International Day

Selamat datang (Welcome)

(It's my handiwork!)

The international school that Sophie will be joining later this month organised its annual International Day last weekend. The school is a veritable United Nations, with students from over 50 countries. Each country had a booth or room to introduce its culture, language, history, food, etc. to others. Every student will be issued a passport with one country listed on each page. After each visit, they had to answer a question or play a game to receive a stamp on the page. The idea is to get them to learn at least one thing about each country.

As I was desperate for a little change in my usual weekend routine, I very gladly volunteered to help out at the Malaysian booth. There are about 7-8 Malaysian families - mostly working for agencies affiliated with the government, such as UNESCO, Tourism Malaysia, the embassy, and Malaysian Airlines - with children attending the school.

I was eyeing those yummy kuih-kuih all afternoon

All ready for the tourists!

I must say I was impressed with the preparations that all the kakak (Malay for sister) and makcik (Malay for aunty) did for the event. We had a whole classroom to ourselves when others usually shared with 3-5 other countries. The classroom was transformed into a mini Tourism Malaysia office: its walls draped in sarong, traditional batik, baju kurung and baju melayu, its corners filled with glossy coffee table books on our natural wonders and eclectic mix of cultures, its tables groaning under the weight of currypuffs, muruku (Indian snack) and kuih-kuih (Malay for sweet & savoury snacks/treats). We put those Tourism Malaysia ads on a continuous loop on the AV projector so that by the end of the day, I could still hear Michelle Yeoh proclaiming "There's only one place I call home. Malaysia, Truly Asia" when I crawled into bed that night. The Malaysian ladies were so well-prepared, they even set up a table for the children to try their hand at batik painting.

Anak-anak Malaysia get first try at the batik-painting table

I didn't have the chance to take pictures during the event as there was a continuous stream of "tourists" to our room all day. Almost everyone were in their national costumes. It was certainly a feast for the eyes, as kimono's, hangbok's, saree's, qipao's, football tees (Brazil!) and an assortment of costumes were paraded all over the school.

These two from Uzbekistan were so unbelievably photogenic I had to stop to snap their pictures

This will be an interesting 2 years for Sophie...