Bon dia! Our students will be returning soon from their travels in Coimbra, and are looking forward to sharing their trip with you at our annual potluck. Please mark your calendars for Sunday, April 28 and join us at the Santa Clara Senior Center at 5pm.
Great food, great music, and great friends – come on out and meet our new Coimbra Exchange Class of 2013!
We are SO excited to announce that our very own beloved Sister City Izumo (located in Shimane prefecture), will be hosting the 23rd Japan-Grassroots Summit for 2013!! SCSCA had the lovely opportunity of participating in the summit when it was hosted in the Bay Area back in 2010. It is an absolutely wonderful experience, and we hope yours will be the same!
“Grassroots exchange” is what happens when ordinary citizens of different countries meet and make friendships with each other. Through participating in cultural activities and staying in each other’s homes, they discover much about the other person’s culture and way of life. It is our hope that “grassroots exchange” will lead to increased mutual understanding, respect and friendship between different countries.
The “Japan-America Grassroots Summit” is an annual gathering that provides an opportunity for such an exchange and is held alternately in Japan and the U.S. The program includes homestays, sight-seeing, and various cultural activities. During the Summit, citizens from both countries have the opportunity to get to know each other, have fun, and deepen their friendships.
People of all ages and backgrounds participate in the summit, but they all have on thing in common: a desire to create stronger ties and greater understanding between the people of Japan and America.
For more information, please visit the official site here.
Time for tea!! Here’s something for your calendar: A fabulous reason to catch up with the ladies. Our third annual Tea Social will be held on Saturday, January 26, 2013 at the Santa Clara Senior Center.
Tea and refreshments will be created and served by volunteers and students of the Santa Clara Sister Cities Youth Commission.
Reservations are needed and will be confirmed with a $25.00 donation per seat. Corporate sponsorship is available. Call (408) 687-0331 and ask for Debi Davis to reserve your seat. Or email her at debid56@comcast.net
It’s that time of year again! Our students and volunteers are excited to share our year in review. It’s our favorite opportunity to thank all of our members for their endless support and to showcase the opportunities of 2012 that were made possible thanks to your help. So please come out on Sunday, December 2 @ 5pm at the Santa Clara Senior Center and bring your favorite appetizer, entree, or dessert! (We hear there is going to be some sweet juicy slices of Ham and tasty, tantalizing, and tender Tri-tip. Don’t miss out!!)
Our students are hard at work preparing for another Spaghetti + Meatball Dinner Fundraiser. Come join us as we chow down on delicious (and unlimited!) Marani’s spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, and dessert! Proceeds benefit Youth Commission Activities that include an Annual Prom for our Japanese exchange students (and interested High School students in Santa Clara!) in the spring, as well as sending one student to the International Sister Cities 2013 Annual Conference that will be hosted in San Antonio, TX this summer.
Come out to show your support for the youth in our community!
Join us on Sunday, October 7 as we celebrate our 31st Annual Chicken Barbecue! This is our biggest fundraiser of the year full of delicious food, exciting games, activities, and the presentations from our Izumo Exchange Class of 2012. The students are prepared to share their experience hosting a foreign exchange student, and what it was like to participate as an exchange student in Izumo, Japan. Our favorite part from these presentations are what the students learned from this, and how they hope to apply their new cultural understandings to their future.
The SCSCA Youth Commission is open to all high school students living in or going to a school in Santa Clara. Currently there are SCA student clubs at Wilcox High School and Santa Clara High School. High school students participate in cultural-exchange and fund-raising events through SCSCA, meet other students and members of the community interested in new cultures, get involved in community service, and gain opportunity for internships!
Coimbra is a city in Portugal, former capital of the country during the first dynasty period and home to the University of Coimbra, the oldest academic institution in the Portuguese-speaking world and one of the oldest in Europe.
The city contains important archeological remains of structures dating from the time when it was the Roman town of Aeminium. This remarkable European destination is ideal for anyone that wants to make their dreams of making history a reality of the present.
Coimbra was Santa Clara’s first sister city beginning in 1972.
Students participate in exchanges that occur alternately. One year, a group of students are selected to travel to Coimbra to stay with a Portuguese student in their home. The following year, an equivalent group of Portuguese students will arrive in Santa Clara to participate in the same cultural exchange with our students.
“Coimbra is the kind of place that stays with you forever – the quaint cafes, the cobblestone streets, the smell of the city just after it rains… Whenever I see a picture of Coimbra it all comes back to me. But more than anything, I will never the people, who took me in with open arms, and showed me a kind of hospitality I never knew existed in the human race.” – Cyrus S. Coimbra Exchange class of 2008″
Izumo is a city located in Shimane prefecture, Japan. Izumo is known for Izumo soba noodles and the Izumo Taisha Shinto shrine, the oldest shinto shrine in Japan. Izumo Dome is a venue located just north of the city proper. It has the distinction of being Japan’s largest wooden building, at 49 metres high and 143 metres in diameter. It is used for sports and events such as baseball games and soccer matches, as well as for other events including sumo. It is a prominent symbol of Izumo, and can be seen from a distance from the train passing towards Hamada.
