Friday, June 1, 2012

Arab Culture Night!

Yay for celebrating the culture of Arabs!!!!!!!  AKA Arab Culture Night. :)  So one thing that is important to know is that everyone was encouraged to come in authentic Arab clothing.  So, just about everyone went out to town after classes, looking for an outfit that would win them the costume competition.  A lot of girls got balloon pants, but I decided that if I do end up buying some, I want to buy some that I really love.  So, I bought a cool shirt from Shabaan's for 20 shekels instead and wore my sweet pants that I bought in Turkey with it.  This was my first time going out to the Old City since before Turkey, so it was good to get out into the city again!
The night's festivities started out really spectacularly.  We had a forum to learn about the Muslim Call to Prayer.  They had the two men that do the Call to Prayer, known as the Muezzin, at the Al Aqsa Mosque (the mosque on the temple Mount, which is the 2nd most holy spot for Muslims. )  come and perform the Call to Prayer for us and do a little bit of reading from the Qur'an.  Muslims have a formal prayer ritual five times a day.  One of those times occurs at 4 am!  At each of the times, they have a "call to prayer" that sounds through speakers all around the Palestinian side of the city to let everyone know that it's time to pray.  The call to prayer is so beautiful and special in my heart.  I respect them so much for having enough dedication to the one God to stop whatever they're doing, and take time out of their day (several times) to pray and show their devotion.  Even though it's not how we like to show our dedication to God, that is still extremely respectable dedication in and of itself, and I admire them for that.  I will never forget the first night that I heard the call to prayer.  We had just finished eating dinner and were outside on the balcony trying to absorb it all in.  (And failing miserably I might add.)  The sun was setting, and the Dome of the Rock was gleaming brilliantly, and all of the sudden this almost mystical voice sounded through the whole city.  It was so beautiful.  I got goosebumps and had chills run up and down through my spine.  It was like there was magic in the air.  So when the actual Muezzin came to do it for us, (they made it clear that it is not singing.  It is stating it in a holy way.)  I was so excited!  They didn't speak english, but my arabic teacher, Ayman, explained it to us and then had them do it for us.  It was so beautiful.  They gave us a paper that says what each of the statements mean.  It pretty much sums up to:  We worship the ONE God and there is only the ONE true God.  I love the call to prayer!  I'm definitely going to miss it when I head back to the states.  But luckily I recorded a little piece so I'll always have it with me. :)
Arab culture night was so great!  We had to pack sack lunches because they closed the Oasis early so that they could decorate it really cool to set the mood.  The dinner was absolutely fantastic!  The decorations were awesome, the Arab food was delicious, and it was so fun to see everyone's costumes!  I was surprised to see so many guys that went all out.  Some of them spent up to almost 200 shekels so that they could look like the real deal!
Our delicious food that our fabulous cooks prepared for us.

We loved the food!

Me and some of my friends.  The boys are sons of Brother Ludlow, my ANE professor.  All I have to say is that they they have THOUROUGHLY enjoyed being exposed to college women for the past year! Haha

Me and my wonderful airplane buddy, Nathan 

Yay for the best roommates ever!!!!!

What can I say?  I'm a wanna be I Dream of Genie. :)
After dinner, we moved to the gym and learned a little bit of Arab folk dancing!  It was really fun. And the kids that taught us were super talented!  Overall, it was a great, fun night to appreciate our fellow Arabs. :)

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