Today, we truly experienced the power of communication, and the many forms in which it takes place.  Today, we had the opportunity to volunteer at the Jofeh Community Rehabilitation Center in Salt, Jordan, which is located in the Jordan River Valley. This institute provides normal developmental and vocational training and housing for all mentally and physically disabled people. The special thing about this program is that it does not turn anyone away, no matter their race, age, or religion. This institute is associated with the Holy land Institute for the Deaf, which is also in Salt, Jordan.
The one-hour drive took us to through the sandy and arid hills of Jordan, spotted with many villages and semi-arable fields. The small and traditionalistic villages surrounding the Jordan River Valley were very different from the bustling and modern city of Amman, and it gave the American youth a chance too see a different side of Jordan.
Finally, we arrived in the village of Salt, Jordan. As we walked into the Rehabilitation Center, we were greeted by two of the main educators who took us on a tour around the center before we began our volunteer work. There were two floors, the first floor including a meeting room, computer room, a bathroom with mirrors, sinks, and both eastern and western toilets, and 3 classrooms.  The second floor had 4 spacious rooms where the deaf children and adults worked on various projects. One of the most interesting things about the building was the Arabic cooling system, which was located in the middle of the building, and extended to the second floor. As there was no central cooling, or air conditioning, the institute was utilizing ancient Arabic methods of cooling, which included a small pool and water channels. The water channels circulated the water through the building, and kept the inside climate 20 degrees lower than the outside. This was very beneficial, as the outside climate was 100 Degrees Fahrenheit! 
As we walked through the rooms, we saw many children and women, all deaf, blind, or mentally and physically challenged in some way. Everyone we met greeted us with smiles, let us take pictures with them, and showed us the projects they were working on. Many of these projects were to create products that could be sold to help fund the school. After our tour, we settled into our various volunteer projects. Some people cross-stitched, while others played with the children, making pictures and playing with play-doh. Some others made recycled paper, or cleaned the school’s buses. I worked on the cross-stitching project. Never having cross-stitched before, I was not sure how to start, and I didn’t know how to ask the Jordanian women. Coming to Jordan, we already had to overcome the language barrier. But in the Institute for the Deaf, we could neither speak Arabic, nor speak sign language. With this double obstacle, we were anxious as to how we would communicate. But, even with these obstacles, we managed to communicate!  Through gestures, smiles, and high-fives we created a language of our own, one which was not barred by country lines or mental capacities.
After our work, we ate a wonderful Jordanian lunch on the first floor, and then met Brother Andrew, a monk and priest, and a principal educator for the Institute. Father Andrew spoke to us about his experiences with the blind and deaf. He told us that to the deaf, it doesn’t matter which race someone belongs to, where they come from, or what language they speak. It doesn’t matter whether one is a Hindu, Jew, or a Muslim. All that matters is the type of individual someone is. Father Andrew also furtively believed in the mental acumen of the challenged. To paraphrase Father Andrew, “Many people think that the deaf are mentally challenged, and not able to grasp concepts which normal people are. But, to me, the deaf are advanced far beyond normal people, as they regard all people as humans, and have no need to segregate.” Father Andrew believes that sometimes people who can actually hear and see are deafer than the deaf and blinder than the blind, because they do not allow themselves to hear and comprehend anything that contradicts their views, and rarely see the truth. Even with the advantages of sight and hearing, normal people miss so many things that are so obvious, the most obvious being that we are all humans, and deserve the same treatment.
After Father Andrew’s inspiring speech, we left the Institute, and traveled to Mount Nebo, located in western Jordan. This Mountain has much religious significance for both Christians and Jews, as it is considered to be the mountain where the prophet Moses was given a view of the promise land by god, and also where he was buried. From this summit, one is usually able to see the Holy Land, the Jordan River, The west bank city of Jericho, and sometimes Jerusalem. Unfortunately, the day we went was very foggy, so we just saw the Jordan River. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful view to look upon.
After Mount Nebo, we stopped for ice cream, (YAY! ) and then drove to the St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Madaba, to view the mosaics. These mosaics were dated back to both the Byzantine and Umayyad time. I was astonished that they could be kept intact for so long, and I knew it was because Jordanians were so proud of their culture, and worked to keep it secure. The mosaics were absolutely beautiful.
After the mosaics, we headed to dinner, which was held at a fancy restaurant, and hosted by a good friend of father Nabil’s. This man had some ambassadorial relations with Finland, and eloquently spoke to us about his experiences, and his views on cultural diplomacy. After dinner, a musician came to the restaurant, and a spontaneous dance party was created! All of us, Jordanians, Americans, adults, children danced and danced! It was unbelievable fun, but we soon had to return to the hotel to prepare for the next day. It was hard to say good-bye to our Jordanian friends, but we knew that we would see them the next day, bright and early. After such a long and exciting day, my roommates and I fell straight asleep, dreaming about what our next day in Jordan would hold for us.

by Daniel Resnick

Friday, June 27th was the most action packed and most enjoyable day of our trip to Jordan, at least in my perspective. On this day we saw both Jordan’s man-made beauty and Jordan’s natural beauty.

This busy day started at our hotel in Petra (The Petra Palace) at 6:30 in the morning, so that we could enjoy the wonders of the ancient city of Petra in the morning before the heat of the afternoon. Of course, like much of this trip, we didn’t follow the schedule. But it’s not what you think! We were out of the hotel by 7:00; it was Petra’s gorgeousness that made it impossible to leave before the afternoon. 

The city of Petra was carved into sheer rock by the Nabataean kingdom over 2000 years ago. This ancient trading city has but one entrance- a mile long walk between two rocky cliffs- and is filled with building displaying Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Mesopotamian, and local styles. After the Nabataens the Romans ruled the city, but it was soon lost to the west until the 1800s. In an interesting interfaith twist the site is also where Aaron, the brother of Moses, is buried. Sorry for the history lesson.

Anyway, it would be suicidal for me to try to type everything we saw in Petra, considering there is still 12 hours worth to describe afterwards. I will give you some highlights though: before we even reached the canyon that took us into the city, we saw small structures carved into the rock, which provided a small teaser as to what’s coming when we reached the city. Of course, us Americans fell into the tourist trap of a horse back ride that took us a meager 100 yards downhill- but never mind. Then we passed through the carved gates into the canyon, beginning our mile long journey into the actual city. By 9:00 o’clock we finally reached the city, our home for the next 4 hours. You might think that four hours is way too long to explore in an archeological site, but in reality, it would take days to explore all of Petra’s wonders. From the Treasury (which we were told by our personal tour guide was not actually a treasury), to the tombs, to the amphitheater, everything looked so foreign, yet amazing. It was mind-boggling to think that all the structures we saw were carved out of the rocky cliffs. During our exploration we also split into groups, some which wanted to explore more than others. What was great about these groups was that they naturally included both Jordanians and Americans, which meant that this beautiful expedition also provided for great bonding time. Alas, by one o’clock we were all tired (some Jordanians chose not to sleep the night before), hungry, and slightly dehydrated, so we started our mile long climb back up to the bus.

Reaching the bus was one of the greatest feelings on earth, as it meant getting out of the heat and into the AC. After a brief stop at a souvenir store, we began our hour long ride to the Wadi Rum desert. While most of our bus rides were filled with singing, dancing, and general mayhem, this one was quieter than a museum, as most of us took the opportunity and slept.

Wadi Rum is a desert filled with rocky cliffs and fantastic views, and our camp was smack in the middle of it. Our base camp for that evening and night was a Bedouin campsite, which included many sleeping tents, a bathroom, and an outdoor dining/party area. As a city person, I was a little taken aback by the camp- what were we going to do the entire afternoon and evening? However, I shouldn’t have worried because- like the rest of this trip- there was never a dull moment. The first thing we did when we reached the camp was eating a much needed lunch and wash up a bit. Then, some of the boys, including myself, started an intense soccer game in the middle of the camp. The teams were- of course- mixed, and while it wasn’t the most high quality of games, it was one of my favorite moments of the trip. People always say sport is the great equalizer, and this was one more example of that fact.

After our soccer game all of the Americans and a handful of Jordanians went on a jeep tour of the desert. Petra had shown us Jordan’s human-made beauty, and this desert tour showed us Jordan’s natural beauty. Again, it would be really hard for me to put into words what we saw that evening, but I’ll leave you with two images. One is the sun setting between two rocky cliffs. The second is all of us, adults included, climbing on a massive sand dune and the running/ rolling off. After a week full of sessions and meeting, it was so nice to finally have a day like this, in which we all had fun and acted like true teens.

Yet the highlight of the night, and maybe of the entire day, and maybe of the entire trip (you get where this is going) was stargazing in the desert with all 30 of our new friends. After we came back from the jeep tour, we had a filling Bedouin dinner and even danced a little bit at the Bedouin styled party, but we eventually decided to forgo the dancing and look at the stars. All 30 of us brought our blankets to the “parking lot” (basically a space away from any lights) and lay down and watched shooting stars. Yes; we actually saw shooting stars! And after a while of lying down and staring at the sky groups of discussions started to form. One group told, or at least tried to tell, ghost stories. Another had a discussion about dating in Jordan and in the US. And even another had a discussion about religion and personal beliefs. It was extremely gratifying participating in those conversations. I believe that that night cemented the relationship we had build over the past week and during that night we truly became one cohesive group.

June 29, 2008

After a couple days away from Le Vendome hotel in Amman, we once again awoke and stumbled downstairs in time to grab a sampling of the usual breakfast buffet of omelets, hard-boiled eggs, meat, bread, coffee, and Tang. Fueled by the protein, sugar, and caffeine, we hopped onto the bus to begin what was originally planned to be our day of home-stays. Instead, we had decided to simply have the Jordanians take us to a sweet summer hang-out, the Orthodox Club, an athletic center associated with the National Orthodox School, which many of the Jordanian youth attended. The decision to eliminate the home-stays in favor of using the pools at the Club with the Jordanians was made after some discussion in which we realized that we already knew a good amount about life at home from informal bus ride discussions and more formal workshop activities with the Jordanians. We also realized that hanging out as a large group might be a more accurate representation of the daily life of a teen during summer break.
We departed the hotel by taxi, careful to include one Jordanian and one male in each cab group for safety. The Jordanians once again insisted on paying our cab fee, just as they had generously done when they took us to City Mall about a week earlier. The Orthodox Club was impressive; two pools, a covered adult one and a fully outdoor youth one, were flanked by soccer and basketball courts. Unfortunately, we did not use the athletic courts because of the concern that the girls might fall victim to rude remarks for playing sports with the guys. The young Jordanian men in our group wanted to avoid any situation in which they might feel obliged to confront someone due to this issue. Even so, we did not need to use the courts to make our time at the Club a blast; the two beautiful pools provided both refreshment and recreation for our group for the majority of the afternoon.
I personally felt very comfortable at the Club even though we were outsiders and the place was packed. Our hosts made us feel at home as usual and even introduced us to their friends as they bumped into them throughout the afternoon. Even complete strangers were very friendly toward us and weren’t fazed by the fact that we were Americans. One Jordanian guy about my age struck up a conversation with me and I learned that he would be heading to California in the fall to start college. The American girls spent a good chunk of time remarking about how awkward they felt to be wearing one-piece bathing suits that they had bought because we were told to dress conservatively for the trip. It turned out that every Jordanian girl in our group and most at the Club wore two-pieces and this would have been completely acceptable. We had no way of knowing we were coming over-prepared and over-conservative.
After returning to Le Vendome and showering, the Jordanians took us to the downtown area of Amman to shop in the many small shops that line the main road and cram their way into the nooks of the side streets and alleys. Safety was a concern as we walked the crowded sidewalks, but we stayed in groups with our Jordanian chaperones and avoided any incidents. I learned a new sport while on the shopping excursion: bargaining. No price was set in stone, and if we didn’t bargain our Jordanian hosts would lecture us about being a smarter shopper or take over and do the bargaining for us. One of my favorite shops was an antique shop that sold all kinds of statues, carved pipes, animal figurines, knives, and metalwork, but I must admit that I also enjoyed the belly-dancing outfit store.
Later that night after making it safely back to our hotel, a small group of us Americans walked the blocks around our hotel to find a place to eat. We ended up on the rooftop terrace of La Terrasse, where we enjoyed a very nice meal accompanied by some live music and the cheering or booing of soccer fans from a restaurant on the street below which kept us posted on the status of the Euro 2008 final between Spain and Germany. We returned to our hotel rooms later than intended to either crawl into bed or sleepily stumble into a friend’s room to watch a movie or maybe have a girl-talk session. As our eyes fluttered and we began to fall asleep, our thoughts and dreams were filled with memories of the trip so far and with emotion about waking up to our last precious day in Jordan.

Today began on a slightly more relaxing tone. Instead of being herded onto the bus at 8 or 9am, we easily got on at around 11am. I think that was the first day that any of us got more than six hours of sleep! The one day that we were actually ahead of time and ready for the bus to show up, the bus showed up late.
We boarded the big green coach and were on our way to pick up our Jordanian buddies. We greeted each other with our bright and smiling faces and showed our excitement for the rest of the day with a lot of laughing and singing (this was the norm on the bus with a few dance parties here and there)! We were headed for a formal meeting with Dr. Sima, an influential female figure at the Jordanian Higher Media Council. She was a very knowledgeable and forward-thinking woman. She acknowledged the need for women to take a stronger role, not only in the media, but also in the rest of today’s economy. She talked about the negative effects of the media all over the globe. She recognized the modernization and improvement of the Jordanian media through the decades, as well as the long way it still has to go. It was very informative and really got through to all of us.
Following the Q&A session with Dr. Sima, we were treated to a wonderful lunch. It consisted of various bread delicacies (even mini pizza bites) and various delicious deserts and drinks. Our minds and tummies had been satisfied, but now it was time for our curiosity to be satisfied. We got an in-depth tour of the many media control rooms and even a real TV studio. After taking many candid shots and “group pictures”, we thanked everybody at the TV Media building who had arranged the fabulous lunch and tour for us and took the bus to the famous Cultural Center. We reached the Cultural Center at around 3pm. We were supposed to carry on a dialogue till 6pm. I was honestly dreading this, but it happened to be extremely fun, interactive, and informative. We did the Cube Activity which opened the floor to discussion varying from Gods, to holidays, to clothes, to coming of age customs. This small-group dialogue taught us so much about each others’ religions, values, and traditions. This was an especially memorable activity for me, being the only Hindu in the group. Most of the Jordanians had never even heard of Hinduism, so this dialogue gave me an opportunity to give them all a brief insight into my religion and many of the beliefs and core values linked to it. It made all of us (including the Jordanians) realize that though we were from different parts of the world, many of us shared similar if not the same traditions and values. This activity was going so well that it led off to discussions that were not scheduled, but nevertheless necessary (relationships, dating, etc…) to really form those bonds of best friends. The three-hour workshop that I had been dreading quickly turned into one that ended too soon.
The workshop ended successfully and we headed back to our hotel, Le Vendome. Many wanted to change and look nice for the awesome night that lay ahead of us at Father Nabil’s house. We finally arrived at the beautiful white-stoned home (the usual building material used to construct homes to reflect the most sunlight possible). Mrs. Haddad (Father Nabil’s wife) greeted me with the traditional Jordanian greeting, one kiss on the left and two kisses on the right cheek. They had catered a large of dinner consisting of a customary lamb dish called Mansaf with a vegetarian version for some of the vegetarians and vegans. It was delicious, especially when topped with cold yogurt. YUM! I learned that it was almost considered rude if you didn’t prepare Mansaf for your guests in Jordan: it would be considered impolite. Father Nabil’s backyard was gorgeous. It had a lush vegetable garden, and a very nice elevated stone porch with a swing. The wooden beams around the garden were encircled with vines with thick grape bunches dangling in the most tantalizing manner. The real fun started when Father Nabil rolled back those black sleeves of his, grabbed fistfuls of Mansaf, rolled them into perfect balls with his own hands, and personally chased down people to stuff their mouths with the huge balls of lamb and rice. It was a sight worth seeing! This really showed us who had the big mouths! The meal ended with a dessert called Knafe. While there were people sitting in groups quietly chitchatting, there was a whole mob that was viciously arm-wrestling in a secluded corner of the backyard. I am proud to announce that I won two out of three times   (with the cost of having a sore arm for the rest of the trip)! The fun quickly ended when we had to depart Father Nabil’s house and drop off the Jordanians at their stop.
After we returned to the hotel, we quickly debriefed our day and discussed tomorrow’s agenda. We changed into our pajamas and mingled and chilled in each others’ rooms. Today had been extremely fun. It began with an informative session at the Jordanian Higher Media Council, continued with fun dialogues between the Jordanians and Americans, and ended with an amazing meal at Father Nabil’s house. Today was Day 6 and tomorrow would be Day 7......... we had officially reached the midpoint of our trip.   

I am very excited to be blogging about what turned out to be one of my favorite days on this wonderful trip. Unlike normal mornings which started out with an un-welcomed wake-up-call, followed by franticly getting ready for the day, washing croissants and eggs down with tang, and inevitably being late for the bus; I awoke this morning by the sun rising over the mountain range of Wadi Rum. Along with quite a few others, I had spent my night lying on the cracked earth and watching shooting starts. (I managed to spot three!) As we packed our things we were all slightly apprehensive about the day that would follow. The previous night Janet and Father Nabil had been discussing whether we would actually be able to stop and spend time at the Dead Sea. For the Americans the idea of being so close and not actually going was horrifying! I had the feeling that a once in a lifetime experience was slipping away. Because the Jordanians permission slip had not included the Dead Sea in our two day trip, they would need to get permission from each of their parents as well as an entrance fee to enter from a hotel. As we were leaving our desert camp site there was a feeling of anxiety, thinking that we had to leave early in the morning in order to drive back, get permission slips signed, drive to the Dead Sea, and hopefully still have daylight. As you can probably tell this would not have worked that well. All I can say is thank God for Janet’s persistence! We drove to Aquaba, and once again got to wave to Israel. We then spent a good fifteen minutes filling the big green bus with gas. For the majority of the day we drove in a sleepy sweaty mess while rumors flew about the changing outcome of our day. However, like everything else on this trip, everything somehow worked out. As we drove through the desert we all took shifts partaking in what was now a favorite game. Waiting until someone inevitably fell asleep and taking pictures of them, bonus points for an open mouth, or catching them awkwardly entwined with the person next to them. I awoke to cookies being placed into my mouth, surrounded by a circle of laughing Jordanians with cameras. I hardly had time to be embarrassed when I realized the entire left half of the bus was pressed against their windows taking pictures of the Dead Sea and surrounding mountains. Our giant green bus full of over-tired teenagers pulled up to one of the nicest hotels I have ever been in, we then poured in and proceeded to take over their lobby. Because we had arrived in the middle of a heat wave, we quickly made our way through the back of the hotel and towards their changing rooms. To our surprise and delight after floating in the Dead Sea the hotel had three pools for us to swim or reek havoc in. As soon as we were all in our bathing suits and coated in sunscreen we ran through the pool area and down the sand before jumping into the strangest body of water I have ever been in. The water was warm and felt straggly think and slightly slimy. It didn’t roll off one’s body the way fresh or other salt water does, but vaguely clung and once it had dripped off the presence could still be felt on your skin. I slowly walked until I was up to my elbows and then every so slightly lifted my feet, only to be swung onto my back. Here I stayed until I was ready to make the struggle of flailing my arms and kicking my legs downwards in an effort to touch the bottom. We all wadded in the water for a while before moving towards the sand in order to dig up mud to cover ourselves. A local man had a bucket filled with much darker mud than any of us had found and explained that it was the original mud found in the middle of the sea. How it ended up in this mans bucket I have no idea, but we all took advantage of the situation and caked ourselves in mud. We then baked in the sun for the hottest 20 minutes of my life before scrubbing it off in the water. After quickly washing off the excess mud in an outdoor shower, constructed by the shore just for this purpose, we ran and jumped into the pools at the hotel. There was a long one for laps that was uncomfortably warm on the hot day, a smaller one with a waterslide, and a kiddy pool with a child’s water play-place. The entire rest of the day was spent in the water park just goofing off. It was relaxing, carefree and probably one of the happiest days of my life. We were surrounded by friends as we shot down waterslides, arms and legs linked, and lay in the few inches of cool water made for four year-olds. We took our group picture with the sun setting over the Dead Sea. Then a rare and amazing thing happened, we arrived outside before our bus, and for the first time we waited for it. We sleepily boarded our bus and made our way back to Le Vendome.