Obama visits Jordan

Early last Saturday morning I had the privilege of seeing President Obama, John Kerry, and US Ambassador to Jordan, Stuart Jones, speak in Amman. His talk was brief but poignant. Rather than talking more about politics, crisis, Syria, Israel, Palestine or Turkey, he talked to us and recognized the work of all those in the room that morning. Both President Obama and John Kerry took time afterwards to shake as many hands as possible-- mine included!

"I'ld like to introduce you to the very best embassy in the world." - Ambassador Stuart Jones

"We're blessed to have a president who also lived abroad as a young man. He understands what this is all about. And I think that's what gives him a very special connection to people all across this planet. It's why he has restored America's reputation in the world.... He has the vision that I know brings every one of you to this job." - Secretary of State, John Kerry

"I'm not gonna give a long speech, mainly because I've been giving long speeches everywhere.
The main thing I want to communicate is that when I come to a country, when John comes to a country, we get some attention, we get our faces in the newspaper, but... we leave. And, people's real impressions of what America's about, what our values are, how we treat each other, how we work together; those impressions are made by you.... your interactions with the people here in Jordan, with people here in the region. Your kindness, your generosity, your professionalism, your effort. All that, all that creates ripples of hope and friendships between the United States and other countries that will make all the difference in the world." - President Obama

"I know the work isn't always easy... I know that the hours are long and the pay is mediocre, but, my sense is the reason you do this is because, not only do you care deeply about our country and what it stands for, but you also recognize the common humanity in all of us." - President Obama 

On Friday, Obama had a meeting and press conference with King Abdullah. Please take the time to watch it here or read the transcript here.


 

A day in the life

It's hard to believe I've been at site for [only/ already] a month and a half. As I expected, and as Peace Corps spent 2 months telling me during PST, it's been an adjustment and every day has its ups and downs.

Here's a quick summary of what I've been spending most of my time doing.

The school week here is Sunday-Thursday and I teach English at the all girls' basic school, just down the hill (actually, down 3 very steep hills) from my house. I co-teach grades 1-5 with 3 different Jordanian English teachers. As there is just about everywhere in the world, there is a shortage of jobs here so Peace Corps does not send volunteers in to take jobs that other people are qualified for. Rather, my Jordanian counterpart and I work in the classroom together. I help introduce different ways of teaching (ie songs... so so many songs) and give the kids a chance to hear and interact with a native English speaker. Many of the Jordanian teachers have their degrees in teaching, know the students, can translate in Arabic when needed, and have worked at the school for several years. One of my counterparts has worked there for 30-some years and recently announced that this is her last year! Happy for her, sad for us.

There are 6 or 7 periods each day and I usually teach about 4 of them. During off periods I am supposed to be lesson planning, but often get called in to drink tea and eat with the principle and vice-principle and whoever else has a free period and sometimes get impromptu Arabic classes.

The kids are great most of the time. Today I spent my off day working on Classroom Rules signs. Kids are very enthusiastic to participate for the most part, but raising your hand, listening to others while they speak and not shouting are still hard concepts to grasp-- even for the older kids. I'm supposed to model "positive discipline" (not yelling) but have slipped up on that here and there.  They're so cute though. And it's always exciting that moment when it finally clicks. They all greet me "Good morning Miss Emily". It being a small town, I run into the kids a lot and sometimes at 4 in the afternoon they'll say the same thing-- still cute, but we gotta keep working on greetings and times of the day.

School campus

Sundays and Tuesdays I work at the Knowledge Station (a community center with a computer lab) and teach 2 after school English classes, for 3rd-5th graders from 2-3:00 and for 6th-8th graders from 3-4:00. More and more girls show up each time- it makes me happy to know they like it so much that they're telling their friends.

On Mondays and Wednesdays I teach a TOEFL (test of English as a foreign language) class for adults. Most masters' programs require you to pass the TOEFL exam to be accepted to the University. The test is really hard and it reminds me of the SATs. The class started out with about 12 students but has dropped down to 4. Most who signed up really need a grammar or conversation class before they can really get much out of the class. It's a lot of work at my end- lots of preparation because there is no fixed curriculum for it yet. I prefer working with the kiddos and once the TOEFL course winds down (in a couple of months) I think I will mainly focus on after school programs for kids and maybe a couple of laid back, drop in conversation classes for adults.

So, weeks are busy. I come home around 4:30 most days exhausted. I often get invited to go have lunch with my landlord's family so take them up on that and then usually take a nap. After lunch we'll go watch TV and lay on the farshas and then someone inevitably puts some sort of magical blanket on me that puts me into a deep sleep. They tell me it's addi (normal/no problem) to sleep there. It was awkward at first waking up to either no one in the room or to like 8 people in the room, but now it really has become addi. When possible, I do try to make it all the way down stairs and next door to my house to nap.

As the weather begins to get warmer, I am trying to do more exploring outside in my free time. The other day after class I got invited to go to a teachers' house who lives in a town nearby. We walked through Wadi Kufranjah, a beautiful valley with almond trees, a river, wild flowers. It's so close to my house and I had no idea!

All in all, life is good. Starting a new job, moving, and learning a new language are 3 tiring things. Doing them simultaneously is extra tiring. Thus-- I feel like I am tired all the time. Even with constant tea, nescafe, turkish coffee, arabic coffee, bebsi (there's no p sound in arabic so Pepsi is bebsi ;) and so on, I still feel tired. I'm hoping another month or 2 the learning curve will start to level out a bit, and as the days will get warmer and longer, my body and mind will start to adjust.