Saturday, September 29, 2012

September 2012 Chapter Meeting


We had a great meeting at the Village Gardens Condo community room, Sunday, September 23.  If you missed it, please try to make the October meeting, same place, October 21 at 2 pm. 

 We had one guest, Drew Deininger,  VP for Membership for Sarasota Sister Cities Association.

The meeting began with some snacks, steamed dumplings, Chinese tea, munchies, wine, and cheese and crackers.  Archie found that he could not get vegetarian dumplings so if anyone has a source, please let us know.  We did have vegetarian buns available.

Membership information:  Mary Namey is now in a local care facility, Horizon Bay, and Dr. Lengyel shared that George and Lucienne Arvay recently each had an accident.  Both Arvays are home again at this writing and recovering well.

The discussion then turned to current events in China:  The controversy over possession of the Shenkaku (Japanese name) or Diaoyu (Chinese name) Islands just north of Taiwan; the upcoming party congress where up to 80% of the senior Chinese leadership may change; and China’s economy.  A good bit of insight and interesting information was shared.

Archie announced that he (in our chapter’s name) has successfully placed two teachers in Anhui Province for the present academic year.  He has heard from these two young people and they are happy and excited about this opportunity.  Anyone interested in possibly spending a year in China teaching English conversation should contact Archie.McKee@hotmail.com.

Our guest Drew shared some ideas that he has used to increase SSCA membership and encouraged members to attend and others to join SSCA.

The group then watched a movie, “Beijing Children’s Opera.”

Hope you can make it to next month’s meeting.