My Country, My Home

I hereby encourage all toastmasters in Taiwan to take the challenge to speak behind the lectern of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is the best stage to speak out to the world what toastmasters in Taiwan can offer to the public servants and to the public in general. It is the best stage for us to foster our self-confidence and personal growth.

Upon D67 PR YS Liao's invitation, I was excited to take the assignment as the Language Evaluator at MOFA Toastmasters Club's 9th Meeting, Friday afternoon, December 12th. The meeting was postponed from Thursday to Friday, which made me wonder what a busy life our foreign diplomats lead, especially at the end of the year. I guess there won't be any so-called Christmas holidays for diplomats around the world.

Being the first timer to MOFA Toastmasters Club's meeting venue at MOFA big white building next to the Presidential Hall, I felt like a prestigious person the moment I walked into the brightly lit Press Conference Room 428 of thick carpet and comfortable sofas. President Michael Hsu stood at door to give every guest and member a hearty welcome diplomatically, which made me a proud citizen of Taiwan.

Even we didn't have a full house of participants this afternoon, the meeting quality was good. The variety session chaired by Christine Hung was a story relay. Christine began the story by naming a lost back labrador "Christmas", then we were called upon to tell Christmas' adventures to become a TV star and returned to his home eventually. Tabletopics Master YS asked diplomats about their Christmas experiences abroad. Two prepared speakers Robin Cheng and Paul Chen were eager to share with us their stories in life and at work with an excellent command of the English language.

LJ was a competent general evaluator indeed. He arrived at MOFA 15 minutes ahead of the meeting time, passed questionnaire slips among evaluators whom he would introduce later. The question was "how will you spend your Christmas"? When he took charge of the evaluation session, he not only complimented the good areas of MOFA toastmasters club, but he also pinpointed areas for future improvement in details, including outsourcing assignment takers from other toastmasters clubs when necessary, avoiding verbalizing the pause with unnecessary fillers, and many valuable comments for individual assignment taker, speaker and evaluator.

Talking about MOFA toastmasters Club, two important toastmasters who help the club all the time and to the best of their abilities are YS Liao and LJ Lamb. They are regular visitors and supporters to MOFA Toastmasters Club. The service attitude of the Toastmasters International they demonstrate to every member of the big Toastmasters family is impressive and inspiring. YS never forgets to wear smiles on his face to encourage club officers and members to participate in regular meetings to hone communication and leadership skills. Being an attorney, LJ follows the rules of Toastmasters clubs and gives constructive suggestions and recommendations without reservations. With the efforts of YS and LJ, I am sure MOFA will become a model club in Taiwan in no time. I salute them both from the bottom of my heart!

MOFA Toastmasters Club's next meeting and the last meeting of 2008 will take place on the fourth Thursday, which falls on the Christmas Day coincidentally. If you're available on the day, why not grab the good timing to share the joyful moments with the diplomats toastmasters of our country, our home?