Camp!

As mentioned before, my summer has been crazy! I think I have been in village maybe three weeks this summer. The rest of the time I have been visiting people, volunteering, and helping with summer camps. I wouldn't have it any other way! Now that it is Ramadan, the month of fasting here, I suddenly have a lot of free time as my center is half operational now (the hours are strange and somedays non-existent) and my neighbors sleep all day to minimize the hardship of going without any food or drink (water too!) from 4am-8pm.

Before I share a thousand pictures and talk about how amazing the camps were, let's talk about painting my center walls and the shenanigans currently occurring. After trying several times to take the posters/pictures off the walls, I was halted because the Ministry of Social Development is supposed to come tour our place and they wanted it to look pretty for them. I thought that was fine since I still was penniless and was waiting for them to tell me an estimate of the cost. After speaking with them, I felt maybe I should talk to the Peace Corps to figure out the details of getting the money into my account. Turns out it gets a bit complicated. I have to apply for a grant through the Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP) and try to get funded through donations from, hopefully, all you beautiful people who read this blog. So the time I am at home, while roasting slowly in my house (it has been an average of 110 degrees where I live) under my single ceiling fan, has been spent working at my center and writing my proposal. Don't you worry; you will be the FIRST people I tell that it has been approved :) Also, let it be known that the Ministry still hasn't visited.

 

Okay, on to happier, more productive news! The first thing I did this summer was volunteer for the Operation Smile mission in Amman. I spoke briefly about Operation Smile in an earlier post, but it is an organization that focuses on dental surgery for children, typically, who have cleft palettes and the like. I was unable to volunteer for the week long mission, but the time I spent there was amazing. I got to work in the pre-operation play area. We played with the children, tried to answer the questions of worried parents, and offer a smile of reassurance when there was nothing else to give. A few volunteer nurses and doctors approached us throughout the mission and asked where we were from. When we said Peace Corps volunteers, we always got a positive reaction. One woman said she loved having PC volunteers because we were able to communicate with the families; we knew enough of the language and the culturally appropriate responses. I had never felt so proud of all the incredibly hard/ long hours I put into learning Arabic and trying to make sure I knew what was offensive/appropriate. That one sentence made it all seem worthwhile. I wish I had pictures to share with you, but I put my camera away for this mission.

After Operation Smile, I helped with an English immersion summer camp in Aqaba. This was as much a vacation as it was work. During the day I helped teach drama sessions for about 60 girls, and we had the days to ourselves after 3pm. The girls were amazing! The camp was set up so the girls were in three different teams, and rotated between Drama, Environmental English, and Arts/Crafts.  In each of the stations the girls learned a bit about environmental issues and got to do some great activities. In drama the girls learned about voice projection, improv, scene writing, acting, and environmental issues. The last day they performed a skit about an environmental issue impacting Jordan (e.g. pollution, or water waste). I have rarely met a group a girls so excited and enthusiastic about learning about the environment and working incredibly hard to only speak English. They were brilliant. Here are some of the pictures I took throughout the camp.  

  the sunset from my balcony at our dorm

 the stage!

arts/crafts project using natural things/ trash

warm ups

 teaching the electric slide during downtime. It is something EVERYONE should know

 watching one of the environmental skits

shirt signing on the last day

 volunteers getting our pictures taken by the girls. true moment of "fishbowl effect"

After the girls left, the volunteers would often nap for an hour (or some days for 3 hours), then hit it beach! Our site was a 5-10 minute walk from the beach, so I was in heaven. Swimming in the Red Sea was spectacular..and salty. It is nowhere near as salty as the Dead Sea mind you, but I didn't really have to try and stay afloat (so much for counting it as exercise). After the beach, we would often go into the city of Aqaba and find some delicious food, go dancing, watch the soccer games…this was prime EuroCup time, or just walk around the city

The second camp I helped with was a Brain Camp put on by another Peace Corps volunteer living in the Jordan Valley. I have also talked a bit about Brain Camp, but I will say again, if you would like to know more about this phenomenal critical thinking camp developed by two PC volunteers please go to Think Unlimited Brain Camp and read up on it! 

Poor Kasumi, she was stuck with me invading her house for a week, demanding obnoxious nostalgic music to pump us up in the morning, as well as the new obnoxious songs. I hope she doesn't hate me! Throughout the week the girls learn new critical thinking skills that build on the previous one, until finally they work on problem solving by using all the skills. For Brain Camps, the girls work on creating a solution to Jordan's water crisis. Each day the girls showed up, were eager to learn, asked a million questions, were respectful to each other, and didn't even complain the day the power went out and the center ran out of water. A bit more about disaster day, the power went out about half-way through the day, which meant there was no air conditioning and no fans during the hottest week we have seen in Jordan. One of the women said the temp hit 119 outside that day. This day also happened to be the day that the drinking water ran out at the center. Instead of wanting to go home, the girls sat patiently and listened without complaints. I gave them some of the materials to use as a fan, and then there were group trips to the ducan (convenience store) to buy ice cream and water.The girls were a blessing. I was surprised because I wanted to quit and go home early haha. A similar situation happened the next day, but at least this time there was water! Again, the girls did not say anything; they listened to the task at hand and then got to work on their projects. 

I have NEVER been so inspired by girls wanting to learn and participate as I was those two days. It truly spoke to the power of education and the fact that the desire to learn is here in these girls, in these villages. It is our job to find a way to get to them to spark that passion. On days that I forget why I am here, I will think about this camp and find some hope there.  

Having said my piece, here are some pictures of the camp!  Next post will be about my lovely vacation to Turkey and Tel Aviv!!!  

 

 making card houses

 pick up sticks

 tangrams

 Spot the Difference

Memory

 Blokus

photo shoot with some of the girls. Love them!

 writing her perspective/opinion on this art piece. The girls went through the "gallery" to write their thoughts on the pieces and later walked through and read all the opinions.

 girls showing off their Squiggle drawings. They were given paper with a squiggle and were told to make it into something using their creativity skills.

we made it!

summertime and the livin's...chaotic.

I want to throw out there that I have never been good with keeping up communications. I rarely write people back, never return phone calls, I've started at least 10 journals that lasted about a week... I guess it is really no surprise that I fail at updating this blog. Habit die hard people.

Instead of trying to fill you in on the many adventures I've had, I'll save them so I can have some fresh stories when I come home. Also, there are a ton of new pics on my facebook for your entertainment. I will however share my crazy summer schedule with you!

So, much like the American school system, our students get summers off to buy ice creams from trucks, play in the street, yell things at foreigners, and generally cause trouble around the villages.  My center claims to be trying a new plan this summer. The director wants our students to come to the center two days a week. Normally I would be all for this continuation of routine, ability to keep learning, etc. the problem is that our school has no A.C., only two of the classes have working ceiling fans, and the temperature here reaches 120°F in the summer. So far no one seems to know what day the students are supposed to be at the school and what they will be doing while there.

I, in the meantime, have an enormous classroom renovation project to start. I am going to paint the four classrooms. Before you "pshaw" my endeavor and write it off as a small task, I want you to look at the classrooms currently, and my sweet designs for them.

the old room...

Room 1 picnic theme

other wall-picnic

Room 2 before

Room 2: beach! this is the chalkboard wall

Room 2 Beach

Room 2

room 2 (my favorite)

Room 3 before (don't mind the people)

Room 3: circus (with colors and shapes to practice)

Room 3: circus (practice counting with monkeys)

Room 3

Room 4: before, also army child?

Room 4: Woods/flowers (I'm gonna get pics and put them in the flower center)

Room 4: visual calendar

Room 4 (Hearing disabilities room, the hand signs/ arabic for the alphabet go in the apples)

Yeah. "pshaw" now, I dare you.

Of course this isn’t going to be done for free, so I am currently seeking funding above and beyond USAID that gives PC grants. I want to use that grant possibility to get new classroom furniture for the students and not on my smaller, less expensive project. I just believe that with a happier, visually interesting learning environment, students and teachers will be motivated and hopefully gain some energy from the new looks. I'm still figure out the price tag, but I'll try to remember to keep everyone updated on the progress.

The kids being in the center, maybe, could be a unique opportunity to let them (and the teachers!) learn a new skill, work on motor skills, visual perception, colors, etc…and and that being in the center can be fun! On the other hand, it will clearly make my timeline for completion longer. I would say it would be worth it to see them having such a great time.

So, the days I am in village, that is my grand undertaking! Unfortunately for the project, but fortunately for my sanity, I will be helping other volunteers around Jordan with various summer camps. Obviously my life would not be complete with at least one camp oriented activity in the summer. Rotary Camp, you did this to me. I would maybe implode without camp. Most of the camps are Brain Camps. I think I posted information about this program before, but here it is again: ­­­­­­­­­http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.media.press.view&news_id=1817

There are some unique camps as well, for instance, I just finished a 5 day SpEducation camp. There were three centers that participated. Volunteers staffed different stations that the children rotated through. I think the stations were: arts/crafts, yoga, science, games, relay races, music, soccer, and karate. It was fun to see the students engaging in new activities and gaining self-esteem as the days continued. Here are some pics!

Along with that, I hope to be helping with a martial arts based character development for girls camp (CDMA-Girl Power). It is a camp created by a previous PCV in Jordan. The program focuses on teaching basic self-defense to girls, while helping increase self-esteem and confidence through the character development curriculum. I took the training and I LOVED IT! Who know I would enjoy hitting people and throwing them to the ground. Clearly this is going to be a new hobby.

Oh! I will also be helping in the Drama portion of a three day English immersion summer camp in Aqaba. It is gorgeous in Aqaba and I can't wait to have a mini reunion with the other volunteers during the evenings. 

Right before Aqaba, I will be helping with Operation Smile again in Amman. My past experience with the mission was phenomenal and I know this larger mission is going to have just as much impact on my time here. 

So as you can see, my summer is going to fly by…until Ramadan. Ramadan is the month of fasting for Islamic culture. It is illegal to eat or drink anything (water included!) during the hours of sunlight. Because of this, the whole country basically stops. They fast all day and then have extravagant meals in the evening. I'm excited to see how this works in Jordan and to participate some of the days, but it will surely be excruciatingly slow during that month. Lucky for me, I will be going to Turkey and Tel Aviv for a week during Ramadan. My friend and I are ready to go exploring for a bit away from Jordan. I am positive I will need a break by August, especially with all this running around Jordan.

I feel like this is plenty long, so I'll try to update about the camps and rooms as they happen. I'll also take a million pictures, because let's be honest, they are the best part. Let me know if you have any questions/comments/painting tips!

Oh-I might do a brief conspiracy theory post about Syria soon. I give you fair warning.  

ramblings...

First, sorry if this post seems a bit detached from my normal love for my village. I have been at a training in Amman for over a week and so I'm slowly getting back to the swing of things...

After several subtle, and many not-so-subtle hints from my mother (the final one being, “you know someone has a reminder on his computer to check your blog every two weeks…”) I suppose it is time to update. I have had a few requests in terms of catering my blog post toward the recent hike in refugees, daily interactions, and some small scale NGOs that I have encountered in Jordan. These requests actually come at the perfect time, as I have had recent experiences on all of these fronts.

Some major events have been happening around the Middle East region, many of which you may know more about than me. We have seen a large influx of refugees from Libya and Syria since my arrival last October, but refugees are not so strange to find in Jordan. I have provided some links at the bottom of this blog to show you the numbers of refugees in Jordan. The number of Palestinian refugees in Jordan is astounding. My entire village, well most of it, is made up of Palestinian refugees. In fact, we have one of the one 5 schools in The Jordan Valley area that is was created by the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency- for Palestinian Refugees). I didn’t know any of this until that lovely road trip that I wrote about in the previous post. Above and beyond the Palestinian refugees, there are people from from Libya (medical tourism- to seek medical care in Jordan), Syria, and Iraq. While the amount of people in Jordan has greatly increased, there is little noticeable difference in my village. My daily life is the same; however I know this is not true for my friends who are serving in larger cities, namely in Mafraq. The city of Mafraq has had a huge swell of Syrian refugees lately, which is one of the reasons, I believe, the organization Operation Smile chose it for a regional mission. 

If you are not aware of the Operation Smile organization, I have provided a link to their site. Five volunteers, myself included, had an opportunity to assist with one of the recent missions in Mafraq. This mission focused on helping Syrian families living in the area to receive free surgeries for cleft lip, cleft palette, and other facial deformities. Some of the volunteers were able to play with the children while they were waiting to hear if they were able to have the surgery. I, on the other hand, sat in the room with the doctors as they conducted prescreenings for the surgeries. We were one of the first steps of the screening process so I saw both faces full of hope as they received the pass to the next room, and devastation as they were forced to go home. I understand the need for prescreening, but it broke my heart each time a mother left in tears. Overall the experience was amazing. Knowing that these lives were going to be changed and to be a part of that was uplifting.I wish I could give more information as to how the refugee increase has changed Jordan, but to be honest, it hasn't changed much in my village.

More recently, I attended a training alongside all my volunteer friends for educating Jordanians on water awareness. As you may know, Jordan is the one of the most water-poor nations in the world, meaning Jordan’s water resources need some serious attention. During this training we learned about some exciting new initiatives taking place throughout Jordan to address the water problems. One in particular caught my attention because it is based in the Jordan Valley, where I live. The Friends of the Earth-Middle East (FOEME) created an EcoPark close to me in order to teach youth sustainable choices, as well as help illustrate possibilities in Jordan. Another project from the same organization is to have summer camps involving Palestinians, Jordanians, and Israeli youth in an effort to education about environmental/water issues, as well as promote peace throughout the region. You all know my love for camps, so of course,  I think it sounds fantastic! I will include a link to the blog below for you to look at if you would like. Water shortage/ sanitation is a very real issue in Jordan, hopefully working with the youth to explain the issues and to promote idea development will aid in finding sustainable methods to preserve the water here. I will hopefully be visiting the ecopark in the coming weeks and will report back on what it is like and how to get involved if you feel so inclined. 

I apologize that this blog is less anecdotal than most, but I wanted to make sure I was able to provide some of the information asked as well as not make it agonizingly long as I have been in the past. Soon (hopefully) I will be posting about the 12-hour field trip, as well as possible upcoming projects at my center (read: possible things you can help me with).

Speak soon! Oh and if you have something you have been waiting, patiently, for me to write about, please let me know and I will try and include it!

helpful links!

UNRWA 

Operation Smile  

Friends of the Earth-Middle East -Camp

Friends of the Earth Facebook 

"Life needs Movement"

Please take a moment to gaze into the sunset provided (if you don’t have one at hand) and have some existential moments before continuing this post.

Okay, so before we left for Jordan someone told us the best advice they were given was to “embrace the ambiguity”. I think my happiness at my site has been because I have tried my hardest to do just that. I tend not to overthink too many things here and go with the flow of village life. Today was a brilliant success because of that current life motto. 

The day started just like many others, waiting for the bus with my neighbor (he goes to the center), playing with the kids, chalkboard dot-to-dot, breakfast with one teacher, and outside for recess. At some point the bus disappeared and returned with what seemed like 100 16yr old girls. They came into the center and no one knew why. All the kids were loaded on the bus and I did my best to leave as well. After an agonizing conversation about not understanding anything during the workshop (which is apparently why we were overrun by giggling girls), already knowing about the topic (breast cancer/pap smears/family planning), and just wanting to leave, I FINALLY got the okay to run away when another teacher basically said “um…no” and walked out. We were done dropping off the first few kids when we realized we actually left one girl at the center. OOPS! 

We arrived to pick her up and there is a gentleman there who wanted to speak with me. He told me he is an English teacher at the school and his friend is giving a presentation and wondered if I could edit the powerpoint. No problem, I took my neighbor boy and we went to a room in the center to use the computer. We promptly found out the internet is not working and he couldn’t access his email. Okay, he said we could go to his house (his wife is home so it is okay).  I said sure to that and we were once again off to drop of my very confused neighbor boy, and edit this bad boy at his house. It turns out we live maybe 5-minute walk from each other and that he lives in the most beautiful house I have seen here. He later told me he built it (its several houses/apartments inside a compound with a playground, an enormous veranda, and a garden) for 65,000US dollars. It’s majestic. Anyway…I am getting off topic. We went up to his office and started to edit this really boring power point about something related to website interfacing. After we got half-way through, the presenter called, they have a brief conversation and then he hung up and said, “do you have plans this afternoon?”. 

 Ummm.

 Stop. 

What do I say? 

Ambiguity embraced. I said, “no, why?”. He wanted to take me to Amman to meet with her (the presenter), so we could all sit together and edit. I said okay because I was apparently feeling invincible.  After calling my center director and talking to my landlady, we were off!

He speaks amazingly fluent English and told me his life story between the seemingly non-stop phone calls. He was a police officer for 25 years, worked with the UN (in Bosnia and Croatia), retired to teaching, owns a spare car parts company, a supermarket, and is a manager for a tourist company. Oh also, he has a BA in English, Masters in Computer Sciences and is about to start a PhD in Management. Needless to say, he has some stories to tell. I was just elated the stories were in English! We finally arrived in the general area of Amman, where we went directly to the Prince Hussein Hospital and met with some radiologists. It was here I discovered that I can indeed sleep with my eyes open. After they spoke for an eternity (okay, maybe 30 min), and being invited by several doctors to lunch, we left. Next we went to a printing press to order labels and business cards. Again, ambiguity embraced. I sat, smiled (but not to men), drank coffee without sugar, smiled some more, and acted generally oblivious to my surroundings. 

Finally we made it to the Dr’s house (the presenter). She lives in one of the upscale neighborhoods in Amman and teaches at Philadelphia University (I believe). We walked in and are instantly called back to meet her mother, who is confined to her bed with a broken leg. She was approximately the age of Mother Earth, if I had to guess. She explained to me that her father is Lebanese, her mother is Turkish, she married and Iraqi, and now because of blood transfusions, she is becoming Jordanian. She was hilarious. She is an author/poet, and continues to write for various magazines, particularly on the topic of youth development. I was in awe that I even got to sit in the same room with her, let alone that she request to meet the American and she called me beautiful :)

We then spent the next 4 hours editing the powerpoint. We went through every slide and made her practice each word (it was in English). It probably would have gone faster if we weren’t off topic and laughing hysterically 60% of the time. I was just so happy to be speaking English with people. After we finished the powerpoint, we went to pizza corner and had a delicious meal of cheap pizza. At 7:00pm we said goodbye to the professor and went on our way back to the Valley. 

On our way home he nonchalantly  said one of the most poignant messages I have heard. We were talking about his life and how he is always busy, always in school, or at work, or helping someone, and he said

 “Life needs movement”

 Heavy. Let it mean what it will for you, but I completely latched on to this and connected with the thought. It was hard for me to believe this statement came from the same man, who hours earlier, after leaving me in a car for 10 minutes while he went into a store and left me to watch random children stare at me, said “You are driving me stupid”.

 We had a fantastic ride home and talked about how he feels about punishing his sons (against harshness), discipline in schools (against yelling at students), teaching methods (wants more real-life implementation), and general life stories. It was refreshing to listen to him and hear his desire to change things. Also, this was the most I think I have talked WITH someone since I have moved to my village. Normally I make feeble attempts at conversation, which then leads to me sitting in the corner during my visits with the hajat (elderly women) posse. It was nice and now he is my tutor, so win!

Thank you for the advice, RPCV I don’t remember from Staging, I am so happy I chose to embrace the ambiguity today….and that I didn’t get killed by a random man whose car I chose to get in.

Paparazzi!

So I have learned over the past couple weeks that children wanting to pose for the camera is a universal desire. As soon as I busted out my camera, I had twenty new friends! Well, not new, but they were definitely more interested in me.

I have been sitting in each of the three classrooms or the past month trying to get a grasp on what happens daily and where I can be used the most. The amount of teaching varies by day, but I have witnessed teaching regularly (on some level) in two of the three classes, so that is a fantastic start! Typically the lessons consist of the teacher drawing shapes or numbers in a small notebook that the child then identifies and colors. The same lesson is taught each day. I felt as if I was in Groundhog Day for a week as I was watching a child repeat the same action of identifying and coloring a square and the number hamsa (5). I think this would be a great place to add activities to make the lesson interesting and perhaps have a more successful retention rate. I am always on the lookout for new fun lesson ideas about: shapes, numbers, colors, etc …so message me if you have ideas! Thank you all for your desire to donate supplies to our center. I am going to speak with my mudeera and the teachers to see what they think about it and what they feel we need most. If it goes through my director, I may be able to get more donated (customs can be difficult sometimes). 

The kids and teachers are still pretty fantastic and I cannot wait to have adventures with them. Rumor has it, we will go on picnics when the weather is nice again. Right now it’s the rainy season (like the Midwest). Most of Jordan actually saw quite a bit of snow the past week, but none here. I was assured it never snows here. Several of my friends in the other villages and cities in Jordan were lamenting about the cold, lack of heater, lack of food, and the copious amount of snow. I still don’t have a heater because it isn’t cold here, no snow and plenty of food. I am absolutely lucky in that sense. On the other hand, it hasn’t stopped raining for longer than 6 hours for the past two weeks. I am pretending I am in Seattle and going along with it. It also seems to stop raining just long enough for me to wash all of my clothes and hang them up. It then continues to steadily and heavily downpour for days. At this rate my clothes may never dry. 

Other than the somewhat gloomy weather, things are going smoothly here. I am doing the Lent thing for the first time in my life and it has been interesting to say the least. It has shown me just how hospitable and thoughtful Jordanians are. After the initial look of being appalled with me not eating sugar for 40+days, they have made it a point to give me tea without sugar during visits, have fruit or veggies as a snack instead of sweets (for me only), etc. They are amazing. My mudeera (prinicipal) brought me fish and veggies one day because of not eating meat; she also brought me biscuits and breads from Amman because she doesn’t think I have enough food here to eat. As assertive as she can be at times (like when she tried to put me on the Atkins diet) she genuinely cares about me! My village has made me feel incredibly loved and welcomed on a daily basis. 

There are numerous days when I wake up and wonder why I am here, how I got here, why my neighbor won’t stop knocking on my door, why there is a child staring at me through my window (note to self: always close curtains!), how am I going to make it 20 more months. I then think of the faces of the children at my center and how happy they are in these pictures. 

 On those hard days, I have looked at these pictures and realize…they keep me here.

Some of my fantastic students: (just as an aside, photos of minors/students is not an issue here, I checked :) enjoy! )

 not that I have favorites, but he's my favorite. I basically stalk him all day. This was their lesson today, coloring strawberry shortcake for the 40th time.

Why yes, I did make that day of the week poster in the back. It says "Today: Wednesday" and then has a space for yesterday/tomorrow and weather conditions.

 Get ready for more pictures later, but please enjoy this video of an impromtu dance party in the class with hearing impairments