Month: November 2017

Today began with a Flag Ceremony. First thing this morning, staff, students, and some parents, many wearing traditional clothing or clothing that represented their home country, lined the central sidewalk running from the parking lot to the high school soccer field. Students hailing from the United States gathered closest to the parking lot, where Mr. Collins, in full patriotic costume, was enthusiastically encouraging students to get decked out in flags, red, white, and blue leis, and (everyone’s favorite) face tattoos. From there, somewhat more subdued students from the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Thailand gathered by their respective flags, which continued in reverse alphabetical order all the way to Albania. Students from our host country, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, gathered at the front of the line, waiting to lead the Flag Ceremony onto the field. In Olympic-like fashion, each nation was announced by Dr. Gillespie, followed by some cheering and marching to the beat of the high school band. While the initial list circulated noted 44 countries, by the time the parade ended, 50 nations were represented. It’s amazing to see how we can celebrate and be unified by such diversity.

Much of the rest of the day was spent watching the clock as the much-anticipated International Lunch approached. At 11:15 a.m., older students made the traditional trek to the elementary school to meet their assigned elementary buddies with whom they enjoyed a fabulous feast. Tables decorated with patterned pagne cloth and set with napkin-wrapped utensils welcomed the students to the covered basketball court. With patience and politeness, students and staff perused the beautiful and bountiful buffet and selected samples to savor. Congolese beignets, Lebanese tabouleh, Turkish mercimek koftesi, Malagasy mofo laisoa, and… American mac and cheese were only a few of the featured foods. For almost 90 minutes, our TASOK family lingered over this mouthwatering meal. And, when it was all over, students even stuck around to serve by cleaning up.

Thank you to those who helped coordinate the lunch and prepared delicious dishes for us to sample.

As part of our International Week festivities, Markey made a most-professional presentation about a person of interest to him – Che Guevara. Having conducted several weeks of scholarly research using multiple sources, Markey assembled a Google lides presentation that was both intriguing and informative.

In addition, we have several surprise guests join us for the event. In addition to Markey’s mom and his uncle, Markey’s grandfather, Godefroid Tchamlesso attended the presentation. Mr. Tchamlesso, who knew Guevara personally, shared about his experience, as well.

We were also honored to host the Cuban Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mr. Marcelo Caballero Torres, and his wife. They shared a bit about the nation of Cuba and what makes it unique. He also said a few words in Russian,… which May was able to translate!

A special thanks to Mrs. Fischer for helping coordinate this event!

As a perfect preview for International Week, today we were privileged to have Mekhi and his mom, Ms. Telford, speak about Sudan. Both were incredible sources of interesting information and overflowing with fascinating facts. We loved the images and multiple sources they shared. Without a doubt, they captured our attention and piqued our curiosity.