ACG NZIC Culture Week 2014

On Thursday we wrapped up our school's three-day Culture Week event. We had daily quizzes (I won the second day's quiz about Asia and got a free drink voucher xD) and LOTS of fun and food! I volunteered for the fashion show (Wednesday last period) and the International Food Day, joining the Malaysian group. It was an amazing week and I experienced cultures that I never imagined I would be able to :') Be forewarned: This is a photo-heavy post. Photos were harvested by myself, from friends and school teachers. Enjoy! :D

That OCD-prone-people-unfriendly "w" though. Mr Meur printed and tried out four different fonts and sizes, only to return to the original one as nothing worked hahaha

The first day of the Culture Week, we had a Maori dance show (due to certain circumstances I ended up watching it twice; sitting in front row seat twice haha) performed by the Kahurangi Dance Group of Hastings. During their dance performance, called Taonga (meaning 'treasure'), they displayed a heartfelt, highly amusing, exciting show. I was in awe as the depicted the Maori culture in front of my eyes. It was hilarious seeing my friends and teachers attempt some moves as well xD

The next day we had storytelling, Japanese students teaching origami, Middle Eastern students doing henna tattoos (I got one with my name in Arabic xD), beautiful Arabic calligraphy, and song challenge. That day, on period 6, we had our international fashion show, and to our surprise -  a LOT more people came than we expected, because it was in period 6, so we'd expected that those who didn't have class would have just gone home, but I wouldn't have had it any other way :') This was one of the most amazing days of my time in ACG so far! I even got to try on a hijab for the first time!

Putra getting into character with his hijab xD

My friend Omayma at the Arabic calligraphy booth. She conjured up beautiful calligraphy of our Arabic names :')

My name in Arabic! On canvas (by Shahd), and on paper (by Omayma). Thita also wrote my name in upside-down Thai 555. Another Middle Eastern student did the henna on my arm - I still have it now, it's gotten darker - love it sooo much xx

The fashion show was especially fun to work in! We had students and teachers modelling for Fiji, Samoa, Malaysia, Indonesia (me lol), Korea, Oman, India, China (me again :P), Japan, Vietnam, Britain and of course, New Zealand! We even had someone walk in a kiwi bird suit! Haha xD

Keep scrolling for more photos of fashion and food! :)

Representing Indonesia with my friend Sela :)

 

 With my beautiful Omani and Fijian friends <3

 

Finally we had International Food Day! And this requires little to no description - students set up booths, sharing their local cuisine in snack-portion sizes and cheap prices. Goodness gracious me as the food was amazing <3 There was Chinese, Thai, Malaysian (us!), Russian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Omani, Palestinian . Through this event I was able to taste for the first time, the delicacy that is the aish saraya (Middle Eastern), pavlova (NZ), and green curry (Thailand). Our Malaysian group sold nasi lemak with rendang, es bandung, pisang goreng (fried banana fritters), and teh tarik.

 My lovely Thai girls enthuasiastic to serve the hungry crowd. Chicken dance Fa 55555

 Yummy yummy pavlova :3

 Japanese yakiudon (made by  尚之新さん and his team)

Vietnamese spring rolls

Russian pancakes

 Super delicious aish saraya (left; made by Oumayma and her mother), and yakiudon (right)

 Fatteh

 Es bandung from our booth :)

Chaos at my friend's apartment the night before Food Day. Please excuse the finger. I was mainly in charge of the rendang - we had both chicken and beef versions, and I inevitably smelled like dry curry after all that simmering.

As for our Malaysian group, we sold out on banana fritters the quickest, then beef rendang. I was so happy and relieved to know that people thought the rendang was awesome. Some teachers told me the food was amazing. Very honoured :')

 Ending Culture Week with a bang!

The next day they provided Culture Week volunteers with morning tea - which included lots of cake :9

 Culture Week was definitely one of the highlights of my 2014. Thank you to all my friends, teachers, and other awesome people at ACG for making this event a reality and a wonderful memory and experience for me and all of us <3

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