Today was the signing ceremony for the Sister City Agreement between the cities of Houston, Texas and Karachi, Pakistan. After many meetings and fruitful discussions the agreement was signed by the Mayor of Houston, the Honorable Bill White and the Mayor of Karachi, the Honorable Syed Mustafa Kamal.

Each mayor said a few words about the many things our influential cities have in common and the hopes to work together in mutually beneficial ways. Karachi became Houston ’s 17th sister city and there was much excitement in the air about all the future possibilities of working together.

You can read more about Houston’s new Sister City by clicking over to WWW.HoustonKarachi.Org and get all the details.

The International Cultural Exchange (ICx) is friends to every nation but on the occasion of a terrible earthquake in Pakistan , ICx helped with relief aid in Pakistan. You can read about what our students and friends accomplished in this article by clicking here.

ICx is friends with the Sister City Association because we share many of their goals. One of them is of special interest to ICx, to “Increase cultural and educational exchange to improve understanding and promote interaction between the people of Houston and…” our 17 sister cities and all cities of the world.

Many thanks to Mrs. Ellen Goldberg for her work as President of Houston Sister Cities and her helpful friendship with International Cultural Exchange. Also, we are grateful for the invitation to join in the festivities on this special day.

International Cultural Exchange

The young student was really struggling; he was barely able to make ends meet.

You want me to go on a vacation? There’s no way I can afford it; I am just trying to make ends meet.

What do you want to do on Saturday?  I don’t know, let’s just play it by ear.

It was a honor to be recognized and be counted among those other organizations that

• Demonstrate commitment to upholding the Human Values which unifies our community
• Exemplifies the spirit of compassion, respect and upliftment of the individual 
• Works to build understanding between multicultural communities
• Dedicated to generating harmony in our society

March 21, 2007 in the Crystal Ballroom, the nominees were introduced by the Art of Living Foundation, and the three winners were announced.  Those winners will be traveling to Washington D.C. for the celebration of Human Values Awareness Week. 

The three winners were impressive and it made our nomination all the more special. 

Thanks so much to all our volunteers who have worked over the years to make an impact that is literally felt around the World.  You all have a share in demonstrating our commitment to cultural understanding and human values. 

Thank you.

Participating museums include:

• Buffalo Soldiers National Museum
• The Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum
• The Children’s Museum of Houston
• Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
• Holocaust Museum Houston
• Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
• Houston Center for Photography
• Houston Museum of Natural Science
• The John C. Freeman Weather Museum
• The Health Museum
• The Jung Center of Houston
• Lawndale Art Center
• The Menil Collection
• The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• Rice University Art Gallery
• The Rothko Chapel

This is a great way to see some of the wonderful places Houston has to offer in its famous Museum District. If you want more details about the day you check out their website at http://www.houstonmuseumdistrict.org/html/museum_day_06.html for maps, and information about each of the museum.

Also Houston Metro will be running FREE buses between the different museums so getting around will be easy. Even getting to some of the out of the way places will have free Metro transportation.

Hope you are able to take part in this great event.  Don’t forget to drop us a note and let us know how you like it.

The link to the Visit Houston Texas site is: 

 http://www.visithoustontexas.com/home/

So check it out and see all the great events in our fair city

This event was a great way to introduce our international friends to American Football. Many international students have heard about American Football, but don’t understand the game. They are not kicking the ball around so why is it called football? is the usual staring point.

The day opened with a traditional BBQ at the Giesen’s home. During the meal, everyone got to watch parts of the Texas A&M game that was in progress.

In order to enhance the enjoyment of the game, Robert and Charles with white board and visual aids provided a tutorial on the game including basic rules, and the importance of the game in American culture.

The group then car pooled down to Rice University, where they joined with Trae Vacek’s international friends from Rice.

Prior to the game Sam, Trae’s friend and Phd student, provided an insider’s tour of the Rice Campus. Everyone was impressed with the architecture of the campus and the wide range of interesting research being done on the campus.

At the game the group was rewarded by seeing Rice University defeat their opponent. More questions were raised and discussed about the game, scoring, and how plays were set up.

After the winning game, everyone had a chance to go on the field to meet players. It wasn’t until then that our visitors realized just how big these football players are! They are also kind enough to provide autographs.

During the game we sat right behind the Rice Band also know as the “Mob”. There was much interest in the music, and some of the commentary of the band leader. That led to additional explanations of game customs and traditions.

Each of our international guests expressed their excitement and thanks for having gone to their first American Football game.

Again, thanks to everyone who helped put this great event together and especially our generous friends at the “Get To Gether”.

(You can see additional pictures from the game at the International Coffee Haus Photo Album if you click right here.)

Before the last International Coffee Haus event, the guests were given the chance to donate some items to help the people in the region make it through the winter.

Items donated included a cold weather tent, sleeping bag, thermal blankets, and basic medical supplies.

The items were personally accepted by the Honorable G. R. Baluck the Consul General for the government of Pakistan. The supplies will be move quickly through offical channels to the earthquake damaged areas.

A great thank you to all the folks at the International Coffee Haus for reaching out to those hurting across the globe.

A few of the items bought and donated included a cold weather tent, winter sleeping bag, basic medicines, and thermal blankets.

The Honorable G. R. Baluch, Consul General of Pakistan personally accepts the donations.

This Mom and Baby do have a story to tell. Manila can rightly be called a Hurricane Rita Baby.

Still with child, their family evacuated Houston in advance of hurricane Rita. She spent 19 hours in the car! This has got to go into the record books. And this is something that will be part of Manila’s history.

Shilpa said “The name Manila in my native language, Marathi, means a little bird.”

So congradulations to the family and we are all glad the “little bird” has arrived safely.