Summer started full force! We have started our summer
project of painting my center. So far, we have all of the hallways painted, the
doors have characters with student names (think Strawberry Shortcake with 13 strawberries-
one for each student). Next move is doing all the classrooms! I have never been
more excited for a project. My teachers are thrilled to have a saw in their
workplace, and have been incredibly motivated to finish the rooms, in order to
surprise the students when they come back. They have been so motivated, that I
have had to force them to stop painting on several occasions, so the students
can help us too. My plan is to let the kids experience the thrill of creation
and imagination, as well as teach practical skills, like the color wheel/
mixing/matching paints, spatial planning, etc. The teachers were able to go
from self-conscious, over-questioning “helpers”, to full-fledged artists.
Watching them gain self-confidence in their abilities to match colors, add personal
touches, and plan their rooms has been one of the most rewarding parts of my
time here. I feel lucky to have been able to play a part in them having an
opportunity to develop their creativity. Hopefully this experience will also
help them add more creative elements into their lesson plans. It has been
wonderful watching my teachers through this process, and I hope I get a chance
to see the same with the students.
I have also been busy working at an English immersion
environmental camp for 12-16yr old students in Aqaba. I have amazing memories
from my time there last year, and this time was even better! Over the two weeks
I was there, I got to watch students strengthen their English speaking skills,
create masterpieces, be inspired by Aviation, break eggs on the beach, learn
about us & each other, and have a fantastic camp experience!
For the first camp, I was a counselor for Arts & Crafts.
The girls were so inventive! We tried to make all the projects involve some
sort of recycled material. My favorite was making props for the environmental
skits they perform at the end of the session. These young women made some of
the most amazing pieces from everyday items!
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| our far superior arts & crafts station sign |
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| making props- this ended up being coral reef! |
I got to be a Drama counselor for the second camp, which was
the boy session. Obviously I loved being a drama counselor, even if some of
those boys gave me a run for my money. I loved how energetic, eager, and
interested in skit making they were. For the most part they were well-behaved,
although, I did lose my voice several times during their session due to me
having to pull out my “lifeguard voice”. A fellow volunteer looked at me in awe
and said, “Mozley, it’s like you are a little mouse that you don’t expect to
hear this voice from, but all of a sudden it’s like a lion”. I think that may
have been one of the best compliments I have gotten. Thanks Rotary Camp for all
the years of training!
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| egg olympics! |
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| egg olympics egg toss (cheater!) |
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| one of my skit groups! (he is car) |
During each session, the students (and us!) get to go on a
field trip to the Ayla Aviation Academy, where the students were inspired to
become pilots. I learned that all international aviation is done in English,
crazy, huh? It seemed to motivate our student to practice English even more! We
got to meet some of the cadets, see the flight simulator, see the hangar with
beautiful planes, and visit the Royal AeroSports Club of Jordan, where all the
fancy planes, gyrocopters, hot air Balloons are kept. I think I was way more
excited than our students, but I tried to play it cool.
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| I'M FLYING A PLANE (...well, sort of) |
Speaking of hot air balloons, through some brilliant
networking by one of my friends, I got to see Wadi Rum by hot air balloon for
free!
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| pre-flight yoga |
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| amazing! |
After my two-week semi-vacation on the beaches of Aqaba, I
went back to site for a couple days before leaving again to volunteer for an
Operation Smile mission. As I have discussed before, Op Smile is amazing.
Seeing the international community of doctors, nurses, volunteers, staff come
together to perform these surgeries around the world is just… well, it is just
the coolest.
I stayed in Amman after Op Smile in order to go be
All-American at the Embassy for the 4th of July party. Naturally we
tried to dress the part of American, so many stars, stripes, boots, jean-shorts
(jorts, if you will). Here is one of the pictures before we left. I am wearing
jorts and cowboy boots, but you can’t see them in the picture. We may or may
not have yelled “HAPPY FREEDOM DAY” every 30 seconds. I feel I should issue a
formal apology to all of Jordan. Anyway, we swam, ate hotdogs/hamburgers,
listened to awesome life music from the Air Force band, watched fireworks,
danced, met new friends… obviously had a few beers. The day was perfect.
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| YAY AMERICA DAY! |
Eventually I made it back to site, just in time for the
start of Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims. I have a pretty serious
Ramadan to do list- let the spiritual cleansing/ future planning begin!
