Field Trip Recap

Our field trip today to the Dubai Museum and the Sheikh Mohamed Centre for Cultural Understanding was a fantastic time for everyone as we enjoyed a beautiful day, smooth trip and plenty of hands-on learning. 

Together with Ms. Connor's Class (3DC), we first visited the Dubai Museum where we explored the traditional Bedouin houses, including the wind tower, then the underground "souk" area, which was just fascinating. The children were impressed to see the life-like statues set up as they would've been in the not-too-distant past. It was particularly interesting to visit the pearl diving exhibit as we recently read The Pearl Diver by Julia Johnson, a captivating fictional account based on real events. 

The class was intrigued to see ancient findings from recent excavations of Jumeirah, Al Barsha and Bur Dubai as they included skeletons (eek!), as well as pottery, jewelry and weapons from 3,000 B.C. 

After the museum, we walked about 10 minutes through the historical neighborhood of Bastikiya and the Al Fahidi District in Bur Dubai. (Even that was interesting as we passed textile shops and other stores, which have been around for many years.) 

Soon, we arrived to the cultural center where the students removed their shoes and entered the majlis area of a relatively old (1941) traditional wind-tower Emirati villa. 

Ms. Debbie, as well as Ms. Danielle, were our hosts and did an excellent job teaching the students about Emirati and Bedouin culture, customs and even a bit about the religion of Islam. 

Then, we happily moved onto the next event, which was drinking Arab coffee (with lightly roasted Arabic coffee beans, cardamon and saffron), eating delicious dates and finally, enjoying a traditional meal. The children seemed to love the main course, especially the dessert, however, some did not particularly prefer the coffee as you will see from their expressions in the photos. :) 

Their expressions while trying the coffee were truly priceless! 

It was truly a fantastic day of hands-on learning that we will all remember for a long time to come. I hope you will enjoy these photos of our special day. 

PS. A very special thank you to Angie (Maximo's mom) and Claudia (Andre's mom) who joined us. You were both such a tremendous help!