Summer vacation has finally arrived and I am once again a woman of leisure. To celebrate, I laid down a decree that Nathan and I would use our weekends to go on weekly field trips. Last weekend was the first of such trips so on Saturday we headed to Dearborn, Michigan (which has the largest Arabic population outside of the Middle East, for those who may not know) to attend the 11th annual Arab International Festival because, well, why not?
While there, I got an awesome henna tattoo,:
Nathan made a promise to Live Islam (I hope Allah won't hold it to him, though),:
and we got to be a part of the world's largest dabke circle:
This was my first experience at attempting to break a world record, and although there's been no offical word as of yet on whether or not we were able to break the world record for the largest dance circle (the Guinness people were actually there!), after dabke-ing for over 45 minutes I can now consider myself somewhat of an expert on traditional Arabic folk dances. I bet there aren't many Irish Catholic gals who can say that with a straight face.
Oh my, but aren't we ridiculous?
While there, I got an awesome henna tattoo,:
Nathan made a promise to Live Islam (I hope Allah won't hold it to him, though),:
and we got to be a part of the world's largest dabke circle:
This was my first experience at attempting to break a world record, and although there's been no offical word as of yet on whether or not we were able to break the world record for the largest dance circle (the Guinness people were actually there!), after dabke-ing for over 45 minutes I can now consider myself somewhat of an expert on traditional Arabic folk dances. I bet there aren't many Irish Catholic gals who can say that with a straight face.
Oh my, but aren't we ridiculous?
5 Comments:
This makes me want to be a teacher. I suppose the reasons that should make one want to be a teacher are more noble, but all I know is that my summer isn't going to be nearly as fun as yours.
This looks like fun! I'm jealous. You guys are so multi-cultural...
JMW, honestly, the reason that I became a teacher in the first place was because I couldn't think of anything else to do with a major in English and spelling "disability," so I wouldn't exactly call my motives noble. Fortunately, the job is usually a lot of fun and the summers are even better.
Carrie, you and Paul should join in some time! We're thinking about going to the zoo soon, and I know how much you like spider monkeys!
Ooooh! That would be fun. I could give you the "former-employee-who-actually-remembers-less-than-she'd-like-to-admit" tour. It's priceless...
Dancing a debke dance is a good time. Maggie and I were lucky enough to both be holding the hands of kids, about 6 years old, throughout the dance. They were very concerned about not letting go of our hands, worried that if they broke the chain that they would ruin the event. As the time wore on and our hands got sweaty and the circle sped up it was almost as if they were playing tug of war with us in the middle. The organizers were hoping to have 7,000 people in the circle which stretched for about 5 blocks but I have a feeling that we didn't quite make it. Either way, it beats sitting at home on the couch.
Post a Comment
<< Home