Last night following supper, the villagers split into groups to make traditional desserts. They included رز باللبن, زلابيا, بقلاوة, بيتي فور. Once all the foods were in the oven, most of the villagers went to back to their cabins. But some stayed up to try the desserts. The other villagers will try them today at snack time.
The creditors have their final exams today. They have studied hard and have learned so much. It’s hard to believe how quickly our time here at Al-Waha this summer is coming to an end.
Friday was International Day for all of the Concordia Language Villages. International Day (better known as I-Day) brings together all the camps in a single location to share in a cultural exchange. First thing in the morning we went to Waldsee to a special event celebrating our 5th birthday and Waldsee’s 50th birthday. There were special guests for the celebration, notably United Nations Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management, Muhammad Shaaban, who had joined us at Al-Waha for dinner the night before. We then came back to Al-Waha where we met with SenLinHu, the Chinese Language Village, Mori No Ike, the Japanese Village, and Sjolunden, the Swedish Village. We ate lunch and shared songs before walking to Waldsee to meet with all the camps. At I-Day we were able to share cheers, food and dance with the other villages.
For the closing program, Al-Waha villagers did a dance.
Ramadan
Last week when our new villagers arrived, the new faces were not our only change. We also began a new schedule. The time of all of our activities were shifted back by an hour and a half. The core reason for this was to make sure that dinner was after sunset. Here at Al-Waha we have staff and campers who are participating in the Muslim month of Ramadan. During Ramadan, Muslims all over the world fast from sunrise to sunset. Here at Al-Waha some non-Muslim villagers and staff have decided to fast, even though its not part of their religion. We are proud to see our villagers embrace these aspects of Arab culture.
We also had an evening program in which the villagers made fanous (special Ramadan lanterns) or cooked kata-if.
Pictures to be added soon. Technical difficulties! I apologize!
Ma’ Salaama
Siham
There were a lot of things that I wasn’t able to include in the blog for the first two weeks at Al-Waha. I still want to share with you a lot of great pictures that you can ask your villager about.
Current AB-92 parents, we’ve been super busy here at Al-Waha with the villagers arriving, the start of Ramadan, and the preparations for I-day tomorrow. I will have updates for you soon!
Ma’ Salaama
Siham
For every meal a certain cabin, language group, or art group sets the tables before the meal. This group is also in charge of presenting the food (preferably in a fun/amusing manner).
As I mentioned, one of the art classes we offered was hieroglyphics. In our evening program last night, we used a key to decrypt messages written in hieroglyphics (into Arabic, of course). We were split into 4 groups of different ages and language levels. The groups ran around looking for pictures and clues scattered all over the campsite. The goal of activity was to introduce some vocabulary words related to camp such as boat and deer and to teach them about some Egyptian landmarks. The evening concluded in Al-Qahira with the final clue: a صورة (Soura, picture) of بطيخ (baTikh, watermelon). Before heading to our cabins, everyone got a slice of watermelon.
Everyday at the Al-Waha we devote an hour of the day to the arts. Upon arrival the villagers chose what activity in which they would like to participate. These first activities lasted 3 days, and then the villagers signed up for a new art activity. Today is the first day of their third activity. The classes are limited to about 10 when they sign up. The small groups allow the counselors to connect with the villagers so they see the cultural correlation between the craft and the language. These activities include painting, wood burning, natural arts, drawing, mural making, calligraphy, bracelet making, hieroglyphics and more!
Yesterday the villagers signed up for a new art (and sport) that will begin today.
Sorry that the blog is a little behind. We have been very busy here at Al-Waha.
Friday night we had a wedding between two of our counselors.During the morning snack and song time, the villagers learned some traditional Egyptian wedding songs. There was a lot of rain on Friday so the celebration was held in the gym, where there were streamers and music. The family of the bride and groom wore traditional clothing. The actual ceremony was fairly short, and the evening quickly turned into a dance party. The villagers had lots of fun dancing with the bridge and groom. There was definitely a feeling of celebration, especially when cookies arrived! When the night finally concluded no one was ready to go to bed, but it was waqt al-noom (وقت النوم, time for bed) and villagers fell asleep quickly.
Today was a sad day for many of the villagers, as the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school group that traveled from North Carolina to spend just one week at Al-Waha boarded a bus to Minneapolis in order to fly home. No one was happy to see their new friends go.
The rest of the day has a lot in store for our two week and credit villagers. They got to sleep in and had a special breakfast. Today we only have one lesson and lots of time for games and the beach (assuming the rain holds off) with the rest of the village.
Here at Al-Waha we have a big focus on family (or in Arabic – a’aaila عائلة). Not our villagers’ actual families but the families they have adopted here at Al-Waha. Villagers eat with their families for lunch and dinner and participate in many of the evening programs along side their families. The general make-up of a family is 2 counselors along with about one kid from each cabin. The names of the families come from the last names of counselors or famous historical or literary figures in Arab culture.
Here the kids are sitting enjoying lunch with their families yesterday!
Ma’ Salaama
Siham
PS. The pictures were taken at the end of the meal. That is why a few of the families are cleaning up their tables. Everyone has been enjoying the food!
Each morning the Norwegian flag is raised signifying the start of a new day. Norwegian “Roads Scholar” participants will experience two new interesting program elements at their program between September 26 – October 2,… […]
