Page 1 WAC on Track Women’s Activity Club Winterthurerstrasse 18 8610 Uster 043 305 9250 www.wac.ch Volume 18, Issue 4 July/August 2013 The Club is a multifunctional organisation whose purpose is to meet the social, education- al and personal needs of its members. The Club is de- signed to encourage interna- tional friendship, support and sharing.
Situated in Uster, near Zurich, Switzerland, the WAC (Women’s Activity Club) is a non-profit club designed to provide a location for an international membership to socialize, learn and support one another in an English-speaking environment.
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Page 1
WAC on Track
Women’s Activity Club
Winterthurerstrasse 18
8610 Uster
043 305 9250
www.wac.ch
Volume 18, Issue 4 July/August 2013
The Club is a multifunctional organisation whose purpose is to meet the social, education-al and personal needs of its members. The Club is de-
signed to encourage interna-tional friendship, support and
Welcome to our July/August double edition of the WAC on Track which is bursting with news and information, from the recent annual BBQ (which despite not going to plan showed WAC teamwork at it’s best) to Sharon’s tip for the great value ZVV Ferienpass.
I’m back to my old job of editing our great newsletter, which I last did back in 2010, and it’s nice to be back work-ing with the new WAC Board and our regular contributors. I would love to hear from any member who would like to contribute something!
Here are just a few suggestions:
Birth announcements
Farewells
Favourite recipes
Excursion tips
Experiences of settling into Swiss life
Recommendations for good shops, restaurants, Eng-lish speaking services etc….
Anything else you want to share with the WAC com-munity
Remember, classified adverts are FREE for WAC mem-bers - so if you want to buy or sell something, send me the information
So, I’ve already written far too many articles for the WAC over the past years - please, send me your stuff so you can have a break from me!
Our president Sue is not in Switzerland this month, so it’s my turn to take over the torch!
The real summer has finally showed up, it’s so hot outside! Some of the parents may have realized that it’s also very warm in the classrooms. We have some heating system problems since it’s an old building. We are very sorry about the effect on our play and learning environment at the moment. We are working on a procedure to solve this problem with our landlord. Please give us some patience and time.
The annual BBQ was planned for June
22nd. Our Special Events Chairperson
Louise and her team had everything pre-
pared. But at 10am on Saturday, when we
went to fetch the key from the Maur
Schützenhaus, we were shocked by what
we found – construction work was going on
everywhere! The board members met at
the WAC as soon as possible. After search-
ing for alternative places we decided to
move our event to WAC. We all started
work: calling each guest who could be
reached by phone, sending emails, decorat-
ing the school, building up the bouncy cas-
tle, preparing games, drinks and nibbles,
going to Maur to wait for those who we
couldn’t contact etc. At 2pm we started the
event on time! We felt very sad that not as
many people as we would have wished
could attend, but I believe that everyone
who joined had lots of fun! After cleaning
up it was 7pm, so all the board members
worked for more than 8 hours on this Sat-
urday! It was definitely not the best BBQ
we have ever had (it was even not a BBQ
at the end), but it was for sure the best
event we could organize in such an emer-
gency situation. Each and every board
member helped out in any way she could.
Many thanks to Louise, Swapna, Clare,
Charlotte, So-Young, Annie, and all those
who offered any kind of help! You are the
backbone of the WAC!
Pamela, our Manager of Interior/Exterior, has re-organized the school yard. Now we have chairs to sit down on, a table to put things on and even flowers to appreciate! Once I was so moved to see Pamela sitting on the floor of the yard to clean colour off the ground – she really treats the WAC as her own home!
Heike, our Activities Chairperson, has to leave this position due to work reasons. It’s a big loss to us! Heike has done much more than her responsibilities for WAC: organized many successful events and parties; helped with Movie nights; cleaned up the mess in the storage room; dealt with the dumpsters outside etc. Thanks so much for all your work Heike (and also to your husband Stef-an!)!
Luckily, Sirine has agreed to be our new Activities Chairperson. She has showed her talent and enthusiasm by organizing the First Aid Course and helping with the BBQ. We are happy to work with you Sirine!
Our PTA head Kristina is moving to Malaysia with her family. It has al-ways been her dream. We are happy for her that her dream becomes true; but we are sad to lose such a warm-hearted lady with lots of energy! Thank you for all you have done for WAC, we will miss you a lot Kristina! We wish you and your family all the best in your future life!
The summer holiday is coming. Please don’t forget to enrol your child for the next school year before holiday starts.
Finally, I wish you all a wonderful summer holiday and enjoy the sunny days!
Vice President’s Note - Sima Xie
WAC on Track
Page 4
Hello to all! As most of you know, we held our annual end of year BBQ on June the 22nd. And what an event it was! Unfortunately on Saturday when we turned up to collect the key for our venue we found that there was a lot of building work going on and the space was sadly not usa-ble for our event! So after a little bit of panic and a few phone calls to my fellow WAC board mem-bers we set to work at the WAC transform-ing it into a party venue and informing all the attendees of the change of plan! So did it all come together? Of course it did! Fun was had by all who attended, we man-aged to still have the games, bubbles, a bouncy castle, face painting, crafts, Zumba, ballet and even boys club turned out to run game of their own. Everybody who attended brought their pot luck dishes along, and although we didn't have space for a BBQ we all enjoyed shar-ing our nibbles and treats! I would like to say a few big thank you's.....
-
Carol Conzelman for her support through-out planning and her lovely husband for being our Micky Mouse!
- Bettina Ditzen-Powers and Annie Forster for doing the fantastic crafts!
- Su-Young for a lovely Ballet performance
- Ana Wymann and Sirine Mignan for their great face painting! ( and again to Ana for Zumba)
- Boys Club for their Hammer and Nail game
- All the dads that stayed to help clear up the bouncy castle
I have to say a very big thank you to a very special bunch of ladies who i am lucky enough to have on the board with me who did a super job rallying round to help re-organise the while event in 2 hours!
Here are a few snapshots of the afternoon, If anyone has any photos they would like to share either via Facebook or to email to myself i would be very grateful! [email protected]
Yes, the sun! We are certainly hoping for wonderful warm weather for the holidays, and assuming this will in fact be the case, I did want to pass on this fantastic offer by the ZVV (train/tram system of Canton Zurich).
For your kids aged 6-16 years old, you can buy a FerienPass (holiday pass) which allows them unlimited travel during the 5-week summer holidays on all trains, trams, ships, bus-es and 8 cable cars in the ZVV network. And that’s by far not all. It gives them free en-trance into some 100 public pools (including Uster’s Dorfbadi and Seebadi, Pfäffikon, Gos-sau, Dübendorf, Effretikon, Badi Egg at the Greifensee - just to name a few in the WAC catchment area). And it includes free entrance into some 45 museums, AND the Zurich Zoo, also one free toboggan ride at Atzmännig etc. etc.
The list is far too long to go into all the details here, but needless to say it is WELL worth the Fr. 24.- it costs. These passes can be bought at any station or any big Migros at the customer service. You will need to attach a passport photo of your child to this pass. If you want to read more, or see the very long list of free or hugely discounted activities/entrances it includes, here is the website:
http://ausflugstipps.zvv.ch/zvv_ferienpass_de.cfm
Have fun, and don’t exhaust yourself in the holidays with all the potential running around!
SHARON’S TIPS
Fro
m S
haron
Warth
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Heike Adler, Will You Marry Me?
Every once in a while, a girl comes into your life who is different. When I met Heike, some 2 or 3 years ago, I was not sure what to think…. She had volun-teered to be our Activities Chairperson on the WAC Board of Directors, and I was (and still am) working as the Club Office Manager. Our paths would cross often in the course of our daily tasks. Our initial meeting felt to me, a little un-comfortable. Heike was an image of re-serve, and I presented the characteristic American overflow of congeniality. But over the years, I have come to have an immense respect for those very charac-teristics which I had first found unset-tling. I also discovered that underneath her professional presentation lies a wick-ed sense of humour!
I have been around the WAC in some ca-pacity or another for almost 10 years. It is not every day that we have a volunteer with the generosity and unflagging ener-gy of Heike. She has initiated new ideas, planned events, run vacation programs, and cleaned more kitchens than I can count. When there was a problem, Heike
never asked: “Who did this?” She just fixed it. When there was a mess, Heike never said, “Who left this?” She just cleaned it. Every Friday morning, I know that Heike will be there. It is inspiring to see her. It reminds me that I am not working alone, and pushes me to be as productive as she is. I have to say that is not only Heike that brings a smile to my face. Her beautiful family is only one example of why I love my job. To hear Maxi and Pauline having a conversation just melts my heart. And they are hard workers too! I have to ad-mit, that, on occasion, I have set them up in my mass mail assembly line. They stuffed, they stamped. Well done, Girls! Then to top off the morning, Niko comes in to show me what he made in Preschool! Who wouldn’t smile at that? So Heike, to sum it all up, I want to say a big thank you. The work is not glamor-ous, and often goes unnoticed, but the gift of your time and energy is more ap-preciated than you can know. I wish you a happy and well deserved summer holi-day, and cannot wait to see your clan back in the Fall!
Sadly, another great school year is coming to an end. Happily, a new and exciting one is just around the corner!
The teachers and I would like to say good-bye to those leaving us and we would like to thank all the parents and children for making this past school year a happy, suc-cessful one.
We also say good bye to the children who have now finished our Reading & Writing Program. The last class RWVI have worked very hard for preparing for the Cambridge - PET (Preliminary English Test) exam. Well done!
Some of you have been with us from the Preschool and we will miss all of you!
We all look forward welcoming new children and families to our school and club.
Our Preschool teachers, Mahjabeen, Sang-eeta, Heather and Kathy; Explorer teach-ers, Caryn and Kate; and our Reading & Writing and ESL teachers, Caryn, Yvonne, Ida, Kate, Heather are all very excited to be teaching again in August.
This year we are offering a new Spielgruppe on Fridays where Loredana and Stephanie are waiting to meet all of you. Bettina, our veteran Spielgruppeleiterin is just as happy
to welcome new and ‘old’ ones to her clas-ses.
The enrolments are still going on. Please give me your forms before the end of this school year. The classes are filling up but we still have some spaces available. As I said in the past, if you have a problem with our schedule or have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I will try to do my best to help you.
We will continue to offer the lunch club on Mon-days, Tuesdays, Thurs-days and Fridays with Sharon who can’t wait to have fun with our Lunch Club members.
Before we all go off on our summer holi-days, the teachers and I would like to say a BIG Thank you to Kristina Linkomo and her PTA board and class reps! You have been a very supportive and active team.
I would like to thank the great team we have – Jen, Liz and most especially our wonderful teachers who have made the last school year an exciting and fun year!!
HAVE A NICE SUMMER BREAK!
LTCS News from Ida
UPCOMING WAC EVENTS Sunday 30 June Wellness Day
Weds 3 July Girl's Night in - Swiss Food "more than just Raclette"
Disclaimer: Members, their families and guests are reminded that participation in WAC activities is entirely on their own discretion and/or risk. Neither the Women’s Activity Club nor its representatives shall be held responsible for damage, injury or loss incurred by the use of Club property or participa-
tion in club events.
WAC PLAYGROUPS
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Swiss cuisine - more than just raclette!
Girls’ Night In Wednesday, 3rd July, 7:30pm/8pm in the WAC
Clubroom
With many regional influences from the French, Italian
and German cuisine - there are specific foods to al-
most every canton of this small country! Switzerland
was/is a country of farmers and many of them high up
in the Alps. Therefore most of the Swiss recipes tend to
be plain, simple ... and heavy! Let's dig a little deeper
and find some of the lighter summer recipes to enrich
our knowledge about the country we live in.
Each person brings a starter, main course or dessert
plus their own drinks.
Please sign up on the WAC noticeboard or via email
Sadly we had to postpone the Rummage Sale that was planned at BBQ this year but we will be rescheduling it for the beginning of next term, most likely the last weekend in August! Please stay posted on Facebook, Twitter and checking the WAC notice board for a con-firmed date and to sign up! The Rummage sale will be held at the WAC. 5chf for Members, 10chf for non Members for a table. Entry is free! Refreshments & cake will also be for sale!
We've been having fun making pop-up puppets, butterflies and playing with play doh for the month of May. If you would also like to make a pop-up puppet with the kids at home…
Pop-up puppet This is nice simple craft which can be adapted to any theme for your child. What You Need:
paper/Styrofoam cup plastic drinking straw card scissors pencils felt tip pen tape decorations to stick onto the cup/
puppet paint glue
Activity: Draw a small character onto the card, using the pencils to colour and sticking on any em-bellishments. Cut out the character. Tape the character to the end of the drinking straw. Make a hole in the base of the cup big enough for the straw to fit through using scissors (we also found that a wooden skewer also worked well) Decorate the outside of the paper cup with paint/decorations to match the character/theme. When the paint/glue is dry, push the long end of the straw through the hole in the base of the cup so that the character is hiding in the cup and the long end of the straw is poking out of the bottom of the cup. Surprise your friends with your puppet character, push the straw up and the char-acter will pop out of the cup! Original source: www.kidspot.com.au
Bumps and Babies Playgroup The WAC is looking for new leaders to start a Bumps and Babies Play-group. The aim of the Bumps and Ba-bies playgroup is for expectant mums or mums/dads with babies to meet up for a coffee/tea and a play in a re-laxed environment. It's a great oppor-tunity for you to set up something which you and your baby would like to visit! If you are interested in setting up a Bumps and Babies playgroup at the WAC, would like to register your inter-est to join the group or have any questions please direct your email to [email protected]
WAC Courses and Activities for Kids and Adults As the school year draws to a close, it’s time to start planning those activities for the upcoming semester. This Fall, the WAC will continue to bring a wide variety of learning and social activities for our mem-bers of all ages. Here we outline just a few of the fun goings-on . . .
Ballet for Kids Miss So-Young will continue to offer ballet classes three days per week for children ages 3 and up. This year will have an more ad-vanced group meeting on Mon-
day afternoons, with Friday afternoon and Saturday morning class reserved for our younger or less experienced dancers. We look forward to the installation of a barre in the clubroom to help our dancers move to the next steps! Drama for Kids Dagmar Loubier, an experienced actress and teacher, will be offering a free trial course for children ag-es 4-7, and another for children 8- 12 in Sep-tember. An ongoing course will be sched-uled for interested families, and children will participate in en-gaging activities to help them explore their imaginations and develop their self-confidence. Zumba The fitness craze that puts a new spring into your exercise routine is offered at the WAC weekly. No more boring treadmills! Get your heart pumping with classes led by the always energetic, Ana! The fun is conta-
gious! German for Adults Sprechen Sie Deutsch? If not, maybe it’s time to make it hap-pen. This Fall, we will be building clas-ses for students of all levels, from brand new to ad-vanced. Child care will be offered for those requiring it. Boys and Girls Clubs Boys and Girls ages 6 and up are invited to join these clubs to participate in fun adven-tures and creative pursuits with other kids in an English-speaking, adult-led monthly meeting. Past activities have included, hik-ing, magic, music and singing, first aid, wood-working, as well as outings and excit-ing trips to parks, reserves, museums, and theater productions. Playgroups Our very popular parent/child playgroups will continue to welcome families with young children for fun mornings of crafts, music and playtime. Come hang out with old friends and make some new ones! Members and non-members alike are al-ways welcome to come for a free trial of any of our courses or activities. Keep up to date with what is happening through the WAC on Track, www.wac.ch and the bulletin board at the WAC. If you have any ques-tions, feel free to contact the Club Office Manager (COM) at [email protected] Rest up this summer, folks! It’s going to be a busy year!
What's new at the Library this month? Life of Pi YAY! Thank you Anouk. Pi Patel moves with his family & their zoo to Canada. While en route via ship to Canada, a terrible storm sinks their ship. Pi & some of the animals survive. This is the story of how a young man & some zoo animals befriend each other in order to survive. Winner of 4 Oscars this year including Best Director. (Drama) The Impossible A family goes on vacation to Thai-land & is swept up in the biggest Tsunami (Tidal Wave) in recent history. Can they survive? Can they find each other? (Drama/Action) Lincoln With 12 Oscar Nominations (including Best Film), Lincoln was the most Oscar nominated film for 2013 Silver Linings Playbook Cooper plays Patrick "Pat" Solitano, a man with bipolar disorder who is released from a psychiatric hospital and moves back in with his parents (De Niro and Weaver). Determined to win back his estranged wife, Pat meets recently-widowed Tiffany Maxwell (Lawrence). She tells Pat that she will help him get his wife back if he enters a dance competi-tion with her. The two become closer as they train and Pat, his father, and Tiffany examine their relationships with each other as they cope with their disorders. Flight coming end of June Denzel Washington plays a pilot who is able to safely land an airplane after his plane malfunctions. At first he is regarded a hero, but later the crash investigation finds that he was under the influence of alcohol. Was he a hero or was he the cause of the plane’s erratic flight? (Drama/Thriller) Nominated for 2013 Oscar Best Actor Award Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters com-ing end of June American-German action-horror dark
fantasy film with black comedy elements, co-written and directed by Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola and filmed in 3D. It is a continuation to the German folk fairy tale "Hänsel and Gretel", which was recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812. The film stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton in the title roles of a brother-and-sister duo of professional witch hunters. Famke Janssen stars as the deadly leader of a coven of evil witches that they seek out to destroy
Iron Man 3 coming end of June When Tony Starks world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of re-building and retribution. Oz the Great and Powerful coming in July The prequel to the Wizard of Oz. How did the Wizard establish himself in Oz?
Newly donat-ed films
Big Fish (2003)
In Southern Gothic fantasy style, di-rected by Tim Bur-ton.
Albert Finney plays Edward Bloom, a for-mer traveling salesman from the Southern United States with a gift for storytelling, now confined to his deathbed. Bloom's es-tranged son, a journalist played by Billy Crudup, at-tempts to mend their relation-ship as his dying father re-lates tall tales of his eventful life as a young adult. As Ed-ward dies, Will finally lets go of his anger and finishes the story his father has begun in a gesture of understanding, rec-
onciliation, and love. For direc-tor Tim Burton the film had personal significance. Although he had never been particularly close to his parents, he was deeply affected by their deaths in 2000 and 2002. Burton also found appeal in the story's combination of an emotional drama with exaggerated tall tales, which allowed him to tell various stories of different gen-re.
Also newly donated three television series:
Extras (first season) : a critically ac-claimed British sitcom about extras working in television and film sets and in theatre. Co-produced by the BBC and HBO and creat-ed, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant both of whom also star in it. Extras charts the lives of Andy Millman, his friend Maggie Jacobs and Andy's substandard agent and part-time re-tail employee Darren Lamb, as Millman rises to fame. Each episode has at least one guest star; a television or film celebrity (for in-stance Ben Stiller and Kate Winslet), who play an exaggerated and "twisted" parody of their famous public personas.
Hannah Montana (first season)
Friends (first season) We also have an array of new children's books. Come in and check them out (no pun intended) Have a great summer break and we will see you all in August! Jess
Newbery Medal and Newbery Honor Books at our WAC library!
Do you know about the John Newbery Medal for children’s books?
This award is given yearly by a division of the American Library Association (ALA) to the author of "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." The first Newbery Medal was awarded in 1922 making it the first children's book award in the world. The Newbery and the Caldecott Medals are considered the two most pres-tigious awards for children's literature in the United States.
When the winner is announced each January, bookstores sell out, libraries order copies and teachers add the book to their lesson plans. Many bookstores and libraries have Newbery sections; popular television shows interview the winners; textbooks includes lists of Newbery winners, and many master's and doctoral theses are written about them.
We have started a “Newbery Books” section in our library so that they are easy to find and check out. Come and read these excellent children’s books.
WAC on Track
Page 16
THE WAC DAY EXCURSION BOOK
For all those excursions around Zurich and beyond, don‘t forget the WAC Excursion Book, listing great days out in and around the Zurich ar ea.
Available from the office or library
for just 5 SFr.
ROOM RENTALS
For information on renting the WAC‘s facilities, please contact:
Lunch Club A Two Hour Supervised Lunch Break for you and your kids!
Mon-Tues-Thurs-Fri 11:45-13:45
Cost: 15chf per child/per day
Parents are responsible for their own child’s sack lunch.
Please fill in a registration form at the WAC or see our website for more info.
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The Readers Gone Wacky Kick Off The New Reading Year
With The Great Gatsby and A Delicious Dinner
The Readers Gone WACky will start off the new year of reading with dinner and a discus-sion of the Great Gatsby. This meeting will be a chance for long time, occasional and new members to relax over a fine meal, discuss a classic novel and plan meetings for the com-
ing year.
Please join us at 19:00 on Friday, August 30th at the Triangel Restaurant in Zumikon.
In June the Readers Gone WACky read Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies. This historical novel is a continuation of Mantel’s award winning Wolf Hall, which is about Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII’s advisor, who helps annul the marriage with Katherine of Aragon so he can marry Anne Boleyn. In this second novel Cromwell sets out to get rid of Anne Boleyn, who has failed to give King Henry VIII a son, so he can marry Jane Seymour.
Readers found the novel difficult to get into and needed to refer frequently to the intro-ductory listing of names. Although the book contains superb writing passages, which are both poetic and vivid, members agreed it was not a book that compels you to read on into the night. The narrative explores political and familial relationships, as well as the state of the royal marriage, and includes several memorable scenes. The finale, a detailed descrip-tion of Jane’s execution, is of course, riveting.
The book club also discussed the genre of historical fiction and explored the idea that eve-ry nation has at least one item of its history which it obsessively examines.
The Readers Gone WACky meetings are held on Wednesday evenings at 8 PM at the WAC (except for special events).
New readers are very welcome! P lease call or email Alice Knoepfel for more in-formation (044 912 2326 [email protected])