Today was an interesting day! Well, back up.... I've been out of town for a week. I got back yesterday (which was Friday) and had a smooth passage through the border (several posts ago, I explained a tumultuous trip through the same border. This one was thankfully fairly hassle free!). This morning my friend and coworker, Glau, called me to say all NGO workers had been called together for a conference and since we are included in that category, we were invited. The special thing about this conference is that Her Royal Highness, Princess Aliiya was attending. Let me just say- when Glau called me- I was still in my pj's and was barely in the middle of my first cup of coffee.... and she told me I needed to be there in an hour. You'll be proud to know that I did not panic, did not rush... I took my time (ok, ok... I didn't take my time but I was totally calm, although I didn't get breakfast which is a problem because I never go without breakfast. Thankfully, there were cookies and coffee there and I stuffed my face later in the morning). Anyway, so an hour later, there I was in the Radison Hotel lobby showered, dressed in my "meet important people" clothes and ready to impress the Princess. A minute or two before the conference started, Glau pulled another surprise on me with a "how about helping me interpret for Ad (her husband) and the other deaf"? Now THAT was nerve-racking. As much as I love interpreting... listening to Arabic, translating that in my mind into English and then getting that onto my hands... SO HARD! Thankfully a translator showed up, she whispered English into my ear and I interpreted that into sign.
It was a good but long... about 6 hours) conference; it was nice to learn about other NGO work, and Princess Aliiya was kind, humble, and an honor to meet. (see the pictures below!)


As soon as the conference was over the three of us rushed over to the Deaf Center for the first sign language class which had already begun. It was then that Glau pulled out the third and final surprise of the day- "wanna help me teach English to the deaf today?". So off we went... the first class we were holding teaching the guys English. Although I am a trained teacher, I am not a trained English grammar teacher and these days with many different languages in my head it's all I can do to spit out a grammatically correct English sentence! HA!! Anyway, it was fun... those guys are so smart and it was fun to see them so eager to learn.
I've just walked in the door... so tired and starting to feel a little sniffly! I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight.
A fun day. Oh, here are some pictures from the Deaf Center. Sorry this is such a long post but there was lots to tell.


Da'oud, one of the regulars at the Deaf Center-Learning Sign Language!-
First day of sign language class-
Sahail, the teacher-


Ad presenting, Glau voicing- Chatting with the Princess-
Princess Aliiya seated-

Traditions

The Arab Christians have a tradition of making what is called maamoul every Easter. It is a cookie of sorts- one is filled with dates and is in the shape of a circle; one is filled with pistachios and is rounder (the first picture below is pistachio). The round cookie represents the crown of thorns on Jesus' head at the time of His crucifixion. The more ball-shaped ones represent the sponge which was used to give Jesus a drink during the crucifixion.
Last week my wonderful neighbor Nuha called me downstairs to her apartment to help her and a couple of friends make maamoul. We had a great time, the ladies loved teaching me this age-old tradition and I loved learning! It's harder to do than it seems!!

Lebanon-

At the end of February I went to Lebanon. The purpose of my trip was to do some research for work as well as what we call a "visa run". The government in Jordan gives me a visa to stay in the country that lasts about a month and I either have to go through a process to re-new the visa OR leave the country and re-enter so that they give me a new visa stamp! I had come to the point that I had to leave the country which is partly what led me to Lebanon.

Lebanon, as you can see from the pictures, is a really beautiful country. It is still struggling to get back on it's feet from the war with Israel last summer but none-the-less very beautiful. We were in the capitol, Beirut, in the south, Tyre and visited in some refugee camps as well. I will be returing at the end of this month to work further with my research with the deaf. Enjoy the pictures.....