26 July was a very special day for all of us. It was Cultural Appreciation Day, which was a day where all scouts go around exploring the unit campsites and understanding each other’s culture. All activities were closed today, and the entire day was dedicated to roaming.
We woke up at about 7am, which is considerably late as compared to what I was used to (waking up at about 5.15am to go and buy food). We had a wonderful cereal breakfast, which is the most moralising thing that we had so far. From my own experience in Singapore, for all the hikes and camps that I have been to, milk never fails to be an amazing moraliser.
We worked in shifts for the day. Some of us started to cook, while the rest went out in 2 hour shifts (9-11 and 11-1). We decided to cook curry chicken – however, we cooked it a little too spicy which was slightly unfortunate. It induced much coughing for our visitors.
I then left with my buddy to visit different booths around the camp. The diversify seen everywhere was nothing short of amazing – from Morocco, Taiwan to Bhutan, we ate many different foods and saw many new scouts. It was certainly eye-opening – for instance, I never had the opportunity to taste South American food until today.
A food from Bhuyan that makes your tongue feel numb
The day culminated with the Unity Show. The Unity Show is a show to celebrate the diversity of people of different faiths. The show started with a segment of people showcasing their religions to the world. It was nice to see so many different religions congregating together in the same space. While this is common in Singapore, I suppose we take this for granted. This is not as common in other countries, and what a pretty sight it must be for the rest!
There was also another pretty sight, when everyone’s Novus lit up together and blinked as the hosts talked about unity The sheer number made the exercise even more meaningful. Everyone can be colourful as long as they tried.
The Novus lightshow
What I certainly did not expect (I heard rumours but didn’t expect them to be true) was that Broadway came!! Everyone (including myself) screamed their lungs out when they came on stage. The songs and their voices were so beautiful and pure and mesmerising. It was a pity we weren’t here earlier, if not we would have gotten FREE class A tickets.
I would suppose music is a powerful tool in connecting people from all around the world together. From the Disney songs to the native instruments of Thailand and Peru, the sound of music exemplifies what scouting is and should be: one of sharing, singing and loving. That is key to unlocking a whole new world (as according to Aladdin).