Al-Wāḥa - ﺍﻟﻭﺍﺣﺔ

Family Time

kirsteng — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:57:09 +0000

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!

First Day of Adventures

kirsteng — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:52:26 +0000

Arabic word of the day: Matar مطر which means rain.

There was a lot of rain today which made our first classes and activities a little chaotic, but the villagers were eager to get started with their adventures. These adventures ranged from learning the first letters of the alphabet or beginning a credit course to learning a new art or having a storm come in right as the villagers headed to the lake for the swim test during free time. By the end of the day things had mostly dried up and the villagers had a dance competition. The villagers I danced with learned how to do the debka, a popular line dance in the Levant. The villagers displayed their dances outside of Al-Qahira, choreographed to Arabic pop music.

I have some pictures of our inside activities and our dancing festivities. Enjoy!

Ma’ Salaama

Siham

Opening Day Pictures

kirsteng — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:46:50 +0000

Upon arrival to Al-Waha villagers chose and Arabic name to use while they are here.

And I promised I would show you your child’s new name! After completing their name tags we got a picture of everyone (I 99% guarantee that this is everyone!). Check them out!

The last few pictures are a few of my favorites from opening day. I hope you enjoy them too!

Ma’ Salaama

Siham

Welcome to Al-Waha

kirsteng — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:44:59 +0000

Marahaba,

I want to greet you the way many of our villagers were greeted today with smiles and Arabic Greetings. As many of you know this is our first year at the Norwegian camp site, and after two days of hard labor (decorating, changing signs, and getting ready for the villagers) the village and cabins finally resembled our vision of Al-Waha.

The rain held off this afternoon which helped check-in run smoothly, but personally I would have preferred rain to humidity.

After check in, name choosing, placement test taking, nurse visiting and moving in, the kids finally entered Al-Qahira for dinner. Some of the villagers tried hummus for the first time.

Our evening program today was based upon the rules of the Al-Waha and the camp site, but ended with a bonfire. Which is actually where I am headed to now.

Tomorrow look out for:

Arabic word of the day!

Pictures of the campers with their new names!

And a few pictures from opening day!

I can not wait for tomorrow to come so we can get our adventure (learning) groups and begin the first set of activities that the villagers signed up for.

Ma’ Salaama

سهام ”Siham”

International Day

alwaha — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:09:55 +0000

Yesterday, International Day, was a big day for Al-Waha. In order to drive to Bemidji to join the other villages, we woke up at 6:30 and were on busses by 8:45. Luckily, the long bus ride allowed us to catch some sleep on the way. When we arrived at Waldsee, the German language village, we ate a picnic lunch with villagers from Spanish, French, and Portuguese villages then participated in a sing-along with them. We paraded into the German village singing our Arabic songs at the top of our lungs, then sat with a dozen other villages assembled for the opening program. Throughout the day, there were lots of activities for villagers to try and perform. We played Sweden in the World Cup soccer tournament and tied 2-2, taught other villagers to belly dance, shared in a song exchange, and debated economic policy in the mock G-20 summit of the United Nations. Villagers could also tour Waldsee’s Biohaus, try to douse their counselors in the dunk tank, compete in the Amazing Race, attend a ceremony to renew the peace site, take a bus tour of all the Bemidji villages, relax at Home Base, or watch any of the other villages’ performances. In addition, villagers could shop until they dropped at the other village stores. Many villagers agreed, though, that the best activity of the day was eating! Villagers could snack on Chinese chicken wings, German bratwurst served in a French baguette, Swedish pancackes, Arabic Koshary, Portuguese lemonade, or Japanese shaved ice. We feasted all day! As the day drew to a close, we all gathered together for the phenomenal closing program. Some villages performed choreographed dances, while others showed off villagers’ talents on traditional instruments or martial arts. We performed an elaborate belly dance in traditional costumes, which depicted a love story. Finally, everyone moved their body to the I-Day dance one last time.

Villagers discuss proposals in the Model United Nations G-20 Summit

Teaching other villagers to belly dance

Cooling down with refreshing shaved ice

Al-Waha's closing program presentation

Villagers dance out a love story

Dressed in traditional clothing

The girls come together in the center of the circle

The boys use sticks in their dance

Video Page!

alwaha — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:05:49 +0000

We now have a page on the website devoted to videos from our sessions! In the header of this page, you will see a new category for videos. Hopefully, we will be posting videos frequently from both this current two-week session and the last one.

Colonialism

alwaha — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:59:16 +0000

On Wednesday evening, our credit villagers studied hard for their final exams while our two-week villagers participated in the evening program. We told the villagers that the program consisted of fun, teambuilding activities, but this was only half of the truth. In reality, the villagers were participating in a simulation about colonialism! Villagers were divided into groups to travel around four different stations. Each group had special rules they had to follow. For example, one group could only speak in whispers; one group couldn’t touch each other; and a third had to have their hands above their waist at all times. Unfortunately for our villagers, they were not told these special and rather silly rules. They only knew that their counselors were getting very upset seemingly without reason. At each station, villagers were given a simple, teambuilding task and rules to complete it. However, they were only given some of the rules, and some of the rules they were told conflicted with the secret rules. This was very confusing for all and made completing the simplest task difficult. After completing all the stations, the villagers were all quite frustrated, so we gathered in Al-Qahira to debrief and discuss the simulation.

What was the purpose of frustrating our two-week villagers by imposing random, secret rules on them and then challenging them to tasks rendered nearly impossible? Good question. We were simulating the period of colonialism and imperialism in the Arab World. The counselors represented the colonial powers, and the spoken rules symbolized the special laws and rules under colonialism. The secret, unspoken rules symbolized the cultural assumptions and expectations of the colonial powers. These expectations were not verbalized or explained to the villagers, however they were expected to follow them. The villagers found themselves subject to seemingly bizarre and random unexplained rules that were considered natural to our colonial counselors. The frustration of our villagers was a parallel to the confusion of many Arabs during the time of colonialism.

Here are some photos from the program!

Villagers try to cross a designated area stepping on cardboard squares

A villager saves a square from being confiscated by the counselors

A simple task of crossing the grid is much more challenging when the counselors expect you to follow a certain pattern

A villager attempts to replicate a drawing explained to her by the other villagers in Arabic

Song Time- our first video!

alwaha — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:28:22 +0000

In our two-week program, at the end of our morning language group we all gather in Al-qahira to learn various songs from around the Arab World. Some are traditional and originate in Egypt, Morocco, or Lebanon, while others are more contemporary or downright silly. Nonetheless, all are sung in the Arabic language, with lots of gestures and hand signals to help comprehension.

Flag Raising Ceremony

alwaha — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:48:23 +0000

Every morning at Al-Waha we begin the day with the Flag “raising” Ceremony. Each day we unveil a new Middle Eastern country flag that the villagers must then identify: the name of the country, location on a map, as well as the capital. Also, the villagers are able to use their newly acquired language skills to describe the colors in the flag. After this, we warm up with some exercises and a song or two before breakfast.

I-Day Dance

alwaha — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:59:36 +0000

This session, Al-Waha will be attending International Day, hosted by Waldsee (the German language village village) in Bemidji, MN. This Friday, August 14, we will join all the other language villages for a day of singing, dancing, sharing cultures, and eating food from around the world. We will share our songs and learn those from other villages, teach people how to belly dance while learning Spanish line dances, play in a World Cup soccer tournament, and discuss global issues in a Model United Nations summit. For those who live close, International Day is open to the public and your attendance is welcomed. For those who come from afar, we will of course post pictures and commentary here on the blog once we return. One of the main aspects of the day is the I-Day dance, a fun, rather aerobic routine that all 10 or so villages present will perform in unison. This year’s dance is to an Indian song, and our villagers at Al-Waha have been rehearsing hard to perfect all of the claps, shimmys, and turns in the dance. Below are some pictures from Sunday, the first day we began learning the dance. We are off to a good start!