Today we started the day at 7:30am with reading newspaper articles. We then headed out at 8:30am to a place called A.C.C.E.S.S (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services). We spent about an hour talking to the director, introducing ourselves, asking about the centre, etc. Then we spent about half and hour talking to local Arab women who are taking English classes. The ones I spoke with all Yemeni. I was soo happy to find that I understand most of what they were saying. Maybe I am getting this after all.
After ACCESS we went to the Arab American Museum. I thought it was great. It is small but they also don’t have a lot of funding. It is new, just opened last year, and while it was small it very well planned out. All of the exhibits are very interesting, appealing and interactive. There was a lot of collaboration with Arabs to get their own stories and experiences. The main floor also has a beautiful Middle Eastern fountain like ones in Morocco.
Next we headed back to Hamido for lunch. It was really good. Maha, my darling hotel roommate, and I shared a platter of rice, schwerma, chicken schwerma, kofta, kebab, baba ganoush, fettoush and I’m probably missing something. It was enough food to feed four people, not two! The meat was really good. I’m not a big meat eater but it was very well done.
Our last program item for the day was to visit the local newspaper (al-watn).We sat with the director and talked about his newspaper. At the end we all got our picture taken in a group photo and it will be in this weekend’s edition. It was such a long day and I was very tired - I hope I don’t look too awful in the picture. :-/
All in all a good day.
The only thing is I miss my hubby.
I hope Daniel is doing okay; we haven’t been able to connect on the phone yet.
Walking through the hallways at A.C.C.E.S.S.
Maha at the entrance of the Arab American Museum
The fountain
A map of the Arab world
Here's a closer look at the immigrant exhibit. As you walked up to this section a motion sensor would trigger an audio recording of people telling their own stories and memories of coming to America.
This man represents the government officer at Ellis Island recording the information for the new immigrant.
A mock replica of a brownstone in New York.
A bird's eye view of the fountain
My teacher Awatif
All of us at the
Al Watn (the nation) newspaper
Walking through the hallways at A.C.C.E.S.S.
Maha at the entrance of the Arab American Museum
The fountain
A map of the Arab world
Here's a closer look at the immigrant exhibit. As you walked up to this section a motion sensor would trigger an audio recording of people telling their own stories and memories of coming to America.
This man represents the government officer at Ellis Island recording the information for the new immigrant.
A mock replica of a brownstone in New York.
A bird's eye view of the fountain
My teacher Awatif
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