International Night 2010 - A Huge Success
On 11 December 2010, the opening ceremony for the International Night 2010 of the YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College (“YHKCC”) went ahead firstly by two Chinese tradition lions dancing through the school camps after our honored guests Mr. Chuck Allison, Former CEO of YMCA of Hong Kong; Mr. Benjamin Lam, School Supervisor of YHKCC; Ms. Josephine Shen, Vice-Chairperson of PTA and Dr. Nick Miller, Principal of YHKCC dotted the lions’ eyes. This year, it was a huge success with a record number of over 1,000 visitors coming and having fun. The International Night is held by YHKCC every year in December aiming to celebrate the cross-cultural diversity within the school’s community. It is one of the greatest events during the year that brought the entire school and visitors together.
Staying with the cross-cultural theme, we had over 20 international food stalls serving with a wide variety of foods: Chinese BBQ pork, fried rice, Philippines puto, biko and palitan, Korean kimchee pancakes, Japanese sushi, American style hot dogs, French pancakes, Italian spaghetti bolognese, Spanish tortilla, European beef lasagna, Irish potato fries, tiger prawns skewers, Angus beef skewers and many more. All food stalls were decked out with national flags and the playground soon filled up with students, parents and visitors wearing their magnificent ethnic costumes, sharing different culture, tradition and food.
The highlight of the evening was the International Night Show with a unique way to welcome the audience-“Welcome aboard the YHKCC Express and it will travel around the world with you!” A gracious group of Scottish pipers in their uniform and students holding different national flags were at the Express entrance to greet Dr. Miller and the audience. Speaking at the opening address, Dr. Miller said, “Thank you for boarding our YHKCC Express. It is the forth consecutive year to organize this fantastic fair to celebrate the cross-cultural diversity of our school. YHKCC has a wide range of different nationalities of students and it is like a mini United Nations. Our students can learn different cultures from different background and understand different ways of life. They will be well prepared for the globalized world living in our mixed international community.
I am very proud of our wonderful, kind, thoughtful and resilient students in the preparation work for this International Night. I would like to take his opportunity to thank all our students, parents, teachers, staff and volunteers for making it such an enjoyable and successful night.”
The night show began with a rousing rock performance where Dr. Miller and his “The Miller Band” showcased three dynamic songs to the audience. The school’s musical, artistic and dramatic talents were then shone through Romanian songs and dances, Spanish music, Filipino dances, Indian Bollywood dances, Salsa, Chinese wing chun, Korean taekwondo and more. The audience moved, swayed, clapped and sometimes yelled together with the energized performers.
The evening ended with a very special guest boarding our Express: Santa Claus carrying lots of gifts in his bag and sharing them with students and the audience. The International Night was a truly fitting end to the festive season and will long be a fantastic memory for the entire school. YHKCC is moving like an express, with a good direction and momentum all the time. The school looks forward to this cross-cultural fun fair next year.
