Waldorf Family Camp

From Waldorf Today:

A Letter from Portugal

Dear Friends at Waldorf Today,

As an enthusiastic reader of your newsletter, I would like to thank you for the announcement in June for the International Waldorf Family Camp in Hungary, otherwise we wouldn’t have experienced what we felt to be the most wonderful, magic week of our lives. We are from Portugal and there were families from Israel, Germany, Philippines and, of course, Hungary, but we seemed one and the same family knowing each other for a long time.

We started our days singing an Hungarian song “Bodzavirágból” followed by candle lighting and Bothmer exercises in a warm calm atmosphere. From that day on a new song was added everyday ; The Hebrew “Halleluya”, the German Schumansong, the Portuguese nursery rhyme and the Filipino folk song. Through the walks in the wonderful surroundings and up the hills we started to know each other’s culture, habits and language.

The children and we adults were amazed at the beauty of everything around us; our new friends , the hills, the train trip on the hills, Hámori lake and the other lakes, the streams, the small wooden bridges, the relaxing cave bath, the castle and all its history, The Hungarian tale we performed for the children in the forest, the traditional food restaurants, the evening meetings by the fire enjoying the Hungarian tasty food, some of it baked in a wood-fired oven, the dances with an Hungarian folk band, the Dragon Boating on the Lake, the excursions we made to different places ( Miskolc, Tapolca, Lillafüred…), even the guest house we stayed in, where from the balcony or lying on the bed we could see the stars, the work with potter’s clay and wheel, the planking-felt jewelry and much more…

These were some of the children’s remarks:
“Mum, life is wonderful” (11 year old girl)
“From here we can see the stars, it´s amazing!” (13 year old boy)
“I would like to go to this school” ( 7 years old boy)
“ I made a lot of friends in this camp and I like your school very much” (12 year old boy)
“Look! He is smiling all the time” (mum, pointing to her 7 year old son)

Love was everywhere in the way things were prepared for us and we all felt it deep down in our souls. We said goodbye, hugging each other and tearfully promised to get together next year.

I wish more people had had this wonderful time! That’s the reason why I decided to tell you about our journey. Maybe next year our big family will grow bigger!

Warm Regards,
Amélia Almeida