Week 1 at PLCMC

The week is flying past, can hardly believe we have been gone a week and a half. Both of us are still adjusting to the time difference and also the serving portions here - we order entres and still share. Now we have settled into Charlotte we have found some great local grocery stores which have fresh produce or plenty of options to pre made meals. The sign above the deli/pre made meals section says "You have worked hard enough, now let us make you meal tonight"!

From Minneapolis to Charlotte
The flight from MN was an all American style experience. We left the Holiday Inn motel with snow just starting to fall, we had to laugh at each other as we look as though we had both caught a bad case of dandruff whilst walking the streets of MN.


We arrived at the airport to find our plane delayed because of the snow and a storm in Chicago (all Chicago flights were cancelled causing chaos in the airport).

We boarded our plane and sat in the run way queue of 10 planes waiting for a second runway to be open.
As we departed from the ground thunder and lighting began.
We looked at each other and said "goodbye cruel world".

Well we made it to St Louis missing our flight by half an hour. The next plane to Charlotte was 6.30pm, then a delay, then another delay and then oh my God! We were not leaving until 9.30 pm.

Arriving at 2.30pm and not leaving until 9.30 that is alot of waiting around and no decent shopping and we had let the laptop go flat the night before.....crazy times.
We eventually arrived in Charlotte around 11.30pm wide eyed and weary travellers ......

Our first day at PLCMC
Tuesday was our first day and we had a 9.30 am coffee "meet and greet" with staff from around the County.
Must I say we were very popular!
We meet more people than most can pack into a lifetime...remember names, now that is the challenge, there are two Jane's!

It was great to be greeted and made to feel so welcome, we have alot of opportunities over here and networking and sharing is in overdrive!

ImaginOn and the Main Library
A tour of ImaginOn and the Main Library was our first tour for the day
Pictures of this incredible library and theatre can be viewed from here

A lunch at a local regular hang-out was also held and we meet Mark and Kim who are coming to Yarra Plenty in September on the exchange for 5 weeks, we are already making plans for this.

Wednesday. A visit to Morrison and Freedom Libraries
On Wednesday we managed to walk from Mint Street (where our hotel is) to Tryon Street and Martin Luther King Street.
Staff are surprised that we walk this far every morning (it amounts to a 5 minute walk and add in a stop at one of the many coffee shops along the way Carribau Coffee shop is our favorite ....yeaph named after the moose).

Patrice took us around to two regional libraries, one called Morrision (named after the family who donated the money) the other Freedom (a combined school and public library).
Both were very impressive but had oversize reference desks.

Morrison Regional
More pics of Morrison Regional

More pics of Freedom Regional

In our drive around we discovered, much to our disbelief, drive thru ATMs. Crazy I know however quite common place and well used.
What will they think of next you wonder.... they also have drive thru wakes where you can drive thru and view the body....YUCK OH!
The afternoon enabled us to talk to the web development team and the Outreach team where we learned how these tow departments function.

In the evening we headed to a basketball game and Mark got us court side tickets. The local team playing was called the Bobcats, so we cheered them on and wanted them to win, alas they lost. Lynette and I got our picture taken with the local mascot!


Thursday
Thursday we headed to the library thru the sky walk network, which we were shown thru at lunchtime yesterday. We can walk to the library on the outside in the street (which most people here do not do) or we can walk thru all the main buildings and connecting enclosed bridges (known as sky walks and well heated). It is any wonder people are suffering from Vitamin D deficiency as the way the city is set up you can chose never to walk out in the open. However we were very grateful for this concept tonight as we walked home (back to the hotel) and it was raining.

Today we spent some time at the Main Library and then headed out to South County Library

More pics of South County Regional

We sat in on an an induction training session conducted by Lori Reed to observed the way PLCMC conduct sessions for new staff
lunch with trainer Lori Reed

We spent Thursday evening at the CentraslPiedmont Community College listening to a selection of jazz, choral and gospel music. It was a great way to end the day

Friday 4 April
A busy day with our tour guide Patrice driving us around Charlotte to Community Branches. We saw Mountain Island a library by the lake (one of the newer libraries). The community artwork there was a beautiful stain glass window swirl which incorporated the lake and the tress. Each branch allocates from their budget 1% towards a community art piece.
We meet two local ducks sitting by the reading area.
I was impressed with the furniture, the chairs were made from old seat belts and highly durable and clean up well when spills and other mishaps occur! They also had lounge chairs with roll out stools and little arm or desk rests.
There was a strong focus on teen activities and staff had developed boxes (similar to children's storytime tubs) for Goth sock puppets and leggo building kit - a handy idea and both have proved very popular. Other branches can request the kits.

We have noticed alot of branches have incorporate a small theater prop in the children's area and leave puppets or dress ups in boxes for the community using the library to help themselves anytime the library is open. A simple yet effective idea for engaging the children without needing programing or staff time allocation.

Sugar Creek another branch was located near a school. The building had a job centre and police quarters. There was also a major ATM drive thru centre opposite the library. This branch was another example of a popular place well used by the community.

Lunch was held at the "Charlotte Club" with lovely views of the city. The view for those scared of heights (me) could be a little challenging however the grey day and clouds helped to make the distance to the ground a little less threatening. The meal, company (Charles, Kim, Patrice, Lynette, and myself) and staff serving us were most enjoyable. Some of us saved room for dessert and the creme burlee was perfect.
Before we knew it we where back to the Main Branch and off visiting again. This time Patrice took us out to her local branch Midwood Plaza. This was a smaller sized building full of customers busily working on the PCs, looking for books, being assisted by staff. The community gave the impression that this was their place to be.

After a day of work Lynette and I were taken by Tony and Chauna to Therapy. We need one of these in Melbourne near South Morang! It is a a small but lovely cafe/bar which specialises in Martinis. What a way to finish off the week, thanks Tony for showing us this one!!!!


Saturday we got up early for some retail therapy and headed to South Park at 9am only to discover the shops don't open until 10am. We have found ourselves a driver for our time here TJ, who took us the short cut South Park and later that day (much later) promptly came and picked us up when we had had enough shopping. On the advise of staff at Charlotte, Main Library we headed for the Cheese cake factory for lunch (this is alot different to the Cheese Cake shop we know back at home where you can only purchase cheesecakes). We did not have to queue but when we left people were queued out the shop and down into the plaza waiting for a table! This is very typical for restaurants in America. Here it is a famous cafe with a huge menu and portion sizes you can only dream of. We shared a appetizer and then we for dessert....a brownie for me which ended up being three pieces with three scopes of icecream... I managed half of one piece. Lynette had played it safe and ordered a bowl of strawberries which included a punnetts worth!

Sunday 6 April
A lazier day today!!! We headed out in search of a decent coffee and discovered the main town shops do not open until after 12noon. I guess most people are at church. We found a Starbuck open and then did a little grocery shopping at Reids when they opened at a 11am. We were frowned upon when we tried to buy a bottle of wine to go with our dinner and told to come back after 12noon - we have learnt our lesson. Later in the afternoon we visited the Discovery Place and then took a horse and carriage ride around parts of the city we had not seen.