the holiday wrap-up part one: jesus’ birthday

So yeah, it is almost June but we thought we’d sneak in some pictures from the holidays past. Christmas in May? Why not?

At the insistence of many trainees, PC allowed us to get together at the weekly training site on Christmas eve and day. The area actually has a few church options for Christians, and we attended a Catholic Mass- although it was in Arabic and we didn’t realize until mass started that people chose to gender segregate. Anne was stuck on “the boy’s side”- oops! Many of the Jordanian women also wore white mantillas. The only music in English was some recorded Mariah Carey, we had very hard wooden kneelers, and there was an added procession at the end where (mostly) men kissed the feet of the little white doll playing Jesus. White baby Jesus always puzzled me and seemed especially confusing in the Middle Eastern setting, but it was lovely. After mass, traditional music was blasted from atop the church. Hearing “Joy to the World” in Arabic is pretty surreal.

  

Many of us were treated to a delicious falafel dinner, curtesy of a generous friend and fellow trainee. Back at the center, we had hot chocolate, cookies from America, party hats, music, and transformed one of the olive trees into a Christmas tree with the magic of paper snowflakes. A few days later, we were treated to a very American meal at the embassy. None of this could begin until after my host family prepared a special Christmas meal for me. 

               {my host parents- saying goodbye for even a few days is serious}

{my christmas meal of quail. the women worked all day making it!}

{may i have another?}

{yes virginia, there is a catholic church}

{great food, great company. thank you, scott!}

{the stockings were hung by the radiator with care}

{breakfast in bed: egg, falafel, yogurt, pita, instant coffee, tea, cup o’water}

{the tea bag has spoken}

{cultural exchange thru paper snowflakes}

{inappropriate touching in front of xmas tree}

{cultural exchange thru olives}

{martha stewart would be proud}

{gorgeous sweater}

{happy birthday, jesus!}

{hijab as santa beard}

{hot chocolate+ tree shaped marshmallow+larkin st hoodie = happiness}

{dave with some local holiday art}

{best gift ever? surprise PB+J}

{cleaned up and happy at the embassy}

{crazy gingerbread village}

{camel detail really makes it}

...and, we're back! (again)

Hi loyal readers! About six weeks have elapsed since our last post, so it's just about time for another! You may have heard that our internet connection went down after our neighbor (inadvertently?) cut our phone line with a bulldozer. I hear you asking, "but Dave, did that really take six weeks to fix??" To which I answer, khalas, mish muheem. ("Whatever," roughly translated.)

Meanwhile some stuff has happened:

- We had our first inservice training in Amman, followed by a belated anniversary/birthday date night on Rainbow Street;

- Our internet got knocked down by a bulldozer;

- We both got Arabic tutors! (Although Dave hasn't started yet...)

- Anne finally met the neighbor lady with the brick oven in her yard;

Hmm, it doesn't look that exciting in list form. Anyways, we promise to write more and post more pictures later. Here's us at Mataam Hashem, this famous falafel place in the balad in Amman. Thanks for reading!!!

salt and thanksgiving

We thought we'd catch you up on the holidays as we get settled into our new place.

During pre-service training, we all spent a few days learning how to take buses on our own and visited volunteers around the country who were just about to complete their first year of service. We were lucky to visit a married couple, along with another married couple also going through training. We visited the beautiful city of Salt, an inspiring couple of volunteers, and had a short but sweet makeshift American couples retreat. It was lovely to say the least.

We tasted the local falafel, walked around the quaint souq (city center), and saw engaging teaching in action. This couple created a curriculum for Peace Corps, based on interactive critical thinking, called Brain Camp. It is taught as both an intense summer camp and as an ongoing after-school program. We were grateful to spend our time with these folks. We also have continued gratitude of the PC doctor, as this was when Anne began a first dose of antibiotics... we’ll spare you the details.

Back to that happier note, our taste buds were treated to long-lost homemade meals of spaghetti, vegetarian curry, and crepes with Nutella. In the evening, we talked about our experiences so far, possibilities that lay ahead, and the wife’s recent trip back to the States. She returned for a book tour. Before coming to serve in PC, she had done extensive research for her colleagues’ book on religions’ roles in American culture. Check out their book: American Grace We look forward to reading it.

The way religion effects culture is especially interesting to us since we currently live in a very religious region where the call to prayer rings out from all directions five times a day and idea of separation of church and state is not even dreamed of- at least not in our experience, in the villages. The government actually has a branch that decides who the imam of the mosques will be- so the power is not radical &/or abused. Jordan has criminal and civil, as well as, religious courts to settle legal matters. A common reply to asking how someone is doing is, Alhamdu’lilah! This literally translates to Praise be to God, it is an authentic literal expression, and it is said all day long in various situations. If you ask any children- in schools, on the street, anywhere- in Jordan how they are doing, the reply is an immediate, adorable, resounding chorus of Alhamdu’lilah!

{first incline in a while}

{salt: clicky, clicky}

{award-winning youth center}

{ping pong champs}

{pcv james teaching the youth of jordan}

{a view from the souq}

{beautiful yellow stone everywhere}

{so small we missed it}

{strollin’ down heritage trail}

{man chat in the farsha shop}

{patient kitty at the butcher shop}

{note to self: most PCVs don't get this view}

{made with love, almost made me cry}

{yes please and thank you}

{couples retreat 2010: shaylyn, james, pete, katie, us}

When we returned to the weekly training center, we de-briefed on our site visits and were treated to a thoughtful and appreciated Thanksgiving pizza party. 

{the cartoon turkey taunts us}

{awesome people}

{one veggie, one chicken. just like thanksgiving}

Happy Valentine’s Day, Habibi!

We are still settling into our new place, mumbling Arabic in hopes someone understands, getting slapped in the face by small children in special ed centers, and we *finally* got internet. We promise to catch up on pictures and info soon, but we couldn’t resist posting a Valentine’s playlist. While we usually mail out a mixtape (I know it’s a CD but I like to say mixtape anyway) to our family and bff’s, we obviously will not be able to do that this year-- or next year, since we are serving in Jordan. But we continue to love the hell outta ya, so listen up!

in the caverns of tomorrow with just our flashlights and our love we must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge take my hand and hold it as you would a flower brother, you speak to me of passion you said never to settle for nothing less lift up your hearts and sing me a song that was a hit before your mother was born don't you know it's gonna be all right i will say a prayer, just while you are sitting there i will wrap my arms around you i know it will be fine broken glass broken hearts...we won't destroy you no we will not destroy you every spark of friendship and love will die without a home a gathering of angels appeared above my head they sang to me this song of hope and this is what they said you know you can always change your mind maybe I will too in time. once we understand no one understands at all i've heard newborn babies wailing like a mourning dove and old men with broken teeth stranded without love out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train الطافيلة طافيلي (tafila tafilii) we laugh until we think we’ll die, barefoot on a summer night nothin’ new is sweeter than with you...geez, you’re something to see what does this mean? it's startin to even look like a triple rainbow ya habibi ma sha’allah i know that love will come i know that love will come turn it all around i understood for once in my life high on a hill, it calls to me

at the bottom of everything -bright eyes

turquoise -donovan

misguided angel -cowboy junkies

your mother should know -the beatles

revolution 1 -the beatles

wrapped up in books -belle and sebastian

pa-pa-power -dead man’s bones

intervention -arcade fire

come sail away -ps 22 chorus

black flowers -yo la tengo

shelter from the storm -bob dylan

peace train -cat stevens/yusuf islam

tafila -omar al-abdallat

home -edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros

double rainbow song! -shoyomoho

ya habibi yalla -nancy ajram

soldier of love -sade

she smiled sweetly -rolling stones

i left my heart in san francisco -tony bennett

...and, we're back!

OK, four weeks and three new telephone poles later, we're back online! We've got a bunch of stuff coming up about finishing up training and settling in at our permanent site. Stay tuned!

Instant coffee

One of many new discoveries: although real coffee originated hereabouts, Jordan (like Mexico) drinks hella instant coffee. The intensely sweet and creamy Nescafe "My Cup" packets have been a staple of training, but when you really want an immediate jolt of freeze-dried caffeine may I suggest Jordan's own "Coffee Break" brand.

The label promises "100% Pure Agglo Instant Coffee." I have no idea what that means, but rest assured that a couple spoonfuls of this stuff (along with the requisite teaspoon of sugar per cup) packs double espresso levels of cognitive stimulus power. When you want that instant agglo feeling, accept no substitutes.

anne’s birthday

My birthday fell on a very busy week. The day before I left my first village, my co-trainees & I were taken to a beautiful ancient ruin city-- post to follow later. It was there that I was busy making sure a little girl’s sandal was put back on and I slammed my head into a two-thousand year old arch. D’oh! I’m fine I said and convinced myself it was true. 

I packed all my things, said goodbye to the family I had lived with- really lived with-  eaten three meals a day with, drank 10 cups of tea a day with, played and cleaned with, and slept alongside for the last 6 weeks. They didn’t even laugh too much at all my horrible mistakes mumbling Arabic. Saying goodbye was rough. I met my new family, sped off to the University for a center day, and didn’t think much of my head hurting until I returned home to a serious dizzy spell and random waves of nausea. 

The medical officer doesn’t take chances and had me go to a hospital in Amman. It was decided that I would have an MRI done and stay the night in the city so that she could check me again in the morning, mostly because of the unresolved stomach issues. 

The MRI was torture. They thought it would be relaxing to put huge headphones on, that clanked on the face mask and piped in loud Arabic music. This music did not drown out the massive, machine gun like sounds the machine made. But, I’m proud to say that although I had to start over briefly a few times, I finally kept my eyes closed the entire 15 minutes of torture and was able to yell in Arabic, “Finished? Is it going to be a little bit more or a long time?” This was while I had my face caged and was enclosed with about 6 inches of breathing room in a white plastic tube. They would answer in English, “10 minutes... 8 minutes... 4 minutes. Stop kicking or it will take longer... 2 minutes.”Panic attack! 


My MRI was fine. I had a disc in my neck that looked slightly off but since it did not hurt, we decided it was fine. But my stomach issues continued and I would later find out that I most likely had Giardia. Alhamdu’lilah (thank God) for our medical officer, Laurene! She is amazing. I thought I had packed my strong immune system but this is the 2nd time I’ve needed antibiotics during pre-service. 

But I have to say, between the MRI & the Friday I will always remember as "the long squat," I had a fantastic birthday! I had wifi at the hotel the night before and a few family members called me. Dave knew we would be apart so he had given me my card early, with bi-lingual instructions not to open it until Wednesday. When I got back to my village, my new classmates had made me a card, gave me a notebook with a picture of a birthday cake on it, & we ate oreo cookies. My old village called and sang to me- telling me they had planned to come in person but did not because I had gone to the hospital out of town. How sweet is that?

My host family also went over-the-top to make me feel special. Not only did they bake me a cake, but they made flan, and then they gave me a Jordanian scarf. It was a really beautiful day! 

{not my idea of a good time}

{hotel room. mirror in arabic is mariah (carey)}

{u.s hotel::bible, middle east hotel::prayer rug}

{wait a second}

{my school bday party}

My pre-birthday week in cartoon. By co-trainee, Carly:

{the arch incident}

{at the hospital in amman}

{at the peace corps office}

{bringing movies back to my village}

{part of my gift from dave}

{vanilla & chocolate cake and flan. yes & yes}

{blurry but beautiful host mother}

{turducken’s jordanian counterpart, batoota}

{host nephew}

{one of my seven host sisters & my abu}

{my new shmag. i love it!}

{turducken wanna-be’s}

During the middle of the night, one of our goats gave birth to two babies, and since the mom had some issues, my family brought them in and we let them join us around the soba- a small gas heater. Most families do not have couches & chairs in the villages, but farshas on the floor. My family does have couches but since winter is upon us, we usually sit on the farshas so we can be closer to the soba. 


This is also where we eat together, as well as drink tea, talk, and watch television. My family often watches a news stream that plays patriotic videos & music. Whenever my permanent site village pops up, they sing along to the song. It’s really cute.

{my village- olive trees}

{our goats}

{view from the back porch}

{new kid on the block}

{awesome host dad bottle feeding}

{don’t cry. batoota’s on milk clean-up}

{soba and baby goat}

{this is how you spell pfizer in arabic}