THE EGGPLANT & THE ONION For our first ACC meeting, since we believe food brings people together on different levels, we started the year with a Cuisine event! Each person brought a dish made with either eggplant or onion and shared the recipe and a story from their country. This event was held on Wednesday, September 16, 2015. Thirty-three people attended from 15 different nationalities.

CHINATOWN TOUR – MID AUTUMN MOON FESTIVAL

The Chinatown Tour took place Friday, October 2. Out of the 25 people who attended, there were 14 different nationalities. Featured in many Chinese folk tales, the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival has a history of over 3,000 years. The Moon Festival is a time for family and friends to get together, eat moon cake, and gaze at the moon. More about this festival was explained at the first stop of the tour at the Culture Center of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston After some shopping, a wonderful meal was enjoyed at the MAMAK Malaysian Restaurant. Thanks to our host Mandy Liu, we tasted some dishes that were not on the menu!

SPANISH CONVERSATION GROUP On the morning of October 21, the first Spanish conversation group was held. There were ten attendees at this event from three different nationalities.

GERMAN CONVERSATION GROUP So far this year we have had four events. It was started with a bang and has continued to be successful. The first event was held on October 1, 2015 with 11 attendees from six different nationalities. We had an evening meeting at Karbach Brewery on October 31 to celebrate Oktoberfest together. Sascha and Christie met us there in traditional Bavarian Lederhosen and Dirndl outfits. The following week, Carmenluz Keuser opened her house and we discussed about school and our children with eight members. On December 3, 2015, Elke Ihnen taught her guests how to bake a traditional German Christmas cake "Stollen”. There were 14 guests from five different nationalities. In January, we will learn about traditional Galette du Roi from our French members. We really enjoy touring the homes of our members and can only recommend bringing food for a potluck lunch. What a fun group at all levels of spoken German. Come join us!

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS – MEXICAN DAY OF THE DEAD CELEBRATION

Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead Mexican holiday is a wonderful way to celebrate the memories of loved ones who are now gone, through art, food, music, and colorful ofrendas or altars. It is a pre-Columbian celebration not about how a person died but how they lived! The first stop for this event was a visit to the National Museum of Funeral History, an unusual museum not known by many people, where we learned different ways the dead are honored around the world! We saw different exhibits from Snow White's coffin to the oldest hearses, the pope's death rituals, the American Presidents funerals, the Hollywood stars memorials and Dia de Los Muertos full-scale models of a Mexican home and graveyard as they would typically appear on this day. In addition, to cheer everyone up, this was followed by a Mexican lunch at the authentic Mexican Restaurant Cuchara located inside the loop. Thirty (13 nationalities) people attended this event, which was held on October 28, 2015.

VISIT OF AN INDIAN TEMPLE

On December 4, we visited the Hindu temple Shri Swaminarayan Mandir. The Mandir, located in the Houston suburb of Stafford was built in 28 months and consists of 33,000 pieces of hand-carved Italian marble and Turkish limestone. After a guided tour, Jaya Agarwal, an Awty mom, taught us some breathing techniques and introduced us to meditation. At the end, we had some tea and Indian goodies. Twenty people attended this event representing 13 different nationalities.