#TBT 2015 Welcome Day: Spoorzone
On 7 September 2019, we’ll be hosting another Welcome to Tilburg event! For #ThrowbackThursday, let’s take a look at the festivities from 2015!
x–x–x–x–x–x–x
by Patricia Gonzalez. Time flies. So with places as with people. From 1868 to 2011, the Spoorzone was an industrial site – a place where trains were built and repaired for Nederlandse Spoor and “migrants” from Utrecht came to work on the railways. Today, the Spoorzone is home to the Red Cross, an intended hub for entrepreneurs, a skate park for youth and, during Mundial festival or one of the many market weekends (e.g., Bazouq, Swan Market, Pasar Malam), a bustling event space. (more…)
ticnic a success!
by Mala Raman
30 Jun 2019. This year we had perfect weather for our annual picnic. To our regular participants, our once a year, pre-summer gathering is known as the tícnic. In a not too warm, not too cold outdoor venue, a big crowd of tíc members and guests came together to once again help bring the club season to a close.
In the middle of a lush green park on the campus of Tilburg University, everyone happily sat at the picnic tables or on the grass to enjoy a good old-fashioned cookout. Thanks to many of our male members who “manned” the grill, there were hamburgers, veggie burgers, braadworst and kip saté to be gobbled up. Members also brought many delicious types of salad or dessert to share. (more…)
#TBT: Another fun TICnic!
In just a couple of days we will once again meet up for our annual “TICnic” on the lovely grounds of Tilburg University. For #ThrowbackThursday, let’s take a look the fun and games from last year!
x–x–x–x–x–x–x
by Anne van Oorschot. I am back home after attending the annual tíc picnic…tícNic and it was, as usual, really fun. A couple of the guys did a great job of grilling all the different meats and vegetarian options and I feasted (OK, a bit too much!) on all the delicious and unique salads people had brought.
Annual General Meeting and Pub Quiz review
17 May 2019. Review by Elaine Ferguson. A group of enthusiastic pub quizzers met at the Grand Café Esplanade, Tilburg University to test their general knowledge. The first 15 minutes of the evening was set aside for the Annual General Meeting (AGM) whereby Yolonda our President and Mala, our Communications and Outreach Coordinator informed us about the current state of affairs of the club – and we are doing really well and 
due to the concerted efforts of our Events team tíc has been able to welcome many new members this year! (read more about the meeting below!)
After the AGM had finished and having received a complimentary drink from tíc, we settled down to some serious quizzing. The teams were divided per category, so the first team to find their group received a bonus point. The first round was general knowledge which including some pretty tricky questions such as *Which planet sits 
between Earth and Jupiter in its proximity to the Sun? There were questions for everyone including the picture round (name the three Princesses). The Foodie round: Where do bagels originate? and for Travellers: What is the name of the airport in Belfast? The quiz ended in a tie-breaker with team 
Foodie entering at the last minute with their bonus point and due to the knowledgeability of one team member managed to guess the approximate height of the Eifel Tower.
All in all, it was a fun evening and so well organized by the Events Team of Jessica, Anne-Lise and Molly that the owner of the Esplanade asked if they were willing to host another evening!!
*Answer: Mars
More about the AGM
Secretary/Membership: We are in search of a replacement. If you, or anyone you know, is interested in taking this open position, please let us know!
Membership: We have gained many new members this year, bringing our total to 128, a new club record! We represent 35 different nationalities so we are truly an international club! Our membership is split pretty evenly between Tilburg University employees and individual members.
Communications: We are diligently active on our website, as well as the social media outlets of Facebook and Instagram to make our club activities more visible and easier for expats to find. We continue to have partnerships with Sligro, Holland Expat Center South and P&D Care to our list of partners to improve the expat experience of our members.
Events: We had a total of 32 events this year including Socials such as our smashing Welcome to Tilburg event, tícMovieNight , tíc Book Club, Outings such as to the
DESTIL Trappers ice hockey game, Workshops and of course all of our annual events such as Annual Christmas Cookie Workshop. We are also doing our first charity event: Night of the Refugees. We are still looking for participants for the walk and donations. We have already started planning some great events for the new club year.
Finance: In tandem with increasing membership, we have also increased income more than 43% from last year. We also experienced a surge in in expenses mainly due to our 10th Year Anniversary Welcome Event (but well worth it!!) Our deficit is counterbalanced by a major subsidy received from Midpoint Brabant.
TBT: The TIC Annual Dinner 2015
This weekend we’ll meet up again for our annual Holiday Dinner where members have a chance to wish each other a Happy New Year while enjoying a bite to eat together. For #ThrowbackThursday, here’s a look at gathering from 2015 at the Square!
x—x—x—x—x—x
by Jean-Francois Hennart
Jan 2015. This year the dinner was at Square, a mere slip and slide across an icy Heuvel. I admit that I wasn’t expecting a lot from a Lounge-Club-Restaurant, too much like never-ever-good dinner theater, but on the night was disabused of my spread-too-thin preconception. (more…)
Another fun TICnic!
by Anne van Oorschot.I am back home after attending the annual TIC picnic…TICnic and it was, as usual, really fun. Jasper and Jonas did a great job of grilling all the different meats and vegetarian options and I feasted (OK, a bit too much!) on all the delicious and unique salads people had brought.
There were also interesting desserts, with several delicious “ethnic recipes” – like making a little trip around the world while staying right in Tilburg 🙂
After our meal, the new Event Team had a fun photo scavenger hunt planned. There were teams of adults and kids scurrying around trying to complete their list of tasks. The team that completed all of their “tasks” and finished first as well as most creatively was declared the winner.
Every year, we take a moment to give a big Thank You to the TIC Board Members who work hard to make sure TIC remains an interesting, educational and fun club for its members. And, after 10 years, I am leaving the TIC Board (but not the club!) and it was nice to take a moment to say a “proper” goodbye to our members.
After the inspired competition, great food and good company, most of our group stayed to enjoy the rest of the afternoon in the sunny weather while catching up with their TIC friends. A fitting close to another fun TIC year.
Our great new Event Team is already hard at work planning many fun activities for the coming club year (1 July 2018 – 30 June 2019). They have lots of new and interesting ideas, but old favorites such as book club, movie nights and borrels will continue, as well.
We have a very special Welcome Event planned for Saturday, 8 September 2018 to mark TIC’s 10th anniversary, so jot it down on your calendar and plan to attend!
#TBT: 2017 TICnic
In just a couple of days we will once again meet up for our annual “TICnic” on the lovely grounds of Tilburg University. For Throwback Thursday, let’s take a look the fun and games from last year!
x–x–x–x–x–x–x
by Mala Raman
This year we had perfect weather for our annual picnic. To our regular participants, our once a year, springtime gathering is known as the TICnic. In a not too warm, not
too cold outdoor venue, a big crowd of TIC members and guests came together to once again help bring the club season to a close. In the middle of a lush green park on the campus of Tilburg University, everyone happily sat at the new a
nd improved picnic tables or on the grass to enjoy a good old-fashioned cookout. Thanks to Andrew, our grill master (who received many compliments on his handiwork), there were hamburgers, veggie burgers, chicken drumsticks and steaks to be gobbled up.
It was great to have so many families join this year’s outdoor festivities. On this Father’s Day, TIC presented all of our TIC father’s with a take home gift basket of a Trappist Dubbel bier with nuts and a commemorative Trappist Brewery glass.
No TICnic is complete without some fun group activities. This year we had a “TIC-athalon” that had 5 teams racing around trying to accumulate as many points as possible in the
Great Egg Race, TIC Tac Toe darts, Obstacle course, Mini golf, Jump Rope, TICpic, Bowling, Bean Bag Toss, Pass the Parcel and Air Guitar.
All in all, we had a fantastic day. To all who attended: we hope to see you again in the upcoming club year. To those who stayed home or couldn’t make it this year: come by next year and share in the fun!
#expatlife #Tilburg #picnic #fun #TBT
Annual Holiday Dinner review
by Molly Johnson
New Year seems to stretch itself out in the Netherlands, so in true Dutch style, TIC celebrated its 
holiday dinner on January 20th – better late than never! It was great to see so many members, both old(not like that) and new, turn out for this popular event where we ate, drank, and mingled.
‘t Elfde Gebod (the 11th commandment) created an almost exclusive atmosphere in itsupstairs room for the 30+ internationals, and among the religious-themed decor, we alltold stories of Christmas and New Year, with a welcome drink of bubbly. According to Andrew, the 11th commandmentis “thou shalt drink” and several of us were more than happy to oblige.
After an initial hour of catching up, it was to the tables, where a delicious three course meal was served, and conversation turned to country cultures, as well as the usual “how I ended up in Holland” story for those newer members. Curiosity kicked in when another group joined us in the upstairs space and we were keen to know what club they belonged to.
Between courses some seat-swapping went on so everyone had chance to catch up and introducethemselves to any unfamiliar faces, as we filled ourselves on salmon, steak, pasta, dame blanch, and other treats in between.
It seemed as though a great night was had by all, which made for the perfect way to kick-start the second half of the TIC season and get chatting about some of the exciting events coming up on the agenda.
Memory Lane: 2014 TIC Annual Holiday Dinner
Our 2018 Holiday Dinner is just around the corner. Here’s a quick look back at our dinner from 2014!
18 January 2014
by Patricia Gonzalez
pictures courtesy of Patricia Gonzalez
January 18 at the Heuvel might have seemed like your average Saturday night; golden light making gezellig restaurants glow, music wafting from bars and good-natured chatter spilling out onto the street. But, it wasn’t the typical weekend crush and the faces that framed the tables in the window of L’Orangerie were not your usual Tilburgse crowd. It was TIC’s Annual Holiday Dinner where thrown into the mix were twenty-two Chinese, Japanese, German, Canadian, American, Estonian, French, Filipino, Lebanese and yes, even Dutch TIC members.
Over unusual pairings of applesauce and frites, cauliflower and crudités, loempia and brie, we shared stories about how we spent the Christmas break. Members who had only just recently moved to the Netherlands talked about how they were settling in to life and work in Tilburg. Members who hadn’t been to a TIC event in a while shared what they had been up to. And, as often
happens when people from different parts of the world come together, we laughed about the things that get lost in translation: like how difficult it is to leave a message on an answering machine when the instructions only come in Dutch and why applesauce and fries go together.
Toward the end of the evening, there was even a little gift giving with Anne making sure all the members present had received their TIC umbrellas and copies of “Touch of Tilburg.” It definitely wasn’t Christmas the way any of us traditionally celebrate it but, as we walked home with the “Christmasy” flavor of nutmeg from the Speculoos mousse still on our tongues, memories of pleasant conversation and promises to get together with new friends, we agreed it was a wonderful way to end the holiday season and start the new year.
#Tilburg #Brabant #Expat #International #Expat Life #Korteheuvel
Christmas Cookie Workshop review
by Mala Raman
It was another great time at TIC’s annual Christmas cookie workshop! We had a large group of members turnout for this popular event. As usual, Anne had us all set up and ready to go so that we could jump right in mixing, rolling, slicing and baking.
Once again we had a chance to make 4 different cookies: jam thumbprints
, chocolate ting-a-lings, peanut blossoms as well as Grandma’s Ginger Cookies (my favourite!).
While we worked, we listened to Christmas music, sipped wine and enjoyed sharing our holiday plans.
Those cookies that we managed to save from going into our mouth right out of the oven were divided among the group to take home and share with friends and family.
Check out the photo gallery to see more from our cookie-making night!
#tilburg #expat #Christmascookies #workshop
Tilburg International Club 