Field Trip Frenzy

...Every Thursday the entire camp (all some 200 kids + staff) go on a field trip...

FIELD-TRIPS:WATER PARK #2 (Beit Jala)

Johannes, Ina, Me & Campers @ Water Park


"Bright Stars" Campers


More "Bright Stars"


They Got ME!

I was too tired to go swimming in the pool this day, so the kids decided they would bring the pool to me instead. And before I knew it, I was caught in a war-zone of water-bottles being poured all around me and on me.



Said (1 of my students) having a good laugh after getting me wet.


Another camp staff member getting wet.


I got caught up in the middle of a water-bottle fight...But it was still loads of fun...



Johannes was attacked by a whole bunch of campers!


Dance Dance Revolution

I also had a fabulous time that day, dancing to the music playing at the park, with some of the other campers.

Jonathan Learning Palestinian Dabkah Dance

This is Jonathan (my 3rd roommate, American, 31)






FIELD-TRIPS:AMUSEMENT PARK (Ramalah)



The above photo is of the amusement park we just went to. It was hilarious to go on the "big-kid rides" with the other Palestinian staff & older camp students because there was one ride in particular, that made everyone sick. I remember Johnny (Assistant Head of the camp) next to me on the ride, trying to calm down the girl next to him in fast-talkingArabic, telling her to breathe deep in & out (as she kept screaming "halas! halas!!" -"done/ stop! stop!" in Arabic while on the ride). After getting off the ride, I noticed atleast 4 people with their heads in various trash cans around the park (not me though, which is also why it was so funny).


The kids waving in the above photo are in my art courses. Saba, is the one on the far right of the photo. He did not like the pointilism lesson when we first did it, but then just today (Mon. 7/9) he used the pointilism technique, in his picture, during our Georgia O'keefe lesson. I was so excited to see this and it was beautiful painting he did.


This is a photo of me & Jasmine. Before the buses departed for the water park, I met Jasmine when she was crying. She did not want to go to the park because her friend did not come to camp that day, and she had no friends to play with at the park. Luckily, she speaks German fluently and was able to befriend Ina easily & had a great time with us at the park.


FIELD-TRIPS:WATER PARK #1
This is a photo of the kids at the water-park. Since majority of the women who work at the camp are Muslim, many of them did not go swimming; which left me & Ina as being the only females swimming with the campers in the pool. It was difficult to try and entertain 200 some children, all grabbing onto us like monkeys in the pool. All females are required to wear funny-looking swim caps in the pool, to cover our heads. I thought this was for Muslim-religous reasons and it didn't make sense to me since we are all in bathing-suits, showing our skin anyways. But then I found out the reason is because they don't want our hair to get in the pool.


















I wore a baseball cap, instead of a swim-cap (see
me with the white hat on?). I was playing games with the kids, but it was absolute madness in the pool that day (especially because there was only 1 other female staff member who went swimming) & I was exhausted when we left.



This is a pic of Nadya (16, my translator @camp), Ina, Jasmine and Johannes.