So this past weekend, the university hosted what they call the International Fair. Basically what it is, is that the students from the different countries come together and make a booth within the classrooms of the 4^th floor of building 8, the building in which I study all day long. It's up to the students to use their imagination in order to show the highlights of their country.

Now I'm one of the only Canadians here so I decided that I would help with the Hawaiian booth. I didn't really help too much with the preparation, due to being busy with judo and my speech, but I came and helped during the days of the fair.

Some people might disagree, but I really think it was a fun experience. I had to hand people leis and take them back, bow, bow, and bow again, apologize and say thank you again and again. We had tons of students coming in, most I didn't know, some I came to befriend. It was very tiring and very demanding mentally and physically. I also had to walk around the 4^th floor in order to promote our booth, playing the ukulele and singing songs.

Now why did I like it so much? Well I think it gave me the experience of working in Japan. You see, whenever you walk into stores in Japan, you always hear: "Irasshaimase!" which means welcome to our store. But that's not it; they always ask the same questions, apologize, bow and bow again even though they made no mistake. This is an extreme politeness that Japanese companies enforce to all workers. No matter what your mood, everyone follows these rules.

I just think I was lucky to be able to experience it at least once, since I don't plan on working in Japan.

Besides that, I also got to see many booths from different countries including Vietnam, Spain, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Thailand, China, Russia, and more. On the third floor, there were also performances from different countries. I got to see a Mongolian guitar being played, I got to hear famous Chinese melodies, Brazilians bands and dances, Arabian dances (in which I joined in haha), and many more. I also got to perform with one of the native Hawaiians, Kahea Kashinoki, and a few songs with a Hawaiian feel. He played the ukulele while I sang along with him to certain songs like Over the rainbow, La vie and rose and, of course, the favourite, I'm yours by Jason Mraz.

With the speech and all, the International Fair ended up being a very interesting experience.