Grand New Members Orientation

It's been a while since Grand last held the social gathering at Toastmaster Gina Cheng's cozy apartment in Chung-ho, New Taipei City. Ten Granders, including President Zoy Chung, four senior members (Billy Chen, Gina Cheng, May Hwang, and myself), five junior and new members (CT Lin, Ian Yang, Eric Hsu, Spring Lee, Betty Lin) refilled Gina’s living room with resilience and laughter on a beautiful and sunny Saturday, January 24th.

To my surprise, Billy arrived earlier than I did, to prepare pork rib and raddish soup. I brought a bottle of French red wine. May arrived after me, bringing sweets from Mister Donut, Zoy followed by carrying a huge suitcase of chicken curry, vegetable curry, guavas and apples to feed an entire army. When Zoy told us she had been worried because she couldn't find any new members at the Yung-san MRT Station. We were worried what if none showed up. No sooner than later, the bell rang, voila arrived a group of youngsters.

After a warm round of toasting with red wine, I was honored to start Grand's New Members Orientation by talking about "from a new member to a distinguished Toastmaster (DTM)", even I'm yet to be a DTM. May gave a workshop on "Meeting Roles and Responsibilities" from Successful Club Series 295. Billy talked about how to prepare speeches according to Competent Communicator Manual. Five new members, all served as Grand's officers and deputy officers, asked a lot questions about the Toastmasters.

It was almost one o'clcok while Billy was still giving his talk enthusiasticaly, I had to start the lunch by myself in order to rush to another two appointments in the afternoon. The soup was delicious, the chicken curry was tasty. I wish I could've stayed longer to double the joy of food among Granders. Before I left Gina's place, I asked for a group photo. Vice President Education CT Lin led his junior and new members team gave old members big and sweet surprises of prepaid coffee cards.

With Billy's clear instructions, I rode my scooter from Chung-ho to Wanhua in twenty minutes. It was the first time I crossed the Hua-chung Bridge connecting Chung-ho and Wanhua. I arrived at Duckstay before 1:30PM. I met Illustrator Michael Leu and got his signature on "Railway Kids". Then I donated the illustrated book to Duckstay, because more visitors can benefit from reading the story of A-Liang in old Wanhua in the 60's.

Then I rushed to Anatolia Formosa Association (AFA) on Keelung Road to join the Thurkish coffee gathering with friendly Turkish ladies at AFA. It was the first time two concurrent events took place, the coffee gathering and the movie gathering to watch “Fetih 1453”. As much as I love movies, I stayed with the women group to chat over Turkish tea for the entire afternoon with great delight.