Hogmanay Ceilidh 2005

Welcoming in the New Year – traditional Scottish style!

Christmas Day 2005

Eleven different students were hosted by various folks for Christmas Day. Vivian, June and Amanda joined my parents and I for dinner and gifts and games and a movie. It was great!

Christmas Eve Walk

Several students joined the more sedate version of our Hopehall Church Christmas Eve walk up near Aberfoyle.

TABLEtalk: Christmas Party 2005

Thirty five students from 12 different nationalities came along to our Christmas Party. A wonderful buffet prepared by Ernie and Ellen and great musical accompaniment from Jack for our Carol singing.

TABLEtalk: St Andrew's Night 2005

Another great St Andrew’s Night with food prepared by Alison, music courtesy of Gordon & Susan, a Scottish quiz, and a kilt demonstration by Jack - with special thanks to Jan (from Holland) and Maxime (from Martinique) for their delightful modelling skills. Well done also to Eva Winter from Germany who won our Scottish phrases quiz!

Eva wins the quiz !!!

Hospitality

Another invitation to enjoy some delicious Chinese food - this time from Amanda, Ellen, June, Kate and Vivian. Thanks you soooooooo much!!!

Hospitality

It is a pleasure for many hosts to offer hospitality to international students, but it is equally a pleasure to receive hospitality and enjoy traditional foods from other nationalities. Many thanks go to Zhai Jing, Zhu Chen, Gao Jiong and Li XiangLong for their invitation and scrumptious meal!

Fireworks & Hot Chocolate 2005

Twenty one students came along to our Fireworks Night. Nov 5th stands in the British calendar as recognition of a foiled plot by Guy Fawkes, in 1605, to blow up the Houses of Parliament and overthrow the King. Many thanks to John & Katrina Kynaston and Alison & Simon McKay-Mills for hosting the hot chocolate part of our evening.

TABLEtalk: Fondue Frenzy

Just imagine - 33 students, 9 chocolate fondue pots, several bunches of bananas, etc … Everyone had a great timeat our Fondue Frenzy evening, but what a lot of work. I was so grateful for all the help cleaning the nine ikky, yukky pots of chocolate. Then it took me almost three days the piece the various fondue sets back together for return to their rightful owners - don’t think I’ll do this again in a hurry!!

International Sunday Lunches

These Sunday Lunches are a great opportunity for international students to spend an afternoon in the home of a local family. Our thanks go to all those who host students and, on this day, especially to Derek & Alison Peakman and Nan & Billy Magee.

Bar-B-Que

Sixteen students came to our farewell Bar-B-Que. The weather was kind to us and we all enjoyed the afternoon. A BIG THANK YOU goes to Simon & Alison McKay-Mills for letting us use their home and for cooking some great food!!

TABLEtalk

Our last TABLEtalk evening for this academic year. It’s sad to say goodbye to so many students. We hope that you have enjoyed sharing in our lives as much as we’ve enjoyed sharing in yours. Many students have given us feedback from this past semester; here are just a few of the comments:

STUDENT COMMENTS:

Question: What have you enjoyed most or found most beneficial about TABLEtalk?

Ania from Poland: “I enjoyed the company of people from different nationalities the most... and the tea :) And sweets of course :)))) And atmosphere :)))) For the first time I come there just to see what is going on there - and I still remember how excited I was after. I just knew that this is something special. It gave me an opportunity to talk with other students, to know them better … . The most beneficial thing was just to speak to people :) Simple - but how important! Not only to improve my language and get rid of instant fear that I make some mistakes - but also to make new friends. Thank you for that :)”

Imma from Spain: “The best thing of the TABLEtalk is to meet people, speak with them, and enjoy playing games.”

Lars from Germany: “The games were very funny. The possibility to meet native people or other students is the best of TABLEtalk. I think it is also good that TABLEtalk is not so religious. It is more neutral than I expected.”Libor from the Czech Republic: “Meeting people and the friendly atmosphere.” Min from China: “I enjoyed knowing so many people and improving my English.”

Question: What comments do you have regarding the INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY LUNCHES?

Kevin from China: “I think the international Sunday lunches are a good supplement of TABLEtalk. The international students have a chance to enter common local family homes and experience their real life.”

Ania from Poland: “Crazy question... Of course the lunches were great. Free food :))) and great company. I had a lot of fun. I wish I could attend them more often :)”

Imma from Spain: “Sunday lunches were very nice, the best thing is to know how a real Scottish family is and how is their house. Then, the meal is always wonderful, and this is good because in the Residence we never eat as good food as in the Sunday lunch!”

Comrie Trip

30 MAR – 2 APR 05
Two mini-buses, one car, 27 international students from Dundee, Glasgow, Strathclyde & Paisley universities and 6 Friends International staff and volunteers. Four fabulous days touring the highlands. We visited Dunblane Cathedral, the Falkirk Wheel, the Wallace Monument, and Blair Atholl Castle. We sampled whisky at Edradour Distillery (the smallest in Scotland) and had a fabulous walk through Glen Nevis. Our evenings were filled with games and videos.

Min from China: “The four day highlands trip was one of the best trips I have ever had. Dirk also shares my opinion. It was carefully organised and all the staff did really a great job.”

Oban Weekend

What a great weekend! Myself and 9 students from Paisley Uni joined Friends International Glasgow on their weekend trip to Oban. In total we took 25 international students from 15 different nations. The Paisley students included: Mr Li, Jennie & Lucy from China, Leatitia, Johanna & Perrine from France, Hilda from Guadeloupe, Patrick from Germany, and Libor from the Czech Republic.
Saturday consisted of a wonderful walk along the coast, a meal in Oban and an evening of crazy games organized by Nigel. On Sunday morning there was an optional talk about the Bible and an opportunity to ask questions. Then we took the scenic route home with several photo stops on route.

STUDENT COMMENTS:

Jennie (Chinese): "The Oban trip was great, though I ruined it a little by talking so much Chinese!!"

Patrick (German): "I was at the trip to OBAN. All things were good. The meeting of all the other students was nice. The organisation was very good. In summary, the trip was a fantastic thing."

Perrine (French): "The trip to Oban was great, with lots of nice people. I found that one thing was a bit weird, it's that we had dinner at 5pm, we never eat that early in France."

Hospitality

Today we held our first ever INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY LUNCH – what a great success!!

A huge THANK YOU goes to Roy & Cheryl Adair and their friends, who willing received 15 students in to their home for a wonderful buffet meal and an afternoon of songs and silly games!

TABLEtalk: Love is ...

The Spring semester has started well – this is only week two and 14 students came along to TABLEtalk this evening!

Our discussion theme this evening was ‘LOVE IS …’ It was interesting to hear from the five different nationalities represented as to how they would complete that sentence. However, there was overwhelming agreement that this word ‘love’ is over-used and has lost some of the depth of its meaning.

TABLEtalk

The Autumn semester has come to a close and so TABLEtalk will stop for a few weeks. During this first semester we have had contact with just 13 international students from China, Germany, Malaysia, Russia, Spain and the Czech Republic. It’s been a case of small beginnings, but we trust that ‘out of tiny acorns and mighty oak tree will grow’. There have been a core of students who have come along faithfully each week and we firmly believe that TABLEtalk provides a needed forum for international students to make friends and practise their English.

STUDENT COMMENTS:

Omar Michael from Malaysia: “I enjoyed all the focus group activities that allowed us to express our feeling on specific issues … but you’re too generous with the snacks. You’re gonna make me fat!”

Gerald from Germany: “It’s very nice to meet people from Scotland and other Christian students from abroad.”