Reflections on Jordan

The Last Full Day in Jordan

Our final presentation before an audience of Queen Rania Award winners....and then our final feast with the director of the Queen Rania Center.
Then farewell to our Jordanian colleagues....we took Mustafa and Abeer to the bus station for a final goodbye to a friend and colleague of seven weeks...
We returned in time for a sunset over and through the western olive trees at The King's Academy.
After letting Leon, Buttercup and George Washingtoe play in the olive grove beneath the setting sun, I looked up to see what I believe was a falcon with graceful wing strokes flying towards the north. It is a fitting and perhaps symbolic conclusion to three weeks in Jordan to see a falcon on the last night with the setting of the sun and over the King's Academy. The peregrine falcon is a symbol of the Jordanian monarchy, the setting sun represents a conclusion, and I will be going back north soon...to home, family and students I must fly...

My last time to coat my face and hands with sun block this year...I am happy to be free from the intensity of the sun that cost me a little discomfort in terms of a burned ear, toasted nose, and pained eye brows...

Ma'in Hot Springs--why do we do we do this to ourselves?

In descending into the Dead Sea/Jordan River Valley we gained about 20 degrees from a relatively cool morning at the King's Academy to well over 95 degrees Fahrenheit--and probably over 100 by the end of the afternoon. We then walked from the parking lot through the heat to a hot springs waterfall that was warmer than most showers that I take on a Winter's morning. The hot springs water leaves the ground at about 140 degrees Fahrenheit, but cools down to a tolerable if suffocating degree. Beneath the waterfall is a sulfurous cave that has the hottest water--water that makes you wonder why any rational person would walk through an almost hot waterfall to sit in an almost scalding pool of sulfurous water?
Why, because it is there and after boiling like a chicken in a pot then you can walk back through the now cooler feeling waterfall and feel relaxed.Another exercise in achieving relaxation through watery pain is a Turkish bath/Roman Bath Caldarium up the hill from the waterfall.
After I attempted to boil my body in the waterfall and Roman sauna, I discovered that I had allowed the sun to reach my nose, cheeks and ears through inadvertently washing off my sunscreen in the rushing water. Back at the King's Academy we all washed the sulfur, potassium and other minerals off, and set out for our last evening together as a group. We had a nice meal in a century old building while listening to traditional Jordanian music.

The Return of the Clouds

I was intrigued by a lone cloud over Amman that I saw last Sunday on our three hour traffic jam drive to Manal's house for a feast. The lonely cloud morphed and eventually there were more clouds over Amman in the blue Jordanian sky...Monday and Tuesday were clear, but on Wednesday before our drive to Rabia's school in Ma'an there were low lying morning clouds that created an amazing sunrise over the school's olive trees. The morning sky was overcast by the time we walked to the bus for our trip to Ma'an.This morning, Friday morning, the return of the clouds is complete. Not only is it overcast, but the morning sun has been obscured by the clouds.I do believe that it will be clear though by the time we drive to the Ma'in Hotsprings in the early afternoon.

Third Day: Mustafa's Irbid Vocational School and a Family Feast

Mustafa talking with the Head of the Irbid Education Directorate along with his school's principal. Mustafa's school, The Wasi Al Tal Vocational School, is an 11th and 12th grade school for boys who learn a trade in their final years of public school. Mustafa teaches radio and television maintenance. His fellow teachers teach auto shop repair, furniture design, Islamic religion, basic English language, and other subjects for vocational students. Mustafa's experience shows that a compassionate, committed and energetic teacher can inspire his students and lead his colleagues even without the full support of the administration. By winning the Queen Rania award, Mustafa is recognized as the best vocational teacher in Jordan.

Mustafa's lavendar/purple car is a 1974 VW Beetle--I learned to drive on a VW Beetle (I think a 1973 version)...the '73 model must have been larger since I barely fit into the driver's seat of Mustafa's '74 model!After a bit of museum play, fresh fig picking, and spice shopping for cinamon, we went to Mustafa's home for a feast and conversation. Abeer and Mustafa's brother and I talked about Palestine and Israel for a long time during dinner. I found out that Mustafa's father and Abeer's father were both born in Jaffa in 1941/42--right around the same year that my mom was born in Seattle.

Second Day--Ma'an's Salfa abu Tayeh

I believe that powerful schools have powerful leaders who have a focused, yet human vision. Salfa abu Tayeh of The Ma'an Secondary School for Girls is a powerful leader who believes that her school "is a second home" and that she can encourage young women to see themselves as equal partners in society. In listening to her and watching her interact with students and staff, it feels as if she is living her dream of helping to create strong and confident women in both her students and her teachers. She is a headmistress and mentor for all of the young women and women at her school. In many ways, Salfa abu Tayeh reminds me of the descriptions of my paternal Great Grandmother who my Grandmother describes as being a strong and tough, and yet fair and caring teacher and principal.
Salfa abu Tayeh's philosophy is to educate those who have a desire to learn and to let them go back and influence their sisters, cousins and community. One of her accomplishments is that she created the first (and only) public school dormitory for bedouin girls. The girls can receive a public education even though their families are miles away living a traditional bedouin life of sheep and goat herds, coffee and tents....Part of her strength comes from the pride in knowing that she is the granddaughter of Auda Abu Tayeh--one of the heroes of the Arab Revolt. (click here for an account of Auda Abu Tayeh) At a traditional meal of mensaf at Rabia's family home, I asked her who her personal heroes were, and she responded with her Mom. Her mom was one of many wives, but her mom empowered her daughters to earn university degrees. Salfa abu Tayeh is one of the first bedouin women to receive a university degree in Jordan--her older sister being the first. Her other heroes include Benazir Bhutto and Margaret Thatcher. In a way, I can really see the strength of an all girls school with an all female staff--the care and encouragement at the all girls schools we have seen has been a mind changing experience.