Visiting, Jerash, and Ajlun

Visiting

We were able enjoy some Arab hospitality this weekend. First, on Thursday night Jackson and I took up Raid's offer to call him anytime, and wwe met him downtown, and he took us on a walking tour of the downtown. He is very nice. He kept saying, "Next time we will..." We talked as we walked and ate knafa, a super sweet, traditional dessert. It was humbling to realize that Raid gave up watching EuroCup soccer to spend the evening with us.

On Friday, the whole team went down to the souf (market) Al Abali, the largest market in Amman. It was like a three block long garage sale. Then we did a lot of walking through the downtown, ending with a meal at Hashem's, one of the best-known falafel & hummus places. In the evening the guys went out with a couple of students, saw a movie, and hung out for several hours. So I am thankful we are getting to know some of our students and see the cultural first-hand.

Jerash

We atarted early, 7:15 AM, for a visit to two great archaeological site near Amman: Jerash and Ajlun. Jerash is one of the best preserved Roman cities in the Mideast. Our friend Akef drove four people and three of us, Kim, Jackson, and I, took the bus. First Akef arranged a taxi to take us to the bus station, then he met us there and then met us there to make sure we got on the right bus. The taxi ride was about 10 minutes and cost $3 JD (I think we were over charged), and the one hour+ bus ride cost $0.75 each. The bus had cramped seat, was hot, and smokers, but it is the way most Jordanians would travel.

Akef dropped us off at Jerash at 9:00 AM and said he thought it would take four hours. I thought to myself, "How could we spend four hours at a ruins?" Once I saw the site, I was amazed. The enclosed site stretched for a mile, I think, and was full of collumnades, and huge ruins. We saw a hippodrome (track for horse & chariot racing), two ampitheaters, three large arches, at least six churched, an multiple Roman temples, and a bath. It really was spectacular!

I've included several pictures, and more are at this link. After visiting the ruins, we ate a Jordanian meal and headed for the castle of Ajlun.

Ajlun

Ajlun was a castle built by the nephew of Salah al-Din (Saladin), one of the Islamic heros in defending Palestine again the Crusaders. We repeated the Akef & bus relay to the town of Ajlun, and took a taxi up to the castle. It is huge and can be seen for tens of miles since it is on top of a peak. I was thinking, "How could this compete with Jerash?" Well, it was different, and spectaclar in its own right. In contrast to how hot it was in Jerash and on the ride to Ajlun, the breezes and height made for a cool combination. Ajlun is a boy's dream of castle! We spent a couple of hours climbing stairs, looking through arrow slits, in dark interior chambers, and up on the top. The views were spectacular.

The Town of Ajlun

Akef's car was leaking water from the radiator when he dropped us off at the castle. While we were at the castle, he got it fixed in town. When he picked us up, it was leaking again, so we went back to the town. We walked down to the bus station and saw a huge line of people. They were all waiting for busses back to Amman. The town was a very cultural experience. I didn't see any other Westerners. All but a few of the women wore headscarfs. The town was buzzing and the market was very active. Saturday evening is the end of the weekend here in Jordan. Extended families are very close here in Jordan, so many people spend their weekends traveling and visiting families. The huge line was all of the people returning to Amman for the workweek. Later, while I was reflecting on the day, I realized that we were probably the few people of our faith in the entire town.

Thank you for praying for us,
Michael

British versus American

As you know, Luke is from England and the rest of us are from the USA. Here are two pictures contrasting the clothing and posture of Luke and Micah relaxing in the apartment.

Viewing the Blog

I want to mention that if your e-mail is not getting the pictures, you can go directly to http://sujordan.blogspot.com and see the whole blog.

Food & Money

Food

I bet you guys are going to think all we do is eat! Well, we do three or four times a day. This is a picture from lunch yesterday. I cooked the meal, but Kim was the brains behind it. It was Chicken with Risoni, Rice, and Chickpeas. The team raved about it. The first picture is our team and Micah N eating in the apartment, the second is a close up of the meal. Jackson thought it was the third best meal he's had here in Jordan.

Money

It is always interesting to compare money from different countries. Here is a picture of some local currency. The bills fortunately does have the amount written in our style on the backside.

We are about to head down to the big market, or souk, at Al 'Adbali. It is huge and it is held only on Fridays.

Michael

Late Night Eating

Tonight, like most of the other evenings,we taught at the center from 7PM until 9PM and then ate our evening meal. Our "main" meal is around 2PM in the afternoon. So far the families of the full time workers here have served us our afternoon meals. We are very thankful to them for lasgna, chicken divan, chili, meatball sandwiches (today).

This sets us up to be hungry late, after our classes are over. Tonight, the suggestion was we go out for kebob. Our host suggested we ask our students for place. I asked Zaid and Lina, a brother and sister in my advanced class, for a kofta place. Zaid's cousin drove Claire, Lina, and Jackson, and Zaid rode with us in a taxi to the restaurant, and even paid the fare!

The kofta was great! The five of us ate most of a kilo and a half (5 pounds) of mixed chicken & meat, pita, & hummus. Look at Jackson enjoying his food! That dude can eat! When he meets a good meal, he is on fire! Well, we are enjoying the food here in Jordan.

By the way our normal schedule usually starts at 10AM, and we seldom get to bed before midnight.

Grace and peace,
Michael

Getting More Comfortable

Yesterday the classes went more smoothly for all of us. I told Luke that teaching is a relationship, so the better you get to know your class, the smoother it will run. It is fun watching the relationships develop before class and during break. Jordanians are eager to learn English, so many show up early for class and hang out at the coffee shop. Kim and I have talked the last two days with a man and his neice. They are Orthodox Christians. The young lady is getting engaged in a few weeks and will move to the US soon. Kim has also talked with an other woman who has a doctorate in pyschology and works with the disabled. She invited Kim to come and live with her, but Kim did not take up her offer. I'm thankful for that! ;^) The culture here is very friendly and hospitible. I know Jackson also was invited to someone's place this weekend.

All of the classes used Family Relationships as the theme yesterday. We certainly came up with some BIG cultural differences between Jordanian/Arabic families and families in the US. In my class, Luke and I split the class into two groups after the break for discussion. My group, as it turned out, consisted of 9 batchelors! They range from a mid-twenties restaurant worker to a late thirties manager. The first and last discussion question was "How do families in Jordan differ from families in the US?" The group immediately agreed that families in Jordan are much closer than US families. I pointed out that in the US we value independence and privacy much more than in Jordan. A lot of the discussion was on older parents. I described my own parents transition from owning a house, to renting a house in an independent community with meals, to an apartment in the community. They asked why my parents weren't living with me or one of my sisters. I told them that my parents don't want to live with us. They value their independence and privacy.

Next I describe independent living facilities and nursing homes. They were surprised and said in Jordan it would be a horrible shame on the whole family if an elderly parent lived in a nursing home. They would never put a parent in such a facility. It would bring shame on the family. They said it is common for a parent to die at home surrounded by family. At this point I got very emotional as I said "In your country people grow old and die surrounded by family, but in the US people often die alone in a hospital." These men were very sympathetic and comforting to me. It was very bonding for our group.

By the way, the Oasis Coffee Shop is running now. Claire drew up the menu on a blackboard. I've included picture of it.

After class we had a typical late night dinner at Hashem's, the "best hole-in-the-wall restaurant" according to one of our hosts. Some of us took a taxi and the rest rode with Akif. We all loved the food: hummus, falafel & pita with babaganoush and fuul an the side. If you want to try it, grab a taxi and tell them "seventh circle McDonalds." You can either cross the street from there or point for the taxi driver. It is a half block up the busy side street on the right with the red neon lighting around the windows.

Thanks for remembering us in your prayers!

Michael

Our First Day Teaching

Saturday
Saturday was a preparation day. We spent time going over lesson plans and gathering some things for the classes. There are four levels. Jackson & Micah are teaching the B1, or lowest beginning level, Claire is teaching the B2 level by herself, Kim is teaching the Intermediate level by herself, and Luke and I are teaching the advanced level.

At 6:00 PM we went over to a couple's house two buildings away for a cookout. They are full time workers here. Both are finishing Arabic language study. Arabic is a difficult language to learn, so those who want to work here in Arabic devote their first two years of full time work just to learning the language.

We ate with them and two other couples who work here full time. A Jordanian, MaHer, also joined us. It was late, like after 10:00, before we returned to the apartment. These times are very good for our team because we are getting a very good feel for what it is like to live and work here in Jordan. I also had a discussion with MaHer (This is not a misspelling. The "H" means you heavily aspirate the "h" sound. Arabic has two different "h" sounds!) When he found out I am a physicist, it led to many questions about the Big Bang, string theory, and the like. He is a translator, so he asked questions occasionally about fine points of English grammar and idiom.

Sunday
The first day teaching was a learning experience for all of us. All of us except Kim went through our prepared lesson plans much faster than we anticipated. One of the activities was "Tell about a bad day you had." We anticipated funny stories about a bad day. We got many of those humorous stories, but also some tragic stories. A couple of the groups switched to "Good day" stories.

I think all of us had good conversations in the evening, either before class or during the 20 minute break. Kim had one student tell about his best day as "The day I became a good Muslim". She told us this story during our nighttime debrief. It made us realize that some of these stories can be very similar to our own faith stories. After class the students left very quickly. One car stopped and picked up schwerma for everyone. We met back at the apt. and debriefed for about an hour.

Today we will spend more time planning. We have a better feel for how the classes will go.

Thank for remembering us!
Grace and peace,

Michael