Christmas Party

Thanks to the McCoys for hosting our annual CIEE Christmas party in their warm and welcoming home.  The students, along with their host families,  prepared and brought delicious foods from their home countries, played "Dirty Santa," and listened to the very talented Tim play a Chinese composition and some American Christmas carols on his violin.  And, it was the first event all the exchange students were able to attend together! A great time was had by all!

   



Charles and Leon making Chinese dumplings for the party

                             

Delicious food and good company

         



Tim playing the violin



Playing "Dirty Santa"

 

Community Service

Our community service project at Christmas Charities was a huge success!  Nine CIEE students, one host brother, and three host parents brought their enthusiasm, humor, and hearts--as well as muscles--to fill "hundreds and hundreds" of boxes with canned and package food items to be distributed to those in need.  

Clara and Marian, both from Germany,
and Tim from China

Krystyna from Ukraine and Saskia from Germany







        

 


Charles from China and Brian from South Korea

Laurie, host mom, and Kate from Ukraine

Leon from China and Victor, host brother 

                                           And all the students with Santa!

International Meeting in Athens, Greece

 
 
 What wonderful food, fun, and friendship we had in Greece!  Jim & I went to the international meeting in Athens.  We never dreamed we'd stand in front of the Parthenon or see the rock St. Paul preached upon to the Athenians. 

We then headed to England where our former exchange students, both from Slovakia, happen to be living.  Maca is an au pair for a warm and friendly family. It was sooo good to see her!!!

After seeing Maca for an evening, we drove to the Salisbury Plain and visited Stonehenge before seeing Boris in Exeter.  

 
Boris is a freshman in economics and finance at the University of Exeter.  We were lucky to be able to spend an evening and the entire next day with him!

Both Boris and Maca will forever be a part of our family!

Welcome to Our New Blog!

I created this blog to post upcoming events for CIEE students and their families in and around Huntsville, Alabama.  Pictures and descriptions of what occurred at the events will also be posted.

UPCOMING DECEMBER EVENTS:

• COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT at Christmas Charities  Saturday, December 4, 8:00 a.m. -noon. We will be assembling Christmas dinner boxes which will be distributed to needy families in the area who otherwise wouldn't have a Christmas dinner.  It's a great cause!  Christmas Charities is located at 2840 Jordan Lane, Huntsville, AL 35816.  Remember, this is a required activity for all grants students.
  
  
  This project will only partially satisfy your required community service hours so if you haven't already done so you should be arranging additional volunteers hours.  Grants students must have a minimum of 10 community service hours per semester and others must have at least 8. You'll need to get a CIEE Community Service form signed by a Christmas Charities representative. 
  
  
  The room where you will be working is not heated so you might want to dress in layers according to the weather.  Since you'll be moving around on this project, that will help keep you warm too and you can step into a heated area if you need to warm up.  Please wear closed-toed, comfortable shoes. 

• CHRISTMAS PARTY at the home of Bill and Lori McCoy, 105 Catalpa Ct., Harvest, AL 35749 Saturday, December 11, 6:30.p.m. Each student is asked to bring a dish from his or her home country to share.  Paper goods and beverages will be provided. Please bring a wrapped gender neutral gift ($10 max) if you’d like to play Dirty Santa. As a special holiday treat, Tim Zhou will play Christmas carols on his violin! RSVP to jpowers92@comcast.net ASAP with number in party and dish you plan to bring. The McCoy’s will send directions. (Call 256-325-9839 for help.)