Anthony’s Blog February 28, 2020

In our Monday morning gathering, we sang our February songs and then Elliott read to us this week’s “Calendar of the Soul Verse”. After that everybody shared their weekends and then we spoke about the weather and the stars. We were pleasantly surprised to welcome back Ute. our former volunteer.

CARNIVAL 2020

On Tuesday morning our family and friends came to this year’s carnival called Mediterranean Odyssey. John, our ship’s Captain, welcomed us on board the ship that was built by everyone and then we started our voyage. We stopped in eight different Mediterranean countries.

Wendy welcomed us to Spain, our first country that we visited. We learned to count to ten in Spanish and then Stephen H., Cedric and Stephen C. gave us a juggling show. After that we sang La Cucaracha and then we watched a mock bull fight.

 

 

Next we traveled to the country of France. During our visit we built the Eiffel tower. Then Helene sang for us the national anthem of France and everybody sang ‘Sur le Pont D’Avignon.

We continued our voyage to our third country: Israel. While visiting Israel, Martha welcomed us to the country by singing “Shalom Alechem” and then she taught us a song called “Get Up Lazy Guy.” Martha also told us that the Sabbath day is on Saturday, the candles are lit and used in celebration. Also on the Sabbath nobody is allowed to work. Martha also showed us the prayer scarf that Jeff made in fibre arts for Joey’s Bar Mitzvah.

After that we travelled to the neighbouring country of Egypt. There Ruth showed us the grain that grows in Egypt. Also Aiden dressed up as a donkey and carried the sheaves of grain around. Then we saw a demonstration on how to thresh the grain. Egypt is known for its mummy We had a competition on who was faster in wrapping up a mummy. In this game we got into two teams and wrapped up a coworker and a volunteer. The volunteers won. Then Mary told us the story of Joseph in Egypt.

 

 

After visiting Egypt, we went to the country of Italy. During our visit I welcomed everybody to Italy and then Jeff dressed up in disguise and sang “Nessun dorma” and then we had a game of bocchi. After that we sang “That’s Amore”. After visiting Italy we journeyed to our sixth country, Algeria. There we danced with colorful scarfs.

During our lunch time we ate Minestrone soup, Greek salad and for dessert we had donuts that were made by Helene. They were delicious. In the afternoon we visited two more countries. During our visit to Turkey we watched a very funny puppet show. In this skit a mother and daughter were arguing about what they should do. They decided to come to Vancouver and visit Cascadia and then we sang “Mini Mini Mini.” After that we visited our last country, Greece. While visiting this country Ruth T. told everybody about the gods of Olympus. Then we recited the first lines of Homer’s Odyssey in Greek and then everybody danced the Zorba dance. After that we travelled back to Paris, France for a Fashion Show. During the fashion show everybody came out dressed in different outfits and did a catwalk down the aisle and back. Then we sailed back to Cascadia and sang the “Cascadia Song.”