Remember when I went to Austin with QFI-UT Austin's Teacher Leadership Program in January 2020? That was awesome. Remember, too, how we were supposed to go to Dearborn in April, Toronto in June, Chicago in September, New York City in January, and Qatar in March 2021? Well, a global pandemic happened and really put a damper on those plans. Thankfully, though, the program continued. Throughout the spring, summer, fall, and winter of 2020 -- and then the spring, summer, fall, and winter of 2021 and the spring of 2022 -- we met via Zoom for lectures, for cultural experiences, and for happy hours. We learned about religion:
We read Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood, and the author, Ibtisam Barakat, joined us for a Zoom session. We learned about the United States' involvement in the MENA region from Jeremi Suri, Professor in Public Affairs and History at the University of Texas at Austin. We went on a virtual field trip to the Islamic Galleries at the Freer Gallery at the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C. We learned about LGBTQ+ issues in the MENA region from Sa'ed Atshan, Professor of Anthropology at Emory University. We were joined by Embrace Doha for a presentation on food and coffee (and its importance) in the Arab World. We learned about the impact of COVID in the MENA region from representatives from the Pulitzer Center. We gathered (virtually) for a cooking night and learned how to make fattoush, chickpea salad, and ezme. We met with Angela Williams, Associate Director at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and we learned about women's expression through hip-hop in the MENA region. We learned about Ramadan from Embrace Doha. And we were spoiled with a morning coffee date via Zoom. On this "date," we first learned how to make Turkish coffee (using the cezve): a proverb says that the coffee should be as dark as hell, as strong as death, and as sweet as love. We then drank the coffee, ate delicious Turkish treats, learned about coffee culture, discussed potential lesson plans, and read our coffee grounds. (I think I need more practice in this regard, though, since I saw a cow butt in mine and a nuclear power plant in Jesus’s, and I can’t find the meanings for those anywhere.) I am so, so grateful to be a part of such an awesome group and, despite meeting only once in person thus far, love that we’re such good friends.
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