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The two weeks flew by! Jeff and Carmela took a southern trip and I stayed behind to finish the English sessions and to visit the Jordan University of Science and Technology (J.U.S.T.). It was a busy last few days - Nina's sister, Samia, and some of her family stopped by to say hello, and I met Bader, one of Zain's brothers who will come to school in Chicago soon. We had a wonderful dinner at the Sweet Corner with Alaa, Captain Duaa, Lama, Rawan, Jocelyn, and Suad. It was a nice, low-key way to say goodbye. I will end here with pictures and a few captions, but I will have a longer post soon summarizing the trip :)

A princess showed up to bid us farewell

Almasa and Lean giving us some lovely presents :)

I left my military watch with Captain Duaa so she keeps a firm hand on the troops in my absence

The fist bump was the obligatory greeting and goodbye

Nina's sister Samia and family

Rana, Lana's sister escorted me out to J.U.S.T. for a wonderful visit

Mudheera Sughera 2

Fufu, Drs. Bataineh and Alzoubi at the International Relations Office

Selfi!

A big, sprawling, beautiful campus

Having tea with Bader

Back at the sweet corner with the gang

Our 5:30am taxi ditched us. A kind man brought Carmela a chair as we awaited rescue.

Our rescue vehicle was quite a bit smaller than we hoped, but we manged :)

Dragging a Bit

Today was a good day, but I think we were all dragging - at least those of us not journeying off to one of the new wonders of the ancient world.............
Carmela and Jeff are off to Petra, Wadi Rum, and Aqabah for a whirlwind trip. After yesterday's emotional goodbyes for them and our wonderful, late dinner, I think the staff and I were a bit worn out. It was still a great day though. The kids were treated to an elaborate breakfast, I worked on basketball with the older kids, and Dr. Rifai from Yarmouk University stopped by for a nice visit. He is the father of one of our former student assistants, Zain, who is now off to be a dentist at UIC. As I am roommateless tonight, I think I am going back for some Yemeni foule :) After a nap mumkin

He put a move on me

Not in my house

Lilas going for the dunk. Captain Duaa and Anwar are great coaches

Yum

*Postscript

I meandered down to the Yemeni restaurant and had a wonderful meal. While there, I bumped into Zain, a young man who works in a shop we frequent :)

Jeff and Carmela Say Goodbye to the Kids

Yesterday was Jeff and Carmela's last day at the school. Carmela was a trooper and finished all the kids bracelets and even made more for the staff. Jeff did his final English classes and the kids did a great job showing their appreciation for Carmela and Jeff. Arar presented each of us with a wonderful plaque, and the kids assembled to say goodbye. There were lots of hugs and laughs, but everyone knows we will be back. We had an easy lunch at McDonalds, then reassembled for a wonderful meal later at Alaa's house with her family. We also got to meet Cpt. Duaa's mother :) Today, Jeff and Carmela are going south to Petra, Wadi Rum, and Aqabah. The hospitality here is amazing - it took me 10 trips to Jordan before I saw all the places these two have seen in two weeks!