First I want to say that I am sorry for the long gap between blogs. I have not been feeling well and it has drained me of energy. My neck has been tight and inflamed on my left side which has caused neck and shoulder pain along with headaches, dizziness and fatigue. The school doctor prescribed me some anti inflammatory medicine along with a muscle relaxer and it hasn’t helped much over the past week…but she just informed me that I should just take more at a time. :-/ lol She said if in another week I am still having pain that she will recommend an orthopedic doctor which will then send me(hopefully) to a therapist to get it worked on. Prayers appreciated.
About a month ago the school (ABS) had the official opening of their brand new KG building. Stella and I were able to attend and we had the privilege of meeting HRH Princess Sarvath El Hassan who is the patron of the school. They hired an artist to paint beautiful murals all over the building. The KG library looks like a rainforest.
A couple weeks ago I ran a 10K Marathon (6 miles). There were over 7000 participants and they were all running to benefit the King’s cancer fund. Parts of it were tough because at the beginning there were several hills and it was so hard to breath because the air is soooo dry. I’m sure I sucked up an entire sand dune. Haha. Also, the teenage boys who sprinted the whole time kept bumping into me! I’m sure they were doing it on purpose because there was PLENTY of room to go around me. Almost all of my cross country students ran the 4K and one little boy came and walked because he had hurt his foot a few days before. My students are from 3rd to 6th grade and are ADORABLE. :-P Several have already found me on facebook. Lol We ran on a Friday morning and that weekend we had several visitors come stay with us. One was from Australia and two were from the states. It was nice to have our attendance for Sabbath services almost double. :-P
Last week Stella and I were able to go see the YMWA where Amber and Darren work. It was a blast! This is the school for the mentally challenged. We met some of the kids and I took a lot of pictures of some of their classes and facilities. They have three areas of the school…KG, Elementary, and Vocational. The KG works with students in reading and writing and beginner school concepts and the Elementary works more on art, music, PE, and other stimulating activities. Amber works in the art class for the Elementary section. The Vocational section teaches them job skills. Darren works in the woodshop. The students build beautiful pieces of furniture and children’s toys. Another skill the students are taught is how to work with clay and make pottery along with other items. They are also taught landscaping and have a wonderful variety of herbs, vegetables, and other plants that they plant and tend to. The teachers and staff seem to be very dedicated to the needs of the students.
Stella and I have been able to participate in fun activities outside work. The staff at ABS plays volleyball every Tuesday afternoons and even though I’ve had to review the rules with them several times they seem to have it down now. Apparently they thought kicking was legal in Jordan for volleyball. lol I had to make sure they knew that volleyball was different that football (soccer).
Stella and I were also able to go to the King’s automobile museum with an American friend our age who also works at the school. Her name is Jane and I help her a lot with musical theater and choir. The museum had way more cars than I thought it would…ranging from Rolls Royce to Bugatti. They also had many motorcycles because the kings apparently like Harley Davidsons. It was very interesting learning about the country from a car’s life and perspective. Haha. I recommend it to everyone that comes to Jordan and likes cars (English audio guides available. Lol). Oh and it was really cheap to get in. :-P
Just this past week on November 4th all four of us were invited by HRH Princess Sarvath El Hassan to a charity dinner. It was 50JD ($71) a plate…but we were free of course. Oh the perks of knowing the right people! J It was beautifully decorated and there were two musical guests. One was a quite young looking violin player who was amazing and one was a woman maybe a little older than me who sang Arabic music…and as some of you might know sounds like a bunch of wining. Lol The food was amazing. It was a four course meal that included salmon and salad, mushroom risotto, Filet with mash potato, and some nasty chocolate coffee desert which everyone else loved. Ew coffee. We arrived at 7 and people started showing up at 8 and we didn’t eat till….after 10!!!!!!! That’s how they do things in Jordan. Haha. The Princess was smart…she didn’t show up till about 9:30. We went over to speak with her and she introduced us to her husband HRH Prince Hassan (not the crown prince). He was a short chubby bald man who was hilarious. He told us a story of when his wife went to the YMWA and one of the autistic students hugger her and picked her up to where her feet were dangling. The way he told the story was hilarious especially with an Arabic accent. They are very down to earth friendly people. Princess Sarvath asked us before we left if
we wanted to attend a charity polo match as her guests of honor!!!! I don’t think I should get used to this kind of treatment. Haha. It was very interesting to learn how the game is played. One of the players was her son and he scored two goals. The end score was 5 to 5. J At “Half time” (my terminology…I don’t think that’s what they call it. Lol) everyone ran out on the field and once we figured out that they were repairing the divots we ran out there too! (Well us three girls did…we left Darren to babysit purses. Haha) Well that’s all for now from “Arbitrary Amman”. Lol Stay tuned next week for “Journeys to Jerusalem”!!!!
Love ya’ll
!
No comments:
Post a Comment