Old Timey Filipina fashions. Pretty!

I have a friend at work who is from the Philippines. We occasionally chat about this experience. He has been a wealth of information. When I told him that we were getting Barong's, he emailed his sister. She sent these pictures. He also gave me a little legend about the Barong's that I can share when we next get together.

Who are these people? Ryan

Hi! I'm Ryan.

I have lived in Portland, Oregon for 8 years. Adventure brought me here, and the area's natural beauty and agricultural bounty have kept me here. Farms from this region produce amazing fruit of all sorts. I work for a company that capitalizes on that bounty.

Clear Creek Distillery is a small, artisan distillery in Portland. We make world class eaux-de-vie, also known as fruit brandies, liqueurs, and a single malt whiskey. I have worked there for the past two and a half years in production and operations. On any given day I might be bottling product, distilling brandy, crushing fruit, delivering orders to our distribution points, or working in the tasting room. I am also responsible for inventory management. I make sure we have all our component parts for bottling and labelling and that we have the cased product we need for shipment.

In my free time, I love to read, walk through the city, learn new things, and garden. Though I live in an apartment, I have a friend in the neighborhood that lets me keep a container garden in her backyard--in exchange for some of the food it produces. Here are a couple photos of my makeshift garden and the chickens that live there too:

I'm extremely excited about traveling to Davao and seeing what life is like there.

Apparently I am still giddy!

Last from Marie

Still more - sorry - there are lots of pictures!!

Afternoon continued

A lot of these were from our practice time.

More shots from the challenge course

And then came the afternoon...high above the ground

What are those above us? Really, we are going up there??

We got safety briefings, harnesses, helmets, and a practice course. And then, it was up the ladder, the staples in the trees, and clip onto the cable above: at which point, we each decided if it was fun, if it was a personal challenge, or if it was just not to be, today. All of these were acceptable answers. I am awed by the fluid way some moved through the course, and the way others did what it took for them, and yet another honored their own truth - which might have been one of the most honest and difficult choices of the day. What I know - is I am, proud of US. We 7 were a team today - and I for one, know I learned that I will work to be a better team member.

Ropes Challenge Course

OH MY GOSH!! We had so much fun. Everyone did great and it is obvious this is an awesome team. Trish - I look forward to seeing your photos too. Ah...morning, when we were just getting a feel for how the day would progress.

Who are these people?

My name is Trevor and I was born and raised in Oregon - born in the town of Eugene in the the middle of the Willamette Valley and raised in a small town called Sisters near the Cascade Mountains in the central part of the state. But now I live in Portland with my wife. I practice law in the District Attorney's Office and my wife is in the first year of her pediatrics residency. I have identical twin sisters, one of who is a kindergarten teacher, married, and just had her first child (a boy named Quintent) and the other works for a bank while she gets ready to begin studying to be a nurse. My mother stays home and helps take care of her first grandchild and my father is a doctor at the local hospital.

My wife and I have lived in Portland for about a year and enjoy living in the city and doing outdoor activities - hiking, skiing, and other such things. I enjoy reading, spending time with friends and family. Visiting the Philippines is a fantastic experience, and I look forward to seeing and learning a great deal.

Trish

My name is Trish. As a team member with the Group Study Exchange program, this is my first experience with Rotary. Since being accepted to this program, I have gotten connected with the Greater Clark County Rotary club. This club has graciously agreed to sponsor me for this program. It just so happens that they have a project in Davao city. I hope that I'll be able to visit the project while abroad.

Working with people with disabilities will be my life's work. Currently, I work for the Clark County Department of Community Services. The Developmental Disabilities program plans, funds, and manages local services for children from birth to three and for adults 21 and over who have developmental disabilities. This program works cooperatively with national, state, and local interests to help ensure that all people with developmental disabilities have an opportunity for full and active participation, independence, and inclusion in the community.

The Clark County Developmental Disabilities Program actively works with education, the business community, local, state, and federal government, the Clark County Parent Coalition,
and other advocacy groups.

One thing that I have learned through my work is never to doubt that capacity of human beings to learn and grow. This includes people with disabilities and the other people around them.

In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, hiking, bicycling, swimming, triathlons, and photography. Here are a few pictures that I have taken.


Here's me competing in a triathlon this summer in Bend, Oregon.

Who are these people? Well, I am Marie

To whoever finds our little blog useful and interesting, I guess it is time we introduce ourselves.

My name is Marie Tyler and I have the honor of being team leader for our Group Study Exchange. I am a former Rotary exchange student to the Philippines, Calapan Mindoro, to be exact. I have also been a GSE Team Member to Japan. I have been a Rotarian since 2003, and I am now secretary of the Hillsboro Rotary Club.

I enjoy making mosaics, reading, writing, fishing and riding my motorcycle - just to name a few hobbies! I snow ski, have a close family, and friends all over the world. I am so excited to be a part of this team and know that the time between now and when we leave in Feb 2009 will fly by. I have included a few photos of myself and my art.

Our Audience

Good morning everyone....I passed the link to our blog along to several Rotary folks and already received a comment back. My club president made a cool suggestion that each of us do a mini bio - who we are, what we do, post a photo of yourself and talk briefly about your connection to Rotary. (which will be this process for most of you, though John will have a rich background to share.) Lots of people will be following this blog and it would be nice to have them get to know us all.

Trish, you are more familiar with this software - is there a way to link to the bios once we do them so they don't get "lost" in the archived posts? Just a thought.

Marie

This photo will have to do for now

I think people want to see the team. So until we get a better one, I put up our one team shot. I am going to send Vicki, Stewart, the District Gov., etc the link to our blog. We might as well get people used to checking in on our progress!

Camp Yamhill ropes course in 4 days and a wake up!! Can't wait to see everyone there!

Great Site

Hi All,

Trish - great job on this site! As a first time blogger, it is pretty simple.

Heath

are the colors too much??

ok - so I tried for Rotary blue and yellow and if it is too much, and I am leaning toward thinking it is, it can easily be changed....thoughts??

Happy Saturday all.

Greater Clark County Rotary Barbeque for the homeless

Thursday, when I would have attended the usual club meeting, I was instead invited to volunteer for the barbeque for the homeless sponsored by the Greater Clark County club. This was a great event. I met lots of people, learned more about Rotary and was able to do some community service at the same time. There were Rotarians, Interact students from local Vancouver high schools and an exchange student from Germany there volunteering as well. I forgot my camera, but there were pictures taken, so I hope that I'll be able to get a few to post here.

Calendars...part two

Hi everyone,
I have been in touch with a Rotarian here locally, Bob Agguire, who is Filipino and very interested and willing to connect with our team to discuss culture, expectations, answer questions - etc. He has offered his home, in Portland, and I told him we would look at our calendars on the 27th and figure out if we can fit it into a meeting already scheduled or if we need to pick an additional date.

Hope everyone is well!!
Marie

Check it out!!

Hey all - I sent this link to you today. Take some time to look at it. I am hoping we will be able to post more photos, but reading their blog it appears that getting internet access can be an issue. They definitely had to deal with the heat too. There are many clues hidden in this brief blog.

I hope everyone is well. I can't wait to see all at the ropes course. Not long now.

See you soon, Marie

Greater Clark County Rotary Club Sponsors GSE Team Member

Hi Team,

I attended the Greater Clark County-International Community Service (ICS) Committee meeting last night. It could not have gone better. I shared a little about the GSE program and our team. They told me that the club has a clean water project in Davao. What a great coincident! I hope that I'll be able to visit the project and bring back and update for the club. They talked for a few minutes and agreed to sponsor me. Luckily the club president is also a member of this committee. Next Thursday I'll be attending a club sponsored community service opportunity. I am really looking forward to it. I forgot to take a picture, but the committee members were Lynn, Dan, Rex and Lee. I'll have to send them a thank you note.

Trish

Meeting 2 at Ryan's

And here we are!!!

Trevor, Trish, Anna, Marie
John, Ryan, Heath

Our first meeting at Marie's

ok, so I have a couple shots from our meeting, and thought I could get them on the site. Someone with more skills than me should color this thing up!! How exciting that we have a blog though. Anyone hungry? I even included a shot of the Filipino food we shared.

GREAT start

Hey group - this is awesome - we officially have a blog. I will post photos from our first team meeting from home later, and can't wait to see this evolve as we all start giving input. See you all tonight!!

First Post from Anna

Hi All, I thought I would test out the blog and drop in a few of the photos I've started collecting for my Life Album to see how everything looks.







This is where I live. It's nice and cozy.




This is my office. Also small and cozy, but with really good light.