Friday, 26 October 2018

Quiz Night @ TABLEtalk

Quiz Nights are a big part of British culture. You only have to Google 'quiz nights in Medway' and you'll find a long list of venues.




Quiz Nights at TABLEtalk are often not as scary as they may sound.  Last night we had FOUR teams: The Weeping Tigers, The Hot Chillies, The Smart Students and The Fighting Team.  I am always amazed at how well students do, especially as I could not even begin to understand a question in their language, let alone actually answer it.
Our quiz rounds were entitled: Quick-Fire General Knowledge, What's the Logo, Speed Shop, Colour-Coded and What's the Common Theme.

The winning team was
The Smart Students
made up of
Philip from Germany, Miguel from Spain and Kesia from Holland.

Monday, 22 October 2018

Bring & Share Lunch

Bring and Share lunches are always great. Had a house full yesterday  ...  a real mix of new students and those we've known for several years. In addition, there was the wonderful surprise, of Raphaela and her husband Allan (Raphaela was here four years ago) and Yomna and her sister Yasmin (Yomna was here three years ago).
As always the table was laden with food from around the world.
Mohammed, me, Yomna & Yasmin
Mohammed and I fighting over the
gooey chocolate left on the packet


Allan, me and Raphaela



























YES - Brazil is definitely on my travel list!!!



















On a personal note ...

Mr Bill and Uncle Bill have been visiting again :-)  On Saturday the weather was fab so we took a drive down the Ramsgate for the day. Enjoyed coffee and cake sat out by the marina, it was lovely.


The also we visited the World War II tunnels at Ramsgate, which are really interesting and a great feat of engineering. The tunnels became home to some and certainly saved the lives of thousands as the town was targeted by enemy bombs.


The toilet




 Some people claimed a patch and made it their own
Above is an Anderson shelter, many people had one of these in their garden. To the right is a Morrison shelter, which people would have in their home and use for some multi-purpose


Thought for the week ...


Monday, 15 October 2018

Paper Hearts Project

Have you heard about the Paper Hearts Project??
NO??????  
Where have you been??

Here's some information, it's certainly not too late to get involved...


Paper Heart making at our Weekly World Cafe ...











Paper Heart making at the fortnightly PhD Cafe ...

Pesila - the hospitality queen

Pesila, Acsha and Awad, thank you so much for your hospitality on Saturday.  After working at the Open Day on campus it was lovely to be invited out and to be cooked for. Pesila was celebrating the breaking of a month of fasting in the Hindu tradition and the Mauritian tradition is to break this fast with seven vegetarian currys. I'm pretty sure there were more than seven!!!
Our meal was served on banana leaves
and we had to eat with our fingers :-)
Dessert
Yeah, look the palm of my hand is almost clean. That's a big achievement for me

Thought for the week ...

Wednesday, 10 October 2018

World Mental Health Day

Kim from University of Kent
Every year, on October 10th, people acknowledge World Mental Health Day.  Slightly strange that it's a specific day and I have no idea how that came about because, the reality is that poor mental health is a constant daily challenge for many.









Once again this was a super successful collaboration between all three universities at the Medway Campus, plus the Drill Hall Library and GKUnions

There were craft activities on offer, stress balls and lots of de-stress tips to give away, the library had the Pets as Therapy doggies for a visit, yoga and mindfulness sessions have been on offer, as well as free 10-minute massages (highly recommended).



Christ Church made use of the Mind Apples tree which was a great success; and on behalf of Chaplaincy, I had a Five Ways to Well-Being graffiti board, which allowed for some good discussion with people.

AND, I was offering FREE HUGS :-)


In addition, we got a spot of entertainment from a very nice young man and his saxophone :-)