AQABA SWIMMING COMPETITION

Last Tuesday Coach Yasser and I boarded the bus with 14 students from Years 4 to 6 to head to Aqaba for a swimming competition with the Aqaba International School (AIS) and a visiting school from New Zealand.  A great time was had by all, starting with dinner upon arriving in Aqaba, followed by a bit of a jam session with the hotel’s karaoke machine.  ‘Born in the U.S.A’ will never be the same again after being sung by Gray!  What a great night!

The following morning we attended the AIS International Day, complete with food from various countries from around the world.  The children enjoyed themselves on the bouncy castle and with the horse and buggy rides, followed by some fantastic musical performances by the New Zealand students.

After this, however, it was time to compete!!  All of the events were freestyle and our students showed some fantastic spirit and determination to do their best, and do their best they did!  Gold medals were won by Ignacio Arce Moscoso (Y4), Karim Al Araj (Y5), Ellie Smith (Y5), Gray Thomas (Y6) and Farah Norhasmat (Y6).  Bronze medals were won by Basile Guichard (Y4), Taiki Sekiguchi (Y5) and Maeve O’Halloran Brown (Y5).  Special mention should also go to Karim Al Araj for winning the race held between the gold medalists of all races, boys and girls, from Years 4-7.  Well done Karim!  ICS also won many of the relays and those children contributing to those wins were the students mentioned above, as well as Year 5 students Hazman Norhasmat, Ghazi Jichi, Sarra Alayyan and Lea Margo and Year 6 students Vansh Sood and Julia Polycandriotis.

Finally, after the competition, 50 students from AIS, 40 students from New Zealand and our ICS group headed to Wadi Rum on a 2 hour jeep safari.  The kids really enjoyed this, as we made frequent stops so the children could play on the sand dunes!  After the sun set there was a dj dance party and dinner, then a brief ice cream stop back in Aqaba before heading to bed and going back to Amman the next morning.

I must say that all of our 14 students were true ambassadors for ICS; they were extremely well-behaved and this was noticed by the AIS staff, as I had comments from them about the fantastic behaviour of our children!  Well done to all of you who took part in the competition and thanks for being such great children to travel with!  Special thanks to Coach Yasser for his willingness to go along with the trip and to chaperone the children!

Miss Dunn

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