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.

Pictures from May, June, and July

These past few months have been filled with adventures that I haven't posted about indepth, so here are some pictures so you can see some of what I've been up to. In May, I took a trip to visit some Desert Castles out east with Ina and Judith. Then at the end of the month, I flew to Barcelona,Spain for the MCC Europe Middle East Retreat, where I got to meet the rest of the team and reunite with some of the other SALTers. This past week, Judith, Ina, and I went to Amman, hiking in Wadi Mujib (the bottom of a canyon that opens up to the Dead Sea) and the Dead Sea.

Trip out east to see the Desert Castles.

Qasr Azraq

Qasr Amra

Arabic dancing lessons.

Mediterranean Sea in Barcelona.

Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Floating in the Dead Sea

Wadi Mujib

Amman

King Abdullah Mosque in Amman

Dead Sea Mud

King Abdullah Mosque in Amman

Cultural Differences

I was sitting on the floor of the hallway, chatting with one of my dormmates, Randa, the other night while she cleaned a pair of shoes. We chatted about her classes, about Ramadan, and other things. Every once in a while she would start apologizing profusely. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!" she said.

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what in the world she was apologizing for. So I replied to her, "What are you apologizing for? I don't understand."

"My shoe. I keep accidentally pointing the bottom of my shoe at you."

Right, in the Middle East it is an insult point the sole of your shoes or your feet at people, because they are dirty and are in contact with the ground. There are probably other reasons too, but I don't know them. That's the reason I tend to be careful about how I cross my legs.

I giggled, "Oh right. I didn't even notice. That's not a thing in my culture, I didn't think about it. Don't worry. I won't take it as an insult. Do what you need to do!" And we continued chatting.


 I can't believe I have less than 3 weeks left in this country. I have been blessed to experience this culture and to start to understand some of the nuances involved.

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.

Desert to the Red Sea

The desert in Wadi Rum

 I've always loved Easter. I even enjoyed the holiday last year when I spent most of the weekend huddled in front of my computer, surrounded by books, finishing my first complete draft of my thesis. This year was extremely different from past Easter's though. It was my first Easter away from home, and my first time celebrating in an unconventional way. School is closed for the holiday, so I took the opportunity to travel to the south of Jordan, while the weather is nice.

Exploring Wadi Rum

I spent Easter Weekend in Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is a desert nature preserve, covering about 280 square miles, and is bordered by Saudi Arabia. The desert has signs of habitation dating back to 800 BC. It's an amazingly beautiful area. I arrived there early Friday afternoon, and met with my wonderful tour guide, Tyseer. He's friends with the other volunteers at AES so we were looking forward to finally meeting about hearing about each other for so long. After a cup of bedouin tea, we headed off on our tour. On our way out of the village with ran into a Northern Irish woman wandering on her own and convinced her to come along with us. 

Sunset over Wadi Rum

During the jeep tour, we explored some canyons and rock formations, before settling down to watch the sunset. Afterward, we made our way to the bedouin camp I stayed at for dinner (a chicken dish that's cooked in a hole in the ground). Two volunteers from the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf (HLID) were there with their families, along with many other interesting travelers. After an hour or so of star gazing, I admitted defeat and headed off to sleep in my tent. Bedouin tents aren't like what Americans would think of when they think of a tent- they are made of goat and sheep wool, are elevated off the ground, the floors are covered in rugs, and are large enough to walk around in.

Walking across the desert in Wadi Rum

The next morning, after breakfast, I joined the HLID volunteers and their families on a hike across the desert. We walked from the campsite to the village, and up to a spring. The trek took about 2 hours, and somewhere along the way in the direct sun and soft sand I managed to get sunburned and to aggravate an old knee injury. After a lunch of falafel sandwiches at the spring, the group hiked back down to the village, and Tyseer and I set off on a tour of east Wadi Rum. 

Driving in Wadi Rum

When we were out past where most tourists go, Tyseer asked me, "Do you want to drive." I replied, "Of course!" and jumped in the driver's seat. Apparently I'm not a bad desert driver- I managed to not hit a rock or tree, not flip the car, or get it stuck. It was both terrifying and exhilarating- especially after Tyseer told me that he didn't have a spare tire if I popped a tire. Tyseer seemed to approve of my driving and allowed me to drive for about an hour, out near the Saudi border. 

Camp fire to combat boredom

We stopped for a cup of tea with some picnickers we meet, then headed back to the main part of Wadi Rum. Tyseer was showing off, driving on the side of a hill, when he hit a rock and popped a tire. I just smiled and told him, "At least it wasn't me." We had no cellphone signal, so we had to wait until the picnickers we met drove back our way. So we rested in the shade of a mountain until the picnickers came back. They did not have a spare tire we could use, but drove us back to where we could get enough signal to call Tyseer's brother. We found another hill to camp out on while we waited for Tyseer's brother. I went exploring on a rock formation, and Tyseer built a camp fire. Eventually, his brother arrived to rescue us in his pickup truck. His truck was set up for tourists to sit in the bed, but the tarp to block the sun was not up. So instead of sitting, I took the more exciting route and stood at the back of the cab holding onto the pole. The pole was a bit large for my hands so I had to wrap my wrists around it. Going over the bumps and sand dunes left my wrists bruised, but I'm so glad I did it.

Sunset over the Red Sea

We stopped for dinner at Tyseer's cousin's camp. I was so exhausted that Tyseer decided to just set me up in a tent there instead of driving back to his camp. On Easter Sunday, I awoke to wind and a sky full of rain clouds. As I was eating breakfast it started raining. Rain in the desert is beautiful. I returned to the village and waited for my taxi to my next destination. After about 3 hours of waiting I was ready to go crazy with boredom and begged Tyseer to do something, so he convinced one of the boys to give me a short camel ride. After short goodbyes, I took a taxi to Aqaba.

At the beach on the Red Sea in Aqaba

Aqaba is a port city on the Red Sea, across from Israel and the coast of Egypt is also visiable. I spent my first afternoon there just walking around, getting the lay of the land, with my knee protesting my every step. On Monday, I was planning on visiting the beach and some archeological sites, but I could not handle the walking. Instead I went to the beach and read for a while, then got a massage at a women's spa. It was a nice relaxing day. This morning, I slept in, then took the bus back to Amman. I'm staying the night at the Rep Flat, and will spend the day in Amman tomorrow before returning to Irbid for school on Thursday.

Standing in the Red Sea

"Ipad?" "No, book!"

For every chapter the students do in their text book they have a short reading exam that goes along with it. Miss Abeer, the teacher I work with for 1st-3rd grade, calls them up one by one to read the passage to her. To keep them quiet during this, and to help them practice their vocabulary, she has the students copy their vocabulary words and definitions multiple times. This equates to me being pretty bored, because the low vision students I work with don't need me to do anything.

In order to fight the boredom, I brought my Kindle into the second grade class with me and read. All the kids wanted to know what it was. I didn't know how to explain "e-book" so I just told them "book." They asked, "phone?" (no), "Ipad?" (no). And they wanted to see if it was touch so a bunch of them tried to make the screen move. It's not a touch screen so it didn't actually do anything. They figured out there were buttons to make it do things though, at which point I had to stop them before I completely lost my place in the book.

Eventually, one of the boys decided that it really is just a book, so he asked to read it with me. I figured the one I was reading was too hard for him, so I pulled up a book of fairy tales, enlarged the font, and sat with him so he could read it. As he read a group of his classmates formed a circle around us to listen. I don't know if they understood much of it, but they all seemed to enjoy reading together.

Reading with one of the low vision 1st Graders

Eid Milaad Saeed!

Birthday cake number 1

A while back, Ina and I realized that we share a birthday- March 23rd (though 2 years apart). We immediately began teasing Judith about how she had to plan an epic birthday for us. And she did- even though she sadly was not able to actually be with us on our birthday due to a medical emergency (don't worry she's fine, she's back in Germany for a few weeks to get herself fixed and will hopefully return to us completely healed soon).

Showing off part of my present from Judith- curly hair products!

The celebration started Saturday evening. Ina and I (because of the awesome planning of Judith) baked our birthday cake, using Ina's Mother's carrot cake recipe. The next morning we greeted each other with happy birthday wishes, then went out for brunch. Afterwards we walked back to Ina's apartment, stopped to buy cookies, and decided to spend the afternoon on the roof, soaking up the sunshine. There we opened up our birthday presents, made use of the nail polish Judith gave us, and relaxed (gleefully interrupted by a friend who called us and insisted on singing "Happy Birthday" to us multiple times in both English and Arabic). After church that evening, Ina's host mother had us over to celebrate and eat the cake we made. I wrapped up the day with a call to my parents.

Surprise cake from the school.

On Monday, we shared the cookies we bought with the teachers and staff at school- then were surprised with another cake and small party by the headmistress and priest. The festivities are to be continued on Friday with the Reps who are taking us to Umm Qais (where Jordanians claim Christ drove the Legion from the man and sent it into a herd of pigs) for lunch.

I could not have asked for a better 23rd birthday. Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes, and I can't wait to open the presents that are currently in the mail from my parents and Aunt Cathy!

 

Eid Milaad Saeed = Happy Birthday (in Arabic)

Ticket Home.... WHAT?

A few weeks ago I recieved my ticket back to the States! I spent the next two days going through an emotional crisis about how that made me feel- I was happy, and sad, and kind of surprised, and reluctant to admit how soon I'm leaving, while also extremely excited to see my family, and many more feelings.

So here's the deal:
July 20th - Flight from Amman, Jordan to  Doha, Qatar
Alittle after midnight on July 21st - Flight from Doha, Qatar to Philadelphia, USA
ETA in Philly: 7:55AM, July 21st

From Philly I'll go directly  to MCC headquaters in Akron, PA for reentry retreat. Then on July 26th, my parents will pick me up and I'll head back to the Eastern Shore.

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.

A Thank You Note

Sometimes international mail is not the most reliable. Almost a month and a half ago, I mailed out a beautiful stack of bright pink thank you cards to everyone who donated to fund my year in Jordan on the SALT program. So far, I have only heard of one of those cards reaching it's destination. I apologize for the delay, and if anyone else receives their thank you card, please let me know. I am hoping that they did not all get lost in mail.

Since, there is no guarantee that the cards will reach their recipients in a timely manner, I post this blog instead. Thank you! Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this process in anyway. Without all of you this year would not be possible. I cherish your thoughts and prayers when things are difficult or when I miss home, and I am in wonder of your support and care during the fun times and the once in a lifetime adventures. Thank you all for everything you have done to help me get here, and I am thinking about you all and praying that God blesses you always.

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.

Some pictures from my time in Irbid and Husn so far

The Country Reps and I with some friends of MCC in Husn

The view from my front door.

Hanging out.

Making silly faces with one of the German volunteers.

One of the roads I've been hiking on, this way stretches to oil fields in Iraq.

And this way it stretches to ports in Israel/Palestine.

Pretty view of Husn.