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?

Has it really been a month?

 It's hard to believe that I've been in Jordan for over a month now. Sometimes it feels like I've been here for so much longer. It feels like it's been years since I was in Akron at Orientation. But, at the same time I feel like I just got here. It feels like just yesterday I was standing in downtown Amman for the first time, marveling at the little blue lights that decorate the street. It's been quite a month. I started to learn the layout of Amman. I took Arabic Language lessons. I visited Ancient Roman, and Byzantine, and Islamic ruins. I saw Irbid and Husn for the first time. I went to Bethany Beyond the Jordan, Mount Nebo, and Madaba. I attended a Lebanese indie band concert in the Roman Ampitheater. I made friends with many interesting ex-pats and a wonderfully welcoming Palestinian family. The craziest part is that at after all of that I moved into the YWCA in Husn (which is a 15 minute car ride away from the Arab Episcopal School), started living on my own, and finally started volunteering at the Arab Episcopal School.

On Saturday morning, I moved all of my possessions into the living room and ran to my last Arabic class. After that I said my goodbyes to my classmates, made promises to let them know when I visit Amman, and hopped into the Country Reps' car. We dropped Caleb off at the airport shuttle to take him to his new home, and set off to Husn. The Country Reps helped me move my bags into my room, walked around the town with me while I found grocery, said their goodbyes, and left me on my own. My Saturday night, I was officially living on my own at the YWCA.

I enjoy the independence of living on my own. I like making my own schedule and routines. I enjoy the opportunity to explore the town at my own pace. But, it's a challenge as well. I'm still learning what amenities the YWCA has, and its schedules. I know where I can store my food. I've built up my bravery to light the gas stove with the lighter, even though I think I've going to burn myself every time. I figured out how to use the showers, though I've been taking cold showers since I still don't know when the hot water is actually on. I figured out where I can buy fruits, vegetables, hummus, and bread. Meat it still an issue because most of what I've found in the stores here is processed (i.e. chicken nuggets, that sort of thing.) I've discovered that cooking for one is not nearly as much fun as cooking for several, and thus have become extremely lazy about actually making food for myself. Since Saturday, I've made 3 or 4 salads and eaten too much pita and hummus. Can you blame me for eating so much hummus and pita though? It's so good, and super cheap! I get the hummus fresh from a shop down the street and a kilo of pita still warm from the bakery a few doors down for less than $2 combined. I've made pasta a few times as well, but until I get a better plan for buying meat I don't think I will do much actual cooking.

Monday was my first day at the Arab Episcopal School (AES). I felt pretty lost most of my first day. School has been in session for several weeks now and the schedule is pretty routine for everyone else by now. I just tried to follow along. I'm working with the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 7^th grade English classes. I love being around kids and teaching. All of the classes are fun. The 1^st graders all clamor for my attention and want to tell me what things are called in English. The 2^nd graders have started trading the Arabic names of things for the English names with me and desperately want me to call on them when I help with conversation. The 3^rd graders impress me every time I'm with them, with their vocabulary and their quick grasp of English grammar. The 7^th grade is silly, and has much better reading comprehension than I had after 3 years of high school French.

With all of the classes, I particularly work with the low vision students, helping them write and making sure they are paying attention and comprehending. In the lower grades I've also been assisting with conversational English and checking work in and out of class. I'm supposed to run a conversational English class once a week, I'm not sure what exactly that entails but I'm excited. Tomorrow I'm going to start assisting with the English correspondence in the office.

There is no doubt in my mind that the next 10 months at AES is going to be a challenge, but I'm excited to face it. I love every minute I'm with my students, even when they are driving me up the wall. I can't wait to look back in July and see just how far both my students and I have come.

(I apologize for the lack of pictures, my internet here is too slow to load them. I will post some the next time I'm in Amman or when I have access to faster internet.)

Safe and Sound in Jordan!

MCC's Meeting Place.

Honestly going in to SALT Orientation last week I didn't really see the point. I was especially not into how everyone seemed so excited to become best friends with people that they weren't going to see for 11 months. But it truly was worth it, and I've so glad that I did it. Orientation was a time and space of transition, after we'd already said our goodbyes to our families and friends, where we were in fellowship with people going through the same thing as us. We were able to talk about our fears and our hopes. Over the week the SALTers serving in the Middle East (Jessy, Caleb, Christine, and I) became very close. We are so excited to see each other at regional retreats, and are hoping that we are able to schedule our vacations together.

The Middle East SALTers.

Yesterday was the big day! Well, yesterday according to when I slept, in reality it was Wednesday, so two days ago. Jessy, Caleb, and I had the same first flight to London. We were able to sit together on the plane, though I'm not a very good travel companion. As soon as the plane took off I found a movie and watched it, so I wasn't the most talkative. Caleb at least found my "random" laughter funny. I tired very hard to sleep, but I don't think did. Eventually we landed in London. Every other time I've flow to London I've flown to Gatwick, so this was my first time in Heathrow. It's HUGE. We had to take a train and bus to get from the terminal we landed in to the terminal our flights were leaving from. Once we got there we had to go through security again- I managed to forget that I filled up my water bottle in Philly so they had to check my bag, I spent the whole time apologizing to Jessy and Caleb about it. Caleb and I had a 2.5 hour layover, so we were able to sit and relax for a bit before finding our gate. Jessy had a longer layover, so she hung out with us until we boarded. Finding the gate was an adventure. According to the sign we read it's supposed to take about 20 minutes to get there from the main part of the terminal, so Caleb and I speed walked the whole way, with Jessy trailing behind us laughing. She was right, it did not take us nearly that long. But, we did have to go up and down, and around, and even took a sky walk at one point. From the gate Caleb and I said our final goodbyes to Jessy and left her to catch her own flight. I slept for most of the flight from London to Amman. I woke up just as we were flying over Israel. I didn't have a window seat so I didn't have the best view out the window, but it was still amazing to look at. I've never been to a desert before, so it was crazy for there to just be desert as far I could see. We landed, changed our money, and got our visas. The line took a while so we were able to people watch. There were a large number of people just sitting around, not in a line, which I still don't understand. And there didn't seem to be any women traveling alone, so I'm glad I was traveling with Caleb because it made me stand out less. The MCC Reps, Gordon and Carolyne, picked us up at the airport. It was great to actually met them after emailing back and forth for so long.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

I'm staying at the MCC Reps apartment while I'm here in Amman. I can't remember the name of the hill we live on, but it's near the Blue Mosque, which is gorgeous. After dropping my stuff off at the flat, and changing out of my jeans (it's a bit too hot for those), we all went to dinner downtown. We had wonderful pita and hummus. Then we just walked around downtown for a while, including the market.

Caleb and I definitely dealt with adjusting in different ways. Caleb had question after question to ask the Reps about Jordan, MCC, and our schedule. I just wanted to observe. I felt like the most productive use of my evening would be to start figuring out the appropriate way to act as a young unmarried woman. So, I tried to note how many women I saw on the street, who they were with, what they were wearing, who they spoke to, and so on. Navigating gender roles here is definitely going to be an adjustment, but I knew that coming in.

Downtown Amman

Amman is so interesting, and I'm really excited to get to explore it. Arabic lessons start on Monday, so until them I'm going through in country Orientation with the MCC Reps. But for now it's the weekend, weekends are Friday and Saturday here, so we're taking a bit of time to relax and just take things slow.

Fundraising complete: CHECK!

I am ecstatic to announce that as of today I have officially completed my SALT fundraising! I have raised over $5,000.

Thank you to all the people who have donated to support my year in Jordan- family, friends, distant cousins I haven't met, and everyone else! Special thank yous to Holly Grove Mennonite Church, Wallingford Presbyterian Church, and the Rehobeth Ruritan Club for their support.

Tiffany and I, before she left for Taiwan.

If you're now thinking "Oh, shucks! I was going to donate to her!" Never fear! There are other SALTers still fundraising. Go here to find a SALTer still in need of support. Or, my friend Tiffany Barron is still fundraising to support her year in Taiwan with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Click here for more information on what she's doing, or click here to donate!

Again: Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me through donation, prayers, and well wishes! Please continue to support me throughout the year, and to keep in contact with me! (I love comments on my blog!)


In other SALTing news: I have started going to my pre-MCC doctors appointments (I know I'm late in the game). I have registered for my Arabic lessons in Amman, still waiting to hear where I'm living for that month. And, I know where I'm living from October until July- I will be at the YWCA in Al Husn (alternative spelling because of transliteration include Al Hassan and Al Hosn). As soon as I have official word on my mailing address I will let you all know.