International Day at AIS Kuwait

Each year at our school we have an International Day.  This year's was on March 15th.  The purpose of the day is to showcase the various countries and cultures that are represented at AIS.  It was incredible to see the costumes, taste the food and watch the various dances and demonstrations.  I was able to help out the Canadian booth by sharing my Canadian toque and T-shirt. I will definitely be looking at bringing more Canadian things back with me this summer.  

The picture below shows the tennis courtyard which is in the center of the Middle/High School area.  Following that picture are individual pictures of some of the booths as they are setting up.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the diwaniya that was set up in the auditorium.  The two dancers are students at the school dressed in the traditional Dishdasha. It was fascinating to listen to the music and also to watch the men/boys dance.

The Elementary school paraded through the Middle school area so that everyone could see them in their traditional dress and/or clothes in their country's' colours.  I would like to show more of the students, but I do not want to intrude on the students' privacy.  I have to say though, that the little kids were so sweet all dressed up.  Makes me want to teach Elementary at times.  (That feeling soon passes though when I think of the runny noses and teaching ALL the subjects.  I will stick to High School, thank you kindly.)

 

Okay.  You have heard of the term whirling dervish - well I have actually seen one.  I wished that I had a video camera this day.  I have lots of pictures, but they don't capture the full experience of seeing a whirling dervish.  In doing some research on this custom I found out the following.  It is more correctly called  Sufi whirling (or Sufi spinning).  It is a form of Sama or physically active meditation.  I was mesmerized, as were most of the people who watched the whirling dervish.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

A group of boys doing a traditional Kuwaiti dance.

A small selection of the food that was available to try out. 

My small contribution to International Day.  Teachers at AIS were to send me pictures of where they had traveled.   Only 3 teachers sent me pictures.  You may notice that there seems to be several of me on the board and you would be correct.  I had to fill the empty spaces up some way.