World Economic Forum Hits Jordan

Today was a big day and I certainly haven't digested it properly.

The World Economic Forum is happening in Jordan this week, and so of course, there's a lot of foreign dignitaries and scholars and politicians and more visiting this small country.  Here at King's, we were lucky enough to have some of them as guests today, including several U.S. senators and the first lady of Rwanda.  Retired General Tommy Franks gave a speech in our auditorium.  Franks was the U.S. general leading the attack on the Taliban in Afghanistan directly following 9/11 as well as the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. 

I cannot express how strange and overwhelming and surreal it was to hear this man speak about 9/11 and about deciding to go to war with Afghanistan and Iraq to a room full of predominantly Arab people, including students from Iraq and Afghanistan.  Obviously, those wars have never felt so present to me as they did today.  Franks spoke about the day of 9/11, when Bush called him on the phone and asked him, "So, what are you going to do about it?" 

Like I said, I am still processing the experience.  The students asked phenomenal questions, which Franks did not answer frankly, though I guess that is to be expected.  Rumor has it he's running for political office? 

There was a lot of really interesting information presented, but I'm not going to write the details here because I'm not sure about privacy rules.  I'd love to have one-on-one conversations, though.  I will briefly talk about the most emotional moment.  We have two Afghani students; they're sisters.  At the end of his speech, Franks opened up the floor to questions and the older Afghani sister stood up, told him she'd read a lot about him, and asked him, with tears in her voice, why the United States had not tried harder to find bin Laden in the mountains of Afghanistan.  It was obvious this was a personal question, not a political or intellectual question.  It was unreal to sit and watch these two people meet, to think how they've had such different lives, yet one has affected the life of the other so drastically, and it seems, terribly. 

Another, quite different, highlighted moment happened before the General started speaking, when our Dean of Students went to the front of the auditorium and said, "Please, all rise for His Majesty King Abdallah the Second."  And, then the King walked in!  Sur. real.

So, that was the kind of day I had.

I have some funnier, lighter stories about the last week, but I'll save them.  I have to go process the day a little more.  Until then--

Amman Heats Up: Demonstrations and Dancing

There have been demonstrations in Madaba and Amman this past week and some of the roads leading away from the school have been blocked.  The demonstrations are peaceful and don't seem to be political, but rather tribal and/or land conflicts.  One less-reliable news source reported a car of gunman on Airport Road.  The report was entirely in Arabic so I couldn't read it thoroughly, but my Jordanian friend seemed to think it was exaggerated and inaccurate.  I heard from one person that the protests were just about jurisdiction of city rights between Amman and Madaba; some people living in Madaba were enjoying the privilege of an Amman address (or something equivalent) (investors were more willing to invest in businesses affiliated with Amman).  I've also heard the protests are due to a "tribal clash" between the two major families of Madaba, and could be incited by a slight personal insult between two family members and happens all the time.  In summary, I'm not really sure why there are protests but it seems harmless. Some of the teachers that live in Amman got stuck at the school for a couple hours and had to drive home a different way.  Not a big deal.

Last night I went to Amman to walk through Souk Jara, an outdoor market, before it shuts down for the winter.  I also had some great street felafel.  Today I went to the Embassy Bazaar near Amman, a great festival celebrating countries all over the world.  Each embassy sets up a table with crafts and foods and drinks.  It was lovely to see people from so many countries gathered in one place.  In all, there were probably more than 100 countries represented.  Unfortunately, there was no Colombian table, although I asked the Peruvians about the Colombians and they said there is a Colombian embassy just no table today.  Maybe if I'm here next year, I'll help organize a Colombian table.  A fellow teacher, Charlie, and I had a great time sampling food and looking at all the crafts and displays and we even got to see a performance of traditional Jordanian Bedouin dance called dabka.  I've included a video below; the dance is repetitive, but there are some exciting moments (like when I almost get whacked by the sword).  Also, you can hear me laughing out of excitement at certain points.  Shout-out to Nicole: the bagpipes are the Jordanian national instrument!

This video took FOREVER to load, but here it is.

Sweet Mobility and Laughter Incapacitations

I hope that incapacitating, joyful, childlike laughter is always a part of my adult life.  But sometimes, it would be handy to have some control over the immobilizing laughter that, unannounced, spontaneously hits me in the presence of certain creaturedome.  For example, my students.  There is rampant creaturedome in my classrooms.  Some of you probably know that there is a direct correlation between control of my arms and legs and the magnitude of my laughter.  Translation: hard laughter causes me to fall over.  And we're not talking about a little bending over, holding my sides--this is an instantaneous collapse to the ground.  

My students are very funny.  Even when they're being bad or silly or just playful, and I should, probably, be reacting to them in other ways than with laughter, it's difficult to keep a straight face.  We played Physics Jeopardy today in order to review for a quiz on Sunday.  They get really competitive, which is great because they're so involved and excited, but it's difficult for me to call on the "first hand up" when they all instantaneously raise they hands.  And still, whichever student I call on, of course I'm met by a chorus of, "Miss!  I had my hand up first.  Not fair, Miss!" from the rest of the class.  (All students call teachers "Miss" here, and that's it.  It's really funny and great.)  Anyway, at one point, I was laughing so hard at their intense earnestness toward this game of Physics Jeopardy (as if it would surely determine the rest of their foreseeable lives) that I nearly lost leg-control.  (Probably did not make them any happier, since they were taking this all VERY seriously.)  I maintained (minimal) dignity by holding onto the teacher's desk at the front of the classroom.

This week I asked them to research an Arab physicist and present in class about this person's contributions to science, regional and global implications of these contributions and any funny or personal stories they could find about the scientist.  I also told them I'd give extra credit for dressing up like the scientist.  They were so hilariously creative with the costumes--cotton beards, cloaks, various types of turbans, lab coats, goggles.  And the greatest part was how theatrical some of them were, really getting into the character of the scientist.  I learned about an Egyptian nuclear physicist named Sameera Moussa who died tragically in a car that drove off a cliff and was believed to be the only "alien" to gain access to secret US atomic facilities in California.  Many of the kids talked about the famous Arab physicist, Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham (yes, they had to write this name on the board for me), who had many Newtonian and Einsteinian views of physics before these two men were even born, and also feigned insanity to escape certain death after an Egyptian caliphate ordered he redirect the Nile or die.  One of my students reenacted the certain escapades of an Arab predecessor to the Wright brothers, a man who designed a bird costume and climbed to the tallest point in the city to "fly."  My student stood on top of one of the lab tables and reenacted the flight attempt with great comedy and drama...myself and the other students were in great anticipation throughout the narrative and sighed with relief to hear that he survived.

Other highlights from this week:

1.  The Johnny Rodgers Band played during school meeting.  It was very bizarre and wonderful to hear Ray Charles and Louis Armstrong covers here.  At first the kids had no idea how to react, but eventually one senior stood up and starting dancing and waving his uniform tie over his head.  The kids went WILD.  The fact that someone was brave enough to dance during school meeting as if at a rock concert really excited them.  It was wonderful to watch.  

2.  We were saddened here as well by the news of Steve Job's death.  I'm not an Apple person, but I recognize him as a brilliant and ingenious man.  I was interested to learn that Steve Job's biological father is actually Syrian.

3. I'm renting a wooden clarinet.  Feels so great to be able to play here.  I'm really getting some great time outside of work to do things I love, like music and reading and writing. 

4. I am extraordinarily happy.[1]
 

5.  I am MOBILE!  I've teamed up with two other teachers to rent a little Honda Jazz from the school.  Now even more opportunity for exploration!  
 

---

[1]
 

“I don’t expect you to forgive me, only to forget me, Nivea.  You, more than anyone, deserve to be happy—”

“Who told you that I want to be happy, Severo?  That’s the last adjective I would use to describe the future I aspire to.  I want an interesting life, adventurous, different, passionate—in short, almost anything other than happy.” 

--Nívea, from Isabel Allende's "Portrait in Sepia" (my current read)

Oh, Severo, you noble martyrly fool.  Why do you get to decide what she wants or deserves?

Wadi Mukheires and St. George

This weekend I went on a hike through Wadi Mukheires and returned exhausted but rejuvenated. These waters are fed by the streams Moses caused to spring miraculously from rock while the Israelites were wandering in the desert. But Wadi Mukheires isn't desert as I usually imagine desert sands stretching underneath a pale blue sky.  But nevertheless, the land is DRY.  And we're in this dry valley, with red stone walls stretching high on both sides, and there, miraculously, are springs and small rapids and 20+ meter waterfalls!  The colors are breathtaking: blue purple rock, green moss, dusty red, orange clay.  We went abseiling down three 20-meter waterfalls, which means we climbed down using rope and harness.  There were also 20-30 smaller waterfalls and of course I had to jump into every one.  I also found a beautiful cave near one of the waterfalls with tiny pools of water and a smaller waterfall and beautiful stalactites and rich green ferns.  The total hike was about 9-km and it took us a total of 7 hrs, ending at the Dead Sea.  The creatures on the trip were fantastic including three extremely interesting and eclectic guides and one awkward, sweet, nervous and endearing King's student.  The student, Adel, was obviously outside of his comfort zone, but it was great to watch him discover abseiling, at one point from a completely upside down vertical vantage point!

The next day, Saturday, 30-40 faculty members from King's visited a Jordanian vineyard owned by a student's father.  The vineyard has succeeded in growing great wine in Jordan (after failed attempts in Israel and Lebanon) and has even won silver and gold medals in the top French competitions.  We had countless samples of great wine--some of the best I've ever tasted (not difficult to impress a recent college grad who paid on average $5 for a bottle of wine).  My favorite part of the experience was listening to Omar Zumot, the owner, describe his wines and his grapes and his wine-making process in general as dynamic life sources with intelligent minds and desires. My favorites were a white wine he left to sit in oak with a distinctive woody aftertaste and a "storyteller" red wine that changes with the hours it is left to sit and will make one "take one's clothes off" as Omar put it.  Omar also served us a delicious Jordanian feast and opened up his swimming pool and fish pond to us! 

Beginning the hike through Wadi Mukheires.

Getting a brief lesson in abseiling, and then...

...over the edge!  (Notice my helmet is not on.  I forgot to buckle it the first time and on my initial descent over the edge lost balance, swung and hit the side of the rock wall.  Luckily, my helmet protected my head from the rock before it fell to the ground below.  The guides were constantly giving me a hard time about being "reckless."  Apparently I stood too close to too many ledges for them to be very comfortable with my sense of personal safety...Hmm...)

Coming down the second waterfall.  This feature was really cool--consisted of two large waterfalls connected by a small swimming hole (to my left) halfway down. 

Tiny and in awe, besides majestic nature.

Of course.

Scaling of last abseil.

Initial face upon realization that the cliff wall ends 10 meters above the ground...

The house at the St. George vineyard.

Snapshot of the vineyard and hills beyond.