A truly international House!

We gave you a little taster last time out about the new addition to to our boarding community, ASIC House. Well, there's been plenty going on down the bottom of East Hill and we'd just like to give you a bit of a flavour.

As the 'International' Centre ASIC is all about diversity and they've been celebrating it. First up was the 'International Bring and Share' night. On the first Sunday of the term, the Marlowe Room (ASIC's common room/kitchen area) was alive with the smells of the world as the ASIC students vied to break the world record as to how many chefs you could actually fit into a kitchen.

Ochuwa, from Nigeria, had been preparing and cooking her joloff rice and marinated chicken pieces since mid afternoon and boy, it was worth the wait! King created a hotpot of fish balls and pak choi while Jerry produced a memorable combination of scrambled eggs and tomatoes. Mr K, ably assisted by Balthazar, knocked up several round of Welsh cakes - they're not burnt, it's just the sugar caramelising, uh-huh! - and Kristina, Maria and Tini flipped our tastebuds with Russian apple pancakes with condensed milk. As all sat down to enjoy their efforts, Zachary moved from table to table replenishing cups of refreshing and palette cleansing tea. What impressed AIB on the night was not just the range of dishes - you can stop cooking now King - but how the entire group worked together and with respect for each other's dishes and how the cleaning up was undertaken with as much enthusiasm as the cooking itself. You'd never have thought these guys had only just met each other that week!

Ten days later and the Marlowe Room had been transformed into a musical stage for 'Hear the world sing' the ASIC international music night. Members of all four houses attended an evening of song and dance organised by Ochuwa, who led the way with some rhythmic Nigerian moves. To sing in front of people is no mean feat anyway, to do it in front of people you barely know, but who you see every day, is another so full marks to Amanda, King, Belinda, Pandy, Tini and Kristin who all put their fears aside and belted out their favourites. Tini even gave us a rousing performance of the Georgian national anthem, emotional stuff. There was plenty of fun too as Maria and Nika led the whole room in several Russian dances and Alex, Faisal, Matthew, Jason and Frank had all in stitches with their Cossack jig! Finally Mr K let loose his Greek heritage and the room linked arms in joyous accord. It wasn't so much a dance as a flailing of legs but no-one cared, everyone was having fun!

We're sure it won't be long before there is another international event down the hill and everyone will be more than welcome!