Quiet till it falls.

In the last few weeks in Amman, we've been volunteering once a week at a public elementary school.  In Amman (I'm not sure about the rest of the Middle East), anyone who can afford private elementary school sends their children there instead of to a public school.  The public schools are, for the most part, for the poorest segment.  The school we went to was in the northern part of the city, on the outskirts.  It's near a makheem, or refugee camp, so most of the students are Palestinian or of Palestinian descent.

 

 

It was certainly saddening in some ways to see how poor their school is, but I also got the impression that their teachers work hard to teach them well.  There are no pictures on the wall, and the building is old, and the recess hard is very small, but they were so excited to have guests, that we got swarmed when we took out our cameras to take pictures with them.  It can only be described as an adorable riot:

  

We also visited an 8th grade class and a 9th grade class.  Since I'm not top notch with kids large groups of kids, these classes were more interesting for me.  It's actually kind of amazing to see the difference between the 8th and 9th graders.  The 8th graders were generally really outgoing, eager to meet us and talk to us and make friends.  On the other hand, the 9th graders were much more formal and reserved. 

Last weekend, we went to Ajloun castle and the Roman ruins at Jerash to the north of Amman.  Ajloun castle was first.  It was originally built by the Arabs, but during the crusades, the Crusading armies controlled it.  I'm not sure about after that, but it was pretty neat.  And it was cool inside, which was excellent relief from the heat wave outside.

 

After Ajloun, we went to Jerash to visit the Roman ruins there.  According to our program director, after the Roman part of the city was abandoned, the Arabs who lived near Jerash thought that the Roman buildings were haunted, so they never built over them.  An earthquake damaged a lot of the buildings, but for the most part, they're incredibly intact.

This is a Roman manhole.  The water drained into the sewage system.  Honestly, seeing this blew my mind just as much as the buildings. 

 

Mosaic floors from the church:

And of course, bagpipe players?

Leyal al-Qahira

I've been waiting to write until I have time to write a long post about my trip to Egypt, but it looks like that's stopping me from writing about my semester, here so suffice it to say that the five day spent there were most excellent.  I saw the pyramids, spent a day at 'ayn al-sukhna, went to the souq in near the Hussein mosque, smoked sheesha on a cliff overlooking Cairo, and visited the Egyptian Museum.  Here are some pictures from my trip:

 

Ramadan kareem...

"Ramadan kareem" is one of several greetings that people here use during Ramadan, and it means "Ramadan is generous."  Indeed, Ramadan is a time of being kind and generous to others.  Even though it is a time of fasting, charity to the poor is increased, guests are fed large and delicious meals at 'ifTaar and hospitality is more lavish in general, and there is even a special expression that is used here during this month of fasting that is used when someone makes you angry during Ramadan that basically means: "it's Ramadan, so I won't say what I'm really thinking."  It has been a great opportunity to be here during this special month and experience how an entire city can essentially operate at 75%  of its usual capacity for an entire month, and to experience the festivities and the decorations.

However, this begins to wear on a person after about 10 days.  I am not actually fasting, of course, but I am on a limited diet at the moment.  I barely eat during the day because almost no where will serve food during the day and there are only so many times I can eat cheese and chips or grimy kebab for lunch.  Also, I can't study in a cafe during the day, because they are all closed, and at night it's family time anyway.

All of this is not to say that I haven't loved this experience; there's nothing comparable to experiencing first hand something you've read about in your studies.  That is reason enough to have loved this last month.  I'm just hungry.  I have been daydreaming about falafel sandwiches in a city where they are usually within easy reach.