Work Updates.

Re-cap:

So it's May 17, 2010 and I have been in Jordan for almost 8 months now!! WOW.

October - December were pretty crazy at work. I was teaching, my students 6 hours a day, so 30 hours a week. But, starting in January things started to calm down a bit. We started a new schedule when Lydia joined us, which meant I was only teaching my students 3 hours a week! It was quite a change of pace.

For the first few weeks, I enjoyed the extra free time, but to be honest I got bored quick without having a lot of work to do. Since I technically work from the Career Development Center at Al-Huson College, the director asked me to teach some additional courses on my free time at the university, which I gladly agreed to do.

The first course was strictly focused on conversation, titled 'Student Talk'. The course ran for 2 weeks, over the semester break. It was nice to teach students in a different setting. First of all, I had both men and women in the classroom. It's so interesting to watch the dynamic between the two groups. Most of the time you will have women on one side and men on the other. Or at the least sitting in separate rows. Secondly, all these students were still in college, unlike my usual students in the program, who are all post-graduates.

Since then, I have had the opportunity to teach two 'Beginners English' courses for the college as well. Unlike my previous course, these were both 5 weeks long, and running simultaneously. Which meant I was back to teaching 5 days a week. Each class had about 60 students, which was too many in my opinion, but seeing as I don't get to make the decisions when it come to course registration, I had to roll with it. Although, it got tiring, I enjoyed it very much.

We worked on conversation, grammar, and writing. It was fun to engage the students in discussions and debates. We talked about traveling, education, the cinema, music, relationship, food, culture and tradition. Topics that I don't think most of them get a chance to discuss with their peers in a classroom setting very often. Especially, the relationship part. I also introduced American slang and idioms. Another fun and entertaining topic for me!

I was so impressed by the women though. In all of my classes they are the ones who really wanted to be there. The ones who participated the most. And just down right the smartest ones in the class. Not saying the men did not participate or that they were not intelligent, but I came across many disrespectful shabab in these courses, who were simply there to chat with their friends and look at the women. Anyways, work it ladies, I'm proud of you!

It's really nice to walk through the college campus now and run into former students. Most of them just genuinely want to chat and get to know me. And so many of them have just straight up asked me "Miss can we be friends?" Hahah it's adorable.


What's ahead:

For the last month I have been diligently working on finding a replacement intern. My company, CCIC (Consolidated Contractors International Company) put me in charge of selecting my successor, a task that I was happy to have.

Since I was originally supposed to only be in Jordan for 6 months, but extended my contract for an extra 3, we only need a replacement for 3 months over the summer, to fulfill the SABEQ grant requirements and finish out the program.

The first step was promotion. So I got on my grind. Utilizing my network, I promoted the position to AIESECers across the USA. In the end I had three applicants, two of which I interviewed. It was a tough decision for me to make, but I am very pleased with the candidate I selected, an EP (Exchange Participant) from AIESEC Yale. He is an experienced traveler and has a bit of international teaching experience -- last summer he taught English for 8 weeks in Ghana.

Since his selection about a week ago, I have been taking care of the logistic preparations. Flight confirmation, airport pickup, contact signing, accommodations, etc. And just like that, he will arrive in Jordan this WEDNESDAY! It all seems a little fast, but I'm really pleased that I found a suitable replacement. Once he arrives, we will have 5 weeks to complete transition, before my last day of work on July 1, 2010.

I had to break the devastating news to my students that I will be leaving and that a new intern will be coming to replace me. They were so sad. And so am I. I will miss them all and my life, work, and friends here a lot. Many of my students are very reluctant about having a new teacher. One of them even went as far to say that he would "make his life like hell!"

Obviously they are being dramatic and overreacting about the whole thing. They knew, as well as I did, that I would not be staying in Jordan forever.

Jordanians, by nature, are welcoming people, and my students are truly remarkable men, so I know they would never "make his life like hell." They will come around and warm up to the idea. And I think it will be really good for them to get the 'American Male' perspective.

Well all this being said....I'm not ready to leave Jordan yet, nor am I ready to get back in the swing of collegiate life, but hopefully I will come to terms with it all before I step foot on the plane back to the states.