IFG Program for Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec 2009 (Check this website from time-to-time as more details and more events may be planned) ..............Scroll down past the What Did You Miss Section for UPCOMING EVENTS!! PAST EVENT DIARY OR WHAT DID YOU MISS? Sept 29th Welcome Dinner BarBQ Party Event was a full-house with over 80 students attending. The warm-up game we played was "I never ___" Players in the circle that actually did that specific thing would immediately rise from their chairs and try to find an open chair to sit down. If he or she could not find an unoccupied chair, then he or she would begin the next round by saying, "I never ____". A dinner buffet, consisting of items found at an American BarBQ were grilled and served on site such as grilled marinated chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, veggie burgers, corn, cole slaw, cucumber and carrot dip, and various desserts and fruits were enjoyed with conversations around the tables. Friday, Sept 4, 7pm 1st Friday Kickoff Event For The Semester. Around 25 students attended. The social game began in conversations with a partner to find out facts about each other. Only three things known about the partner are written down on a piece of paper in which two of the things are true and one is not. Four teams gathered around each other sitting in four different parts of the room. A person stands up, identifies his or her partner and reads outloud for everyone in the room each of the three items written on the paper. Team members then discuss and give a team answer for what they think is the false item on that list. Congratulations, Team Number 2! Evening then continued with free discussion and snacks. Friday, Sept 11, 7pm American Culture Night. Around 20 students attended. After the warm-up game where they each had to lose one shoe and get that shoe back by telling the person who has their other shoe something about their experience in the States they competed in two teams, "Team Public" and "Team Friendship". After each team studied their set of questions and got a chance to "Ask an American". Team Public and Team Friendship then competed in the IFG American Culture Night Game, "What Would An American Do?" Congratulations Team Public! Team public was able to correctly, and quickly answer situational questions related to their category of public behavior. Evening continued with some snacks and more conversations.Saturday, Sept 19. Our Second Outing to Beautiful Point Lobos in Monterey This Year. Around 40 of us enjoyed great weather, lunch at the beach, examined the sea life at the tide-pool and saw seals sunning on the rocks. The day passed so quickly. Friday, Sept 25, 7pm. Life After College Night. Over 20 students attended and listened to ten persons, mostly from the leadership team speak about their professions. So, each devoted five minutes to the task. Kate talked about using her MBA skills to help the poor in parts of the world where a small "microfianced" loan can help a small business get started. Dan spoke of his like for people and how that lead him to a marketing job which uses his electrical engineering training to promote his company's products as well as giving us his partial iist of the different type of business or application roles that can open up with an engineering degree. Supriya spoke of her very early childhood desire to work on building projects that can be very visible to her getting a graduate degree in the civil engineering profession. Sally Jo spoke of her travels to many parts of the world not only to teach English but to share her faith. Jonathan spoke of the importance of learning how to think crically and to learn about how finance is used in every type of business. Seun spoke of how the software profession is in high demand and the reasons why he chose it. Tom spoke about what the requirements are of a univeriity teaching position as well as what he found easy and what he found to be hard. Janet spoke about her travels as a volunteer after no longer working for the corporate world. Joe brought a photo of a chip to explain how the devices are made. Jason, our guest, took the time to go through the different people he speaks to and their functions all in the process of coming out with a circuit board. There was a brief period of questions and answers. If you read these notes and have a question related to the above for the speakers. Please feel free to talk to them at the next IFG meeting. Friday, Oct 2, 7pm. Movie Night. Around 12 students came to watch the movie called "Power Play". We served up a big bucket of popcorn and there was conversation after the movie. The description for the movie was posted last week and is here: so, what is this movie about? Without revealing too much about the movie, we will say just this: Many people not only think about but actively pursue being "sucessful" in the world. "How do I become "successful" and what do I do to become a sucess?", you may have asked yourself. Is it all about getting a graduate degree, a job next and then having more money and more material wealth than everyone else? Is it about fierce competition and winning at all costs? This movie tells the story of a man and a woman who are "successful" but with two different motivations and outcomes. Friday, October 9, 7pm. Social Game Night. Dan led students in his well known social games. Saturday, Oct 17 San Francisco Outing. Around 16 of us went in several cars to Fort Point, at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. We aslo walked about 1/4 of the span, took photos and made a leisurely stroll down to the Fort where we explored the various small exhibits, and the store there. Many of us also viewed the short 30 minute educational videotape of the place. In one of the exhibits, there was a photo listing the solidier's pay at that time, around the year 1860. The pay was about $16 per month. Compared to today's newly enlisted soldier's pay of about $1,400, it is a factor of about 100. It was a great day with fog rolling in from the Pacific right underneath the bridge span. Many sailboats were out circling in a clockwise fashion. We also went to the Palace of Fine Arts where we walked around the small lake there observing multiple couples taking wedding photographs with their respective wedding parties. The most notable was by the bridge where a couple said their vows while everyone in their wedding party, including themselves, were on bicycles. There are some photos that are posted! Friday, Oct 23, 7pm Traditional Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contest. Fourteen students came to get a short presentation on the history of Halloween and then form six teams to see who can carve the winning pumpkin. The winning pumpkin had an amazing 4 sides! Congratulations to the winning team. See the slide show on the photo page. Friday, October 30, No Meeting. Friday, Nov 6, 7pm Talk Back To Us Night. Seun engaged us with many good questions such as sharing specific events, views about Americans, best and worst experiences, what would you change if you were president? Thank you to those that attended and gave us encouraging feedback! Friday, Nov 13, 7pm Dessert Night. More than 20 students came to sample a rich variety of sweet desserts from around the world and to listen to the context in which the dessert is eaten, how its made, when is it eaten. We had moochi from Japan, with green tea, Korean moochi, a variety of Indian desserts and snacks; different Kheers, Somosa's as well as Chinese crispy and sweet flower rolls, and american cookies, cake. Coffee was served as well! Friday, Nov 20, 7pm Come Share a Traditional American Thanksgiving Meal with Us! More than 40 of us shared a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. We also read the story of Thanksgiving and we had an opportunity to share with one another what we are thankful for this past year. It was a great evening of food, friends feasting and sharing! Thank you so much for those who cooked a side dish to go along with the 19.87 lb turkey! Please share in our event through these photos: Photos and Video Clips -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPCOMING EVENTS! Thanksgiving 2009 is Thursday, Nov 26 Opportunities to Share a Thanksgiving Meal with a Local Family in Their Home. Get to know a local family by sharing a meal with them. Share from your experiences and culture. You should have received an email asking you if you would like to participate. It will be organized on a "first-come first serve" basis. Updated! Friday, Dec 4 7pm Movie Night. As a background to Christmas, this Friday’s activity will provide an overview of what Christians believe through a great movie called the Hope and a short presentation You can decide right now to enter these dates in your mobile and consider joining us for all of the events. Make this year's IFG gatherings the most memorable yet! |