I simply must share my excitement after experiencing last night’s Asia-Pacific Cultural Evening.  The Asia-Pacific is perhaps the most widespread and diverse of our cultural regions, and it focussed last night on Mongolia, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, East Timor, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand.  However, the performances were not limited to students from those countries, as tens of students from all parts of the world supported the Asia-Pacific students in celebrating and sharing their cultures.

The performances, which lasted over two hours, did a fabulous job of presenting the diversity, the cultures, the beauty, the humour, the tensions and the peoples of the Asia-Pacific region.  The students who put the show together shared the spirit of their homelands with us brilliantly,

and we are all much richer for the experience.

The evening began with a special dinner in the canteen with food prepared by the students in conjunction with the canteen staff.  The mood was fun-filled and relaxed – and the food was sensational – rightly drawing high praise from everyone present.

The cultural show that followed in the courtyard was certainly a set of performances to remember.  We had been prepared by promotional posters and decorations, a GIF session on the rights of Australian Aboriginal people, and a promotional video on YouTube (which can be seen in a new window HERE).

As is so often the case with our cultural shows, words can never really do justice to the performances, so I have uploaded a gallery of 69 images (the link for which is at the foot of this blog).  And for those who don’t know, our cultural evenings are entirely student-initiated and student co-ordinated, all in the students’ own time; any help from teachers is at the request of the students who co-ordinate the show.

Yesterday was Di’s and my wedding anniversary.  I wouldn’t say that attending the Asia-Pacific Cultural Evening was the quietest or most intimate way we have ever celebrated a wedding anniversary, but it was among the most memorable, and certainly celebratory.

Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to make the Asia-Pacific Cultural Evening the huge success that it was!.

You can view the gallery of Asia-Pacific Cultural Evening photos (69 images) HERE.