Each year some of the schools in the UAE celebrate International Day. This is a day of recognition of all the different cultures and countries that are represented here in the United Arab Emirates. The schools make a full day out of it by having a parade of students wearing their countries colors and waving their flag. They then have a huge area set up with food booths that are manned by the parents for each culture/country that chooses to set up a booth. Cultural performances are also on the schedule for the day. Some are performed by students, some by parents, and some by outside groups.
I was fortunate to have only had to work for half of the day, so I was able to join my boys at their school for these festivites. I missed the majority of the parade but I got there in time to see the best part!! (FYI--Best part for me just because I am from the USA!).... I arrived in time to see the last country represented in the parade...the United States of America! The parade began with the UAE group and ended with the USA group. They were the first country represented due to the fact that we are currently living in that country, so it was the respectful thing to do. What I found interesting and cool, was that the only national anthems played were for the UAE and for the USA. When the group of students representing America stepped up to be announced, the crowd roared with cheers and pride! It was awesome!! The group was the largest but then became even larger as the high school students that had been sitting in the crowd swarmed the field and joined the middle school and elementary students, chanting "USA! USA! USA!" You could feel the pride of the Americans! (Another really cool aspect of the kids representing America was that not only were they exhibiting pride in their country but also many were wearing things that represented their particular state!...My boys were definitely showing their TEXAS PRIDE!!)
It was a very neat experience seeing just how many cultures/nationalities were being represented by all the students/faculty/parents of the American Community School of Abu Dhabi. After the parade, we milled around the various booths sampling cultural foods and admiring cultural dress. The whole celebration reaffirmed that I really want to see so many places in this world! It also showed the level of pride that each person has in their own country and traditions!
A great time was had by all!
(I have included pictures from the day...I hope you enjoy them!)
