September 25, 2015

Pressing Community News!!!

From the Desk of your PCA Team .....

As we signed off last week, the weekend was a filled weekend with lots of things to be done. Before we get into the information about the week, let us celebrate an important event in Germany as the month of October begins.

German Unity Day in Germany

October 3, 2015

The Day of German Unity (German: Tag der Deutschen Einheit) is the national day of Germany, celebrated on 3 October as a public holiday. It commemorates the anniversary of German reunification in 1990, when the goal of a united Germany that originated in the middle of the 19th century, was fulfilled again. Therefore, the name addresses neither the re-union nor the union, but the unity of Germany. The Day of German Unity on 3 October has been the German national holiday since 1990, when the reunification was formally completed. It is a legal holiday for the Federal Republic of Germany.

An alternative choice to commemorate the reunification could have been the day the Berlin Wall came down: 9 November 1989, which coincided with the anniversary of the proclamation of the German Republic in 1918, and the defeat of Hitler's first coup in 1923. However, 9 November was also the anniversary of the first large-scale Nazi-led pogroms against Jews in 1938 (Kristallnacht), so the day was considered inappropriate as a national holiday.  Therefore, 3 October 1990, the day of the formal reunification, was chosen instead and replaced the "Day of German Unity" on 17 June, the national holiday of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1954.

Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China 

For China it is an Anniversary,

October 1 (1949)

The People's Republic of China was founded on 1 October 1949. Since then, celebrations of varying scales occur on National Day each year. Military parades, presided over by Chairman Mao Zedong, were held every year between 1949 and 1959. In September 1960, the Chinese leadership decided that in order to save funds and "be frugal", large-scale ceremonies for National Day would only be held every ten years, with a smaller-scale ceremony every five years. The last large-scale celebration during the Mao era was in 1969. Large-scale celebrations did not take place for 14 years amidst the climax of the Cultural Revolution. Since then, the most prominent National Day celebrations have taken place in 1984 and 1999, at the 35th and 50th anniversaries respectively. During these celebrations, then-paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin reviewed military parades of the People's Liberation Army. The 2009 parade was the first and last time Hu Jintao oversaw this task, as he will leave office in 2012 due to term limits.

For Hong Kong and Macau, it is an National Day

October 1

Multiple countries have Independence Day in the Month of October

Nigeria , October 1 (1960)

Cyprus, October 1 (1960)

Tavalu, October 1 (1978)
Guinea, October 2, (1958)
Lesotho, October 4 (1966)
Uganda, October 8 (1962)

Croatia, October 8 (1991)

Local and School Ongoings.....


Big Bad Blue

We ended last Friday with UN Day, but began the weekend with Big Bad Blue.  Our new SAISA Coordinator, Laurinda Porter and her team of volunteers came out to help our coaches from taking times for the heats, to getting food for our kids and cheering them on. To see pictures of our Big Bad Blue Volunteers, click on this sentence. 










Chirag Sherpas

That same morning, our Chirag Sherpas, were at Cauvery Matriculation School in Thoraipakkam, inaugurating the new computer lab that they had begun. The ceremony was attended by the CTO of Polaris, our Head of School and others from our school.  This is the third lab the children on Chirag Sherpas have set up. Our kids found that the English instruction in the local schools was not at the level for children passing out were able to enter colleges locally.  

Thus, it has become their passion to deliver English Instruction to the local schools through a computer adaptive program named Thulir.  Our AISC students have been raising funds since last year to open as many computer labs as possible.  Our kids have raised funds through tie-up with Corporates, our School, and raising funds through bake sales and other fund raising activities. Last year, our School donated 30 computers to begin the first last.  Since then, our kids have been moving along to live our school mission, by educating the community around us.  To see pictures of this event, click on this sentence. 

Design Saturday

Later that day, we had Design Saturday for our kids at school.  This was our way to spark the juices of our children to become creative and construct an "Angry Bird Slingshot."  This w
as a first for our school and hopefully more in a series of Design Saturdays. As a parent, I would encourage your children to participate in this event in the future.  This is not for just the engineers, but for kids who are curious "how to."  To see pictures of this event, click on this sentence. 

Mediterranean Cooking Demo

The actual week began with a cooking demo at GRT Grand with Mediterranean Cooking. This is our third cooking demo for this month. The idea behind these cooking demos is for our community to learn how to cook as if they were coming to one of our homes.  We have 27 countries represented in our school. The hope is to have 27 different cooking demos throughout this year which will cover the vast span of cuisine that we all come from.  

We began our cooking demo with Tabbouleh Salad, which was made of none other than cracked wheat! What a very healthy way to eat.  Our Chef at GRT, showed us a very simple recipe to be able to make the salad with mostly local ingredients.  The Italian Parsley, which is seasonally found at Amma Nanna.  As we were watching the Chef, we were served different Mezze from bread to Baba Ganoush, to Humus with Pita.  What a yummy manner to learn cooking. 

As we were enjoying the different Mezze, the chef began the preparation for the Shish Taouk, which is Herb- marinated chicken breast cubes, grilled and served with garlic sauce. Do you know that in the garlic sauce, he put in raw potato!  Amazing, how tasty these simple dishes are to make.  I cannot speak for the others, but for me, I felt like, I could make these dishes at home and look like a five star chef.  After this, we made Cous Cous, and then Butter Bean Stew.  Butter Bean, would sound to be such a boring dish, made our taste buds light up. The ingredients were fresh and just enough to make a punch to our taste buds.
The chef then showed us Falafel, and lasty the biggest hit of the afternoon - Hot Chocolate Souffle! 
If you would like to see more pictures of the cooking demo, click on this sentence. 

We hope you will join us for the next cooking demos. The cost of each cooking demo is Rs.1000/person.  I can speak only for myself, but being here, I am becoming a better and more international cook while learning all of these dishes. 

As you go into the Fall holiday this week, look for new and exciting adventures in this vast country or India. If you are more of a thrill seeker, hope your travels take you to new and interesting lands this next week. Do let us know about what you do when you get there...

Signing off for this week..

                                                         ---------------------------

Upcoming Events

September 26, 2015 - October 4, 2015 Fall Break
October 6, 2015 - PCA Meeting - 8:45-9:45 in BBT
October 6, 2015 - KPA Meeting - 8:45-9:45 in BBT
October 7, 2015 - Early Dismissal at 1:30 p.m.
October 8, 2015 - 20/21 Learning Dialogues
October 9, 2015 - German Cooking Demo at Westin, Velachery
October 14, 2015 - PCA City Tour - Pondy Bazaar
October 15, 2015 - PCA Introductory Tech Training
October 16, 2015 - R.I.S.E. Event at 4:00 p.m. in FAC (A MUST SEE!!)
October 17, 2015 - Family Dinner - Out on the Town - TBD
October 24, 2015 - Thanksgiving Cooking Demo at Design Hotel, Phoenix Market City
October 31, 2015 - PCA Diwali Mela

                                                         ---------------------------

New Adult Activities Begin Offered

                                                        ---------------------------

Open Positions

There are still open positions on the PCA.  We are looking for energetic persons whose goal is to enrich the lives of their kids through parent sponsored activities. We have open positions for Vice President on the Executive Team.

If you are interested, please do give us an email at pca@aisch.org.  

                                                        ---------------------------

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Unity_Day
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60th_anniversary_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China