So much beautiful art and innovative creations derive from the cultures of East Asia. These countries are filled with such a deep and rich history which have shaped so much of our society today! Why wouldn’t you want to learn more about these wonderful cultures!
If you’re still not convinced, then take a look at the co-presidents of JCR’s East Asian Student Association, Raymond and Myah, as they explain the fun waiting for you behind the doors of room 3151!
What is the East Asian Student Association? What does EASA do?
Myah: So, we’re a cultural club and we like to celebrate East Asian culture–really, Southeast to East Asian culture. We do different games and activities surrounding East Asian culture. I taught people Taekwondo!
Raymond: Yeah, we do a bunch of cool activities! So far we’ve done origami, learned a bit about East Asian language–we learned about Japanese, that was fun! We’re gonna do more stuff!
How would you describe the community at EASA?
Myah: It’s kind of a small community.
Raymond: I think everyone knows each other. I think it’s nice–they always have a lot of fun, I feel like! Oh wait, I want to shout out Hyeongju han! He’s our number one member, he comes to every meeting! The first time we were supposed to have a meeting, he was waiting outside, but we didn’t have a meeting there! So he was waiting outside, and we saw him and were like… oh…
Myah: Him and Joy are our top two members!
What made you want to join EASA, and eventually become executives?
Myah: So, I was told to by him. I also wanted to be a part of the East Asian Student Association, because last year SOMEONE was supposed to start it, and then didn’t…
Raymond: Who was supposed to start it?! … There were some complications last year with the last presidents–they couldn’t do it last year because they had a lot of work, and then I was supposed to take it over… and I couldn’t, because I also had a lot of work.
Myah: Anyway, I basically annoyed him into starting the East Asian Student Association, and now we run it together because we’re the only ones that wanted to.
Raymond: It was really fun when I first joined the East Asian Student Association! It was kinda the same story with Eco Club, because the same people that ran Eco Club were my friends, and they did the same stuff for EASA, so that was always fun! The first year I joined I think we did the bakesale, that was fun, I brought stuff! I think we watched Doraemon, If you know that. The Anime with the blue robot mouse from the future. We did calligraphy–it was just tons of fun! And I loved learning about stuff!
One of the activities they did in the OG EASA–we all went up and taught a little bit about our culture. So, I taught a little bit about Japanese, and everyone seemed to like that! So, I was like, oh this is pretty cool! And my friend was like, you know, you’re pretty good at teaching! Maybe you should run this club after I die. And I was like, okay!
Why should people join EASA?
Raymond: That’s a good question… We already talked about a bunch of the cool stuff we do! We’re a cool community! You can come and have fun! We meet once a week, it’s on Tuesdays. You can come and just eat your lunch; you don’t even have to do any of the activities. Sometimes people just come and watch us menacingly from the cornner… We meet in the hairstyling room, 3151! We’re a good community, we have fun activities, I’m there…
Myah: It’s just really chill, there’s no pressure to do anything! We have free food sometimes, candy and stuff! But no one ever comes to meetings, so we just have a bunch of candy…
Also, you definitely don’t need to be Asian to join! We’ve been stressing that to almost all of our members!
Raymond: Please just tell your friends! You can learn about Asian culture! It’s not like, I have a DNA test before you walk in, I’m like ‘open your mouth!’ I get the swab and dig around, and send it to a place… then they’re like, ‘you’re not Asian enough…’ then I don’t let them in.
Do you have any upcoming events or activities?
Myah: We have a collab with Eye On The Storm coming up; we’ll be doing origami or calligraphy! We’ll probably be doing Coffeehouse too! We may do something for the Lunar New Year, too, and I do want to hold a bake sale sometime.
Raymond: Also, I heard from the Eco Club president that they wanted to do a collaboration! They were like, ‘oh you guys don’t seem to be doing a lot of cool stuff, maybe like, look at bugs, look at plants, birds, flies, rocks…’
What are some of your favourite moments in EASA?
Myah: I kicked one of our members… Ms. Tran has a video of that, we’re gonna post soon enough! Ms. Tran really wants to post that–me just beating up our member.
Raymond: Anonymous member assaulted in East Asian Student Association… Come to EASA, we WON’T hit you!
Myah: Unless I miss the target… and hit you in the ribs by accident…
Raymond: My favourite part of EASA is teaching, but maybe I’m a little biased. That was our thing where I got a little picture book, and taught about Japanese! I just opened the book and was like, ‘look at this word, look at this symbol, Isn’t it so cool!’ And I got them to write it–they were really good at writing Hiragana, the phonetic language in Japan! I remember in Japanese school that’s what we would do, writing it out with your finger, It brought back a lot of nice memories! And I think they were having fun!
Myah: Taekwondo was a lot of fun, I taught people some basic kicks. I think in the future I’ll bring in some advanced gear, like a chest guard, so you can attach the target to someone and attack the person themselves. We can learn more advanced Taekwondo moves! I’m a black belt, so I technically have the degree to teach people! I’m not just some random person teaching… But people did really enjoy it!
We also gamble sometimes… It’s a Vietnamese game of luck–that’s how we advertised it.
Raymond: And the new semester is coming up, so we’re gonna have a bunch of new activities, a bunch of new games, a bunch of new things! I’ll get, like, a rock.
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East Asian Student Association is looking for members and is open to everyone! You have the chance to learn more about East Asian culture, play fun games, and have Myah pummel you by coming to meetings Tuesday at lunch in room 3151!
