04/18/2014

Isabell,

IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!

At the beginning of the trip I was a little worried about spending my birthday away from my family but from the moment the clock ticked twelve am and my three host sisters, host mom along with Jana and her host sister barged into my room screaming happy birthday, I knew it was going to be a good day! Waking up early and going to school on my birthday was a new experience, I’ve spent every birthday since I could remember enjoying my spring break, lazing around, but instead I was participating in an intense Arabic only program for the majority of the day.

 

 

 I’ll admit it was one of my less productive days, but still, a lot was learned. We were lucky enough to get a break where we were shown the impressive cooking skills of Bridges School staff, I’m positive the little old lady was burning right through the skin on her hands as she separated the couscous chunks in Brian’s portion.

 

 

At lunch we were served an Amazing meal of couscous and raisin chicken. Mid meal, I was ambushed with Arabic hymns, I realized after a couple verses that they were singing happy birthday!  A delicious cake followed which definitely clarified the happy birthday thing. After distributing pieces amongst the staff, we sat down and proceeded to devour the rest. 

 Once class let out we were led to an upstairs classroom where we were introduced to art of Arabic calligraphy. After being thoroughly embarrassed for not being able to properly draw out one of the easiest words of the language we celebrated the few circles on our sheets and laughed at Brian’s vegetable shaped letters.

 

We spent about 30 minutes deciding what happens next and finally decided on bowling. After a terrifying 5D experience we spent the rest of the day trying to break 30 on the bowling scale. Needless to say we all (except Brian) succeeded. Being rushed home seemed kind of odd especially since we were all having a good time, but my host sister insisted. Me and Jana were crammed into the car and swept away.

 

 

 

 

To my great surprise I was greeted with an adorable cake and birthday wishes from my host family as soon as I stepped into the apartment. We sang and laughed and ate and ultimately ended the day on a high note.