As one of our members wrote in our WhatsApp group, this meeting was really fun and funny, and actually quite delectable (word of the day meaning: something that is highly pleasing or delicious especially).
We had four charming guests. Charly and Alexander, who were here for the 1st time; and Valentine and Nadja, who both have visited before. Nadja announcement that she wants to join the club was greeted with applause.
I had the pleasure of being Toastmaster of the day, and I chose some quotes from famous people about their favorite foods. For instance:
“A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.” – Barbara Johnson
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Caroline gave us the word of the day, delectable, which was used quite often.
Oliver told the joke, fitting to the theme: “what is fake pasta?” Its an impasta.
Pio gave us a moving thought of the day from his own experience eating a good meal and noticing that something was missing: he was alone and missed having company.
Nadine led us skillfully through Table Topics. She laid out about 20 pieces of paper, each with a food written on it. The TTs participants would then come to the stage and take one, and spontaneously talk about the food for the allotted 1 to 2 minutes:
- Caroline was to talk about cheese burger. She spoke of loving burgers with blue-cheese, which she knows is quite unusual, especially since they don’t serve cheese at all in Kenya, where she comes from.
- Our guest Valentine had lasagna on his paper: he talked with great passion about a horrible lasagna he saw in a YouTube video, where some guys made a giant lasagna our of about 50 Big Mack hamburgers. He description was so vivid that we were rolling in the aisles picturing this monster burger-lasagna.
- Our guest Alexander spoke about sushi, and his learning to enjoy vegan sushi after he started being a vegan.
- Pio talked about croissants: he told a story of a memorable vacation to France with his sisters, and fine, fresh baguette and croissants that they were served every morning.
- Our guest Charly had pizza Hawaii on his paper, but chose to talk about hamburgers, which reminded him of his first day in Germany and the kind person (his new roommate at collage) who was so helpful even though Charly was a stranger to him.
Before the 10 minute break, I gave another quote from another famous person, Woody Allen:
“I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead – not sick, not wounded – dead.”
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We had two prepared speakers, both working on the Path Presentation Mastery #1-4 – Evaluation and Feedback – 1
The title of Shruthi’s speech was Savoring Comfort: A Taste of Joy, a Moment of Healing. The speech, fitting to the meeting theme, told of her first arriving in Germany and feeling isolated and lonely. She spoke of the comfort of being offered food that she knew from her family in India, and of the joy she experienced when she made a circle of student friends who especially enjoyed eating together. Her Evaluator Oliver underlined the strength of her being vulnerable in her story, which brought the audience into her message. For improvement he suggested that she use stronger gestures and vocal variety to bring more drama to her story.
Our second speaker was Gabi, and the title of her speech was Gold mining – a dream to become rich. Gabi told of her time in New Zealand as a tourist guide in an area where gold could still be found in a river. She (and we) learned lots about how gold seekers mine the river banks. Her Evaluator Alexya praised Gabi’s conversational style, humor and effective use of props. She suggest that Gabi show dialogue through better use of her position on the stage.
Our General Evaluator Poorana led us through the evaluations, giving everyone with a role feedback.
In my eyes, it was a delectable meeting, and the feedback from our guest confirmed this.
“A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.” – Thomas Keller
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Join us for our next meeting on the 11th of July (on-line meeting).
Best Toastmaster greetings,
Jeff, Mannheim Int. Toastmasters
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Here is a photo of the meeting: (Alexya and Charly had to leave earlier.)