Artevelde University College Ghent in Israel

Hey everybody! It’s been a while since we’ve put something on the blog, so I thought it would be the perfect time to write some more.
Yesterday we arrived in Kafr’ Qara, our new ‘hometown’ for the next few days. Dr. Taha picked us up from Syreens house to drive us all the way to the new village. It took us one hour to get here, but when we arrived, we had a warm welcome. It was a hard goodbye with Syreens family. We’ve been with them for so long, so they became part of our family and we became part of their family. So I cried a little, because I didn’t want to leave them behind. Syreens mother comforted me and told me that Syreen left us a message.
It’s strange, you know, how you can become really close with somebody in such a short period of time. I hope I will see them soon, because, I have to say, I miss them already.

Last week we already visited the high school in Kafr’ Qara to take a group of 30 students to the Weizzman Institute. They still recognized us, so they were really welcoming and talked to us.

Dr. Taha arranged a family for Mieke and Ashton, but I was a little problem. He asked around and didn’t find anybody, so he told me that I could go with Mieke and Ashton to their host-family. We were invited by a teacher, Layla, to come with her to her class to meet her students and to see how she teaches. The students were really excited to see us and asked us to introduce ourselves. We don’t have a problem with selling ourselves, so we stood in front of the class and like real teachers, we ‘shushed’ them. They also invited us to accompany them in their English class. So we did.

The English teacher told us that we could teach the class some English, so we did. We talked to the students about what they believe in and what they prefer in life. We let them write down a memory in their live that influenced them and asked them what they would do different if they had to do it all over again. We walked around in the classroom and helped them when they needed it. I have to say, their English is really good when they put some effort into it.

The teacher asked us if we would like to join her to another class and asked us if we wanted to lead the lesson. She gave us her book and we had to talk about money with the students. We prepared ourselves, in Belgium it takes us 4 hours, and we pumped ourselves up to teach. The lesson was really nice and we encouraged the students to speak English. At first they were somewhat quiet, but when we explained to them that they don’t have to be afraid to talk, they started chatting the lesson away. We were really happy with the outcome and one of the students came to me and said ‘I really enjoyed your lesson, hope to see you soon.’. That’s when it hits you: this is the reason why I became a teacher.

After classes, Layla told me that she had found a hostfamily for me. Souhad, the nurse of the high school, wanted to take me in. I happily accepted and so I went home with her. She has four daughters between the ages of 2 and 13 and they have a cat who just gave birth to five little kittens. So it’s really cool to play with the little ones.

So that’s it for now… We’ll talk soon!

Laura