TABLEtalk - Chilli & Chat

Once or twice a year we enjoy a Chilli & Chat evening at TABLEtalk - no set discussion theme but simply the opportunity to enjoy each others company, hopefully some good chilli (hmmmm) and a variety of games.

A huge thank you goes to Fu Yu who spent the day helping me shop and cook and set up!!

TABLEtalk - Valentine's Night

Valentine's Night at TABLEtalk is always a lot of fun. Below are some photos of our DATING AGENCY role play in which students need to visit a number of 'agencies' in order to try to find their soul-mate.

Meal @ Katrina's

THANK YOU, KATRINA

for your invitation and for such a great evening!!

(left to right) Cloud, Tifa, Lynne, David, Aileen, Vicky, Katrina & Katie

Many thanks also to Katrina's Mum for her wonderful cooking!!

David proved to be a great student and very soon mastered the art of using chop sticks - well done!!

TABLEtalk - Games Galore!!!

Games Nights are always a lot of fun!!!

Here the teams put theirs heads together for a round of 'categories' - some interesting answers were given and one or two weren't allowed.

Let me introduce the teams ...

'The Ligers' - Lena, Magda, Abiola, Cindy, Ramon & David

'The Tigers' - Teresa, Judy, Sarah, Keyur & Bastien

'The Kangaroos' - Fu Yu, Montse, Lukasz, Razvan, Emmanuel & Billy (the winning team)

'The Snakes' - Jessica, Kristina, Andrea, Ishan & Misha

Amongst other things we played a round of 'Pass the Polo' where teams competed to successfully pass 15 polos from one table to another using only toothpicks!

The Ligers are to be especially commended here for their excellent team work!!

International Student Weekend

I'm so grateful to Friends International Dundee and Dundee University Christian Union for extending an invitation to their international student weekend in Pitlochry.

Misha, Lena and I joined almost 30 other students & volunteers from Dundee. We stayed in the Pitlochry Youth Hostel which was lovely and warm and welcoming on a rather cold weekend. Each day there were optional Bible times which were wonderfully led by Alisdair & Mary Morrice; and many of the students chose to come along.

Friday evening provided some opportunity for us to get to know each other and there were games & a movie to round off the evening.

Many of you who know me know that I'm generally NOT a morning person but God honoured me scraping myself out of bed for breakfast on Saturday morning by painting the most wonderful sunrise ...

Looking down on the town of Pitlochry

There were several options of activities on Saturday. The more energetic of the group chose to go on a long walk through the countryside. Others of us piled in to several cars and drove to Blair Atholl Castle and spent several hours touring the castle and learning more of its splendid history.

Saturday evening there was a ceilidh for all to enjoy. For many this was their first experience of Scottish dancing.

In the foreground of the photo below are my colleagues Ruth & Malcolm Farquhar from Friends International in Dundee.

Below is a photo of me and my weekend room-mates Nkiruka from Nigeria and Liz, one of the Dundee church volunteers.
Nkiruka was very gracious as we struggled all weekend to pronounce her name properly!!!

Our weekend was rounded off with a Christian service (optional) on the Sunday morning. Many people participated in the service through readings and songs and prayers. Then a final cuppa and a cake before packing up and heading off home.

Misha, Lena & I decided to drive home the scenic route through Crieff, Comrie, etc - stopping for a welcome drink at the Lodge in Luss. It was the most beautiful drive through snow-capped hills and passing pristine lochs.

TABLEtalk - Chinese New Year Celebration

Welcome to the Year of the Ox

What better way to begin our new semester than to welcome the new year in Chinese-style ... and all this was done with the very able and sacrifical help of Fu Yu, Jessica, Sarah, Bora, Kiwi & Rain. I am indebted to these girls for all their hard work.

THANK YOU!!!!!

They made over 300 jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) which were dutifully enjoyed by all (especially me).

This was achieved by much chopping ...

and mixing ...

and kneading ...

and rolling ...

... until we reach the finished product.

Sarah, Kiwi, Katrina and her Mum

Eric, Razvan, Emmanuel, Ian & Cathy.

In addition to all the good food, we played several games include a Chinese version of 'the word race' in which our teams of non-Chinese were competing to copy Chinese characters - points were awarded for both speed and accuracy.

Our second game caused much hilarity as teams competed to complete several rounds of Chinese Whispers using authentic phrases in Mandarin. My favourite outcome to this game was when the phrase 'sui sui ping an' (which means 'wish you safety & health every year) somehow ended up as ... 'sweet, sweet ping pong'

Fu Yu, Katrina, Kiwi, Rain, Jessica & Sarah (left to right) rounded off our evening with two beautiful Chinese songs.

Lena with all her Chinese buddies!

Burns Supper & Ceilidh @ Nazarene Church

Eight students came along to the Burns Supper & Ceilidh at the Paisley Nazarene Church and everyone enjoyed the evening.



Good food ...

(left to right)
Arthur, Bora, Gloria, Lynne, Fu Yu, Misha, Lena & Magda










Great company ...








Great music and dancing ...

Many thanks to all at the Nazarene Church who made us feel so welcome!!

Student Comments

My stay in Paisley was a great experience, though the initial period was bit difficult as I had a major personal set back. My primary focus was to do well in my studies. It was a difficult phase where I had lot of pain within me as I was missing my family but alongside there was enough determination to do good and be good. The first friends that I made in Paisley were at TABLEtalk. TABLEtalk gave me an opportunity to make new friends and also provided me with a warm and welcoming environment which made me feel at home away from home. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and all the people behind TABLEtalk for the good work that you do. I owe a part of my little success to TABLEtalk ...

With Kind Regards,
Dharmraj (from India)

New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve Sugu & Fu Yu hosted several students who enjoyed a meal and card games 'til the wee hours of the morning ...

Thanks Chang for these photos.

Hogmanay Ceilidh

A good number of international students joined the folks at Hopehall Church for their annual Hogmanay Ceilidh. Great fun was had with games and dancing and a time of cabaret ... ... I'm keen to receive any more photos that people might have from this event. Thanks!

Student Comments

"I really have to thank you for everything you and the whole planning team have done all these previous weeks. It must have been really hard to organise TABLEtalk and special events like the Christmas Party every Tuesday but it is great to see how much fun everybody can have especially with such a good organiser, entertainer and friend like you. I know that it would probably not work if you had not the support of your entire team. This is why I am writing to thank you. I am sure all the internationals students would like everybody who has been involved in planning all these processes, the cooking, and realising all that by making themselves as useful as possible."

Volker from Germany