Festa Ziti Dinner

7th of February, Sunday

We were woken up in the YMCA at 7. The breakfast people arrived 2 hours early. Everything hurt, I had sore muscles from the skiing and sleeping on the floor. Not to mention the cold. 

  Everybody left kind of early. We didn't do any real activities, just hung out and said goodbyes. Mat, the Rotex leader took me back to Greece at around 10. After a quick stop at a Dunkin', I arrived to the Diplomat House at 11:15.

  My Rotary Club's biggest and most organized event happened today: The Greece Rotary Club's Italian Festa Ziti Dinner. It's the biggest fundraiser of the year. We served pasta, sauce and meatballs to over 3300 people, in the matter of 6 hours. That's a lot of food, and a lot of work. From the moment I arrived (1 hour after it started) everyone was very busy. 

  I got an apron (with my name embroided on it, how sweet is my club?), I kicked off my shoes and I started running around too. After I said hi to everybody, I began to work at the takeout section, portioning meatballs and sauce. My next job was at the dessert table, selling cakes and cookies, followed by a bunch of different jobs. Collecting dishes, selling roses, taking out trash, helping people with information. I loved the work. So many people I knew were there, and I was helping people that I love. I was often "interrupted" by Rotarians, introducing their families, friends. Also, I was invited to speak on the microphone several times too. At 4 o'clock I had a break to have some pasta lunch, it was really good. 

  I can barely describe how busy everything was. There were so many people, and so many Rotarians, serving them. I loved doing it. We laughed a lot, and had fun with the day and the duties.

  We collected a lot of money for the Rotary. Even before it started, a lot of tickets were sold, but on the event too, with the raffle, the wine, roses. It was a successful day.

  I got home at 6:30. When I left with Helen, there were still quite some Rotarians left. When I finally got to my bed, I just fell in it, and fell asleep immediately. I was worn by the skii weekend and Ziti, but it was a good kin of tiredness. This was a very eventful, fun weekend, thank you, Rotarians!