An enjoyable night with ICC Myanmar culture night
This will be a very long blog; I hope that you could find it’s not so sleepy. Today I will write about my experience in ICC Myanmar culture night. It was a very nice and fun memory for me. I have met many interesting people and made a lot of friends (of course ate tons of foods, too). Let me tell you a bit about my past experience with Myanmar.
My first knowledge about Myanmar is from Myanmar friends. I’ve met them from The Ship for Southeast Asian and Japanese Youth Program (SSEAYP). SSEAYP is the program from the Japanese Government which promote friendship and mutual understanding among the youths of Japan and the ten Southeast Asian countries, to broaden their perspective of the world, and furthermore, to strengthen their spirit of international cooperation, and practical skills for international collaboration. Each contingent will have 28 participants and 1 National Leader. The program will hold a few days in Japan including the homestay program and Japan-ASEAN Youth Leaders’ Summit (YLS). After program in Japan, we started our on-board program on the trip name Nippon Maru. The Government of Japan chartered the Nippon Maru and entrusted its operation to Mitsui O.S.K. Passenger Line Ltd. for the 42nd SSEAYP in 2015. The Nippon Maru is an ocean liner with an overall length of 166.6 meters and a gross tonnage of 22,472 tons. It is equipped with 202 cabins, a hall, a lounge, a theatre, a library, a Japanese tea room, a swimming pool, a clinic, laundry rooms, a dining room, and grand baths, etc.
The time when I went to Myanmar, it was a few years after the country opened up so I felt that Myanmar people were still not get used to the tourists. The first impression was Myanmar people were very nice and friendly. Because the weather in Myanmar is very hot so both man and woman in Myanmar put the traditional sun cream and wear their traditional clothes everywhere.
I stayed 4 days in Yangon which is the biggest city in Myanmar. Before I came to Myanmar, my image of this country was just the small and not developed country, but when I put my first step in Myanmar, my eyes were wide open because of its beauty and the modernist of the city. My host family was a very happy family which has 4 people. Dad was a songwriter who graduated in America and his daughter was a very famous singer. Mom stayed home and cooked so many delicious foods every day and one young son who was a junior student. Their house construction is not too big and modern but they used the hover board inside house. Everyone has their own latest Samsung phones which made me feel so cool. Because the family was working in the music industry so they owned a lot nice guitars, piano and some other modern instruments. Just in a few days, they took me around the city and shown me all the famous spots of Yangon, I have bought a lot of souvenirs because everything was very cheap and beautiful. Especially for some of my jewellery which I bought from Myanmar, I wear them every day as my luck charms and they always stay the same condition like when I bought them.
Most of all, after a while staying far from my family, I was missing my family vibe a lot. However, I felt like I was in my house when I stayed with them. The yummy foods of Mom, the warm care of Dad and too funny siblings which made me cried a lot before I came back to the Nippon Maru ship after the host program. If I had chance, I will definitely come back to Myanmar and see them again.
When I heard that ICC would hold an ICC Myanmar Culture Night, I immediately cleared my schedule and asked my best friend to join the event with me. There were so many people took part in the event, even Waseda student and other people outside the school also came to the event which made me so surprised. At first, the students from Myanmar did some presentations about Myanmar and even the Counsellor of Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar also gave us an opening speech. Next, there is a professional traditional dancer from Myanmar shown everyone the beauty of their dance and she even taught some individual volunteer learners (including me). The most impression when I stayed close to her was her “beautifulness” and the good smell from the Myanmar cosmetics. The light spots were all focused on her as there was a miracle light made her dance “bling-bling” in front of all the guests.
As I have mentioned how nice and friendly the Myanmar people are, there foods were a big treat for everyone joined the event. There were many kinds of foods including the main foods and some other snacks. They also brought their famous instant milk tea and coffee for everyone to enjoy which made so impressed.
After the event, I saw everyone were so happy and enjoyable. I bet they had tons of fun and must be so full thanks to Myanmar delicious foods. My friend and I were also very happy and she thanked me a lot for inviting her to the event. She had learned a lot about Myanmar culture as well as made a lot of friends through the event. I hope that ICC will make more events like this in the future!
S.R (Student Staff Leader)
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