COMMUNITY & CLUBS:Educators learn about schools in China

As many of you know, I was in China July 6 through July 22 leading three educator tour groups, and I filed the July 8 Community and Clubs column from Beijing. Each of the four hotels we stayed at on our tour had high-speed Internet connections in the rooms, but a problem happened as I was going to send in the July 14 column: The hard drive on my laptop died with the column in it!

While there was a high-speed Internet connection in the rooms, the hotel business offices had dial-up connections, and in three out of four cases, I wasn’t able to get online to my AOL account in China to read or send e-mails.

It is good to be home, where Internet service is more reliable and computers work.

China was hot and humid, much like being in Miami in August. But if you are an educator and only get summers off, it is the time to tour China. For most of the educators on the tours, the biggest surprise of China was how advanced China is, with freeways, high-rise buildings, high-speed trains and people in Western-style clothes. Everywhere we went, people seemed happy ? in the big cities, smaller towns and even on the very small family farms.

The Chinese education system includes free, mandatory K-9 schools with English mandated as a second language. After ninth grade, you can apply for vocational school to learn a trade or take the high school track if you wish to go to college.

We had the opportunity to tour a private K-9 International Language School in Hangzhou that holds 3,000 students in a year-round residential setting. The greetings from students and teachers were friendly as we visited computer labs and the kindergarten complex.

What did we take away from our China tour? There is a lot we can learn from each other.

EXCHANGE CLUB INSTALLS OFFICERS

The Exchange Club of Newport Harbor installed Bill Bechtel as president for 2006-07 at a dinner held at Five Crowns Restaurant earlier this month. Past District President Dick Freeman had the honor of installing Bechtel and Bob Jessen, president-elect; Nick Berger, vice president; Tuck Rabbitt, secretary; Tom Norton, treasurer; and Jeff Yeargain, Mike Brigandi, Medhi Rohani, Bob Kinton, Steve Peterson and Dick Waitneight, directors.

Outgoing President Duncan Forgey awarded the Exchangite of the Year plaque to John Kruse, who ran a successful membership blitz for the club.

ROTARY CLUBS INSTALL OFFICERS

Steve Speer will lead the Rotary Club of Newport-Balboa, John Hedlund will head up the Rotary Club of Newport Beach Sunrise, and Al Rasch will take charge of the Rotary Club of Newport-Irvine in 2006-07 after a series of installation dinners held in July.

Serving on the Newport-Balboa board with Speer are Bob Silver, president-elect; Ed Rennie, secretary; Wendell Sawyer, treasurer; and Roger Gilbert, Bill Hossfield, Richard Holmgren, Dan Hoffman, Nancy Raney, Marc Aarons and Nate White, directors. The 52-member club was chartered in 1939 and originally met as a dinner club on Balboa Island. It still meets for dinner at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club.

Serving on the Newport Beach Sunrise board with Hedlund are JoAnne DeBlis, president-elect; Mary Ann Goodman, secretary; Christian Holliday, treasurer; and Willis Longyear, Syd Lucas, John Goodland, Wendy and Troy Hooper, Ernest Oaktes, Reniero Fransisco, Nagy Lbrahim and Tim Brown, directors. The Newport Beach Sunrise Club was chartered in 1981 and meets at 7:30 a.m. Tuesdays at Five Crowns Restaurant.

WORTH REPEATING

From the Thought for the Day, as provided by Greg Kelley of the Newport Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council: “One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life.” ? Chinese proverb

SERVICE CLUB MEETINGS THIS WEEK

TUESDAY

7:30 a.m.: The 45-member Rotary Club of Newport Beach Sunrise meets at Five Crowns to hear Michael Helpern of the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Noon: The 20-member Rotary Club of Costa Mesa meets at Karl Strauss Brewery, 901 South Coast Dr., Costa Mesa.

6 p.m.: The Costa Mesa Newport Harbor Lions Club meets at the Costa Mesa Golf and Country Club for a business meeting.

WEDNESDAY

7:30 a.m.: The 10-member Newport Harbor Kiwanis Club meets at Denny’s Restaurant at Redhill Avenue and Bristol Street.

Noon: The 27-member Exchange Club of the Orange Coast meets at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club for a business meeting.

6 p.m.: The 55-member Rotary Club of Newport-Balboa meets at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club for a program by Fred Sendra on “Speaking about Greyhound Dogs.”

THURSDAY

7 a.m.: The 20-member Costa Mesa Orange Coast Lions Club meets at Mimi’s Café.

Noon: The 50-member Costa Mesa Kiwanis Club meets at the Holiday Inn, www.kiwanis.org/club/costamesa; the 45-member Kiwanis Club of Newport Beach-Corona del Mar meets at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club to hear Brian Carlson, UCI’s director of Corporate Development and University Advancement, discuss the issues of attracting funds for the various entities within the university; the 95-member Exchange Club of Newport Harbor meets at the Nautical Museum for a business meeting (www.nhexchangeclub.com); the 85-member Rotary Club of Newport Irvine meets at the Radisson Hotel (www.nirotary.org).

* COMMUNITY & CLUBS is published Saturdays in the Daily Pilot. Send your service club’s meeting information by fax to (714) 921-8655 or e-mail jdeboom@ aol.com.