Photos of this event can be seen here.

On Friday the 13th of November, GIH defeated the myth that it was an unlucky day and GIH International Evening was carried out without a hitch. The theme was Egypt and Persia and so the girls were clad in beautiful dresses with intricate work on the collar, and jingling coin belts.

The guests arrived to the event through Cleopatra’s palace (Mrs Haworth's study).  The key feature of this room  was the life-size sarcophagus, hand made by Tanis and the DT crew (special thanks to Mr Yelf).  Hieroglyphics covered the walls, and most of GIH had a hand in these. After the mingling had occurred, our guests were lead into the tomb, (the visitors' room) which was abundant in gold artifacts, courtesy of Jo, Anjali, Lizzie and Mrs Alchin.  They were greeted by Saskia and Katherine Mary’s life-size mummy. Here they were served a delicious dinner including lamb tagine and cous-cous.  The humus was a particular hit and the baclava was brilliant! The guests even guzzled down fruity concoctions at the oasis in the desert (the bar in the library).

After their meal the guests were divided into three groups and in turn were entertained in the library, sitting room and study.  In the main sitting room, they found themselves in a beautiful Persian Tent surrounded by coloured fabrics, draped from every corner. They were presented with very authentic Persian Belly Dancing, thanks to Adesuwa, Anjali, Andie, Feyi K, Jo, Izzie, Sasi, Elena, Costi who had spent hours in advance perfecting their moves. In the library, they found themselves in a barren desert and were made contestants in “WHO WANTS TO BE A PHAROAH?”. This game show was created by Chiara, Chiugo and Nada and was presented by Chiugo, Dani and Tiff. They also had the opportunity to get tattoos of ancient hieroglyphics at the hands of Vaidu. Back in Cleopatra's Palace they were treated to two songs.  The first of these, Arabian Nights, was performed by Emmy, Meera, Nicole Yim, Nada, Chiara and Zoe. The second, (which was met by peals of laughter from the audience) had Alessandra telling a story about King Tut, with Maryam, Nicole Ng and Grace as her backup dancers and Krithika as the Boy King himself. Volunteers from the audience were also able to participate in the “Wrap the Mummy” game, which entailed 2 groups of 3 wrapping one of their members with toilet paper in the space of 2 minutes to make the best mummy possible. The night was ended with music and dancing in the Persian tent, and the guests left having learned a great deal as well as having had a blast!

By Nada Reza