17 Feb 2015

Just had a Singapore Society meeting yesterday (which included a movie night) to discuss about the upcoming OneWorldWeek and iGala. Oneworldweek is an event from the 9-13th of March and is a week of exciting events and performances, mainly aimed at introducing and recognising International students here in Surrey. During this week, International societies in the University such as Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Nigeria, Nepal, India and essentially every International society will get to showcase their respective cultures in Rubix in the form of ‘stalls’ set up.

For us, we made Satay with peanut sauce (because what is satay without the peanut sauce right?), Chicken rice (made in a ball form for easy eating); and Crab Beehoon (amazingggg) , as well as brought Chapteh and self-made postcards of Singapore as part of our showcase of the Singaporean culture. We also did a mini powerpoint presentation on a laptop featuring the Merlion, Sentosa, Marina Bay Sands etc to allow students to get to know Singapore better. And many of them went: “Ohhhhh, so this is Singapore!” after seeing the video of the Merlion, it was so funny! Needless to say, Singapore is a tiny tiny country and many people, esepcially those from the EU may not know about us (or always mistake us for Malaysia) and thus it was a perfect opportunity to introduce Singapore to them. Some of us also wore traditional costumes: Sarong Kebaya, Cheong Sum and many people really loved the outfits and we became ‘mini-celebrities’!

iGala, is part of Oneworldweek and it will be held on the 13th of March (last day of Oneworldweek). This is an event where those International societies (voluntary) who want to participate will perform on stage (Uni Hall) as part of their showcase of their home country. For eg. The Malaysian Society did a 3-part dance last year- Malay, Indian, Chinese dances lasting about 10mins altogether. I helped out my friends in from the Malaysian Society in their performance and danced in BOTH their Malay and Indian dances. IT WAS AWESOME FUN! My friend and I         iGala is an extremely exciting night filled with fun and just a feeling of absolute happiness where everyone will dance, sing along and clap to the various performances. Although we didnt participate last year, we are definitely looking to do something this year, either a skit or a video.

We all know that CNY is coming as well, and we are also planning to have a dinner at this restaurant called Beijing Restaurant in Guildford on the last day of CNY. Im sure all of us miss home even more this time of the year, and so it will be good to gather everyone and have a meal together and usher in the New Year! And potentially have our very own Lou Hei as well! 🙂

P.S some of the photos from my performance with the Malaysia Society, enjoy! 🙂

Stay tuned for this year’s with the Singapore Society!