Culturally Speaking

Whew...while it felt great getting all de-Curt-ified the last few days, I'm shifting gears a little today. Fluff all around, Barkeep!

Know what I did last night? Well, Highlander does...and Nate might...but the rest of you are as the 'shrooms. Though I can change that. And I will. O' course, a little effort (in the form of reading) on your part will be helpful.

Last night, I was spending a cultural evening with two of my girls.

My ex wasn't able to take my middle daughter to a school function last night. So, even though it's technically his time with them, I got to take her. My oldest daughter tagged along to hang out with her boring, old mom. And, hey, before I get into the actual events of the evening, I just want to say that I find it TOTALLY cool that my teenagers actually enjoy hanging out with me. Probably for two reasons. The first of which is my pride in their excellent taste of companions...okay...that's a little further down the list. The first is that we have a relationship that is so comfortable for them. It is for me, too. The second of which is because I genuinely enjoy their company, too. We have fun when we're together. We cut up and laugh and it's just good. You know?

Anyway, school thing...let's get back on track, shall we? Her high school has a liberal arts program that is incorporated into the standard package. Consequently, there are a few little "extra" things that they get to do while they're getting their learn on. Each class has a special annual project. The seniors have "The Big Show", where they put on a performance. The Sophomores have the "Renaissance Fair", where they learn to juggle and make appropriate costumes, etc. The Freshmen, of which my middle daughter is one, have the World Cultures Bazaar.

While I don't think I could say, convincingly, that the purpose of the World Cultures Bazaar is to promote awareness of our fellow humans, it might be part of the mission. What I can say is that the class is broken down into groups of 4-6 that are assigned to represent a foreign country. Once that has been accomplished, each group is responsible for a number of tasks, the culmination of which is an event which allows the likes of me to learn about, and appreciate, other cultures, and get an evening's worth of entertainment for the measly $2 admission.

Since the beginning of the school year, we've been involved in all sorts of things. Making flags, writing consulates, getting costumes and recipes together. And, while it's a great lot of trouble, when kids are also involved in orchestra and chorus and drama (of both the official and unofficial variety), as well as regular homework, and my work hours, at the end of the day, I think it's a worthwhile thing. So, I get a little pumped up about it.

When my oldest daughter, now a junior, went through this, she was on Team France. It was (as many of them are, oddly) an all girl team. And the girls decided for their local cuisine requirement to each do a different French dessert. It was a popular booth! Making her costume was tricky. I'm no seamstress. Not even close! And her group danced the Can Can. Could a mother be more proud than to see her 14 year old daughter lifting her skirt in front of a crowd of teenaged (and older) males? I think not.

This year, we were the Irish team. Our team of five (two boys and three girls) happened to all play musical instruments. And so, for the entertainment portion of the required elements, they learned a piece by a contemporary Irish rock band called Flogging Molly.

I'll readily admit that I knew nothing about them. And that when they wanted to do a song called "Drunken Lullaby", I was biting my tongue a little. But they were fired up about it and over the course of a couple months had several practice sessions and got really good with it. My daughter plays viola and got the only solo in the song. She did great. I was really very proud. They also had a keyboard player, a drummer and a guitarist, along with vocals.

Sure, I'm not the most objective person when it comes to my own kids, but to help put things in perspective, here are a few examples of the other groups.

Team Germany - Performed the Maypole dance. They put pre-recorded music of the Oktoberfest song (in English) on while they circled around a pole, interweaving ribbons as they went.

Team Russia - Dressed in lab coats to represent Russia's history of 'mad scientists' (as soon as the funding comes through, we're gonna let all the kids know that the cold war is over...should be any time now), they performed a science experiment. Spraying various elements across a butane flame, they were able to identify them by the color of the flame. Come On!!

Team Greece - A reading. A reading about the history of the Olympics. How much prep does it take to walk out and read from a sheet of paper?

Team Poland - Singing the Polish National Anthem, forgot the words in the middle, and had to refer to notes.

Now, Team Cuba had some very good salsa dancers. And Team England had excellent Elizabethan singers (even if their dancers really, really stunk). And Team Japan did a lively martial arts exhibition. But my kid better take Best All Around or something, or it's gonna be on down at River City High School!! After seeing the final results of the performances, I can't believe that ANY group spent as much time preparing as Team Ireland!

I should back up and say that each team entered (dressed in authentic garb) carrying 'their country's' flag, kind of a'la the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Guests are given an opportunity, both before and after the performances, to visit each country's booth and they are encouraged to talk to the kids about the country.

Each team's booth was required to have an example of the country's flag, a map of the country, cultural artifacts (Ireland opted for a collection of celtic crosses), a tri-fold poster board that included historical facts and other important data about the country, and food native to the country. My daughter made Irish soda bread. Her group also had scones and rootbeer. Booths were also to be manned by team-members dressed in authentic costume.

I visited the French team's booth (not having had dinner before the performance) in the hopes of finding some yummy French goodies. This year's team opted for savory over sweet and it was not a good choice. Something lumpy and unidentifiable, in sauce.

Team Brazil had some juicy looking orange slices. But they'd covered them with black pepper. That's just WRONG! And they weren't moving very fast either. Clearly, I wasn't the only one with trepidations.

Team Scotland had something that smelled terrible (I couldn't bring myself to try it), but that everyone was raving over. It was hard-boiled eggs covered in ground sausage and deep-fried. They had quartered them, so that everyone could get a taste.

I ended up at Team Italy's booth eating a tiny piece of Italian bread dipped in olive oil and herbs. Can't really mess that up.

Most of the costumes looked good. Some clearly involved more effort (and cost) than others. And, of course, I'm completely leaving out the international incident that was narrowly averted when a member of the Jamaican team insulted a female member of the Saudi Arabian team by gazing at her bare arm. But, overall, my oldest daughter and I greatly enjoyed attending the bazaar. And, honestly, spending time with my girls, no matter what we're doing, is about as good as it gets. They come home tomorrow and I can hardly wait to see them!!