| Unravel The Mysteries Young
Adult Forum
27 - 29 May, 2005
Friday - Saturday
One - Saturday Two - Sunday
One - Sunday Two
Day 2:
Saturday, 28 May, 2005 (cont'd)
| We finally decided to have dinner at a restaurant
called Alice
Fazooli's, about five minutes from the hotel. Apparently
fish and seafood are their calling. Just as apparently, alcohol
is another one of their callings (you'll soon see why). We
called ahead for a reservation (albeit less than an hour ahead)
for a table of around 22 people. We were mostly Ottawa crew
with a small Edmonton contingent; the Montreal crew followed
along with us. We ended up with an entire section of the restaurant
all to ourselves. |
It's all about the group photos.
(click to enlarge)
Vafa got E because of the wait.
Martin got E because nobody listened
to his suggestion to go to Denny's.
Everybody say Fazooli's!
Awesome laughing Nadia!
Shooz. What more can I say?
What's wrong with this picture?
(click to enlarge)
There are always smiles aplenty
when Baha'i youth get together.
| Finally, Arash's pager went off, and we mobbed
into the restaurant. Things went at a fairly good pace, considering
the size of our group. The weird thing was what they gave
us to put on our bread... oil and vinegar??? Jeez... gimme
some butter. |
Weird beady jellyfish thing.
There were lots of these hanging
from the ceiling.
Looking.
Nays tries to figure out someone's camera.
Kam takes a picture of himself
in front of the booze wall wine rack.
The aforementioned
booze wall wine rack.
Well, at least the wine has a nice name.
Dinner ambiance.
| Since late Saturday night to early Sunday morning
was the time Baha'is commemorate the Ascension of Baha'u'llah,
Saturday evening's arts program reflected that theme. A more
diverse, engaging, imaginative and professional arts night
at a Baha'i event was nowhere to be seen. Each performer was
bursting with talent, spirituality and a palpable desire for
excellence. |
Naysun the amazing, performing
his phat Chinese dance.
Interspersed throughout the evening were
quotations from the Baha'i Writings,
read by flashlight.
Storytelling -- one of the performers
told the audience a story from the life
of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
Bayan Foyle!
Some sort of super-pep african-brazilian dance
that brought down the house and kicked my butt!
Filled with energy and an insanely great rhythm.
Geneviève Cyr offered us some folksy,
soothingly melodious tunes with her
stunning voice.
Equality of Men and Women: REMIX!
Adam
Crossley.
He's going platinum.
Counsellor Rebequa Murphy takes the
stage again... this time, to SING!
| Rebequa Murphy is one of the radiant souls out
there who everyone remembers. Her trademark (according to
her, and confirmed by many friends and bystanders) is to teach
her audience a song. Back at the Sherbrooke Congress in the
summer of 2001, she taught the crowd "Monumé".
This time around she taught us an adapted version of the Nairobi
Peace Song - "When every one in the world dreams a sweet
dream of freedom, when every one in the world dreams a sweet
dream of peace..." After hours, she stayed around with
a hardcore gang of youth and answered their questions about
pioneering, travel-teaching, and anything else they wanted
to touch on. |
Late-night discussions with the Counsellor.
(note Fred to the right of her, in blue)
While definitely sleepy, the audience
listened with rapt attention.
| By the time the late-night discussions were over,
many of us were starting to wilt from lack of rest (except,
of course, the die-hards in the crowd). We slipped back to
our rooms to catch what little sleep we could get before we
rose again for the commemoration of the Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh
at 3:30 AM, Sunday morning. |
Day 3:
Sunday, 29 May, 2005
(click to enlarge)
| I didn't take many pictures of the commemoration.
It was far too moving, far too beautiful for one to take one's
thoughts and focus away from it. I took a few pictures of
the set-up afterwards, to give a small glimpse of the atmosphere. |
| By the time the commemoration had ended, it was
4:00 AM. We returned to the lobby and began to say our good
nights. |
When Anisa started turning into a werewolf,
we knew it was time to put her to sleep...
errr, put her to bed.
Pej was already halfway there.
Brother and sister!
This is the "It's way too late to be taking
pictures
of me, but I'm way too tired to fight it" look.
Sahba, either adjusting Sahar's earrings
or taking a quarter out of her ear.
(click to enlarge)
Martin: "Sleep? Are you kidding?
I'm just getting started!"
Meanwhile, Pardis and Phil just kept
chatting away until the janitor got tired
and kicked them out.
ZZZzzzzzzzzzzz...
Good morning, Mississauga.
(click to enlarge)
Next Page: Sunday
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