My first presentation

Thursday 03/05/2012
Merhaba (= hallo)

Yesterday I stayed home with Yasmine and her family. She had to help her mom with cooking and cleaning so it wasn't possible to visit something together. The women and also their daughters in my host family are staying home and take care of the household. The young women don't go out, go for a walk or meet some friends. When they leave their home it's for visting family or going to school.
But tomorrow I will go (by myself) to Haifa or maybe with Jens to Tiberias. Yet, it was a nice day together with all the uncles, aunts, cousins and nieces. They learned me how to cook typical dishes (shish barak), how to speak Arabic (just a few words!) and I drank Arabic coffee.

It's amazing to see how strong the connection between the family members is! They visite each other several times a day.

Today I went to the college with Yasmine. Physics started at 11.30 a.m. The teacher asked me to give my presentation. I talked about my country (facts, numbers, religion, culture...) and about my life (my college, my family, my sports, my friends...) I thought there would be more questions or even an discussion but the students were probably too shy to talk in English. After my presentation the teacher took over and started with the lesson. First he checked the homework of the students and gave a repetition about the learning content of last week. During this hour the teacher was sitting at his desk and talked. He dictated the definition of the light spectrum and the students were writing all the time.

In this group there are only six students so the contact between the teacher and his students is very personal. The teacher didn't use a Powerpoint presentation or any pictures. Because of the language, I don't understand a lot...

After the lunch, until 3 p.m., I followed a class chemistry with 14 other students. A student told about her grandmother who was making soup: olive oil soup. The teacher used it to start the lesson. 'Oil and wather don't mix. Why?' We learned about carboxyls, peptides and proteins. He wanted to make the helix structure of the hair more concrete so he showed a hair of a student under the microscope.

I want to upload some pictures, but it isn't possible (something with the internet). Sorry!