Our first week

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As our first week comes to an end, we reflect on what an interesting and enjoyable time we have been having. Everyone has been very welcoming and friendly. Its like we are celebrities, everyone wants to met and talk with us. Since we last wrote, we have done a great deal. Thursday morning we spent some free time exploring the beauty of the Country Club Plaza, a shopping centre designed with Seville in mind. Spring time has brought lots of beautiful red bud tree blossoms, colourful tulips line the street, and lets not forget the abundance of fountains.

We attended a rotary meeting at Club 13, the 13th rotary club ever to be established and one of the biggest with about 400 members. The guest speaker was a local football star, a 'snapper'. very interesting and motivating talk about your approach to life. We managed to learn a little about football in the process. A snapper is the one who throws the ball between his legs at the beginning of each play.

We then went on our first vocational visits, Arnold received a police helicopter ride all over Kansas City, which sounded amazing. Nik had a driving tour of Kansas, with three experts discussing designs as they went. Luke spent time with a journalist who had an amazing experience of following a story of a soldier who died in Iraq. He had told his father prior to going that he had a vivid dream he was going to die there, and his father promised him he would go there if it happened, and it did! Mary visited Children's Mercy Hospital, had a tour of the hospital and then spent time with a resident, learning about the differences in their university and then specialist training. Melanie visited the local health department and developed an understanding of what resources are available and initiatives that they are running, one involved a street set up where school groups can be brought and learn about road safety. We can all say we enjoyed our visits and have learnt alot already.

Friday was the day of our first presentation, over a breakfast meeting at Intercontinental Hotel, on the menu was biscuits and sausage gravy - not sure if its really to our tasting! Lots of fruits, crossiants and pasties too. We had a couple of hiccups, we failed to arrange a projector for our presentation and then Luke was a bit late arriving, turns out both he and his host slept in! However our presentation was well received and we felt comfortable amongst our new found friends.

Following this we visited the Harley Davidson Plant for a factory tour, it was great - they are the only producers of motorcycles in the states. On asking the audience who rode - Nik decided not to tell them that he rode a scooter! The car park was full of staff Harleys, with only a few hondas hidden in the back. Next we went to Liberty memorial - a tribute to the fallen soldiers of world war one. There was an amazing view out over the city. We then lunched at Nelson Atkins Museum, a museum famous for its oriental collection. It also had an interesting sculpture garden with lots of bronze statues and huge shuttle cocks spread out over the lawns. That evening we enjoyed happy hour with Tim Whitmer at Jardines, a jazz bar, we were spoilt to receive signed CDs from him!

The weekend has been spent with our host families, who we have been with since Thursday night. We are all enjoying their company and generosity. We have been experiencing the local cuisine - the BBQ is very tasty! I can see we are likely to be going home with a few extra kilos - not just in luggage.

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