¡Spanish Fiesta! - May 09

Hola and greeting fellow blog readers and welcome to the blog on the Spanish Fiesta -Olay! It was excellent to see so many people, including a Spanish contingent at BISC last Friday. The evening was a great way to start the Bank holiday weekend and what a way to wind down a bit from all of the pressures of the examination period. Actually I sat mine 30 years ago, but I digress, the Spanish Fiesta was fantastic. Amine Javier, the chef from Valencia was brilliant. He can speak five languages including Arabic. I don’t think our own Jamie Oliver can match that!! Those sliced carrots in a vinegar base were absolutely delicious. So too was the paella, tortilla de potata and other exotic foods from Spain. The cook team worked hard in the afternoon to prepare such a delicious feast for us all.

There was a great buzz about the whole evening and I noticed that our Spanish friends came from a wide area of Spain including the Canary Islands. There was the debate, of course as to whether or not David Beckham was the best Spanish footballer, and don’t forget tomorrow Manchester United play Barcelona. Actually Spain has some remarkable home grown footballers. Never fancied bullfighting myself, I have too much sympathy for the bull! Football however is a sport that is more evenly matched and the best team wins. More importantly its not the winning that counts but playing the game!

I was interested in the history of Spain and it is remarkable example of how as a country has developed and grown as a democracy over the past three decades. I did enjoy the Spanish humour on Friday night and the excellent standard of the food – although wine was not allowed!!! Our thanks to Jose-Luis and friends for making the evening such a great success with lots of laughter and a great atmosphere.

The Spanish Fiesta summed up for me at least how all the nations of the world meet up at BISC and share friendship and cultural exchanges. Such events, I believe, in the long term will make for a better world. Finally, if you are going back to examination pressures during the next two weeks remember the team at BISC have been there, so, if you want advice, comfort, relaxation or even prayer, do pop into BISC you will be welcome.

Quiz Aid Evening

Hi there BISC Blog readers and here is another thrilling episode on the Quiz Aid event held at the Café Halo on the Gloucester Road on Friday last, 15 May 2009. There were five teams, and the ‘Wonderful BISCits’ as we called ourselves, were positioned on some nicely cushioned settees, whilst the other teams were sat on what were rather hard chairs. Blog master had been at the Café Halo before!!! So we refused to relocate! The team included K (Germany), F (Switzerland), I (France) and L (Slovakia), plus Blogmaster (England)

Although the Quiz Aid required Smart Alecs and Brainy Brenda’s there were few of these about. The questions were a bit out of my depth but we BISCits put up a good fight. The quiz teaser questions were a help despite some ‘fixed type questions. For example where is the flag of the USA flown 24 hours a day 7 days a week and is never lowered? Answer the Moon! Oh well we cannot win them all! One I did get right was about whose property was Arlington Military Cemetery located? Answer Robert E Lee. Well he could say that his property was in the dead centre of town!!!

The real questions represented a mixture of rounds and included ‘Guess the County, Maths, Sport, Geography, Guess Who and Food and Drink’! Personally I’m not very good at sport whether questions or playing! But we got one or two right after much teamwork. A lady trying to sell us raffle tickets kept disrupting our collective chain of thought. The organiser had spared no expense with the prizes, a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates and a £25 voucher for John Lewis.

I believe that the Wonderful BISCits came second from bottom, but there you are. It’s not the winning that counts but the taking part. All the proceeds from the evening went to Christian Aid a very good cause. In total we raised £148 –not bad considering there were only 25 people who took part.

Just before I sign off a little piece of English humour! What did one angel say to another angel? Answer, Halo! See you at the Spanish Fiesta on Friday and tune in to another existing Blog. Keep rock and rolling, and if you are suffering from examination blues, may your God be with you as you sit them.

Regards, BISC Blogmaster

Kite Making Madness - Wednesday 13th May, 2009

“Let’s go fly a kite, up where they sky is bright, let’s go fly, fly a kite”. What better way to spend and afternoon than by making a kite! Despite the weather being cloudy and rainy, there were still 7 people who came to the Kite Making Madness afternoon –which was such an encouragement to May who was leading the session! Instructions on how to make a kite were provided in two ways. Firstly, each step was shown on a detailed PowerPoint presentation and secondly, May’s example of a sample kite aided the process and enjoyment of making kites. (The PowerPoint slides were put together by Kevin Yau –one of last year’s BISC team members –credit where credit is due! May was impressed by people’s creativity and diversity of the kites: they ranged from a totally black kite with bow tie on it to a French post-modernistic kite and a Hungary national kite, to name a few.

For most, it was their first experience of kite making! May was both surprised and relieved to see the kites actually fly. Despite the cloud, some of us still went to Brandon Hill to fly our kites. Not surprisingly, we attracted much attention with our loud laughs and child like behaviour. It was simple, yet profound.

It has been said that one of the best ways to understand science and maths is by making and flying a kite. So if you would like to know a bit more science and maths, please refer to this website: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/shortk.html. It was true to say a good time was had by all.

Cambridge Trip - May 2009

The day started with a 7.30am departure from BISC - very early for a Saturday morning! But everybody was on time ready for the long journey to experience Cambridge! After non-stop driving, we finally arrived at 11.15am.

It was a lovely sunny day and our first experience was punting on the river Cam. It was great fun to watch people using the pole to direct their punt, some were better than others! Me (May) and with me in my punt were very fortunate to have an expert punter on board which allowed them to have a very smooth one-hour journey. We saw the Mathematical bridge, the King’s Chapel, spotted the ¾ ball in Clare’s Bridge. We imagined all the precious manuals in the Wren Library in Trinity College, and took many photos of the Bridge of Sighs in St. John’s college and of course, the willow along the river, the ducks on the water, etc. That reminds me of the one famous Chinese poems called “say good-bye to Cambridge, again” by Xu Zhimo, who is a poet who studied in Cambridge back in 1928. For others, it proved a challenge to park their punt back to dock. Some of them said the experience would be unforgettable!
At the corner of the Corpus Christi College, the 'hypnotically beautiful and deeply disturbing' clock attracted our attention. This mesmerising £1m clock with no hands and a time-eating beast perched on its summit was unveiled by Professor Stephen Hawking in 2008.

Hannah and I had a good pub lunch in The Eagle, and hopefully we might be inspired in the same way as Crick and Watson (who discovered the structure of DNA). After lunch, we were gathering in front of the Guild Hall in the open market. The interesting street performers and the group of street dancing boys attract so many viewers, as well as the variety of wares being sold in the open market attracts so many attention that it was a bit difficult to find everybody for the guided tours. It is just amazing to wander around the narrow streets or in the courts of the colleges which has not been changed over the hundreds years. Just to imagine all these big names in the history, once upon a time, were wandering the same street as you are doing now.

Our college tour of Trinity College changed to a college tour of St. John’s College due to Trinity deciding to close at 1pm that day, but St. Johns was a good alternative. However, we still got to see the famous Henry VIII statute with the chair leg in his hand, as well as the offspring of the apple tree in Newton’s hometown in front of where he lived. After passing through the distinctive Great Gate of St John's, we had a good tour around and learned how Cambridge students live and study. The Second Court of St. Johns, built from 1598 to 1602, has been described as 'the finest Tudor court in England' and it was fine indeed. A good time was had by all, and as always time flew by. At 5.30pm we waved goodbye to Cambridge, glad to have not fallen in the river whilst punting, and embarked upon our homeward journey, glad for a change to get some sleep on the coach.

Photos to come soon

Bristol 10K Run

It was a glorious sunny morning and Hannah, Lukas and May went to city centre to cheer for the girls who were running the Bristol 10K to raise money for a new water boiler in BISC.

The race started at 9.30am and Kathrin, Franziska, Katherine and Tamela were already making good progress around the course by the time we arrived at 10.15am. According to the Bristol Evening Post, this year’s Bristol 10k, now in its second year attracts almost 8,000 people. There were a good number of people already gathered along the centre to cheer on the 8,000 runners, many of whom who were already near to the finishing line.

It was great to see so many people, all different shapes, sizes, ages and abilities joining in the event, all trying their best and pushing through the pain barrier in some cases, to reach the finishing line! It was so exciting to see our girls passing us and having the opportunity to cheer them on!!! They were easily identifiable by red t-shirts that were specially printed for the event. Well done, Kathrin, Franziska, Katherine and Tamela –you all deserve your medals!! All of the girls successfully finished the 10k and we are very proud of their achievements, individual and collectively!! All the hard work and training paid off as they tried hard to reach their limits.

Afterwards, we had a small celebration back at BISC with a big chocolate cake and some sparking grape juice. If you come to Cream tea this afternoon you can enjoy a piece of the cake to celebrate together, as there is still a little bit left, or just come and enjoy a hot cup of tea or coffee with water from our new water boiler. Remember that if you have sponsored one of our runners, they will be keen to collect your sponsorship money from you soon. Thanks to all who have sponsored and thanks again to Kathrin, Franziska, Katherine and Tamela for running on behalf of BISC. :)

New Kitchen

See how the new kitchen got installed at BISC :)

International Feast - April 2009

Hi there Blog readers,

This is your master blogger writing once again, twice within a few days!
Wow! My English must be improving! Last Wednesday was the evening of the
International Feast yummy yums, with about twenty five of us gathered to
savour the food from all corners of the Globe. Thanks Joe for the chips,
bought just up the road. A little crisp this time Joe! There were flags
representing the different nationalities. I was personally taken aback with
the quality of the food presented. Chatting to the guests was a great
experience learning about their culinary skills and traditions. I adored
the raspberry pie from the USA and the crepes from France. Bad mannered
that I am I had the main course after dessert! It was a stupendous Czech
goulash prepared by a lovely student who arrived late. I had three
helpings! Well it assisted me in my hour of need because I don't have a
kitchen at home anymore! It has been turned into a building site and
hopefully will be rebuilt by the end of the month! The builder didn't say
which year though. Coming to BISC and eating three helping of goulash
chilled me down and gave me positive waves. It was a pity that the
International Feast was only for one night. I'm back living on a building
site now!

There was a dessert from Chile, which looking round at everyone scoffing,
appeared to be very popular as well as unusual. The chicken drumsticks
didn't last long. They came from a country called Somerfield just to the
north of BISC and to the North West of that strange medieval country call
The University Library.

If you had ordered what was prepared at the International Feast, in a
restaurant, it would have cost £220.00. But at BISC it was free. The
culinary talents were amazing. Such commitment and initiative coming from
our own International students and visitors was very encouraging, and they
are not even studying food technology at University. I just hope and pray
that you do equally as well if you are sitting exams this term. Remember
BISC is open lunchtime 1 to 2pm every week day from 18th May to 5th June,
when the BISC volunteers will be serving you. Finally a tip from the Blog
master who has considerable experience in sitting exams and as an examiner!
Before answering the question, read it full first, and read it a second and
third time, then only pick up your pen and answer the question set, not what
you may think it is! I trust that your God will be with you during the
examination period. Love, hugs and kisses, the Blog master.