In a celebration of ethnicities and nationalities, UWC East, Katie's school, opened its doors for children's performances, numerous national food stalls, and several cultural demonstrations last Friday.  It was lovely, Katie was terribly beautiful in her hanbook, and the other parents were quite nice ... but you know I have to make stuff up.  It is in my nature to attempt humor at this point, so either skip to the photos or endure my comedic attempts which have been color coded for your convenience (if you tend to take things seriously, don't read the red).

Still here?  Good.  While some were curious about our choice to put Katie in a hanbook honoring her 1/4 Korean heritage and not go with something American, we just couldn't do it.  Her wardrobe, sadly, doesn't include military fatigues and an M-16 or an American flag T-shirt that was made in China with matching baseball cap or ... wait, is there any other traditional American dress .... gotta be ... maybe we've lived in Asia too long ... nope, just those two.  In a related point of pride, I would like to point out that the USA food table was the only one with a drive through and in honor of not VP-elect Sarah Palin - you could shoot your own moose.  In keeping with the spirit of national identity, the Singapore table borrowed food from the Indian, Chinese, and Malay tables.  Remember, I'm making stuff up.  

Sadly, hositilities broke out when one student commented at the Turkish table that the food was the same as the Lebanese table.  Shouts were heard of "That isn't falafel.  This is the real falafel."  And as my mom always says "It was all fun and games until somebody looses an eye."  Fortunately, there were no serious injuries beyond an earful of hummus so it looks like it was fun and games after all which was good, because the mums' UN Security Council meeting couldn't agree whether to send in peacekeepers, implement sanctions, or just put everyone in time out.  The situation resolved itself when the two tables found common ground of dissent when the US table came out with McFalafel.

The cultural events included African drumming, jazz, capoeira (the Brazilian dancing/martial art), a didgeridoo, and the one that we didn't get to.  Again, it was all wonderful ... though there was a rather disturbing turn at the capoeira when in an effort to get kids involved, they sung modified children's songs like "If you are happy and you know it, kick his head" and "Head, armlock, larynx, spleen, larynx, spleen."

 So yeah, it was a great time and we look forward to it next year.

Photos follow (Maddy's are at the end):