Merry Christmas

A day in the life of Isaiah: The Car Museum

I was very excited about school, because today was the day that we were going on a school trip to the King Hussein Car Museum.

The safest boy on the bus

After I got dropped off at school, we did not have to wait long for the bus which was taking my class to the museum. We all got on the bus and we filled it, but I managed to sit next to my best friend, Yasmine. I was amazed that the bus had seatbelts, but I was the only one who put mine on!

When we got to the museum, we had to line up at the entrance and then follow our teacher around the museum. They split us into two groups and I was in the red group. There were so many amazing cars and they all used to belong to King Hussein. Lots of them were old Mercedes but I also saw some Rolls Royce’s. My favourite car was the big long white Mercedes with the hole in the roof so that the king could stand up and wave to everyone. There was also a bedouin tent in the middle of the museum and we all had a sit down on the bedouin cushions.

They also had lots of motorbikes, Porsches and Ferraris. King Hussein must have been very rich.

After walking around the museum we got back in the bus to go back to our school and I sat next to Yasmine again. When we got back to school it was almost time to go home.

A Day in the Life ... Eid Visiting

Eid Al Adha is the "Eid of the Sacrifice" when Muslims remember Abraham going to sacrifice his son and God providing a ram to sacrifice instead. On the 3rd day of these holidays, friends visit each other for short Eid visits. I began by visiting my neighbour who welcomed me into the guest lounge (usually we sit in the kitchen or family lounge!) and offered me "qahwa sada" strong black coffee in a little cup and "mahmool" special date biscuits. I had taken along some chocolates as a gift and her 4 young children were quick to appear and start eating them but she kept shooing them out of the guest lounge! We chatted about family, Eid and the story of Abraham's sacrifice and after about 20 minutes I gave my thanks and departed. 

 qahwa sada

After lunch I telephoned Kira's old school friend's mum and asked if it would be a good time to visit. She told me to come and so immediately I took the children in the car over to her house. The children enjoyed playing whilst we ate more mahmool cookies again in the special guest lounge. The mum asked if I would prefer the qahwa sada or tea, so this time I broke with tradition and asked for tea. Her sister and family then arrived so we all drank tea together and chatted for about half an hour. The short visits enable everyone to be able to see each other! So we said our goodbyes, but the children were disappointed to only play for a short time.

mahmool cookies

Arriving unannounced

As we left I telephoned another friend who lived nearby but she was also out visiting so we didn't have a chance to see her. We continued back towards our house and I decided to pop in and see my old language helper and her family. I tried telephoning but there was no answer so I just arrived anyway!

Her sister opened the door and although she was slightly surprised, she seemed very pleased to see me and again welcomed me into the guest lounge. Juice was offered followed by more qahwa sada and mahmool cookies. We had a great time of talking and I discovered that my language helper's engagement had been broken off which was why I had found it difficult to contact her over the past month. She had shut herself away possibly because of the shame associated with breaking off an engagement. I was about to leave when her parents arrived home from visiting relatives, so I stayed to talk with the mother for a while. Then I was ushered into the family lounge since her father was expecting a male guest so they were to use the guest lounge! Interestingly when her mother brought coffee for the men, she knocked on the guest lounge door, her husband took the tray from her and returned to the lounge so that his wife would not need to serve the men. 

a sheep is killed during Eid

Have some of our sheep!

When I finally left, I was presented with meat from the Eid sacrifice. Usually a family will sacrifice a sheep and then keep a third of the meat, give a third to friends and relatives and give a third to the poor. 

The following day we did a few more Eid visits as a family!

A Day in the Life ... A Visit by the Prince

I arrived early to ensure that everything was ready for Prince Hassan's visit to the Clinical Skills Laboratories. The 2 nurses who work with me in the labs had been working hard to prepare everything but there were a few last minute adjustments. For example, we needed to move some of the manikins into different rooms so that the tour would be suitable.

Royal protocol

Some of the medical students had volunteered to demonstrate different Clinical Skills, so I briefed them on what they needed to do to demonstrate measuring blood pressure, listening to heart sounds, taking blood and having a medical consultation. I also walked around the labs with the Prince's protocol officer to ensure that the tour would be appropriate.

Is it alive?

I then waited in the main lab with the main patient simulator, that was looking quite life like - breathing and blinking his eyes! This is one of the most advanced patient simulators in the Middle East! We heard clapping and cheering to signal that Prince Hassan (the King's Uncle) had arrived. Very soon he entered the lab with his entourage and was introduced to me. We talked about Oxford University (where he studied) and Cambridge University (where I studied and also his daughters and wife). Then we began the tour.

A Jordanian welcome

His Highness spent time talking with the medical students about the Clinical Skills course and he even had the opportunity to feel the pulses on the main patient simulator. As we walked to the second laboratory there was a crowd of students waiting to catch a glimpse of the Prince and they welcomed him in true Jordanian style with clapping, singing and ululating!

A down-to-Earth prince

The medical students in the second laboratory gave very good demonstrations of their Clinical Skills and everything went very smoothly. I was amazed at how the Prince, such a famous and important person, was so approachable and down to earth.

At the end of the tour there was an opportunity for photographs and then the Prince moved on to give a lecture in the main auditorium.

Day in the Life ... First Day at New Schools

First Day at my New School – by Kira

It was my first day at my new school. There was too much traffic, because lots of other people were also going to school, so we had to park and walk the rest of the way. I led Daddy to my classroom, because he didn't know the way. I learnt the way when I went with Mummy to visit my school for 2 hours, last Wednesday.

It took a long time for everyone to arrive at class, because of the big traffic jam and 5 kids didn't even come at all. I sat next to a girl called Lillian. My first lesson was Arabic, but since it was our first day, we watched a movie while the teacher was getting our Arabic books ready.

No one to play with

At break time, I went to the playground and I stood by myself, because I didn't have anyone to play with. But then 2 children from my class asked me if I wanted to play. I sat and played with them for a bit, but then they ran into another part of the playground, and I was not sure if grade 1 kids were allowed there, so I didn't follow them, and then just sat in the same place by myself, until the end of break.

Lot of movies

We went back into the classroom and had a French lesson, where I learnt that Samedi is French for Saturday. Then we had another break to eat our lunch. After break we watched another movie until going-home time. I hope school is like this next week, but probably we won't keep watching lots of movies like this. Lots of other kids were picked up early and there were only a few of us left when Mummy came to pick me up.

First Day at my New School – by Isaiah

Daddy walked with me to my new school after we had dropped Kira off and there was still lots of traffic jams. I'm in Barney class and my teachers are Miss Zena and Miss Wissam. We played with play-dough and a singing teacher came and we sang “If you're happy and you know it...” in Arabic. I liked stamping my feet.

I had bread with Lebenah at break time. It tasted funny, a bit cheesy, a bit yoghurty. I also had Zataar which I liked.

The teacher drew round my hand and I coloured it then she cut it out when Mummy came to pick me up. My teacher says they will put all our hand pictures on the wall to show that we are helpers.

A Day in the Life ... of Clinical Skills Exam

I set off early at 7:15am with Ethan for the 45 minute drive to the University to make sure that I arrived by 8am. Negotiating the university corridors with flights of stairs was a bit tricky with the buggy but I managed to enlist the help of students to carry the buggy up and down the steps. No-one was there when I arrived at the Clinical Skills laboratory where the practical exam would take place, although I had been assured by the nurse who is responsible for the lab that everything was ready for the exam.

Ethan in his buggy

A different definition of 'ready'

On entering I could see that everything was not quite ready! I spent a hurried half an hour sticking instructions to clinic room doors, sorting out boxes for students to put their written answers in and organising the manikins for the students to do CPR. Then the 6 doctors who were helping to examine the students arrived and I gave them their instructions and mark sheets. Eventually 9 students arrived who were going to be “simulated patients” but we needed 10. I explained the patient scenario and the student helping with the organisation quickly made some phone calls to try to recruit another student to help.

 Students demonstrate their skills on manikins like this one

Multitasking

By now it was 9am and time to start the exam. We were on a tight schedule of examining 18 students every half an hour for 3 hours. There wasn't much room for contingency plans! When the nurse brought the first group of students, we were still missing one simulated patient so I ended up taking this role and being the “patient” to have my blood pressure measured. Thankfully a lab technician doing the exam timing helped to feed Ethan some mashed banana and look after him whilst I was busy!
Eventually another student volunteered to help and took my place so that I could breastfeed Ethan and keep instructing each new group of students every half an hour. It was frustrating telling the students a number of times to put their written answers in the boxes and they did not listen. Perhaps because Jordanians can find it difficult to remember more than one or two instructions at one time.

 Putting answers in a box was a little too difficult to remember!

'Bend the rules' culture

Another problem that is rife in the university is cheating. The Clinical Skills laboratory has video cameras and microphones in each small clinic room and the lab technician called me to look at one room where it seemed that the student had talked on a mobile phone. I marched into his clinic room and demanded his phone which he sheepishly gave to me. When I turned the phone on to see if he had been making calls, I was amazed to see the screen saver was the table of blood groups that was the answer to one of the questions in the examination.

 The answers on the student's mobile phone!

The doctors praised me for the organisation of the examination but it was a challenge to make it organised when the students and others involved were not so organised! Thankfully it all went fairly well and we managed to examine over 700 students in 4 days.

Petra & Wadi Rum

Our recent family trip to Petra and Wadi Rum was enjoyable and also interesting because we can see some things which are changing and others which have stayed the same, as Morpheus would say.

Mother of the bullets

We visited an old Roman town called Um Al Rassas (Mother of the bullets), which has the biggest and most spectacular church mosaic we have ever seen. Kate felt like a real archaeologist when she and the kids cleared away lots of sand to reveal an amazing mosaic of two lions, which was hidden from view.

Mosaic of two lions discovered by Kate

Too much health and safety

Petra is still a place of amazing archaeological beauty, but not as fun as it used to be since the most interesting or exciting carved caves are now roped off in the interest of conservation or health and safety. It is good that they are considering these important things, since the numbers of tourists make it necessary if Petra is to remain in good condition and for the tourism industry to comply with international standards. But this also makes us feel that we need to look elsewhere for a real adventure, which has not been so sanitised.

At least they have not introduced Western style price labelling on all the craft stalls. Whilst all the gullible tourists were getting ripped off, Kate was using her Arabic and her expert negotiation skills to bring the local Bedouins down to a third of their asking price for a necklace which Kira wanted.

Petra treasury - you can't go inside anymore

Lawrence of Arabia would drive a Jeep today

We then went to Wadi Rum to find that it is still a great place for adventures. We hired a Bedouin to drive us around the desert in his Jeep so that the kids (and parents) could climb on rocks, jump around in sand dunes and explore a big canyon. Conservationists are also voicing concerns about the impact of all these jeeps, saying that tourists should only use camels like Lawrence did almost one hundred years ago in this very place. We like camel rides, but in small doses rather than the whole day, which is what it would take to get around the sites we saw in 2 hours in the Jeep.

 

Bedouin climbing the 'chicken rock'

We were impressed with the desert campsite, which showed a good level of understanding of Western tourist expectations, but remained authentically Bedouin.

Bob Marley and Michael Jackson

Modernisation of some things is good to see, but not Westernisation, which could slowly erode the heritage of authentic Bedouin culture. There is more danger of this in Petra, where the income from tourism has increased dramatically in recent years. The contrast can be seen in the choice of names of the animals which Kira and Isaiah rode. In Wadi Rum the camels they rode were called Hashish (Grass) and Irian (Naked). In Petra, the donkeys were called Monica and Whiskey, and the horses were called Bob Marley and Michael Jackson.

Day in the Life ... of a Dance Show

Star Wars ballet show

Only in Jordan would you get the opportunity to see a Star Wars ballet show. In the West, it would be considered very uncultured to contemplate such a concept. In the UK, a slang term for someone who is uncultured is 'Philistine', which is the same as the Arabic word for 'Palestinian'. Perhaps this explains why Kira's dance school in Amman, where the population is almost 80% Palestinian, decided to pick this subject for their ballet performance.

Short-term thinking

Kira had been practising hard and attending many rehearsals over the previous weeks and was very excited about performing her dance. Jordanians typically demonstrate shorter-term thinking than other cultures, so the whole show had been put together in the space of five weeks. I would not blame the dance school for this, since they know that it is very difficult to get parents to bring their children to rehearsals any more in advance than this. Some of the performers probably joined in at the last minute and learned the dance during the course of the intensive rehearsals over the last 2 days.

Find it yourself and don't expect the show to start on time

About 700 people came to watch the show, most of whom were members of the performers' extended families. Jordan is a 'high context' culture, which means that less information is communicated and you are expected to find out more for yourself. It is also a 'time loose' culture, so things rarely start on time. This meant that we struggled to find the right entrance at the cultural centre in the absence of any 'This Way' signs and the show ended up starting half an hour late, which did not surprise anyone.

MIB vs The Mask vs Darth Vader

I will now attempt to summarise the storyline that was danced and acted out in the show. It started with the Men In Black fighting 'The Mask', trying to confiscate his green mask, but Darth Vader came and stole it first. So the Men In Black set off in their space ship to find Yoda, in order to get a light saber for fighting Darth Vader but in the process ended up crash landing on the Avatar planet. There, they were attacked by aliens but got rescued by white fairies. Eventually they found Yoda, got a light saber, were rescued by Princess Leia and then caught up with Darth Vader and defeated him, enabling them to recover the green mask from him. This is a truly unique storyline, which could not be seen anywhere else in the world, because Jordan is a truly unique country. The Western view of 'culture' is so boring compared to this.

Day in the Life ... Visit to the Insurance Company

A car insurance claim in Jordan is a very different experience from the UK. In the UK, both drivers involved in the accident will exchange insurance details and then both will write their account of what happened. The two insurance companies will then decide who was at fault and therefore, which company will pay. The police only become involved if someone is seriously injured. Everything is done over the telephone or by post, unless there are further police proceedings.

In Jordan, the police must be called immediately for any crash. They decide who is to blame for the accident, and then write this in a report for the insurance company. When Kate had an accident in her car recently, the police rightly decided that it was the other driver's fault, so I had to go to his company to sort out the claim. These things are never sorted by telephone or post in Jordan.

 

Fortunately, my Jordanian friend came along to help guide me through the process. The insurance office was very full of other people making claims, and it took us a long time to talk to someone. There did not seem to be any queueing system, so it was a matter of barging in and pushing your papers further forwards than everyone else. We did not manage to complete the process before their 12pm closing time because they did not accept the photocopy I had of the other driver's insurance policy and he was not on their computer system.

The next day, we returned with the original policy, went to a few different offices to get different stamps and signatures on the forms and it was all finished in about half an hour. Everyone served me very quickly. 'Why was it so much easier today compared to the yesterday?', I asked myself. But then I realised that it was because I was wearing a suit, since I would be having an important business meeting later in the day. In shame-honour culture, the more honourable clients are served before the less honourable. Wealth is one characteristic of an honourable gentleman, so anyone in a smart suit will be served quickly, just in case they are someone rich and important. This is a source of great irritation to scruffy-looking Western tourists who complain that other people who arrived at the hotel reception after them are served first. I made a mental note to always wear my suit in these kind of situations in the future.