From Tri-Cities to Lake in the Hills

Hi All,
We have now moved to the Lake in the Hills District where we started with a tour around the local police station (fascinating!).The police here gave us great tour - with a recent detainee viewing included! Went through 911 control room, detectives station, cell block, in a car - which have laptops as standard issue now so that they can do reports on the run and have information fed through to them. The new Dodge Charger is the mufti car used for highway patrol - tops out at about 180 miles per hour!! The Dukes of Hazzard used to use one of these toget away from the law, now the law is fighting back! The systems of State, County and Local policing is mind boggling, with each district having it's own police, fire and schools funded from property tax (rates) which are amazingly expensive! About $6000 dollars a year (depending on the value of your property), of which 70% goes to schools - Yay!
This afternoon we went to a local elementary school (primary) and were guests in a number of classrooms giving the students a taste of life in New Zealand. Security is amazing here - you have to be 'buzzed' into the school, announcing your arrival via intercom so that the door can be unlocked for you. The access to classrooms is via corridors and lunch (either your own or provided) is eaten in the cafeteria. Outside the playground is fenced, again so no-one from the public can access the school or it's students.
The schools is dependent on ISATS (Illinois State Attainment Tests) to determine student progress and how the teachers are performing! Very scary and therefore quite an interesting curriculum!


Golf went well yesterday (Wednesday)- they have a trolley that goes around the course selling candy, snacks and BEER! It's cold too - better than carrying your own around and letting it get warm! That night we went to a steak fry (Bbq) and did our first presentation - really well received, and they said it was the best GSE presentaion they had seen! Sad to leave that district this morning, but excited about our days ahead!!

What a day! Today we started off with Mark on an Illinois Amercian History Tour! Much to Naomi's delight, we started with a visit to a Frank Lloyd-Wright house (Below) that Mark had actually lived in and renovated! He was able to point out the features - like how the design 'hugs' the ground - like the flat of the prairie. FWL also invented the design of the 'four triangles' roof.
Mark then took us to his home (built in the 1840's!) and just down the street we observed a hospital that was originally used to house 'deranged women' - enough said!!
From there we drove an hour an a half through the flat of Illinois farmland - rich with corn and soy bean crop - the area known as the 'Bread Basket of the World'. It was amazing to turn 360 degrees and only see the horizon! Not a mountain or hill in sight.
After a few detours (due to the heavy floodong of the Illinois River) we arrived at Starved Rock to be greeted by an amazing log lodge - built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp.) during the great depression of the 1930's. We had lunch before walking over to Starved Rock, where two tribes of indians trapped another tribe, starving them to death! From there we went to the St. Louis Canyon (pictured above).
A trip back to Geneva, a pick-up by host families, and another day done!
Today (Wednesday) we HAVE to play in a Rotary Golf Tournament before our first official presentation this evening!

IMSA and Sikich - Monday 15th

What a day! It started out for Wayne and Brent with a ride (thanks to Mark) to Wayne's first vocational appointment which was at Sikich. Sikich is a multi-disciplined chartered accountancy firm who have a staff of 300 and a $48 million turnover. Wayne met with a number of different partners, including lunch with an investment banker and a tour of the premises (which includes a gym, games room and relaxation room!).

Meanwhile, over at the Illinois Maths and Science Academy (IMSA) Brent, Kate, Cheryl and Naomi were having an amazing start to their first vocational day. IMSA was established in 1985 by the Illinois General Assembly as part of the States educational reform package to address the critical need for the education of students who had particular strengths in math or science. Students are there for 3 years (Sophmore, Junior and Senior) before going off to College (University). All academic staff have at least a Masters Degree. Although the priority is on math and science, they also take classes in History, Languages, Social Sciences, Fine arts, and Well-Being. One of the founders (in the picture above) is Dr. Leon Lederman who has a Nobel Prize in Physics and told us of the time he met Albert Einstein!

The morning started with a meeting with the School's Principal for us all. We then split for a while and Cheryl and Kate met with the College and Academic Counsellor, followed by a Wellness class visit where they got to do Yoga for a while! Meanwhile Brent and Naomi met with the Residential Life Director and then with the Alumni and Development office. We all then spent time with Chris, who is the Instructional Technology Designer - he is basically in charge of pedagogy professional development for staff, as many of them have Masters Degrees in their specialist subjects, but no teaching qualifications!! We finished with a tour of the campus, wonderfully led by one of the students, and left with our mouths wide open in wonder and amazement!

From here we were taken to a Outlet Stores Strip Mall where we had a chance to do some shopping - I think everyone came away with something - and in the two hours we were there, we only saw about 1/3 of the stores!

Brent, Wayne and Kate then met the District 6440 District Governor before taking a walk around the beautiful downtown of Geneva, home of the Kane County Courthouse among other things.

We then had a meal in a bar in St. Charles before ending our day.

Off to Starved Rock national Park tomorrow after a TriCity Rotary Breakfast. Watch this space!

Thanks to Mark and Denny for their fantastic narrated journeys between appointments!

Jersey Boys - Chicago City!

We have arrived!

Hi y'all,
Well we have arrived!! We had a pretty good trip, with spare seats to spread out over on the big flight and loads of great views on the second leg. We are pretty sure we saw the Grand Canyon as we flew over Nevada,Colorado,Nebraska,Iowa and then Illinois. Unfortunately there were a few delays and our families had to wait till nearly midnight for us but it is great to be here and lovely to be welcomed to the USA. The Cummings, Curt Barrett and Mark were there to meet us with the NZ Flag so it was a very excited team at the airport! Local time - its Saturday morning and rain and relaxing with families and a party to go to this afternoon with our Rotary friends. So let the fun begin!!
10pm
Just come home from the Welcome Party! What a gathering--American hospitality at its best! Members from Batavia, St Charles and Geneva Rotary Clubs all turned out at the home of Don and Jeanne Cummings in St Charles to welcome us to District 6440. We exchanged information on our countries and learnt more about what is in store for us over the next 4 weeks. A few beers and wines and much lovely food later....... we're off to bed to catch up on some sleep:)

4 Sleeps to go!!!!

Well here it is departure week at last. Still some last minute organisation going on with bits and pieces,but most of the hard work has been done. We received our Itinerary 2 days ago including a list of our host families so excitement is mounting--especially with the prospect of getting to a 'Bears' game added in to the mix!
Travel documents arrived in the mail today and the suitcase is out and at the ready.
School relief lessons have been set and in Wayne's case--accounts managed and plans put in place for our absence both from work and families.
Naomi (alias Imelda)left for Melbourne today to attend a Conference and deliver a presentation--she returns on Thursday just in time to do her washing (unload shoes)and repack for departure the next day!!
Kate is leaving the Coast on Wednesday--not prepared to risk getting snowed in again and playing it safe this time.It's OK Kate--you'll feel at home as we have plenty of rain over here anyway:)
Brent sang his last band gig for a while at the weekend--his vocal chords will remain well oiled though on Maori Waiata and the National Anthem!
Wayne is compiling the power point presentation and trying to remember what the colour taupe looks like:)(The colour of our Team casual trousers).
Cheryl is sorting the brochure and finalising some shoes (eat your heart out Imelda!)and really looking forward to warmer temperatures and some good times!
Departing Auckland this Friday and arriving in Chicago the same day an hour and a half after we leave!:)
We'll keep you posted.........

Second Training Session but without Kate

Well, we have just completed our second training session and this time we all met at Hanmer Springs. Well, we nearly all met. Poor Kate was stuck in Reefton and couldn't get any closer as the Lewis Pass was closed because of snow. So the poor thing gave us regular updates, but the weather didn't improve so we kept in contact and spoke to her often over the weekend. Wayne made it over from Nelson but had to drive via Blenheim so we were especially glad to see him arrive safely.
Our time was spent sharpening up our vocal chords on Maori Waiata and the National Anthem,shopping for clothing, watching the Olympics at Robbies Restaurant in Hanmer and of course lazing in the Hot Pools.
Next time we meet will be on 12th Sept in Auckland all packed and ready to go!

Thank goodness this shot of us in our 'Number Ones' is to be cropped from the waist up!

Wayne being measured for his uniform, and yes, this was in public!

Here is us triumphant after yet more shopping (Kate, we got you a polo shirt too!) and Wayne now has a bag for his swimming togs!