ASW UN Day

Every year the American School of Warsaw (ASW) hosts a UN Day. With children from so many different countries, they set aside a day to celebrate the different cultures. Today was actually the culmination of two weeks of presentations by the parents and students to their classes about their home countries or ancestry.

With Thing 1 being half Cuban, a quarter Scottish-Irish, a quarter French Canadian with a little Cherokee thrown in for good measure, he had many options. His teacher however, asked that Thing 1 represent Cuba. So began my first school project since I finished my masters degree. I put together a presentation for the kids about life for children in today's Cuba. I left them all dumbfounded on that one. I also taught them the clave rhythm on borrowed claves from the music teacher and we played some salsa music for the class. It was an enjoyable afternoon. On UN Day, each classroom holds a luncheon where parents bring dishes native to their country. I brought picadillo over rice, a mom with kids from Thailand brought pad Thai, an American mom brought macaroni and cheese, a Danish mom brought some cookies, etc, etc. It was quite a feast.

Following the lunch, the kids were assigned to different moms and we took them through the hallway tables and onto the gym. Thirty different countries were represented on 58 tables decorated with national crafts and artifacts, representatives in traditional dress, and cuisine (snacks). It was a huge event. The children were given ASW UN "Passports". Their mission was to visit as many tables as possible, answer questions about the country's table and receive a stamp in their passport. Thing 1 enjoyed visiting the different tables and collecting treats and country specific goodies form each table (especially candy).

For Thing 2, all ended when she reached the South Koreans. They had brought a display of native drums and hand drum. Thing 2 was in heaven. So much so that when I tried to give back the drum, she flipped out. The South Koreans were nice about it and let her play with the drum until we left. It served as a tracking device too since I could always tell where she was by the beat of the drum.

This was a wonderful experience for all the kids. Their understanding of the world just doubled. What a wonderful program!