Hijab Night!

We've been having lots of discussions about what it means to be a Muslim woman, including what it means to wear the hijab. In the three weeks I've spent here, I've seen varieties of coverings. from women with only their eyes visible (even hands/fingers covered), to women wearing only the hijab with Western-style tight jeans and shirts. Even within our small group of Jordanian teachers, there are varying levels of dress/covering.

Tuesday night, we decided to see what we would look like if we wore the hijab. Maja generously loaned us the three layers required. I had to make sure my thick hair was tucked completely into the first layer, then pulled the second layer over my head. Maja carefully pinned the final head scarf to the second layer, and I was ready to go.

The photo is the result!

Whirlwind Ends This Week!

I've been visiting the schools of my Jordanian teacher friends this week, and haven't had a chance to post. So many adventures, observations, anecdotes to share, but they'll have to wait until I return to the U.S.

Tomorrow is a flurry of "farewell" events because we fly home Friday. What an amazing adventure this has been! I feel so blessed and lucky to have been able to do this. Thanks to all of you who followed my travels. I'm planning to post photos and update the blog with final stories when I return.

Coming soon...school visits, Jordanian homes, more food photos.

PETRA!!

On a dark desert highway. Cool wind in my hair...

On yet another star-filled night, we eased our tour bus out of the resort city of Aqaba and headed north to Petra. Our pedal-to-the-metal driver raced over darkened desert roads as the minutes edged past midnight. Most of our group slept while the landscape rushed by. The few awake among us were treated to a pitch-black road of twists and turns likely to challenge even the most reckless, carefree driver. I and the other night-owl singer in our group managed to muddle through most of the lyrics to Hotel California and still the road stretched on.

Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmerin' light.

The town of Wadi Musa gleamed in front of us as our heads grew heavy and our sight grew dim. We had to stop for the night, and what better place than the Crowne Plaza? We groggily checked into our rooms at 1 a.m. and grudgingly agreed to meet in the lobby at 7 a.m. See, our Jordanian friends advised us to approach Petra early to catch the Treasury in all its sun-bathed glory before 10 a.m. Excellent advice, and so worth the short night's slumber. So we enjoyed a quick breakfast buffet surrounded by surreal views of rock formations from the dining room's floor-length windows.

Then, we headed out the door to Petra. A quick walk down the hotel pathway led us to the Visitor's Center, where we wisely hired an English-speaking guide for 15 JD.

What followed was an awe-filled six hours at one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World. This site meant so much to me as a teacher and student, not to mention the emotions I felt when I tried to imagine the artists who crafted this rose-colored city. As a trade route for the ancient Nabatean civilization, Petra saw influences from Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultures. (Room 221 students!! You can see why I was so excited!) Carvings in the rocks often encompass several of these cultures at the same time, with Egyptian obelisks paired with niches for Greek gods, for example. The site is an archaeologist's nirvana: only 5 percent of Petra has been excavated.

Our guide led us to the Siq, a twisting, narrow pathway between a towering rock wall that was rent in two from an earthquake more than two thousand years ago. We meandered through the Siq, then gasped as we caught a shaft of sunlight slanting through the rocks ahead. Our group rushed ahead to bask in the Treasury building's glory but I stood, staring at the sight as tears of joy slipped down my cheeks. I quietly stepped along, coming at last to rest on red sand in front of the Treasury.

This is the most famous of Petra's buildings. Corinthian columns support intricately carved representations of gods and goddesses from the 1st century BCE. The underground of the building was under excavation when we visited.

I could have spent more time lingering in the beauty, but our group was eager to explore more of the ancient city. We persuaded our guide to stay with us as we walked a colonnaded Roman road past Nabatean workers' ancient dwellings and royal tombs. If you stopped and looked closely at the stones in the road, you could see the ruts from the Romans' chariot wheels.

We stopped in the site's museum, where I purchased a book for my students and a Twix candy bar for my growling stomach. Then half of our group hired camels and the other half (including me) hired donkeys to take us back to the Siq. We had to check out of our hotel by 2 p.m., so we ended up taking a brisk return walk. But not before I stopped for one final view of the Treasury, shrouded in shadow from the Siq wall.

Azure Amazement on the Red Sea

Like so many adventures on this trip, the Red Sea allowed me to realize yet another dream. I glimpsed the shore of Egypt while floating in the middle of the bluest natural water I've ever seen. (That's the Egyptian shoreline behind Mimi, who was born in Egypt and joined me in waving to the land of pyramids I hope to see one day soon.)

Can you believe this is actually me dangling my feet over the edge of our boat, smack in the middle of the sea? Good friends, Pearl Jam songs, and a lickety-split decision led to this moment.

We set out at 7:30 a.m. from our swanky Aqaba hotel, crossed a street lined with fig-bearing, squatty palm trees, and found ourselves on an already crowded beach. (The heat of Jordan's port city is notorious, often reaching 115-120 degrees during summer afternoons.) Sana'a struck a quick bargain with a glass-bottomed boat owner, and our typically indecisive group made a split-second decision that surprised all of us: "Let's do it!"

Minutes later, I was scrambling onto the boat with the owner's help, and we puttered out into the water. I tried to stay calm (no one knew that I was afraid of the water) while the daredevils in our group goaded our guide into creating mini wakes in the water with his motor boat. We rocked and rolled a bit, and as we headed farther and farther from the shore, he added an extra layer of padding to our seats, and showed us how to sit with our legs under the metal railing of the boat to dip our toes in the water. And yes, I actually dangled my legs over the edge, feeling the cool water splash over them as Vivek and I volleyed verses from Pearl Jam and Guns n' Roses songs through the vessel.

We caught sight of purplish pink coral through the boat's glass bottom, and marveled at the water's varying shades of blue. In the distance, a sparrow-sized creature skimmed the sea's surface. Then another, and another, and we realized with delight that they were flying fish! At one point, we pulled up to a yacht and purchased water from a man who tossed the bottles down to our waiting arms. Sun-seekers tanned themselves on the front of the boat as the rest of our party exclaimed over more flying fish. More than an hour later, we returned to the shore, another Jordanian journey complete, with Petra to anticipate for the next day.

Red sands of Wadi Rum

On Wednesday, we started our desert adventure with a sundown sojourn to Wadi Rum, Jordan's famous desert where Lawrence of Arabia once roamed the red sands. I'm hoping my students remember that "wadi" means valley, and I'm wondering if the moon has a wadi or two similar to this.

We cruised along the Desert Highway from Amman, passing "camel crossing" signs as donkeys grazed on the roadside. Moonscape views featured tannish-red rocks whipped into a sandstone cake batter. A pyramid-shaped rock towering to the north of us prompted someone in our group to ask if it was man-made or real. "All of this is real," came the reply, and our van grew silent as we took in the wonder.

Once in Wadi Rum, we hired a pickup truck driver to bounce us along the sands for a sunset view. His son, about 7 or 8 years old, shyly grinned at us from the passenger seat. If Sedona, Arizona's rocks are the small grandchild, Wadi Rum's easily take the role of grand-daddy. Our group scrambled up a small bluff to watch sundown.

Later, we enjoyed an outdoor barbecue dinner under the stars. Our van driver stopped in the middle of the desert to let us stand outside, heads craned upwards to gaze at the night sky. Now I understand the phrase "blanket of stars." I even spotted the Big Dipper outside the window on the late-night drive to Aqaba.

A trip to the movies!

Sunday night, I went to the movies at Mecca Mall to see an Arabic comedy that a friend described as a Middle Eastern Rodney Dangerfield's "Back to School." Quick impressions:

• concession stands are outside the theater in the mall, and you can bring in whatever other foods you like
• the popcorn was delicious!! tasted fresh and homemade, like Daddy used to make
• tickets are reserved seats, cost 6 JD (about $8.50)
• no previews!
• children freely play in the aisles, and people talk during and "at" the movie. It was like sitting with a giant family at home watching TV.
• the audience laughter was louder, more heartfelt
• the lights came up during the final scene of the movie, minutes before the credits, and people started leaving! (a common practice, our friends told us, even when the movie is good)
• Marc, people don't linger to find the gaffer in Arabic films!
• the movie was hilarious, even though I couldn't understand the dialogue. The comedy even featured a musical number like a Bollywood flick.

Stuffed lamp, anyone?

Arabic-speakers don't differentiate between the "b" and "p" sounds, which makes for fun stories! Dr. Saleh, our host from the Ministry of Education, entertained us with a story about an Arabic-speaking man who traveled to London. He was trying to park his car in a restricted zone, saw a nearby policeman, and asked, "Excuse me, sir. May I bark here?"

"Blimey, you can bark anywhere you like!" came the bemused reply.

So, the man parked his car and promptly got a ticket.

At Safeway, we visited the "lamp shop," where freshly butchered lambs hung in the windows.

Marc and I like to notice typos on menu items. Here, it's poetry-in-the-making with the menu translations. A few of my favorites are above...

Sunset at Dead Sea

I shot this photo! Can you believe it? An amazing way to end the day. I actually saw the sun sink below the horizon, and gazed as the sky's colors shifted from orange to pink to purplish blue.

Drop Me in the Water!

I experienced a high point of my life at the lowest place on earth. I showered our group with all the "low," corny puns I could think of on our drive to the Dead Sea. Hanan warned us to watch out for "big fish" in the water...her way of teasing us because there are no living things in the high-salt-content sea.

It felt like stepping into a giant, heated tub full of bath salts. I watched as Vivek , Michelle, and Kevin had the salt sweep them off their feet. It looked like they were sitting on inner tubes. Kevin took his shoes off, and they floated beside him. I stepped in and started to float so suddenly that I panicked and started flailing my arms, fighting to touch the sand with my feet. Vivek said, "Tina, what are you doing? Just relax."

I stopped flailing, and whoa! I bobbed gently in the water, and had to be convinced to leave!

Take Me to the River!

With temps soaring to about 115 degrees, we viewed the cracked, parched remains of a river bed where John the Baptist is said to have baptised Jesus. The remaining Jordan River is a green, brackish line of water with the border of the West Bank literally a stone's throw away. While we dunked our hands in the river on one side, a barbed military fence bordered the river's west bank. Israel and the Palestinian territories lay behind the fence.

Promised Land, Mecca

I saw a glimpse of the Promised Land and trekked to Mecca all in the same day. A religious experience this morning on Mt. Nebo, where Moses died after showing his people sweeping vistas of the land below.

We shopped a bit in a local mosaic market, where Maha snapped this shot of my friend Abeer and me seconds before the shopkeeper asked us to stand because the couch cost more than 15,000 JD!

Then, we headed to Mecca Mall, a 5-story collossus in the most opulent area of Western Amman. Will post more on this experience later. A great chance to people-watch and catch the influence of western pop culture on this part of the world.

Roman roamin' in Jerash

Roaming the rut-filled roads of Roman ruins Thursday in Jerash, I had to keep reminding myself that yes, Tina, you are actually walking the streets and gazing at the temples of an ancient civilization. This tour had a Middle Eastern flair, with our photo-happy guide urging, "yell-eh, please!" to hurry us along.

Ruins by day, music by night. Our delegation was welcomed backstage by the director of the Jerash Music Festival, where just two weeks ago Ozomatli played on the stage. We walked onto the stage in the South Theater, the actual ancient Roman theater where the modern festival now takes place. Then, our hosts ushered us into the VIP section! We sat on stone steps, just like the Romans did, for more than three hours to wait for the 9:30 show. The crowd, featuring several flag-waving Iraqi young men and families, entertained itself with songs and animated shouts. After my friend Abeer and I admired the infant belonging to the Iraqi family in front of us, the baby's mother passed the child to me. The U.S. may be at war with Iraq, but this family allowed me to cradle their youngest member in my arms. I don't think I'll forget that image/feeling.

At 9:30, renowned Iraqi performer Kadim Al Sahir took the stage, flanked by stringed instruments, a saxophone, electric guitarist, keyboardist, and 6 male and female background singers who sang erect and expressionless. Kadim Al Sahir took the microphone and entertained the crowd with sweeping ballads and rhythmic music for 2 1/2 hours. I smiled at a woman clad in black from head to toe, with only her eyes showing. Her eyes smiled back at me, crinkling at the corners, and later in the night, she borrowed my binoculars.

Imagine sitting in an ancient outdoor theater, with views of the Roman temples dotting the night sky, as you smile with strangers around you and clap so much to the songs that your hands ache.

Jordanian Hospitality

This door opened up a great opportunity for us by refusing to open. To explain...Geda's mom, who lives behind this door in a tastefully furnished apartment in Western Amman, generously offered to cook lunch for our group of 12. We were famished, having had a full afternoon of misconnections that led us to this: it was after 2 p.m., and we still hadn't eaten lunch. We'd made two unsuccessful attempts to buy soda for the luncheon...we couldn't find a working ATM!

We passed the U.S. embassy (Saleem, our driver, reminded us to hide our cameras because armed sentries sometimes demand to have photos confiscated), complete with tanks. At last, we arrived at Geda's mother's apartment building. Her mom was so happy to see us, she stood on her third-story balcony, waving a white kitchen towel. Her maid, Cynthia, was returning from a quick run to the neighborhood market for the soda. All 12 of us headed upstairs as Geda's mom rushed out to the elevator to greet us. She was excited about hosting us, and headed to her door to let us in. That's when she realized that in her excitement, she'd locked herself out! Cynthia grabbed her own bunch of keys, only to find that in the rush of buying the soda, Geda's mom had given her the wrong set.

The neighbors, curious about all the voices across the hall, opened their door. Geda's mom used their cell phone to call the building manager, and in the meantime, the 17-year-old daughter of the neighbor's family invited us inside. We declined twice, then politely headed inside. Her mother hastily put on her hijab (it had been draped over a dining room chair), and soon we were drinking Turkish coffee and chatting about education.

But the most interesting tidbit? People frequently lock themselves out in this building, so there's a man who started a dangerous side business to solve the problem. He asks the neighbors above to let him on their balcony, hooks a rope onto it, and drops down to the lower balcony a la Spiderman. Once there, he walks into the apartment and opens the door. "Very dangerous," our hostess assured us, clasping her hands in front of her and nodding her head.

Turns out Spiderman wasn't needed. Cynthia had the right keys all along. Mawiyah was wise enough to suggest trying every key on the set, and it worked.

Geda's mom's food had grown even more flavorful during the wait, and we enjoyed a delicious meal of stuffed zucchini and eggplant, a saag-like spinach dish, rice mixed with vermicelli, rich tomato broth, and stuffed grape leaves.

Amazing Monday

Amazing day on so many levels!

Today, we met with Jordanian Senator Aquil Bitalji, chairman of Jordan's Tourism and Heritage Committee, and enjoyed a separate visit with the mayor of Amman. I'm realizing again and again the power of education, and it's invigorating to realize that people clear across the world are committed on a daily basis to effecting positive change for young people. I feel so honored to be a part of this, and so honored to be a teacher. Here, I've had a chance to feel valued, respected, and admired for my passion for teaching.

I realized a dream yesterday and today, standing atop Amman's Citadel as the Muslim call to prayer echoed around the white-clad city. Behind me stood the Corinthian pillars of the Temple of Hercules, and below that, the remains of a Roman amphitheater. All of this cast in hues of pink as the sunk below the horizon.

I boogied with a sword-waving Bedouin performer at King Abdullah Hussein Park during a re-enactment of a traditional Jordanian wedding, complete with bagpipes, drums, and six whirling men in Bedouin attire. After the show, we were invited to their goat-skin tent, where a visiting camp of 8- to 12-year-old Jordanian students peppered me with questions (in Arabic) about where I live, what I teach, how old I am, etc. It started when I pointed to a boy's flip-flops, and said the word in ARabic. He and his friends thought I knew the language! A chatty girl translated for me, and later offered me her schwarma and strawberry juice box.

And the last piece of my missing luggage was waiting for me at King's Academy when we returned for the night. Life is good.

In the Trenches

Photos would help, but until I can post them, my words will have to suffice. Our day began with breakfast at King's Academy with Saleh, our host from the Ministry of Education. Saleh just returned from a 20-day conference in China where officials from developing nations strategized on how to use education as a means to improve the economies of those countries. In plain English, education for these countries isn't merely for the joy of learning. It's for an improved way of life.

Heading to our first official visit of the day, we watched as a Honda in front of us suddenly spun off the highway onto a lower embankment! Our driver pulled over, as did another car, and Saleh, Kevin, and Vivek joined a roadside crew of Jordanian men to help the frazzled woman. She was so nervous, she started to put the car in reverse when Vivek and Kevin jumped behind it to push her. Luckily, she switched gears and the group managed to push her out of the ditch. Teachers are always saying we're "in the trenches." This gave new meaning to the phrase.

Impressions

Children...tons of long-eyelashed little boys and girls on the flight. You can see how cherished children are here. Even at the Royal Jordanian counter in Chicago, a toddler freely ran back and forth behind the ticketing agents as employees smiled and indulged him. Flight attendants walked infants up and down the aisles, cuddling them as if they were family.

Crickets...they speak Arabic! No, just kidding. I wanted to see if you were still reading this. They sound the same here as in the U.S., and I loved falling asleep and waking up to them.

Food...delicious, and I know how to say that in Arabic. I had my first taste of fool (wrong spelling, I'm sure) this morning for breakfast. It tasted just like Marc's Tia Weenie's refried beans! I scooped it up with pita, added a dash of cumin, and gave my tastebuds a treat.

Western Amman. Aptly named, as it is the modernized, tourist side of the city and highly Westernized. We drove through it last night on the way to dinner, catching glimpses of Burger King, McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, Sheraton and Four Seasons. There's even an "Amman Waves" on the outskirts a la Wild Waves.

"I see a lot of brown!"

We made it! So much to tell in so little time. We had center seats on the Royal Jordanian flight, with limited views of the windows. After 12 hours in the air, enough time for Shrek 3, an inspirational movie about an Oklahoma girls' basketball coach, and Shooter, we started to descend to Amman. Even 7 minutes before we touched down, children and adults were standing in the aisles, some trying to catch a glimpse of Amman. My friend Kevin was one of them, proclaiming, "I see a lot of brown!"

Yes, I actually felt a chill of excitement. We are here, and like I enthused last night at a Lebanese dinner, "I LOVE Jordan!"

King's Academy is an oasis of white sandstone buildings with polished wood interiors.

Our luggage hasn't arrived yet, so I'm thankful I carried on an extra set of clothes. Let's just say the others in the group aren't as "fresh-faced" this morning.

It's true, pinch me, I'm going to Jordan!

When Mimi (the UW director of this fellowship) handed out our plane tickets, the whirlwind of the past few weeks came into focus. Kevin, a Seattle kindergarten teacher, grabbed my camera to help me document the moment. After three weeks of UW classes and deep conversations with my new friends from Jordan and Seattle, I'm ready to hop on that plane!