Thematically it was Balik Kampung. Realistically there was a bouncy castle, tons of scrumptious Malaysian food, enough wind to power Holland, and best of all, loads of friendship to go around.
Although the Garden Party is targeted towards all Cambridge Malaysian leavers, almost 80 students turned up on June 16th, 2012 at Churchill College for this annual event. Our theme this year was ‘Balik Kampung’ – to bring back the joy and memories of being a true-blue Malaysian and to introduce our unique culture to the wider Cambridge community, with participants from Vietnam, Brunei and even Japan.We served a mouth-watering selection of Malaysian dishes including Nasi Lemak, Kari Ayam, and Lychee Jelly. The committee also specially prepared 200 portions of satay sliced and marinated from scratch using halal chicken which were pre-ordered. This was highly welcomed by our members who have not savoured Malaysian dishes for a while (a while seems like forever!).
We managed to get hold of a traditional wau bulan with a span of over 1m for our members to try out their skills – it turned out that many have never flown one before. Many were enthusiastic to team up to play Galah Panjang on the beautiful meadow of Churchill College, and others had loads of fun bouncing and simply lying on the bouncy castle, enjoying the last bit of English weather.
The leavers were absolutely delighted to receive a batik cloth, intricately sewn with ‘CUMaS 2012’ before the end of the event. It was an enjoyable and memorable event for every single one of us, but more importantly, it brought us all together.
