As you all know, last week, we were not in the school room. We took a week off of all schooling to attend the Catalyst Foundation’s Vietnamese Culture Camp in New York. Since Monkey is adopted from Vietnam, we decided that it would be good to attend the camp and meet others who were also adopted from Vietnam. We had a wonderful time, and are so thankful to have the opportunity to meet some wonderful new friends, and the awesome counselors who have become excellent role models for our little one.
But just because we weren’t in the school room, that doesn’t mean the kids didn’t spend the week learning!
They did nature studies.... Creeking at the waterfall we found during a hike up one of the mountains in the Catskills of New York.
They played games with the other kids....
They learned to speak some Vietnamese (numbers, animals, basic greetings) along with learning some of the legends and myths from Vietnam.
They made a lot of new friends from all over the world!
They learned to cook Vietnamese Salad Rolls & Vietnamese Bun Cha.
Bug enjoyed destroying her salad roll. 😉
They participated in a culture show where they had to get on stage and say some words in Vietnamese.
They made some new friends and had a lot of fun with them!
All three kids had fun at culture camp with new friends.
After Culture Camp, we drove from New York to New Jersey for a brief American History lesson. They got to see the early stages of one of the 9/11 memorials.
They also got to see the New York city skyline
...and learned about what happened on September 11th and why the United States was looking for Osama bin Laden.
They all got to ride a ferry to Liberty Island
...and were able to see Ellis Island. We talked about what it means to be an American Citizen. This was an important lesson for our family, considering one of our children immigrated to the United States.
Finally, the kids were able to visit the Statue of Liberty.
It was a beautiful day...perfect for teaching the kids about the gift of freedom!
