The East West Connection
Every 1st and 3rd Saturday evening.
Your presence is always appreciated!

The East West Connection — the place to interact and make a difference is at our bimonthly discussions. What makes these socials and parties so special is the environment for good social interaction, as well as excellent interactive presentations by internationally known guest speakers, and occasional parties. There is much resources and time put into these socials because we feel this is the pinnacle of all that we do in getting you connected to the city. The evening is always devoted to new internationals to the U.S., as well as a specific cultural theme. These folks, as well as our new visitors are always our honorary guests!

Our Speakers, Discussions & Parties. We work tirelessly to find a wide range of extraordinary authors and scholars to speak at these events. Fortunately, the Washington metropolitan area is saturated with talented and highly educated people from all walks of life. Many of our speakers are well know authors. Some are from the diplomatic community and Washington "think-tank" organizations. We are not afraid to talk about religious and spiritual differences across the world in this forum. You just never know what we are going to talk about…They are generally academic, but there are sometimes provocative advocates of causes or viewpoints. Parties are sometimes headed by cultural connoisseurs of living. These evenings are designed to be a fun, down to earth cultural and educational exchanges. Good food is always served. Every month or two we have some very great parties at our spacious location in the city. This mansion has 5 fireplaces, and numerous balconies including a rooftop loft with a scenic view of the entire city.

We take a little different approach to getting connected. These events have a different structure from many American socials you may have attended. It therefore may not be for you, but most find it really opens things up. We gently, but purposely break down the walls that our US culture politely mandates.

We almost always open up with a time for new folks to share a brief bit about themselves. This opening to the evening is possibly best described as an Italian AA meeting for internationals. There is a logical reason to this lighthearted opening. It gives the new internationals a forum to be heard by all, while also allowing folks to quickly identify those with whom they have shared interests. We greatly appreciate the attendees who are willing to share intriguing stories.

Who comes to these gatherings and what is the emphasis? In keeping with our core values, we tend to emphasize or at least focus on the international/non-U.S. perspective. The truth is that we have a faithful but diverse contingent of wonderful and caring US nationals who come to humbly welcome you. Many are multi-cultural and have they lived or traveled abroad. We also see a fair number of professors, international diplomats, clergy and authors. The majority of folks that attend are single professionals but we always appreciate the married folks in our midst. We have anywhere from 40 to 150 for talks, and 75 to 300 for the parties.

The variety and goodwill of these meetings is sometimes quite moving. If you are new to the US or even just DC, I think you will find these gathering a truly positive experience.

We are asking all who attend these free, catered gatherings to be willing to listen to perspectives and views which may differ from their own. The overarching goal of these topical presentations is for every one of us to challenge our own biases.