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.

A Jordanian Picnic

Yesterday I was invited to go have a picnic in Wadi Rajib, a valley about 30 km northwest of Kufranjah with my landlord's sister and daughters and a couple of nephews. Forsaking my big Friday plans to do laundry and clean my house, I decided to go and it was AMAZING.

A view of the valley (arabic 101: wadi=valley)

It took a while to get to this viewpoint, but clearly it was well worth the journey. We parked the car in a field, and carried all of our picnic supplies through a very muddy, blustery field, through some bushes, up hills, down hills, past some goats in another blustery field, until we finally arrived at the perfect picnic spot.

Pictures never give natural beauty justice. But imagine this x 1000. The waterfall is beautiful and the caves protected us from the wind. 

We decided to go exploring. Point of destination is the cave in the top center of the photo, right behind the green shrub.

The voyage was not easy.

Don't let her fool you.

But we made it!

The caves are remnants of a Byzantine church, likely from the 6th century. Some of the mosaics are still in tact.

At one point, this was the inside of a church.

Notice the one very wet pant leg.

We returned safely in time to make and enjoy lunch. Complete with jadge, salata, patata, and cake. In Jordan PB&Js and granola bars just don't cut it.

After several hours, we moved spots and settled down to drink some gawha (coffee) and watched...

...as some sheep passed by...

...and huddled together as the sun went down before finally heading home.

A wonderful day indeed.

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...

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.

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.

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. 

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.