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Back at NYIT again, we finished our final presentation yesterday to a very enthusiastic group of students. I spent two hours talking to two guys from Iraq who go to school here in Jordan. It was incredibly interesting. They were really open about it all and really confirmed my belief that we're really just all the same. They were really adament about the fact that not all Iraqis hate Americans just like I tried to get across how many Americans knew what they were going through and felt terrible. We were just trying to tell each other the same thing.
Today we're not doing our actual presentaions but a form of them for a TV talkshow. Should be interesting. THe TV channel is an Arabic/Spanish channel that explores different cultures. They're bringing in different students from different Universities together with us to provide a sort of debate. It will be slightly difficult because most of it will need to be translated between english and arabic. Supposedly we'll do four sessions; one for each presentation topic... Community Service, Environmental Issues, Media and Internationalism, and Political Action. One session will show each weekend for four weeks. I wonder if anyone will actually watch? We figured that even if we can get through to only a couple people, we have made a difference.
The rest of this week we will be doing more hands on stuff like handing out food and clothing donations in poorer neighborhoods and refugee camps and renovating a house for a family of 13. Hopefully it doesn't get much hotter seeing as we'll be out in the sun much more in the future. So far, it hasn't been unbearably hot yet. Cross my fingers!
The yellow bus we drive around in here has become very familiar to all of us. And so has the Jordanian way of driving. The traffic is pretty intense and they have these massive underpasses that pass into a tunnel. I feel like I'm on a roller coaster.... a stinky roller coaster; the car fumes are very present. I can't wait to find fresh air again! Yesterday we had to wait two and half hours for lunch because there was a car crash on the highway that caused a huge traffic jam and our food was on the other side of the traffic jam.
The last two days several of our group have been coming down with some sort of food poisoning. I'm doing just fine so far (knock on wood!) but I do feel bad for the others. We don't know if it's something specific we ate or just a general reaction to a week of foriegn food.
Hope everyone is well where you are and please, if you have any questions or comments on what I may have missed while writing these blogs please let me know! Plus I'd love to hear from you!
Much, much love,
Malia
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elaine
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WOW!
What a fantastic opportunity for you all. Open communication. mutual respect, helpfullness... Those are attutudes we could use right here at home, as well as in our global community. Keep up the good work!