Update #5 Middle East

Hello, this is Sharon! This organization has been a pleasant experience and the owners of the establishment have been very welcoming. What I’ve been doing at the organization is mostly behind-the-scenes like cleaning, organizing, shelving books, etc. Because I don’t consider myself as social as the others, these activities are amazing and I’m so happy to do them since I love organizing and doing things in the background. However, I did play with the kids in the Chess Club and Blackout Poetry. Since I don’t know how to play chess, I had to be taught by Shaynna and a sweet little girl named S (we shorten names to initials for the blogs). I was playing a match with S but in the end we didn’t finish our game since we both kept getting distracted and I’m very slow. But she was very funny and I was happy to meet her.

Blackout Poetry was incredibly fun since I was not expecting it to be that fun. For blackout poetry, you rip a page out of a book and circle specific words on the page to keep in the poem, and you cross out the rest of the words. Get all the circled words together and make a story or poem. You can draw on it and everything. All the kids were very engaging and I was very impressed with all the kids’ creations. I’ve never done blackout poetry before so I wasn’t confident in my abilities, but honestly it doesn’t need to make sense or have to be super intelligent. I just made a poem about animals and drew animals on the page. All the kids made super cute and engaging poems and I was so happy they had so much fun. Jo, M, and S all had such funny and cute poems. S even made pages of poems that connected like a cinematic universe. Mind blowing. Also, one girl named Je made one that hit pretty deep. I think it went like this, “Cash makes men go in rough ways.” Wow.

The day after that, we went on a trip to Jerash and I can say that the view was so amazing. Just walking through all the pillars, colosseums, rocks, and the ancient sights are just surreal. Walking through the parts where people in the Bible times walked is just honestly unbelievable. My favorite part was definitely the amphitheater where men with bagpipes and drums let us dance in the middle of the theater. We were all clapping, singing, and just having the best time. Also the shopping experience was very cool. Bartering was also an option too which is crazy to think about since I never bartered. Yet I still have not, because I didn’t barter any of my items because I’m too shy. But I’m very satisfied with what I bought (a tree of life necklace, a cute stuffed ram, and a white chemise). The shop keepers also gave us many gifts and freebies which was a huge plus. Very welcoming people.

The food was very good where we ate. We ate at a buffet, and I got rice, chicken, noodles, and pita bread. Not going to lie, I’m one of the pickiest people on the planet, so I basically had the most boring and basic dish but others had so much delicious looking food. I hope others do and write the food justice unlike me. But in the end, we all had such a good time and had a very pleasing lunch. The owners of the restaurant were very welcoming (as always).

Jerash was such a fun experience and I’m looking forward to what happens next!

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Marhaba friends and family! This is Shaynna popping in for an update!

Please read this in the voice of a lost astronaut recording daily logs in the hopes that someone will find and hear his recordings, complete with static in the background: Day 4, 2100 hours, Saturday, June 25, 2022. We’ve completely run out of running water. (End astronaut recording). As Californians, many of us were confident we knew how to conserve and ration water – but we were wrong (insert nervous laughter). Thankfully, James and Momi helped us out and there is running water in the library that we can use, although it definitely surprised me just how much we rely on and use water. We weren’t at “home” all day today (Sunday, June 26) and we’ll be getting a water delivery tomorrow (Monday, June 27), so we’re all doing just fine, it was just an interesting experience I didn’t think about possibly happening! (And we have plenty of drinking water by the way; staying hydrated is not a problem, so no worries everyone!). 🙂

As one of the “free floaters” (unassigned to a specific job) in the group, I have been doing all sorts of odd jobs at the organization – just the way I like it! 🙂 I cleaned out some of the kitchen cupboards and reorganized a few things (“like things together!”), reshelved some books (new favorite job), helped construct some bird feeders (the only one who hit their thumb with a hammer was me, thankfully), and watched some very intense chess matches involving Sharon and a very snack-distracted 6-year old (relatable). The kids speak English very well and have been teaching us new words – for which I am very grateful. We still can’t read letters/words but we are starting to be able to pick out certain words and phrases in songs and in overheard conversations.

We visited the Ajlun Castle and Jerash today (Sunday, June 26)! Before we even got to the location, I was awed by the stunningly beautiful landscape we saw on the drive there. Although there is a great deal of trash littering most of the Jordanian landscape, the hills and plateaus on the drive were covered with beautiful rows of flourishing olive trees and a variety of other lush vegetation as well as clusters of sharply square sand-colored buildings (sorry, no circles Lee!). One of my favorite parts about visiting these sites is how friendly the tour guides are. At the end of the castle tour, our tour guide talked about his family, pointed out where his house was, and invited us to have lunch later in the day – just as the tour guide at Petra did and just as many other native Jordanians have done during our stay. After the castle tour, we headed to Jerash – I have to say the amphitheater seemed to be a crowd favorite. The stairs were so steep! At least 2-3 times the height of our American steps with no handrails or safeguards. Though tall and huge, it was easy to hear those “on stage” in the amphitheater while the rest of us sat in various seats. We got a lovely rendition of “Pocketful of Sunshine” by Emmalee and later got to hear “Amazing Grace” and other melodies on bagpipes and drums by three Jordanians. I was talking to Audrey and Eliza about how crazy it is to think that the places we were walking to and sitting at and touching and taking pictures of today were places where people did daily life thousands of years ago. And so much of Jerash is still underground yet to be discovered! Wild! Our fieldworker has great connections and friendships with many of the people at Jerash, so for lunch, we headed to a buffet that his friends’ owned. After a great meal with a variety of side dishes and plenty of pita bread, we went back to the stores at Jerash to do some shopping. There were so many vibrant colors and various trinkets to look at and many of the store vendors invited us to look at their wares. I was surprised by the gifts many of the vendors gave – little souvenirs were insisted upon us and put into our bags or handed to us as we passed by (it was an effective sales tactic – we made sure to shop at their stalls to say our thanks). Eliza and I were invited into the stall of D and his younger brother “Short Man” (who was at least 7 feet tall – Squid don’t get any ideas). We were given some deliciously sweet black tea and encouraged to look around and add to the shopping pile they insisted on starting for us. Bartering was…interesting. Some of us thrived and seemed to be quite successful (for example, Audrey and Rose), while others of us were pulling out calculators and hoping for the best (for example, me). Thankfully, we had some help from our fieldworkers and we all made it out and back home, tired from the day, but happy, healthy, and safe.

The food is *chef’s kiss* – the pita bread and hummus have been everything I hoped for and dreamed of. I don’t think it’ll ever be the same again back in the States. We’ve had chicken and meat shawarma (“meat” seems to mean a mixture of beef and lamb or some other sort of red meat combo) and a dessert loaf made of tahini, pistachios, and other things (it’s sweet, dry/crumbly, and…interesting). And I’ve discovered that my old favorite, Nutella, is here and here in abundance (I have taken to calling it chocolate hummus, sounds kind of healthy, right?).

Good news! I haven’t seen a scorpion yet! Or a camel spider! We did see some millipedes and fruit bats though (super cool!)!!! And the cooling rags have been a huge help to the team and I (thank you Ellie!!).

Hi Mom!!! Hi Sam and Squid and Micah and Faith!!!! Hi and HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOCELYN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hi to Kaeleigh, Joshua, and Shaynna too!!!! Hi to all my friends and family and to the friends and family of the team!!!!! Thank you for your support and continued prayers!!! We love and miss you all!!! Shaynna out! 🙂