Americana

This morning I attended the American Women's Club of Dublin's first general meeting of the year which was held at the Bewley's Hotel in Ballsbridge.  I went with my friend Jamie and her mother in law, and we ran into another friend Chelsea there.  The meeting was made up of probably 70 or so women of all ages and all walks of life.  We were under the impression that the meeting began at 9:30, however it did not actually begin until about 10:20.  The first portion of the day was meant to be a "meet and greet" but the old members were quite caught up with "catching up" with one another, there were few people who actually reached out to welcome us.  The former president was one of them, and she was polite so I'm thankful for that.  I will say that not one of the current board members approached me to speak.  The new president, a 27 year old mother of two, was quite busy breastfeeding at the speaker's table and then chasing her toddlers around.  This threw me off a bit. 

Before starting the meeting, I wandered around the conference room looking at the few different tables, but of course I gravitated to the American food table organized by Jane Donnelly.  Her items ranged from marshmallow fluff to Old El Paso Green Chili Sauce.  I was very close to buying her one container of Old Bay Seasoning, but I've already requested my friend Beth bring it when she visits.  I did need change for the bus though, so I bought a small package of Peanut Butter M&M's.  I got Jane's email and website so I can browse when I'm really in need of a taste from home.

The meeting finally began with a guest speaker, a Mr. Godfrey Graham.  Mr. Graham is a 75 year old former photographer from Dublin.  He spoke of his love for photography and how he got his start, as well as some of the interesting things he's done throughout his life.  I enjoyed this very much, but it was a bit disorganized and it was hard to follow him at times.

The actual meeting was the strangest part of the whole morning.  The president ran back and forth across the room after her youngest and spoke in such an informal manner. There was never a call to order announcement or minutes review or any of the things you would expect to take place at a meeting.  The former president asked to speak and was turned down (at that moment) and you could have cut the tension with a knife.  There is some hugely unspoken hostility between the old and new presidents.  It was uncomfortable for me.  If this organization is so big and so established (they've been meeting since 1972) and charging 60 euro for membership fees, then it needs to do one of two things.  Either a) hold an official meeting where things are done correctly, i.e. give your members an itinerary and have someone take minutes, offer a nursery for children of members to be kept out of earshot, etc or b) don't set the meeting up with board table and look the part but not play it.  I have to say that I felt more out of place in this room of American women than I've felt the entire time I've been abroad.  Yes, I think they have a good organization and yes, I'm pleased to see they offer so many different activities, but I think overall, it was poorly organized and I personally don't care to be part of it.