HAFLA!

By Fadi Makdessijarjis

Last week we went to the Hafla. It was an Arabic cultural party celebrating the Arabic people at CRC St Albans. The word Hafla means a social gathering of family, friend’s guests, drinking, eating and entertaining by dancing and singing.

When I arrived to the Hafla everyone was seated and they were waiting for the first activity, which was Jude who was playing the ‘oud’ which is an Arabic instrument but before that we had to say a prayer before we started the Hafla.

 After that it was time for dinner. There was a lot of food like Dolma or Chicken Bryany and Kosy. Everybody had to sit up and walk to where the food was and grab a paper plate and a spoon or a fork to eat with.

Later after everybody had finished their food it was time for the intensive English language class to do the Gobari dance which was our class. The first group of people had stood up and they were ready to start the dance, at that time my heart started pounding! My exhilaration level was so high and I was feeling agitated because it was my turn to join the dance! After a while I was calm and not nervous not even a bit because I got used to it overtime especially when everybody joined in.

Eventually the Gobari song ended and the DJ started playing different songs to which we joined in with more dancing and having the time of our lives meaning having a lot of fun.

After all the dancing and fun it was time for dessert which everyone had brought to share. Everything was very appetizing / delicious and the teachers made coffee and tea for the adults.

In conclusion we are very grateful for Ms Utri for letting us have the amazing time at the Hafla and I hope next year we would have an astonishing time just like this year.

I’d also like to thank all the teachers who helped make this such a fantastic night for us kids and our parents.

Hafla recount...

By Malak Ayshoa

1- On Thursday night we had a party called Hafla .The party was just for iraq people and for teachers and their families too.

2- At the party there was about 200 people who all had a fantastic time.

3- At the party was a boy playing guitar and the other one was singing a beautiful iraqi song.

4- Finally when the two boys finished singing and playing with the guitar,and now it was dinner time and the food it was beautiful and it was very delicious and every single word that is nice for this iraqi food.

5-  It was time for my class and I to dance a beautiful dance and a beautiful iraqi song too.

6- We started dancing by ourselves like 10 or 15 minutes and then the girls said our families will join in with the dancing and they will make it better with us.

7- We finished the three dances with our families and then the D.J said I will put some other music on for you to dance on your own and with your own movements.

8- When I finished dancing with my friends I went to change my iraqi dress for another beautiful iraqi dress.

9- We danced a little bit more and the D.J said please go and relax and eat some sweets.

10- The party finished and the principal said a big thanks to all the teachers and the families and the students too,Then Sami said to everybody in my classroom to take a picture for Ms.Carmel because Ms.Carmel wasn’t here she was in Darwin and she would have loved our wonderful celebration.