Our Fall Programs Span the Globe

Dinners this semester started off on Sept 14th with a Nambe Pueblo Dinner prepared by Native American graduate student Debbie Reese and her family. Her mother flew up from Nambe Pueblo, New Mexico, to help cook and supervise the event. An informal discussion following the dinner helped dispel many erroneous beliefs some people hold concerning Native Americans. Debbie explained the significance of the feast which had been prepared and shared with the guests and answered questions from the audience. It was a delightful beginning to the slate of international dinners scheduled for the fall term.

Subsequent dinners included a Turkish Dinner prepared by the Turkish Student Association who always prepare a superb meal! This highly organized and efficient group grace the Cosmo dining room with their elegant array of offerings every year and this dinner is always a very popular one. A French Dinner coordinated by our Cosmopolitan House resident Frenchwoman, Frederique Bichat, was our third dinner. Frederique prepared a rabbit stew made from fresh rabbits raised on a farm just outside Champaign. This was only one of the many delicious courses to be offered during the evening. Desserts included floating islands, chocolate mousse and a pineapple upside-down cake! Principal singers from the Illinois Opera theatre performed French arias and duets and Mozart arias after the dinner and were simply marvelous! The Library/TV room of the house had several small children who sat around the circular coffee table and worked feverishly on their coloring books. Dede and Bill Brown brought their baby daughter Cecilia to her first Cosmo dinner! When the soprano began singing the first aria from Gounod's Faust, some of the children who had been coloring got up and came into the living room wide-eyed and in awe of the beautiful coloratura tones they were hearing.

Dinners that are scheduled for November and December include a Polish, our annual American traditional Thanksgiving Meal, and a Thai dinner which will be prepared by Varaporn Siraprapasiri and her friends. This dinner and an array of entertainment that will follow it promise to be memorable.

Our coffee hours cross the globe from Fiji to Zimbabwe, Bulgaria to Brazil, Puerto Rico to Thailand, and China to Turkey! Germany, Spain, Peru, and India are also represented. Programs for these events included and will include music and dance demonstrations, as well as slide shows or video presentations.

The reception for new incoming international students held at the University YMCA in August was the largest ever. This year the event was moved upstairs to utilize the entire first floor of the building. This was good planning, as the guests kept flowing in throughout the evening. Residents of the Cosmopolitan House had prepared many homemade delicacies, and the tables were laid with a wide array of ethnic food. Kazumi Ohira and Akisa Nakamura had made several hundred makizushi, and Julio Urbina prepared a large amount of causa, a Peruvian hors d'oeuvre made with tuna, potatoes, and lime juice. Judith Gordon made a delicious Indian chick pea dip, and many other friends of the Club helped create a buffet of international delights for 300+ people who came to the reception. A big welcome was extended to all the new international students!

Our annual Halloween Costume Party was a big success. The U of I Office of International Student Affairs and the Intensive English Institute co-sponsored our party this year. The house at 307 East John Street was decorated to look as spooky and scary as possible, and Julio Urbina (dressed up as a member of the rock group Kiss) was the disc-jockey for the evening, playing dance tunes and keeping everything moving along. This event has turned into a BIG party, and the turnout was tremendous.

A big "thank you" goes to all of the volunteers who made these events possible. Along with those I mentioned above, I wish to extend special thanks to Patricia Sandler, Marc Knight, Claudia Rodriguez, Halil Ceylan, Varaporn Siraprapasiri, Nancy McGlathery, Gloria Fidalgo, Delphine Mei, Peter Bulow, Stephan Tuvor, Lakshmi Yanamadala, Pratik Singh, Wolfgang Doerner, Joe Sullivan, Ashish Debroy, and all the residents and members who make these events happen! Your generosity, creativity, and spirit of sharing are truly remarkable and an example for others.

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