Sveiki from Kursa!
We are in the middle of week three at Kursa, and so many exciting things have happened! Between classes, evening activities, and our annual outing, students have had a lot of fun and unique experiences!
At the end of our first week, we gained even more students, and swelled up to an impressive 35! That meant that Sunday we did some more ice breaker activities to get to know our new classmates.
Classes have included history, Latvian language and Latvian art, and folklore. We also had a few new opportunities for interest groups, including Latvian Kitchen with Kate Blaķis, pottery with counselor Nauris, in addition to jewelry making and traditional hand crafts.
The real stand out events in our second week were our field trip to Mt. Saint Helens, our night activity featuring stargazing, and the Kursa film challenge.The Kursa Film Challenge this year had a theme of Kursa’s history and students were able to create 6 short films capturing both some of the historic, and imagined histories (more of the latter).
On our field trip, we got up early to drive to Mt. Saint Helens, where students enjoyed a lecture and short documentary film about the eruptions that occurred 44 years ago. The beauty of the natural landscape was truly breathtaking, and students also got to enjoy the Hummocks Trail, where they walked along ash covered paths, and saw the hummocks created by the volcanic blast.
The following evening was our poem evening, with the theme of ‘night’. After the poems and songs presented by both students and staff, we had a unique evening activity. Students had to solve a few puzzles and complete a few challenges, and after doing so were able to enjoy a nice walk around the lake, all while only lit by some glow sticks and the light of the moon. The short hike ended with some time to stargaze, and a few lucky students even spotted a shooting star.
We also held our annual Kursīno event, in which students dressed up as a number of interesting characters to attend an evening of playing games, enjoying tasty snacks and drinks, and participating in our auction! One of the most popular games was a simple ‘Heads or Tails’ game led by a couple of our graduating students!
Our third week so far has included watching the Latvian film ‘The Dream Team 1935’, an exciting evening of pārdejas with a live band (see more of them on Saturday😉), and a very solid runthrough of our singing and dancing for the Kursa 50 event. We also took some time to give our nometne some much needed love and attention, which included cleaning the insides of the buildings, setting up beautiful lights in front of the ēdamzāle, and even repainting the jumis and trim of the woodshed!
We’re looking forwards to our events this weekend and what we’ve got in store next week! Kursa 50 is right around the corner, and we hope to see you there!
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