Meet-Ups

Open House helps its members organize activities and Interest Groups that address members’ needs and interests. All members are encouraged to get involved! Why not join an Interest Group, help organize an event or party or even propose and lead a new Interest Group? As a volunteer organization, Open House depends on its members to help it flourish, so please get involved today!

Below you will find a description of our current Interest Groups and the contact information for each group. Our Interest Groups cover a wide area of interests, hobbies, and activities. Some meet regularly each week or month and some hold events seasonally. No matter which group suits your interests, you are sure to find a fun and diverse group of people who all speak English and enjoy  life in the beautiful French Alps!

Members are notified via the Facebook page!

GROUPS:

Café Français:

    The Café Français group meets on Fridays from 10am-12 pm. This group is aimed at any level of the French language and for anyone wanting to practice speaking the language.

“It’s Friday!”

                               A fun filled Friday evening meet up at the local watering hole, a chance to unwind before the weekend!

“It’s Friday! Pool”

A continuation on the theme of “It’s Friday” with pool! Chalk your sticks and come on out for an           evening with friends, libations and friendly games of pool!

Coffee Chat:

This informal group meets every Tuesday morning from 10:00 am -12:00 pm and it is a place to meet other Open House members and board members who are often in attendance.

Needlework & Chat:

                  This group is all about sharing our passion for needlework (sewing, knitting, mending, embroidery, cross-stitch, crotchet, etc), sharing our homes, host responsibilities and conversations. Bring your latest needlework project and let’s share our knowledge and enjoy an informal coffee and chat!

Lunch & Dinner Meet-Up:

                    This group meets every month to discover local restaurants and catch up on what is happening with the  other members of our community. All restaurant suggestions are welcome.

Wine Nights:

                      Members bring a bottle of wine to match the theme and an appetizer to share.  It’s a great night getting to know people enjoying food and wine. We ask for members to volunteer to host these nights. If you would like to know more about hosting please contact us.

Book Club:

The Open House Book Group meets once a month. This year, it included a group of 5 to 7 regular members. It consists of a discussion about a pre-selected book in English but selected from various international authors. The purpose of this group is to be able to get different views and perceptions about the book seen by the different members’ cultural background. The choice of books can be either fiction or nonfiction.

Health & Fitness:

We are happy that we are able to offer Yoga and Pilates this year. Yoga will happen weekly on Fridays and Pilates will happen on Saturdays twice a month at CLEF. We will also be meeting for a weekly walk with the locations communicated through our members only Facebook page.

Tots Playgroup:

This group meets every Thursday from 9:30 to 11:00 am at CLEF. There are 4 to 8 families coming every week. Each week a theme is decided and families bring theme-related toys or books to share. (We are currently in search of volunteers to run this group. Please use the contact form if interested.)

Do you have any other ideas to share?

Do you have an interest that is not represented here and that you would like to share? If so, why not start your own Interest Group? Contact us to share your ideas.

Community achievements:

ACT OF KINDNESS: WOOL BLANKETS FOR THE PEOPLE IN NEED

Open House Charity BlanketThe members of Open House Craft group posing with the wool blanket they made for charity. This large blanket was a group effort: with different squares made by different people from left over wool. The charity organization Resto du Coeur appreciated this international effort with people from nationalities from all over the world contributing to it. They loved the colors and said the blanket would go very quickly to someone who really needed it.This is not the first our attempt to help homeless people – OH Craft group also made two warm baby blankets earlier this year and donated to the families in need through the charity organizations.

Open House Grenoble pay back to the community: volunteer project together with the Grenoble CHU Hospital Echirolles

CHU Grenoble’s Emergency Department is one of France’s main trauma units. It sees over 100,0

00 patients annually, while the hospital undertakes around 1,000 clinical trials each year, giving it its reputation as a leading research and teaching facility. Dr. Jean-Jacques Banihachemi, the Head of the trauma unit of CHU de Grenoble Hôpital Sud Échirolles and Open House Grenoble (OH), English-speaking expats’ association partnered up on innovative proj

ect to overcome the language barriers faced with English-speaking patients: a volunteering programme with OH to provide language support to staff.

Since then, 17 OH members now volunteer each day of the week for 2.5 hrs each day and the results have been impressive for both the hospital, which has seen an uptick in departmental efficiency and the volunteers, who enjoy giving something back to the Grenoble community.
Le Dauphiné Libéré, the biggest newsletter in the Rhône-Alpes region, dedicated a page for the article about this project on June 4th, 2019.

Well done, expats! You have definitely left your mark in Grenoble.