SAENGIL CHUKHA HAMNIDA (Happy Birthday)

So it was my friends (Mugande) birthday three weeks ago, but we couldn't properly celebrate it because i had DofE, and a few others were either away or busy, but we went out for a meal yesterday and just kinda hung out:)

There was just five of us and we all have this massive craze out K-Pop and Korea and yeah the 'Hallyu wave' has definitely hit us and practically taken us away from land and into the the pacific ocean and somewhere drifting towards South Korea.

If you're not aware of the Hallyu wave, it basically signifies the rise in popularity/interest surrounding the the Korean entertainment industry and idols, so kind of like Hollywood ..but in Korea.

BACK TO LAST NIGHT!, yeah so we found about a new Korean restaurant (Ban Di Bul) in Manchester and thought we'd try it out and boy the looks we got from the waitress seemed like she wanted to kill us! ha we weren't doing anything bad....we just spent 20-30 minutes deciding what to order. (Thats normal right)

But boy! the food was absolutely divine! literally, it was heaven in a soup bowl. Korean Beef BBQ IS SOMETHING EVERYONE SHOULD TRY NO JOKE. 

oh we somehow walked past the art gallery and decided to check it out and there was funky pieces in store for us aha

but yeah we ended the day with a bit of hoping and ICECREAM;D

FOOOD

BIRTHDAY GIRL

UKKCA!

UKKCA logo

Last weekend was great! went to the annual ukkca convention which was on Saturday and met up with a lot of friends that I don't see often and met a few new people!

But first of all, quick overview of what the "U-K-K-C-A" in ukkca actually stands for and maybe a tiny little history lesson behind it. So it basically stands for United Kingdom Knanaya Catholic Association.

The Knanaya, (Kna for short) also known as the southists or Tekkumbhagar, are an endogamous group in the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala, India. Today there are over 300,000 knanaya people in india and elsewhere.

Kna Thomma

• Most commonly the division is traced the figure of Thomas of Cana. According to these versions, Thomas of Cana was a Syrian merchant who led a group of 72 immigrant families from the Middle East to settle in India in the 3rd or 4th century (some sources place these events in the 8th century)
• In 1939 Joseph Chazhikaden introduced and popularized a theory that the Knanaya were the descendants of ancient Jews. According to Chazhikaden, they originated in Judea, and later converted to Christianity, though they maintained their distinct culture and identity.

So as a kna myself we take our culture and heritage pretty seriously and we love to show of our pride,plus on the great side knanaya people are known to be big party people (especially the men, but deep down we're all a tad bit crazy!) Kna weddings are simply THE BEST!! oh the amount of food that gets served is incredible 

Anywhoo UKKCA is all about celebrating the journey of those 72 families that started their great voyage and truly appreciating how long our traditions and values have been kept! The day kicked of with the holy mass and after that it was the rally of all the regional units doing a parade, e.g there was Birmingham,Manchester, Wigan etc etc  and after that its a mixture of individual and even group performances that ranged from dancing,singing,skits and speeches,

Ah it was so much fun! cant wait for next year!!!

That's me in the front right initiating the 'selfie'

This was a picture of the welcome dance! boy these people were so so good! 

CLICK HERE FOR HERE TO SEE THE UKKCA WELCOME DANCE