Hello again (11/4/06)

Hello!

I know you are probably getting sick of emails from me now that I have internet at my house!

This week was a lot of fun, and not as hard as I was afraid of after the previous vacation week.

We studied Halloween all week in my classroom, and carved a pumpkin on Monday (pictures are now up but not yet labelled) We tried to cook the pumpkin on Tuesday for Halloween, I baked half in the oven and boiled half on the stove, and both tasted gross, even with sugar. The only people who liked it were my three students (one was helping her family pick olives all week and was absent) These are the same kids who spend all day eating crayons, so I don't know if I would trust their judgement.

Wednesday I was sick (big surprise, if it is giardia, apparently its cyclical and will last for a long time, hooray!) Thursday was a classic example of life in Jordan. We sent all the kids home at 9:45 (to be fair, we only picked up the kids from Rajef, not the ones from Dilagha) and the teachers went on a field trip to Beda and Little Petra (pictures are up but not labeled) The seven women at my center, the bus driver, and three teacher's children piled in our center van and headed out to this picnic spot near Wadi Musa. It was a lot of fun, we bar-b-qued, ate, and we even climbed up on some of the rocks.

Friday I was supposed to go hiking with a friend from the village, and we had agreed to meet at 8am, but had not specified a place. Luckily she came over to my house, but unfortunately she wasn't able to go hiking because she needed to help her family pick zeytoun (olives). I decided to go along and help out, and spent 7 hours out in the field picking olives, which was surprisingly a whole lot of fun. As a reward they fed me dinner, which was delicious.

Next week friends are coming to visit me/Petra, and I think several of our LCFs (teachers from Irbid) are coming down as well, so that should be a lot of fun. The next weekend the head of PC worldwide is coming to our town for lunch, so that is going to be a big deal. There is even a random rumor that the king (the KING of Jordan) might be coming too, but it seems a little far-fetched to me.

Funny language moments of the week:

-the cell phone case hanging in the center's bus that has a picture of Winnie the Pooh and says "PEAR" with its letters all backwards (they don't really do copyright here)

-Yesterday with my friends little brother (who is 5) they were naming letters in English and he would say an English word, such as "D-Dog!" and then his sister said "P-Panana!" and didn't understand why I was laughing so hard (she is 23)

-Same family, the brother asked me "How language with you?" which translates as "What languages do you speak" funny that I immediately understood what he wanted to know

Hope everyone is doing well, I love you all and miss you and love hearing updates about your lives!

Jessica

Fantastic Week (sent 10/27/06)

Ramadan is finally over, alhamdulila!!! (but it took an extra day, everyone was ready for it to be done on Sunday, but instead we had to fast on Monday as well).

This week has been pretty exciting, out of the 33 things not to miss in the Rough Guide, I managed to do nine of them in one week!

After a terrible day in Amman on Sunday (two long awful bus rides, nothing going right) I got to go hiking in Petra with some friends. We left my house at 6am, and I met up with 2 PCVs and one of their friends from England. If you have ever seen the Raiders of the Last Ark, it is shot in Petra. Basically these Nabatean guys a long time ago decided that instead of building houses, they would just carve them out of ridiculously huge rocks. It is absolutely surreal looking. We kept saying we felt like we were in Disney World and they had created these crazy things out of styrofoam, because it is so bizarre that someone would carve somthing like this. I hiked to the high place of sacrifice, and the monastery, and also saw the treasury, the siq, and the old village. It was absolutely incredible, but I only have pictures from the Monastery. In one of the pictures, there is a man on top of the very top of the monastery, look closely and you will see him, and then realize how ridiculously high he is. Apparently they like to do this to entertain tourists.

On Tuesday (still very sore from Petra, we blame Ramadan as our reason for being out of shape!) I met up with 8 other volunteers to head down to Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed/where he actually lived-I even saw his old house. This was another absolutely incredible part of Jordan. The sand is a bright red color, and there are huge cliffs everywhere. These cliffs are perfect, because they are made for rock climbing (rock climbing Ed, you should come visit!!!) You don't even have to know what you are doing, you just scramble up the side of these rocks. While there, we saw a herd of Wild Arabian Oryx, which are endangered. I tried to touch one, but they ran away, but I did get some cool pictures. We camped in Wadi Rum for two nights (one night under the stars, where I saw over 30 shooting stars) and then headed down to Aqaba.

I don't know if there were any movies filmed in Aqaba, but it's a really cool place! We stayed 12 km outside of the city at a cool little camping/hotel place. I went snorkeling in the Red Sea. I've never been snorkeling before in my life, but I am definitely addicted now, it was the coolest thing! You swim out like thirty feet, then look up, and you see Jordanians on the shore, because they can't swim and are afraid of water. Maybe they will go in up to their knees, but that is about it. So we were the only ones out there. When you look down, you are suddenly in Finding Nemo. I've been told that the snorkeling in the Red Sea is some of the best in the world so I hope I'm not disapointed anywhere else, but it was seriously very very cool

I came back home today and slept forever. I feel like this week might be rough after such a high week! But I plan on celebrating Halloween with my kids by carving a pumpkin and making pumpkin pie, so that should be a lot of fun!

I miss you all and love you!
Jessica

Congratulations (sent 10/21/06)

Hello everyone!

First of all, a big congratulations to my wonderful roommate Nate and his amazing fiancée Mary Margaret!!!! I am so very happy for you guys (still mad about the wedding date, but I'll get over it) Apparently in Jordan if your friends get engaged you have to buy everyone candy. At least, that's what Abu Aymen told me (interesting that I had to buy the candy for his family from his family's store!) Also congratulations to Aunt Nancy and Ray on their engagement too! (a lot of engagements lately!!)

Right now I am counting down the days till the end of Ramadan! When I send this we will have either one or two days left (I'm writing this on Tuesday, so I still have 5 or 6 days…) The end of Ramadan depends on something with the moon that I don't understand, and you don't know until the day before when it actually ends (it was the same with the beginning)

This has been a good week so far. I am doing a unit on Halloween in my classroom, even though they don't celebrate Halloween here (the second goal of Peace Corps is to teach Jordanians about American culture, that's my excuse!) So far this week we have made ghosts (practiced coloring, cutting and gluing!) and spider webs out of string. I also made a bunch of matching games with Halloween things on them. Also this week we are making ghost windsocks, Jack-o-lanterns from paper, and spiderwebs out of spaghetti (which I am excited about!) Hopefully I will be able to get a real pumpkin for us to carve the week of Halloween, I have been told they do have them in Jordan, but whether or not I can find them here is questionable.

Next week we don't have school at all for the Eid (alhamdulila!) and that is when I am going camping in Wadi Rum (where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed, not that I've seen it) We are going for three nights, because PC let us have three nights off (instead of our usual two a month). I'm hoping to do some hiking in Petra on Sunday or Monday this week, because I finally got my Jordanian ID card, which means it will cost 1 JD instead of 30 JD (1 dollar is .70 dinar) I can't believe I have lived outside of Petra for a month now and never gone hiking! I will definitely post pictures of both Petra and Wadi Rum, because they are both supposed to be beautiful!

In other news I realized I never gave anyone my cell phone number (which I've had since the first week!) Sorry about that! You are welcome to call anytime, but remember it is 7 hours ahead here. I don't know what my schedule is going to be like after Ramadan, but once it gets settled out I'll let you know the most likely times to reach me. In general I'm working from 8-1, Sunday-Thursday, so those would be bad times. The number from America is EMAIL IF YOU WANT IT. I can also send and receive texts, which aren't terribly expensive from the states.

I miss you all!

Jessica

PS. Apparently some people (mom!) didn't understand my language problem story last week, Abu Aymen's son-in-law was asking if I knew any Protestants in Jordan, but instead said "prostitutes." Also "Okht Nancy" (what the old lady was calling me) means "Nancy's sister"

Also, more pictures are up, I was playing with the black and white on my camera, and there are pictures of knitting for Sydney!

10 more days of Ramadan!!! (sent 10/14/06)

Hello everyone!

It has been a crazy week so I finally have some interesting stories to tell! To start off with I was sick again (I know I start every email like this!) but this time it lasted for three days and we decided it was giardia, so I got to take some super strong medicine for it. Hopefully it is all cleared up now and I can return to normal life.

During this time, I didn't have to miss any work, because we had a crazy work schedule. On Monday we had a huge breakfast (at night, at sunset) for all of the families of our kids, and some important men from the ministry. So Sunday we only went to school for two and half hours, and cleaned the whole school. Monday the kids didn't go in at all in the morning (and neither did I) but the teachers set up the tables and chopped vegetables for the salad. That night was the breakfast, which was utter chaos. There were over 100 people there. The kids all sat by themselves in the kitchen area, and all the adults sat in the main room of the school. There was a lot of running around by the teachers, and trying to get the kids to stay quiet. But it all turned out well because the men from the ministry gave our center 500 dinars. Tuesday the kids came in the morning (but not any of the ones I teach, because apparently they aren't helpful) and we spent an hour and half cleaning the school and then went home. Before you think we are too lazy, remember that all of these kids and teachers are fasting, and cleaning the school is a big job, and they don't get to drink any water.

Some funny moments this week:

-My land lords son in law (Abu Khatab) asking me if I had any friends who were prostitutes in Jordan. You know, like Catholics and prostitutes.

-Realizing Jordanians are not worried about bird flu as the infant grandson of my land lord plays with a raw egg, still in its shell

-Watching my land lords son (Abdullah, the youngest one) take the raw chicken out of one pan and fry it, and then put it back into the same pan (and I wonder why I get sick all the time!)

-Looking at the pictures my land lords son (Aymen, the oldest) took of the breakfast at the center, and realizing there isn't a single kid or woman in any of the pictures (no men work at our center!) and then him looking at my pictures and not wanting any of them because the important ministry men weren't in them and they were all of the kids.

-Sitting on a bus that is carrying at least double the number of people it should, while an old woman strokes my thigh and calls me "Okht Nancy" (the J4 volunteer who was in Rajef 7 years ago)

-Contemplating buying "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" from the pirated movie guy, interesting since they haven't made it yet!

Only 10 more days of Ramadan, alhamdulilah! I hope everyone is doing well, I miss you all!

Jessica

Velcro request (sent 10/6/06)

Hello everyone!

Things are going much better in my classroom this week, I went in on Sunday with a plan and have been working like crazy ever since making activites for my class. I think I am busier now during Ramadan than I will be afterwards!

Which brings me to a request, I desperately need those round sticky back velcro dots for activities that I have been making. They are super cheap in the states, but I can't find them here. If you are sending me a letter, throw a box in! Thanks!

I am going to hold off on the book project for a while because I don't have time to get into it right now, but thanks for the offers and I will definitely be working on that at some point! But for now I'll stick to home made books and activities.

Really nothing too exciting is going on here, just work and Ramadan and making activities. Hope you are all doing well! Hopefully by November I will get internet in my apartment so I can post pictures regularly.

Miss you all!

Living in The Village (sent 9/30/06)

Hello everyone!

Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote!! It has been a crazy busy two weeks, but hopefully I am settled into more of a routine now.

Most important: I have a PO Box now, which means I can receive packages! Here is my address:

Jessica Clemens

PO Box 131

Wadi Musa 71810

Jordan

I think that is all you need, but I'm not positive. Apparently the best way to send things is in padded envelopes. If you send a box, they open it, and I have to pay for all of the things in it, which doesn't work so well on a volunteer's salary. If you have to write how much something is worth, write $0, and say that it is used. That helps me not have to pay a lot of money as well.

Second most important: What I have been doing!

I don't even know when the last time I wrote an email was, but since then I have gone to a Greek Orthodox church (and we accidentally sat on the men's side, and forgot to get doilies to cover our heads), got sworn in at the ambassadors (super nice, pictures being posted now!), had graduation with our host families and counterparts, moved to the village, started Ramadan (a month of no eating, drinking, or smoking during day light hours), and started work.

My village is amazing, and I absolutely love it. I am coteaching a class of six developmentally disabled students, and they are fantastic. The classroom is currently a little chaotic, but hopefully this next week will be better, because I have spent a lot of time making supplies and activities for the kids.

Ramadan is a very difficult month to start working in. You aren't allowed to eat or drink anything from the time the sun comes up until the time the sun goes down (which is about 6:45 pm). Every night I go down to my land lord's house for the iftar (breakfast). After we prepare the food, we all sit on the floor around the food and wait until we hear the call to prayer, which signals that it is time to eat. By this time I am usually starving and very thirsty, so it is a neat experience with the family. His family includes five sons (Aymen-23, Ali, Muhammed, Abdullah-13, and one more who's name I forget) and six daughters, but three of the daughters aren't home during the week (one is married and lives in Aqaba, one is married and lives in town and comes over occasionally, and one is a teacher in Ma'an.) The other three daughters are a lot of fun, and I love talking with them.

Sorry this email isn't very detailed, I didn't have time to write it before hand, and my time at the internet cafe is limited.

I miss you all very much!

Sent 9/14/06

Sabah el Khair!

I have finished my final LPI (language test, but won't know the score till next week), had my final interview with Darcy, the country director, and now we are just hanging out until Monday, when we will have our official swear-in ceremony.

Yesterday my group went to visit some other volunteers in Deir Abu Said. They took us to a wadi (valley) that was absolutely beautiful! You have to realize that I have been seeing only browns and grays for the past two months, with occaisonal olive trees, which are a brownish green color. In this wadi was a natrual spring, so everything was green! There were pomegranate trees, lemon trees, banana trees, fig trees, the ground was covered by mint and there were jasmine flowers everywhere so it smelled amazing. And the best part was there was a swimming hole where we got to go swimming! The water was cold and clear and felt amazing! A fellow lutheran in our group had gone to this place before and described it as the Garden of Eden, which was a great description, it was beautiful!

The weather has been exceptionally hot lately, apparently they lie on the news when they list the heat, it is usually several degrees hotter than they report, and they have been reporting 38-40, which apparently means it is really 42-43 degrees.

This next part might be utterly irrelevant to anyone but early childhood educators, but I think it is amazing. In Jordan they have very very very few children's books. Like, I have yet to see one and I have been working in schools. One of the volunteers, (the one we have been working with at the Markez al manar center) decided for a secondary project to write a few children's books to be used in the special ed centers. She wrote eight beautiful books, very basic, in Arabic and English, with great illustrations. She gave each of us a copy of all of the books, and I made a copy for my host family to give them as a gift. It has been great the last few days to watch my little host brothers (ages 7 and 8) read these books with their mom and sisters. Even the sisters, who are 15 and older are excited (the books are interactive and have questions throughout, and they like answering the questions). The best part was when Rabab (the sister who is 16 and has special needs) picked up the books and started reading them. It was so very cool. I also happened to have a copy of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" that Ryan had translated for the center in my new village that I brought downstairs and showed everyone. It was really neat to see a family who I haven't seen read anything other than the boys homework really get into these books.

This is a project that I will probably try to continue when I get to site, translating English kids books into Arabic to use in the classroom with my students (they literally get no literacy in special ed schools here). So I will be asking all of you for books at some point! Just to get you ready to be asked!

Tomorrow we are having lunch at the boy's house, Saturday we go to the center for some workshops, Sunday I am going to try to go to church (first time since I've been here!), and then Monday is moving out of the host families and onto swear in. We go to site next Thursday (the 21st) and by a week from sunday I will be teaching my very own class of special ed jordanians.

I love you all and miss you!

Jessica

Practicum (sent 9/7/06)

Practicum

Today (Thursday) was the last day of our four day practicum at the Markez al Manar. For our project we decided to fix up their playground. When we started, the playground was covered in tall weeds, and trash, the equipment was covered in rust and paint that was flaking off every time the kids played. So for our project, we had the kids help us sand and paint all of the equipment, and we painted a mural on one of the walls. For the last day we had a party. I plan on posting a lot of pictures of this project, because it was a lot of work, and we were really proud of the results. I don't know if any of you have ever tried sanding and painting playground equipment with special ed students, who only speak Arabic in the hot Jordanian sun, but it's not that easy! We took one class at a time (about 5-8 kids) for twenty minutes each, every day to have them help us. We wanted the children to feel that the playground was theirs, and that it looked nice because they worked hard on it.

The mural we painted was the Jordanian flag (national pride here is very very strong, pictures of the flag and the King are everywhere!). We made it out of the kids' handprints. It looked super cute, and the kids were really excited about it.

Today, on the last day, Darcy (our country director), Sultan (the PST director), Saleh (our technical trainer) and two men from the department of social development came to see our party with the kids. The man from the department of social ministry gave a nice little speech about how great Peace Corps is and how they love working with us. It was very touching and a nice way to end four days of hard work. (and we are having a pizza party tonight at Pizza Hut!)

I'm really going to miss working at our center, the kids are really great, and the teachers as well, and the director Helena is a lot of fun. It makes me excited about going to my own villageand starting to work with my class!

We have less than two weeks left in our villages, which is sad, exciting, and scary at the same time. On the 21^st we will swear in as real live Peace Corps Volunteers, and immediately after swear-in we will be taken to our new sites. So about the time you are waking up on the 21^st, I will be traveling down south to start the next part of this adventure!

Next week is the final LPI (the language test) so the rest of this week will be spent preparing for that. I hope to improve on my score from last time, but I have already surpassed the required level, so I'm not too worried.

Hope everyone is having fun with school starting (it is super weird to not be going to school by the way, first time since I can remember!!!)

Miss you all and love you!

Jessica