Last day in Thunder Bay

This morning started out early for the team. We did our last presentation at a The Lakehead morning club. Although tired we looked forward to this last opportunity to present our program. After the meeting we changed clothes and headed for Old Fort William. We got a tour from Wabash who showed us Ojibwa traditions. We did a "smudge" which was supposed to clean our souls and minds - kind of poetic as this is our last day overseas. After the smudge we toured the old fur trading post and learnd about life back then. As a grande finale we even got to sow our own pouches mad from deerskin.

After another deliciuos lunch we jump right on to the next adventure - a tour of the Bombardier plant in Thunder Bay. Rotarian John Luckock gave us the grand tour and some interesting insights in the train industry of today.

17:33
We are currently packing our bags and are preparing ourselves for the farewell party, we are looking forward to coming home again although we´re sure that we´ll shed a tear or two - now that the adventure is coming to an end. Pictures will be uploaded soon.

Last vocational day

This day was a day at court for me. I got to see Thunder Bay's twocourt houses. The morning I met people working with the Victim WitnessAssistance Program who are located in the Ontario Court of Justice.The program is funded by the Ministry of the Attorney General. The mandate of the program is to provide information, assistance andsupport to victims and witnesses of crime throughout the criminal justice process in order to increase their understanding of, and participation in, the criminal justice process. They prioritise service to male or female victims/witnesses of sexual assault, childabuse and partner assault. I think these people do a fantastic jobtrying to reduce the stress for victims of predominantly domestic violence. This is also a big problem in Sweden. Sadly, I was told thatthe trend here right now is that it seems to be getting worse.

After having lunch with two Rotarians, Kristina and a Canadian colleague of hers I went to see Doug Shanks who works as a lawyer at Cheadles law firm. He took me to the Superior Court of Justice to meetthe judges. We had an interesting and rather informal discussion intheir lunch room about our different court systems. Five of the sixjudges were present. After four weeks in the states I had become quitefamiliar with their court system but now I learned that here in Canada it was completely different.

The judges wear a really nice outfit when they appear in the courtroom. Madam Justice Helen Pierce asked me if a wanted to try on herdress – what an honour. First they put on a white cotton shirt withwing collars, then a black waist coat of wool, black trousers/skirt, ablack robe of silk, white tabs and finish with a red sash of wool. I felt like a very important person.

Before I left the court house a got to sit at a civil trial and seeJustice John deP Wright wearing these clothes. The case was aboutmedical maltreatment and was very interesting.In the evening we had dinner with the Fort William Rotary Club. Wewere welcomed by the city mayor Lynn Peterson, who is also a Rotarymember. We then did our tenth presentation.Before it became dark we went to see the Kakabeka Falls. What a wonderful scenery.

What a big one!

Today we had many opportunities but what we choose between doing was trekking or fishing. Anna and Sabina went on a long hiking tour for almost three hours. A very nice hiking tour given by Louise, she also taught them alot about the Canadian forests. Ulf, Marcel and Tina wanted to go fishing for the big, big old pike in Lake Superior! And guess who got it? It may sound unbelivable but the old pike bite all of our hooks at the same time!! And it was the biggest, biggest anyone ever had caught in Lake Superior! During the day it was windy and we even saw what we hope will be the last snow for this spring. After coming home again from all our outdoors activities we had some relaxing time before a last dinner in Nipigon at the "Red Rock Inn" before heading back to Thunder Bay! (some of the stories above may be a little, little bit exagerated)

// Tina

North Shore

On this beautiful Victoria Day (big holiday in Canada) we started with breakfast at the Hoito Restaurant. The Hoito is a famous Finnish restaurant in Thunder Bay and shares a building on Bay Street with the Finlandia Club. The reason we ended up at the Hoito a early Monday morning is because they are famous fore there Finnish breakfast pancakes. As a Swede is felt really strange to have pancakes in the morning instead of fore lunch or a light dinner, but our team is brave and some of us tasted the pancakes with maple
syrup and fried potato’s or bacon and eggs. For those of us who wanted something else they hade a big breakfast menu. The Hoito was really a great experience and a place where I could have stay just watching people for hours!! But we hade to head out to new adventures and the with people line for a table where growing by the minute.

First stop of the day’s tour was the Marina park with the Terry Fox Monument and the lookout spot for the sleeping giant. I still have some problem with making out the arms but we took a lot of pictures so I can keep looking when I get home. Next stop was Quiment Canyon where we got interesting information on how it came to be and other Canyons around the world.

After lunch came the big challenge! Eagle Canyon Suspension Bridge is Canada’s longest Suspension Footbridge. Not really my thing but the spectacular scenery made it worth it.

During the afternoon we got an interesting guided tour of the areas surrounding Nipigon and got the opportunity to choose a gift among Roland Choiselat’s beautiful stone craft. Last but not least we hade a great evening socializing with the Nipigon club at the Dupuis lake cabin.

Goodbye US hello Canada!

Time for break up after just one night by our hosts in Two Harbors, the last U.S. town during our trip. Now it was time to follow the eastern coastline of BIG Lake Superior with nice sceneries to meeting point Lutsen, a sport hotel down at the waterline of thelake. After lunch and farewell to our former GSE hosts we continued towards Thunder Bay with short photobreaks now and then. A couple of hours later we passed the Canadian border with ease without any suspisious questions from the custom.Direct after having entered our new "home country" we stopped and were welcomed with a "surviving kit" each - a wine coolerstuffed with important things as the Canadian flag, a nice tie with the maple leafe, playing cards, notebook, pen and of course aschnaps glaas. Thank you very much. Tomorrow it`s time for new adventures in Nipigon suroundings. With our new surviving kit wehave no feares for whatever we will meet or will happen.

Leaving Wisconsin

After a relaxing morning it was time to leave "The Dairy State" for this time. We´ve had a great time being here and we got to see interesting parts of Superior. Today we´re going back to Minnesota and Two Harbors for a quick stop there. The team is really looking forward to seeing the famous lighthouse.

Super Superior

This morning Kristina, Sabina and I had our vocational day together.We were scheduled to meet up at 9 a.m. outside the City Building ofSuperior. Since I was staying in Duluth I just had to cross a bridgeand then I was in a new town and a new state. This is why Duluth and Superior go by the name "The Twin Ports".First we met the mayor Dave Ross, police chief Floyd Peters andsheriff Tom Dalbac. After having talked to them and compared oursystems Kristina tried a Taser, a non-lethal weapon that the Swedishpolice don't use. She now got to use it – a bunch of keys was hersubject. We then walked to the Emergency Communication Center and gotto see all the equipments that the people who answer 911 phone callscan use to help people fast. We also got a tour of the jail and the Court House.After lunch the whole group made a visit to the Cathedral of Christthe King, which has been newly renovated. Father Dan Dahlberg himselfguided us. He showed us an unexpected talent; he knew the old Swedish children's rhyme 'Rida, rida, ranka'.In the evening there was time for a social with Rotary clubs from thetwin ports. Some of us then went to a bar to sing karaoke. Ulf and Kristina did a great version of ABBA's 'Money, Money, Money'.

//AM

Doing Duluth

We started the morning by traveling from Virginia to Duluth. In Duluth we started with a small tour walking in the city, had a little bit of shopping and a nice look around. After lunch we went on a harbor cruise on "The Vista King", had some good views and some interesting speaching from "the girl on the speakers".After the Lake Superior tour we all got about an hour for or selves. Three of us went to a bar and set down for a relaxing beer, and after that we went back to the hotel to meet up with our new host families.

// The team

City of Virginia

In the morning I was taken for a tour of Virginia and its surroundings. We started with an old Iron ore mineshaft that nowadays is filled with water. After being regarded as ugly for many years’ people of today see the beauty in the old water filled shaft and we visited a newly built area where the houses faced an old mineshaft just for the beautiful view. We also went for a walk in the centre of town and saw all the old buildings there. At lunchtime we met up with the Virginia Rotary club for lunch and we made a team presentation.

During the afternoon we went for a guided tour at US Steels iron ore mine, Minntac. Minntac is a company with 1200 employees and is very important for the economy in Virginia. We were guided by the Plant Service Manager Rob Tommasoni how made a god job explaining the process of Iron ore mining to us. The most interesting thing was being able to go up in a 240 ton truck. The truck is 21tf 9in high, 23ft 3 wide and 43ft 8in long. Just the tier is 10ft 7in high and the maximum speed is 38 mph. You felt really small standing on the ground looking up at it and being up in the driver’s seat didn’t make it look any smaller! It was also very interesting to see the amount of railway wagons that left the plant every day, 140 wagons five times a day!

We ended the day and our time in Virginia with food and social at the Coats Hotel. As always we were served really good food.

Monday 12/5

Three weeks now since we arrived in Bismarck for our five week trip. Time runs fast when you get new impressions every day.

Monday began with a visit at Ripley Military Reservation, a huge 53 000 acres (25 miles x 5 miles) military exercise area. It´s the third biggest employer in the County. Despite it is a military exercise area there is an interesting and well treated wildlife with 650 different plant species and more than 200 bird species. 1000-4000 troops train at a time in the area without any disturbance between them and the wild animals there.

After this we were guided thru the different mechanical workshops that took care of the environment with using water based paint, recycling motor oil, recycled water and using high pressurized water instead of sandblasting off the old paint from the vehicles.

After lunch at the canteen there was time for a museum visit before returning to Brainerd and our vocational afternoon.
In the evening we visited Camp Confidence, a camp were families with a member with a mental defect can stay and have a lot of creative activities. After a guided outdoor and indoor tour we had a delicious “smorgasbord” together with participating hosts.
Tomorrow it´s time for a noon Rotary meeting and another presentation and a new breakup from host families.

Farewell all Rotarian friends in Brainerd. Next stop is Virginia. Here we come!

Anyone for croquet?

Sunday started off in a slow pace for the team. Some went to church with their host families and some took the opportunity to do some R & R. At 3 pm the team and host families joined up at Maddens resort for a nice game of croquet. Who would´ve thought that the game could be so complicated and exciting, the team leader had to bite his tongue on several occasions. The afternoon was rounded off in the restaurant where stories from the match were told. Maddens is known all through the US as one of the finest resorts on the shores of Gull lake.

On the Mississippi

After saying goodbye to our Bemidji-hosts we embarked for an outdoor adventure. The Bemidji Rotary Clubs had arranged for us to go canoeing on the Mississippi. The team all thought this would be an extraordinary event.After paddling for 45 min we anchored and got ready for lunch Rotarian of the year Chris Keenan treated us to an fantastic outdorr lunch with barbecue. By then it had started to drizzle so we got on the move again. After another 25 minutes of paddling we reached our goal and got ready for the next evolution - Brainerd area. We send a big thank you to Rotarians in Bemidji (who also managed to get the GSE-team on the frontpage on saturdays Bemidji Pioneer!)

Good morning

At 6.45 PM we meet up at the Fargo Sunrise Rotary club for breakfast and team presentation. Despite the early morning boot the team and the Rotarians were up to speed. We enjoyed a loot of jokes and a really good breakfast.

After that we went to Detroit Lakes Rotary Club for team presentation at lunch. The last part we even travelled with semi trucks!! As soon as we crossed in to Minnesota the scenery became very much like home, with a lot of lakes and a lot of trees.

The Bemidji Rotary met us at Itasca State Park and we got to see AND CROSS the Mississippi River. Even if it only were a couple of meters wide here it was quite a challenge to cross in the cold weather. It’s really mind-blowing to think that this little river is the start of the big and wide Mississippi River. The team also enjoyed being able to go for a walk in the forest.

When we finely came to Bemidji we were greeted by Rotarians and members of the American Swedish Institute. They had put together a lovely pot luck.

Best of Bemidji!

Today we started the day at Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Forensics Lab. We got a tour around from Mr. James Dougherty and he told us facts about DNA. After that we got more facts also from some other things like bullets and their weapons, drugs and fingerprints. All of us found this very very interesting so the time quickly went by. After the Lab we went on to the Concordia language villages where Mr. Warren Schultz showed us around. We had a real skandinavian lunch at the Finish village and after that we headed further to the German village. We can really understand that it must be a really lifelong experience to be able to live the life in one of the 15 different country villages that they have been building up in Concordia. We ended the day at the Ainsworth lumber OSB mill by a tour by Mr. Tom Quinn. This was a big industry with VERY big machinery. Amazing what you can do different things with a tree, and that you actually can use almost everything from the tree for something.

// The team

Vocational day

Today it was time for another of our vocational days. I spent my morning at the biggest law firm here in Fargo, Vogel Law Firm. I gotto meet many of their staff members. I found it very interesting tohear about their work. What they do is very different from the TVseries like LA Law and Ally McBeal.After lunch we visited the Federal Court. I really enjoyed sittingdown and talking with the staff comparing our different judicialsystems with the judges and relating my tasks at work with the lawclerks in Fargo.At 5.30 I met up with the other team members for an "after work" at the HoDo, a trendy hotel and restaurant in the downtown area. We allwent up on the roof bar and mingled with our Rotary hosts. We bid them all a fond farewell as we headed off to our next Rotary community.

Vikings of Fargo!

The program was meant to begin at Americas Crystal sugar Company but instead we went to Northern Crop Institute. The the director Brian Sorenson with some colleges met us in the in the entrance for the day decorated with the Swedish and the American flag. the NCI (Northern Crop Institute) invites people from the whole world to learn and discuss methods to get crops to higher qualities to please customer demands.After that we visited Hjemkomst Center, a museum with Norwegian stavchurch like the one in Minot and a Viking boat "hjemkomst" that was built during eight years and thereafter crossed the Atlantic Ocean from America to Norway in the eighties. A remarkable achievement.house for a get together party with Rotarians. the Swedish flag was raised and the Swedish national anthem was sung before we split to our new host families.For lunch we visited a Moorehead Rotary meeting at moorehead Country Club and we gave them a "Taste of Sweden" with our presentation. The afternoon was spent at Bonanzaville, a outdoor and indoor museum with old buildings from late 1800 to early 1900 gathered from different places in the region and nicely put together in a historical town outside Fargo. A nice and interesting museum with lots of inheritance from history times.The day gave us warm and sunny weather but the evening brought rain. Wonder if our team had something with that to like in Dickinson? Anyhow, the rain was very very welcome from farmers around and specially those in west ND. We hope they got some of it too.

Mid tour rest

Monday was team rest day. We lived for ourselves in our "own" house and we have to admit - there was some Swedish talking that day. In the evening we were invited to the family Nolte's house to a get together party. The Swedish flag was raised and the Swedish national anthem was sung before we split to our new host families.

District conference

Saturday was a big day for us. We had our presentation in the morning and we had our biggest audience yet. Everything went smoothly and by judging by peoples reactions it was appreciated. At the luncheon we got to see a real historic character, former President Theodore Roosevelt - who talked about how living in North Dakota made him president. The day´s best tip: "Never be photographed on a golf course if you want to be a politician!" As the evening approached the conference tent transformed into a banquet-hall. All guests were very nicely dressed, and we noted that a real cowboy keeps his hat on - even during a banquet! After dinner we started boogie to live music which was very nice. Tomorrow we´ll be heding for Fargo and some much needed rest. We´ve been told that that landscape will change as we travel eastwards, that will certainly be interesting to see!

/Team

All muscle

In the morning Kristina and I decided to give The West River CommunityCenter a try, and so our muscles. We only had to pay $ 6 for the entrance and then we could use all the amenities. We had a great workout! A much needed one since we spend so much time in cars here.Then all of us had lunch in a big white tent together with all theother hundreds of people who also are participating in the Rotary district conference. It was quite cold and windy today. But a greatand amusing speech by Dennis White, Ph.D. about being aware of andunderstanding cultural differences in the world kept us warm.At 6.30 p.m. it was time for some rodeo; The Dickinson's Cowboy TripleCrown. None of us had ever been to one before so this was interesting.The rodeo competition made me think about the speech we had listened to earlier today.

//Anna Mia

Dickinson & Medora

Today we started at the law enforcement center. We got a good look around the building by the Chief of police, Mr. Chuck Rummel. After that we went to the community center and the whole team got truly impressed, both of all the sports that you could do there and how many memerships (6 000) they had comparing to the citys population (18 000) After lunch we went out to Medora, a town who maked all of us in the team feel liked we had traveled at least a hundred years back in time. As a tour guide we had Mr. Bruce R. Howe, who told us all the history there is to know about Dickinson and Medora! We also went into the saloon and of course some of us had a beer, as you should in a saloon.We also went into the national park at Medora, and we saw some buffalos! Man, those animals are big! After touring the park we went to the Dedication cermony in Medora and got the big opportunity to shake hands whith both North Dakotas governor John Hoeven and Rotary district 5580:s governor Jim Ozbun and others. We want to end todays blogg whith Sylvia Mahoney, Texas words; - The cowboys still exists and are truly alive!

// Kristina

Heavy Metal

Another day with good weather!! We started our last day in Bowman with a tour to Hilton and Fousts car collection. They hade a lot of great cars, the oldest one was a T Ford from 1919. We even got to sit in it! Ulf was very pleased with finding a car just like the one he has back home a 1966 Chevrolet Corvair. We also went to look at old farm machines.

For lunch we went to the Haley Dam Marina, they even had a Nordic inspired buffet for us. During lunch we also got interviewed by a reporter from the Bowman Pioneer.

In the afternoon we went to Scranton and got all our questions about selling and buying grains answered.

We ended our day with seeing the world largest metal sculptures along the highway between Scranton and Dickinson and meeting our new host families. I also had the privilege to meet the Rotary Governor for this district. It’s going to be really interesting to be part of the district conference.

/Sabina

Western land!

Today we woke up in Bowman, a real “western” town with about 1700 inhabitants. Suddenly the weather turned to a lot warmer than we have been used to on our trip. The day began with a slow walk thru town to the Bowman County Courthouse. There we were guided around and learned about how justice was shaped in he court room and the jury room. We also said hi to the sheriff and got information about Bowman’s Social Service.

After a delicious “picnic” lunch we headed southwards and crossed the border to South Dakota (!) so now we can check another U.S. state on our trip. The temperature went up to 70F, real summer temperature for Swedes. Along the road there were endless farm fields and frequently the horizon was broken of oil pumps pumping up the black gold to surface.

The goal for the trip was a BIG ranch, 15000 acres! There we drove around with four wheelers among some 1000 Black Angus cattle and stopped now and then at places with breathtaking views over the prairie landscape. After home trip passing even more oil pumps it was time do dress up and give our presentation “show” after an excellent meal. Another wonderful day on our trip was ended. Tomorrow we are heading for Dickinson.
Believe it or not, there are weather forecasts for snow later in the week.

//Ulf

Rollin´ rollin´ rollin´

Today we started out at 9 am heading for Bowman, ND. The roads we traveled by were absolutely beautiful and saw muck of the famous Badlands. We stopped for lunch at the Buckskin café - and then traveled on for another 2 hours. Finally we got to Bowman and got to see the museum as well as the library. The team´s activities were concluded with a social with Bowman Rotary at the museum with som delicious hors d´oevres! We´re all looking forward to tomorrows western adventures!

//Marcel

Zoo-nday

Some of the team members took theopportunity to attend the worship at the Augustana Lutheran Church.One of about seven Lutheran churches in this small town. The buildingwas not built in the style that we are used to see back home. Insteadit was made of bricks with interiors in wood. When we got there we sawsome of the people from The Scandinavian Heritage that we had met yesterday. That was fun. The service was very much like those one at aSwedish church, although the pastor Tim Eighmy and the children from the church´s childrens program made it extra joyful. It was also nice that wegot to see a young boy being baptized.In the afternoon we visited The Roosevelt Park Zoo and Brandi Clarktook us on a guided tour. The zoo has over 200 mammals, birds andreptiles. Quite a big zoo for a town of Minot's size. The rumor had itthat a little baby giraffe had been born earlier this winter. We foundout that this was true, but we didn't get to met him since he is stillfragile.

//Anna Mia

St-------rike!

Marcel and Ulf had the opportunity to watch a couple of innings of baseball on sunday. We watched The Minot University Beavers vs. Dickinson state Blue Hawks. We had a great time (with burgers of course) at the ballpark checking out Americas favorite pastime. And yes, we got to see a real life home-run!

/Marcel

Back in Sweden?

Today we went to the "Dakota Territory Air museum". There we got a really interesting tour from Mr. Rich Larcombe. He showed us among other things plains from the U.S Air Force and the Wright brothers most famous airplane construction. After that the team went to "The Skandinavia Heritage centre" and wasn't that something. We all felt like our trip had ended and we were back home in Sweden again. We got a roundtour at the centre from Mr. Carroll Ericksson and Mrs. Ann Krause. After the roundtour we all set down had lunch whith some people from Minot that had Scandinavian relatives. Sometimes the world doesn't seem that big anymore.. After lunch we had some coffee and cake, while celebrating Tina on her thirtieth birthday! //The Team

Friday April 25th

After an early start we left Bismarck for Minot. We were sad to leave Bismarck but excited to go to Minot. It’s going to be many hard farewells and great greetings on this trip!

In Minot we started with a tour to Minot Air Force Base, a tour I don’t think anyone in the team will ever forget. As a retired air force major Ulf was in heaven! We were all able to go inside a B52 bomber and on a helicopter, a once in a lifetime experience. We also got to see the new exercise centre (it was huge) and a childcare centre. I want to thank everyone that made this visit such a great experience.

In the afternoon I had the opportunity to visit the auditor/treasurer for Ward County, Devra Smestad. It was very interesting to discuss the organisation of public administration, information during crises and organisation of elections in Sweden and USA. I feel that I start to get a good picture of the system for public administration in North Dakota.

/Sabina

Christmas seem to have come early

Today was a real treat for the team. We went on a visit to Fort Abraham Lincoln and the Mandan on-a-slant village. Our guides really did their best to give us a idea of the frontier life on ND. Whilst visiting General Custers house we were invited to a time machine. We were guide as if it were late 1800 - a very educational and absorbing grip! As if that wasn´t enough - Justice Sandstrom gave us a tour of the Art Deco style State Capitol (including the VIP-tour!) as well a tour of the heritage center. By this time the team was quite tired, but more was in store. The day was finished with a send-off Hoe-down. Barbecue, beer and good music amongst friends! Tomorrow we are going to Minot - it seems there´s a B-52 waiting for us there. Can hardly wait.

/Marcel

Tinas vocational day with Bismarck P.D

Yesterday I had my first day of vocational opportunity whith the police in Bismarck, North Dakota! This was a very informative day, I met many members of the Police Force so not to forget anyone I just want to send a big thank you to everybody I met. I do feel that I want to give a big thanks to Deputy Chief Dan Donlin for arranging the entire day. For example I met police officers from the bomb security section, the K9, S.W.A.T team, the narcotics and many more. I also had a very interesting tour of the police department. In the afternoon I rode whith a police officer while we patrolled the city. It was a really good experience for me to see how the police work in Bismarck, North Dakota. / Kristina (Tina)

Vocational day

Today it was the first vocational oportunity for all of us. teamleader Ulf visited General Sprynczynatyk at the State National Guard Office. Colonel Mike Wobema escorted thereafter on a very interesting tour at the air base. After a thourough briefing from him and his colleauge Dae Anderson there is nothing more worth to know about the National Guard after a fantastic day with them. /Ulf

This picture shows some of the people I met today , from the left the vocational host Presbyterian Pastor Jake Kincaid, and the right Lutheran Pastor Steve Sathre. I got an insight into ND religious life, the challenges and opportunities that exist. It was an very exciting day indeed./Marcel