Khaleef & Kahfi @ International Day (Happy 42nd National Day, UAE!)

on 2nd december, UAE celebrated its 42nd national day. so the boys’ school continued the merriment along when they had an international day parade last 5th december with everyone, including the teachers coming to school wearing traditional costumes of their country or in UAE abaya and kandoora.

it was one colorful, fantastically festive day!

 

khaleef with his classmates from egypt, sri lanka, the philippines, romania, india and many more; right before the parade. (for ‘malay college kuala kangsar’ boys, if you think khaleef’s sampin looks familiar, it’s because it IS the mckk school sampin – the very original one worn by his father while in school.)

 

the girl in hijab is norissa; the only other malaysian in khaleef’s class. in the fourth picture was after the parade, and they were sitting at the field under the morning sun; but it was nice coz the weather was quite cooling!

 

meanwhile, kahfi was still malu-malu with his classmates. my cheeky 2nd boy seemed so reserved and shy as I enthusiastically asked him to pose with his charming classmate marco from argentina. I didn’t know then that kahfi and marco are really good friends in school. inseparable!

 

my adorable kahfi during the international day parade. his buddies were just SO cute!

 

there were just so many wonderful, interesting costumes. the lovely beauties parading in the colors of UAE flags : red, green, white and black. there’s a few unique ones from egypt, complete with headgears. bling-blings from the indian costumes, frilly dresses and smart-looking sheiks. adorable.

 

one of the best highlights of that day was also the fact that their maklong and cousins were there too witnessing the whole parade! how lucky of them to be in dubai to experience that! after the parade, we found ‘free henna’ station at the reception area, and of course couldn’t miss it! even my niece nuna joined in, and had a cute butterfly ‘painted’ on her hand.

 

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I wish my kids had gone to a school full of malaysians just like mak and bapak did, but I also wouldn’t trade their experience at an international school for the world. I hope this would enrich their perception and understanding of the world, build tolerance and acceptance to not just different race and religion, but different countries and customs too.

it’s not just 1malaysia here; it’s 1world.