My suitcase is sitting at the edge of my bed, half full with clothes and stuffed with souvenirs and trinkets. I remember folding my clothes earlier this morning and being beyond excited that I would be coming back to the states. Now I am starting to realize how much I will miss many parts of Amman. However, I will save the sentimental and reflective post for tomorrow, the night before I actually leave.
Where to start? Pre-departure we were required to finish a DukeEngage evaluation of our program that had me really thinking back on my experience both in a group and culturally. There are many parts of the program that I enjoyed, such as the Southern Excursion, but there is also much room for improvement. I believe my trip would have been much better if I had a roommate, and this was my biggest complaint. In addition our program de-valued the group experience - there was minimum team bonding. Being separated not only through our homestays but also through our work was perhaps not the best idea. And although our program directors had good intentions, it was frustrating to see how unorganized some parts of the program were, especially with respect to communication.
But anyways, back to the experience.
Yesterday our group embarked on our last excursion - Ajloun and Jerash. I was mildly disappointed with our first stop at Ajloun; although the area houses a nature reserve, our program only arranged for us to see the ruins of a castle. I have seen way too many castle ruins already that they are already old news (haha I cannot believe that I am saying this), and we pushed towards our next destination.
I have been fasting incredibly casually throughout Ramadan, and decided to snack throughout the duration of the trip. However, several members of our group were still full out fasting, no food or water. I can only imagine the difficulty that they endured as we were hiking, trekking, and climbing. Props to them!
As we descended into Jerash, I was dumb-founded by the fact that the ruins are located in the middle of a city!
The architecture was reminiscent of Roman styles, and paths were lined with ionic pillars. The walking paths were also lined with carved stone rather than simple dirt paths, making the process of walking much easier than in Petra. I was wonderful to just walk around, imagining how the ancients wandered through the city. The city was complete with a Roman-style ampitheater that contained a sweet spot in the middle where voices from the bottom of the theater could project to the steps at the top.
There were monuments and temples carved into the rocks. And pillars. And more pillars. Pillars pillars pillars pillars. It seems the Jordanians concentrated all of their pillars into one city and one location because they reserved middle eastern architecture for the rest of the country.
After leaving Jerash, we headed over to Iftar at the Tel Al-Rumman resort, a fancy spa and restaurant that is near the Royal Botanic Gardens. As we arrived almost 2 hours before Iftar, we found the place almost entirely deserted. To pass the time, we played a game. We had post-it notes taped to our forehead with the names of somebody dead, alive, or fictional and had to ask people questions to find out our name. Round one concluded with me discovering that I was Rosie Williams - a fellow DukeEngage student. Round two was interrupted by the arrival of our program coordinators (but I found out later that my note read Anastasia). I have realized that I am not so great at asking narrowing questions, but that playing these games is a great source of fun!
Dinner was buffet-style, with traditional rice, meat, and salad dishes. After the meal was over, we were serenaded with Arabic music and regaled with energetic dancing. A small boy on stage, twirling and twirling gracefully for at least an hour in a style reminiscent of ballroom or latin. All in all, an enjoyable experience for our last SIT dinner!
And today I had a productive day as well. Post-workout, I finished souvenir shopping and even snagged myself some nail polish in the process. After shopping, another iftar outside of the house! We were invited to the home of Naser Tahboub, a political science professor at the University of Jordan who is also a Duke alumni.
I committed the social faux pas of being the first one to arrive at the party: my taxi driver was very familiar with the neighborhood Professor Tahboub resided in and got me there in a speedy manner. Anyways, my host was gracious enough to give me a tour of his spacious yard and the inside of his beautifully decorated house. Apparently he lives across the street from the King's Uncle and also resides in the same neighborhood as many wealthy entrepreneurs. Given the relatively luxuriousness of his house, I certainly believe it.
Dinner was standard Jordanian cuisine, but I met many of his lovely relatives. We conversed about taking the SATs, choosing a career, being sexually harassed as a woman, and many other topics. One woman, Mays, was on her way to becoming a doctor when she had a change of heart during her final year of university and changed to business. It was great to listen to her talk about the lack of an innovative education program in Jordan (everything is memorization) and about her wish to travel the world. I wish I had met these ladies earlier and discussed more.
Tomorrow, I will have to finish packing. Parting will truly be bittersweet - I miss home, but I know that I will soon miss Jordan after being home. It is time to make the most of my tomorrow, my last day.
Where to start? Pre-departure we were required to finish a DukeEngage evaluation of our program that had me really thinking back on my experience both in a group and culturally. There are many parts of the program that I enjoyed, such as the Southern Excursion, but there is also much room for improvement. I believe my trip would have been much better if I had a roommate, and this was my biggest complaint. In addition our program de-valued the group experience - there was minimum team bonding. Being separated not only through our homestays but also through our work was perhaps not the best idea. And although our program directors had good intentions, it was frustrating to see how unorganized some parts of the program were, especially with respect to communication.
But anyways, back to the experience.
Yesterday our group embarked on our last excursion - Ajloun and Jerash. I was mildly disappointed with our first stop at Ajloun; although the area houses a nature reserve, our program only arranged for us to see the ruins of a castle. I have seen way too many castle ruins already that they are already old news (haha I cannot believe that I am saying this), and we pushed towards our next destination.
I have been fasting incredibly casually throughout Ramadan, and decided to snack throughout the duration of the trip. However, several members of our group were still full out fasting, no food or water. I can only imagine the difficulty that they endured as we were hiking, trekking, and climbing. Props to them!
As we descended into Jerash, I was dumb-founded by the fact that the ruins are located in the middle of a city!
There were monuments and temples carved into the rocks. And pillars. And more pillars. Pillars pillars pillars pillars. It seems the Jordanians concentrated all of their pillars into one city and one location because they reserved middle eastern architecture for the rest of the country.
After leaving Jerash, we headed over to Iftar at the Tel Al-Rumman resort, a fancy spa and restaurant that is near the Royal Botanic Gardens. As we arrived almost 2 hours before Iftar, we found the place almost entirely deserted. To pass the time, we played a game. We had post-it notes taped to our forehead with the names of somebody dead, alive, or fictional and had to ask people questions to find out our name. Round one concluded with me discovering that I was Rosie Williams - a fellow DukeEngage student. Round two was interrupted by the arrival of our program coordinators (but I found out later that my note read Anastasia). I have realized that I am not so great at asking narrowing questions, but that playing these games is a great source of fun!
Dinner was buffet-style, with traditional rice, meat, and salad dishes. After the meal was over, we were serenaded with Arabic music and regaled with energetic dancing. A small boy on stage, twirling and twirling gracefully for at least an hour in a style reminiscent of ballroom or latin. All in all, an enjoyable experience for our last SIT dinner!
And today I had a productive day as well. Post-workout, I finished souvenir shopping and even snagged myself some nail polish in the process. After shopping, another iftar outside of the house! We were invited to the home of Naser Tahboub, a political science professor at the University of Jordan who is also a Duke alumni.
I committed the social faux pas of being the first one to arrive at the party: my taxi driver was very familiar with the neighborhood Professor Tahboub resided in and got me there in a speedy manner. Anyways, my host was gracious enough to give me a tour of his spacious yard and the inside of his beautifully decorated house. Apparently he lives across the street from the King's Uncle and also resides in the same neighborhood as many wealthy entrepreneurs. Given the relatively luxuriousness of his house, I certainly believe it.
Dinner was standard Jordanian cuisine, but I met many of his lovely relatives. We conversed about taking the SATs, choosing a career, being sexually harassed as a woman, and many other topics. One woman, Mays, was on her way to becoming a doctor when she had a change of heart during her final year of university and changed to business. It was great to listen to her talk about the lack of an innovative education program in Jordan (everything is memorization) and about her wish to travel the world. I wish I had met these ladies earlier and discussed more.
Tomorrow, I will have to finish packing. Parting will truly be bittersweet - I miss home, but I know that I will soon miss Jordan after being home. It is time to make the most of my tomorrow, my last day.
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