Just 16 more days!

Let me give you a little background about this blog. Several months ago I received an email from a co-worker about a possibility to take a trip to Australia. My first thought was, 'no way, I can't leave my job, family, friends, etc. for a month" but then I rethought about this decision to apply. This was the opportunity of a life-time and I was crazy to pass it up. I decided to fill out the application and was selected for an interview. I found out several days later that I was one of five individuals from the North East part of Kansas to represent Kansas, specifically our Rotary district!!!!

Some background about the trip-
We leave on September 28 and come back on October 30. Each Rotary club has the ability to sponsor one individual to apply to attend. The North Topeka Rotary Club is my sponsoring group. I have met with them several times and they are a fantastic group of people! Our flight (app. 20 hours+) is paid for by the Rotary International organization. While we are in Australia we will stay with several host families (8 to be exact) for the month that we are there. We will be visiting with numerous Rotary International programs in Australia and learning about their culture and exploring our careers in another country. To sum it up we serve as ambassadors of Kansas to Australia.

Where are we going?
Adelaide! At first I had to do some research about where this city is! It is in South Central Australia, some refer to it as the city of churches. While we are there, we will tour many different cities and tourist attractions, including checking out some kangaroos and koala bears. There will be a lot of pictures to follow, especially once we leave.

SO, just 16 more days and we will be in the air headed 'Down Under'. In the mean time, there are lots of things to finish up: meeting with my staff, evaluations, setting new action plans for next year, etc. etc. The white board in my office just keeps getting longer and longer!