Back to the USA

Well today's the day! On Thursday I moved out of my room at the YWCA in Husn (I've been staying in a hostel in a Amman since). Last night, the MCC Jordan team (with the 2 new members of the MCC Iraq team) got together at the Rep flat for my farewell dinner. I just checked out of my hotel and now I'm hanging out at the office until I leave for the airport at 1:30pm (less than 30 minutes).

My flight leaves Amman at 4:35, heading to Doha, Qatar. I arrive in Qatar at 7:15, where I will meet 11 other SALTers (serving in Laos, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Nepal). From there the 12 of us have an overnight flight (leaving at 1:05AM) to Philadelphia. ETA in Philadelphia: 7:55AM, Monday the 21st. From there my father is picking me up (YAY DAD!), and then I am heading straight to SALT Re-Entry Retreat, in Akron, PA. Early Saturday morning my parents (YAY MOM AND DAD!) will come to Akron and take me home.

It's hard to believe that my SALT journey is nearly at an end. I want to thank everyone who supported me throughout this year. I was blessed and touch by each and everyone person who made this experience possible. I will miss everyone I got to know here in Jordan.


A year in pictures, some of which have probably been shared before:

First week in Jordan, at the Roman Ampitheater in Amman with Caleb

Visit to Ajloun Castle in November

Visit to Ajloun Castle in November

AES Student Art Exhibition in Amman, with teachers in November

AES Student Art Exhibition in Amman in November

Ina and me at our favorite restaurant in Amman in November

Lunch at Hashem's in November

At the Security wall in Bethlehem, just after Christmas in December

Decorating an olive tree in Beit Jala, Palestine in December

Petra with Jackie in January

Picnicking in February

Church at the Jordan River in March, with Judith

Visit to Jerash in March (here at the Temple of Artemis)

Visit to Umm Qais in March

Trip to Wadi Rum for Easter in April

Standing in the Red Sea, on the beach in Aqaba in April

Desert Castles trip with Ina and Judith in May

Fighting  Ina for my food at a BBQ in June

On Rainbow Street, in Amman with Judith in July

In King Abdullah Mosque in Amman in July

Getting muded up at the Dead Sea in July

Leaving school on my last day of work in July

Five Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes*

On our last day all together in the office.  From left to right: Headmistess Sabah, Jana, Judith, me, Ina, Rev. Samir, and Abu Munther

Today, was my last day at the Arab Epsicopal School. It's hard to fathom that I'm not going back tomorrow morning. Or the day after. Or any day in the foreseeable future. I have been blessed to work with all the teachers, admistrators, and staff at AES this past year. The chance to be part of this ground breaking community has been more amazing than I can express. Working with students has been the highlight of my year. They made every day a blessing and an adventure.

Getting the chance to live in Jordan this year has been more amazing than I can express. For all it's fustrations, and ups-and-downs, it has been a joy to serve these people and to learn from and with them.

As Jonathan Larson wrote, in the song "Seasons of Love" in his Tony award winning musical Rent: "How do you measure, measure a year?... Measure in Love."

*Well, not exactly. More like four hundred eighty two thousand four hundred minutes, since it's only been 11 months not a full year. But the song still relates.

One Month... WHAT?

Can I just say something crazy? I have less than a month left here is Jordan. It's pretty insane. Things are coming to a close at school. The students have finished final examinations and are no longer attending school. New teachers are being interviewed for next years staff. The final newsletter for the school year is out. It's hard to imagine that in a few short weeks I'm going to be back in the States. I'm excited to see my family and friends again, though I am sad to leave all the relationships I've made here.

Almost Half Way

I'm almost half way done with my SALT term. *insert cliche statements about how the time has flown* The following countdown is not very precise, but I thought it would be nice to show you all anyway!

Countdown:

12 days until the second semester of school starts
2 months (minus 1 day) until my birthday

3 months until Easter Vacation (and hopefully a visit from a friend!)

4 months until Retreat in Barcelona

5 months until the end of the school year

6 months until I'm back in the States

I guess I better start figuring out what I'm going to do after this year is over, huh?

Snow in Jordan

Snow in Amman

Jordan gets cold in the winter. Really cold. Which is a struggle because the buildings are designed to be cool on the inside, since it's blazing hot for most parts of the year. Most winters, I've been told, it snows once or twice, normally in January, and because it's only one or two snows the country has not invested in snow removal equipment. This partically explains why schools have a month long holiday spanning from the first or second week in January until early Febuary. This year though, the snow came early. Snow covered much of the Middle East, including parts of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, and even (briefly) Egypt.

Starting early last week, everyone kept talking about how it was going to snow. It was cold, but I wasn't sure I believed them. Then, on Wednesday, it was pouring rain. None of the nursery aged students came to school, and only about half of the kingergarten and first grade classes showed up. It was a cold, wet miserable day. Around noon, the Headmistress announced that the school would have a three hour delay the next day, and would be opening at 11 because the news was calling for the weather to get worse. The news was calling for snow. I was excited for the chance to sleep in, but I was worried about getting transportation to Amman after school on Thursday- one of the other SALTers, Christine, was coming to visit me and I needed to meet her.

"Snow" in Husn

I woke up the next morning to my phone ringing. It was the teacher I car pool to school with, letting me know that school was canceled for the day because of snow. Snow? I looked out the window of my bedroom- nothing. I walked down to the big window down the hall, that has a beautiful view from it- ok there was a little bit on snow on some metal. Ok, fine with me. I needed to go to Amman anyway, so I called the bus service that I normally take, they told me that they had buses going at 12 and 2. I rushed to get packed and convinced a friend with a car to drive me to the bus station. I just missed the noon bus, so I used the time to check out the brand new Carrefour grocery/department store. Soon enough I was on the bus, on my way to Amman. I still hadn't seen very much snow, just a bit on cars or in deep shadows; I found it funny that it was a snow day.

Upon stepping out of the bus in Amman though I found that it was much colder in Amman than in Irbid, and it was snowing. The snow wasn't sticking to the ground, but it was falling. I caught a cab and met up with my Reps. We had dinner and then headed off to the airport, which is about 45 minutes, on a normal day, outside of the city. The farther we got out from the center of Amman, the more snow I saw on the ground, I felt a small amount of cognitive dissonance because the last time I had gone to the airport it was been at least 90F degrees outside, at the time I would never have imagined that there would be snow in just a few short months.

The morning snow/slush

We successfully received Christine from the airport, and had a relaxing evening in at the Rep Flat. It continued to snow throughout most of the night. The next morning, there was a blanket of snow on the road and sidewalks outside. I called the school Priest and found out that they had already canceled school for Saturday even though there wasn't any snow in Irbid. I decided to just stay in Amman for another day, even though I had originally planned to return to Irbid on Friday evening. Christine and I took the morning slow and had a relaxing brunch with the Reps before we trekked out into the weather, hoping that something would be open since the snow was melting. We made our way to downtown, and ended up in the Roman Ampitheater, then made our way to Rainbow Street and had a late lunch at an American style Waffle House (no relationship to the chain), since it was the only thing open. After that we headed back to the Rep Flat, where we spent some more quality time with the Reps before heading out to have dinner at a reasurant with some traditional Jordanian foods. It had started snowing again, and the roads were getting icy so we were one of the few cars on the roads, and earned some "are you crazy" looks from the locals as we climbed some hills.

The next day there was even more snow outside. We talked to some locals and found out that the roads were closed, and the government was encouraging everyone to stay inside. So that's exactly what we did. The Reps, Christine, and I spent the day playing card games, talking, and drinking delicious homemade hot chocolate in the apartment. The school Priest called me to encourage me to return to Irbid so I could attend the teacher's Christmas party, but there were no buses running. On Sunday, I finally caught a bus back to Irbid, with a little bit of rushing and panic since it was the only bus leaving. When I left, there was still snow in Amman but there wasn't any in Irbid still. Christine stayed another day, then took a bus to Israel/Palestine.

Playing in the evening snow

The snow effected schools and businesses all week; schools across the country could not open until 9. There is still snow in Amman and other places with high altitudes. It was in the news that one town up in the mountains needed food to be airlifted to it because of the roads were so impassible.

There is still no snow in Irbid. I'm praying that the weather stays like this, because I'm hoping to have a safe, easy trip on Tuesday, aka Christmas Eve. I will be following in Christine's foot steps and meeting up with her and another SALTer in Jerusalem where we are all going to spend Christmas together.

How Big is Your Life?

How big is the radius of your life? I mean it, think about that question. How far do you travel for work? For School? How far do you live from your parents and other family members? How far do you travel to go grocery or clothes shopping? How far are the other places that you go regularly? You got that mapped out in your head? Great! Now, how many people are involved in that life? How many people do you work with? Are these different from your friends? How about the people you go to Church with? Next question for you: What does the size of your life mean?

Back in the US, I was always working to give my life a bigger radius. When I stayed with my parents, my life wasn't very small. I went grocery shopping at the Walmart that was a 10 minute car ride from my house. The mall and movie theater were 45 minutes away in one direction, the place where I worked 45 minutes in another. My church happened to only be a minute or so drive from my parents' house, but the people who attend come from all over the area. But the town with my high school and favorite coffee shop and my friend's barn was a 20 minute drive away. And most my friends lived even farther. I went to college 3 hours away from my parents house and made my life there for 4 years. The daily life I had there had a physically smaller radius, I slept, studied, went to class, ate, hung out with my friends, and worked on campus. But I had ways of extending that radius. I took babysitting jobs off campus- one involved a 30 minute walk. I went to mall 20 minutes away. I took trains into Philadelphia. I rode horses at a barn 20 minutes away. I took summer jobs in different locations, one in Akron, PA another in Philadelphia, PA. In Akron, I walked around town, and took my car to a coffee shop in the next town over, and met up with friends 20 minutes away in Lancaster. In Philly, my job involved traveling all over the city and when I needed it I escaped to Swarthmore, to my college in the suburbs. I always wanted my life to involve more and new places. I tried to know people in a variety of places.

My life in Jordan is much smaller. I do most of my grocery shopping on the street next to the YWCA. I go to church a little farther up the street. School's farther away, 20 minutes by car, about 40 minutes if I'm walking and taking the bus. But, I do very little in between those two. I sometimes go to Church events at AES. Sometimes I go to University Street for coffee. When it feels too small, I run away to Amman, which is about an hour and a half away. But, all of this is augmented by the fact that I have family and friends that I keep in close contact with back in the US.

For me, the size of my life meant, and still means, that I didn't see my parents very often. Even when I was living with them there were days that we didn't see each other. Seeing my sisters was rarer. It meant that I spent a lot of time along commuting. It meant that I maintained friendships where I wouldn't see or sometimes ever speak to person in weeks, or months. Despite that, I always felt close to people.

In America, I always felt like I had a normal sized life. A lot of people commute to work and live far from their parents and go to school away from home. Sometimes, thinking about it makes my life in Jordan feel extremely small. But, in the Jordanian context my life is actually pretty big. Most Jordanians live with their parents until they get married. It's common for Jordanian young adults to tell their parents everywhere that they go. Often, young, unmarried women need their father or brother to drive them places. It's normal to shop in only a few stores, because customers are intensely loyal. Many of my students when asked about their dream vacation talk about going to Aqaba, which is about the same distance from Irbid as from my hometown to New York City. After spending my life in a culture that appreciates bigness, it's not always comfortable to step into one where smaller lives are common. It can feel like you're being watched and judged. But culturally, it means that people are much closer to their families. Decisions are made by the family. Friendships are made by the family. The people in your life are involved with everything. It means that people are more interdependent- as evidenced by the fact that people always assume that I'm lonely since I don't live with family.

So, I ask you again: How big is your life? And what does that size mean?

Holiday Season Abroad

Judith and I with the Christmas Tree at Church

This holiday season marks my second holiday season abroad. The first time, I was in Belfast, Northern Ireland on my semester abroad.  For Thanksgiving weekend a friend who was studying in London flew over to visit. I didn't have class that day so just hung out for most the day, then we joined my classmates and Professors (a mix of Americans, Northern Irish, and Internationals) for Thanksgiving dinner. We had a wonderfully eclectic dinner on that rainy, cold evening. The whole city was decorated for Christmas by mid-November. I would wander the streets looking at the Christmas lights. I'd hang out outside of City Hall with a cup of tea just so I could look at how beautifully decorated it was. I attempted to not spend money at the Christmas market, which was one of my favorite places in the city.

This Holiday season is a bit different. Thanksgiving was a long, hectic school day. Afterwards, Judith, Ina (the German volunteers at AES), and I hopped on a bus to Amman, where we had dinner with the (Canadian) MCC Reps and another American friend of theirs. We spent the even chatting, with a large focus on cultural differences between the three nationalities represented as well as the one we are all living in. The next day Ina, Judith, and I explored the Roman Ampitheatre then headed back to Irbid. We spent the week leading up to, and after Thanksgiving, making handmade Christmas cards for the school. Slowly over the past few weeks, Christmas decorations have started popping up in a few store windows, especially in Husn which has a relatively high Christian population. Last Friday, Ina and I helped the Headmistress and Pastor's children start decorating their apartment by putting together their tree and getting out the decorations. Last night, the Church in Irbid had it's first Christmas event- the decorative lights were turned on and the children's chorus (lead by the talented Judith) performed.

The Christmas traditions here feel a little different than back home, or in Northern Ireland. There is still lots of Santa, and trees, and lights and ornaments. The children sing Christmas Carols about sleigh rides, and snow, and other things that make me wonder if they even understand what they're singing. But, they're mixed in with palm leaves and sand and other things that feel more locally appropriate.

The biggest difference between this holiday season is that I know that I'm not going home. This will be the first year that I won't be at my parents' house for Christmas, waking my sister up earlier than she wants to open presents, hanging out in pjs with my cousins, and avoiding kitchen so that I don't have to help my mom with dinner. I'm going to miss it terribly, I know. But, I also know that I have some absolutely amazing Christmas plans in the works, something that I few people ever get the chance to experience. I'm not going to talk about it just yet, because things are not set in stone. But for now, just know that I will not be sulking alone on Christmas, dear reader.

"You're Ninjas!"

We walked into the hall laughing. We just passed a hand full of 7^th graders, some in costume some not, laughing and greeting us on the stairs. “Welcome!” one of the English teachers greeted us with a hug, “Here's your tickets.” She handed us green squares of paper, some of the invitations that were given to the students, each with a number hand written in the corner and interesting spellings of our names at the top. We continued to the bathroom to complete our costumes, we hadn't wanted to wear them in the taxi. In the bathroom be ran into more of the middle school girls, chatting loudly and touching up their costume makeup. We took off our coats and tied our scarves like bands around our heads.“You're ninjas!” the girls exclaimed. We laughed and felt proud of our simple costumes.

 

There isn't very much to do in Irbid, especially not for pre-teens and young teenagers, so once in a while AES throws parties for the older students. This one was a Halloween Party, yes in the middle of November. The party was a cross between a middle school dance, a costume party, a dinner, and a bingo night. It was fun seeing all the students dressed up and out of uniform. The school has strict rules about make up and hair styles, so this was the first time I'd seen any of the girls with their hair down and in any makeup- even if for most the girl it was costume makeup. The music played during the dancing portions of the party was a mix of American and Arabic dance music. Like at most American middle school dances, the girls all danced together while the boys stood along the wall acting too cool to dance. And the girls all sat together during the bingo games and during dinner. It's good know that some things are the same in both America and Jordan.

Sick Day

 So I took my first, and hopefully only, sick day from School today. I've been in bed for the better part of the past two days. I'm taking medicine and eating soup. I've been given camomile tea to soothe my stomach and oranges for vitamin C. I'm still not feeling great, so thankfully I don't have school tomorrow.

Really, though, there is nothing like being sick to make you miss home. When I was finally able to drag myself to the pharmacy I knew what medicine I wanted- if I was in the States anyway but I had no idea if they had what I wanted here in Jordan. So I just asked for aspirin and something for upset stomach. I then walked over to the little convenience store next door, and found some Ramen- which was pretty exciting because that's what I always eat when I'm sick at home. I spent most of today wanting my mom to take of me, and a hot water bottle to cuddle with.

But, there is also nothing like being sick to show you who your friends are. All of my friends here in Irbid, and the teachers and administrators at school, wanted to know how they could help me- if they could get me medicine, if there was any food I needed, if they could help me figure out what caused it. It's been wonderful to know that so many people who have only known me for a short time truly care about me and my health. I'm grateful to have such a loving and caring network around me, even when I'm far away from home and the things I'm used to.

My Work at the Arab Episcopal School

The school is 4 stories tall and the property takes up about half of the city block. Like all of the buildings in the city, and most of the country, the school house is made of  white concrete. A tall, white concrete wall fences in the property, separating it from the rest of the neighborhood. A driveway cuts from the front of the property to the back, with a large green sliding door on either end. There are two pedestrian entryways at the front of the property, both with large, heavy, green metal doors that automatically lock when closed. Upon entering the property, you stand in a courtyard, the building on your left and right and above your head. The concrete floor is covered in colorful paintings. The rafters in the ceiling above have phrases like "Home of Peace Education" on them. On the far side of the court yard is a black top with soccer goals posted on either end. To the left and right of that are two smaller buildings.The first is small and red, and is used as a meeting space; the other one is the Church, the sanctuary on the ground floor and a meeting hall and small kitchen are in the basement. The ground floor of the school is for the Kindergarten classes. Where in America we have Pre-K and Kindergarten, here both the age groups are called Kindergarten, KG1 and KG2 respectively. The second floor houses the office, a small kitchen, the teacher's lounge, and the 1st through 6th grades. On the third floor there are classrooms for the 7th, 8th, and 9th grade, a music room, a science lab, and a computer lab. The fourth floor is incomplete and off limits to students, the school is hoping to open it within the next few years as they expand to include a 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. There is only one class in each grade. Some, like the first grade, are large with about 30 students, others are small, like the 9th grade, as small with less than 15 students. The hallways all have bright yellow railings along the walls so that the blind students and teachers can navigate more easily. There are posters written in a mixture of languages: English Arabic and French, and the most important ones have a transparent plastic cover with the braille printed on it. This is the Arab Episcopal School (AES) in Irbid.

The rafters in the courtyard.

The school is fairly young, this year is it's 11th year, but it does huge amounts of work in this community. AES is one of the few schools for blind children in Jordan outside of Amman. These students are taught to read and write both Arabic and English braille. The school doesn't just work with blind and low vision students though, the school seeks to integrate these students with their sighted peers. This is done in the hopes of normalizing and de-stigmatizing disability. Though the school is Christian, the majority of students are Muslim, as are many of the teachers, and the school offers religion courses on both Islam and Christianity. The school hopes that it's graduates will be able to compete in the world job market, and thus teaches two compulsory foreign languages, English and French.

The third grade class.

I am humbled in many ways to be part of the team at this school. At the school, I sever several functions, though my official title is "Teacher Assistant", I personally think the best title for my job is "Resident Native English Speaker." I work with two English teachers, Miss Abeer for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade classes, and Miss Huda for the 7th grade, both of whom I hold in high regard . In the 1st grade class I mostly help with pronunciation and grading, so that the students can have immediate feed back. In the 2nd and 3rd grade English classes, I work specifically with the low vision students. I tell them what's written on the board and give them one-on-one attention to keep them from falling behind their peers. I also do this in the 7th grade, but on top of that I also work with the class on their conversational English, by leading conversation classes. On Thursday the classes are shortened to add a period at the end of the day for special activities. During this period, I am often asked to teach conversational English classes. I've discovered, from not well received classes based around role playing, that for most of these I'm probably going to play review games in order to help them practice their English. In addition to this work, I also assisted with the office's English correspondence. I write emails, assist the school newsletters, and will soon start writing the school's Christmas cards.

Some of the 7th graders.

The students are energetic and are truly interested in everything they learn. I'm not yet a month into my work at the school, but I'm already excited to see where these children go and to be part of their journey.