Culture Day

Today was our last day of school before our one-week break for Chinese New Year. We had a compacted academic schedule with the last two hours of our school day set aside for ICS’s annual Cultural Day.

The kids were encouraged to wear traditional outfits from the culture of their choice. Most of the kids at the elementary dressed up and many at the secondary level did too. It was fun to see our Japanese and Korean students in their kimonos and hon boks. I used my free period to slip over to the elementary wing and get all kinds of pictures of the little kids during their in-class Culture Day parties.

I had gone out the night before and bought myself a Chinese jacket. Annika and Elise told me to enjoy wearing it on Culture Day because it was the only time that I was going to be allowed to wear it.

Once classes were over, we had an international food bazaar in the school’s courtyard. Some of the desserts were bought, but most of them were brought in by students and parents. All the secondary students were given two tickets to “buy” the desserts of their choice.

After the outdoor food bazaar, all the middle school and high school student filed into the auditorium for the Culture Day program. The show was emceed by four high school students and featured a wide variety of international songs. Highlights included a traditional Chinese folk sung a cappella by eighth grader Michael Lee, a Song in French by middle school drama teacher Ms. Abby Smith, and Korean Pop song hip hop dance.

In additional to the majority Han people, China has fifty-five recognized minority groups. The grand finale of the Culture Day program was a fashion show of Chinese minority costoms modeled by teachers. All the costumes were custom-made just for the Culture Day fashion show.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to participate in the fashion show. My costume came from Western China which means it has a bit of a Middle Eastern vibe to it and that's why I look like a little like the monkey Abu from the movie Aladdin.

It was all a ton of fun. I can't wait for next year's Culture Day.

-Jack