Thank You and Farewell!

Today is my second to last day as Reach's program assistant. It is with sadness and excitement that I write this last goodbye post to all you wonderful and talented Reach volunteers! I've learned so much during my year in the position and I have truly enjoyed getting to know all of you- even if only through emails!

Me and some friends post-graduation ceremony!

What am I up to now that I am a fresh graduate and that my time with Reach has ended? I'm sticking around Madison! I'm working a few different jobs in order to save up for some travel plans. One job I'm working is at Madison's new, premiere, fine-dining restaurant- Cento. Stop by to say hi! I'm also planning to continue my doula training with the goal of eventually attending midwifery school. Since I am still in Madison, I am definitely planning on stopping by the office and maybe even attending some Reach events!


My absence means that Reach needs a new program assistant! If you're up for the job, stay tuned for application details! Or, if you have a friend who is interested be sure to send them our way. The new Reach coordinator, Brianna Cacchione, will be starting the hiring process very soon.

I want to say thank you to everyone who participates in the Reach program. I have learned so much by working here! You all have made my time here an incredibly valuable experience. It has been a pleasure to attend, coordinate, and plan the events in which you all took part. I've seen first hand the impact you have on the internationalization of the University and how you contribute to an increased global awareness in the state! Being a global ambassador is a difficult task to take on but you all have done magnificent job speaking about your cultures and home countries.

Lastly, it wouldn't be a Reach blog unless I gave some Reach tips! If you're home for the summer try to bring back some cultural artifacts to share during presentations!

All the best & keep in touch,

Allison

Welcome Back to a New Semester!

Hello Everyone!

First, I want to say welcome to all our new international students! I got to meet a few of you at the ISS Orientation but I am looking forward to meeting more of you. I'm sure you are all adapting to Madison wonderfully and we're very excited to have you here! I also want to say welcome back to returning students! I hope you all had a much deserved and relaxing break.

I know I'm thrilled to be back in Madison and back working with Reach! I have tons of exciting new ideas for this semester and I'm anticipating some great opportunities for our volunteers. However, one thing that I did not miss about Madison is how cold it is! Don't feel bad if you are also having a hard time adapting to the climate. According to Weather.com, Madison, Wisconsin is the United States' 3rd coldest city!

I hope that the first week of the Spring semester went well for all of you! If you know anyone who would be interested in joining Reach please have them email me at reach@studentlife.wisc.edu or have them attend one of the orientation sessions on January 30 ^th or February 4^th at 5:00pm in Room 106, in the Red Gym.

Stay Warm!!!

Allison

International Superstitions

Happy Friday the 13th!!

Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day according to superstitions in many regions. The exact reason why Friday the 13th is so unlucky but one theory suggests it is an agglomeration of two older superstitions: that the number 13 is bad luck and that Friday is the most unlucky day of the week. In honor of Friday the 13th, we're going to look at some superstitions from around the world!

United Kingdom
Women in Ancient Britain carried acorns in their pockets to stay young looking. The oak tree was believed to provide longevity and to ward off illness due to its long life.

In n 19th century England, men avoided salads if they wanted to start a family. It was believed that lettuce was detrimental to child-bearing because it was a 'sterile' plant.

Turkey
Turkish superstitions say that if you chew gum at night, you are chewing the flesh of the dead. Better stick to mouthwash!

Spain
Instead of kissing on New Year's when the clock strikes midnight people eat grapes! Eating twelves grapes at midnight to bring in the New Year is believed to give you twelve months of good luck. 

Japan
In Japan, if a hearst passes you by, or you walk by a graveyard, you must tuck your thumbs in to protect your parents. This is because the Japanese word for thumb literally translates as "parent-finger" and so by hiding it you are protecting your parents from death.

There is also a popular belief that when you see a spider in the morning, it will bring good luck. On the other hand, it is bad luck to come across a spider during night time. 

Russia
In Russia, if a bird defecates on you, your car or your property it's good luck, and may bring you riches. The more birds involved, the richer you'll be!

Whistling in a home is verboten, as it is believed to bring bad luck (and is considered rude). Also, when gifting someone flowers, make sure it is an odd number of stems—no dozen roses—because even numbers of flowers honor the deceased. Further, yellow flowers symbolize infidelity and are considered a relationship curse.

Italy
Friday the 17th is considered an unlucky day rather than Friday the 13th in Italy. 

Sweden
Some Swedish manhole covers bear the letter K, which stands for kallvatten (clean water) but is also widely believed to stand for kärlek, love. The other half has an A for avloppsvatten, meaning sewage, but interpreted as a symbol for avburten, signaling heartbreak or bad luck in love. You can guess which ones locals hop around to avoid touching. They say the bad luck can be reversed if the person who accidentally treads on an A receives three pats on the back—though it must be happenstance.

China
Chances are the hotel you stay at in China will be missing a fourth floor. Four is considered unlucky as it sounds like the word for death. Understandably, four also is avoided in hospital floor and room numberings. The number eight, however, sounds like the Chinese word for fortune; 888 is considered a jackpot number, and many try to time important life events like marriages to dates that include eight. Case in point: officials scheduled the Beijing Summer Olympics to begin precisely at 8 p.m. on 8/8/2008.

Do you know of any other interesting superstitions? Comment below!

Hope you have a lucky Friday the 13th!!

Public Speaking Tips and Resources

Hello Everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely break and aren't too busy with preparing for finals!

Before break International Reach had a fantastic Training Social! Alex Zielske facilitated a workshop on public speaking where volunteers learned some helpful tips, developed important speaking skills and even got a few chances to practice! Alex has kind enough to share some of the resources he uses to learn about public speaking for those of you who couldn't attend the training social.

Here are some of the useful video resources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edEs4sjlmJY Guy Kawasaki ( 12 Lessons I learned from Steve Jobs)

•  Guy an excellent public speaker with great stage presence, humor, and storytelling abilities. This video is engaging and has some really helpful insight. Definitely worth watching!

Guy Kawasaki has another video from a keynote speech (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSlwuafyUUo) in which he describes the '10-20-30 rule' 

• One great tip Alex mentioned in his presentation is the '10-20-30 rule'. Learn more specifically about this awesome tip with this segment! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M13SObffog)

Another tip Alex mentioned was Power Posing- learn more about that with Amy Cuddy's video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc

• social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how "power posing" -- standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don't feel confident -- can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success. 

Want to learn more? Here are some bonus materials!

Confidence in Public Speaking: Paul E. Nelson and Judy C. Pearson.

Dale Carnegie: The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking (one of the first popular 'public speaking textbooks').
The Compleat Facilitator: Howick and Associates (From a local facilitation and business negotiation company here in Madison).

UNHCR eCentre: Designing Participatory Workshops

TED talks: www.ted.com/talks (also the unofficial TEDx talks)

Using Narrative to Send a Message

Using Storytelling as a Persuasion Tool
(Excerpts from an article entitled "To Persuade People, Tell Them a Story"  by Dennis Nishi)
-http://tinyurl.com/m8cyvpy

Find ways to connect with your audience on an emotional level, says Mr. Atkinson. Neuroscientists have discovered that most decisions—whether people realize it or not—are informed by emotional responses. Do some legwork to find significant events in your audience's lives or your own that you can base your story on or use to reinforce your points, he says.
This can include dropping in anecdotes about taking care of a sick family member or a memorable customer story, says Mr. Smith, now a corporate trainer and author of "Lead With a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire." 

Mr. Smith's book mentions a story told by a single mother to P&G about the trade-offs that she made to support her children. Her experiences, more than anything else that year, convinced P&G executives to lower their price on shortening.

Mr. Atkinson suggests organizing your story into three acts and starting by establishing context. You want to let your audience know who the main characters are, what the background of the story is, and what you'd like to accomplish by telling it, he says. You might open, for example, by describing a department that's consistently failed to meet sales goals. 

Move on to how your main character—you or the company—fights to resolve the conflicts that create tension in the story, Mr. Atkinson says. Success may require the main character to make additional capital investments or take on new training. Provide real-world examples and detail that can anchor the narrative, he advises.

The ending should inspire a call to action, since you are allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions about your story versus just telling them what to do. Don't be afraid to use your own failures in support of your main points, says Mr. Smith.

Whatever you do, don't preface your story with an apology or ask permission to tell it. Be confident that your story has enough relevance to be told and just launch into it, says Mr. Smith. Confidence and authority, he says, help to sell the idea to your audience.
 

Speaking Tips

Speaking Tips for Engaging Your Audience
(Excerpts from an article entitled "Captivate Your Listeners with these Speaking Tips" by Rita J King
-  http://tinyurl.com/kakrhoe

International Reach is hosting another training social! On November 21st at 5pm Alex Zielske will be facilitating a workshop on public speaking skills. Here's a few speaking tips as a preview!

What's the hook? 

•  What is the goal of your presentation? Why does the audience care about the topic? What do you want them to get out of your presentation?

Keep it concise!

• Trying to cover too much information will loose your audience. Think of a few key points you want to make.

Don't Memorize

• Memorizing a speech word for word is difficult and it makes it more likely that you will get flustered and mess up. It also sounds less natural to the audience. Know the main points and fill in the gaps with a natural flow of words.

Practice!
 Practicing makes you more prepared. Be sure to practice out loud to your friends, family, cat, ect. Practicing in your end takes less time and you'll under estimate how long your speech is.

For more public speaking tips, be sure to come to International Reach's Training Social !! 

See you there!
 

Halloween Around the Globe

Halloween is derived from "All Hallows Eve", which refers to the night before the Western Christian feast of All Hallows on November 1st. All Hallows starts the beginning of Hallomas, which is a time dedicated to remembering the dead. Halloween started in Celtic countries, like Ireland but has now spread across the globe. In the United States, it is celebrated with trick-or-treating, costume parties, jack-o-laterns and haunted attractions.

How is Halloween celebrated in the rest of the world?!

Hong Kong: Yue Lan 
Also known as Festival of the Hungry Ghosts. This holiday emphasis is less on celebration, rather it is an opportunity to give gifts to spirits of the dead to provide comfort and ward them off. 

                                               Food being offered to the deceased at a Buddhist Temple

Israel: Purim
Israel celebrates a Jewish holiday called Purim. Purim commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from a plot to destroy them. According to the Book of Esther, Haman, royal vizier to King Ahasuerus, planned to kill all the Jews in the empire, but his plans were foiled by Mordecai and his adopted daughter Queen Esther.The day of deliverance became a day of feasting and rejoicing. Purim is celebrated by giving gifts of food and drink (mishloach manot), giving charity to the poor, and a celebratory meal. Other customs include drinking wine, wearing costumes and public celebration, which is why many people compare Purim to Halloween.The Talmud says to also drink until you can't tell the difference between 'Cursed is Haman, Blessed is Mordechai'.

                                          Hamantaschmen (Haman's Pockets) are cookies that are eaten on Purim
Romania:
Halloween in Romania is celebrated around the myth of "Dracula" on 31 October. The spirit of Dracula is believed to live there because the town was the site of many witch trials; these are recreated today by actors on the night of Halloween. The most successful Halloween Party in Transylvania is taken place in Sighisoara, the citadel where Vlad the Impaler (aka Dracula) was born.

                                                                                       Dracula

Mexico: El Dia de los Muertos
Also known as Day of the Dead. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died.Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars called ofrendas honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. They also leave possessions of the deceased.

                                                                       Ofrenda de Día de Muertos

What are your Halloween plans?! Let us know in the comments!!