Surprises
Did anything surprise you about the illustrations from Afghanistan?
34 Replies
One of the things that surprised me about the pictures was the fact that the English used by the students was perfect. I expected most of it to be in Arabic. Or many just no words at all. I guess Americans have been there for longer than I thought.
-Hull
Something that surprised me was that there was a Minnie Mouse on one of the pictures. Do they have the same TV channels as us? Or is this just something that they think relates to us?
That's what surprised me too! I was wondering how they knew about Minnie.
When I saw Minnie mouse, it made me think they weren't so poor after all!
One big thing that surprised me was that a lot of the Afghanistan drawings had pictures of kids working (on farms and etc.). This really surprised me because we drew about things we loved and what we liked doing and some of them drew about how they are working. I didn't even know that they work at there age! I find it kind of odd that kids would draw about working but I think that really shows a lot. I'm sure they enjoy the work they do since they drew about it. It's either that or that they were just trying to represent Afghanistan and that was the best way to represent it.
Something that surprised me was that the pictures of Afghanistan were peaceful while ours were mostly sports.
It surprised me that in Afghanistan they have Minny Mouse. I wasn't sure if they had similar television shows and had seen it there or if Afghanistan had Disney/World/Land. I hadn't realized Afghanistan had Minny Mouse, I thought that it was more of a US and European chain. 
Let me just say, the Afghan students basically pwned us at the artwork.
Their art was amazing, and quite a bit more intricate and beautiful than ours.
Their artwork also carried a lot more meaning than ours. They wished for peace and safety, while our drawings were just about things we liked to do.
One Thing that surprised me was that they wrote a lot of things in english on their pictures. Are they learning english at school in afganistan?
Another thing that surprised me was a picture of minnie mouse. I think that the artist was hinting that they might watch they same shows or have the same characters.
One thing that really surprised me was that the Afghanistan kids were always talking, and wishing for peace. I think this is because they are expereincing a war with us now, so they want that to end. But it did come off strong to me that they was their main focus.
I was surprised at the amount of drawings of people who were in prayer. I knew that Muslims did pray a lot but I didn't think it would be a relatively large part of their life.
That is an interesting question. Maybe it's true 
What really surprised me was how good their art actually was. I can't believe it it was amazing. My favorite one was the picture in titled By the Way of Allah. What I really liked was the rose with the little person coming out of it. I like doing things like that but kids picture was 10x better than anything I have ever done.
Andrew
i was answering sarah
may I ask why you thought they weren't so poor?
I thought it was real sweet when the kid said "I love my American friends"
(assuming we're the american friends)
I don't think we sent anything to them in Pashto. The only things we wrote were stuff like Peace and Love, stuff like that. Maybe we should be nicer next time.
(if there is a next time)
Noel
sarah
I think disney is a whole-world kind of thing
I agree. I noticed how our pictures were us playing sports, or sailing whereas their pictures were less recreational activities and more about everyday things.
While admiring the Afghanistan drawings, I noticed that many of their drawings included praying to Allah for peace, or just wishing for peace in their country. This came as a surprise to me because I hadn't thought that peace would be incorporated into their drawings. Having Allah depicted in their drawings was a surprise too because I hadn't thought that many of them would be religious, or at least depict it in their drawing that would be sent to the United States.
I noticed that too, Matt. They all used words and expressions to convey the drawings meaning. Ours just talked about what we liked to do. Also, I was suprised by the Minnie Mouse drawing. I couldn't figure out how they knew about Minnie Mouse.
While looking at the pictures I was really surprised at one with an airport. I thought that Afghanistan was a third world country. I didn't know that planes were a daily sight.
the think that really surprised me was all the stuff about peace. I mean I want peace to, but I bet they think about it a lot more than any of us
I don't know, maybe they have comics about it like they did 20 years ago here. Either way there has to be some connection between them.
One of the surprises i saw was that there was a picture of mini mouse. I know that they are not cut off from us, but where they lived seemed very... rural. One more was that they had a picture of a king cobra. This surprised me, because what i think of when i think of where a cobra lives, i think desert. And, yes, i know, a portion of Afghanistan is desert, but what i saw there was lush, green mountains and rivers.
I was surprised that some of the drawings had words written in english on them. I expected most of their drawings to be written in their language (pashto). I didn't know that they could speak/write in english!
Sounds like Minnie threw everyone off guard; me too. Peace also seems to have gotten our attention. Maybe related to that, Kelley, I noticed the plane, too-- and a helicopter. I couldn't help wondering if those are military aircraft.
ya i got the same thing. All of ours were sports or music related stuff. I was also surprised about there amazing art skills
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ya i got the same thing. All of ours were sports or music related stuff. I was also surprised about there amazing art skills
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ya i got the same thing. All of ours were sports or music related stuff. I was also surprised about there amazing art skills
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-Rowan
I was surprised at the picture of mini mouse. I didn't think that they would have a picture of a disney character. I also thought it was interesting that she was lying on a rug...
And it was really good!
Hull, I agree. I wasn't expecting the Afghan students to be able to write in English. I guess I just assumed that since they lived halfway around the world, they wouldn't speak the same language that we do. That really surprised me. I also found it interesting how on some of their drawings, they would write something in Arabic and then translate it into English so that we got to read in both languages. I just thought that the students' use of languages was really surprising.
I think that they (meaning the Afghan kids) might associate America with the Mickey Mouse series or Disney World, just a thought.
This was adding on to Lias post
Everyday I go by the pictures and I notice something different, one thing catches my eye. Today I was walking by and I noticed that in a lot of the pictures there was white space. I thought this could be because there are not as many resources there and the kids really notice that. They are not as lucky as we are.
That's an astute observation, Kelley!
HullC-BWD7
Feb 2, 2012 at 3:40 PM