I am SUPER behind on blogs, I have Iran to do (which we did on Monday), Hayden's birthday (Tuesday), and Somalia (yesterday), and I've still got a Waterstraut Weekly to publish, so I'm going to try and run through these quick. We're doing Libya today, and I don't want to get too behind, or I'll never catch up.
These next few countries are all on the list of countries who were banned (we're still waiting on that court decision, right? I haven't checked the news this morning)/ under 'extreme vetting', or whatever you want to call it.
The first couple were really broken up with the Super Bowl, and Hayden's birthday. We started last Saturday with Sudan, and Monday was Iran day.
First of all, Iran does have an official U.S. State Department travel warning, just like every country you'll find in this 'theme' week. But, it's a milder warning than some you'll see this week.
Iran is the home of Persian, the first nation to ditch the nomadic lifestyle in favor of settling down, growing crops, and raising livestock (something like 12,000 years ago). If you do go to the country (and you totally can- at least for now- but you HAVE to be part of an official tour group to enter/leave), make sure you check out the ruins of ancient Persepolis. It's one of Iran's must-visit attractions! (And it has FIVE stars on Trip Advisor!)
The boys knew a little about our featured landmark, the Azadi Tower, from the Fenderson project. Fun fact: I totally just googled 'Waterstraut Waterspout Fendersons to find that link for you. Anyway, the 'Freedom' Tower, as it is also known, is made of marble and is part of a whole big complex. It was built in 1971, as a celebration of when the Persian Empire ruled the world some 2,500 years ago.
Iran facts:
The speak Farsi/Persain (but official writings are still in Arabic)
About 95% of the country practices Islam
They're super into poetry
They have lots of modern museums
They actually love their fast food kabob & falafel shops.
I couldn't convince Asa to get a Persian cat, so our activity was making our own mini Persian rugs that we could use as bookmarks. (Persian rugs account for 30% of all handwoven carpets sold worldwide). While it can take a year to make a medium sized rug, we made ours in about half in hour.
I can't find the exact directions I used, and even then, I changed them up a bit for what I had on hand, but you can get the basics here.
First, I made these little cardboard looms. Then I strung our yarn up and down (I guess that part was called the 'warp'), and then we took a different color for our weaving.
Peyton did an orange and red combo, and while you can tell he had a little opsies in the middle, I've been working on not having to have things too perfect, so I told him it was no big deal, and to keep going (he already had about four rows after the fact when he noticed.)
So when we pulled it off the loom, cut the loops and tied them together, it wasn't the flattest-laying thing I've ever seen. But he was ok with that, so I was too.
Calib also did red and orange (I don't have a ton of yarn, most of it was my grandma Sattler's that I got when she passed away, but we use it so infrequently, I still have quite the supply.)
He had a few opsie moments, but always went back to correct them, and it turned out nice.
Hayden used a thinner, multicolored yarn. It took him much longer to do his, as he actually stopped for more Iran lessons and then came back to it later. But since the yarn was thinner, it lays the flattest and makes the best bookmark.
I try and break up the lecturing part of the day a little bit- so we do our ordinary around the kitchen table spiel, an activity and then we go to the board to learn a little bit more about why these countries are unstable, and why there are so many refugees coming from these 7 countries.
Iran is a bit different than the other countries, though. Life is not as difficult there as it is, in say, Somalia. They have access to the internet, although limited, they're modern with art museums and architecture, they go out to eat, and don't worry about things like clean water. They basically go about their lives. (I mean, if you're a woman, or LGBT or oppose the government, you will have some issues- but if we're talking about the hardships of life in the other banned countries, Iran is not really on par).
But the government is notorious for funding various terrorist groups from Hamas in the Gaza Strip, to Hezbollah based in Lebanon, to the Taliban in Afghanistan, Iran has their fingerprints on all kinds of terrorist organizations. Then there's the whole refusal to follow rules and stop launching missals.
After our activities and both lectures, the boys made their postcards.
Now, Iran dinner was a little different. We had planned on going to a falafel/kabob place for lunch. But, we've all been passing various germs to each other for like two weeks now, and a new person feels sick every other day it seems. When we do all feel better, we'll go out, and I'll add the pictures to the end of the blog.
However, we did Iran on Monday, which I'm sure you all know was Reagan's birthday! This year for president's birthdays, the boys have been reading the files we made way back in 2015, when we celebrated everyone's birthdays. Reagan's food was our favorite, so we couldn't let his birthday go by without having the house-famous Nancy Reagan Mac & Cheese. Calib actually asked if we were having Iran day on Reagan's birthday because of the Iran-Contra Affair. (My kids are always looking for hidden themes).
Anyway, since we plan to have the actual meal for Iran out, we decided we could color it in on the table at Reagan's birthday dinner.
As always, at the end of dinner, the boys explained their postcards, and we voted on the best ones.
And, we scratched off Iran and it's flag.
Our table is getting colorful, with lots of big countries colored in.
17 Down, 176 to go!
Update: We finally had the Greenland Grill for our Iran meal. It's a take out middle eastern place not too far from here.
We got all kinds of food to split, including lamb kabob with rice, a gyro, and a sampler with hummus, pitas, salads, falafals, and grape leaves, and baklava for desert. The boys tried it all, and it got mixed results. But, we all agreed we'd certainly try the place again for lunch.
Next Up: Somalia
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