Headmaster Brockert
February 10, 2017 6:48 PM
Midsummer Fair by Headmaster Brockert
It was time once again for Sonora's annual Midsummer Event. This year, it was to be the fair and they were doing an International Festival. While he was naturally not the most culturally sensitive towards others, he appreciated the fact that it was something educational. Mortimer found those to be the kind of events he preferred for the students to have. Education, after all, was the most important aspect of school and that's where people should be focused, not socializing or Quidditch or other extracurricular activities.Though admittedly, sometimes, it was good to have an event that was purely fun because it boosted morale. Happy students meant happy parents which in turn lead to happy board members which in turn lead to Mortimer being happy based on not having to deal with their unhappiness, but if it could be both fun and educational, so much the better.
And there was one booth in particular that Mortimer was interested, and that was South Korea. He had no more interest in that country than any of the others featured, except that it was Emerald's booth and he was keen on seeing what she and her group had done. He might not have been the warmest, most caring person in general, but she was still his granddaughter and he did love her and his other grandchildren.
Now, however, it was time to get started. Mortimer stood in front of the assembled group, cast the Sonorus Charm on himself and began to speak. "Welcome to this year's Midsummer International Fair. Your yearbooks are available on the table next to the stage. Have a good time." With that he stepped down, removed the charm from himself and headed off to look at the South Korea booth.
\r\nOOC-The yearbooks will be available when Amelle finishes them. As she is currently very busy with other things, please be patient.
Subthreads: Brazil! by Nathan Xavier with Lily Spencer
Ethiopia! by Isis Carter with Joe Umland, Raine Collindale
Poland! by Rory Taransay with John Umland, Lionel Layne
Israel! by Professor Sophie O'Malley with Simon Mordue, Wally and Stanley O'Malley
Chile by DH Skies with Dustin Newell
South Korea (nm) by DH Skies with Ginger , Jake Manger
France (nm) by DH Skies
New Zealand (nm) by DH Skies
Wandering between [Tobi] by Makenzie Newell
Is this our twilight? (tag Lena) by Clark Dill with Lena
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Headmaster Brockert
Midsummer Fair
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Professor Sophie O'Malley
February 13, 2017 7:07 PM
Israel! by Professor Sophie O'Malley
“Stanley Jacob O’Malley, I swear to God if don’t get back here and take your father’s hand right now, so help me, you will be grounded until you’re thirty.” The small, dark-haired boy who had kid skittering ahead of them screeched to an immediate stop. “Thank you,” said Sophie. “That’s better. Now, come on, we have to go check in on Mommy’s booth.”The Potions professor was quite pleased with her group of assorted Crotali and lovable outlier. They had come together nicely to create something that Sophie thought had turned out just incredible. The historical aspects incorporated, she felt, were perhaps the most impressive, thanks in part to input from Caelia Lucan’s brother Emrys, who had evidently done actual archaeological work in Israel recently. Their pamphlets described not only the history of Israel as a country but of the land before it was made into the country the world now knew.
And one could hardly discuss a country like Israel without some discussion of religion. It was often a hot-button topic among people for a variety of sensitive reasons, but Sophie felt it was important to the understanding of the country, and she was glad to see her students seemed to have the same idea. The Hebrew faith was simply quintessential to the Israeli identity and had to be covered.
An interesting topic also selected to cover was the local folklore. It was the sort of thing that varied everywhere, but Sophie at least had never before thought to consider just how different - but also how alike - a nation’s particular stories could be. In the case of Israel, most of their stories seemed to reflect their history of exile in other lands, their return to the land of their ancestors, and the modern-day battles over establishing and maintaining statehood. The blonde found the struggle to belong quite relatable, as she imagined many of the students would.
Most booths seemed to offer some sort of food samplings, and the Israel booth was no exception. Thanks to a large chunk of cultural meshing, there was not much of an established Israeli cuisine, although the most popular dish was felafel, which were deep-fried balls of ground chickpeas. Food items were restricted to what was considered kosher, with shellfish and pork, for example, right out. Sophie had expected some limitations, but she hadn’t known previously that even acceptable meats had to be kept completely separate from all dairy products. They couldn’t even touch the same utensils, a fact about which she had been diligent while they worked on preparing the meals in Sonora’s kitchen.
All in all, it had been a wonderful experience, and Sophie was glad to see all the kids’ hard work pay off. And her boys seemed to think it was pretty interesting, so that was nice. Even if Stanley still wanted to run off into the literal rain forest the Brazil kids had created. She sighed and passed him a felafel, hoping that food would distract him for now. She handed one to Wally, too, although for the normal reason that one usually gave food to a child. He had always been so much more calm, whereas Stanley, despite having grown out of his “terrible twos” and now his “threenager” year, still seemed to have enough chaotic energy for the both of them.
OOC: Mentions of Ryan approved by his author. Information about Israel was gathered here
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Professor Sophie O'Malley
Israel!
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Simon Mordue
February 23, 2017 7:06 PM
Probably flirting with disaster. by Simon Mordue
Simon had learned to hide it, to conceal nerves behind a solemn expression as though he were merely a very serious and refined person instead of a nervous one, but he did not think he could blame all of the sweat annoyingly beading up on the back of his neck on the midsummer sun. His role was relatively minor – hand out the pamphlets on history and culture he and Caelia had put together and answer a question if it was directed directly to him and he knew the answer – but he still felt the pressure of the stage. Quidditch had helped that fear, helped a lot – his uncle had slapped his back when he told the family about his first game and said that the game would make a man out of him, and if being a man was only half-panicking whenever people chased him with weapons, he guessed his uncle was right – but Simon was not sure it would ever really go away completely for him.Through his nerves, though, he really did think they had all done a good job. He didn’t know how it would have gone without Caelia as an older student to help them out, but she was there and it had worked out for them. They had a booth upright and it had pamphlets and food and what Winston and Kira had done with stories at the very least. Brazil had clearly gone completely over the top and Poland featured some distinctive costumes and so many posters it reminded Simon of all the paintings and photographs that covered the walls in his aunt’s boudoir, but Israel was presentable. He was even prepared to bet that theirs was not going to be the worst booth at the Fair.
He stood up straight and made a point of asking passers-by if they wanted a pamphlet, as he and Caelia had worked hard on them, but he doubted many people found history and archaeology that interesting. He was not totally comfortable inserting himself into conversations among the group members or initiating them with anyone but Winston and sometimes Caelia, so when he found himself without anyone to offer a pamphlet to for several minutes, he looked for something else to do for a moment so he wouldn’t just have to stand in awkward silence. The most appealing option looked like speaking to one of Professor O’Malley’s small children, so Simon smiled at one of them.
“Is the felefel good?” he asked one. They looked old enough to talk, and he thought he remembered running across a game when reading that it might be possible to use them in a demonstration of if they were old enough to understand things. That wasn’t part of the program, really, but it would probably draw more attention than just history and stories and chickpeas, and then maybe people would stay for the rest.
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Simon Mordue
Probably flirting with disaster.
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Wally and Stanley O'Malley
February 25, 2017 5:14 PM
What's flirting? by Wally and Stanley O'Malley
Wally blinked. There was a big kid talking to him. He glanced at his brother sitting on the ground beside him, but Stanley didn’t seem particularly phased by the big kid, too occupied by his snack.Mom said it was bad to talk with food in your mouth, so Wally chewed and swallowed quickly. “Yeah,” he answered quietly beneath the chatter of the event. He looked around nervously and realized he was probably too quiet, so he repeated himself, this time a bit louder. “Yeah.”
His folding chair - unlike his brother, Wally wasn’t very fond of dirt and things, so he had asked for something to sit on instead of just plopping down - wasn’t too far from the booth, where his mom and dad still currently stood, and also where the falafels were. “They’re over there,” he added, pointing at the booth. “If you want one.”
It was now, halfway through his treat, that Stanley seemed to become aware that there was a conversation going on and that he wasn’t involved in it. And Wally was! That was unfair. Stanley tugged on the big kid’s pant leg to get his attention. “Hi! I’m Stanley!” he declared. “Are you here to be our friend?”
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Wally and Stanley O'Malley
What's flirting?
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Wally and Stanley O'Malley
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Simon Mordue
February 28, 2017 1:11 PM
...Someone else will tell you when you're older. by Simon Mordue
The small child appeared shy. Simon could sympathize with that, and hoped that the child was not one of the heirs in his family, too. People expected the one with the main property to be the face of the family, and it was just too bad if that one happened to wish his future ability to tell people what to do could include the power to order someone else to be the face of the family and host the biggest parties and do business and do politics and meet with important people instead. Everyone, though, as his father said, had a boss, and tradition was an heir’s.“Thank you,” he said politely when the small child pointed out where the food was, and then the other child jumped up and tugged on his trouser leg. Simon looked, startled, at the second child, who offered up a name.
“Hello, Stanley,” he said, offering his hand to shake. Did small children do that? He had been taught to by the time he was their age, he thought, for when he met his father’s friends. “I’m here to help your parents with this booth, but I’d be happy to be friends with you, too. Would you like some pamphlets to offer people?” Maybe small, cute children would have an easier time making people take an interest in history and culture. "They are about what children in another country do." He looked back at the seated one. “My name is Simon,” he added to both twins. “What’s yours?” he asked the less bold one.
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Simon Mordue
...Someone else will tell you when you're older.
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Wally and Stanley
February 28, 2017 8:26 PM
When? by Wally and Stanley
Stanley looked at the hand offered to him by the big kid for a moment before remembering what he was supposed to do with it. Then he reached out and grasped on, his grip pretty solid for a kid his age, and shook happily. When the big kid offered him pamphlets, he made a face. “That sounds boring,” he commented bluntly. He didn’t want to just stand around and give people papers. What was he, a paper-man?! No, sirree Bob.As the big kid - Simon - introduced himself and asked for Wally’s name, it suddenly occurred to him that now was the time to remember that he was shy. He felt very nervous immediately thereafter and sort of curled into himself, pulling up his dangling legs for safety. Stanley rolled his eyes at his twin brother’s sudden freeze up. “He’s Wally,” he stated for the good of the order.
Wally nodded slowly in confirmation of the fact. He managed eventually to pull his big blue eyes back up to Simon, although he looked a little scared to do it. “Are… are there pictures?” he asked weakly. “In the pamphlets.” Wally gave a tentative, sheepish smile. “I like pictures. And I don’t really know how to read.” He had started picking up a few things here and there, and he recognized his name when it was written out, as well as Mom, Dad, and Stanley, but mostly on memory of the appearance and not really on the basis of reading comprehension. But he was trying.
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Wally and Stanley
When?
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Simon
February 28, 2017 11:23 PM
When you're thirty, maybe. by Simon
Simon withdrew the pamphlet as Stanley declared it boring. Well, it had been worth a try. Things then apparently decided to get worse as the other one curled into a ball at being asked his name (maybe he was one of those people who really, really disliked his name for some reason? Simon wouldn’t have thought they were old enough to think of that, but he didn’t remember that much about it himself and therefore supposed he couldn’t say for sure.Stanley answered for his brother, though, assigning to the other small child the moniker ‘Wally.’ Maybe he was old enough to dislike his name, thought Simon then. He would not like to be called Wally, but it did not seem polite to say so.
“Some pictures,” he said instead. “Of nice buildings and magical sites and things.” He proffered one for Wally’s inspection. “And Miss Lucan draws beautifully. I like reading – I’m sure you will, too, when you learn more – and I like looking at her pictures, too.” Simon looked back and forth between the two, then decided he should ask. “How old are you two?” he asked. He was assuming somewhere between four and six from how well they spoke, but knowing exactly would help him get a better idea of what he should think of them – hopefully, anyway.
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Simon
When you're thirty, maybe.
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