Spring Resolution

Amman, Jordan

I'm spending way too much time on the Internet, and I think it's making me stupid. In fact, I've been reading and watching PBS Frontline videos on the Internet about how Internet makes us stupid.... The irony is not lost on me.

Jason and others have been pushing me to start writing again, but I've been wallowing in my rejections: manuscript rejections, resume rejections, vacation request rejections.... I'm also using that as an excuse not to study Arabic; it seems entirely useless when the only work I seem able to get is teaching English, anyway! Mel keeps giving me books to read, and I've got a stack of poli sci and Mid East history books sitting around courtesy of Ryan and Lowen, but I've been watching episode after episode of bad sci fi on the Internet instead.

But that's going to change. The weather is improving, so there's less and less reason to be curled up under the covers in bed. Shauna's book contract and her wonderfully lyrical blog have inspired me to start writing again. My tightening pants are giving new urgency to the desire to get more exercise, which would be much cheaper than a new wardrobe!

I'm hoping that my impending move to Aqaba will help to push me into a change of lifestyle, too. I'll be teaching down on the Red Sea for 5 (maybe 10) weeks starting a week from tomorrow. It's an awesome responsibility, with the potential for huge contracts resting on my performance down there, but for the moment I'm more excited than nervous.

Best of all for my resolution, my Internet in Aqaba will be pay-as-you-go, not a monthly plan like I've got in Amman. I'm hoping this will restrict my Internet consumption, and get me to diversify my private life a little. I want to do yoga 3 days a week. I want to cook again. I want to swim as much as possible. I want to get back to writing. If I've got satellite in Aqaba, I want to watch "itijah al-mu3akis" on Al-Jazeera Arabic every week. I want to walk regularly at dusk. Flat as Aqaba is, I almost wish I had a bike.

I know that if I can do just 3 of those things on a regular basis, I will feel much better, physically and mentally. And I'm hoping that, by putting it on my blog, I'll feel like I'm accountable to someone for whether I keep my resolution or not. Wish me luck!

Just Say No To Socialism

As circulating on Facebook:

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the United States Department of Energy. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the Federal Communications Commission regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of United States Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time as regulated by the United States congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the United States Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank. On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the United States Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After work, I drive my NHTSA car back home on DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

I then log onto the Internet, which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration, and post on freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how socialism in medicine is bad because the government can't do anything right.

Due to a deluge of email and messages, the earliest source I can find for this is here

P.S. Don't forget the socialized sidewalks that are uniform and even (unlike in unregulated Jordan), so that I don't trip and break my neck and become permanently disabled because I can't afford our un-socialized medicine!

P.P.S. Just say no to socialism ... but save Social Security!

Friends With Cars

Jordan's Eastern desert

From Venturing East

It's good to have friends with cars. I can't be stuck in the city indefinitely, and neither can my roommate Mel. We need frequent doses of nature, of broad vistas, of goats and camels and other things that make this Jordan, and if we're lucky, a bit of green. We got all that and more today.

Mel's friend A is afraid that his students will find his pictures on the Web, so I won't mention his name. He's got a car, though, and today's trip was his excellent idea. When Mel said they were going to Azraq, I was really jealous. Much as I love my teaching job at Ruwwad, Saturday afternoons can be an inconvenient time. But unexpectedly, my class was cancelled and I was able to go after all.

From Venturing East

Of course, though our destination was Azraq Oasis, that didn't keep us from making a few stops along the way. I mean, when you see Qasr Harranah rise up out of the desert, how could you not stop? With our residence permits, it cost the four of us no more than one dinar to see three castles, and as Mel pointed out, the stone was so photogenic. For the details, click on any of these photos to check out my Web album on Picasa, and don't forget to read the captions!

From Venturing East

Half way to Qasr Amra, we stumbled across this herd of camels along the roadway, including the most strikingly adorable babies. The one to the far right in this picture was just two days old, and could barely keep his balance on his little feet. We spent almost half an hour following them around taking pictures.

From Venturing East

Next on our tour, the deceptively simple little Qasr Amra. This little pleasure retreat built by an Ummayad caliph to escape the intrigues of the Damascus court was probably a hunting lodge, judging by the scenes of hunting in its amazing frescoes. But that's not all that happened there, with it's Roman-style baths and, well....

From Venturing East

Our Muslim friends had a little difficulty believing that this was actually an Islamic building, insisting that it must have been built by the Romans or the Byzantines, maybe even the Greeks, because a Muslim leader would never paint such things on his walls. But, after all, the Abbasids did justify their toppling of the Ummayyad Caliphate with claims that the caliphs in Damascus had strayed too far from their duties and obligations as good Muslim leaders! And Islamic philosophy certainly holds that kings are inevitably corrupted by the power of their positions.

But we moved on...

From Venturing East

...to beautiful Azraq Oasis! Well, ordinarily it's beautiful. Unfortunately, it was ravaged by a fire, perhaps deliberately set, last October, and the marshlands have barely begun to recover. The blackened trees did make stunning photography, though!

From Venturing East

And I thought it was worth it just for the stroll through the exhibit at the visitors' center. Jordan is a country where criticism of the government is approached with great caution, but the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature seems to have a free pass in Azraq. After showing the fascinating diversity of the region at the beginning of last century, including how water buffalos brought by Chechan refugees actually made the oasis a more hospitable place for migrating birds, they then proceeded to pan the Jordanian government for agreeing to protect Azraq Oasis, and then draining it of unsustainable amounts of water for the faucets of Irbid and Amman. But I loved their take-away lesson: There will be enough water to help sustain people indefinitely if we leave enough water in Azraq to sustain the native and migrating birds like this one:

From Venturing East

Then we made our way back via A's friend's farm in Mafraq for some sunset shots and a delicious little supper of labnah, homemade olive oil and eggs with bread.

From Venturing East

I only wish Ryan were still here. We'd been talking for months about renting a car and doing this same trip....

World Day Against Cyber Censorship

Amman, Jordan

Today has been declared World Day Against Cyber Censorship by Reporters Without Borders. I'm responding to a call by Black Iris for the Jordanian blogosphere to voice their concerns about the future of Internet press freedom in Jordan. Reporters Without Borders reports some reasons for concern in Jordan. While I am not Jordanian myself, I am less likely to be harassed by potentially restricting legislation. Nonetheless, I still feel great kinship to the Jordanian blogosphere, and many of the writers in My Blog List on the right could definitely have their feet held to the fire. I know that some of them already have.

I'd also like to point out that, while Jordan may make an appearance on the "under surveillance" list published by Reporters Without Borders today, there are many other countries who will appear on the far more troubling "Internet Enemies" list. Their netizens also deserve our strong support.

End of an Era!

Amman, Jordan


"This is the downside of our job," said Melanie after the taxi had departed. "You're always saying goodbye."
"Yes," I said, "but usually you have a couple months to get used to the idea!"

I've had many roommates over the past two years: Keri, Megan, Kitty, Hannah, Claire, Martha and Melanie. One person, though, has always been constant: Ryan. And I thought I would have two or three more months to enjoy his company before his contract was up with the Modern American School and he went back to the friends and family he so adores back in Detroit. Just now, with the weather warming up, I was looking forward to more rental car adventures, more Marxist house parties, and more trips with Tareef.

I've said again and again that one of Ryan's most endearing qualities, one of the many qualities that made him such an excellent roommate, is that he never takes anything personally. I should know better than to say "never." As my friends followed my example and left the Modern American School one after another, we always figured that Ryan would stay. The kids loved him and he loved them, which made the parents love him, which kept the administration pretty much out of his way. Though he was repeatedly promised and then denied his residency permit and work permit, both of which an employer is obligated by Jordanian labor law to provide, Ryan persisted. Even though he had the same spoiled, unruly, disrespectful kids that the rest of us taught and the same lack of disciplinary support from the school's administration, Ryan persisted. He's helped three people get job offers there, three damned good teachers, two of whom were worn away by the administration's abuses much faster than Ryan. His friends and coworkers fled the company, even fled the country, one after another, and still Ryan persisted.

It was when the administration insisted on a much harder midterm than in previous years, and then when too many students failed it, fixed their grades in such a clumsy manner that the worst students came away with better grades than the most competent and diligent. That was when the first cracks started to show. It wasn't just the grade fixing. Because it was so clumsy and blatant, and after the students had already been shown their actual grades, teachers lost all credibility in the classroom. Student discipline and even attendance completely disintegrated. Then Ryan's paychecks from last summer, which the school makes a policy (an illegal one) of withholding for 6 months for first time teachers, were delayed another 2 months.

Quite suddenly it was personal. He started talking about leaving a week ago, decided on Friday, and bought his plane ticket on Saturday. Now it's Tuesday, and he's gone. I am really gonna miss that guy. This old apartment just won't be the same!

Jordan In the Headlines

In A Good Way, This Time!

Amman – 8/3/2010 – “If I could also just thank (…) the people of Jordan who were so hospitable to us when we were shooting,” said Kathryn Bigelow yesterday evening as she accepted the Academy Award for Best Director for her film The Hurt Locker. The critically- acclaimed film also reaped the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing and Best Film Editing.

With this multiple win, The Hurt Locker makes cinematic history and yet again – the first time was with “Lawrence of Arabia” in 1963 - puts Jordan, where the film was shot, on the world film map. Kathryn Bigelow is the first woman ever to win an Oscar for best directing in 82 years of the awards’ history. As an independent picture, The Hurt Locker was able against all odds to obtain most major prizes on its way to the Academy Awards ceremony.

Jordan, and The Royal Film Commission – Jordan (RFC), have reason to share in the joy and pride of this cinematic feat: The Hurt Locker was shot in the Kingdom almost entirely for approximately two months in the summer of 2007. The local geography, settings and demographics played a pivotal role in ensuring the success of the shoot. To that, Bigelow announced: “You could look 360 degrees in any given day of the shoot and it would be perfect.” But Jordan was more than a location; the American crew worked closely with the local cast and crew, collaborating with some 70 Jordanian film professionals and some 150 local actors and extras. In addition to Bigelow’s recognition, Ray Becket - who won the Best Sound Mixing Award - thanked his team in Jordan during his acceptance speech, namely Baha Othman, the Jordanian instructor who heads the Sound Department at the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts in Aqaba (Jordan).

According to Her Royal Highness Princess Rym Ali, member of the RFC’s Board of Commissioners, the RFC has been praised for ensuring a high level of professionalism and for reducing bureaucratic hassles to a minimum. She added: “The flexibility with which foreign crews can work here and use their imagination to make some places in Jordan look like some others in a different country is very appealing.”

On that, Bigelow has also said that “shooting in Jordan was a great experience. It’s very cosmopolitan; they have a very rich film school and a young film infrastructure.” Since its establishment in 2003, the RFC has committed itself to providing support to Jordan’s upcoming film professionals. According to George David, General Manager of the RFC: “At the end of the day, it’s the talent and the skills of the people that make the difference.”

Princess Rym highlighted the positive impact of attracting international film productions, saying: “Aside from its economic value, it is a learning experience to those who come from outside to film in Jordan and plays an important role in helping foreigners to get to know our people, the Middle East and appreciate who we are,” adding “it’s not only about leaving our mark internationally but also about establishing our stories, owning them and making sure we have a cultural legacy to pass onto our future generations through film.”

(This article came to me through the Royal Film Commission's Facebook page, where it was not attributed to its author.)

Longest Work Day Ever!

Amman & Aqaba, Jordan

We started before 6am, didn't get home till half past 11 at night, and spent 10 of those hours on a very uncomfortable bus!

Somewhere in the middle we gave placement tests to about 90 bank employees. I'll be heading back to Aqaba in a couple weeks to spend a month or two teaching about 60 of those bankers, so stay tuned for posts from the beach!

I'm really looking forward to these classes, and the opportunity to strut myself as something of a free agent. I've learned a lot in the last year at Bell Amman. As I kept saying during our inspection last week by Bell Cambridge, I'm a completely different teacher than when I started a year ago.

Without Nina and Rula's belief in me after the professional and psychological abuse I suffered at the Modern American School (more on this to come), I might never have had the confidence to teach again.
Without the CELTA that Nina, Rula and Rebecca fought tooth and nail to get the Luminus Group to pay for, I wouldn't have recognized how good my instincts as a teacher already were, or be putting nearly as much thought into lesson frameworks and unifying lesson objectives.
Without Peter and Rebecca's teacher training and phenomenal support, I wouldn't have known about task-based teaching, or have had the guts or imagination to try it in an ESL setting, and this methodology has completely transformed my classroom in the best ways.
I've learned a great deal from full-time and part-time teachers, and others at Bell.
My extensive involvement in the months of preparation for inspection also taught me a lot about the big picture elements of education and curriculum design.

In the next two months, I'll be putting the new "Teacher Maryah" to the test in Aqaba, and I can hardly wait to begin!