MELTING POT OF THE WORLD

The Women's Guild (of which I am a member) is hosting a bazaar on Saturday, 11/28. It is a very large annual event that takes place in the Austria Center. There will be food and gift booths from every country. I will be working in the plant booth. We are receiving plant donations from nurseries in town and the country embassies. Last week I called some embassies to remind them of their plant donations. It was interesting to talk to each of them, listen to the music of their country when I was put on hold, and just attempt to communicate when many had a little trouble with my "southern English." Following is a list of the countries I spoke with (maybe you can find them on a map!): Cape Verde, Chile, China, Columbia, Afghanistan, Albania Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Costa Rica, Cote d'ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Korea, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador.

It's so amazing that one can experience the culture, food, and dress of so many countries within one city.

It truly is the melting pot of the world!

DRIVING MISS DAISY

What a wonderful evening this was! A group
of us "girls" attended the International Theater's
"Driving Miss Daisy." It is a cozy theater that
seats about 100. There was no intermission, just
a series of vignettes with familiar old songs between
each one that lead into the next. There were three
actors who not only performed, but also moved
the simple sets off and on. It was a superb
performance (in English) and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

THE RATHAUS-INSIDE AND OUT

The Rathaus houses the city hall and other offices. Our recent bus tour of the city ended here with a tour of the building. Notice the advent calendar at the top of the middle column.

The next pictures are of the inside of the Rathaus.

This light fixture could hold 25 adults standing. It has 200 light bulbs.

This is the city hall. Pictures of different eras are painted on the walls.

This is a sample of the windows in the building.

The afternoon ended with some good wine and great food where we were able to meet and visit with others who had been on the tour. We stood (at most receptions there are tall tables with no chairs provided) at a table with some very nice people about our age from Iowa who are here teaching music at the University.