International Understanding Day 2016: A Russian Rendezvous

On the 15th of April 2016, the Interact Club of Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur (International) had our 42nd annual International Understanding Day. Like previous years, our main idea of this event is to teach others everything we could explain about another country. Russia was our chosen country and our theme was "A Russian Rendezvous", which directly translates to "A Russian meeting point".

We started off the event by having a very grand military march by our very own Interactors. The audience watched in awe as we marched perfectly and in-sync into the hall. Then, the Russian national anthem, "Negaraku", the Wesley anthem as well as the Interact song were sung. Then, many exciting performances were showcased, such as 3 different dances from our IUDD 6.0 (International Unit of Deadly Dancers 6.0). They did a ballet performance, a ballroom dance as well as a military powerful dance. How amazing are these people?! The event was attended by many honoured guests that we were fortunate enough to have invited, for example, The Director of the Russian Centre of Science and Culture, Mr. Alexander Gulko, our Principal, Madam Chia Loy Tian, Deputy Principal, Madam Pearl Moses, Vice Principals, Mr. Amaranathan and Madam Doreen. Many teachers, ex-students, students as well as students/Interactors from other schools came too.

A short and sweet dance performance prepared by a Russian performer from the Russian embassy performed "Kalinka" at our IU Day. Her graceful and delicate movements definitely had everyone's attention fixed on stage! Then, our Principal, Madam Chia gave her speech. After that, a very interesting and never-before-seen informative presentation was shown. The informative presentation was showcased in a form of a Night Show, and all the performers were our Interactors. This year, we added a different element to our IU Day, which was to spread awareness on nuclear energy by highlighting the infamous Chernobyl incident. There were many laughter and smiles from this informative presentation. Reviews said that it was both entertaining and informative.

After the informative presentation, we had the President Rotarian Hardeep Singh deliver a short speech too, followed by a skit (Act 1). The skit followed 4 young spies on a mission to find out about the Chernobyl incident. Along their journey and adventure, they encountered many difficulties and hardships, but little did they know, love was on its way too...if you missed the performance, sorry, your loss! :( Our Interactors perfected the skit by their superb and top notch acting which had people cheer and laugh. After a good 20 minutes of laughing, a speech by The Director of the Russian Centre of Science and Culture, Mr. Alexander Gulko was delivered. He mentioned the authenticity of our content and how he was very pleased with our representation of Russia. 

Then, our very own Assistant IU Director, Celine Tan Kaiwen gave her speech. Her speech was filled endless thank you's. It was very heartwarming. Before the event ended, a presentation of souvenirs was given as a sign of gratitude to everyone who attended our IU Day. Guests were then invited to the canteen to have light refreshments. The event ended on a bittersweet note - bitter because it was the senior Interactors' light IU Day, sweet because the event was a success.

We learnt a lot from this, especially about Russia and about teamwork. As the saying goes, "team work makes the dream work", the Interact Club of WMSKL(I) would like to thank all the Interactors for giving your best to ensure the success. Only having 2 months of prep, I'd say we nailed the event. We sincerely hope that all those who came had a piece of information about Russia or two to bring back home. Thank you for coming, and for reading.