Well, here we are.

Tell me: how do two weeks go by so quickly?

I have been meaning to write something new for a while now, but I had absolutely no idea it'd been two weeks, and I think it's mostly a testament to how wild and crazy the last 15 days have been. Since returning from a whirlwind trip to the US for Yale graduation, I've been making my way through an equally crazy time here, and the busy-ness is just beginning to wind down. Here's a little trip through my last two weeks:

(Even writing "last two weeks" I am flummoxed. Has it actually been that many days? How and why did it all start happening so fast?)

Anyway.

1: THE LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL.

Not much to say here, really - I didn't get back from New Haven until May 20th, and by that point there were only 3 school days left. One of my classes, having lost 7 seniors (they don't have to attend the final week), was down to 6, and so those last few days felt more like a chance to hang out with my students and casually wind down the year than actual days of class time.

Not only that, but of those three remaining school days, only one was actually a normal school schedule! That was the first day. The second day was

2: PROM.

Which is a big deal here. Like, shortened-school-day big. And they do the campus up right. This year was World-Cup-themed, and we were all decked out in Brazilian flag colors:

The students dress to the nines and arrive at a red-carpet reception, and we teachers did the same: you actually walk through a gauntlet of people and get your picture taken and the whole shebang. I have done a fair number of things in my life, but that was not one of them until last Thursday. Still don't have those pictures though...

The event itself is also a total blowout. People have been telling us for months that "the campus is transformed" for prom (using that exact phrase), and I have to say that it certainly didn't look like the courtyard outside the library usually looks. DJ and dance floor, of course, as well as popcorn and ice cream machines, massive buffet spreads, couches and tables moved outdoors, and all manner of lights and flags and decorations. Here's the party in full swing:

Like any good movie-cliché high school, we even elect a prom king and queen (not to mention prince and princess for the juniors), and you will have to take me at my word that there were fireworks when their names were announced. Like I said, we go big for this thing.

Then afterwards the students make a break for it and rent out Amman's swankiest event halls for their post-prom. We get together in a faculty apartment and have some fun of our own. I stayed up late that night.

So that was the second day of school left. The third, and final, was

3: GRADUATION.

No pictures here. Know why? Because it's a state affair, that's why. 

As of about 4pm after the school day had wrapped up, His Majesty's security detail was on campus. Dorms got locked up, metal detectors got set up, and the students were confined to the auditorium (except for a few singers, who joined me to perform at a development event for the dedication of a newly-named classroom. Further proof that singing for swanky events and little chocolaty hors d'oeuvres never has to end).

The event itself is also quite a show. The whole underclassman student body, as well as the faculty, line up along "Commencement Walk," and the seniors process down past us, led by Their Majesties themselves. There was a lot of walking through gauntlets of people the last week, now that I think about it. I guess it does make things feel pretty celebratory.

And because of the head honcho's tight schedule, the event is pretty quick: a few students get awards and deliver addresses, the Queen (this year's speaker) gives a lovely commencement speech, names are read and diplomas are given, and then we process in a big giant mosh to the square outside the dining hall, where everyone hugs and cries and takes pictures and leaves forever. 

It is a little weird to think that I'll never see the seniors again (although a half-dozen of them have already friended me on Facebook). I liked them and I'll miss them. Also, let's pause to consider that I work at a high school at which graduating seniors receive their diplomas from THE KING OF THE COUNTRY. I may never stop looking around and thinking "what on earth am I doing here."

4: OTHER THINGS.

There are always other things, in and around these final days of school, and here are some of them:

- The senior awards night dinner, at which I conducted the Glee Club (they sounded great and the mic'ing was INCREDIBLE for outdoors) and gave out the Choral Award, which I was sort of surprised to learn was actually an award. But we had a senior singer who deserved it, so she got it!

- Oh, also, two days before graduation Pope Francis came to Jordan. And we went. Look!

So in between all this school madness, I was that close to the Pope in a big stadium full of people where he led a partly-Italian, partly-Arabic mass. Frankly, the best parts where when he entered and exited on that awesome Popemobile, because the mass was hard to understand and no one in our section of the stadium seemed to care that much anyway.

But it's still pretty awesome and pretty once-in-a-lifetime to find oneself in such a place. Here's a picture of some priests (you can make out their white-and-gold umbrellas) spelunking into the crowd to dole out a massive communion:

To be honest, most of what we remember is this abominably catchy song, which played about eight thousand times before His Holiness arrived. His face, and this melody, may be forever etched in our memories.

5: NOW?

Yeah, good question: what are we doing now? It's been three days since graduation, although to be honest it feels like a million (time is really doing cartwheels around me right now), and I am 14 final papers away from being done with my first year as a teacher. Mustering the energy to grade them will certainly be a challenge, but I've got it blocked into my schedule today, which I call a good start.

Other than that? Just wrapped up 3 days of Professional Development with some folks from CollegeBoard who gave us a very productive and quite engaging 12ish hours of activities, strategies, and discussions about reading/writing/analyzing/other schooly stuff. I'm glad it's over because I don't have to do anything any more, but I'm also bummed it's over because I don't get to do anything any more. I was even too lazy to go shopping in Madaba this afternoon, and am here trying to eke out some productivity points by writing this blog post instead. 

Home beckons in about a week, and until then:

- PARTIES. Rooftop barbecue; department dinner; student graduation party; goodbye party for a special TF friend; goodbye daytime barbecue for all departing faculty; real goodbye party with Haram beverages for departing faculty; FINAL goodbye dinner for everyone. 

(That's seven parties in the next seven days, and despite the fact that one spills right into another, something tells me at least one more Fun Event will rear its head before I get on a plane out of this place).

- A few more meetings, probably totaling a couple hours.

- My personal goals: starting to get ready for next year's classes and the summer work I have to do, packing up and preparing to move (oh yeah - I'm moving in with Chase next year! Nothing more to report there except that I think it'll be fun to live with him and actually be in a dorm), and getting bored enough that I actually want to be productive. I have a lot of free time so I think I might actually be able to make that part happen.

This might be my second-to-last post before the summer begins, and I think I'll go on a hiatus and start a food blog? Definitely still up in the air. For now, at least, don't touch that dial; I'm sure you all want to hear about all the parties I'm going to in the next week. Right?

(Oh yeah - and that Wadi Rum music video finally got released!! I still haven't seen my face, but you can see Alli and Jimmy and I think you can make out my sweatshirt. Still totally worth it.)

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow...

I tested out a lesson on existentialism and nihilism this week as we discussed The Meaning of Life, and was considering showing a video of Ian McKellen's Macbeth speech. Ended up using "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "TiK ToK" instead (there's so much existentialism in contemporary pop music!), but I guess the speech has stuck with me.

Because TOMORROW I'm heading back stateside! For another weekend! And as I sit here in my second-to-last Supervised Study Hall of the year, with my last two fully-stocked classes lined up for tomorrow (the seniors leave next week), it's hard not to have the upcoming travels on my mind. But there's been plenty to keep me busy this week:

First, I think I'd be remiss not to mention my star turn in the faculty play, which Lina (my wonderful Arabic teacher) writes for faculty members of all Arabic levels. This year, the plot centered around an American husband and Jordanian wife who'd just had a baby, and guess who got to play the baby. The baby girl.

Yes, that is me in the foreground of this picture that was seen by every student, teacher, and parent, wearing blue tights, a black tutu, and a beautiful little headband. I sang a whole song to the tune of "Old MacDonald" in Arabic, got lifted up into the air by some other teachers, and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Having made it through college without having to do much drag, I suppose the time had finally come.

(If you want to see more pictures, Facebook's got a treasure trove. Help yourself to more of my low-cut pink women's shirt.)

But were there other things to look forward to this week? Of course!

Here's the biggest and best one: last night, my 8 voice students presented the a cappella song they'd been practicing, with my help, for the past few weeks. I was basically just a facilitator for this one: the song was arranged by a student and I played no role in the actual performance. They did themselves real proud - for the first-ever a cappella performance at King's, done by a bunch of kids with no experience, they put together a pretty wonderful number. Check it out here!

And now? I sit here, bound to the study prison once more, and shuffle my papers. Tomorrow's class barely needs a plan; one class has had so many absences due to APs and lazy seniors that we've been able to do seminar-style discussions around a table for nearly two weeks, and the other class is so chock full of excitable sophomores that I barely need to do any talking. Since tomorrow is the last day for the seniors, we're basically just gonna keep the discussion moving and see where it takes us. I feel no extreme need to develop a Big Plan, though I might have no choice given that there are still nearly 100 minutes left of sitting here. Wish me luck!

Fewer than 48 until passport control in JFK, and then I'll really know the end is coming. We've been starting to hear about how prom and graduation and the awards ceremonies and dinners and parties all work, and it seems like this school puts on quite the to-do for its departing seniors. Expect pictures and updates and (hopefully) crazy stories. This place is usually good for one or two of those.

May, somehow?

In the thirty-ish seconds that I took to brainstorm a title for this post, way too many of the ideas in my head had to do with "ends" and "finales" and "lasts." And indeed, here we somehow are on the eve of my last full week as a Teaching Fellow (credit to Yale for scheduling its graduation during the actual last full week of classes), and May has already reached double digits. I'll save the sappy talk about endings for a future post, maybe on Wednesday or something; for now, here are six pictures to sum up the last two weekends.

WEEKEND 1: LONG WEEKEND!

Lina, Jimmy, and I decided to live it up on the First of May with a trip to the Dead Sea! It was my first on this side of the border, and definitely my most luxurious, as we treated ourselves to a full day at the Mövenpick's Zara Spa.

Picture whirlpools galore, poolside bar service, and views like this one:

And we covered ourselves in mud and got in the real Dead Sea too, and left feeling thoroughly cleansed. After a month with not a single full five-day week, this still felt like a well-deserved break, and I think I'll be making my way back Seaward whenever I need to let off some steam.

Also went on a super-sweet rappelling hike that weekend, but I didn't have my phone so no pictures of our death-defying cliff descents. Strangely enough, the hike led us all the way through a canyon to the entrance of the very Mövenpick I'd enjoyed the day before. Next time, day hike to the spa, anyone?

WEEK IN BETWEEN: NORMAL, NORMAL WEEK.

I guess it was abnormal in that it was 5 days long and I hadn't had one of those in a month, but otherwise things went smoothly. The APs are in full swing and our students are allowed to skip class (?!) the day before they have an exam, plus a lot of seniors have sorta just given up, so my classes were a little emptier than usual. This was generally very pleasant and allowed for some AWESOME seminar-style classes where we just sat around in a circle and talked philosophy. That's something I want to keep up in the years to come.

WEEKEND 2: BUSY. AWESOME.

Yesterday was the real busy day, for all the right reasons. We forewent weekend brunch and set off, famished, for the International Community School's annual Food Fair, which is exactly the hullabaloo of food stalls, bouncy houses, and costumed children that we all hope such things could be.

(Also, there's a 21+ section, which is even better than we usually hope such things will be).

Though we partook of fare ranging from Malaysia to Mali, from England to Pakistan, I managed to snap just one food picture which I hope will tell at least part of the story:

Belgium, I am forever grateful.

And here's a shot of the fair itself:

As post-day-drinking dehydration set in, we made our way back to campus, where I pretty immediately performed with the faculty band in an outdoor Music Fest. Always fun to get to show off our stuff to the students, and there's definitely a video on Facebook that I am purposefully not linking to on this blog because it feels like tooting my own horn. But it's out there.

When we wrapped up our final number, a rendition of "Feelin' Alright" that featured several students who hadn't known they were performing until immediately beforehand, I quite literally walked off the stage and straight onto the bus to East Amman for the next adventure:

Jordan Star.

See, one of the things about this country is that it's small enough, and developing enough, that you manage to get your way into an awful lot of cool events if you have connections at King's. Hence the performance for HMK and HMQ two weeks ago, and hence too our front-row seats at this knockoff of America's Got Talent. Here's the gang, five teachers and three students, in front of one of those fancy I'm-at-a-celebrity-event backdrops:

And although Jordan Star is apparently widely ridiculed in this country, it was a pretty good time and a pretty professional production. Here's a shot of the stage and one of the producers giving us some pre-show info:

One thing I learned is that when you watch one of these shows and see everyone clapping as an act begins, it's because there's a 3-2-1 countdown that tells you exactly when to start clapping. What a thrill to be behind the scenes! And in front of the camera, too; there were a ton of sweeping shots of the audience that heavily featured the front row. If video surfaces, I'll link to it here; somehow it doesn't feel as self-serving to include footage of me clapping like a moron on Jordanian TV.

Here's one of the acts, a duo of prepubescent (twin?) brothers who actually sang damn well. They made it through the vote-with-your-cellphone round but didn't get to advance to the next round. Better luck next time, boys. 

And now, here I sit, having taken over a dorm duty so that my Study Hall next week will be covered. Three Supervised Study Halls left. See? Can't help but think about the end.

So Yale beckons in the immediate future, and you may see another update before then but don't hold your breaths. Beyond that? I guess we'll get to see this big finish everyone keeps talking about. Stay tuned.