Food brings everyone together!

Food is often the best way to bring people together. From the care and love that goes into the preparation of the meal, to the laughter and memories made while eating together, food consistently plays a central role in everyone's life.

Today, we used food to introduce our cultures to our classmates by holding an International Curry Cookoff. Not every country has "curry" as part of their diets, but every culture has something sort of similar. We got to try curry (or variations) from Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Jordan and Mexico. We also got to sample a delicious strawberry dessert from Colombia. 

After eating our fill, we all voted on the curry (or variation) we liked the most. Can you guess which one won?? 

Fresco Opera at Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Yesterday, we visited Olbrich Botanical Gardens to see the gorgeous landscaping and listen to the Fresco Opera. Olbrich has a summer concert series where performers from all over the state come and share their talents in a free concert. The grounds were full of people enjoying a picnic dinner together and listening to the amazing vocal talents of Fresco Opera. We had the perfect weather for the event, and loved exploring the many themed gardens.

Happy Birthday, America!

Can you think of a better way to watch the 4th of July fireworks than from a pontoon boat on Lake Monona? We had a prime view of the Monona firework show, as well as other firework shows going on around the lake. We also had a beautiful view of the Capitol building all lit up for the evening. Since some students are observing Ramadan, we brought food on board to share and break the fast! We enjoyed Saudi Arabian coffee, red tea, kabsa, sandwiches, and many other delicious foods. One of our Korean students even prepared Korean barbeque pork! It was wonderful being able to share our food and make memories together.

It's the beginning of the new session!

We're half-way through the first week of our new session! Our students are already showing off their skills and learning new things each day. This session, we have students from Korea, Japan, China, Jordan, Colombia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Spain, Thailand, Somalia and Taiwan. We are loving the diversity, and the daily opportunity to learn something new about a new part of the world!

A hole-in-one!

Have you ever wondered how you would play your favorite games from home, abroad? What are the vocabulary words you would need? How do you cheer others on? What do you say when you win?? These are all questions that come up, whether you're playing football (soccer) or golf or chess.

Yesterday, we learned a few golf terms while playing mini golf at Vitense Golfland in Madison, WI. We had a blast putting with our clubs, getting birdies and eagles, and even a few hole-in-ones! We'll definitely be going back soon!!

Which animal would you be?

To get to know our students better, we started a whiteboard project where we ask questions about our students to see their creative sides. Every few days, we try to ask a new question for our students to answer. They get to practice reading and writing while having a bit of fun. Our latest question asked students what kind of animal they would be. We got some pretty awesome responses and even a bit of art! What kind of animal do you think you would be?

International Cooking Night

Christ Presbyterian Church hosts an International Cooking night regularly, where members from the community can interact and cook with international students, people who have recently moved to the Madison area from abroad, and internationals who have been living here for years. This past Saturday was the last International Cooking night for the season, until fall starts up again. We had several students attend, as well as our director, Poom!

Food is life, so there is no better way to meet new friends and those who may not otherwise cross our paths than by cooking together! It was a delicious way to end the week, and we can't wait until the next one. But until then, here are a few photos to make us all hungry for the next one!