Time flies and I realize that I have now been here for one and a half month. Because of the holiday Sukkot I haven't been able to get to Asalam every day. The beginning of last week was very busy though. I started by having a meeting with Julia in Jerusalem and we discussed me running the Be'er Sheva language exchange. It's a language café that will take place close to the university every Monday evening. The response so far has been great. The first meeting will take place next week and I can't wait! We also had lots of time to talk about the Masa Bedouin Coexistence fellowships and I got more involved in the preparation and how to recruit fellows. It's lots of work and I'm starting to get a grip of how much work there is working for a non-profit organization.

Last week the school prepared for visitors from the ministry of education. They were inspectors and I also heard that there is a price that one elementary school in Rahat could win. I helped seven students from the so called Green committee to practice a song in English to preform on that day. The song is called "I am the Earth" and was chosen by the teachers at the school. In the beginning it seemed to be too difficult to learn in just three days but after practicing over and over they learned the lyrics and it was great to see how they really gave hundred percent to memorize the song and to learn it quickly. Unfortunately I couldn't be there since I was in Jerusalem to attend a meeting with Julia and Jamal with the ministry of education.  

Last week I also got the chance to go to the youth at risk meetings for boys and for girls in Rahat. It was amazing to see what a difference A new Dawn really does for the youth and how the program works. The meetings is based on empowerment to help the youth to prepare for future employment and get more involved in the community and the society in general. I felt very welcome as a guest in both meetings and I really wish to attend more of these meetings. It was very interesting to speak with the teenagers, especially with the girls. We discussed things like family, life, music and friendship. Our lives are so different but in the same time there is a lot of similarities. They seemed to love to hear about my brothers and sisters and it was interesting for me to hear about their families and interests. We also took lots of "selfies" together witch they really like :)

The days are becoming longer. I think it's mainly since I'm getting more involved. There is a girl from Rahat also volunteering and teaching English and it's great sit down now and then to give each other ideas on what to do and different activities for the classes. Today I joined her afternoon English class which was lots of fun since she have bigger groups and she is also able to speak both English and Arabic with the children. Afterwards I was invited to come to a dinner in a family in Rahat. I had such a good time with amazing family members, delicious food and interesting cultural exchange. I'm so impressed by how close the families seems to be and how warm and welcoming they are. Before I left they told me that I should see them as my second family and the mother made sure I could call or visit them whenever I wanted. I came home feeling so happy about being able to see and experience this and to meet these amazing people!

Things are becoming more and more like a routine in the school and when I come in the morning I know exactly what to do. This is something I really appreciate . I'm also getting to know the groups and the chldren better every day and I remember more and more names. I can also see how much I'm learning by trying out what activities that's working well and not so well in different groups. Every group need a different type of teaching, some lessons is more about playing games and to having fun exploring the language on a basic level while others is eager to learn how to talk and want me to teach them grammar and a lot of new words. This week has been lot's of fun so far!

A couple of days ago I had a short teacher training with Julia. This helped a lot to come up with activities, games and how to plan a class. For example she suggested to play memory with flashcards and Bingo. Straight away I could tell that they loved it and they told me afterwards that they had fun at that I was "funny". That's was great to hear! I also decided to make some "Olivia-lesson-rules" like no hitting and pushing and no eating during the classes. This was a way to see their reaction, but also to explain how these things can be different among different people and in other schools.

This week I also came to a meeting with the Ministry of Education. The topic was to discuss bringing more fellows to work in the schools in Rahat and how to build that program. Many interesting possibilities and challenges were lifted as well as dilemmas that I actually experienced working in the school. For example what ages that is most suitable to teach and how to invest in different students with different abilities. I'm looking forward to see the progress, to contribute by sharing my thoughts about my internship and hopefully be there in January to welcome the new fellows.

Next week the school will be closed because of the holiday Eid-Al-Adha. I will take the opportunity to explore the southern parts of Israel a bit more and hopefully see some desert :)