Over Jordan

I just plugged a 10-digit number into DHL's package-tracking service, and it informed me that my three cardboard boxes and one suitcase are scheduled to arrive in Washington, DC tomorrow, June 5th, 2015.

What will I be doing on June 5, while my clothes, books, and assorted Jordanian souvenirs simmer on my future front stoop?

Recovering, I expect, from an evening of on-campus festivities. Squeezing the things I wanted to bring to Greece and the things I forgot to ship home into one suitcase. Driving to Four Winters to cash in my full punch card for a regular-sized ice cream. Walking around King's Academy and looking out at the fields beyond the walls. Getting ready to say goodbye.

The last time you heard from me, the end was near, and now it's here. We've had our final faculty meeting, I've given back the key to my apartment, and I'm a few checked boxes away from officially signing out of King's Academy for good. Classes ended last week but they feel very far away. I saw students for the last time yesterday, at a really wonderful advisory group barbecue in Amman, and I guess it's just about time to accept their Facebook friend requests.

How does it feel?

The last few days have not been particularly reflective, or particularly celebratory or sad; plenty of logistics, a few heartfelt goodbyes, but no serious emotional turmoil or deep regret. I suppose I am ready for another adventure, like I was when I got on the plane in August 2013. Just today, feelings of anticipatory anxiety have started to bubble up, and I find myself calming them down by remembering that very few leaps into the unknown could rival the one I took two years ago, touching down in the desert to start my Real Life. I've already made that jump and lived to talk about it, so this one maybe won't feel quite so big.

I'm excited to be back in America. Will I annoy people by using Arabic phrases too much? Will I grow tired of the accessibility of creature comforts and the bafflingly consistent adherence to basic rules of driving? Will I miss my students? My friends?

So tonight there's a big goodbye, and tomorrow there's a slow burn to the end, and then I go to Greece and then I go home. Thursday, June 11; the following Monday I start summer work and then someday September will come and I'll start doing something else. It's going to be really, really different, but like I said before, I know how that feels already.

Too lazy for pictures from the last month right now. If you want to see them, just ask me the next time we see each other. I can take a train just about anywhere now, so I won't be far.

I think I'll probably regret the title of this post because it's a little sappy, but I've been thinking a lot about those apropos songs with "Jordan" in the title. I don't know if I'm going to get over Jordan, and I don't think I want to: I think I have learned things here that I won't even know I've learned until they tap me on the shoulder a few weeks months years down the road. I am very grateful to have been a part of this place, because I really believe in how important and special a school it is, and it feels like an honor to have helped push the seed of this place closer towards flourishing. Big changes ahead for King's, and for me as well, so I hope we stay in touch.

This may well be all for me and this blog. The best part of the internet is that these things don't go anywhere - maybe I'll take a look at my Xanga right now just for old time's sake. King's Academy, we came as strangers, we part as friends.

مع السلامة

April 18, 2015

I feel this afternoon that the search for a pithy title for this post would be an undue use of my effort. Today is April 18, 2015; the sun shines through the haze over Madaba, and five weeks remain in the school year at King's Academy. This is very likely not my last blog post, but we have gotten close enough that such disclaimers feel worth including. Two months have passed, and the words "blog post" are starting to burn a hole in my iPhone Notes. Let's get up to speed.

What has happened since my last day as a 24-year-old?

The birthday was an utterly normal day, except that I remember it being more stressful than usual. Some students surprised me by bursting out of an elevator holding a cupcake, which was a nice way to start Glee Club rehearsal. That weekend we hopped over the border to brave wind and rain during Tel Aviv's only non-beautiful 48 hours of the entire year, though the city managed to clear up in time for a totally lovely outdoor brunch. Ice cream sandwiches, late-night beers, strolling on the beach, and perhaps the coolest club I've ever been to made for a great late birthday present.

Did anything else happen in February? Our Lord of the Rings marathon happened in February. I made lembas. Don't let anyone tell you we don't have a good time out here in the desert.

And then it was March, I guess? My final semester at King's began; I'm teaching two sections of Ethics instead of Philosophy and have only recently decided that maybe I should mess with the curriculum after all. I think I'm going to keep my brain active by actually making the end of the term about ethics, rather than sticking with the same Philosophy syllabus I've been tweaking for the past two years. It'll still be pretty similar, because my class had so much Ethics in it anyway, but I'm now deciding whether to keep watching The Matrix or maybe try Minority Report instead. Input welcome.

Took a trip up to Ajloun to chaperone a Habitat for Humanity build with a bunch of students, which was a busy but very fulfilling weekend. Here we are building a house that will someday have a beautiful view:

And the students asked if they could sleep under the stars, and I said no, and a good time was had by all. I'm glad I went up there; we also got to visit Ajloun Castle which is gorgeous.

And then it was Spring Break! And Sam came!

Here we are in Jaffa Port:

Here we are at the Dead Sea:

It was a pretty amazing visit, if I do say so myself. Jerusalem (with a day trip to Tel Aviv), Petra/Wadi Rum with Andrew and Katherine, and enough time up north to see Amman and Madaba and a full King's Academy school day. We ate enough food for several more people, and I can't think of a better way to have spent spring break.

And then Passover came and went, and I actually made it BACK to Jerusalem for the Seder. Was a little sad to miss our own festivities at King's, but given the chance to make "next year in Jerusalem" a reality, I didn't think I could pass it up.

And two weeks ago now, we hosted a visiting conductor from Austria who did great work with the Glee Club last year, and he continued to do great work with them and the orchestra and all manner of student musical groups. But the best part of hosting is, of course, the excuse to travel, so we made our way up to Um Qais last weekend. An absolutely gorgeous site: pillars of ancient churches, pillars of ancient fora, pillars of ancient mausoleums, and a stunning view of the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights. Here's the picture I'm proudest of, which is currently my phone background:

So that was a week ago, just about. Since then, we made another cardboard boat for the cardboard boat race. Team Humanities Hubris decided to up our game for the second year by covering the entire boat in tape, instead of just most of the boat.

We tried to fit three people in the boat and sank immediately.

***

But enough about the past! Today it is still sunny out, and will be for another hour, and I've decided to do this instead of grading or lesson planning for the time being. I will probably start the business of life soon, given that we're approaching the first 5-day week in a while (thanks, Easter long weekends!) and the Glee Club has its big spring concert on Wednesday. This will be one of those busy busy school weeks, and I think it'll go by quickly.

Such is the present; as for the future? Still too cloudy to tell. I began the process of applications months ago, and it's starting to become time for interviews and conversations and thoughts about What's Next. Nothing set in stone just yet, which I'm OK with, and enough irons in the fire that I feel more excited than anxious about returning to the states. I finally told my advisees that I'm leaving, which was about as easy as I'd anticipated, so I probably shouldn't have been such a procrastinator about it. The hard part might be telling the Glee Club, or my Big History students, but they'll manage.

Signs of the end: 

- a goodbye lunch today with other departing History teachers and Sue, who's staying next year to keep teaching Econ but won't be around for end-of-year festivities

- looking at plane tickets to America and deciding whether to go straight back or take a little vacation somewhere in between. Greece?

- the ongoing psychological battle, toughening as the days pass, between focusing on now and focusing on the next thing. With barely over a month of school left, my barely repressible instinct for counting down finds itself torn between the thrill of proximity to the end and the banality of the inevitable. At this point, why even count? April will be May two Saturdays from now, and then we've really hit the final lap. I'm doing my best to make each day count, to put my efforts into concerts and classes and grading and engaging, but there are times when it doesn't feel as easy. I think the routine of busy five-day weeks will help, and we've got nothing but those left until the end, so it's time to get back in the saddle and ride this thing to the finish line. I think I'm in a metaphorical mood today.

You'll hear from me again before the plane takes off for Washington. I saw a plane fly over the dorms two nights ago, and thinking about myself in a similar such plane brought on one of the strongest bouts of nostalgia I've felt this spring. Will those feelings intensify as the end approaches? I imagine so. If you're real lucky, you'll get to hear about it.

Quarter Century

Three months seem to have gone by pretty quickly.

Things that have happened since last I updated, in the pre-wedding-in-America, pre-Thanksgiving times of 2014:

***
NOVEMBER
- return to America (via Paris for three hours: Notre Dame, Rue des Rosiers, a lot of baked goods) for wedding

- return to Jordan (via Amsterdam for three hours: haircut, canals, ran out of money) in time for familiarly decadent Thanksgiving dinner (I made gingerbread again)
***

DECEMBER
- presentation at the Queen Rania Teacher Association's education conference at the Dead Sea. Lina, Ala, and I made a cool poster, talked about using technology in the classroom, and then got massages at our comped hotel once the event was over. Big success overall.

- return to America again (via Istanbul this time, but without a big layover) for the holiday
***

And then it became 2015, with much fanfare and revelry, and I suppose I'll pick up the story there.

Quick note before all the reminiscing: I'm writing on the eve of my 25th birthday, as my final hours as a 24-year-old wind down, and could probably spend some time right now posting all sorts of existential musings about the passage of time and the Marking of the Years, etc etc. But I won't, at least not for now, so that instead we can look at some nice pictures.


Highlight 1: Mom and Dad's Visit
When my flight touched down in Jordan on the now side of 2015, I was greeted belatedly with the news that due to icy road conditions, we were not going to be able to make it back to King's that night. Instead, we slept in the airport hotel, which ended up being a sort of fun adventure that staved off my jetlag for a night and replaced it with bewilderment.

Followed that crazy night up with two snow days, which I have to say is a pretty tremendous way to restart the school routine, but before the jetlag had even really worn off, I was welcoming the parents back to Jordan for a weekend of adventuring.

And we had a great time! Spent the first day visiting Jerash:

...and the next tooling around Amman, including the Citadel, Rainbow Street, and some restaurant highlights. We crammed a lot into two cold rainy days, and made the most of both the time and the weather to see a lot of what we hadn't been able to see together the first time. Good stuff.


Highlight 2: Azraq and the Eastern Desert
The past few weeks have reminded me that January and February are the slog days of the school year: you start off slow, then get into a real routine and just start powering through. Then sometimes the slog gets interrupted by little shocks, like the trip to the Eastern Desert we took some time in the middle of the Mires of January.

Turns out the eastern desert is home to very non-deserty things, like the former oasis in the Azraq Wetlands which now looks more or less like Milford, CT:

Kind of a tragic story, as the Jordanian government in the middle of the 20th century siphoned off almost all of the water and the restoration efforts are slow. But at least they're happening, and it was pretty amazing to see something so bizarrely familiar in the middle of the desert.

Said desert, of course, also contains plenty of more appropriate scenery, like a bunch of castles:

Just a reminder of how much beauty there is in this country, and how much I have left to see before the summer. But I feel great about taking care of that particular side of the country. And I'd be remiss if I left out the super fun Eastern Desert highway road signs:

Highlight 3: JYMC

And there were musical adventures, too!!

The final weekend of January was not much of a weekend at all: instrumentalists and singers from all over Jordan came to King's to participate in the third annual Jordan's Youth Music Conference, the brainchild of a teacher here. "Instrumentalists and singers" here means "twenty instrumentalists and four singers," and "all over Jordan" here means "two or three schools in Amman," but we really did rehearse for 14 hours over two days and we really did perform two songs the kids had never seen before, and I think that's something to be proud of.

I don't think there's video up yet, but I'll send it around if it emerges. I was way too frazzled for photos, so here's a shot of the seats and new sheet music all ready to go:

Highlight 4: Food, as usual
This week, the winter doldrums come to an end, with a long weekend that will see three friends and I make our way westward to Tel Aviv. Last weekend was no slouch, either, mostly because of the food.

My first of three(?) plates from the Chinese/Korean New Year/Spring Festival celebration:

Delight in the glorious beige mess, please.

And the heart-esque pancakes we put together for a six-friend Valentine's Day brunch:

 ***
And that's basically where we're at. Classes chug along - just two and a half more weeks in the term - and the weather swings from rain to sun and back again. We plan, we grade, we complain, we play board games, we think about our futures. Sometimes someone throws a party. Spring approaches, quickly enough.

I guess the next time I look at this page will be as a twenty-five-year-old, unless a fit of editing inspiration seizes me before this Study Hall is up. With any luck, there'll be adventures left to recount and pictures left to recount them with before spring turns into summer, and I'll do my damn best to keep you people in the world up to speed.

A word on the situation in Jordan? It was tense on campus, the day after Muath, and we had somber and sober discussions, some of which really felt productive (as I think it always does to air complicated feelings). But those tensions have relaxed, and school life has most definitely proceeded as normal in the last week and a half. I am generally impressed with the attitude of the student body, though I guess I haven't heard the vitriol that almost certainly makes its way around dormitory halls after we've gone to sleep.

But anyway. If you're wondering about safety, wonder not; we're fine as ever in our little walled compound, and fine in Madaba and Amman as well. The school would most definitely be taking care of us if we weren't, too.

You didn't come here for current events, though (right?), so I'll sign off for now. Three hours and twelve minutes left of twenty-four! And such mundane things left to do this evening. That's Real Life, I guess. Back soon; I owe you one for sticking with me.