Arabian Night!

For the last couple days I have had a horrible migraine. I literally locked myself up in my room and covered the walls with blankets so no light could come in. I even slept in my sunglasses for awhile to hide the light. I felt really awful and was not able to go to class because of this migraine. So, I am feeling slightly behind in all of my classes right now. I woke up this morning and even though my head was still hurting extraordinarily bad I got up and went upstairs for breakfast and for class. I went to my first class and could no longer handle it so I went back to my room to try to sleep it off. When I woke up a few hours later I was feeling so much better. It was not completely gone but a much better improvement. The rest of the day I still took it really slow and easy and gradually I started feeling better and better. As the day continued I not only started feeling better but the day got better and better as well. That evening the center had an Arab culture night. Everyone dressed up in fun outfits that they had either bought while they were in Egypt of clothing they had bought while we have been in Israel. We then heard from two local people that are the ones that call people to prayer. So, we got to meet the people that we hear every day, five times a day sign to us the call to prayer. It was absolutely fascinating. We also learned a lot about the significance of the call to prayer and how important it is. For example, if the person that is singing the song does not have a good voice than it is not necessary that they go to pray. Another interesting fact is that the call to prayer is a very big privilege. It is passes down in the family for generations and if you are not in the family than you do not get that opportunity. The two people that came we asked them at what age they started learning how to call people to prayer. One of them said that they started learning at age 7. So they started at a very young age to be able to grow up and get the privilege of calling all the people to prayer. They not only sang for us the call to prayer but they also showed us exactly how they pray. It was such an interesting experience and I kept thinking that I am so blessed to be able to be here and be seeing this. Not many people even if they live here for as long as I have would be able to meet the local men that call people to prayer.
After hearing and talking with these two men we then adjourned to the cafeteria where we had a very special dinner prepared for us. They had all TONS of food all that were traditional food that is found here in Israel. They had things like stuffed carrots, this type of rice that was wrapped in grape skin, all kinds of salads, hummus, Babaganush (so yucky by the way), rice, pitas, vegetables and these chicken wraps that were so delicious. They had so much food it took two separate plates to get just a little taste of everything. For the majority everything was very tasty. However, there were some things that I don’t think I will ever eat again. It was a great experience though. After dinner they had a special treat for us where we learned to do an Israeli Folk dance. It was SO fun! We got in four groups after watching some of the dancers and then they taught us how to dance. After we had learned the dance we all got in a huge circle of 82 students and danced. After awhile of doing the dance they taught us we all started doing our own thing and had such a fun dance party with Israeli music to dance to. It was a blast!(our dance instructors)