Christmas Dinner Celebration 2008

Welcome once again BISC blog fans. What a fantastic night the British traditional Christmas Dinner Celebration was on Saturday night. Even the ‘Christmassy’ weather was laid on – cold, crisp and dry. Bristol has not had weather like this in early December for a number of years now. In fact it was so cold that we were running out of coat hanging space – I expect that you noticed this blip in the otherwise extraordinary organisation of Alma Church and BISC teams!

Father Christmas was outside to welcome us all. I would not let him in as it was a black tie event only! Mind you, John’s bow tie wasn’t exact black either, and neither was his dinner jacket. In fact he looked rather more like the head waiter! Otherwise everyone else turned up in smart dress. The lights were dimmed and a selection of Christmas music enhanced the ambience of the evening along with the appropriate Christmas decorations. Noddy Holder’s 1973 pop chart hit is still a hit every Christmas.

The kitchen and waiting staff were brilliant as were the carol singers. Indeed the traditional Christmas carols were beautifully sung, which emotionally moved me. So I sat next to a Danish guest who had never heard the carol ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful’. Did you notice that John’s jokes were worse than those in the crackers! They must have been cheap crackers as all the jokes were based on ‘The witch and the clean sweep!’ John went for a job once as a Christmas cracker joke writer but failed due to a lack of humour! Later he became an apprenticed tap dancer but was fired as he kept falling into the sink!

Fortunately Hannah, Ann and Xiaomei kept us all in order as we tucked into roast turkey and Brussels sprouts, with cranberry sauce, followed by Christmas pudding and brandy butter, or if you didn’t like Christmas pudding there was fruit salad. Fruit salad was very tasty with brandy butter as one Taiwan guest found out.

The Very Reverend Josh gave the sermon, and very good it was too. His previous experiences of Christmas in New Zealand and Taiwan were good. I remember Christmas dinner on a beach in West Malaysia some 40 year ago, and a beautifully set Chinese Christmas meal in Hong Kong in 1969. One guest from Central Europe informed me that similar Christmas dinners were also a tradition in Hungary, except fish was served rather than turkey.

All in all the BISC team can say that the evening was, once again a resounding success! This was thanks to all the Alma and BISC staff who had prepared the event particularly Hannah Xiaomei and the Alma team. But the success came from you our international student guests who came. Thank you very much for this. You will be delighted to know that on this blog I am not going to give a history half hour rendering; hooray I hear you cry. I did say that yesterday when announcing the quiz answers and my congratulations once again to all those who got the 11 answers right, and to Katherine -the winner who won on a tie break question. The answer was to be found on the BISC front door and notice boards – we close on 19 December 2008 – two days before John’s birthday! By the way has anyone seen my wife? I lost her at the beginning of the dinner last night.

Finally on a personal note, I would like to express my gratitude to all of you who by your friendly and smiling personalities have given me a new life and understanding. I have never been so happy in my life. This is the Christmas I never thought I would see. God gave me a new life and a new meaning to life. I have to see the consultant cardiologist at Southmead Wednesday afternoon. On that note may I leave you with this joke?

“A man came out of the doctor’s clinic crying. His wife said, ‘What’s wrong?’ The man said, ‘The doctor said I have to take one pill a day for the rest of my life. But he only gave me one pill!”

May I wish you one and all wherever you may be over the festive season, a very happy season, and safe travel; and may your God go with you.
The BISC Blogmaster, Mrs. Blogmaster and Oscar the eagle owl and the rest of the BISC team, although not necessarily in that order.

Christmas Card Making - December 2008

Hi, guys, we hold this Christmas Card Making after our popular soup lunch last Wednesday afternoon. BUCU kindly organize this event. Unfortunately, Hannah and I (May) was so busy preparing supper for Alpha Course afterwards that we miss this one. So we have a special guest as our blogger this time__ Joe Bain from BUCU. Here comes Joe's short account of the event:

I (Joe Bain) arrived at 14:55 very excited about making Christmas cards for my friends, I set out the materials we would be using- there was coloured paper, gold and silver card, glitter, coloured felt, coloured pipe cleaners, Christmas cards to cut up and lots of colouring pens! (plus scissors and glue etc).

We got started straight away and much fun was had with the glitter, after using it you would blow the excess glitter onto your neighbours clothes! I got covered in the stuff much to amusement of May! Halfway through the card making an Angel appeared! Well, not quite a real angel, Jenny in a shining white robe and accompanying wings came and gave a short talk about what Christmas celebrates, the birth of Jesus and why he was born. She did a very good job of painting a visual picture of how young Mary would of felt being visited by an angel as we were all a bit in awe of her costume!

After the talk it was back to card making, I managed to make 5 cards I cheekily asked Emily, who was sitting next to me, to write in my cards because I have terrible handwriting! I gave them out that evening and was very pleased with the impression they gave :) Merry Christmas!

PS, May did manage to peek in, taking some photos and taking some nibbles :P However, I have to confess that May does not like Christmas special: Ginger beer and Mince pie

Cardiff Castle and The Big Pit - November 2008

Greeting BISC blog trekkers and associates! What a day and what a trip! Its 11.30 on Sunday morning and I have just got up! Yawn!!! I had a dream last night that I was alone in the Big Pit and there was no light, and that there was a big Welsh dragon coming towards me. When I woke up in a big sweat and I found that I was really in a dark big pit – my bedroom, and Bubbles my Russian Blue cat had just jumped on top of me!!!!! Actually I slept like a baby! Yes I awoke every two hours for a feed! Personally I find that Chinese dragons are extremely friendly and would be willing to be down the Big Pit with one or invite one home with me for tea!

The November day weather wise turned out to be quite nice, particularly as we had to walk some distance to catch up with our coaches, but more on that shortly. The trip into Wales took us over some famous features of geography particularly the River Severn. The Severn is over 200 miles long and its estuary has the second highest tidal mark in the world. We crossed over the second Severn Bridge that opened in 1996. You may have seen the first suspension bridge that was opened in 1966.

Cardiff Castle, yes, it was more of a nineteenth century stately home than a castle. The original Norman castle was the Keep or main tower on a small hillock. This hillock is man-made and was possibly first constructed by the Romans 2000 years ago, who built a wooden watch tower on the top in order to have a commanding view of the docks area. This type of hillock is called a Mott. The Normans built Motts and wooden castles when they occupied England after 1066. They were quick to complete and linked a chain of defences against any opposition that may have occurred. The stone castles took over 100 years to build.

Did you notice the ‘castle’ that the Earls of Bute used as their residence for only 6 weeks every year? Most of this was constructed in the 19th century on the ruins of the original castle. To construct and maintain such a luxurious house was very expensive. Even John’s house is not like this! The Bute family owned a lot of land that had coal reserves, and the profits the family received from coal allowed them to live in such style! The ladies and gentlemen had their own rooms for entertaining; I wonder what the servants living conditions were like? We were not shown these! The walls surrounding the Castle were not the original ones, but had been reconstructed with the Bute’s residence during the 1870s.

Cardiff was a busy place on Saturday. The local University had an open day and there was a Rugby international, where Wales were playing the ‘All Black’s’ from New Zealand. I think the ‘All Black’s’ won! This caused a bit of a problem as we could not pick up our coaches at the usual place. But it was a nice day for a walk! Excellent Welsh fresh air and we were walking away from the crowds. Did you notice John telling you on route that it was only 5 minutes further to go! Xiaomei told you the same thing five minutes (or was it ten minutes?) previously! You must always keep a sense of humour when on BISC trips. Did you notice Lou the driver of the second coach having a friendly chat to a motor cycle police officer whilst she was causing an obstruction at the pickup point? It’s nice to be diplomatic!

What a contrast, the Big Pit. This was an example of how real Welsh working people had to work for a pittance in order to keep the coals owners such as the Earl’s of Bute in their comfortable and extravagant castles. This topic is of interest to John. He completed a thesis on the British coal industry between 1913 and 1947 for a Warwick University Master degree in Business and Industrial History in 1990. If you want any more information including photographs of how the miner’s lived then see John. In the Pit I kept banging my head, thank goodness for the helmet and Xiaomei who came to my rescue on numerous occasions. But many years ago, miners did not wear helmets and had to work either with candles or in the dark. Children as young as 6 years old worked underground to along with their fathers and mothers. Their whole lives evolved around the coal owners, who owned the tools the miners needed for their work, their houses (which were extremely small and cramped). There were no inside toilets running fresh tap water or bathrooms, and the local shop was also owned by the coal owner. It was slavery in all but name!

The next valley to the Big Pit was another coal mine called Senghenydd. An underground explosion there in 1913 killed 439 men and boys. Apparently, the Earl of Bute was more interested in how many of his horses were saved, rather than the lives of his miners! These conditions from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries left a lasting legacy throughout the British coal industry until its wholesale closure during the 1980s. Industrial relations within the coal industry were always bitter.

Perhaps you may have noticed towards the end of our trip to the Big Pit the Davey Lamp invented in 1812 by Sir Humphrey Davey. The Davey lamp can detect methane gas and carbon monoxide through the colour and size of its flame, the flame is guarded so it does not come into contact with the air in the mine, otherwise !!!!BANG!!! and Guy Fawkes Night would have arrived underground early scaring the Welsh dragon! If you want to have a close look at a real Davey Lamp, ask John, he has one which is about 120 years old from the Durham coalfield in the North of England!

The trip home was uneventful, where the answers to the quiz were given. Congratulations Edina who won the quiz on coach no.1. There were 23 nationalities represented on coach one and 18 on coach two. Amazing! So there we are, we of the BISC team hope that you enjoyed your trip and found it rewarding and enriching. Now it’s Sunday afternoon and your Blogmaster has got to go back the ‘Big Pit’ and clean it! I am, of course, talking about my bedroom which looks like a mighty battle has just been fought in it! After that, I think I will go back to bed!
So farewell you beautiful blog trekkers and BISC team until the next event and history lesson when you can catch up on another enthralling episode in the life of BISC and the Blogmaster. In the meantime I am pondering the universal question of the day- I wonder what’s for tea tonight.

The Night of the International Feast and Games - Friday 14th November.

Hi there! BISC Blog followers

This is your BISC Blog master reporting once again on the activities staged at BISC on the night of Friday 14th November 2008. This was the same day as the national 'Children in Need' and the Prince of Wales 60th birthday. The BISC night was even better. It focused on the International feast and games, and what a night it was of food, flags, games and enjoyment, and by the hilarious laughter that echoed through the hallowed halls (that is the lounge, kitchen, toilet areas and the reception hall) of the BISC Centre, the Team can only assume that a good time was had by all!

Even Oscar the International Owl was ready to go! He was observed at 10am in his usual perch, looking cool and eyeing up the University girls walking by with a rat in his claws!

There were about 50 international students present at the function supported by a contingent from Bristol University CU and the BISC Team. The range of food was amazing. Oh! By the way Joe thanks for the English range of chips! Perhaps less salt next time though ok! The range and talent of our international guests is amazing as was evident from the flags that were produced. There were flags representing every part of the Globe and food to match! I didn't notice any Welsh food or flags though. Perhaps they had their own celebration for Prince Charles and his 60th!

The games were outstandingly fiendish and where could you go except to BISC to see all the academic potential from the universe walking around in a crowded BISC lounge with labels on their foreheads. Excuse my ignorance but who is Bart Simpson? Is he related to Tony Blair? However I did notice an attractive Pavarotti, and an over sized Marilyn Munroe. By the way, whatever happened to Bridget Bardot?

The second game of signs was a little too intellectual for John who was relegated to collecting the empties and returning them to the kitchen. Perhaps this is the time to say a big thank you to the unseen heroines of the night Jacqueline and Hannah who spent their time washing up, putting away and cleaning the kitchen whilst the rest of the party went on with the party as it were! Jacqueline had been at BISC for most of the day. Jacqueline is the lovely South African lady who is a real gem! Next time you see Hannah and Jacqueline just say thanks; they will appreciate it.

Finally on a historical note! Before his curiosity was drowned out by the high powered intellectual activity of the signs game, John's sign was twisting his nose with this hand. No that's right John cannot twist his nose without his hand!!! This was a sign used by Victorian criminals serving time in prisons in England over 100 years ago. You were not allowed to speak in prisons, and a silent regime was the order of the day. So to communicate the prisoners used signs to communicate to each other. Twisting the nose was a sign meaning 'have you any tobacco?' The criminal slang for tobacco was 'snout' which means nose. For this piece of information I must thank my old friend from school days way back in the olden days before the Beatles and Rolling Stones had made the big time! Tim worked for the British Prison Service for 30 years as a nursing officer. He too completed a doctorate late in life with the Open University, but his thesis was far more interesting than mine. His thesis was 'The Victorian Underworld and Silent Separate regime: A Study of 19th century British penal policy'. Thanks Tim and thank you all you wonderful beautiful people who come to BISC and revitalize our City and universities and make the BISC team very happy! The next trip on Saturday 22 November is to a castle and a pit. I cannot wait!!

Bridgwater Carnival - November 2008

The greatest attribute about this year’s Bridgwater Carnival was the weather. After a sunny late autumnal day, the evening was fairly mild and dry with a slightly larger than a half moon shining down on the proceedings. Indeed the Bridgwater Carnival is the largest illuminated carnival in Europe and it is claimed that the Carnival procession can be seen from space. I hope therefore if there are little humanoids on the Moon that too enjoyed the spectacle too.

The BISC Team (Hannah, May and John) assembled the majority of international students on Woodland Road outside the entrance to BISC, and the coach duly arrived; the driver was Lee. We picked up students from Zetland Road Junction and UWE, and proceeded on to a crowded motorway. Beyond Weston-super-Mare the M5 motor way was very much clear and we arrived at Bridgwater at approximately 6.00pm. One problem was encountered with the coach was that it did not have a microphone. Therefore this meant some of the on board coach activities had to be abandoned or modified. Don’t forget to post your quiz competition answer in by email!

Once we had arrived in Bridgwater there was a mad rush to McDonald’s either for fries or the toilet or even both. The demand for the toilets, particularly the ladies toilets was particularly high and the queue was longer for these facilities than for the food! McDonald’s should have charged a £1.00 for these facilities!!!

The BISC team carried two identifying badges. These were bamboo branches with leaves that when raised could be seen over the vast crowds, which numbered over 100,000 according to the local news broadcasts on Saturday. Using the bamboo as umbrellas, the BISC team positioned themselves on the Bath Road and for three hours watched the glittering procession pass by. The carnival cart that won the prize was organised by the ‘Gremlins’. The system of bamboo appeared to work as at the end of the procession and arrival back at the coach park all but one of our party arrived back safely, there was a late comer who just made it!!!

The journey back was made on an almost clear motorway and John and Iwona had a great discussion on the history of the event and the place of the monarchy in British culture and politics. Bridgwater is only a small market town yet attracts much history that has shaped the British culture. The Carnival although begun in the late 19th century to commemorate the Gunpowder Plot some two hundred years earlier, commenced during a major agricultural depression which affected the economy of Somerset. So in order to boost up the local economy and the welfare of the local population the commencement of the Bridgwater Carnival revived local fortunes at the time. There is a lesson here for the economic difficulties faced today perhaps. After all without history there is no today and no future!

To conclude a good time was had by all, the weather was kind (given the weather some 24 hours later on Saturday evening), and we got back to Bristol as Friday disappeared into Saturday. For the BISC team this was our first organised trip for this academic year and Hannah, May and John deemed it to have been a resounding success. We hope that you think the same too.

International Reception 2008

And what a wonderful evening it was! The autumn weather was fine and everything was prepared. In fact local volunteers had been working hard at Woodlands Centre for most of the day getting all ready. The night went by with jovial entertainment from Josh and his band, Transition. Do you remember Tony with his Union Flag waistcoat and guitar when he sang a traditional English folksong, ‘My grandfather’s clock’. John will be remembered for his dazzling white jacket and pink carnation, who was, on a number of occasions, mistaken for the head waiter despite there being no waiter service! May looked her beautiful self.

The animal game was amusing, but no-one imitated Oscar, the resident international eagle owl who’s taken up residence at BISC. The capital cities competition was won by Mevna de Silva (Sri Lanka) with 30 answers all correct, and the night proceeded by. All the papers handed in were marked by John. It was an easy task as only three papers were actually handed in. You might have not been aware but Hannah was not feeling well that day, but despite this she put on an excellent performance.
Here are some statistics from the night for your interest. Some 350 international students attended the International Reception representing 55 nationalities, countries or regions. However, there were one or two ‘international’ students from the UK and possibly one from Wales too!

Just to finalise, I certainly enjoyed it and wandering around during the course of the evening I am certain that you also enjoyed the evening. I trust that you made new friends and got into contact with fellow students from your own country. If you are happy then so are we at BISC and we can all say ‘job well-done’.

Globe Cafe - 'A Taste of the UK' evening

I (John) arrived at BISC at 6.45 in the evening to be met by hordes of students and only three cars, and they were little cars! So May and I got things moving and phoned up local churches for more transport to get things moving faster, and by 7.40 all the students (about 80) had been safely transported from BISC to Ebenezer Church (Ebe). John even got his hard pressed wife (Hazel) involved! It was like the Berlin airlift mark 2! Meanwhile, at Ebe, the Globe Cafe team had decked out the church with flags and soft lighting creating a pleasant ambience and atmospshere.
The evening started with the National Anthem of the UK and all of the students stood up! This was followed by video shots from the UKs past, Churchill to Diana Princess of Wales. It’s funny but we were sure we saw John with Churchill in the 1945 clip! Tony with his banjo and guitar serenaded us all before food was served. This was an English delicacy who recipe is known only to a few in the Royal Household and English nobility; ‘bangers and mash’ with peas and carrots. May was taking photographs throughout this event. John was wearing a blue jacket, grey trousers and a culturally correct tie with his BISC badge but was mistaken on numerous occasions for a bus driver! One person though he had escaped from the local psychiatric hospital!!
After ‘bangers and mash’ it was back to the band! To great cheers they even sang one song in Mandarin! After the band had finished a Beatles tape was played, their early music early 1960s and Hazel (John’s wife) and Ann (from BISC) danced the twist!!! After twenty six years of marriage I never knew that Hazel could do this!!! John met a young lady called April from Taiwan and she was standing next to May, so I went looking for June and July! For us at BISC we would like to say on behalf of the students who attended a big thank you to the folks at Ebe who catered for all our needs in entertainment, food and song.
All in all it was an excellent evening, and all the students looked happy and were smiling, and so it was back to the Berlin airlift to get everyone home safely. All-in-all BISC can honestly say ‘Job well-done’ thanks to the folks of Ebe and the wider Christian community of Bristol.