Jesse Musinguzi, Grade 12
UWCEA Moshi
On this day, we come together to celebrate our cultural differences. What makes this my favorite event is the multiple food stands that are put up. Food from all over the world is made and presented to people. On our most recent international day, my friend and I were relaxing in the dorm but later went to the opening ceremony of the festivities. On arrival, we found multiple stands that had been set up and were excited to check them out. We first visited the Netherlands stand because we saw a mountain of those amazing stroopwafels and wanted to go off with one. We were then told that in order to win, we would need to play a game called Sjoelbak, or Dutch Shuffleboard. The rules were fairly simple. Four of us had to put as many disks in the gate bar as possible. Before playing, the four of us agreed that we would split the waffles if one of us won. One of my colleagues had the most discs and entered the raffle. My friend and I left that stand and went over to the French stand. There, we learned that we would need some food tokens to purchase food. While there, we also encountered another friend who would join us on our trip around the stands. Once we got the tokens, for some reason, we went to the German stand instead of the French stand. There, we tried the German delicacy of Bratwurst, a giant sausage and some German mustard. The Bratwurst was a solid 9/10 but the mustard was not really hitting the spot. After eating, we went ahead to play a game that involved hammering a nail into a log of wood using the claw part of the hammer. It was hilarious to watch both my friends miss the nail entirely, even after calculating how best to hammer the nail. Eventually, one of my friends got it. We made our way to the French stand, where we got some pastries for our other trips. While we moved around, we noticed that there was an Indian dance being performed, and so we stopped in our tracks to watch and support our friend who was dancing. We then went to the Australian stand, where we purchased the best tasting meat pie I had ever eaten. We then went to the Indian stand where we purchased some pastries and finished off with some sodas and pictures. Later that night, we would have a fashion show planned by a couple of D2s that I would be a model for. Modeling was something that was so far out of my comfort zone that I had never imagined modelling, but here we were. My partner and I would be representing Eastern Africa while the other models would represent Northern, Southern, Western, and Central Africa. Nerves filled the air as we were all excited to model, some of us for the first time ever. When my name was called, I knew it was go time. My partner and I hyped each other up before going up. The crowd was packed. Those were so many eyes that would be staring into my soul. I was wearing traditional Maasai wear and was ready. The music started and we waited for our cue to walk in. Once we heard it, we strutted in like professionals, did our dance, and walked out gracefully. I could hear the crowd erupt in cheers and my name being yelled, but I couldn’t let that get to me because, as of that moment, I was a professional model. No smiles, no laughs, only a straight face and a jump. Yes, a jump. It was not something I planned to do before, but since I was a Maasai at that moment, I jumped as they do. After all the models went up, it was time for the bidding, which would be used as a fundraiser for a good cause. International Day will forever be a day to remember. From trying out different foods to jumping in a massive scarf, it was a truly memorable day.
www.unitedworldwide.co