Hey all...
So, I've had a pretty fun week so far! On Monday class was just as boring as ever, and we were on our break before the last two hours started, when Ethan, our crazy program director, and the man I fell in love with that day, said he had an announcment. We were all pretty annoyed because our break, which is only fifteen minutes is when we usually go to the student cafe and grab a juice or soda or something....so anyway, he sits us all down and proceeds to tell us that the very first peace talks took place between upper level US and Iranian officials this week! And of course as the young diplomats we are, we would like to think that it took place in large part thanks to our cheering for Iranian handball team last week! (of course that's probably not true, but we like to think we sparked world peace :) ) SO THEN Ethan said we had to continue our work for world peace and that the final Iranian handball game was starting in ten minutes! We all went nuts! It was sooo exciting!
Not ONLY did we get to skip the last two hours of class for the day, which totally made my week! We got to cheer on the Iranians as they WON they're final game of the tournament, placing them in third over all! We even had a member from our group, who coincidentally speaks fluent farsi, ask some of the other fans if there was an Iranian flag around! We were waving the Iranian flag and screaming our heads off! And the news reporters just loved us....it was so fun! And then after their victory, we got to get our pictures taken with the team! AND we all got signed posters! It was definitely a wonderful way toend the day of class!
ANd then that same night, when I got back to my host family, we were having a lot of family over for dinner. It was a feast! They had a special restaurant cook the lamb for the mensef, while my host mother worked all day on two different kinds of chicken! There were only about 8 coursees to this HUGE meal! It was so fun tho! After we all ate I was in the kitchen talking with all the women of my family for a long time-they taught me about the proper way to serve in Islamic culture and SO MUCH MORE! It was a great night.
Then Yesterday it was another early day(which is actually starting to become a problem...I'm not waking up to my alarm anymore!!!) But we worked with the kids again at Ruwaad-I was in the English teaching group this time. And I had tons of fun drawing pictures of butterflies and flowers and houses and talking about all sorts of english words with the kids....
Then we had class...which, as I mentioned earlier, I was already really tired (I really haven't been sleeping at night...) So I started to fall asleep...our arabic instructor noticed, and she thought we needed a little somethign to wake us up! She made us all get up, and she taught us the arabic words for UP (where we had to raise our hands above our heads) SIDE (put arms out to the side) Down (hands down) Jump (self-explanatory) and DANCE (also self explanatory) lol..it was like this crazy game of simon says..she had us jumping and dancing around and running around the room in a huge circle! It was hilarious! And definitely woke me up! It was probably the most fun I've ever had in class!
Then when I got back to my host family last night all my cousins were waiting for me on the back patio-we had a barbeque! It was so fun! Then we all stayed out playing random silly games like truth or dare and telephone and a new clap and snap name game that I was absolutely horrible at! But it was a good time, and a great bonding experience, I really love my host siblings and cousins, they're so funny! Then when we all finalyl went to our respective homes I stayed up with my hsot brother and sister watching movies and eating this AMAZING snack mix..I seriously have to get my hands on some more of that stuff!
But anyway, long story short, I didn't sleep like AT ALL once again, so I am very tired. But I'm also doing well, becuase today is our last day of class for the week! And we're starting a new chapter today, so it shouldn't be too rough....
PLUS tomorrow we go to the dead sea!! I'm so BEYOND excited! I can't wait to go swimming! Or, float rather, as you can't really SWIM in the dead sea because of all the salt-but I'm still excited!! I can't wait to tell everyone about it! Hope the weekend will be a good one!
Only three weeks left and there's still so much to do!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!
So, I've had a pretty fun week so far! On Monday class was just as boring as ever, and we were on our break before the last two hours started, when Ethan, our crazy program director, and the man I fell in love with that day, said he had an announcment. We were all pretty annoyed because our break, which is only fifteen minutes is when we usually go to the student cafe and grab a juice or soda or something....so anyway, he sits us all down and proceeds to tell us that the very first peace talks took place between upper level US and Iranian officials this week! And of course as the young diplomats we are, we would like to think that it took place in large part thanks to our cheering for Iranian handball team last week! (of course that's probably not true, but we like to think we sparked world peace :) ) SO THEN Ethan said we had to continue our work for world peace and that the final Iranian handball game was starting in ten minutes! We all went nuts! It was sooo exciting!
Not ONLY did we get to skip the last two hours of class for the day, which totally made my week! We got to cheer on the Iranians as they WON they're final game of the tournament, placing them in third over all! We even had a member from our group, who coincidentally speaks fluent farsi, ask some of the other fans if there was an Iranian flag around! We were waving the Iranian flag and screaming our heads off! And the news reporters just loved us....it was so fun! And then after their victory, we got to get our pictures taken with the team! AND we all got signed posters! It was definitely a wonderful way toend the day of class!
ANd then that same night, when I got back to my host family, we were having a lot of family over for dinner. It was a feast! They had a special restaurant cook the lamb for the mensef, while my host mother worked all day on two different kinds of chicken! There were only about 8 coursees to this HUGE meal! It was so fun tho! After we all ate I was in the kitchen talking with all the women of my family for a long time-they taught me about the proper way to serve in Islamic culture and SO MUCH MORE! It was a great night.
Then Yesterday it was another early day(which is actually starting to become a problem...I'm not waking up to my alarm anymore!!!) But we worked with the kids again at Ruwaad-I was in the English teaching group this time. And I had tons of fun drawing pictures of butterflies and flowers and houses and talking about all sorts of english words with the kids....
Then we had class...which, as I mentioned earlier, I was already really tired (I really haven't been sleeping at night...) So I started to fall asleep...our arabic instructor noticed, and she thought we needed a little somethign to wake us up! She made us all get up, and she taught us the arabic words for UP (where we had to raise our hands above our heads) SIDE (put arms out to the side) Down (hands down) Jump (self-explanatory) and DANCE (also self explanatory) lol..it was like this crazy game of simon says..she had us jumping and dancing around and running around the room in a huge circle! It was hilarious! And definitely woke me up! It was probably the most fun I've ever had in class!
Then when I got back to my host family last night all my cousins were waiting for me on the back patio-we had a barbeque! It was so fun! Then we all stayed out playing random silly games like truth or dare and telephone and a new clap and snap name game that I was absolutely horrible at! But it was a good time, and a great bonding experience, I really love my host siblings and cousins, they're so funny! Then when we all finalyl went to our respective homes I stayed up with my hsot brother and sister watching movies and eating this AMAZING snack mix..I seriously have to get my hands on some more of that stuff!
But anyway, long story short, I didn't sleep like AT ALL once again, so I am very tired. But I'm also doing well, becuase today is our last day of class for the week! And we're starting a new chapter today, so it shouldn't be too rough....
PLUS tomorrow we go to the dead sea!! I'm so BEYOND excited! I can't wait to go swimming! Or, float rather, as you can't really SWIM in the dead sea because of all the salt-but I'm still excited!! I can't wait to tell everyone about it! Hope the weekend will be a good one!
Only three weeks left and there's still so much to do!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!
1 comment:
Hola Catia,
Acabo de regresar de mi viaje a Nicaragua/Costa Rica. Me gusta mucho leer de tus experiencias, y me parece que estás aprendiendo mucho más que el idioma árabe. Estás pasando unas experiencias incomparables y tu mundo será mucho más grande y rico después de este verano. Llámame cuando regreses a casa. Quiero escuchar más de tu tiempo allá.
Sra.
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