A home away from home: Brunei's National Day in UEA
Hello Hello!
Studying abroad is never easy. You're tossed into a different culture, a whole new environment, possibly a different climate and heck you might even have to speak another language altogether! Whilst some people are able to make the transition very easily, others struggle. International students don't get to see their family as often as home students. We cant just take a train back when we miss mom's home cooking or dad's lame jokes. Some of us have to wait a year or 2 before we can see our parents again. And to add to that, some of us have to deal with the time difference which means we cant call as liberally as we want (I cant call my parents past 4pm or at night as they're a good 7 time zones away and it would mean waking them up at ungodly hours). Although they are obviously perks of living/studying abroad (Not going to deny that I do enjoy my time here), one of the biggest downer is not being able to celebrate special occasions with the family (I've had 2 Skype birthdays to date). Homesickness is a thing.
I'm from Brunei and my country just hit 32 years of independence on February 23 2016. Normally this is celebrated in big scale in Brunei (as described here). The whole country will be in a festive mood as the national flag is hung in front of every house. Having said that, we Bruneian students obviously couldn't be there to celebrate it (17 hours flight:- the day will be over before we even land!) but we did what we could.
UEA Brunei society has just recently been affiliated with the university. For our very first event, we decided to hold a National day celebration. After all, we all need a little something to curb the homesickness. It was held on Feb 27th in Congregation Hall. The event was opened to anyone who wished to come (Be it members/ non-members, Bruneians/ non Bruneians).
We started with a little ice breaker game of 'Who Am I'. Everyone had a sticky note with the name of a person stuck to their back. They then have to try and figure out who they've got by asking questions about their 'identity'. At one point we had 2 Barack Obamas asking questions to each other.
After the little ice-breaker, it was time for food! No Bruneian event is complete without food! We had Nasi Lemak (including fried chicken, boiled egg, toasted peanuts and anchovies, sambal) , cucur (fritters), air bandung (rose syrup drink), maltesers and vanilla cupcakes and churros! Safe to say, we ate to our hearts content that day. Nothing builds an appetite more than rice and sambal.
Afterwards, we were divided into 4 groups to play more games. There were 5 different games and 5 people in each group. Each person from each group was sent to a game to represent their group. We played Heartattack/ Snap, Cups-stacking, UNO, egg race and musical chairs.
The event ended with the singing of the National Anthem to pay our respects to this special day. Singing the National Anthem in a group certainly reminds me of my time in school where we had to sing the anthem during assemblies.
All in all, the event was a great success and a very good job to the committee that has poured their heart and soul into making this event a very enjoyable one for us all! It certainly helped reduce the homesickness!
Love,
Karen
Studying abroad is never easy. You're tossed into a different culture, a whole new environment, possibly a different climate and heck you might even have to speak another language altogether! Whilst some people are able to make the transition very easily, others struggle. International students don't get to see their family as often as home students. We cant just take a train back when we miss mom's home cooking or dad's lame jokes. Some of us have to wait a year or 2 before we can see our parents again. And to add to that, some of us have to deal with the time difference which means we cant call as liberally as we want (I cant call my parents past 4pm or at night as they're a good 7 time zones away and it would mean waking them up at ungodly hours). Although they are obviously perks of living/studying abroad (Not going to deny that I do enjoy my time here), one of the biggest downer is not being able to celebrate special occasions with the family (I've had 2 Skype birthdays to date). Homesickness is a thing.
I'm from Brunei and my country just hit 32 years of independence on February 23 2016. Normally this is celebrated in big scale in Brunei (as described here). The whole country will be in a festive mood as the national flag is hung in front of every house. Having said that, we Bruneian students obviously couldn't be there to celebrate it (17 hours flight:- the day will be over before we even land!) but we did what we could.
UEA Brunei society has just recently been affiliated with the university. For our very first event, we decided to hold a National day celebration. After all, we all need a little something to curb the homesickness. It was held on Feb 27th in Congregation Hall. The event was opened to anyone who wished to come (Be it members/ non-members, Bruneians/ non Bruneians).
We started with a little ice breaker game of 'Who Am I'. Everyone had a sticky note with the name of a person stuck to their back. They then have to try and figure out who they've got by asking questions about their 'identity'. At one point we had 2 Barack Obamas asking questions to each other.
 |
| Mr President welcoming everyone to the event |
After the little ice-breaker, it was time for food! No Bruneian event is complete without food! We had Nasi Lemak (including fried chicken, boiled egg, toasted peanuts and anchovies, sambal) , cucur (fritters), air bandung (rose syrup drink), maltesers and vanilla cupcakes and churros! Safe to say, we ate to our hearts content that day. Nothing builds an appetite more than rice and sambal.
 |
| Prayers before eating |
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| Fried peanuts and anchovies |
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| Sambal (chilli paste) |
 |
| Cucur aka Fritters |
 |
| Air Bandung- Rose syrup drink |
Afterwards, we were divided into 4 groups to play more games. There were 5 different games and 5 people in each group. Each person from each group was sent to a game to represent their group. We played Heartattack/ Snap, Cups-stacking, UNO, egg race and musical chairs.
The event ended with the singing of the National Anthem to pay our respects to this special day. Singing the National Anthem in a group certainly reminds me of my time in school where we had to sing the anthem during assemblies.
All in all, the event was a great success and a very good job to the committee that has poured their heart and soul into making this event a very enjoyable one for us all! It certainly helped reduce the homesickness!
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| The committee |
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| Reppin' Brunei all the way from Norfolk |
Love,
Karen
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