When we were living in the US, I don't think I ever wore red, white and blue at the same time (intentionally). I can't remember attending a Fourth of July parade (although I did watch fireworks most years until I gave birth to someone who would rather do just about anything else, but watch fireworks). I guess the only time I remember feeling the least bit patriotic was during the Olympics and how patriotic can you really be when the closest you get to the Olympics is a television screen?
A couple of weeks ago, we attended our third International Festival and although I didn't sob during the parade as I did the first year, I was relieved that the experience was just as great as the first. Everyone at the school loves this festival. It is just awesome to watch so different cultures celebrate where we come from.
The first year I was without Daddy and with the kids being so little (two in a stroller!) I wasn't able to enjoy all of the food and fun. I was mostly disappointed that our Daddy missed it. Last year Daddy did make it back in time and we were able to enjoy the food and fun. Each year I've been disappointed in the pictures we've taken so I was very excited to find the school's website had some really awesome pictures including some of all three of my kids! Bonus! See the benefits of signing wavers allowing pictures of your children on the Internet? Just kidding.
The International Festival lasts all day. Not all of the countries represented in the school have a large enough group to put up a booth about their country in the gym and some countries combine to increase their numbers. The booths are set up all day long and manned with mom and dad volunteers who ask the kids questions when they come around to each booth. The kids have little "passports" and get a stamp or sticker from each country they visit after answering age appropriate questions. For example they might be asked about some of the state flags in the US or to name a type of animal native to the country they are visiting. (My son was able to get his passport stamped at the Australia booth because he recognized the platypus...thank you Phineas and Ferb). The kids love this and are so proud to show their friends the special things about their countries.
I am not too proud to admit that I have been thoroughly educated by these three International Festivals and I still have so much to learn.
In the evenings, the booths are full of food and drinks (all free) and people are everywhere! Now, I miss "home" and I do miss some things from "home", but hotdogs and Bud Light? Not those. I drank some French wine (which I had to serve myself...the French parents were all drinking their own wine and didn't even look up when their booth was approached...made me smile anyway), had some Sushi and dumplings (yum!), had some Spanish cheese and a plate full of food that my husband provided (not sure where it was from). Then I stuck around until the very end to clean up so that I could have more than a moment to myself and so that Daddy could handle bed time after doing way to many solo missions lately. Very nice.
I know I blogged about the song we walked in to the first year, but last year I was a bit preoccupied with life (notice a trend?). I'm pretty sure it was "Celebration" by Cool and the Gang. I know we had a mock election and a lot of the Europeans loved that. I wonder who they voted for?
This year the US song was "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." I have to admit when someone told me the name, it didn't immediately come to me, but of course I know the song. I heard some kids (probably 5th or 6th grade) talking as we sat down after the noon parade.
Young Girl 1: "Huh, I never heard that song before".
Young Girl 2: "Yeah, it must be old...but I like it anyway".
I heard that Miley Cyrus was in the running, but some of the moms hadn't heard that song. (I mean what mom would? Who would actually have purchased it on iTunes and even let her two year old start "noddin' her head like yeah"?)
So here are my borrowed photos in a slideshow. I didn't make my own slideshow because I haven't fully restored everything to this computer again. (Headache!)
And speaking of that, I have had enough time staring at this machine today so I'm done!
Little Tse Feet
2 comments:
That is really cool! Looks like a lot of time and energy goes into understanding the different cultures. Wish we did more of this over here. I love learning about other cultures, it is SO interesting! :) Miss you!
Oh, I'm so jealous right now. I had goose bumps watching your montage, remembering full well how fantastic and emotional this event was. How beautiful everyone was dressed in their traditional dress, dancing to their traditional music and showing so much pride in their respective country. And then to see the huge crowd representing the U.S. - it's just awesome! The year we were there, I counted the countries that were represented - 44! Incredible!
At Hayden's new school this year, they're having a Culture Fair. I'm on the planning committee and I'm going to try and sell in this whole concept of having a parade/catwalk to showcase the different cultures. It'll probably be 10 countries tops. I feel like I'll be up against the world selling this in...and I'll probably have to coordinate the whole thing myself to make it happen! We'll see!
Hope you're all well - seems like you are! :-)
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