American School of Doha - Adventure Race and White Water Rafting

Today we went and did some white water rafting and a puzzling adventure race between all of our groups at camp.  It was lots of fun! And as you can see by the size of this page, we did a lot! 

First we got all of our gear ready  and were prepared to go into a car that would take us to a river that would begin our first experience (or for at least to some of us) into white water rafting. We were instructed and guided into the safeties of water rafting and were ready to get into the water. There were multiple types of waves that were exciting and sometimes quite scary. So glad I followed the instructor’s instructions. There were class 3 rapids that were incredibly fast, and the scale goes to a 5! I am glad that we did this experience, because I enjoyed working with my team mates to reach the distance together and to guide ourselves through the very strengths of the river. For those worried parents, no one was injured.

 Afterward we did the quite puzzling, and somewhat frustrating, adventure race. This race was a set of incredibly puzzling tests, that pushed our brains to the limit. In the beginning we did a puzzle involving a rope, that was tied into a knot and was confusing to get both your hands out of (this is because your hand were inside two holes in the rope). Now I’m not going to lie, this was extremely puzzling for some groups, at least mine. After that very hard puzzle we had another test in which we needed to get a tennis ball through as set of pipes, we couldn’t stop it nor make it fall, or else it was a restart. Simple puzzle. Afterwards we had to cross a rope that was tied so that the whole team had to go over it. So simple, but some kids are shorter than others. If you touched the rope, it was a restart, yay…Anyways after we were done, we had to hardboiled an egg in an outdoor fire, in this task there is a lot of patience and obviously be able to make a fire, my team had a “hardboiled” egg.

The fourth test was one that only 1 team got to win (Editor's note: Only 1 team was able to complete this challenge). There is a ping pong ball under a pipe, covered underneath, in which you have to pour liquid into it to make it go up so that one of the team members could catch it. The catch was there were holes on the pipe.

Finally, this is were the adventure race comes into place. We were supposed to make a raft out of only about 6 to 7 wood boards, a rope, and three tire pipes (Editor's Note: inner tubes). We got only four people rowing and we had 30 minutes to finish. Some teams got incredibly good results and some teams let’s say tried. But in the end I will never forget this experience and I will definitely miss being in the outdoors.

Todays post was written by: Hjalmar.

American School of Doha - Service Day

Today we did something a little different from our other days spent here; we visited a local Sri Lankan school. We were welcomed with an amazing invitation, and then we were provided with a beautiful feast. Afterwards, we started meeting kids younger and older, most of them were friendly, but a few of them were introverted, so they gave us a shy smile and walked away.

We all gathered on the field and started playing games; volleyball, cricket, dodge ball, catch, and more. Sri Lankans know how to play sports! They whipped us in cricket and wowed us with their ball skills in many of the other activities. During that time, we started breaking off into groups and we started to paint the school with vibrant colors of orange and blue.

We spent our time doing service, but inside, all of us knew that it was the students doing us a service. They were incredible and so warm and friendly. We really couldn’t have been happier to meet all these new people with their big hearts!

 

Today's blog post is by Emaan.

American School of Doha - Day 3

Today I hiked up to a cave and I abseiled down a waterfall, and it was honestly so much fun. First we hiked from camp to this really cool old cave, and I loved that so much because I’ve been hiking since I was small, and its one of my favorite things to do. And during the hike, we had more than a few leeches. It was a lot of leeches, and to be honest I was freaking out because they sounded so bad. However, during that hike I totally overcame my fear of leeches, and I found out they're actually really interesting creatures. The cave turned out to be the place where archaeologists have found the oldest traces of fire, therefore man. That was really cool. We then explored the cave, jumped into a small waterfall outside the cave, and hiked to a beautiful stream full of absolutely gorgeous dragonflies. We had our lunch and hiked again to the top of the waterfall we would abseil off. When I saw the waterfall, I shuddered. I have a fear of heights and falling, so I was absolutely terrified. However, I went down 5th, just so I wouldn't wait on the top freaking out. To be honest, for about ¾ of the way down I was so scared. But eventually, I overcame my fear, and that is now one of the most amazing things I've ever done.

Today out group had a nature lesson, watched a movie, and went river rafting. Although we thought it would be better to get the rafting over with, we were glad to get some rest during the movie and the nature lesson. In the nature lesson, which we had first, we were taken around camp with out eyes closed and we got to open them for about one second and be able to identify where we were. We also picked something from around camp that we thought was the most beautiful, and then explain why we thought it was beautiful. A lot of people picked flowers and leaves, but I got a bamboo stick because it’s so unique. Later we watched a movie, and because it was so dark and warm, everyone but three people fell asleep at some point! We were all so tired from the past few days and the morning that we all crashed. Once one person was asleep, basically everyone was. But from what I saw of the movie, it was very fascinating seeing how fast the world is changing in our generation. It we want to make a difference, we have to step up and make a difference and stop talking! Later, we went river rafting. The water was so cold that I was shivering, and then it started to rain. Although it was cold, it was very fun because we played trust games, balance games, and learned how to flip the raft upside down and right side up. We also learned the different parts in a river. The currents, the eddies, the stoppers, the pillows, the strainers, everything that we saw! At first We were struggling to paddle up-stream because of the current but we eventually got used to it and it was very fun.

American School of Doha Day 2

The blog for day 2 was written by Sean, Isabella and Holly.

            We began the day with delicious hot tea and cake, before disembarking on a short hike to the “stretching site” where we preformed our morning stretches. After that, we had a short relay race, and jogged back to camp. After a delicious breakfast, we were split up into four groups. Groups A and B headed off to explore a cave and do some abseiling – down a waterfall! Groups C and D took turns rafting and learning about our environment – both Sri Lanka and the Earth.

            Group C first sat in a circle to be assigned our, “cameras,” also known as a friend with their eyes closed. We lead each other around camp, “taking pictures,” or telling the person whose eyes were closed to open and shut their eyes quickly. Then, the “cameras” had to figure out where they were when they took their pictures. The next challenge was for each student to find three things in the surrounding area: something soft, something waxy, and something beautiful. All sorts of flowers, leaves, and large snails were collected (the snail was safely returned later). Group C was then brought to the long house for an eye-opening documentary video about how humans are affecting the earth. Meanwhile, group D had been learning how to paddle rafts upstream, how to flip a tipped raft upright, how to get back in the raft from the water, and how to help others get in the raft. Once we had learned the essentials, we played some games involving balance, teamwork, agility, and strength. After a delicious lunch of turkey and cheese sandwiches, the groups switched.

            Group A first walked a 7.5 km hike. Along the way we learned about how they tapped the rubber trees and made rubber.  We also had some meetings with our friends, the leeches. We continued our walk until we encountered a cave from 32,000 years ago and learned a lot of interesting facts about its history  We waited until group B came back from abseiling where they gave us their gear and we started a new hike up to the waterfall.  Up by the edge of the waterfall, the guides from Borderlands gave us a talk about how people first learned to abseil and how to properly abseil. As they attached us to the rope we experienced the scariest part leaning over the 100 ft. waterfall.  They gave us the go sign to lean as back as far as we could and start walking down the waterfall. There were people that had horrible fear of heights, and some even cried. We all stuck together and everyone went down. When we finished, we started hiking down the mountain back to our starting point. We packed our bags and got into a open air truck

. Then, we all cooled off in a refreshing waterfall. We walked until we made it to our final destination where we ate lunch.
. We then ended our adventure with a nice trip back to camp.

American School of Doha - Day 1

Day 1's blog was written by Deborah.

Once we disembarked from the plane, we began with a four hour bus ride while taking in the stunning scenery of Sri Lanka (for those of us who weren’t sleeping). The greenery was simply awesome, compared to the starkness of the arid, dust-ridden Qatari planes. Generally, groups head to the camp to start off, but, apparently, our group was excited and prepared enough to dive in head first.

Our first stop was lunch. After hours stranded in the air with nothing but processed airplane food for sustenance, real food (consisting of ripe, delectable pineapple, and an extremely filling wrap – of which some of us had two) and a great view downriver was a blessing. Now, we headed up into the luscious mountain jungles. This was where we first encountered our very attached – excuse the pun - friends, the leeches. Despite not feeling a thing, they certainly left a mark once they ate their fill.

 After the hike through the treacherous mud, we finally got to step into the pristine, crystal-clear, yet raging, frothing waters of a river. The current tugged at our lifejackets, giving us a friendly shove over the edged we were too scared to jump off of ourselves. Never in our lives had we experienced such a thrill. And that was only part of it. Next up was a surprise.

We never expected to float 500 meters downstream to our camp site. But that’s what we ended up doing. Huddled together, holding hands, feet up, one-by-one each travel group was sent into the freezing waters. Contrary to the river’s appearance, instead of rocketing off into the distance, carried by raging rapids, we trickled slowly downriver, gently pushed by caring currents. Once at the rough-hewn rock steps that led to our camp, we were more than ready to get out of the icy water.

After clambering out we found piping-hot soup waiting for us, which was certainly welcome, and then we were finally allowed to settle in, setting up our bedrolls in our respective huts. To end the day, we played cards and chatted amongst ourselves, eating and laughing as the sun sank below the horizon.

Editor’s note: the school participated in canyoning today.