Kayla Balangue

Hi folks, Kit here (or, Kayla P. to my friends and family reading from back home) with one of our team’s last updates! We are nearing the end of our time in the Middle East and I have to say that we have been quite busy! I feel like we just got here yesterday, but at the same time it also feels like we’ve done enough activities at the library to fill up a month. Many of us also had summer classes that started at the same time we left on our trip, so we didn’t find much solace in the due dates looming over our heads on top of work at the library! I can’t wait to get home, see my family, boyfriend, and dogs, and take some well-deserved time off from summer school work. As much as I enjoyed working with the children at space camp, I think I had the most fun when I got to take an “introverting break” and reshelve or organize books. It was very much needed!

We had a fun-filled day touring historical Christian sites on Friday. Thankfully, we were able to wake up at a reasonable (read: cockroach-free) hour and hop in the vans for the 45 minute drive to the River. I don’t want to speak for most of us, but I think this was the most anticipated stop on our trip—especially since the River is the place where Jesus was baptized. It was really cool to see the cross-shaped basin at the bottom of the marble staircase and think about what it would have been like to see the Holy Spirit descending upon the open space and hearing God’s voice declare Jesus as His son. We then moved down the walking trail to see a Greek Orthodox church with many pretty mosaics and stained glass windows. At the front of the church were the well-preserved bones of an unknown saint who, according to the tourist next to me, “had a really great set of teeth!” We then finally reached the actual waters, where we had the opportunity to step in and wade around in a small, roped-off area. Although we didn’t get to touch the water at the baptism site, getting into the water at the bank was still a highlight of my day. I learned that a lot of people have this on their bucket list, so I consider myself really lucky to be able to enter the historical river and leave my footprint there. I don’t think the weather was that hot, but our sweaty selfies in the car afterwards would say otherwise. Rose told me that because we were almost 2000 feet below sea level, despite the mild weather we’ve been lucky to experience up until this point, the air density makes the sun feel so much more intense. We’re not really strangers to that kind of thing in California, though! 

Our next stop of the day was Mt. Nebo, a stark change in elevation compared to the River valley. Our fieldworker, J, told us that no less than 200 years ago, they would have walked the distance from the River valley up to the top of Mt. Nebo—2,680 feet above sea level; meaning the net difference in sea level between the two sites is about 4000 feet! I barely made it when we walked 10 miles in Petra, so I can’t imagine traveling any further than that on foot like the people in the Bible would have. Speaking of the Bible, the biblical significance of Mt. Nebo is that this is the location where Moses first stood at 120 years old to look over the Promised Land. Our group certainly loves 0.5 group photos, so we had to get a photo with the view and the abstract art installment of Jesus on the cross that stands at the top of Mt. Nebo in 0.5, of course. 

After Mt. Nebo, we were greeted in Madaba with tea, tea, and more tea. I think I probably drank at least 6-8 cups of tea while we were there, and that’s even more than how much water I had for the day. Madaba is a historically Christian city, which was mentioned in a few places in the Old Testament of the Bible. In Biblical times, it was a Moabite border city controlled by the tribes of Israel. J knows the people of Madaba very well, including our servers at lunch, who had to get in on the 0.5 action too. I tried liver for the first time, which has the texture of ground beef. It was very flavorful and definitely (surprisingly!) my favorite part of the meal. While we were at lunch, we got the great news that our luggage had (finally) arrived at the library after 9 days of waiting. Of course, it had to be while we were gone! The crisis was averted by field worker M, who accepted the luggage delivery at her apartment. After lunch, we visited Y’s shop. Y told us that his family has been in Madaba since 1908, and his shop began selling locally handmade works shortly after that. Y told us that selling handmade products from this country helps give back to the woman and families that made them, keeping them employed! I could tell that Y simply radiates a humble kind of generosity that only someone who knows he is giving back to his community could own. This country places a huge emphasis on local products as well as handmade, and I noticed that in my time at Jerash as well as the second place we visited. This was M’s mosaic shop, though he also owned two or three other storefronts with the help of his brothers. M walked us through the process of making a mosaic piece and told us that only 1/10 pieces clipped from a large stone will end up in the final product. He also taught us to differentiate between man-made mosaics and mosaics created using machines, the quicker, and unfortunately, more profitable way to make mosaics. One of his hand-made pieces cost 150 JD compared to what you could have bought it for in Jerash or Petra at 30 JD. I ended up falling in love with a black iris mosaic—which just so happens to be the national flower. Now, not only can I hang this up and remember my trip, but I can hang it up and tell a story along with it. I see the allure of all the relationships J makes with these local shopkeepers and I already know I will want to return. On our way back to the library, we went to a place ironically called Black Iris that sold lots of Dead Sea beauty products, where B gave us this fantastic lemon tea. I didn’t end up purchasing anything there, but B gave us gifts anyways, demonstrating the hospitality of the culture here once more. 

Our long day came to an end and J surprised us with mosaic mugs from M’s… yet another way I can remember my trip! Thank you J, for having us over for showers and laundry and “cap-o-cocoas” while our water was out! I won’t forget the conversations we’ve had and the time we’ve spent with you, and I can’t wait to use my new mug for a good “choco-cuppa.” Thank you for hosting us! 

We tucked into bed for an early morning—although J said we could sleep in until 8:30, field worker M had already told us to be down by 7:30. Despite being down there 2.5 hours early, prep for the huge book sale never actually ended, as we were constantly working to improve the appeal of the books for sale and rotating out books from inside to fill empty shelves. Rose and our new friends JT and JS built and rebuilt plastic shelves and there were waaaaayy too many youth books for Shaynna, Sharon, Alina, and Eliza to fit on one bookcase. The start of the day was busy, but that had died down by the middle of the day (1-3pm) and people trickled in and out at their own pace. While I was sitting outside and manning the book sale station, I met a man who had just moved to the country with his wife and son. I’m not used to being approached by men in this culture, but I was also really happy that I got to have a conversation with him as if we were locals. In fact, in my experience here so far, it seems like anytime we are just working in the library and we aren’t with J, the locals here believe that we’re locals. They don’t speak to us in English because we’re American, they speak to us in English because almost everyone here speaks English. J and M then helped that man set up a membership with the library, as I had seen a few people do throughout the day, so I’m assuming this book sale not only helps clear out the surplus of books, but also helps bring in new interest, regulars, and relationships to the library. By the end of the day, we had sold almost 400 books.

The library seems to have a unique way of bringing many cultures together, which isn’t something I saw very often in my two weeks here. One of the questions that man asked me was “What kind of community do you serve?” and I didn’t immediately understand what he meant then, but I get it now—the library is here to serve locals, Americans, and any people from all over the world; visitors, residents, friends, and strangers, and unite them by offering “reading for all.” 

Ma salama, everyone! See you in a few days! <3

-Kit (Kayla P)

Hey y’all! Lyss here, this past week in the Middle East has been such an amazing time. At the library we have been helping run camp for the local community of kids. A general run down of what we do with the kiddos is we wait for them to trinkle in, play games or play an ice breaker, have a story time for the littles and fun space facts for the big kiddos, play minute to win it games, participate in a main craft activity, break for snack (of course!), and then play more games until we run out of time together! Wednesday and Thursday of space camp were so much fun. I enjoyed reading a story to the little ones where I feel the most in my element since I have teaching experience and am a teacher. Being animated for the kiddos and engaging them into a story about space was a highlight for me. Another highlight I had from camp was when I got to read aloud 10 crazy space facts for the big kiddos and had them move around by walking over a line to a true or false/yes or no side of the line when stating facts. The facts I read to them on Wednesday were SO INTERESTING! One crazy fact was “there are more trees on earth than stars in the Milky Way” (like WHAAAT?!😮 That is crazy, but cool!). One thing about teaching is that everyone is learning, both teacher and students. One last highlight of space camp for me was the many small conversations I was able to have with the little kids who range from age 6-9 (they are my favorite age group to work with ❤️). The life and excitement they bring is always a highlight of my day and the reason why I enjoy teaching kiddos! ☺️

Something that has been huge for me during this trip has been the teaching experience that I’ve gotten to practice  in a different context, different setting, and totally different location with a different student demographic. One thing I have learned about myself as a teacher during space camp has been no matter where you are, classroom management is KEY! I have felt so honored when my co-teachers (Emmalee, Kit, Eliza, Sharon, Alina, Kayla, Shayna, and Sharon) stated aloud their appreciation of me being able to quiet the students in fun ways and when needed cause I saw the stress on their faces when the kids got rowdy (attention grabbers, if you know you know!). Not to pride myself in any way, but it was a cool moment where my group affirmed my skills and capability of the educator that I am and reminded me how far I have came in my journey as a teacher. I was in some ways able to be a leader and speak some teacher tips to the girls I ran camp with and it was humbling to have a reflective moment of “woah what I’ve learned from other teachers I am now passing down and teaching myself”. One thing I’ve enjoyed about this culture of students is that they are so smart and creative! It has been so fun asking questions to these kids and them knowing so much, even them teaching us some of their own language! 

This country for me has been such a beautiful and unique experience. The history that this beautiful country holds literally puts me in such awe that I really do fall more in love with the experience. One of my favorite things about this place has been the people, they are SO relational and genuinely sweet and hospitable. The food is immaculate, truly chef’s kiss to every dish I have had on this trip! My most favorite thing about this country has been our visit to Petra and Jerash and that’s solely because they’ve been outside adventures that have allowed me to literally walk on history. In Jerash we got to walk the city ruins of Roman architecture and it was beautiful. It amazes me how humans back in the day were ever able to build such intricate architecture with their technology in their time and stand thankful being able to say I’ve witnessed and walked across that creation. My heart has been filled with such awe, love, excitement, and amazement and I know that as a believer it’s an encounter that I’ve been asking for! I’ve learned that our God never stops amazing me! I am going to miss this beautiful culture so much, but will forever hold this experience near and dear to my heart!

-Alyssa

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Hey everyone, Eliza here! Wow, I can’t believe how quickly our time in the Middle East has passed. Surprisingly, I have been spending most of my time with the kids at space camp. I was definitely expecting to be helping more in the library, but I have found myself loving the kids so much that I just want to be with them all the time!

Our last two days of space camp have been so crazy. On day 3 of space camp, I definitely loved just talking and getting to know the younger kids while they painted their book bags. A few of the little boys and I  were just talking about little things but I’ve learned that just giving them all your attention when you talk to them is so powerful. They teach me how to be patient and the importance of being fully present. Not only does that help you build a relationship, but it allows you to really learn who they are. Another thing that really touched me on day 3 was when one of my new friends, we’ll call him T, had asked me, “Why weren’t you here yesterday?” I had only gotten to spend one day of space camp with the kids by this day so this really revealed to me how much the kids actually care that I am there with them. Even though I didn’t think that they would even remember who I was, that one question made me realize that these kids truly value each of us as their teachers. We and the older kids spent the rest of our time making galaxy slime, playing card games and just talking about anything and everything. I absolutely love just getting to talk to the kids. They love the attention and I love giving it to them.

Day 4 was our last day of space camp. Today was such a bittersweet day for me. While I wanted space camp to end because it did get very draining, I didn’t want to stop building relationships with the kids. By day 4, a lot of them have remembered my name (a personal goal of mine) and they look forward to seeing us at camp each day. I didn’t want to lose these friendships I was building. But we had a great last day. Filled with games, crafts and lots of water, I had a great time with them and I think they had a lot of fun, too. The highlight of day 4 for me was getting to take group photos with both camps. After all the ups and downs that we had throughout camp, it felt like we accomplished so much more than just finishing a week of activities. We had built new friendships, learned new skills (we all definitely had to grow in patience and kindness), and overall I feel like we each grew in some way over these past 4 days. That moment of taking the photos with the kids felt like we had done so much in so little time. I loved everything I learned from camp and from the kids this week.

Through this experience with the kids, I have learned so much about myself. As a teacher, I realized how much I actually enjoy spending time with kids. While I prefer working with older kids, I definitely have found that I can work well with all ages. Prior to this trip, I didn’t think I’d be so excited about just being with kids but they really showed me that I truly do love just building relationships with them. I also learned how to be disciplined as a teacher. It was definitely a challenge learning how to discipline kids as a teacher and not as an older sister. When they aren’t your own younger siblings, making sure you’re in control is a little bit harder… But in those moments, I learned how to speak and react differently. In addition to growing as a teacher, God also really built my faith while I worked with these kids. Even though we don’t get to really talk about Jesus or God explicitly, we get to show Him through the way we interact with them. One thing that has stood out to me the most is that I’ve had so many conversations with kids about how much they really, really like us and really, really want us to come back next summer. I kept wondering why they keep telling us that they like us so much. But then I realized that it’s because God’s love is truly prevalent in our actions. It has taught me that God moves in ways we may not always see. The way we live our lives for God is so important because He will use you in other peoples’ lives.

My time here in the Middle East has been so life changing. While I absolutely love all of the amazing food, visiting beautiful sites, and getting to learn about all of the history this country holds, my favorite thing about this place is the people. Before coming on this trip, I prayed that God would open my heart more to the people of this country and to the Middle East in general. God definitely answered that prayer. Meeting so many people and just learning more about the culture, I have found myself wanting to serve the people here more and more everyday. This country is filled with so many loving people and also people who need love. I used to have so many assumptions about the Middle East. But now that I am here, meeting the people, and getting just a taste of what life is like in Middle East, I really don’t want to leave. I am so thankful for the time I’ve had here and for all the new experiences and new friends! I definitely will be trying to come back here as soon as possible!! 

-Eliza

Hello! Kayla here! We are living the dream on our second week in this country. Monday morning was our first day of space camp!! We have two camps–one in the morning for 6-9 year olds, and one in the afternoon for 10-13 year olds. Let’s just say we were all pretty exhausted (in the best way) from Jerash the day before and were wondering how we’d manage the simultaneous joy and chaos that comes with kids. 

We started with the younger kids and Alyssa read them a story about space. I loved that part because I got to learn from Alyssa’s teaching style and watch her engage all the kids so well with the story. The kids enjoyed a game of duck-duck-goose that got progressively more chaotic and a balloon game that probably exhausted all of us more than them! 

The older kids are more mellow and really sweet and respectful. They enjoyed making telescope crafts and constellations made from little circles of black paper that we made “stars” in by using pushpins to create holes. For me, it’s kind of intimidating working with the older kids at first. It’s easier to connect immediately and find a bunch of stuff to talk about with the younger kids, but all the kids are truly so smart, genuine, and yes, chaotic in their own special ways (like our team!). I feel so privileged to have gotten to know them all a little bit. 

After camp ended at 1:30, we all went our separate ways for a little while till dinner. I spent some time cleaning shelves and chatting with Eva. For some reason I’ve discovered that I looove cleaning shelves. A lot. But only in libraries so I don’t have to do it at home (sorry Mom, love ya!). 

For dinner, we had lamb and chicken kebabs, plus veggies, pita, and this amazing meat-stuffed pita (like a mini pizza!). Personally, the highlight of my day was when Rose, Emmalee, Audrey, and Alyssa ate the serrano peppers that came with the meat. We all could not stop laughing (and crying a little for those who ate the peppers). No matter what day it’s been, there’s always been some great laughs in this country. That’s been one of my favorite things about the trip–and the fact that we truly have such a fun group. 

Onto Day 2 of Space Camp! Well, when everyone woke up, let’s just say we all hit a MAJOR wall. It was rough. And I don’t know what it was, but it hit everyone on Tuesday. Thankfully, we powered through! 

Today, I got to read a story to the younger kids called A Hundred Billion Trillion Stars. I used to say I’d never work with kids…haha, past me had no idea what was coming! I enjoyed reading to them so much; it was one of the highlights of the week so far for me. 

Both groups of kids played a bunch of Minute-to-Win-It games, like transferring cotton balls from one plate to a table with their nose, or building a tower using only a toothpick to transfer their materials. So fun! And it was also Water Day, which meant water balloons, water bucket races, and other games. It was straight out of a Survivor challenge. And of course, us teachers got splashed too. I mean, when all the kids are being such great sports, I couldn’t say no to getting a little water on me!

For lunch we had some AMAZING bread called zaatar, which had green seasoning on top, and other cheese breads and potato-and-cheese bread. J, our fieldworker here, is an amazing host and was kind enough to buy local ice cream for all of us. We feel so welcomed here at this organization and so thankful to serve alongside J and M! 

One of the girls, H, stayed a while after camp for the older kids was over. Alina, Shaynna, Emmalee, Sharon, and I hung out and played games with her for a while. All of us are now Spot It experts and loved getting the chance to spend quality time with one of these great kids. 

We also went on a mini-adventure to J’s apartment for dinner that night. He is such a good host and has a bunch of items all around his apartment that tell the story of people he’s built relationships with from the different places he’s been. You can see the focus on people and relationships in this culture illustrated beautifully through how he cares for others. My personal favorite item was originally the jug from the Dead Sea, but then I saw the sword and that all changed!!!

We sat down to debrief after dinner and that’s typically one of our favorite times of the day. Emmalee said it feels like we’re a family coming together to talk about our days and I couldn’t agree more. I feel supported and encouraged by this team, and my prayer is that the kids we interact with feel the same, that they are loved and belong right in this beautiful library. Thank you so much for all your support, prayers, and encouragement. To my family–can’t wait to see you soon and you know I thought about glassbending while I was climbing in Petra!!!

-Kayla H

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!

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! 🙂