A couple weekends ago, some friends and I from Amman took a extremely quick trip to Al-Quds(Jerusalem). As you can probably expect we were all very excited to explore a city with so much history, conflict, and relevance.

When we had finally arrived, and survived the Israeli border( never a fun experience), we quickly ran up to the Jafra Gate leading into the Old City. We checked into a hostel, we were off to experience as much as we could in 30 hrs. I first stop was the garden tomb. This is the location that scholars think is the most logical location where the tomb of Jesus was…as well as Golgotha (which you can see from a vantage point in the garden)…where Jesus was crucified. Obviously no one knows the exact location but scholars can give a pretty good guess on the general area. It was extremely hard to grasp the fact that my friends and I were actually in the general area where so much of my life, and world history has been in influenced.

After talking to a group of extremely enthusiastic Nigerian tourist, we were off to find the Church of the Holy Seplica. This was where most Catholics believed the events listed above took place…or a least one of them…I’m not sure. The Church was a little much for me, adorned in gold, shinny stuff, massive pictures, and alot of incense, but it was a beautiful and interesting building. From there a few of us decided we would retire in a local cafe for the night. After three hours of great conversation, lots of hookah ,and some sweet tea it was off to bed.

The next morning we woke up suuper early to catch the sunrise over the city from the Mount of Olives. This was amazing yet…freeeezing cold. From there we journey through the Lions Gate…(where Stephen was killed) to attempt to enter the Dome of the Rock. This attempt failed, due to the fact that it was a holy day and only Muslims could enter the area…this wasn’t a complete loss though. One of my friends was Muslim so she was allowed entrance and showed us some of her pictures afterward. After a short visit to the prison where Jesus was helo before his crucifixion, we took a trip over the the Wailing Wall. The Wailing Wall was unreal. We happen to be there on the Sabbath soo all there was a little bit more hustle and bustle about the place. Its amazing to see hundreds of men and women pray, chant, and go through rituals. After observing the Wailing Wall I think almost anyone begins to understand why there is soo much tension and competition over that specific area. Knowing that just over the wall a ways is the Dome of the Rock, and understanding how many different sect of Christianity are represented…shows you how much Jerusalem is literally run and lives on religion/faith.

The Old City clearly depicts this daily. There seems to always been a group of Orthodox Jews running to prayer, Muslims running to prayer, Greek Orthodox Christians maybe hurrying off in this direction or that. Every shop in the Old City contains something religious. The place straight runs on religion, which makes the visitor stand in awe and marvel yet at the same time become completely perplexed on how the city is what it is as well as feeling as if they an alien on another planet at the same time.

There is truly no city like Jerusalem. Its both what you expect and no at all what you expect. It’s one of the most intriguing and odd cities I have ever been too.

Here are a few photos from my short time in the city.

The view from our hostel’s roof.

Jewish graveyard on the Mount of Olives.

The Lions Gate.

Yes, that is what scholars think to be Golgotha…along with parking lot lights and wires

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the King of my temporary homeland.

The Restaurant they are at is called Hashem. Two weeks ago I’m pretty sure I ate at this very same table.

…He also is a licensed helicopter pilot….no joke.

This is a popular one.

Keep the King and his future decisions in your prayers.

(photos found on the Kings Facebook page.)

So feeling healthy is uuuuuuge. This week, now that I finally felt somewhat close to 100% health, has been great. I’ve really started to enjoy teaching. Getting to know my students has been great. Beginning to see your students improve in their comprehenison and overall understanding of the subject you are lecturing on is  truly is a significant experience to be apart of.

I’ve also really enjoyed getting to know my roommates, coworkers and other Jordanians over the past couple weeks. My roommates, Austin and Luke, and I seem to all be in the same area of life …just out of college, with a desire to learn about a new culture and language, and…single lol.

Within the next couple weeks I may get to help with marketing CGE both in country and out. I’m actually kind of excited about it. Also, it seems like there could be a very high possibility that I could land a full time position within one of the new CGE branches or with an alternative company…which would be …crazy.

The food here is out of this world…

By the way…if anyone is interested in taking Arabic classes for a semester or longer within the culture…let me know. It may seem bias…but CGE honestly probably runs the best language program in Amman…and its like a couple grand cheaper than the U of J. Sooo think about it. To all my friends from the RCC Arabic program…you know you want to…

Some shots from my time in the West Bank

Soo I taught my first class last night. It was a little awkward. There were only two students, one who couldn’t speak really any English at all and a girl from Saudi. We went through all the material really fast and they seemed to understand and pick up quickly what I teaching. The Saudi girl seemed pretty excited about the class… the guy, on the other hand, seemed a bit intimidated. One of the wonderful things about starting my first week of teaching is that this week happens to be the week that I all of a sudden became sick, my worst fear. I feel like I could be on the recovery but not sure…my energy level is pretty low. Today, Tuesday, we begin our English Conversation Club, in which we ask club members different questions in English and they respond in English. I will be leading today’s topic of “Peace: Can be achieved politically/ personally?” Pretty deep, I know, but that’s how I roll friends. I’ve also started my spoken Arabic classes, which are great, but with teaching classes 3 days a week, meetings, and English club, it can be alot.

Besides being sick, things are good. Still trying to figure out how long I will remain over here. I’ll probably be able to make it till around December or January but there could be the possibility of staying longer…much longer. At this point , I don’t know how I truly feel about the possibility of staying over in the ME for close to a year, two years or three years. We’ll see. Inshallah, I will find my answer.

This week is my first week of work. I’ve started out with very little to do but I’m really excited about the coming weeks. I’m teaching a 6 wk intermediate english class starting on the 4th and it looks like I be able to lead an English conversation-club the next couple weeks…topics will include: week one-Peace: How does one obtain it politically/personally? week two- Music-Can music be more than just entertainment? All of the main topics will have a handful of questions that help the college students, mainly from the U of Jordan, discuss these topics.

This week I’ve started to research what schools in the US we can market CGE’s programs too…there is a potential for major partnerships that would greatly expand CGE(Consortium for Global Education) as a company and as a major player(though they already are becoming one) within the Arabic/English study abroad scene world-wide. Never thought there was an Arabic/English study abroad scene? Think again my friend…think again.

the view from our apartment in Amman and some of the best shwarma in the world.

Family, Friends, Associates, 205ers, and lovers of Washington Football(I heard about my dawgs beatin’ dem trojan’s!),
 
If you have not heard already I am no longer in the West Bank. SOS simply didn’t really have anything for me to do. I’m not out for the count yet though…. I’ve been connected with CGE-Jordan with a contact I made a year ago while in Amman. CGE is an incredible group that teaches english from beginner to advanced and Arabic in both modern (media and print) and basic spoken(dialect). They also run a program called AmeriStudy with helps high school students in Jordan who want to study in America with the the college application process. I’ve already been given specific things to do. I’ll be teaching intermediate english… with a full curriculum and lesson plans already written out!….AND I will begin to get experience working with AmeriStudy. The president of the company, my contact, also has said that if I get a good feel for the work in a couple of months I could have a full time job with a new branch they plan to open in Saudi Arabia.  I will probably get top notch training in arabic…which is exciting. starting in a week I will be working basically 9-5 days…So I literally have a job lol. I’m pretty pumped
 
Though I’m thankful for this new position it was really hard for me to leave the West Bank. Even though it was hard to communicate with the boys I was living with…I felt like I was part of a family there. One of the hardest/best conversations I’ve had in a long time took place with the youth director I’ve been living with. He said that he understood, and was frustrated himself by the way SOS had treated me…but he said it would be hard to have me leave due to the fact that the boys had really enjoyed taking me in. One of the boys Samir(17or 18 year old who has a mental disability) told me in really broken english that felt like I was his brother the night before I left. This killed me…I really wanted to invest time into these kids but at the end of the day…the language barrier and chance of success within a 5 month period of time seemed very unlikely.

This all being said, I feel I experienced more in 2 weeks in the West Bank than most probably do in months. Taking part in Ramadan, the iftars and early breakfasts…meeting families, going to crazy graduation parties…I will truly miss the people.

Well folks, its been one week…and alot has happened.

First off for those of you who have not already heard, my flight and first night in Bethlehem was no walk in the park. On the flight from LAX to Atlanta at I was told at the beginning that I was going to make it on the flight(i was on a buddy pass and on stand by) and the flight was about to leave and then all of a sudden the lady was like. “We need 5 more.” I was the 4th. It was craaazzy. I made my Atlanta to Tel Aviv flight ok buuut things got a little crazy once I got to Tel Aviv.

• I was told by Israeli customs agents that I was not allowed in the West Bank unless I got a specific visa (which I found out was a lie)
• Delta lost my bags and guitar..
• Had no idea who I was staying with

I finally arrived to my destination( the SOS youth house for 13-18 yr old boys. This house has about 10-11 boys all of which do not speak a lick of english but treat my like a brother. Abdullah the youth director who lives at the house, acts as a father to the kids and has basically raised them for the past 6-7 to some cases 11 yrs.

I’ve been fasting for Ramadan and having incrediable iftars. I think my favorite part is the 3 am breakfast we have. We all stay up super late hanging out then eat a breakfast then go to bed.

Something that really really sucks. The Arabic I’ve been learning this past year is completely different than Palestinian Arabic…or so they say. This has been really frustrating…whenever I speak they are like….”oooooo you speak high Arabic…we dont speak this…we dont understand.

On a happier note…The SOS WEST BANK PEACE GAMES start October 2nd and the 3 German volunteers and I will be helping run it. I also found out that I will be able to start some basketball clinics (a first for SOS) and maybe do some music therapy with my guitar and teach english of course.

OHHHHH and I got my first marriage proposal.lol…Breakin hearts in the West Bank baby