Wednesday, November 2, 2011

International Night

My sons' school is running an International Night where families volunteer to set up a table to represent a country of their heritage. We are mixture of cultures, and have lived in different countries so we are happy that we have choices but in the end, we chose to represent Australia as all of us, except me, are Aussies. (even though my boys have never lived there)

We went out and bought some display boards so I can put up facts and maps of Australia. My husband will make some Anzac biscuits and Honey Joys. We are also going to make some Vegemite sandwiches but I don't think they will be a hit. Let's just say that they are an acquired taste.

We have a large Australian flag, some soft toys like koalas and kangaroos, a boomerang, and I am painting some aboriginal pictures using chopsticks to make the dots. I still have a long way to go but I used brown paper, tore it up and stuck it on to give it the appearance of painting on bark. Then I used leftover latex paint to do the dots. The boys will start doing some of their own work too.



I called up the Australian Embassy here and got them to send me some flyers and maps. I asked the lady from the public relations department if she knew where I could find an Akubra (not sure of spelling) and she was like, "What is that?" After describing it to her, she exclaimed, "Oh, they are called Outback hats!" and I knew she was definitely not Australian!

We decided to make one as they can be very expensive to buy. Akubras are hats with corks hanging from them to chase away the flies. If you have lived in Australia, the flies settle on your face - not on the food and there are hundreds of them. I only ever find that flies do this in Australia. So the natives came up with a brilliant idea for a hands free fly chasing hat. I used a foam hat with a 50% voucher from Michaels and bought some cork. My son will wear this with his Australian gear. Hmmm..what do Aussies wear typically? I have to think about this one!  I am trying to see if my husband will go as Crocodile Dundee and I will get a fake crocodile from somewhere.


My son wearing his home made Akubra.

We are also going to find some aboriginal music to play on a radio plus some old episodes of Skippy The Bush Kangaroo. This is a hilarious TV show that uses a dead stuffed kangaroo that aired in the 70s. In the meantime, Kylie Minogue does a wonderful rendition of Waltzing Matilda:


It is going to be so fun!

1 comment:

  1. Love your aboriginal inspired art! You are very creative, Grace. :-) I hope to find where I've misplaced my creative bone soon.

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