Reporting events #1.
‘Taste the World’ (NB. This has been published)
The 1st International Festival Day
UAEU Social Club 7th December 2005
4.0pm – 10.0pm
One of my students recently wrote that having teachers from other nations lets us learn about different cultures. The great evening’s entertainment and culinary surprises managed to do just that.
Susan Schmidt’s additional reason for the event being that teachers meet each other in a social setting also came out.
As the sun lowered in the afternoon sky, the opening of this first event of its kind got underway, and by 10 left everyone who came hoping there will be another soon.
Teachers at UAEU hail from far and wide across the globe, and wives and husbands extended the huge array of stalls and stands representing these locations.
With stands from places as far apart as Canada and Benin, Niger and Sudan, we were treated to local food, from the well known recipes of Kehk’s Kitchen (Thailand), through Portugal with Felicidade Van Vanacker resplendent in her national dress, to the equally exotic food from Korea, to the more familiar cuisines from the region, including dishes from Lebanon, Turkey and India.
We saw stamp collections, displays of Afghan carpets, leatrher products from Pakistan, traditional Korean paper crafts and a Khubsurat beauty salon, to name just a few of the many items on display on the greens behind the Multaqa Building.
At 5.0pm, students of Taekwondo gave us an energetic display of their arts, followed by a Filipino Bamboo dance.
After a selection of songs by our own Susan Schmidt (“she definitely ‘killed me softly’ with her song”) Razak, accompanied by an oud, shared his beautiful poetry with us.
A fine display of Emirati traditional dance by the ‘shebab’ indicated the truth of another of my student’s writing, that ‘technology and tradition can live side by side.’
Later, we were transported to the sub-continent with a display of Indian dancing, and then wowed by Zahida Chebchoub, taking us through her repertoire of Edith Piaf songs, reassuring us that she regretted nothing, and finishing with a haunting rendition of ‘Love Story’(“Where do I begin?”) sung in French.
Continuing the hauntingly musical theme, Treva Himes gave us native American Indian & hammered dulcimer music, and then the evening air glistened with Egyptian music, before we were treated to a traditional Sudanese wedding, and again a performance of Indian music to round off this scintillating display of talent.
Prizes were awarded from the events’ sponsors; the main prize being an airline ticket kindly donated by Etihad Airlines.
With Kiddies Corner providing the face painting and the bouncy castle, bewhiskered lions and tigers jumped their way through the night and made everybody smile.
The whole evening was splendid indeed, and we should thank the organizers, Ali Majed Al Maraghi, Dolores Basilio, Khalifa Al Rubaiei, and Abdul Aziz Sultan Shames for all their hard work, with the help of the numerous committee volunteers, and the various offices of the UAEU for making this wonderful, hopefully soon to be repeated evening possible.
Robert L. Fielding
The 1st International Festival Day
UAEU Social Club 7th December 2005
4.0pm – 10.0pm
One of my students recently wrote that having teachers from other nations lets us learn about different cultures. The great evening’s entertainment and culinary surprises managed to do just that.
Susan Schmidt’s additional reason for the event being that teachers meet each other in a social setting also came out.
As the sun lowered in the afternoon sky, the opening of this first event of its kind got underway, and by 10 left everyone who came hoping there will be another soon.
Teachers at UAEU hail from far and wide across the globe, and wives and husbands extended the huge array of stalls and stands representing these locations.
With stands from places as far apart as Canada and Benin, Niger and Sudan, we were treated to local food, from the well known recipes of Kehk’s Kitchen (Thailand), through Portugal with Felicidade Van Vanacker resplendent in her national dress, to the equally exotic food from Korea, to the more familiar cuisines from the region, including dishes from Lebanon, Turkey and India.
We saw stamp collections, displays of Afghan carpets, leatrher products from Pakistan, traditional Korean paper crafts and a Khubsurat beauty salon, to name just a few of the many items on display on the greens behind the Multaqa Building.
At 5.0pm, students of Taekwondo gave us an energetic display of their arts, followed by a Filipino Bamboo dance.
After a selection of songs by our own Susan Schmidt (“she definitely ‘killed me softly’ with her song”) Razak, accompanied by an oud, shared his beautiful poetry with us.
A fine display of Emirati traditional dance by the ‘shebab’ indicated the truth of another of my student’s writing, that ‘technology and tradition can live side by side.’
Later, we were transported to the sub-continent with a display of Indian dancing, and then wowed by Zahida Chebchoub, taking us through her repertoire of Edith Piaf songs, reassuring us that she regretted nothing, and finishing with a haunting rendition of ‘Love Story’(“Where do I begin?”) sung in French.
Continuing the hauntingly musical theme, Treva Himes gave us native American Indian & hammered dulcimer music, and then the evening air glistened with Egyptian music, before we were treated to a traditional Sudanese wedding, and again a performance of Indian music to round off this scintillating display of talent.
Prizes were awarded from the events’ sponsors; the main prize being an airline ticket kindly donated by Etihad Airlines.
With Kiddies Corner providing the face painting and the bouncy castle, bewhiskered lions and tigers jumped their way through the night and made everybody smile.
The whole evening was splendid indeed, and we should thank the organizers, Ali Majed Al Maraghi, Dolores Basilio, Khalifa Al Rubaiei, and Abdul Aziz Sultan Shames for all their hard work, with the help of the numerous committee volunteers, and the various offices of the UAEU for making this wonderful, hopefully soon to be repeated evening possible.
Robert L. Fielding
posted by Justice at 2:06 AM
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