. I awoke the next morning to rain! Caught the hotel shuttle to the airport and discovered that I was an hour earlier than I expected for my non-stop flight to Las Vegas. I found a little take-out called Yarnell’s Ice Cream, wonder if they are related to Howard and Cathy Yarnell? There were many cowboys and cowgirls from Arkansas that were headed to Las Vegas for the National Finals Rodeo that runs from December 3 to 12^th. Yeehaw!

(Note of thanks to Holiday Inn for providing two free nights lodging for this two day trip.)

Albuquerque, New Mexico

The Chelsea Civitan Club in Chelsea, Alabama chartered on December 9^th, but unfortunately, I was not able to attend the Charter Celebration. The Albuquerque Women’s Civitan Club chartered on December 31^st, but scheduled their Charter Celebration for December 16^th. I arrived that Saturday afternoon and Governor Dan Brown picked me up at the airport. We drove around Albuquerque and Rio Rancho before arriving at Dan’s home. Unfortunately Jan Brown was traveling and was not home for the weekend. After unpacking and a little rest, Dan and I headed to the Embassy Suites Hotel for the charter celebration. The club was rockin’ as everyone arrived. They were at 38 charter members up to that time and were hoping that two more guests would join so they would have 40 members.

That night six more women joined. Carol Kline-Watson was the MC. I initiated most of the 44 charter members and installed the officers and directors using the rocks and the world speeches. I also had time on the agenda for the keynote speech and spoke about the new special interest clubs, about the Lovely Ladies Civitan Club in Las Vegas and the dynamic women’s clubs throughout the world. Dan and his co-governor Tony Cook told me that this was the fastest club they had ever built, noting that this may be an avenue that should be duplicated in other cities. After the celebration, Dan and I headed back to his house and watched two football games in fast motion using his DVR.

Sunday morning, Dan and I went to West Mesa Christian Church, a small but mighty church near Dan’s home. Then to Dan’s office where many Civitan clubs were going to come together for a workshop called “Mark”eting, my view on Recruitment and Retention for clubs. We had about 20 Civitans from the Great Southwest Civitan District that attended. After the workshop, I returned to Dan’s home, Tony joined us and we sat and watched another two football games in fast motion and discussed Civitan’s positive future, the Cancun convention and many other topics.

Monday morning, Dan took me back to the airport and I headed to Asheville, North Carolina.

Asheville and Statesville, North Carolina

Many months ago, I had received a request from the Hendersonville Civitan Club’s long-time member John Bradke. The Hendersonville Club requested my presence at one of their meetings. To save the organization’s money, I try to utilize my trips to visit multiple clubs, I called my Governor Dan Allen and asked if there were any opportunities that I could visit more clubs during my visit. He stated that there were two area meetings in January, one in Asheville on Monday, January 18^th and one in Statesville on Tuesday, January 19^th. John was amenable to this so plans were made. I arrived at the Asheville airport and was greeted by John and the Hendersonville Civitan Club president Wayne Wesson. We drove to John’s home in Hendersonville for coffee and cookies. John’s wife Rusty was a fine hostess. John showed me his art work, most of which was painted by himself! We discussed recruiting, the Civitan International Research Center and Civitan efforts to help legal residents become citizens of the United States.

We headed out toward Ryan’s steakhouse in Asheville for the area meeting. There was a very large attendance from many area clubs. Unfortunately the Asheville Civitan Club did not participate, I was hoping to meet the local Civitans. I was warmly welcomed and spoke on the many aspects of Civitan, including the special interest clubs and the Civitan International Research Center. I stayed at John’s home that evening.

At breakfast, John showed me his moustache cup collection, over 25 were displayed on a shelf in his living room. Dan Allen and I had some time to be tourists. We decided to visit the Biltmore Estate. America’s largest home is now open to the public for tours. It was built in the late 1800’s by George Vanderbilt, a wealthy bachelor with railroad money. He wanted to build a self sustaining estate with a dairy, vegetables and animals for food. The house was like a castle with 33 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, electricity throughout, an electric elevator, a rotisserie in the basement, an indoor pool and a two lane bowling alley. It was quite an amazing castle. The dairy is now a winery and Dan and I toured this as well and tasted some samples.

Then we headed toward Statesville for the next Area Meeting. We arrived at Trinity Episcopal Church and helped set up the tables. Many clubs arrived, after a meet and greet, we had dinner. I provided the keynote speech again highlighting the same Civitan efforts. Dan Allen headed home that night, I stayed a local hotel and Paul Blackwell picked me up in the morning to drive back to Asheville for my return flight home.

North Carolina is a beautiful area, green trees and grass, mild temperatures. However, they did have some snow remaining from an unusual snow storm before I arrived.

North Carolina East and Texas Trips

This blog is written by Mark Eisinger, the President of Civitan International for the year October, 2009 to September, 2010. I chronicle the times, travels, stories, ideas for service projects, fellowship and knowledge. Come back often and I will alert you to updates if you follow me via www.twitter.com/civimark and/or www.facebook.com/civimark. Previous Blogs are available, please see panel on the right. I encourage you to read "Cancun Rocks", a blog about Cassi and my preview visit to Cancun in preparation of the 2010 Civitan International Convention September 3-6, 2010. www.civitan.org More information for the Cancun Convention now available at http://www.civitan.com/template.php?t=sr&id=43.

North Carolina District East

On Thursday, November 12^th, I boarded another flight to Raleigh, North Carolina. Past International Director Joe Parker picked me up at the airport. The rain soaked streets and soil were getting wetter as the remnants of Hurricane Ida still hovered over the state. Joe had a full schedule for me starting with the Hawfields Civitan Club meeting. We arrived at their clubhouse as the attendees were arriving with plenty of potluck food. We had an early Thanksgiving feast! They had a great turnout with some incredible guests. They were recognizing two students for their school participation. There were also coaches and other volunteers from their recent football program. They also discussed their very profitable and fun Halloween Forest project.

I spoke to the group about Civitan International’s rock-solid foundation and the Civitan International Research Center. Afterwards, one of the mother of one of the students recognized asked me more about the research center. She said that her husband was a researcher at Duke and she was a researcher at University of North Carolina, so she was very interested in our research center and the progress we are experiencing. I gave the club president a Presidential Visit banner patch and we took a group picture with the club members.

After the meeting, Joe and I went to his home, where I had my own room and bath. Very comfortable! Evalee was a great hostess, making sure I had my favorite drinks and snacks.

The next day, we again headed out for the Greensboro Civitan Club meeting. It continued to rain, but the rain seemed to stop when we arrived at the restaurant. Joe’s daughter Whitney was there along with many familiar faces visiting from the district and from other Civitan Clubs.

After a brief stop at Joe’s home, we changed clothes and headed out to Duke University. We drove around the campus and I marveled at the beautiful architecture. We stopped at the Duke Chapel and went inside, this was an incredible church with very ornate interior architecture.

We then walked through the Duke Football stadium, then into the famous Camden Indoor Stadium. The 70 year old “gymnasium” had narrow halls and reminded me of an old high school gymnasium. The stadium only holds 8,000, and the entire lower section has no seats. This section is reserved for students known as the Camden Crazies provide many arm motions and chants to distract the other team. Many of these motions appear to be orchestrated from years of students practicing at similar games. Duke performed well with a solid win against University of North Carolina Greensboro.

The next morning, we left early to drive to Garner, NC to the Garner Civitan Club Clubhouse. This was the site of the North Carolina Civitan District Meeting, my Governor Margie Gooding’s first meeting of her year. I had been to the clubhouse before with Past International Director Reggie and Dee Foster a couple years earlier, but didn’t have access to the inside. The large room was prepared with tables and chairs and a good breakfast was available. Over 100 attended the meeting. Wayne Mullis from North Carolina West, current International Director for Region 2 sat with me at the head table along with Margie and the keynote speaker, Linda Coleman from the State of North Carolina Personnel division. I was on the agenda with “The Big Picture” team building exercise. The attendees had an enjoyable time. Some told me later that a similar exercise was completed in presidents’ training by Harriet Covington. I received district gift, an acrylic paperweight with the districts theme art shown through the acrylic and a sea shell with a painted lighthouse.

Joe and I drove back to his house to pick up a last minute certificate that was in the mail, and we headed toward Wilson, NC for the Charter Banquet for the brand new Wilson Civitan Club. We arrived at a quaint bakery and restaurant for a delicious meal and “special European style” strawberry shortcake. The members arrived with canned food for their food drive project. The young president and president-elect appear to be great leaders for this new Civitan Club. The club had 21 charter members (note: the club reached 30 charter members only two weeks later, a Golden Circle Club). Wayne Mullis and other guests that attended the District Meeting were also in attendance supporting the new club.

I honored to install the charter officers and provided a keynote address. I talked about the rock solid organization, the Civitan International Research Center and quoted the poem “The Dash” by Linda Ellis.

After many farewells, Joe and I headed “home” and I reflected on a wonderful, full weekend of activities, meeting hundreds of Civitans on their turf! It was a wonderful trip.

The next morning, Joe, Evalee and I went to a mall restaurant and had salads, then off to the Raleigh airport for my return home. By the way, the sun was out that day and the rain had stopped, just in time for my return home!

Service Club Leaders Conference

On Thursday, November 19^th, I boarded Southwest Airlines for a trip to Austin, TX for the Service Club Leaders Conference.

More about the conference below, but first, my Governor Debbie Juhlke picked me up at the airport and we headed toward her home town of Round Rock, only about an hour away from Austin. We stopped at a Jason’s Deli for a quick bite and then headed toward Debbie and Dr. Tim Juhlke’s plant. Tim gave me a guided tour of the plant describing the lubricants that are manufactured there. Then we headed downtown to Bella Notte, a fantastic reception hall, for a meet and greet for the recently chartered Heart of the Rock Civitan Club. Approximately half of the members attended in an open house format. Pictures were taken of each member individually with me and we enjoyed wine, cheese and fresh fruit. We talked about Round Rock and the many projects that were planned including a new Junior Civitan Club at a local middle school. I met a great group of new Civitans!

Following the meet and greet, Debbie drove me to see the official “round rock”, then we headed back to Austin to the downtown Hyatt Hotel on the river.

The Service Club Leaders’ Conference is an opportunity for service club staff and volunteer leaders of Civitan, Optimist, Soroptimist, Mensa, Lions, Ruritan, Kiwanis, National Exchange, Quota, and the Women’s Federation to all meet together at an annual conference. I arrived just in time for another meet and greet, with heavy appetizers sponsored by the Hyatt Hotel chain. The hotel was impressive with an atrium through the middle of the hotel. Many rooms overlooked downtown and the river. The rain seemed to have followed me, as the weekend was very wet.

American Mensa hosted the weekend and a great speaker Cynthia D’Amour provided us some very pertinent information about how to recruit members, how to retain them, how to insert fun in the process and an interview with two college students learning what individuals their age are looking for in a service club.

On our final night, we were transported by bus to the Iron Cactus for a wonderful Tex-Mex meal and margaritas. The dinner was sponsored by the Austin Chamber of Commerce and featured a live band with singer Ryan Harkrider. Austin is the live music capital!

The next morning was very foggy but we headed toward the airport and my flight took off without delay.