Thursday is Friday

As Fourth of July goes, this was a tame one and I liked it. We had another good day at school - each day the older children are clocking onto the English program. They are getting more receptive and adventurous with the language. While watching recess, I noticed a young special needs child crying. I think one of the boys had been too rough on him. A teacher came by and gently told the other boy to apologize, which he did so reluctantly at first. After shaking hands, he noticed the boy was crying, then reached up and kissed him on the cheek, put his arm around him, and walked off together.
Today is Thursday, which is the last work day of the week here. We now have a day off before the Girls Empowerment Workshop. Jeff and Carmela will be off to a Dead Sea resort, and I will have lunch with friends and then go to an engagement party for Lana, the assistant principal of Arar.  It was another jewelry day for Carmela; a very popular event here. After school, we were on our own again and we had some interesting food at a Chicken Thikka place. Dinner was light - just a lemon smoothie and a few bites of Carmela's hamburger. We stopped into our favorite shop to visit Zain, and Carmela bought me a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses.  Zain presented me with a lovely gift, then we strolled off into the Irbid nightlife.

Zain gave me a DaVinci medallion. Zain loves art

Multi-tasking into the night

Zeina and Jana made thank you cards for all the nice people who donated towards their tuition :)

Day 5

We are finding our groove, and the students are getting used to us. It was a hot, busy day. We had a lot of fun at school. Jeff and I did several lessons - we do a bit of English then make them run a lot. Carmela and friends made jewelry with kids. After school, we went to a seafood restaurant then back to the hotel for some rest. Tonight, we went to the other Yemeni restaurant, where I met up with the Tihama crew (folks from the same region in Yemen where I lived). We topped the evening off with sundaes at McDonalds.

Carmela, Rawan (2), and Alaa (2) getting the beads ready

Jeff had a hankering for fish

We went to the other Yemeni place and had mendi and other yummy stuff :)

The waiter remembered me from my last visit. He called me into the kitchen because most of the staff were from the same little region that I lived in while serving in the Peace Corps :)

Battling with Rawan (1), Arar's resident polemicist

As many of you know, Facebook was acting up today, so I will catch up on pictures tomorrow, inshalah

More Teaching, More Hospitality

We had a very full day today! Jeff, Carmela, and I taught several lessons, the Girls Empowerment Group team started planning the workshop, and Jeff and Carmela got to visit the ancient city of Jerash.

Carmela volunteered to do a lesson on shopping with help from Jeff and Rawan

Jeff helped Captain Duaa warm the kids up in the morning

Jeff was back in his element with the young boys

The planning team for the Girls Empowerment Workshop (left to right)

Rawan, Maria,  Alaa, and Carmela

I had some fun too!

Jerash is and incredible place - Once again Fufu proved to be the Hostess With The Mostest

We will be back at it bright and early tomorrow morning. I am really excited about the connections we are making with the kids. The school continues to evolve and so will MVCC's partnership with Arar.

Measuring Up

Today was day two at the English Camp for us. We are a still bit jet-lagged but we are slowly finding our feet. Jeff, Carmela, and I are teaching more and more sessions each day and the kids are getting used to us. We worked on asking questions with one group, counting with rulers with another (with minimal sword play), and Jeff got called of to do another session. The kids have a lot of energy, and we are doing our best. After the sessions, we went for lunch at a nice cafe. From there, I returned to the hotel and Jeff and Carmela went off with Fufu and two Romanian (Jeff thinks they are Lithuanian) guests to the northern city of Umm Qais to visit the Roman ruins and to look out over the Jordan River Valley into Syria. It has been a very good day and Jeff and Carmela will be exhausted if they ever get back....

Jeff started out with body parts

Working on questioning

We started counting with the rulers then went about the school measuring stuff

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Oops, forgot the yardstick!

Some of the kids showing the principal their work

My lunch

Carmela, Jeff, Fufu, and friends at Umm Qais - magical place

We Are Here!

We made it! Kipp drove us to the airport in rush hour with plenty of time for our flight which was as good as any 13 hour flight in coach can be I suppose. I don't think any of us got much sleep, but we managed the ordeal well

They grew less happy when the guy sitting between them came back when he tried to snag a window seat. On the plus side, I saw about 4 movies I never would have watched :)

We arrived around 5pm and were greated (greated greatly) by Alaa and Mohammed. Thankfully, the 100+ degree weather had subsided

We stopped in a nice suburb of Amman (Abdoun) and had a nice dinner

Jeff and Carmela going straight to the heavy-duty cultural stuff by stopping at Habiba, the most famous dessert place in the country where they enjoyed fantastic Kunafa

Mohammed giving us our Kunafa. You stand outside in an alley and order, then go inside this very small room to get the magic stuff

We took a nice stroll downtown then made our way up to Irbid in northern Jordan

No rest for the wicked - we were up early the next day doing English lessons with the kids

Practicing introductions

How old are you?

Jeff diving in with the older kids

Alaa is happy with Nina's gift - she doesn't know yet that Nina bought out all the candy in the school's bookstore and had me shlep it over to Alaa

Only the second day and they add another notch to their belts (and maybe a few inches) by trying Manif, the national dish

Jeff holding court

Captain Duaa and Suad (Carmela's mentee)

Suad's creation that didn't last long

Jordan is not run by the government, nor is it run by tribes. It is run by groups of sisters - in the north, it is the Amoura sisters, seven strong. This is Alaa on the left and Fawzia (Fufu) on the right who generally looks at me this way

We capped off our evening at my favorite Yemini place. We started with biryani and  moved on to foole (pictures to come)

It has been a great start to our trip! I was reunited with many good people, and Jeff and Carmela hit the ground running. More to come :)

T Minus One

We are a little over one day from departure to Jordan. Lots of planning, packing, and scheduling happening all at once. Christian, Lauren, and Patrick have been a big help on the packing end, particularly since I am taking lots of books and school supplies. Nina lent me a big suitcase, and I think I am about set. We will hit the ground running when we get there - We will get into Irbid late Saturday night then be at the school the next morning by 8am ready for some English fun! We are taking a direct flight this time and it will be approximately 13 hours (14 hours coming back fighting the jet stream). I am excited as this trip will be more of a collaboration between several educators than has been the case in the past. I have learned to expect fluidity, and I am sure everything will be fine. Stay tuned.

Back to Arar :)

I am very excited, as we are heading back to the Arar Academy Schools in Irbid, Jordan this week. My school, Moraine Valley Community College, has continued to partner with Arar and is even sending two colleagues with me this trip! We will be assisting with the Summer English Camp they are hosting as well as a Girls Empowerment Workshop that we will hold a a nearby nature reserve. I am so fortunate to return to Arar to continue our work. Beginning this Friday, there will be daily posts on our adventure :)