School's Out

I just finished an intensive 5 week program at George Mason University called the Fast Train Program. It was exhausting but worth it. I made it through with only one meltdown, not bad I think. I am so very excited!!!!!

Childhood Nostalgia

I was overcome with nostalgia a few nights ago. I saw one single lightning bug flicker its light while I was driving to go have dinner with my sister in Fairfax Virginia. I immediately got excited and had flashbacks to my childhood. I use to collect them in a jar and be amazed at the glowing treasures I had caught. Those were the days. I miss the pure innocence of childhood when your biggest concern was to catch more lightning bugs than your friends and decide which flavored popsicle to have that night. Sadly, I do remember squishing a few on the sidewalk and making a glowing streak.

We do not remember days; we remember moments. ~Cesare Pavese, The Burning Brand

Home Sweet Home

I have been back in the U.S. for 3 full days now and have taken notice of a few things:

1. The first thing I noticed is how much I missed understanding people talking around me. I have been chatting it up with everyone I come in contact with, be it the bus driver, the grocery store check out guy, strangers waiting in line with me or people I see in my dorm.

2. I think I may be stuck in money converting mode because every time I buy something I start to think what it really costs.

3. I really love trees.

4. I realize how incredibly loud Amman was and how much I appreciate peace and quiet.

5. It is appalling how women are treated in Jordan and I am grateful that I don't have to deal with it any more.

6. I missed grocery shopping in the U.S.

7. I need to re-train myself to use sidewalks (in Jordan everyone just walks in the street)

8. Apparently in both countries strange men think it is appropriate to offer me a ride. Who are they kidding, do any women actually say yes?

My New Adventure...

I have officially moved out of the middle east! I am wondering what I should call my blog now, I guess I could just take away the "Middle East". For my next adventure I will be a college student again. I am enrolled in a program called Fast Train at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. I am working towards earning a teaching certificate. I have to take 5 weeks of classes this summer and next summer, several online courses, do lots of observations, take a few tests, teach abroad for one more school year and voila I have a teaching certificate. It is an international program so I have to teach elementary education for a year in a foreign country (which one I don't know yet). I just arrived on campus yesterday and am living in a dorm type setup. I have my own room, there is a full kitchen and I have 2 other roommates as of now. Brian is not with me, we will meet up in August when I am finished here. It feels incredibly strange living with strangers and being a full time student again. However, I am excited to start classes Monday and think this program is perfect for me. I don't have the attention span to take classes part time for 3 years to earn this certificate. I have been teaching for years already and just want to get in and out as quickly as possible. Luckily I have a few days to get over my jet leg because 9 credits in 5 weeks is pretty intense. Wish me luck!!

Around The World In 105 Days!

After a lot of hard work(on Brian's end), a long wait, several sleepless nights and possibly a little luck, I am happy to say that Brian and I are officially setting sail on the 2012 Spring Voyage with Semester at Sea!! Brian was officially offered the position as photographer. I have applied for several positions, but most likely won't know if I get one of them until right before we leave (either way I get to go with). For those of you who don't know anything about Semester at Sea, it is a study abroad experience where students take classes on the ship while at sea and then go to several ports (8-12 countries) to explore the world's most fascinating sites while earning college credits. Our voyage leaves in the middle of January and is for about 3 and a half months. This will be Brian's second time doing this and I am so very happy that I get to join him this time! Here is the itinerary:

• EMBARK: Nassau, Bahamas
• Havana, Cuba
• Manaus, Brazil
• Takoradi, Ghana
• Cape Town, South Africa
• Port Louis, Mauritius
• Chennai, India
• Singapore
• Ho Chi Minh, City, Viet Nam
• Hong Kong, China
• Shanghai, China
• Kobe, Japan
• Yokohama, Japan
• Hilo, Hawaii
• DEBARK: San Diego, CA USA

Good Times at the Dead Sea

Here are a few more fun photos at the Dead Sea with my future in-laws. Little did I know that in a few hours I would be engaged. I still can't believe it!!

The Big Question!!

I am happy to say that I am officially engaged!! It was the most beautiful and romantic moment of my life so far. Brian managed after 7 years of knowing each other to completely surprise me to the point that I was speechless. His parents are still in town and we all went down to the Dead Sea last night to stay at a very beautiful hotel. Halfway through the day Brian told me that the hotel asked him to do a photo shoot of our balcony set up with room service and in exchange we could eat the food afterwards. As Brian has done this for many jobs in the past I was not suspicious at all. The crazy thing is that while he was setting up, I was helping arrange the flowers for the shoot. Next thing I know he tells me his parents are coming over for some champagne to watch the sun set before the photo shoot. As we sit down Brian says he wants to take a picture of all of us. As I am posing for the picture I look over and Brian is holding a ring and says, "we should get married". He then waited for my reply until I said, "you didn't ask me a question yet". After he realized his blunder he asked me if I would marry him and of course I said YES. I slowly found out that the whole thing was set up and there was no photo shoot. We then had the most delicious Thai food brought to our room and spent the night eating, drinking and celebrating. On top of all of this, my engagement ring was his great-grandmothers and Brian's mom gave it to Brian for the big occasion. I still can't believe it and am feeling so incredibly lucky and blessed right now! Brian had a remote control and at the moment he asked me he took these pictures ( if you look carefully you can see it in his one hand). Leave it to the professional photographer to capture this moment on camera!!!

The Duke's Paradise

Brian's parents are in town so a few days ago we took a drive to the most northern part of Jordan to a town called Umm Qais. The Duke (a friend of ours) owns property that has a natural hot spring on it. Many years ago he designed several small villas on the property and then re-routed the hot spring to run through the small community. There is a large pool that has a small waterfall running into it. The day we were there was rather full of people so I didn't get a good picture of the main pool. We will be going back some time soon and I will add a few more pictures. The top picture is inside The Duke's private bathroom. He has a huge tub that is filled with the hot spring water and as you can see, several murals on the walls and doors. This was one of the most beautiful places I have been to in Jordan yet.

Heads, teeth and eyeballs.....mmmmm!

Last night was a very special night for me. Brian and I were invited over to a new friend's house to partake in a long standing tradition of eating Mansef. Mansef is the national dish of Jordan and I am told it is served on special occasions or to honored guests. The lamb is pressure cooked in its own fat and covered with a dried yogurt-like product called jameed. It is served on a huge platter (about 3 ft wide) first covered with a layer of flat bread, then topped with rice, incredibly tender meat (head and all) and garnished with almonds or pine nuts. Lastly, the sour yogurt-type sauce is poured all over the whole dish. Fortunately Brian had his camera with him so I made him take a picture of the finished product. Having been the only one there who had never had Mansef before, they had to teach me how to eat it. Everyone sits in a circle around the dish and eats with their hands. You are suppose to take a small pinch full with three fingers and get a little rice, meat and sauce, ball it up and pop it in your mouth. Last night we weren't quite as delicate and everyone was using their whole hand to grab some of the dish and mush it together in mouthfuls. Brian was more of a shover than a popper and I kept dropping it on the floor before it got into my mouth but no one seemed to mind. From the visual of two lamb heads staring at me (eyes, teeth and tongues in tact), the smell of the sour yogurt sauce and the sound of the Mansef squishing in between everyones fingers it was an experience I will never forget(and probably don't need to repeat). I was kindly offered an eye ball and the brains but declined. Add to the night many glasses of Arak (a traditional drink which is an anise flavored alcohol that is mixed with water) and I felt like a true local.

Cambodia and Laos

Brian and I spent a little over two weeks in Cambodia and Laos. We stayed in Phnom Phen for 4 nights (Cambodia) and then went to Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Nong Kiow in Laos. We had a really good time and were happy to be back in this region of the world. I had some of the best food of my life in Laos and we could not get over how cheap everything was! A really nice dinner with drinks included was around $12.00 total. Here in Jordan that would cover about 2 crappy Amstel beers. One of my favorite days was in Luang Prabang when we rented bikes and rode around the town looking in little shops for souvenirs and riding along overlooking the Mekong River. We rented a scooter for several days to explore outside of the major towns and Brian took some amazing photos of the people living in small villages. I don't know how he does it, but before I know it Brian is inside some family's house with about 10 children clinging to his side and making everyone laugh. I am not quite as bold and stuck to photos of nature and food. I included a few pictures from the markets. One is of all different types of medicine and I included the couple with fish and meat for my food safety/nutrition friends back home. The very bottom picture is of a "gas station". I couldn't get enough of all the green landscapes and knew I would love Cambodia when we were driving to the hotel the first day and saw community exercise classes in the city parks along the road!

House Hunters International

Long story short, we got invited to be on House Hunters International to talk about our move from Portland to Jordan. They flew us back to the US a few weeks ago to film us in our old house in Portland(we had to get permission from the current owners). Just this past weekend we filmed the Amman portion of the show. We tried our best to make it silly and not super dorky but with the power of editing I feel they could spin it any way they want. The crew was a few guys our age and we had quite a few laughs while filming. Brian's jokes were non-stop and half the time inappropriate but the crew didn't seem to mind (probably because they don't have to edit the show). We were told it would be about 4-6 months before it airs. Brian took this picture while they were interviewing me about an apartment we looked at earlier. I just hope Brian can handle the fact that he is no longer the only famous one in the relationship!!

Proof she made it!

Sorry Jessy, I really didn't think you would make it. I haven't seen my sister in over 2 years (we think, we can't really remember). Jessy stayed for a week and we crammed as much in as possible. Here is a picture Brian took of us relaxing with Dead Sea mud all over us, it makes your skin really soft afterwards.

Dubai on a dime...

Well, maybe a little more than a dime. A bottle of water at the Thai restaurant we ate at cost 80 dimes (8 USD). Though this city is outrageously expensive, we had a great time. It was a short trip to re-new our visas. We had two full days and packed in as much as we could. We were exhausted when we got home.

One whole day was spent in the sun. We got free tickets to the water park from a friend who used to work there. The rides actually went faster than I expected and one was in a pitch black tunnel. Brian said it made him sea sick, but I think he was scared.

The second day we went skiing inside the mall. Yep, the mall. Dubai has an indoor ski slope inside the mall that is open year round. Average summer temperatures are around 110 degrees so it is pretty insane. When we first walked past it I thought it looked cheesy, but it actually was really fun. Brian is writing an article about the ski slopes and the hotel that is attached, so we got to stay at the hotel for free one night. It has 6 chalets that overlook the ski slopes. Once again we had a glimpse into how the rich people live, a two story chalet with marble counters, a kitchen table, a huge bathtub and floor to ceiling windows looking out at the man made mountain. There was even a V.I.P. check-in area.

If you don't know much about Dubai, it is the city of excess. It has the world's tallest building, the world's largest mall and the only 7 star hotel that is on a man made island. It is like Vegas, without the sex and drinking. It is a very clean city and much calmer and more organized than Amman, but I prefer to vacation somewhere where I can hold Brian's hand in the streets and have a meal that doesn't cost a third of my salary.

**All photos compliments of Happy Medium Studios.

A Day in the Life of Ms. Julie

I am now affectionately known as Ms. Julie by 98 fourth grade girls. I have been teaching English for three weeks now but I have to say it seems like I have been there for months. I wake up at 6:30 (ouch) and am out of the house by 7:15. I am very lucky in that my school is a 20 minute walk from home, so I walk the majority of days. My first class starts at 8:10 and the madness doesn't stop until 2. I am responsible for the education of 98 students at drastically different levels. I have everything from students who can hardly speak in full sentences to students who bring in power point presentations about WWII just because they wanted to share what they had learned last night.

The students stay in one classroom and I have to move to teach them. I am teaching reading comprehension, grammar, spelling, handwriting and writing skills. They learn something called joint handwriting which is a combination of print and cursive(It is harder than it sounds). After a day of teaching I usually have a ton of grading to do. This is one of the most time consuming parts of the job because there are so many students. I would say on average I have about 2 hours of grading every night. I do have a co-teacher who helps out tremendously. I could not keep track of all of the students without her. Once I am finished grading papers I walk home and TRY to relax. There is something about teaching that I have noticed, even once I leave school I have a hard time letting it all go. All night I will be thinking about what I have to do the next day, things I could do better, ways to improve the lessons etc. I need to work on separating myself from it because there will always be more I could do.

It is the oldest school in Amman and is known for being one of the most forward thinking schools here. The school is an all girls school and works really hard at teaching the girls that they are smart, independent women who can accomplish anything they want in life(This is not the cultural norm as women are still seen as inferior to men here). It is a small school and I have about 32 students crammed in each classroom. There is no air conditioning and many students have to climb over chairs to get out of their seats. My office is also the teachers lounge so I can forget about having any peace and quiet while working. My students are still at the age that they love to give hugs and want to impress you. I can't walk down the hall without receiving hugs and smiles from my students. That seems to melt away any frustrations I am feeling.

This is the hardest I have ever worked at a job so far. I am not even sure I have ever had a job where I actually worked 40 hours in a week. It feels good being busy and I feel very important. I am mostly looking forward to the pay off at the end of the year when I can see progress in my students learning. Then I feel like it will all be worth it. Inshallah. (God willing).

Rookie Mistake

I have been in Amman since April and have not seen a single rain cloud until today. Every day has been blazing sun and mostly in the 90's. Today there actually were some rain clouds and a slight drizzle, which I have to admit I gladly welcomed for a break in the sunshine and heat. About 15 minutes ago I looked outside and the whole sky was this unusual color as you can see in the picture above. I remarked to Brian how cool it looked and grabbed my camera to take a picture. I figured it was a storm coming in. I sat back down to continue getting ready to teach tomorrow. About 5 minutes ago I looked up and my entire apartment was full of a thick haze that was making me cough. I looked outside and finally realized what was happening, A SAND STORM! I ran to close all the windows and now my house is covered in a thin layer of dusty sand and the rooms are still foggy and making me cough. I just vacuumed and mopped the entire house yesterday and will now have to do it all over again. Even as I type I can feel a layer of grit on the keyboard and my feet are filthy from walking around. Lesson learned!

No Junk Food Allowed!

Starting September 15th I will be the English teacher for 98 4th grade girls at an all girls school down the street from me. They are split into three classes and I teach each class for about an hour and twenty minutes a day. Today at my training I learned that the school has a "No Junk Food Policy" and is quite strict about enforcing it. The students bring their lunches each day and are not allowed to bring any sort of soda or sweets. This includes anything sweet, even a piece of banana bread with chocolate chips in it. There is a canteen students can buy food at but it only sells sandwiches and fresh fruits and veggies. Those of you who have taught at schools in the states or have kids who attend them should understand why this is blog worthy. Pretty impressive I think. It sure would have made my job teaching nutrition the last three years easier if the students hadn't left my class to go be served greasy pizza with ranch dressing, french fries and a cookie from the cafeteria.

Ramadan Kareem...not so much!

Though this may be a coincidence I have noticed a lot more hostility in the past two weeks. To be more exact, starting the day after Ramadan began. Since I have moved here in April I have never seen any physical fights. Every now and again I'd witness a shouting match but I have been told it is very rare for Arabs to actually touch each other or have it escalate to anything further.

The day after Ramadan began I heard a very loud altercation outside my window. There were groups of people watching and it struck me as unusual. Then about a week ago I saw two grown men near a shop arguing and start to grab each other and more or less wrestle. To add to that, yesterday I saw two men yelling and pushing each other and I am sure it would have gotten worse if two other men hadn't separated them and the police intervened.

As I said earlier this may be a coincidence but I have a feeling the lack of water on 100 degree days, the drastically dropping blood sugar levels and the sudden withdrawal from caffeine and cigarettes may be to blame.

Ramadan Kareem

As I am sitting here writing this blog the sun is begining to go down. In about 15 minutes the whole city will hear over loud speakers from the many Mosques scattered around, the signal that it is ok to break your daily fast. It is now the 6th day of Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is a very holy time for Muslims. During the 30 days of Ramadan Muslims refrain from eating, drinking and any sexual activities from sunrise to sunset. The 30 days of fasting are meant to build empathy and compassion for those who are forced to go without food and drink and give Muslims extra time to pray and thank Allah (God) for all their blessings. It is believed that the first verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad at this time of the year.

One of the interesting things about Ramadan is that the start date is determined by the moon and moves backwards about 11 days each year which means that Ramadan will be during the summer months for the next 10 years or so. It has been in the upper 90's every day here and well into the 100's in other parts of the middle east, and when it says no drinking, that is including water. There are a few things that shift during the month of Ramadan to make it a little easier on the people who choose to fast. For one, eating, drinking or smoking in public is against the law. I was told if you are caught you get thrown in jail for the remaining days of Ramadan. (I was told they are lenient on expats, which is good because I accidently ate a nut in the parking lot at Safeway the other day) Also, work ends at 3 so people can go home and rest, and there aren't a whole lot of expectations for productivity at work. After a long day of fasting comes the Iftar which is the meal that breaks the fast and is usually a large meal shared with friends, family and the community. After sundown people can eat, drink and smoke as much as they want to until sunrise.

Personally I like the concept of Ramadan. It is a time to be thankful for what you have, build compassion for those who are less fortunate and spend time with family and friends. I do question if not drinking water all day is a great idea for people who have to work outside in 115 degree weather, but who am I to say?

Kareem means generous, so Ramadan Kareem basically means "have a Generous Ramadan". This is found written all over town. One year Ramadan was near Christmas time so people started putting up lights and have continued to do so, even though it is the middle of summer now.

Misogyny or Chauvinism?

For me, it is virtually impossible to leave my apartment without some sort of unwanted attention. A typical walk down the street gets me many stares. And I am not talking about a guy looking at me for a second or two. I am talking about a complete up and down stare, in which they clearly are not trying to hide it. Brian has colorfully named it "eye fucking". Many times it is followed by a noise, one of which sounds like what you do to call a cat over to you. The cat call is clearly their favorite as I hear it constantly. I have had cars full of men hang out the window and yell at me as they drive by. The other day a guy in his car asked if he could walk with me. I said "no" and he then followed me down the road, talking to me as he drove. He even acted offended that I was being rude to him as he was trying to make small talk with me. I get attention from the young and the old no matter what part of town I walk in and no matter what I am wearing.

Though I was a bit anxious about this in the beginning, I feel I have adjusted rather well. I will say that it is very annoying and degrading at times, but I have NEVER felt unsafe or threatened. I did however have an experience the other day that still irritates me if I think about it. Brian and I went to a health club down the street to look into possibly joining. I had been there once and they told me I could bring Brian by to check out the facilities and give it a try. When I explained to the gentleman at the front desk why we were there he told me we had to each pay 25 JD's (35 USD). I politely explained to him what the other guy told me last week and why we were there. He was quite rude, had a scowl on his face and told me "NO". After about 5 solid minutes of this, Brian says to him, "I'd really like to check the place out", and all of a sudden the guys entire demeanor changed. He smiled and told Brian, "Yes sir, as you wish", and handed us each a towel. As I walked away I was totally confused as to what just happened. I still am not sure which to call it, misogyny or chauvinism, but clearly I was not respected as an equal to my male companion.

Tree Climbing Goats

These goats are common in Morocco. We have tons of goats here, but sadly ours just walk on the ground. I came across these photos yesterday and still laugh every time I see them.