Tuesday September 18th

I went to the Rotary meeting here in Granada last night and, much like last time, it is conducted in a much different manner than in the US. From what I understood, we rose and the president spoke briefly, everyone sat down and then they went over the minutes from the week before. After that they talked about creating committees and what their project would be. They argued about kinds of projects and whether they could do one that they would be able to maintain or if they should just do something more on a one time basis.

After this they talked about the ’beca’ [scholarship]. They talked about how many students have come to Granada on scholarships and yet they have not been able to send any student here to the US or somewhere else in Europe. They also talked about how it was not a well known scholarship in Spain and what they could do to find applicants. They cited that last week I mentioned I found out about the program from the scholarship office at my school and that they really pushed students to apply for Rotary scholarships. They then discussed the reality of having a scholar in Granada, if they would be able to afford it or not. I’m not sure if they know exactly where the money comes from but since there are only about 16 of them it would be quite expensive.

Then they talked about something else and closed with arguing about the schedule. Some wanted to move the meeting from 9pm to 8:30pm and others argued that 8:30 was too early. I chuckled and thought of my club that meets at 7:15…in the morning! The meeting was over at about 10:30 then they all went to the bar downstairs to socialize after the meeting.

Needless to say its much more informal than in the US; cell phones rang and people answered them during the meeting, the 9pm start time was quite flexible, and talking to one another didn’t seem to be a problem, nor is smoking.

The Rotary meeting is just another example of the laid back lifestyle enjoyed in this country. I know that I enjoy my siesta as much as any person but it frustrates me to know end that the stores and everything else are closed from 1:30 to about 6pm.