International Day

Days like today just make me love the fact that our boys are attending an International School. Once a year the school sets aside a day to celebrate all the nationalities and their cultures. There are children from 24 different countries at the boys small school. The morning began with a parade of flags with the oldest child from that country being the flag-bearer, following the flags were the children from that particular country dressed in their country's finest. It was a very beautiful and colorful procession with the tropical landscape of Thailand as the backdrop. Thailand, the host country led the parade to the outdoor gym where a stage had been set up for the performances. Most countries were represented on stage with a performance. The Americans staged a medley of patriotic songs-Yankee Doodle, Bugle Boy, ending with It's A Grand Ole Flag while a huge American flag was unfurled on stage. Then while all the kids divided into teams for international games most of the mothers finished the details of a large international buffet. I was in charge of the American table and most of the American families brought an traditional dish to share with all the students and parents. At first I thought to myself, "What is US food besides hot dogs and apple pie?" Nearly everything I could think of was Tex-Mex but everyone came up with some great ideas. We had Texas chili, Louisiana gumbo, hot dogs, potato salad, chicken nuggets, BBQ spareribs, meatloaf, cornbread, brownies, apple pie, banana pudding and chips and salsa. What an amazing assortment of delicious foods and a fun time was had by all! Now when I go home this summer I will be sure to stock up on patriotic decorations in anticipation of the next International Day.