Schlumberger Spouses Association Kuwait Chapter
Transcription
Schlumberger Spouses Association Kuwait Chapter
Schlumberger Spouses Association Kuwait Chapter June, 2015 SSA KUWAIT BOARD Chapter Coordinator: Pia Dey Verma Dear Members, “I can no other answer make but thanks, [email protected] And thanks, and ever thanks.” Cell: 97725863 William Shakespeare (Twelfth Night) Treasurer: Nadia Usman [email protected] Cell: 98837291 Communications Coordinator: Aditi Jain [email protected] Cell: 98026465 Welcome Coordinator: Consuelo Balcazar The month of May turned out to be very, very special. And like Antonio of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night– all I can say is, thanks. Thank you SSA Kuwait members – for being supportive to all our endeavors. Your participation in World Culture Day - where you turned up dressed in your beautiful traditional clothes and with delicious food from your countries, the Clothes Drive for Charity - where your generosity touched us and the Annual General Meeting – where your overwhelming response made sure that the next SSA Board is firmly in its place and the SSA Kuwait Chapter will grow stronger not just in numbers but in bonding as well! [email protected] We welcomed three new members this month – Katalin Bartha, Aritri Sikdar and Angelica Canas. We hope that their stay in Kuwait will be comfortable and happy! Our Chapter is now 108 member strong!! Cell: 69677669 We are also happy to announce the new SSA Board 2015-16: Website Coordinator: Priti Shah Chapter Coordinator – Pia Dey Verma [email protected] Cell: 60062531 Secretary: Erica Rojas [email protected] Cell: 97405528 Welcome Coordinator – Consuelo Balcazar Treasurer – Nadia Usman Activities Coordinator – Aditi Jain Activities Team Member – Madiha Naseem Charity Coordinator- Shobhna Saxena We are still looking for volunteers to the post of Communications Coordinator, HSE Coordinator, Website Coordinator and Secretary. So if you are interested – do drop us a line at [email protected] . We will be taking a break from activities during the summer months when most of us will be travelling but we will always be an email away! Happy Holidays, Ladies! Pia Dey Verma Chapter Coordinator, SSA Kuwait WORLD CULTURE DAY As Schlumberger Spouses we travel around the world, meet different people and get a taste of diverse cultures. It was time for another in-house event and we decided to make a Culture Curry out of it! So here I decided to host World Culture Day at one of the unoccupied villas in my building with immense support from rest of the board members of course. The guests were invited to come dressed in their traditional costumes and bring a dish from their own country. Doesn’t that sound exciting??! It was indeed ;) So we had ladies gathering in flying colors and costumes each more beautiful than the other. Along came the sumptuous dishes, so many of them that we were spoilt for choice! It was our beautiful Sabina Mulliaminova’s birthday so we also celebrated it with great fervor. There was also a small game and our dear friend Alwia Al-Hassan emerged as a winner in that one. The beautiful 100 flag streamer designed by Pia held us all together. It was an immensely vibrant, energetic and beautiful colorful morning indeed! - Aditi Jain CLOTHES DRIVE FOR CHARITY The SSA Kuwait organized a Clothes Drive for Charity in collaboration with Operation Hope, Kuwait with the hope of making a difference. Consuelo Balcazar, Erica Rojas and I offered our homes as drop off points to the members for clothes. Members rose to the occasion and donated clothes which were carefully sorted out and packed in bags marked as “Men”, “Women”, “Girl” and “Boy”. On an early Saturday morning, the Consuelo, Erica and I carried the donated clothes to the “Hope House” in Rumaithiya, where we were joined by Yoko. The donations were received joyfully and more so because of the way they were sorted and marked. Readers will be happy to know that the Board was informed that clothes would be sent to the Sri Lankan embassy shelter! We are hopeful that we can organize more of these Charity events in the future! - Pia Dey Verma ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2014-15 The SSA Kuwait Annual General Meeting 2015 turned out to be the perfect ending to a great year! The chapter created a bit of history with 43 members attending the AGM. And the setting was perfect. The Balsamico Restaurant at the Regency hotel was opened up especially for the SSA members who came in bright and early on 31st May. After the members had breakfasted on the scrumptious spread, it was time for some Chapter business. The SSA Board thanked everyone for attending the AGM and being supportive to the Board’s endeavours all year long. Consuelo, the Welcome Coordinator introduced two new ladies - Katalin Bartha and Angelica Canas to the Chapter members. The Board also thanked the six ladies who had been the In House Coffee morning hostess during 2014-15: Lina Tortella, Karla Murillo, Erica Rojas, Maria Gabriela, Zeina Kanawati and Aditi Jain – and presented tokens of its appreciation and gratitude to them. It was the turn of the Chapter Coordinator to acknowledge the tremendous work the Board members have been doing all year long. The elections for the SSA Board 2015-16 was next on the agenda and the new board was formed! - Pia Dey Verma THE Li’L SUPERSTARS CLUB Payel Sen Dey’s daughter Jigeesha’s achievements in Art & Craft at school. Where is home? By Paul Balcazar (son of Consuelo Balcazar) This is a question that expats ask themselves all the time. Is home the place where you live? Is it where you were born? Or is home where you lived the longest? It is all subject to interpretation, but I’ve found that it all comes down to the place where family lives. Yes, I know, it’s a whole other subjective definition that we still haven’t figured out, but here are my thoughts. In university, my friends live only a couple of hours away from their families, but for them it seems like they are half a world away. My parents live in Kuwait, the rest of my family in Ecuador, and I live in Canada—almost literally half a world away. I can’t imagine how hard it would be for my friends to be a third culture kid, or to actually be far away from home. For them, having to move every 3 years seems like an exciting adventure. Don’t get me wrong, it is amazing, but there are a lot of sacrifices that most people don’t think about, the main one being family. For most people, their immediate family includes—at least—their grandparents, uncles and cousins. Since they don’t all live with you, then you are always away from home, your family is never united, and you can never settle down in a place because it won’t feel like home. The only way is to limit that elite group of people that you call your immediate family to parents, siblings, and pet (of course); you have to make it as compact as possible: the block of people that move around with you. At least, that’s what I thought before I left Kuwait. When I finished first year, I was incredibly excited; I thought I would be happy when my boxes were picked up, I had returned all my keys and I was in a taxi getting finally out of there. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The room full of boxes made me anxious, the empty walls got me depressed, and when it was all over it was a horrible bitter-sweet feeling that enraged me; I wanted to be able to enjoy my freedom. That’s when it hit me: that ridiculous dorm room had become my home. It didn’t come as a huge surprise because I was already forgetting to lock the bathroom door so I was clearly getting comfortable, but it was still shocking how much that place meant to me. It’s not about where you are, it’s all about who you are with, and as it turns out, all those weird people that I call my friends are now my family. SUMMER COOLERS GINGERY PEACH COOLER Ingredients 3 cups ginger ale 1/2 cup peach nectar 2 ripe peaches, thinly sliced 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger Directions In a pitcher, combine the ginger ale, nectar, peaches, and ginger. Serve over ice. FROZEN BLUEBERRY LEMONADE Ingredients 1 1/2 cups blueberries 1 cup lemonade 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, plus more for serving 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar Directions In a blender, puree the blueberries, lemonade, mint, confectioners’ sugar, and 3 cups ice until smooth. Garnish with mint sprigs. PRINCIPLES OF SSA JUST ARRIVED!!! Katalin Bartha (Hungary) Hospitality: To provide hospitality in a low profile, informal, apolitical manner. Communication: To communicate effectively using person-to-person, electronic and written form as appropriate. Cooperative behavior: To utilize cooperative behaviors in line with Schlumberger policies, operations and spirit. Friendship: To maintain a friendly and nonbureaucratic approach. Angelica Canas (Colombia) Share your stories, experiences, recipes and reviews (be it of a book you read recently, a movie you saw, a restaurant you ate at) with us. We would also be happy to publish the achievements and art work of your kids in our monthly newsletter. Mail them to [email protected]. Goodwill: To encourage goodwill through community involvement with no commercial gain. Effectiveness: To continually seek to improve our effectiveness within the Schlumberger community worldwide through SpouseConnect, www.ssafara.net, GeoMarket magazines, Area and Chapter newsletters. JOIN THE ‘SSA KUWAIT’ PAGE ON FACEBOOK AND STAY UPDATED Newsletter Editor/ Communications Co-ordinator- Aditi Jain