Day 20: Failure is not final - Saturday 30/4

Today the conference started at 7am and that was a bit early. Breakfast with Nascar promised to be the beginning of a great day, but it didn’t meet my expectations. So the lecture from CDR Scott Waddle from the US Navy (retired) had a lot on its plate. But the lecture was breath taking and it gave me literally tears in my eyes. Tears of laughter, but also tears for a great person who admitted he made a devastating mistake. As the commander of the USS Greenville submarine he gave the order to do an emergency surface maneuver. Not because it was necessary, but because on February 9 of 2001 he had a couple visitors on his submarine and he wanted them to show them how that went. You gotta know that commander Waddle had a perfect career until than and that he was loved and honored by his crew and the navy for a perfect job.

That day his life changed, because while the submarine was emerging it hit a small Japanese fishing vessel with high school children on board on a excursion. 9 people didn’t survive the hit, because the vessel sunk within 5 min. The media was al over it and commander Waddle got fired a few hours later and worst of all, he had the live with his failure and killing 9 innocent people.

Than he did something that was unseen, he went against the advice from his attorney and the navy’s direction. He took full responsibility for the accident. Three admirals that were in the court during his confession wanted to court marshal him for doing that, but luckily for him their was one admiral who saw the honor of this and he good avoid the court marshal.

Now as you can read I good be writing a lot more but i won’t. Commander Waddle is a great motivational speaker who has to live with a heavy burden every day. You good sense that upon today he still has a hart time by the mistake that was made killing 9. But his crew still respect him and he gave a new meaning to his life even if he thought it was over and he had nothing to show for. I will remember this:


If the boss isn’t having fun, you dan bet those working for him or her are not either.

Failure is not final.

Commander Scott Waddle I want to thank you for a remarkable lecture.

The midday we were free from duty and I enjoyed some much needed alone time. After three weeks being on the road I kinda needed a break and strolling alone in Asheville, paying for my own burger, skyping with my girlfriend and riding a bicycle for an hour in the gym did the trick. I was ready for the Governors Banquet and the last week...

Nick

Day 19: District 7710 Conference - Friday 29/4

I woke rather early this morning to skype with my girlfriend and to do some hard needed workout in the gym.

At 1:30 the conference started. I remember three things...
almost everybody is pro an FBI list with child sex offenders which can be consulted on their website to see where they live. It’s funny because the USA didn’t even ratified the convention on the rights of the child, let alone talk about the privacy of the offenders. I guess a second chance doesn’t count for them.
The peace fellow Marios Antoniou gave a good presentation about his home country Cyprus and the problems they face. For those who don’t know, Cyprus is divided by the longest ongoing UN buffer zone that divides Cyprus in two: Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot.
People laugh t at our presentation.

After the formal start, their was an informal reception.
Newman invited the Belgium GSE team and the NC GSe team for tapas and we al enjoyed it very much.

Nick

Day 18: The Biltmore - Thursday 28/4

Today was all about the Biltmore. An estate that was built around the 1890 by the Vanderbilts. A family that was and still is very rich. They earned their money threw the railways in American.

Of course American love the Biltmore. It has history and shows how the rich lived. In that time the Vanderbilts were the Brangelina’s and PAris Hiltons of their time, but for us Europeans it shows decadency of the time and we don’t find it really old. Naturally the indoor swimming pool and bowl alley were fantastic, but I missed something. I was comparing it by Hearst Castle in California and that mansion left a real impression on me. Maybe the fact that it was a little more modern and that my girlfriend was with me the time I visited it could have played a factor. Nevertheless the Biltmore is a must see when you re in the neighborhood. The late midday lunch in the Bistro on the Biltmore estate was delicious.

It’s probably because the three other members of the GSE focus so much on drinking beer, that we went and visit a local brewery named Highland Brewery Company. I wasn’t really interested but went along for the ride. The tour wasn’t much spectacular because they weren’t bottling anything. After the that we went for a short drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway.


Nick

No more tornado's for us

All folks at home, rest achured. We didn't have any tornado's in the last couple of days. We didn't notice anything of the violent tornado's in Alabama and other states. The USA is a big place you know...

After a few days in Wake Forest (lucky for us we had a bit of rest during Easter weekend) we went on to Oxford for a very short visit. Two days ago we (Filip and me) had a vocational visit at Bandag. They make tires, or better, manufacture parts to repair tires. While Filip was happy in the IT department, I toured around with the guy from the quality and environmental department. I learned some interesting things. In Europe, the better your installation works, the heavier it is and so the heavier the permits get. In the US, if your installation works very well than you no longer need a permit! Because the risk to the environment has been minimalized. Same thing with safety. If you get to a point that your health and safety system is so robust that you have all risks under control, than you fall of the radar.

Yesterday we did a lot of visits in half a day. The town hall, the town museum and skeet shooting all in half a day. Yes that's right. After the gun shop in Wendell we got into contact with guns again. And now we did some actual shooting! Filip appeared to be ex-military or something because he hit 3/4 of all skeets. The rest was... less good as we say.
And then followed the long (awaited) trip to Ashville. The mountains, the forests, the micro-breweries and, of course, the Rotary District Convention.

Today we had a free day in Ashville. So we could sleep untill 9am. By the time we had our breakfast it was already 11am and we left for the estate of Biltmore. This is a huge estate built in the late 19th century. It took us a couple of hours to see it all. Hundreds of rooms, all richly decorated and in very good shape. Huge gardens, greenhouses, forests, lakes and a winery.
After a very nice lunch at the winery we took of to one of the micro-breweries in the area. Nothing like the breweries in Flanders. All stainless steel, no funky smells. And reasonable beer (and as we come from Beer Capitol, the term 'reasonable' is a compliment). To get the food and beer digested, we took the cars up a winding road into the hills to see some panoramic views (picture time). Glad our lunch didn't come out on the way down, we arrived back at our hotel in the late afternoon. And now we are 20.30pm and what are we gonna do now?? Diner of course!

Hopefully we get those added pounds off by the summer time in Belgium... Otherwise I will need a new swimming suit. :-)


Cya later,
Tim

Day 17: M.D Dzau - Tuesday 27/4

Today I only had one thing on my mind and that was meeting the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Duke Health System. His name is Victor Dzau.

In the morning we had a look at a cigaret plant which was rather interesting, but at 2 o'clock I would meet Dr. Dzou. Don’t ask me why, but I was a bit nervous. Mister Newman told me that it was very hard to get an appointment with the man and it was only because his wife is a Rotarian that this meet and greet was made possible. Apparently a lot of people were jealous that I was gonna meet the almost holy man.
I thought that this meeting was going to be short, but he was very interested in the UZ Gent and my findings at Duke. So we had a nice chat and I could share some of my ideas with him. He might even come to Ghent to see how we operate our hospital. Of course he is more than welcome.

Newman and I had some time to kill after the meeting before Bart Cleary would pick me up to drive to Ashville. We had a light snack and got to learn each other on a more friendly basis, talking about gun legislation, family and girlfriends (mine not his :-), work and my critical opinion upon the GSE and Rotary, the time passed rather quick.

Than it was a 5hour drive to Ashville and was lucky to be in the car with Karine Ito, a Brazilian peace Scholar from Rotary....

Nick

Day 17: Granville Health System - 26/4

Up early and a small skype session with my girlfriend, I left early to go to my vocational at Granville Health System (GHS). Because my host Lee Isley is the CEO of the hospital I was about to get a really nice day.

After a tour with the Facility Manager I learned that this rather small hospital didn’t have any serious security threats but that it did have a few parking problems. The GHS is in Oxford NC, and the CEO already told me in the car that everybody knows everybody around here. And this is one of the reason that they don’t actually fine people when the par their vehicles in the wrong place. Of course the fact that they don’t have enough place and that almost everybody comes by car, is a huge problem. It is not like they have a choice... There is no public transportation and some employees have to drive an hour or more to get to the hospital.

Lunch was rather interesting, because it was the Employees Awards Banquet, where they celebrate hard working employees for their achievements and hard work. I never saw my CEO hugging it out with his employees, but at Granville Health they looked like one big family and I liked it a lot. You good feel that people liked to work and were proud to be working at GHS.

In the midday I was fortunate to sit in the Committee of Administrative Council were they prepared the Committee of the Board of Trustees. Although I didn’t really participated I got a good view of how they work and get stuff done. Afterwards I talked to Lee Isley about it and I was happy to make some smart remarks.

After that it was of with Jason Brand, the director of EMS. This stands for Emergency ....
It’s difficult to explain how it actually works, but not crossing the county borders is a main rule. Oh yeah, Jasons wife is in Law Enforcement and because of that they have a real M16 assault weapon at home... Jason was kind enough to let me hold it and although I thought it was pretty cool. I still can’t wrap my mind around why a lovely family (they 2 daughters of 4 and 11) need a M16 and a few other guns in the house. His wife needs to practice with it... But still, this is a serious gun.

Once back at the hospital I sat in on the Board of Trustees and it was an honor.

Naturally a day like this would have to end with a Rotary meeting and a presentation. By the end of it I was pretty tired....


Nick

Day 16: Easter - 24/04

Well it was quiet day. In the morning I read my book while my the Kilians were at church and in tehh midday I watch some episodes of the Office, went for a run and than we went for dinner at the Olive Garden... As you can read, it was a quiet eater.

Day 17: Easter Monday -25/4

I didn’t sleep good because of a bug bugged me threw the night. And i had to wake up early to go and visit a consultancy company that sell CRM software... The 2 It’ers were in a good mood and I made the best of it and in the end it was a little bit interesting.

After that we went for lunch and then I got my beard trimmed. It isn’t as short as I wanted it too, but it feels a lot better.

Then it was time to leave Wake Forest, but before we left the ‘Wake Forest Weekly’ newspaper wanted an interview with the GSE team. That was pretty exciting.

Of to our new host family, I arrived at a big house and was welcomed by a big family. The Isley’s are very nice and they made me a nice home cooked meal. After some ping pong with their youngest son Jacob and siting under the porch I went to bed. Because tomorrow, we have vocational and by the looks of it, I’ll spend the hole day at Granville Health.

Nick

Day 16: Easter - 24/04

Well it was quiet day. In the morning I read my book while my the Kilians were at church and in tehh midday I watch some episodes of the Office, went for a run and than we went for dinner at the Olive Garden... As you can read, it was a quiet eater.

Day 17: Easter Monday -25/4

I didn’t sleep good because of a bug bugged me threw the night. And i had to wake up early to go and visit a consultancy company that sell CRM software... The 2 It’ers were in a good mood and I made the best of it and in the end it was a little bit interesting.

After that we went for lunch and then I got my beard trimmed. It isn’t as short as I wanted it too, but it feels a lot better.

Then it was time to leave Wake Forest, but before we left the ‘Wake Forest Weekly’ newspaper wanted an interview with the GSE team. That was pretty exciting.

Of to our new host family, I arrived at a big house and was welcomed by a big family. The Isley’s are very nice and they made me a nice home cooked meal. After some ping pong with their youngest son Jacob and siting under the porch I went to bed. Because tomorrow, we have vocational and by the looks of it, I’ll spend the hole day at Granville Health.

Nick

Day 16: Easter - 24/04

Well it was quiet day. In the morning I read my book while my the Kilians were at church and in tehh midday I watch some episodes of the Office, went for a run and than we went for dinner at the Olive Garden... As you can read, it was a quiet eater.


NICK

Day 15: No Cell Connection - Saturday 23/4

Today started of with a rehearsal for the convention presentation. Once again we had a nice and warm welcome at the Lions Gate Inn.

In the midday Louis took us four guys to a big mall and because I didn’t need anything I was very happy chat with my girlfriend in the Apple store. Also could I follow the soccer game of my home town life.

Back at Possum Trot (hosts road) Leonard want to get me to a barber shop to trim my beard, bust apparently they were all closed on saturday afternoon.

In the evening Laura and Leonard took me to the 2nd Annual Spring Charity Event for the Warren County Volunteer Fire Departement in Warrenton. Now we had to drive for an hour to get their and al I saw were trees, farmland and not a hole much more. We were what I would call in the middle of nowhere and I kid you not, my cellphone had no reception what so all. But the charity was in a nice old Armory where Leonard used to play Basketball and Laura Burt grew up in Warrenton. It was like the prom queen coming home. She new everybody and introduced me to everyone she new. Brothers, cousins and nieces. Their was food and a band called the Castaways and I was amazed about how they real Americans had fun. It was a experience I surely will remember.

NICK

Day 14: Victoria’s Secret - Friday 22/4

We might have complained that we had to much to do and these few days was the other way around. But in the morning we went Karting. Tim won the 8 minutes race.

After lunch we went to a shopping mall for about an hour. I didn’t hesitate for a minute. I put away my pride and walked into a Victoria Secret. My girl had send me on a mission to buy her panties, so I went in and executed my plan. Get the first store help I could find and ask for her help. It was hard, because I was immediately surrounded by nice women and bra’s, strings and sexy lingerie... Oh boy, this was going to be harder than I thought, especially when everybody was watching me. Ok stay focused on the job you fool. I got the help I needed and only had to pick different kind of colors. I felt the floor go away from behind my feet, so I had to call in a helpline... Leafy at the rescue. I called my girlfriend and she explained once again, what I needed to do. I must love her...

I did what I had to do... Victoria has no secrets for me anymore.

I came back to the host family feeling pride and I helped them with the preparations for the Southern Frogmore stew. They invited every host with GSE member for a traditional South Carolina meal. They lived there for many years. The recipe for the stew is the following. You cook crab boil seasoning until it boils, than add red potatoes, after 25 min spicy smoked sausage, than after 5 minutes at the corn and for the last three minutes you add the shrimp. Drain and pile on a table. Mmmmm was it a feast.


Nick

Day 13: Breakfast at Tiffany’s - Thursday 21/4

We were invited for breakfast at the Lions Gate Inn. Joining us was Governor Serge Diof, GSE coordinators Newman Aguiar and Mike Giamcola. It’s always fun when they are in the house. It’s also common for Serge Diof to come a bit late (just kidding), so breakfast became brunch.

We had a debriefing and had our say... Because speaking the truth is a big part of Rotary, Stijn admitted that he saw enough old people and wanted to meet/hook up with young people or at least some women, Tim had enough of garbage and wanted more safety stuff, Filip could only think about his playbook and Nick wanted a lot more vocational action. Luckily they took it like real Rotarians and were immediately working to phones to make somethings happen. We see if the will succeed... They better.

The midday past away. Oh yeah, we went to see a car dealer with cool old american muscle cars and the oversized statue hall of Wake Forest, which is promoted to be low energy LEAD?

Back at my hosts, I went for e run again, because I needed to burn of some calories from this morning brunch. And like always I felt great afterwards and ready to preform at our next Rotary meeting. 72 Rotarians came out to see our latest show and by the looks of the almost standing ovation, they appreciated it...

After a hot thee with Leonard and Laura Kilian I went on to do my on business and write this last peas. Now a few episodes of The Office and I will call it a day.

See ya

Nick

Day 12: Guns and T-shirt - Wednesday 20/4

Just when you start getting used to your bed and your hosts, you have to leave them for a new pair. And in all fairness, you never know what your gonna get.

Their was totally no vocational scheduled today, nor the rest of the week. I guess they forgot.

We started our day at Staples. Filip is an IT specialist who weirs to different kind of shoes and decided to buy the new Playbook from Blackberry yesterday, only to find out it didn’t work, so he (we) had to return it. Luckily for him Staples was able to help him, but he had to leave his toy behind for the day.

We drove up to Wendell. This is a small town with only 4000 inhabitants and by the look of it only survive because thanks to Mortex, a sports apparel printer. First we went to the chambers of commerce and that followed by a stop at Perry’s Guns store. These people were very found of their guns and oh boy did they had a lot of guns. We were disgusted by al the dangers war guns they had and by the fact that they carried them with them. People in the US should not be surprised that their are so many school shootings. I guess they’ll never learn.

I was happy to leave that place and we stopped at a Mexican restaurant for lunch. The food was good.

Third and last stop of the day was Mortex, a large screen printing firm that sells T-shirts and school logo sportswear. We toured the plant and it was quite interesting to see how they make logos and other stuff.

After that it was straight to our new host families. The Kilians are a typically old southern couple who love the Wolfpacks (NC State Football team). After dinner and survivor I went to bed.

Nick

Things we learned so far

If you don’t like the weather in North Carolina, wait five minutes. By then, it may have changed already.

Bull Durham is a movie about the Durham Bulls, as important to the people of Durham as the movie In Bruges is to the people of Bruges. If you admit not having seen the movie, you will hear all about it. Stressing that you have already heard repeatedly all about it, will not deter anyone from repeating it once more.

Good Friday is a bank holiday.

Barbecue in North Carolina is not what we expect it is: not a variety of grilled meat, burgers, steaks, chicken legs, sausages, … Instead, it is chopped pork with a sauce. That sauce varies from region to region, from town to town. But it may very well be something you do not expect on pork, like vinegar. Every town and region takes much pride in its barbecue, though we usually are not impressed.

When people ask “How do you pronounce your (official) first name?” (Stijn), the easiest answer is “Like stain, just a spot on the carpet”. People have less problem reading my nickname Adhemar, although they tend to excessively Americanize the pronunciation.

You can enter a federal building with a pocket knife without problems, but you shouldn’t try it at an Air Force Base.

Cary stands for Containment Area for Relocated Yankees.

Rotary may very well be an old Indian word for (older people holding a) meal or feast. Si non e vero, e ben trovato.

Really strange, yet really true: a lot of North Carolinian Rotary clubs hold their meeting at noon, during lunch, instead of at 8 pm for dinner-and-wine. Even stranger still, some meet early at breakfast! When you're finally awake, such a meeting is over.

Very few people regard themselves as rednecks, probably there is usually another group left with even redder necks.

There’s something in the air

“Ten thousand thundering typhoons!”

— Captain Archibald Haddock

Last week, we spent some time in Raleigh, the City of Oaks and of Oak Pollen. Our visit to North Carolina’s capital started off incredibly interesting: we went to the old North Carolina State Capitol building, and the local history museum. In the afternoon we had an extensive tour of the State Supreme Court of North Carolina, by one of the Associate Justices. We were very interested, had many questions, and ended up taking a lot more of the patient Justice’s time than anticipated. As the Justice expressed her worries about the spending cuts made in to the justice system, a modest group of Tea Party people started to gather across the street to peacefully protest Big Spending Government.

On Saturday we cheered for a number of physically challenged children having lots of fun playing Miracle League baseball. We also attended the spring training game of university (American) football from between North Carolina State University and other North Carolina State University players. This was football, so there was a band, and a dancing team, and cheerleaders.

Later on the day, my host family took me to a community party, but not many people showed up as it was pouring rain. Just a few miles further, a tornado came by. Only afterwards, we learned how destructive the tornado really was, far beyond what North Carolina is used to. The tornados made the opening news headlines even on the websites of Flemish newspapers. We survived, somewhat oblivious to Nature’s wrath.

Yet the very next day was a beautiful hot sunny day. We went to the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, where there weren’t tornados but airplanes in the air. It was a spectacular air show, with very low fly-byes. You couldn’t see the planes fly by if you were in the back of the audience: there were people standing in the way! The simulated bombing in the Tora! Tora! Pearl Harbor reenactment even included explosions on the ground. (Apparently, people have asked whether a plane had crashed when they saw the photos. The correct answer is “No”.)

On Monday, we learned at the Freedm Center all about North Carolina State University’s research in the smart energy grid of the future. In the afternoon, we visited the US Environment Protection Agency. The EPA was so proud of how environmentally responsible and green their office building was, although we weren’t too impressed.

On Tuesday, I spend a very interesting day at Red Hat, a major Linux software and services vendor.

I must express my thanks and gratitude to Shirin Mashhoon, and her mother, and her son Abteen. They were a very fun host family to stay with. (Abteen, I’m sorry too that Futbol Club Barcelona didn’t win la Copa del Rey!)

Oh, one more thing: when Scott (Nick’s and Tim’s host) takes you out to a dancing bar, watch out for the Vicious Blonde!

Veniunt stellæ, abeunt; phœnix semper pervivet

“Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phœnix.”

— Christina Baldwin

Happy International Zombie Day, everybody, and a Tasteful Associated Chocolate Party! Somehow, I didn’t find the time to blog regularly during this Group Study Exchange. I am impressed how Nick managed to write as often as he did.

Let me go back a few weeks.

One word comes to mind when describing Durham. Durham is a town that has grown and decayed because of the growth and the the decay of the tobacco industry. But that is in the past. At present, I think of one word: rebirth. It is truly amazing how the town has reinvented itself: the old tobacco factories and warehouses get renovated; small start-up businesses are moving in town; the baseball team is doing great; the town comes back to live.

Don’t let the atmosphere fool you: everybody acts very cool and laid down, but Things Get Done. There is even a stampede were start-ups get some free shared office space for a few months, just to get things started.

On the first day, we enjoyed a nice trip around the town. A brief note to set the record straight to my fellow GSE’ers: the Sarah P. Duke gardens do not commemorate Sarah Palin Duke, but Sarah Pearson Angier Duke.

During the next few days, I've visited small companies like Bronto, as well as a larger one in the Research Triangle: SAS. From a professional point of view, the highlight was Duke University, both its Computer Science department and the tour of its campus.

Duke's library was an impressive place on its own; I can imagine it is a fabulous place to work. We saw some great and innovative use of modern technology, and practical designed library space to have meetings and do research. (Yes, I'm a bit jealous.) We also got to see the digitalization process: both recent and historic works are carefully photographed to make them universally digitally accessible.

Earlier, we visited the Golden Belt historic textile mill campus, which is now a unique creative arts hub. Several artists have their own cubicle to practice their art. There we met a printer with an authentic mechanical movable type printing press. I held some Helvetica type in my hand: "real type, not the idea of type", as the print-artist stressed.

The antithesis between the mechanical printing press and the Internet-savvy, digitalizing and WiFi-offering university library may be an allegory for all of Durham: old industry buildings, in which new technologies, new ideas and new energy thrive.

On Thursday, we saw the opening game of the Durham Bulls. The baseball game itself was rather boring (the Bulls won from the start, had one home run); but the food was deliciously trashy; and the atmosphere and animation were great.

Many thanks to Alliance architects John and Vandana Warasila-Dake. Not only did they contribute their professional bit in reinventing Durham, they were also excellent hosts.

Oh, one more all-American experience: in Durham, I got carded for the first time.

21/04/2011

Hello Belgium and the world. This is Tim live from Wake Forest, NC, USA.

We are already 12 days on the road in North Carolina and I finally managed to put something on the blog. As this is the case, be prepared for a long one.

Our trip here has been fully packed with activities up to now, as you may already have guest from the entries on the blog by Nick. As we are very busy and I didn't read all of the blog, pardon me if I repeat some stuff.

I quick summary of the trip from my point of view:

The Americans arranged a special welcome for us, as it was raining cats and dogs upon arrival in Durham. We felt at home right away. And then came the first nasty surprise (all people from NC should skip the following part). We went to a bar called Thylers because they had a lot of beers (rain and beer, just like home). The hosts said that NC was famous for it's BBQ so I took the BBQ plate with fries. Now, BBQ in NC doesn't mean grilled meat. It means slowly cooked, shopped up pork. So imagine my surprise. And as if that was not enough, the local BBQ sauce is VINIGAR, on pork! And on top of that came the fries, WITH GARLIC ! But at least the beer was good :-).

After that, we rode up to the lake house by Hyco Lake. And what happens at the lake house, stays at the lake house. But just so you'd know, it involved beer, a speed boat, tubing, microwave dinners, sunny weather and some more beer.

First real thing to do: Durham. One of the tree cities making up the NC Triangle, downtown Durham has in recent years reinvented itself after near extinction. The old industrial buildings have been revamped and downtown is filling up with small businesses, restaurants, bars and people. We had a nice walk around the town and over the days visited the different Rotary clubs. We also had two vocational visits, which in my case were Durham solid waste management (and Sonoco) and Orange County solid waste management. We also went to the opening game of the Durham Bulls (baseball) and visited Duke University.

Next up: Raleigh. Capitol of NC, it was for some reason spared during the civil war and so hosts a lot of old buildings. Although "old" in the USA doesn't mean the same thing as in Europe. We walked around and visited the Supreme Court and a museum. And then of course came the Rotary clubs and I must say the strangest invention of all time: a breakfast club. So you can go to a Rotary meeting before work starts... In Raleigh there was a nice addition to the beer, being a wine bar :-). We also went to a jazz evening and vocational visits again. And we were getting more and more tired. Getting up early and doing tree or four different things on one day gets in to your system, even if the four things on one day consist of walk / lunch@club / museum / diner@club. And that's an easy day.

During the weekend we went to Wings over Waeyne. AWSOME :-). One big publicity stunt for the US air force, but who cares? It was a huge air show!

We are almost getting into the present, just a few more days to go :-).

On monday I had my next vocational. I got to ride around in a garbage truck (or as they call it, a 'recycling' truck) and pick up some cans with the big mechanical arm. After that we went to a huge recycling plant where they had a very sophisticated system to split the mixed plastic stream into the different types of plastic.

In the evening Filip bought himself a Blackberry Playbook. And when we got home it didn't work... We were supposed to be drinking beer (again) and playing pool, but he was whining all the time about his non-working playbook. We gave him a hard time :-). The day after that we spent a lot of time at the local Staples getting it fixed...

And that brings us to yesterday. We went to visit Wendell, a small town not far from Raleigh. We went to the local gun shop and were dazzled. Shotguns, M16, FN Herstal (Belgian) semi-automatics that are normally used by British special forces... And that to hunt deer? I would not want to be a deer in NC! And after that we went to a huge clothes labeling and printing company that makes it's own clothes in the US and labels them for universities and colleges around the country. High price but high quality and truly made in the USA (Bruce Springsteen).

In the evening we arrived at our third host family, in Wake Forest.

Today we had a huge brunch at the Lions Gate Inn B&B and toured a bit to see the town. In the evening we had our gazillionth presentation at the local Rotary Club, with good food and of course... beer. What did you expect?

And now it's late and my fingers are done typing for today. And what happens tomorrow? Who knows? Well... I do but I'm not gonna tell you in advance :-).

See y'all later,

Tim Balcaen

Day 11: Lucky 32 - Tuesday 19/4

This morning I was lucky, Mary bought Honey Loops and I like those a lot.

The day started at Rex Healthcare where I met up with Chris Main, director of Protective Services. This hospital has almost the same problems when it comes to parking as the UZ Ghent. The staff doesn’t want to walk for 5min and give Chris a lot of grieve. He actually had a nice way of saying that he can’t help it. I learned a lot today and was sad that we only had 2hours. I could spend at least 2 to 3 days with this guy and we could share our experiences. To bad the GSE schedule doesn’t allow that!

Thanks to Charlie I had a private chauffeur for the day and somebody to have lunch with.

The afternoon I had the privilege to go on a ride along with NC State police Officer Finch. An ex marine corps that loves his job, but forgot to keep his body into shape. We had an one call about some coarse language, but the rest of the midday was very calm. Except than our patrol car that almost didn’t make it.

Finch made me think that once again I ate to much greasy food and that I should go for a run, but before that I skyped with the love of my live.

I went jogging for about 40min and sweat my ass off. It was so bad that I almost couldn’t stop sweating and that was particularly embarrassing, because I was invited to dinner at a real southern restaurant ‘Lucky 32’. My host and I were accompanied by Willen van IJeck and we had great food and a wonderful time, Now aren’t I’m lucky

Nick

Day 10: Bad milk - Monday 18/4

Looking forward to my breakfast I got up and had some serials, but I toke the wrong milk... The milk had gone bad and was really awful. I kept it al day!

Of course being it monday, we had some vocational. After Duke and UNC, North Carolina State University was up next.

It was a short visit to NC State Police department, but the hour was very well spend. I learned a lot of new things, especially in the IT department of policing. I’m sure that I will use some stuff back home. To bad I can’t really talk about ;-) but I can say this. I got invited to go back and tomorrow I’ll go on patrol with an officer. I’m looking forward to that. You see that it’s very easy to make a good descent vocational schedule... Just a few telephone calls and we were al set.

After lunch the 100 million presentation, we all went together to visit the US EPA, Environmental Protection Agency. We learned one valuable lesson and that is that we Belgian or even Europeans are far more advanced in that sector. We gave more tips to them than the other way around, but the good thing is that they are really dedicated to improving things and are willing to go all the way...Keep up the good work.

After the visit Susan Joan Smiley - Baker was so kind to give a small cheese and wine party at her house and the food was great.

At 6pm we headed home and Mary cooked a nice meal: Burgers with corn. We watch ed dancing with the stars and that was the evening I wanted.

Nick

Day 9: I feel the need... the need for speed - Sunday 17/4

If I wake up on a sunday morning at 6:30am ,that normally means something. And this time it sure did. We went to ‘Wings over Wayne’ Air Show at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. It was a long drive, but it was worth while.

We saw F15 Eagles, F16 Fighting Falcon, Mustangs, Apache Helicopters, A10’s and so on. The boys put on a great show for us in the nice North Carolina blue sky.

Of course this was good propaganda for the US military and I must say that I saw some things that really disgusted me. Slogans like ‘You terrorist won the toss, no we’ll bomb the heck out of you’ or ‘You want to fight, we’ll give you the F15’.... Do I need to say more.

The Thunderbirds were going to fly at 2pm but we had to leave at 1pm to make a reception at 4pm. The reception was in a very nice house and we got to meet great people. Charlie and I only stayed for an hour, because we had an appointment with his son and daughter in law.

Because we have to eat all the time and it’s rude to refuse food, I decided that I should get in a run. So once home (hosts) I went for a 40min jog and it felt great. It also made me fall a sleep very quick...

Nick

Day 8: Tornados are coming... - Saturday 16/4

For the first time in a couple of days, we didn’t need to wake up and for the first day here the weather was giving a 100% chance of precipitation.

The program was very simple. First we went to a miracle league baseball game, which is for handicapped children only, and second was the spring training football game from NC State. We didn’t stay long because the weather forecast predicted tornados....

I was in bedroom surfing the internet as the dark clouds kept rolling in. Darker and darker, and heavy rain, when al of sudden, Mary game shouting up the stairs that we should hide in the strongest place of the house... Not really scared, but also not feeling at ease, I went to sit with Mary. The electricity went out, haggle started to fall and the wind was blowing very hard. The eye of the storm was very close, but missed us by one mile... After the tornado past, the sun came out and everything was ok for us. Later on we heard some people died...

Nick

Day 7: Supreme Court of Justice - Friday 15/4

Today we left Durham and went for capital of North Carolina.... Raleigh.

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and we were al in suits. Saying goodbye to our previous host families felt already hard, but new adventures lay ahead of us.

In the morning we visited the NC State capitol and the local museum of history.

After a quick lunch and a lecture of Dr Irma McClaurin from Shaw University (it’s a private college for black persons only), we got a really interesting guided tour of the North Carolina Supreme Court of Justice. Our guide was nobody less than Associate justice Robin E. Hudson and we even had a chance to meet the Chief Justice Sarah Parker. As you can see, the women were very well represented. We learned a lot about how the law is practiced in NC and a 45min tour became a 2 hour tour, because we had to many questions. Lucky for us, the judge didn’t mind because they were right on the money...

At 5pm we met our new host and mine are a bit on the old side. I’m not kidding. Charlie Seay is 86 years old and flew about 70 missions in the Pacific during WOII (HE IS A TRUE HERO) and his wife Mary is 81. But I must say that they are still going strong and they do a perfect job in hosting me. Although Charlie bought a new car to drive me around town, I’m scared as hell when we have to drive. 86 and driving is not a good combination. He doesn’t see that good anymore you know :-)

Nick

Day 6: Chatham Hospital - Thursday 14/4

The day started at 6:30 am to drive to a sunrise meeting of Rotary Hillsborough. Yes, they get together at 7am for breakfast. We did our presentation and ate pancakes.

Filip and I went fishing, but after 2hours of catching nothing, we decided to shoot some guns. We shot a 38 caliber revolver, a sawed off riot gun (I think that’s illegal to have) and a 22 caliber rifle. Adrenaline was sure rushing true my veins.

We had another presentation for lunch and then Serge Diof was so kind to drive me to Chatham hospital while the rest of team went on a tour of Duke. Chatham Hospital is part of UNCH, but only counts 25beds and is really small.

Although they are really small, it was very interesting to learn that public transportation is none exciting and that people have a hard time to get to the hospital. Also do they have security problems, but they do have one security guard on site during the day.

Both in the drive (1hour) to the Hospital as on the way back, I learned a lot about the health care system from Serge and what his role was before he retired.

Getting up early was hard enough, but staying awake at the Durham Bulls baseball game was maybe even harder. Nevertheless, we had a suite and ate burgers. Luckily Tommy and Mary were tired after the 6the inning and went home.

Packed my bag, said goodbye o Mary and Tommy and went to bed.

Friday promised to be an exciting day... Supreme Court of Justice of NC.

Nick

Day 5: UNC - Wednesday 13/4

The Governor of the district Serge Diof came to pick me up at 9:30am to go to the hospital University of North Carolina.
UNC Hospital is widespread health care institution in Chapel Hill. UNCH has a lot of things in common with the University Hospital of Ghent ( my current employer). As us, it has around 1000 sickbeds, 8000 employees, not enough parking spaces and a strange relationship with the mother University. Although in the last case things are upside down, while the University of Ghent have to pay rent at the University Hospital of Ghent. Here it’s the other way around.

What was amazing that everybody, yes also the professors and doctors, have to pay for their parking space and that they can’t choose where. Those who earn more than 100 000$ can pay up to 2500$ for the year, those who earn less than 25 000$ pay around 150$. Of course their is free parking, but that’s not on campus grounds and is approximately 6miles away. They have to take a shuttle.

The Governor, my Team leader, Johan Valcke, and myself had the opportunity to meet the CEO for 5min and we did. It was an honor.

The evening dinner was at a Jazz club and after a pizza and music, I headed back to woods for a good rest... The following morning we would have a ‘sunrise’ meeting.

Nick

Day 4: Vocational start now - tuesday 12/4

My hosts are Tommy and Mary. Two great persons that have lived a crazy live already. They live in a beautiful house in the woods near Duke University.

They dropped me of at the Duke University Police Department for my first vocational visit. Duke is a private university with only 4000 students and about 6000 employees. I was met by a women named Ruby and she’s a typically black women who laughs a lot.

First up, was a tour of the parking lots and the parking system that is in place at Duke. Every student has to pay and are designated to a parking lot. They are not allowed to park anywhere else. If they do, they get towed to their parking lot and have to pay a fine of about 150$. Considering that they drive Porsches and Beemers, that isn’t a big fine.

Then we went to visit the Hospital. A police officer showed us around and it was very interesting for me. We have a lot of problems in common and different solutions for them.

After an other Rotary lunch meeting and another presentation that went great. I Returned to Duke to ride along in a patrol car. Of course I can’t tell what happened.

Mary made a lovely meal for me and after talking about religion and other light topic, I called it a day... Up to UNC on wednesday.

Nick

Day 3: Durham City - monday 11/4

We left for Durham around 9am and the temperature was cool. But by the time we arrived things were heating up. After a tour of Durham in a mine van, we had our first Rotary meeting and our first time to give the quiz. Although it wasn’t a problem, the group felt nervous, but by the reaction we had from the crowed, it was obvious they liked it. or was it because we handed it out chocolate, who’s to say.

the midday we started of with yet an other tour of Durham and a passionate guy told us all about the long gone tobacco industry and what the city was doing for rebuilding its downtown area. The sun was out and with our suites on, we were literally melting... everybody was sweating and with no water, we feared we wouldn’t survive the walk.

If that wasn’t enough, we also went to an old tobacco mill that got turned around in a sparkling arts center. Luckily that didn’t take to long and was inside, were the air-conditioning was more than welcome.

The evening came and after a shower and a quick skype session with my girlfriend, we went for dinner where we met our host families.

Around 9pm we were al with our hosts on our way to find out where we should sleep for next few days....

Day 2: Summer house - sunday 10/4

Boy did I sleep...

Still, we all were awake around 6:30 am. Rise and shine, the weather forecast predicted 80F (....C), so we were in for a great day!

After breakfast, we had a GSE meeting. Going over the quiz and getting organized to meet with the rotary clubs.

Because the weather wasn’t what we hoped for, 55F (...C), we decided to go to an real american store.... Yes, Wallmarkt. Cheap, huge and to big. But what else is there to do at a summer house without sun? Yep, nothing.

After lunch, the sun finally came out to play and Arthur took u on his boat and we had a great midday on Heko lake.Some of us did some tubing, while I watched from the boat. It looked back braking.

Dinner was in a typical NC steakhouse and by 10pm we were ready for bed.

Day 1: Brussels -Semora - Saterday 9/4

The day begun early at 6:30am to take the train to Brussels Airport. Saying goodbye to my girlfriend, Doreen, and my blond Lab, Lucca, was very hard. Tears run heavily.

As always I had an extra security check in the airport before I could enter the departure hall to go to the gate.
The first flight from Brussels to Washington DC was quite Ok, I saw a movie with Russel Crow, Highway 61, and ate some pasta. The rest of the way I slept with my Ipod plugged in.

Once in de DC, we had to clear US Customs. That was something else... Luckily the guy didn’t give me a hard time.

At the baggage claim I can only remember a dog sniffing my bag. It was a K9, but I couldn’t stop thinking about my four legged girlfriend, Lucca.

After a donut, we were ready to fly to Raleigh/Durham... It was only a 45min fly, but were we in for a threat. The craziest stewardess was on the plan. She made jokes, wore a halloween mask, etc... I fell asleep only to be woke up by some heavy turbulence. The plane was all over the place and I kid you not the pilot overshot the runway... we pulled up with full throttle and I new I was in trouble... Concentrating to land, we finally made it, but my stomach was in a knot. Nevertheless we arrived and we great by Arthur en Newman. To great guys.

Some of us were hungry so after a drive in a heavy thunderstorm we ended up in Tylers Tap Room... A real American sports bar, where I could watch Hockey :-) I didn’t eat a lot, because my body was in agony and I ordered the wrong dish. I needed sleep and I needed it fast, but we still had an hour drive in front of us.

Still raining, we arrived in Semora, NC, at a nice summer house at the lake. I dosed of immediately... Sweat dreams.

Try to relax and enjoy the crisis

“What happens at the lake, stays at the lake.”

After a lukewarm-at-best reception by the immigration, customs and security theatre officers, we were greeted very warmly and heartily upon arrival at Raleigh Durham Airport by Arthur Rogers and Newman Aguiar. Very heavy rain tried hard to spoil our very first evening (Saturday night), but failed. Arthur took us to his lake house for a relaxed Sunday with the guys.

Because of the policy stated above, I shall limit the description of Sunday to keywords only: foosball, swimming, Walmart, the sun breaking through the clouds, ressurecting Mable (as a semi-forced labor force…), tubing on Mable (like waterskiing lying down), beer, astronomy, camp fire.

My first American beer on this trip was “Ommegang Rare Vos”, a Flanders-style amber beer with a Flemish-style name, brewed in Cooperstown, New York: a very good beer; I highly recommend it.

All on board!

“It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on Earth has ever produced the phrase ‘as pretty as an airport.’”

— Douglas Adams

And so it begins. We are ready.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

“It’s a dangerous business, going out of your door. You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

— Bilbo Baggins

Tomorrow, 24 hours from now, United Airlines flight 951 will take off at Brussels Airport, Zaventem. We, the GSE team, will be on that plane, sitting on row 35. Our final destination, after a pit stop in Washington Dulles: Raleigh Durham, North Carolina.

The waiting and counting down is almost over: only one more day to go.

Maybe “ironic” isn’t the right word, but I find it notable that, now that we’re finally leaving the “country” that has been without a government since Monday, April 26, 2010, it now looks like we’re possibly heading for another country without a government.

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, and to the coming month.

Voor een dag van morgen

“Het is een gevaarlijke zaak om je deur uit te gaan. Je gaat op Weg, en als je niet op je voeten let, heb je geen idee waar je in verzeild raakt.”

— Bilbo Baggins

Morgen, binnen 24 uur, zal United Airlines vlucht 951 opstijgen op de Luchthaven van Brussel, Zaventem. Wij, het GSE team, zullen in dat vliegtuig zitten, op rij 35. Onze eindbestemming, na een pitstop in Washington Dulles: Raleigh Durham, North Caolina.

Het wachten en het aftellen is bijna gedaan: nog slechts één dag te gaan.

Misschien is “ironisch” het juiste woord niet, maar ik vind het we merkwaardig dat, nu we eindelijk het “land” verlaten dat sinds maandag 26 april 2010 zonder regering zit, het er nu naar uit ziet dat we mogelijk naar een ander land zonder regering trekken.

Ik zie echt uit naar morgen, en naar de maand die volgt.