hunting for treasure at Al- Wāḥa!
Published: July 26, 2018
Ahlan! Welcome back to Al- Wāḥa! Today, many cool, beautiful, and fantastic activities took place! The following is a snapshot of some of those happy happenings:
Here at Al- Wāḥa, one of the most hip and happening times is the discovery or istikshaf period. In one of the istikshaf periods today, the villagers drummed to an Arabic version of Despacito. Check the song out here:
Following lunch, we leapt with full bellies straight into bed for a deliciously satisfying, but unsatisfactorily short nap. We then made our way up to the center of the village for free time or waqt al-faragh.
Some drank hot chocolate and played chess in front of the gym or nadi.
Others sprinted over to the dukkan for some snacks.
Still others played basketball, or kurat al-salla.
And others played a game of spoons in the Seven Sisters’ Garden.
Next, the villagers headed to their mughamara.
Then, the villagers went to arts and sports time.
In this episode of the musalsal, Goha and the tooth fairy are walking through the woods, and feeling a little scared that a lion or bear (dib in Arabic) will show up. They hear a rustling in the woods, and who should pop up but Robin Hood. Robin Hood notices that Goha and the tooth fairy are carrying a sack of gold, and so, of course, thinking that they’re just two rich people, decides to steal the gold. Robin Hood is having a tug-of-war with Goha and the tooth fairy over the sack of gold when suddenly an actual bear shows up. Goha, the tooth fairy, and Robin Hood bond over fighting the bear, and Robin Hood agrees to help them deliver the gold to the children of Al- Wāḥa. What a spectacular show of kindness on his part! And all this time, Shehrazad (the queen/storyteller from 1001 Arabian Nights) is watching. She remarks that this is an interesting story and therefore one she should tell the king. And that is how we ended the musalsal for the day! Interested in hearing more of the story? Join us in the next blog post!
Afterward, the villagers learned a new song titled “Sahar El-Layali” by Fayrouz.
Next, we had a delicious dinner of ground beef with okra, rice, beets, and an Arab dessert called basbousa. Following dinner, the villagers embarked on a treasure hunt to obtain pieces of the treasure map and find out where the treasure lies.
At one station, the pirate requested a song in Arabic before he would give the villagers his piece of the treasure map.
At another station, one of the villagers in each group had to defeat the pirate at the beach.
At a third station, the villagers had to answer a riddle in Arabic. One of the riddles was, “What eats and eats but never gets full?”.
At a fourth station, villagers needed to list 10 Arab countries to pass the pirate's test.
At the fifth station, villagers had to sing and perform the catching the bear song or “Yallah Nrooh Nistad Al-Dib.”
At the last station, villagers found the treasure and celebrated a time well-spent!
Soon afterward, we rounded up the day with some singing by the campfire!
Shukran! See y’all tomorrow, inshallah!
