Thursday, October 30, 2008

Culture Week


Every year the school puts on an International Culture Week. Basically it's the foreign teachers' job to put on this event. The week is split up into five days and five nights. The first day is China day which the school does itself, because face it, who better to put on an authentic Chinese day than the Chinese themselves? So then the next day is the rest of Asia featuring the Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and some of the Middle East. The next day is Latin America Day... that was my day. I was in charge of the entire Amazon Rain forest. I dreamed really big on this one but I feel it went over fairly well. There was paper mache-ing, lots of paint, cutting leaves, making anacondas and so much more. So there is this really cool dolphin in the Amazon called the River Dolphin and its pink! So I thought that I would make one. Basically I gave a picture to the carpenter and he designed the frame out of steel wire and I paper mached it. I think it turned out pretty well, thanks to the amazing carpenters!

Next was the lovely and alluring canopy of the Amazon with informational fun facts spread through out... also the occasional anaconda...
We found this really cool fabric and sent it to the tailor to make us a couple of 25 foot snakes. they turned out to be like huge sock puppets but they served a good purpose. The students either really liked them or were really scared... the reactions were all in Chinese of course and they all seem to have the same type of expression... kind of happy yet embarrassed but also surprised. I also sent a picture of an 8 foot crocodile to carpenter and he made him pretty perfect too. I painted him dark green and added some teeth but he was camouflaged by the grass. The clean-up crew didn't even see him!

There were palm trees and information boards all around. It was a lot of hard work, yet enjoyable and it turned out to be a hit. So my thoughts on culture week... NEVER again but worth it!

Thanks!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Amy - you did a great job! What good ideas you came up with and they turned out great! You are really getting into this stuff. Thanks for the pictures and the story....they help us keep in touch and feel like we are sort of there with you. Love You - Aunt Norma