Winter Break

Hello everyone! For those of you who don't know, this is my second visit to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, I was here in '08 during the educational tour with Mr. Joel Meeker & Mr. Dave Baker. During that time I saw many amazing sites in both Jordan and Israel and this year I'm hoping to share those with my wife Eva.

As you would have seen in Eva's post we went to India for the feast and it was amazing. India even gave me her own special gift and I had to spend two days enjoying it… Also I gave my second sermonette there, I was so nervous that I cropped it down from eight and a half minutes to four and a half... but I'm working on that. When we arrived back in Jordan after the feast it was back to work  for a couple of months at the YMWA centre for special education where I work as a carpenter and general handy man. After the feast I started some window washing classes that Mr. Erickson had suggested. The students love working and accomplishing the tasks, and its fun and fulfilling to help them learn. Though they can be a bit of a handful sometimes, they love working but not waiting for instructions. While I show one student how to squeegee the other will half wash all the windows in the room and want to wash the windows in the next room, but it’s still a lot of fun.

At the end of those couple of months our winter vacation started (January). A week into the break, the Horchaks came to visit and travel for few days including the Sabbath. We had an amazing time going to places in and around Amman with them. Thursday we had a meeting at the school and that evening Eva and I made dinner. On Friday we traveled to Pella in the Jordan valley where there is evidence that the early Christians fled there when the Romans sacked Jerusalem and then we went to the Citadel, which is on a hill in the middle of Amman over looking the Roman Amphitheater and 2000 years ago was the site of a 70 foot statue of Hercules. That along with the museum that contained nearly 4000 years of the sites history made it a very fun and interesting site to visit. Eva and I love going, we have been there a few times now. On Saturday Jessica & Stella made brunch for us all then Mr. Horchak gave a great sermon. Afterwards we took a drive to Madaba and Mt. Nebo. Madaba has the oldest map of the Holy Land and Mt. Nebo is where Moses looked upon the Holy Land before he died. From Mt. Nebo we could see the West Bank, the Dead Sea and Jericho to the west in Israel and Amman to the north. This is also a great place to view the sunset.

 We were sad to see Mr. & Mrs. Horchak go, we had a great time with them and wished they could have stayed longer. But soon afterwards Eva and I headed out to see Jerusalem and Tel'aviv. It wasn't to much of an adventure getting to Jerusalem and our hostel was cozy enough. We had a great time in the Old City of Jerusalem, so much history and culture! And after your taken for a fool a few times by merchants you learn a thing or two about haggling… There are some great places to see in this world but there are few like the Old City of Jerusalem. With it's jungle of roads, alleys and covered markets. It's tightly packed vendors selling silk and cashmere scarves, boxes inlaid with mother of pearl, jewelry, antiques, and ancient artifacts. Just walking through the streets is an adventure in itself.

After three days in the old city we then went to Tel'aviv which is on the Israeli coast 45 minutes away from Jerusalem. In Tel'aviv we met up with Kurt and Jennifer Hoyer (Kurt works at the U.S. Embassy in Tel'aviv) and had a great time with them. They took us to the beach at Caesarea for a light picnic with some of their friends and despite it being January the weather was fairly nice. Caesarea was the dream of King Harod the "great", it was one of the largest ports on the Mediterranean and what makes it so amazing is that there was no natural port there… so he built one. Most of the construction was like most fortified ports of the time with walls, towers and a light house. The really innovative thing was the use of volcanic ash, he would fill a barge with the ash then float it out to sea and sink it. when exposed to salt water the ash would become like cement which could then be built upon.

Later we went to the Hoyers home for dinner and an evening of conversation, they were very gracious hosts and offered there spare bed to us which we gratefully accepted (it was much better than the bed at the hostel). Although we were only able to spend a day or so with the Hoyers it was a great time and we had a lot of fun. The next day we had to head home to Amman and that included a bus ride with some Israeli soldiers, a taxi to the Old City, and then another taxi to the Jordanian border, an over priced exit fee then another taxi back to our apartment. Since then our winter break has ended so we're back to work at the YMWA and we've had our second snow in Amman!

Joshua-

Polka Dots and Fairy Tales

I’ve been asked by many Jordanians if this is my first time to Jordan, and I reply that it is not, but it is my first time living here.  Then the other person will nod, understanding that coming to Jordan as a tourist is much different than living here.  It was partly that experience of travelling to Jordan in 2008 that made me consider returning for a full school year with the Jordan Project. 

After I was accepted to volunteer with the project, I learned that I would be teaching at the Amman Baccalaureate School (ABS) in the Kindergarten (KG).  Having taught Kindergarten for the past four years, I was eager to see what the KG at ABS would be like.  I have learned that no matter where you are in the world, kids are kids!  They are excited about learning and are eager to ask questions and love to have fun.  The teachers have all been so welcoming and I am enjoying getting to know them better, as well as learning from each other while we plan lessons and discuss curriculum and other educational topics.  The teachers, of course, love to have fun too.  We recently all dressed up for the 100^th Day of School (I colored 100 polka dots on my shirt!) and for our current unit of study, Once Upon a Time, which focuses on literature, elements in a story, and different ways to express stories.  Each classroom was a different fairy tale theme and the teachers decorated the rooms and wore costumes according to the story we were telling that day. 

But ABS is only one part of Jordan.  Recently, Stella and I had the opportunity to visit another part of Amman – an all-girls school at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) refugee camp.  We were given a tour of the school and were able to sit in on one of the English Writing classes.  The girls were all so eager to learn and participate, so attentive, and very respectful.  I remember going in to one classroom during our tour and the girls would all encourage each other by clapping when someone spoke their English sentences correctly in front of the class (and the visitors).  The girls would smile at us when we would come in to the room and they all, including the teachers, made us feel so welcome.  It was clear that the girls appreciated and were grateful for the education they were receiving.

We are a little over half-way through our journey here in Jordan, and I am sure there will be many more exciting opportunities along the way! 

Until next time,

Jessica