Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Home

I never imagined that my first time living alone would be in a house in a village in Northern Jordan. For the first 18 years of my life, I lived in the same house in Seattle. I will always consider that home. In fact, the night before I left for Peace Corps I slept in the same room that I slept in when I was 3 years old. However, since turning 18, I've lived in 5 different countries, 7 different cities, and maybe a dozen different houses. I've lived alone for a month or 2 a couple of those places, but up until now I've primarily lived with either my family or roommates. It's strange yet liberating living alone.

I arrived in Kuranjah a week ago today, and finally have my house set up to a point where it is beginning to feel more like a home. It's nice. It has it's quirks, but is in by no means a "hut" that we sometimes envision Peace Corps Volunteers living in. And the view.... well. The view is pretty incredible.


I have a view of the Ajloun Castle (on the far left), am close to the school I'll be working at, have a fruit stand right down the street and a duukan just past that. A bit further down the road is the supermarket, the bank, tons of bakeries, butcher shops showing off hanging carcases, the post office, shops, the bus stop. Most things I want or need I can find here. I even found peanut butter!

My landlord and his family live upstairs, and they are all truly wonderful. They have 9 grown children, the youngest is 16. I have been invited over for lunch every day since I have arrived and often stayed well past 10 to chat, drink tea, eat cake, drink coffee, eat fruit, drink tea, watch tv, chat, drink nescafe, until finally I insist that it is time for me to go to sleep. None of them speak much English. Their idea of speaking "shway shway" (slow slow) is a bit different than mine. Regardless, I've been able to pick up on a fair amount of what they say and when things get really confusing, there's google translate.

In this blog, I try to focus on the positive things- there are so many wonderful things to share about my experience here and about the people and the country. But it should not go unnoted that I have my daily struggles. It's uncomfortable getting stared at by the shebab (teenage boys). I get lonely at times. Being unable to communicate everything I want to is frustrating. It's hard reading the news and remembering where I am, and how much pain there is in places very near me and feeling helpless in being able to change or alleviate the suffering of others.

Rather than feeling constantly overwhelmed, I try to focus on the good- the view outside my bedroom window, the kindness of my neighbors, the baby goats that live next door, the little girl who helped me carry my bags of fruit and veggies back to my house, the person who goes out of their way to walk you to the bus stop to ensure you get on the right one. I could on, and trust me, I will...

Sunday, January 20, 2013

I do solemnly swear...

“....that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” 

Tuesday, January 15, 2013 I officially began my service in Jordan as one of the Peace Corps' 25 newest volunteers!

The ceremony itself was great. The US Ambassador to Jordan was there to conduct the official swearing in. More exciting for me was being in the same room with all of my friends (PC friends that is...), my host family, Peace Corps staff, and people from different organizations in Jordan who were there to support us. 

The Peace Corps ladies, dressed in Jordanian traditional dress

Myself, Georgina, Elenoire, Daniel, and James-- the folks from my Arabic class and village during all of PST.
My host fam giving me some celebratory (and good bye) hugs! 
Every new beginning seems to be bittersweet, in the sense that it usually means that something else is ending. Pre-Service Training is known throughout the Peace Corps community as being quite tedious and some even consider it the hardest part of being a volunteer. That's kinda true. But--- I loved the village I was in, my host family, and that I got to see the other volunteers every weekend. So amidst the excitement, it was hard coming to terms that that was all ending.

Busses left bright and early Wednesday morning. Hugs and goodbyes were exchanged as luggage was being dragged and carried to their respective vehicles. I got in a smaller van with 3 other girls who are in the same governate as I am and before I knew it we were off! 


About 40 minutes later, I get a phone call from Aqmad, a PC staff member, telling me there was a giant blue duffel bag with my name on it back at the center. My bad. Our driver was cool and pulled a quick u turn. Back to Madaba we went. We got my bag and decided to get some falafel sandwiches while we were at it.  Then, off we went, for real this time. 


I made it safe and happy. But more on that later.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

A trip to the Dead Sea

On my second to last day in village, I got invited for a last minute trip to the Ma'in hot springs. When we got there, they tried to make us pay the "tourist" price of 15JD rather than the local price of 10JD. After failing at bargaining, we decided to go to a free hot spring down by the Dead Sea. It was beautiful winding down through the mountains and finally arriving at the lowest point on earth! It was truly breathtaking. We arrived around 5, as the sun was beginning to set. I went with 3 other volunteers and Rami, one of our Arabic teachers. The Dead Sea is only about 45 minutes away from my village, but about 10 or 15 degrees warmer. As you can see from my previous post, it has been quite cold so was nice to be able to take off a few layers.

The Dead Sea

    
Tom, me, Rami, and Daniel in front of the Dead Sea   



The boys got to go in the hot springs, but, being the only female, I only put my feet in. The hot springs we originally were planning on going to has a women only area- next time I'll bring some lady friends and hopefully my residency card so I can get in for just 10JD.

Regardless, the water was warm and as the sun went down the stars came out and it was wonderful being outside, at night, in January, and not freezing. We finished the night with some gawha (coffee) while waiting for our taxi to bring us home.

I came home in time to make a quick trip to the dukaan ("supermarket" but really candy store"), drink some nescafe and eat chocolate, and snuggle up with my host sisters and cousin.

All in all a wonderful day.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Thalj thalj thalj

It does indeed snow in Jordan! All the warning I received about how cold winter can be prove true. It was windy, rainy, and cold all week but Wednesday night, it finally came... the thalj (snow)!! Around 11:30 our neighbor ran over and told us to look out the windows and sure enough, quite a bit had accumulated on the ground. We put on all the clothes we could find and went outside to play with about 15 other kids. Snowballs, snow angels, little snowmen-- the whole shebang. Eventually fingers and faces got cold and we came inside for warm milk with cinnamon and all snuggled up under about 10 blankets in the living room (the room where the heater is). I stayed up talking and giggling with my neighbor Amany and the girls until about 1:30-- the latest I think I've stayed up since I got to Jordan.


So it begins!
Amany & Emily
My neighbor Amany and me (repping my Seattle Sweatshirt!)
Yes, I got hit as this was taken.





All in all, a very fun night, and a fun next morning when there was even MORE snow on the ground and more people out playing.

Eventually I got cold so retired and went to my neighbor's house to play bananagrams and drink Shai with some other volunteers and my friend/Arabic teacher Sodfa.

Our last day in village is tomorrow (Saturday) and we get picked up Sunday morning. We will spend a few days in Madaba and have our swearing in ceremony on Tuesday.

As always, it's going to be hard saying goodbye. I've only known these people for a little more than 2 months but how quickly they became like family! Speaking of which, Jana, who recently turned 6, likes to ask about my family in the states and look at pictures of them. She knows that I have one sister and one brother and a mom named Mary and a dad named Jim and on and on and on. Last night before we went to sleep she asked me how many sisters I had. I told her I have one sister named Elizabeth. She said laaaaaa endick huwatt katheeeer!! ana u noor u amany u sodfa u ma'ali u farah u dania u um bashar u umi u...". Pretty much, nooo you have many sisters, and listed all of the girls here I've become close with.  It may sound corny when an adult says it, but coming from the mouth of a 6 year old it feels so very sincere.  I love my Seattle family more than anything or anyone, but it's comforting to be able to form a sense of community, to the point where one considers you family, no matter where you are. 


Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Years


Happy New Years! 2013 has started out pretty great I must say. Today we had a picnic, drank tea and climbed trees with my host family and neighbors at a lookout a few kilometers away where there is a nice view of the Dead Sea. It was nice to spend time outside and to run around a bit. These people are wonderful. I am overwhelmed with kindness and hospitality every day and am continuously amazed by it.

Last night I briefly noted the passing of midnight as I laid in bed trying to fall asleep. I spent the evening at my neighbors' house and then came home to get a makeover from my 6 year old host sister. No parties, fireworks, taxi rides or champagne at my end this year. I woke up headache free this morning! Merely coincidence I'm sure.

I haven't been as up to date on the news as I am used to, but as I glimpse at it things seem to be getting consistently more crazy. I wish everyone a very happy beginning to 2013 amidst the chaos and hope that we can continue to find joy and happiness in life's everyday blessings. At the same time, I hope we can continue a resolution to live in a way in which we respect each other in spite of our religious, cultural, or political differences and help one another build a better understanding of this crazy, wonderful world we live in.