This Wednesday, December 11th, Diplomatic Language Services hosted our Tenth Annual Open House! Every year, DLS has an Open House as a celebratory year-end event where students, clients, and administration gather and learn about different cultures from around the world. This year was especially significant because 2019 marks the tenth year of DLS Open Houses. If you have ever joined us for this special afternoon over the past ten years, thank you for being there!
With a title like ‘Tenth Annual Open House’, we knew we certainly had our work cut out for us. After much consideration and back-and-forth, we settled on the obvious choice for this festive event: International Market Festival.
The Event
The conference room was unrecognizable, with burgundy, peach, and golden fabrics draping across the ceiling and walls, transforming it into the main food tent at the DLS International Market. Delicious Korean street food was being served in the main food tent. The menu included authentic Korean Bulgogi, Japchae (stir-fried glass noodles with vegetables), Korean vegetable pancakes, spicy garlic fried chicken, white rice, seasoned bean sprouts, and cucumber salad.
From the food tent, flower stalls marked the entryway to the Immersion Room. Inside, booths from around the world lined the perimeter of the room. We recreated five markets from countries around the globe, including South Korea’s Namdaemun Market, a Marrakech souk, a traditional German Christkindlmarkt (Christmas Market), Mexico City’s Mercado Sonora, and a Russian arts and crafts fair. The booths displayed trinkets, clothing, and fabrics typically found in each country’s market. Additionally, booths offered guests traditional finger foods and beverages to try as they browsed!
To up the ante for our Tenth Annual Open House, attendees followed signs leading to the VR demonstration. Our new VR product offers task-based language learning in virtual reality by allowing students to explore, collaborate, and practice in a virtual environment, such as a country where the student’s target language is spoken. Additionally, keep up with us and our AR/VR Developer, Sean, on Twitter for updates on the latest DLS VR efforts.
By early evening, no guest remained empty-handed or hungry. Everyone was able to get a DLS t-shirt and hat, food from booths, flowers, and plenty of Korean street food. Above all, thank you to everyone who came and who made this event the great celebration that it was! Here’s to ten more years!
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