Camping at Al-Andalus

American Diploma held down an overnight camp for grade 3A, grade 4B, grade 4C and grade 4A.  it was From Wednesday night at 9pm until the following day at just after 4pm. they had a great time. It was another chance for the teachers to get better acquainted with the students. They had fun finding the sleeping arrangements and they even made signs and flags out of paper to distinguish who slept where. The activities started immediately with a few games of midnight football.

               They came in afterward to a late supper whereby they were ready to pass-out after the witr prayer. They awoke in time for Fajr and had a slow morning of Dhikr, hadith lessons and some Qur’an, where they departed in order to do a healthy fifteen minutes of stretching and calisthenics exercises followed by a nice meal of several breads, a cake and a hotdog. They went for more football and then played some indoor games. We had a team competition of puzzles and quiz games and then drowned their drained minds in the swimming pool for an hour.

                The fun continued in an exciting turn of events when we boarded the bus for a half hour trip to Al-Andalus Mall. They ate a snack of a cake with milk/ juice and talked about the dinosaurs on display on the way there, but when they arrived they were ushered into Movie Town where there were games and rides for everyone. Even the teachers participated in getting on the rides with the students; they were all kids that day.

                They  drove back to school and ate lunch on the way back (Al-Baik always hits the spot when you’re starving after a day of fun) and played singing games. The students issued a few complaints that the fun had to end, but no student could think of a day where they had more fun than that sixteen hour of jam-packed excitement. Everything was co-ordinated well with high energy activities carefully planned around the less active “mind games” so that the students were not over-worked, but they never felt bored during the entire excursion. As we prepared to leave the school, packing our tents and saying goodbye, the students were given medals and trophy’s as excellent souvenirs to remember this incredible trip.

                Thank you to the students who came along, they will never forget it. Thank you to the teachers who volunteered, they will be compensated with closer affection from their students.