2024 FF Newcastle, Australia and FF Wairarapa, New Zealand
We spent four days touring Sydney and we were joined by members of the FF Sydney Club for two of those days. We stayed in the Rocks district which was close to historic pubs and The Sydney Opera House and the Royal Botanical Gardens.
Our wonderful hosts from FF Newcastle shared their community with us. Lake Macquarie provided beautiful scenery and enjoyable hikes. Our hosts took us to the carriage races and we saw wild kangaroos (complete with an in-pouch joey). We spent a few days in Wellington, New Zealand, and were joined by a few members of the Wellington FF club. The Wairarapa club home hosts immersed us in New Zealand life, warmly welcoming us and introducing us to their lambs. They took us to New Zealand’s Stonehenge, the Cobblestones Museum, their scenic coastline lighthouses, and other interesting sites. The New Zealand South Island Tour was rugged and the weather was not always cooperative, but the scenery was breath taking. Jerry Potratz and Loie Dye-Gustafson |
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2024 FF Western North Carolina
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April 2-8 Nine FF members (6 from FFWM) traveled to FF Western North Carolina. Activities included a visit to the Biltmore home, a walking tour of Asheville, a chocolate factory tour, a visit to the Carl Sandburg home and plenty of hiking to various waterfalls.
Journey Coordinator: Shirley Wiersma |
2023 FF Hsinchu, Taiwan Global Journey
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Nov 15 to 25 4 FFWM members joined 16 others in Hsinchu, Taiwan for an introductory journey to Taiwan. Butterfly watching, bird watching, and oyster harvesting are some of the activities experienced.
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2023 FF Metropole Ruhr, Germany and FF Limburg, Belgium
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June 26 to July 9 Friendship Force of Metropole Ruhr (Germany) and Friendship Force of Limburg (Belgium). Seven members traveled to Germany & Belgium. Journey Coordinators: Louise and Jerry Potratz. |
2023 FF Northern Idaho/Eastern Washington & Lower Columbia Journey
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May 15-28, 2023 14 FFWM members flew to Spokane, Washington. Our journey started with a wonderful welcome dinner with entertainment provided by Paul Franklin and his hostess Lory Miller in a singalong! We hiked several times on this journey, exploring the beautiful parks. We spent time in downtown Spokane and we learned about the natives who inhabited this area.
We rented vehicles and drove to Longview, Washington to be hosted by FF Lower Columbia. We visited the Columbia Gorge, a Lalooska tribal museum, Astoria, the state capitol Olympia, a theater and squirrel bridges in Longview, and Mount Saint Helen. Journey Coordinators: Lisa Fisher & Nancy Draayer |
2022 FF Baku, Azerbaijan and FF Bursa, Turkey
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Sept 21 - Oct 22, 2023, Our first post-Covid outbound journey! 10 ambassadors visited FF Baku. We had several students accompany us on our explorations so they could practice their English. We visited many local sites including the Carpet Museum of Azerbaijan, the Heydar Aliyev Museum, Gobustan Rock Art, the fire temple, and the burning mountain. We visited the mountain town of Sheki where we tasted kete and tendir bread.
Journey Coordinators: Marcia Ellis & Louise Potratz |
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After crossing the Marmara Sea we spent a week with our friends in Bursa, Turkey. We visited the Panorama 1386 Bursa Conquest Museum, attended the season opening performance of the Bursa Regional State Symphony Orchestra, visited Mudanya (seaside town), Cumalikizik (700 year old Ottoman village), Iznik (UNESCO World Heritage town), historical monuments of Bursa, and many different restaurants--all with different kinds of Turkish food! FF Bursa members love to party, dance and sing!! It was a memorable journey!!
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2019 FFI World Conference, Boulder, CO
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July 23-26, 2019: More than 430 delegates from 23 countries had a great time learning and socializing at the 2019 World Conference in Boulder, CO, USA. The conference was joint-hosted by the Friendship Force of the Rocky Mountain Region.
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2018 FFI Festival At Sea
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February, 2019 FFI 2019 Festival at Sea cruise: This 15-day voyage, full of FFI workshops and team-building activities led by FFI CEO Jeremi Snook and staff member Laura Romero, took passengers from Buenos Aires, Argentina around Cape Horn and through Patagonia. Ten FFWM members attended, making FFWM among the largest clubs represented!
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2018 FF of Medicine Hat
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August 2018 Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada: Eight FFWM members along with 6 members of various clubs met in Medicine Hat for a week of exploration, fun, and meeting great people! We enjoyed brick sculptures, picnicking and hiking at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, Fort Walsh Historic Site and Cypress Hills. We spent half a day volunteering at Prairie Gleaners. What a great place!! We had a wonderful "ho down" with food, music, a hayride and lots of dancing! And at the farewell party, almost no one was sitting --everyone was up and dancing! The energy was infectious!
After our time with Medicine Hat club, we left for Calgary, Banff, and Jasper before coming home. Journey Coordinator: Marcia Ellis |
2017 FF of Southwest Florida
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February 2017 Florida: Fourteen members of FFWM went to join six more FFWM "snowbird" members already in Florida for a week of discovery in the Punta Gorda/Fort Myers area. We experienced visits to the Koreshan Unity Selttlement, Calusa shell mounds at Randell Research Center at Pine Island, a rum distillery, the Peace River Wildlife Center, and a giant banyon tree! We spent a lovely afternoon sailing the Charlotte Harbor on a catamaran. We visited ECHO, where they are experimenting with seeds and soil for better farming. The Peace River Botanical and Sculpture Garden was in full swing, after just opening in October! The icing on the cake was a very fun farewell party with karaoke!
Journey Coordinator: Lisa Fisher |
2017 FF of Aichi and FF of Hiroshima
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October 2017 Japan: Fourteen members of the Friendship Force of Western Michigan Club and six friends traveled to Aichi, Japan where we learned how sake is made and visited a vinegar museum. We also visited the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, where Toyota got its start in the textile industry. We took a day trip to Takayama to view festival floats. We toured the Nagoya Castle built in 1612. Then we were off on the Shinkansen bullet train to visit the Himeji Castle and another train to the town of Kurashiki. Then we traveled to visit the FF club of Hiroshima and Fukuyama. We visited many temples and shrines. It was a very emotional day when we visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park with several memorials and a museum. We participated in a genuine zen meditation session! We sang along in Karaoke, as the people in this club loved to sing and dance! We completed this journey with a visit to Kyoto and Tokyo.
Journey Coordinators: Lyn Hargreave & Bill Hoover |
2016 FF of Murray Bridge and FF of Casterton
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October 2016 Australia: On October 24 a group of 23 FF ambassadors visited Murray Bridge and Casterton clubs in Australia. In addition to W. Mich members, others joined us from Oregon, Kentucky, Iowa and Kansas. We enjoyed rural life in both locations. Murray Bridge exposed us to commercial vegetable, fruit and nut farming, while Casterton showed us the marvels of large sheep and cattle ranching. We visited vineyards and tasted excellent wines in each location. Our summer-time visit was perfect for outside meals such as numerous garden parties, and even a “brekky barbie”. We had many opportunities to see the native wildlife of koalas, kangaroo, wallaby, emu and wonderfully colored parrots in the wild. Our hosts were generous with their time and we shared many fun times together. After our final stay we spent four days driving along the Great Ocean Road on our way to Melbourne where we went our separate ways November 11.
Journey Coordinators: Dave Hargreave |
2016 FF of Greater Omaha
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March 2016 Nebraska: Twelve members of the Friendship Force of Western Michigan car-pooled west to Omaha, Nebraska to make new friends and learn of life in the corn belt. During our days there we had a city tour on Olley the Trolley, enjoyed the fantastic Henry Doorly Zoo, and most wandered the grounds of Boys Town. In the middle of our exchange we traveled west with many of our hosts for two nights in Kearney, Nebraska to witness the "great crane migration" of 650,000 cranes which come through every year to roost on the islands in the shallow Platte River at night and to fatten up in the corn fields during the day before flying north as far as Siberia. While we were there we experienced a record of approximately 400,000 birds. It was a fantastic journey with wonderful hosts and an interesting city.
Journey Coordinator: Dave Hargreave & Deb Williamson |
2016 Midwest and Great Lakes Regional Conference
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April 28-May 1: Three members attended this conference in Quad-Cities (Davenport, Iowa) |
2016 Great Lake Clubs to Central Europe
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September 2015: Members of Friendship Force clubs of the Great Lakes Region and guests from the states of Ohio, Michigan and Illinois traveled to the countries of Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia. We explored castles, eco and log villages, mountains and lakes. We enjoyed wine festivals, markets, and learning about cheese-making on a sheep farm. We spoke English with students learning our language and talked with a NGO staffer who works with the Roma in Budapest. We had lunch with members of the Budapest FF club. We ended our adventure with a weekend stay in Bratislava with members of the FF club there. Many of us who traveled together have been friends for more than 20 years. What fun we had.
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2015 Hawaii
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May 2015: Six individuals from our FF of W. MI club decided to do our own trip to Hawaii, living like locals. We rented homes and stayed in a state park and in a historic CCC camp. We cooked our own meals, hiked, snorkeled, explored parks and historical monuments, toured gardens, and visited FF friends from the Kauai FF club.
Journey Coordinator: Lyn Hargreave |
2014 FF of Salvador and FF of Araraquara
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October 2014 Brazil: Araraquara is in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. We enjoyed lots of friendship with their multi-generational families, learned how to make fejoada (a national dish), enjoyed lots of Brahma and caipirinhas. We visited the TAM museum in Sao Carlos and the Santa Cruz sugar-cane factory. It was great fun to share their lives for a week. Then we were off to Rio de Janiero and Iguazu Falls before heading to Salvadore, where the culture has more African influence than elsewhere in Brazil. Our time included visits to cathedrals, the old city and the home of author Jorge Amado, a symphony rehearsal, and so much more! Journey Coordinator: Lyn Hargreave |
2014 FF of Louisville
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June 2014 Kentucky: We were hosted by Louisville, KY following our Great Lakes Regional meeting in Cincinnati. They welcomed us with a nice dinner and we enjoyed seeing the sights at the Louisville Slugger factory. We tasted a bit of Kentucky Bourbon at Evan Williams, viewed the Ohio River from the south, and toured Churchill Downs, where all enjoyed trying on the big fancy hats. We expressed many thanks for the organization and hospitality they showed us. It was a great way to introduce new members to a Friendship Force journey.
Journey Coordinator: Marcia Ellis |
2013 FF of Norderstedt and FF of Braunschweig and Peine
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July 2013 Germany: We were home-hosted by two clubs in Germany-- Norderstedt (a northern suburb of Hamburg) and Braunschweig and Peine (about 1+ hour east of Hanover). During the time with them we were shown the quaint and lovely cities of Luebeck, Schwerin, Goslar, Celle, Koenigslutter, Wolfenbuettel, as well as Hamburg and Hanover. Between our two home-stays we spent a long weekend in Berlin.
Journey Coordinator: Lyn Hargreave |
2012 FF of Edmonton, Alberta and FF of Hay River, Northwest Territories
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August 2011 Canada: We traveled from the world's second largest mall (located in Edmonton) to buffalo, eagles and wolves! We visited the legislative buildings of both provinces, saw replicas of historic forts, and Ukrainian villages and gardens in Alberta. We enjoyed waterfalls, the Aurora Borealis, and went fishing, hiking and kayaking in the Northwest Territories.
Journey Coordinator: Lyn Hargreave |
2011 FF of Whangarei and FF of Christ Church
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November 2011 New Zealand: "Down under" We teamed up with another group of ambassadors and visited the FF Whangarei club. With our hosts we explored the Bay of Islands, Kauri trees, beach walks, water falls, Moari culture and a lesson with Poi balls. Then we were off to meet the FF club of Christchurch on the South Island. There we went sailing with dolphins, sliding down ice slides at the Antarctic Center, watched sheep-shearing, visited a winery and took the train to Greymouth. Our hosts treated us with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner!
Journey Coordinator: Lyn Hargreave |
Other places our members have made new friends:
Australia (New Castle and Ipswich)
Canada (Vancouver, BC)
China (Wuxi and Nanjing)
Costa Rica (Eco journey)
England (Bristol)
Germany (Cottbus)
Japan (Ota Gunma and Mie)
Mexico (Xalapa/Altatonga; Veracruz; Tuxtla Gutierrez; Chiapas)
Peru (Tujillo with Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca extension)
Romania (Brasov)
Russia (Novgorod and Moscow)
Taiwan (Taichung)
Tanzania (Iringa with safari extension)
USA (Colorado Springs, CO; Dayton, OH; Huntsville, AL; Sacramento, CA
and many more!
Canada (Vancouver, BC)
China (Wuxi and Nanjing)
Costa Rica (Eco journey)
England (Bristol)
Germany (Cottbus)
Japan (Ota Gunma and Mie)
Mexico (Xalapa/Altatonga; Veracruz; Tuxtla Gutierrez; Chiapas)
Peru (Tujillo with Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca extension)
Romania (Brasov)
Russia (Novgorod and Moscow)
Taiwan (Taichung)
Tanzania (Iringa with safari extension)
USA (Colorado Springs, CO; Dayton, OH; Huntsville, AL; Sacramento, CA
and many more!