Not so much the Great Pumpkin, but a pumpkin patch? Like most things in Warsaw, Halloween is catching on. They don't celebrate the holiday like we do in the States, but get a kick out of the Americans going all out. A limited amount of costumes are available, but no trick or treating.
We were quite pleased to find a pumpkin "stand" on the side of the road near Thing 1's school. It was the closest thing to a pumpkin patch I had seen here. We stopped by and purchased a few pumpkins for our house and for Thing 1's pumpkin carving activity at school. The kids had fun picking out small pumpkins for themselves.
At school, the reaction to pumpkin carving by the parents from other countries was simply amazement. You would think that they had never seen a pumpkin carving. The Cat volunteered for this activity and he told me that he was approached by several parents asking if they could take one of the pumpkins home.
Halloween - taking over the world one country at a time!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
ASW UN Day
Every year the American School of Warsaw (ASW) hosts a UN Day. With children from so many different countries, they set aside a day to celebrate the different cultures. Today was actually the culmination of two weeks of presentations by the parents and students to their classes about their home countries or ancestry.
With Thing 1 being half Cuban, a quarter Scottish-Irish, a quarter French Canadian with a little Cherokee thrown in for good measure, he had many options. His teacher however, asked that Thing 1 represent Cuba. So began my first school project since I finished my masters degree. I put together a presentation for the kids about life for children in today's Cuba. I left them all dumbfounded on that one. I also taught them the clave rhythm on borrowed claves from the music teacher and we played some salsa music for the class. It was an enjoyable afternoon. On UN Day, each classroom holds a luncheon where parents bring dishes native to their country. I brought picadillo over rice, a mom with kids from Thailand brought pad Thai, an American mom brought macaroni and cheese, a Danish mom brought some cookies, etc, etc. It was quite a feast.
Following the lunch, the kids were assigned to different moms and we took them through the hallway tables and onto the gym. Thirty different countries were represented on 58 tables decorated with national crafts and artifacts, representatives in traditional dress, and cuisine (snacks). It was a huge event. The children were given ASW UN "Passports". Their mission was to visit as many tables as possible, answer questions about the country's table and receive a stamp in their passport. Thing 1 enjoyed visiting the different tables and collecting treats and country specific goodies form each table (especially candy).
For Thing 2, all ended when she reached the South Koreans. They had brought a display of native drums and hand drum. Thing 2 was in heaven. So much so that when I tried to give back the drum, she flipped out. The South Koreans were nice about it and let her play with the drum until we left. It served as a tracking device too since I could always tell where she was by the beat of the drum.
This was a wonderful experience for all the kids. Their understanding of the world just doubled. What a wonderful program!
With Thing 1 being half Cuban, a quarter Scottish-Irish, a quarter French Canadian with a little Cherokee thrown in for good measure, he had many options. His teacher however, asked that Thing 1 represent Cuba. So began my first school project since I finished my masters degree. I put together a presentation for the kids about life for children in today's Cuba. I left them all dumbfounded on that one. I also taught them the clave rhythm on borrowed claves from the music teacher and we played some salsa music for the class. It was an enjoyable afternoon. On UN Day, each classroom holds a luncheon where parents bring dishes native to their country. I brought picadillo over rice, a mom with kids from Thailand brought pad Thai, an American mom brought macaroni and cheese, a Danish mom brought some cookies, etc, etc. It was quite a feast.
Following the lunch, the kids were assigned to different moms and we took them through the hallway tables and onto the gym. Thirty different countries were represented on 58 tables decorated with national crafts and artifacts, representatives in traditional dress, and cuisine (snacks). It was a huge event. The children were given ASW UN "Passports". Their mission was to visit as many tables as possible, answer questions about the country's table and receive a stamp in their passport. Thing 1 enjoyed visiting the different tables and collecting treats and country specific goodies form each table (especially candy).
For Thing 2, all ended when she reached the South Koreans. They had brought a display of native drums and hand drum. Thing 2 was in heaven. So much so that when I tried to give back the drum, she flipped out. The South Koreans were nice about it and let her play with the drum until we left. It served as a tracking device too since I could always tell where she was by the beat of the drum.
This was a wonderful experience for all the kids. Their understanding of the world just doubled. What a wonderful program!
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