by Kai Lee Huang

One… two… the moment was here… THREE! My hands dashed straight towards the scrumptious egg tart before me. Egg tarts are comprised of the following ingredients: egg yolks, sugar, flour and more sugar. I tried to pry the egg tart from its aluminum cage, but to no avail, the egg tart was firmly stuck to the foil. Surprised at this unforeseen obstacle, I desperately shoved the egg tart into my face; hoping that I could consume the tart egg tart before anyone else. Crusts of egg tart rained down upon the table, but I paid no heed at the crumbs. Then to my dismay, the person on my right raised his arms in triumph, he finished it. I was still chewing. This was the egg tart eating competition and the start of a fun filled night. While I wiped the flakes of egg tart from my mouth, I made my way to the food table. I walked away from it with a cup of ginger ale and a generous portion of food in the other.

CASB’s Cultural Carnival, co-sponsored by ASA, JCA, SASA and VSA, was a spectacular event full of games, raffles, tickets and of course, plenty of nourishment. Attendees would exchange their tickets for raffles. Raffles could then be spent like money where patrons could have Henna done, have their picture taken while wearing an elaborate kimono and lastly, win bags of goldfish. Many of my friends opted for a unique and complex designs when they had their Henna done. One person had a cobra done on his right arm while another person had Chinese symbols done on his left arm. The photo shoots were mainly dominated by women as male attendees were reluctant to don the kimono.

Nevertheless, many of the guys present preferred to learn how to fling deadly paper shurikens. To be fair, the patrons weren’t able to make full use of the dynamics of the shurikens but a Japanese attendant showed me how to use it correctly. He explained that it’s all in the wrist not the arm. Just as quickly as he explained it, he flicked a paper shuriken at the wall. Where it made a loud crap and fell to the floor. It is worth mentioning that I spent a good portion of the night learning how to properly use one. Who doesn’t want to be proficient with a shuriken?

Another game that was challenging was transporting Jello cups. Sounds easy right? For the price of one ticket, any customer would face another competitor in a race to bring all the Jello cups to the other side. The most challenging part of the competition was of course, picking up the cups without it slipping away. My friend and I happened to compete against one another. She was graceful with her chopsticks but she was no match for me. I taunted her and unloaded my final jello cup just as she was able to bring her last Jello cup over.

I tried my luck at the goldfish table. Clients exchanged their tickets for 3 ping pong balls. In front of the customers were a series of cups. Everyone who wanted a goldfish had to successfully toss a ping pong ball into a cup. At first this appeared easy but of course there has to be a catch! Some of the cups were empty and some had marbles inside. Customers could only win a goldfish only if their balls landed in a cup with marbles. Cups without any contents weren’t counted as a win. This was a game of skill and luck. Despite the overwhelming odds, I put my skill to good use and walked away with three goldfish.

CASB’s Cultural Carnival was a well organized event that drew many students out for a fun night. From the guessing of the number of fortune cookies in a container to lion dancing, the event was a total success and I can confidently say that many students will look forward to the Cultural Carnival next year.

Photos of the event are at http://aasquared.org/gallery/casbcarnival08