My life as of late...

Well as always, it has been a while since my last post…and there is a lot to catch everyone up on! From the last days of summer, to Ramadan, to the first month back at school, hopefully I'll be able to do everything some justice!

Not to long after Justin left, the Holy Month of Ramadan began. Ramadan is a period of time where Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset before breaking fast with their friends and family. To be honest, I had a conception of Ramadan before coming to Jordan that the entire month was one big party – that things slowed down during the day and people stayed up all night long eating plates and plates of cultural dishes, cakes, cookies, more cakes, and more cookies so have you. But I realized during this month that my assumption wasn't completely accurate. Things in Jordan did not come to a screeching halt during the daylight hours, with people doing their shopping, completing household chores, and going to work everyday. I noticed the people in my life turning to their faith to get through the long days, and know that during Ramadan they are reminded to appreciate the blessings in their lives. As for the Iftar every night (breaking fast), the meals were much more modest than I had imagined, and about the same size as the lunches prepared outside of Ramadan. Of course there were cakes and desserts to be shared, my favorite being catayif, a potato pancake with coconut and pecans folded inside and deep fried. But unlike my expectations, these were not consumed in complete excess.

The thing I personally liked the most about Ramadan was how the whole family came together to break fast every night. I ate lunch with the family I live above almost every night of Ramadan, and appreciated how everyone came together to share the moment. It was inspiring to see everyone come together after having strengthened their faith throughout the day. I fasted a few days, albeit with a little bit of water, to see the effect such a sacrifice had, and to be honest, it was miserable! My energy level decreased tremendously, and my thoughts kept returning to food. That my Muslim friends could push past these feelings and continue fasting day after day is inspiring, and I have gained an even greater appreciation for their faith.

One night during Ramadan my center and a women's organization in Mafraq hosted an Iftar dinner for our students at a local restaurant. It was amazing to see the kids out and about in the community, and the outpouring of support I felt from the restaurant staff and owner, as well as from the amazing women who helped put on the event.

Other than the dinner, the other big event that occurred during my summer after Justin left was a summer camp that we held for my center's students. Thanks to a Friends of Jordan grant, we were able to put on a great day camp for the children, including art projects and fun games (sack races, balloon-pop), and a nice breakfast of falafel, hummus, and all the fixings. It was great to see my students during the summer, and was a great way to refocus my attention on the upcoming semester.

At this time, I am about a month into the new semester. So far I've been focusing a lot of my attention of see my SPA project through to completion. We contracted out to complete center renovations, and, everything being finished with that, are now moving on to painting and finalizing the room. I'm so happy to see this project come to fruition, and can't wait until it is all finished.

My other big focus so far this semester has been working with the autism. I was invited to offer advice and training at a center in Zirqa which is opening up a new autism program, and spent a few days there helping to train the staff and develop materials. I've also been working on an autism manual to use in my center which goes over some basic teaching techniques for working with children with autism. The manual is currently being translated into Arabic with the help of my center staff, and I'm excited to see the implications for expanded use. I've also been spending the majority of my day working in the autism class in my center, especially with one student with rather severe behaviors. Its been frustrating trying to work on behaviors without having a system for behavior modification in place, but the classroom teaching and I have been working on developing more cohesive standards which we hope will allow for consistency in our interactions with him.

As for the other students in the center, I haven't forgotten about them. I created a big calendar with the days, dates, and weather, and have been going to each class everyday and discussing the information. I've also been working on teaching materials and adaptive learning materials (such as for one student who is visually impaired), and doing art projects with the students here and there. Its been busy-busy so far this semester, but I'm loving being integrated enough in my center to accomplish such things.

In other news, I've been visiting a lot lately, and trying to exercise more. I figure I might as well make the most of the little downtime I have, because it's beginning to dawn on me that I have only one year left! Speaking of which…the new volunteers are coming soon and I'm excited to meet them all. It looks like I'll be helping out with quite a few of the trainings of Special Education volunteers, and I'm excited to help introduce them to the life and culture of Jordan!

If, by any chance, any new volunteers are reading this, I have a few pieces of advice: 1) Bring sandals and flats! You may not wear them too much during PST because of the weather and dress code, but I wish I had brought them with me! And 2) Don't waste money on buying expensive adaptors in the U.S. Chances are they won't work or will blow out the first time you use them. You can buy adapters and power strips here for only a few dollars (1-5 JOD) which will last for a while and won't break the bank!! If you have any other questions, just email me!

Okay, well that’s it for now! I'm about to relax a bit (lazy Friday) and enjoy some of the homemade carrot cake I just made…don't be jealous 

All my best,

Stephanie Hubbell