AWB: Mr. Stübler, National Coordinator of Austria and his arrival to Vietnam

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Mar 26

2013

by Dang Tuan Duy

AWB Activities...

I/ The reunion meal of HAAC and dear friends from Austria.

On March 13^th 2013, Ho Chi Minh City Amateur Astronomy Club (HAAC) members with Mr. and Mrs. Johannes Stübler had an unforgettable meeting in their trip to Vietnam.

Mr. Stübler is currently the National Coordinator of the association named "Astronomers Without Borders" (AWB) of Austria. He worked at the Linz observatory, where the famous astronomer - Kepler used to make observations.

The first day to welcome Mr. and Mrs. Stübler, we had been wondering a lot about the venue. Finally, a nearby local restaurant was chosen. Delicious Vietnamese dishes were served for our dinner. Simple but sincere and friendly are also the style of our club... As if the old friends, we talked a lot during our meal from food, the weather to the moon, the stars and the sky. It was really an interesting and memorable evening.

II/ The exciting sky observation.

On March 16^th, at the first observation of the year, the club once again delighted to welcome the participation of Mr and Mrs. Stübler and the old friend - Uncle Jack from Canada. Although the sky was quite clear with some thin cloud on the horizon, which made a bit difficult for us to observe, the joy and excitement of the people didn’t fade. We had a very interesting observation and joined in the laughter. Not only Uncle Jack, Mr. Stübler and his wife, but also a lot of exciting local people around wanted to "test" the "astronomical cannon" made by the club. So, HAAC members constantly guided people to observe.

Under the influence of clouds and the lights in the park, we had some difficulties in observing the nebula. But instead, everyone had the opportunity to observe Jupiter and three, then four satellites emerges, the piece of super beautiful new moon in the sky.

This was probably not just the simple observation, but also one small memorable picnic. With a few candies, soft drinks we gathered together to chat freely, friendly everything about astronomy, our interests, dreams and even plans for the future.

The “party” had to come to an end but everyone was still excited and did not want to say goodbye. So, the "2^nd Round" was scheduled. We decided to get into a nearby street food restaurant to continue an unfinished stories. Food here was not very special but we could eat and chat until midnight, even better news for us?

III/ The first meeting of the year – astronomical exchanges with Austrian amateur astronomer.

In the next morning, HAAC members had a meeting with Mr. Stübler and his wife in “Đi” coffee bar, the club's familiar address. Some members from Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai province didn’t mind coming to the meeting despite far distance. Contrary to many common thoughts about the meeting - serious atmosphere, a meeting occurred in a very friendly atmosphere. Our stories keep going on and on. And, the smile often appeared on the face of each member.

As usual, HAAC represented the club briefly along with the current situation of the club. Soon, we joined in a special trip to Austria with the local tour guide: Mr. Stübler. "We do not have Kangaroos" was a funny saying when he introduced about his country, because it’s quite easy to misunderstand between Australia and Austria. Actually, this was the first time we knew about an astronomical background of Austria, since in the past, we just had knowledge about the famous astronomy of American.

The exchange day became more attractive with the winning quiz in English. Through the very "sweet" tone, he led the members from easy questions to very hard ones. That day was also the special day, in which our club very honored and happy to receive an invaluable "meteor stamp". All the members was glad because it was the first time we could touch the pure powdered meteorites printed on stamps. This was truly the pride of our club and also a strong motivation for continuing efforts to grow more worthy of the role of coordinator of the country.         

Through the meetings, each of us can feel a deeply intimate friendship and closeness among the club, Mr. and Mrs. Stübler and Uncle Jack. We all have the same passion. Therefore, the astronomy love’s fire always flaming fence in our hearts. The barriers of geography, language, culture, differences in age, gender, occupation seems to be removed. Passion and the love for astronomy bring people closer together. It’s fixable with the slogan which HAAC selected: "Astronomy without boundaries".

HAAC club would like to sincerely thank Mr. Stübler, his wife and our old friend Jack for taking your valuable time to interact with the club, enabling club members to exchange knowledge and gained lots of useful and interesting knowledge. Hope the astronomy love soon bring us back together one day. Wish you health and happiness.

More information

The reporter of VTC10 gave a short interview to Mr. Stübler about a special meeting. You can check it at [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lJJfdvXhGw&feature=youtu.be[/url]