Another International Day at CFB Borden

On March 4th, 2010 the winter version of the bi-annual event known as "International Day" was celebrated here in Canada at Canadian Forces Base Borden. I am glad once again to have been there and to report on this great event where more than twenty countries participate and show off their cuisine, culture and wares. This event is put together twice a year to honour the countries that participate in the CFB Borden school for foreign military personnel studying English.

This was the third event that I attended and my expectations were more than met. To some extent I can even say I contributed to the event. I wrote about last year´s event and many of my readers urged me to let them know when this year´s event was put on so that they would have a chance to attend. And attend they did, more than one-hundred people from the Macedonian community alone attended and there was a surprise about which I will tell you later.

I am happy to say that I was glad to see so many new faces as well as some I had met at previous events, particularly the Macedonian community from Georgian Bay whose members specifically asked me to mention them. I also met members of other communities such as the Montenegrins, Ukrainians, Bosnians, etc. and surprisingly they too remembered me. I guess they remembered me from the last event because I discussed with them their contribution and involvement in this event. I also knew what to expect in terms of the foods so this time again I began my tour by sampling the desserts first. Naturally my first choice was Bosnia-Herzegovina. As soon as the booth opened I went for their desserts, tulumbi and baklava. This year they had two types of baklava so I took a piece of each. As usual they were delicious, congratulations. The Jordanian booth also served various sweets but the pieces were dryer and less tempting than last year´s but none the less sweet and equally delicious.

The ladies auxiliary from St. Clement Macedonian Orthodox Cathedral were a bit late to arrive this year due to a traffic backup in Toronto but they more than made up the time by their expediency in preparing and opening the Macedonian table.

I arrived at the Base at 12:30 in the afternoon and, expecting the halls to be closed, stayed with the Macedonian officers and new friends until someone informed us that the place was open. We were one of the first groups to arrive and immediately began to set up our booth. Having our items well organized in boxes we were also one of the first groups to have our display ready. It was now time to relax and wait for opening time.

Even though every officer from every country was new to this, there was less anxiety in the atmosphere mainly I believe because the Canadian officers and catering staff organizing this event were very friendly, courteous and helpful. Many times the organizers came by and asked if we needed anything and if we did it was promptly delivered. Many thanks to the Canadian officers and staff for their contribution in making the event a success.

Since this was my third visit to International Day I reassured my friends, the Macedonian officers Lieutenant Colonel Blazho Giorgievski, Captain Blagojco Kitanov, Captain Dalibor Stefanovski, and Lieutenant Kiril Iliev, that things would happen as planned. But as the 4:00 PM opening time was nearing and, as reassuring as I was, the Macedonian table stood empty we all became a bit anxious but our community delivered as promised and was there on time to give us their support. Besides the greetings and food, they also brought us some surprising news.

It has been the wish of the last two Macedonian officer groups to have one of our dance groups perform at this event and up to now it has been almost impossible to organize. The event takes place on a Thursday afternoon, a school day, and our dancers are young children so it has been difficult to ask them to miss school and rush through a two hour drive there and a two-hour drive back just to do a twenty-minute performance. And we are talking about thirty performers. Not to mention having to rent a bus, get parental permission and have the parents take time off to run to the school and get their children and drive them to the waiting bus. But I am happy to say this time the impossible became possible and a reality. Many thanks to the parents and organizers who managed to organize and deliver the St. Clement of Ohrid dance group Makedonka which did a fantastic job, as one person put it, to "dominate" the event. It was fantastic to hear our Macedonian music flood the great hall and to watch our community´s children dance their little hearts out. Even more fantastic was the reception they received not only from our own and the other communities but from the Canadian military audience, especially from the women soldiers who were there in record numbers and who enthusiastically and loudly cheered our girls and boys as they performed. Seeing our community dominate an international event in this military venue, where more that twenty nations participated culturally, gave me a new feeling and appreciation for what we have and can contribute as a people. Thank you St. Clement, Alex Petlichkov, organizers, parents and particularly the performers for making this possible. I also want to say that all thirty of our performers danced in their native Macedonian dress.

I had met many of the foreign military officers over my last two months of visits but during the event I got to see them in their military best. For the last two years our Macedonian officers have been good friends with the Montenegrins with whom I often visited during my outings at CFB Borden. The two new officers up to now I knew as Zhelko and Velko but today since I met them in uniform I know them as Major Velko Malisich and Captain Zhelko Knezhevich. This group surprised me when they announced that they wanted our Toronto based Macedonian and Toronto based Montenegrin communities to get together for a little after party.

As the place began to get busy, I decided it was time for me to take a tour, visiting and photographing all the booths. I began with booths in the great hall starting with Albania, Macedonia, Argentina, Brazil, Mali, Mongolia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Korea, Thailand, Senegal and the Ukraine. In the smaller hall I visited China, Montenegro, Chile, Benin, Malaysia, Bolivia and Jordan. Imagine all these countries competing for the attention of not only the visitors from the various communities, but also for the attention of every male and female Canadian officer and soldier on the base. Every visitor I spoke to was impressed and enjoyed the event immensely.

By now so many Macedonians had arrived at the Macedonian booth it was difficult to meet and greet everyone. The only thing that remained now was the arrival of our dance group about which many were inquiring. Fortunately some of the performers´ parents had already arrived and, via cell phone, were able to give periodic updates from their children on the location of the bus. Unfortunately they were coming up during rush hour traffic and their arrival took a lot longer than anticipated. My only concern was that if they came too late most of the visitors would have left and there would not be many to see the performance. But in spite of the dance group´s late arrival the great hall was still packed and Makedonka gave us a stellar performance.

Besides Makedonka´s performance I must mention that the Macedonians once again outdid themselves with the preparation and serving of the food. Macedonia by far had the most food and perhaps the best food (but I am biased) thanks to the St. Clement Macedonian Orthodox Church ladies auxiliary. Among the many guests from the Macedonian community who attended the event were Macedonian General Consul Martin Trenevski and his wife, St. Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Cathedral´s Pop Trajko Boseovski, United Macedonians President Mendo Bakalovski, Ladies Auxiliary president Vesna Emikone, the dance group Makedonka and of course the various visitors and participants. Thank you to everyone for their hard work and contribution. Also a big thank you to all those who brought extra food, gifts and items for our officers and for the display.

After most visitors had sampled the cuisine it was time for the various performances, which were lined up one after another starting with Malaysia, followed by Thailand, Macedonia, Albania and Korea, each doing something unique which best represented their culture.

CFB Borden is one of a few military bases here in Canada that plays host to foreign soldiers from over twenty countries. The soldiers are brought here so that they can learn the English language and a bit of military lingo. Canada picks up the tab for countries that are not members of NATO. Canada informs each country interested in participating in the program of the number of its soldiers it can accommodate and the country decides who to send. In Macedonia´s case, soldiers who want to participate must first apply for the program. Participation was voluntary but some of the members in the new group have told me that they were recommended by their superiors without them having signed-up. After the application is put in it has to be scrutinized and approved by the chain of command. The names of those approved are placed in a queue until their turn comes. The program is held twice a year; January to June and August to December. Besides the four-month programs Canada also offers a shorter program that begins half way through the long program and lasts a couple of months. I have been told that the new students for the short program will be arriving mid-March and the program will end in late May. Canada provides all accommodation including recreation, outings etc. There is also a local gymnasium, soccer fields and a swimming pool available to the officers for physical activities. On weekends there are periodic planned outings and shopping trips to Barrie, Toronto and other places.

Last but not least, I want to mention that this after all was a military affair with all visiting officers and soldiers and our Canadian officers and soldiers dressed in uniform, each wearing their country´s colour, flag, crests and emblems with pride. It was a wonderful sight to see.

The event lasted from about 4:00 pm when the booths opened to the public until 8:00 pm when the facilities were promptly evacuated.

When the booths closed most visitors left the base. Those who remained clustered in various common rooms in the officer´s quarters for an after party get-together. As I mentioned earlier, members of the local Macedonian community got together with the local Montenegrin community for snacks and drinks.

All in all this was another great event and again I was very pleased to have met many new people and seen so many cultures come together at the same time under the same roof.

Bravo Canada for offering such a program to all these countries and for making events like this possible. Also many thanks to the Canadian Forces Base Borden officers and kitchen staff who worked tirelessly and were happy to be of service and assist in such a fantastic event.

You can contact the author at rstefov@hotmail.com