Thursday, March 29, 2018 Tweisi, Wadi Rum, Jordan My homestay host is Aboo Salah and his wife and five children. He is a farmer and tends a nearby grove of olive trees. This is a very warm and gracious family, helping me to feel welcome and at home......Read More
Following a hot and sweaty walk through a siq (a canyon), past numerous tombs while bumping shoulders with braying donkeys, and up 845 steps, we found ourselves marveling at the immensity of the Monastery. The Monastery is the largest tomb located......Read More
I have come to Tweisi village on a Dragons trip every year for the last four years, sometimes twice. During my first summer, it was Ramadan and hot as hell; I wrote this piece during that first trip. Everyone gets grumpier as the day progresses and......Read More
We’ve arrived in Tweisi village. Today’s post will be short as I’m exhausted from a pre-wedding dance party with women from Tweisi and my fingers are still sticky from eating Kabseh (rice and chicken on a big platter with raisins......Read More
Many thanks to all of our superb presenters today! We had another provocative, engaging, and moving day. Our morning started at Collateral Repair Project, an organization running a community center for refugees in a neighborhood of Amman. The......Read More
Many thanks to all of our superb presenters today! We had another provocative, engaging, and moving day. Our morning started at Collateral Repair Project, an organization running a community center for refugees in a neighborhood of Amman. The......Read More
Our visit to UNWRA was a late addition to our Dragons curriculum and what a fantastic addition it made. Each and every thing we did today was exceptional, with UNWRA being such an amazing experience the group decided to give it a Yak post of its......Read More
Photos from our first day in Amman, which was packed full of visits and guest speakers on contemporary development and humanitarian work in Jordan. These comprised a visit to a school run by UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestinian refugees), the Aurora......Read More
Our day together began in a literal and figurative haze, with morning call to prayer and a cloudy church-filled skyline welcoming the groggy lot of us. We gathered for a breakfast of olives, falafel, and hummus on the rooftop of the Moab Land hotel,......Read More
Hello all, Below are my reflections on Themes 1-3. Theme 1: I know a bit about the Syrian Refugee Crisis because I have incorporated articles and perspectives into my class during our current event time each week. Especially 2016 and 2017, when......Read More
Hi, It is great to see your introductions and responses to the posts on the Yak board. We look forward to taking these conversations further during the course. As you are traveling in the coming days, we would like to post a few thoughts and links......Read More
Hi there, We’re looking forward to welcoming you to Jordan in just a few days! It was great to speak with some of you over the past few days, and thanks to all who sent emails as follow up to the voicemails. I’m sure you’re busy......Read More
I have finally caught up with the reflections for the themes posted over the past few week and I wanted to put them out there into the universe…and to you all. THEME 1: SYRIAN REFUGEES AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE I’ve spent a good amount of......Read More
Sitting here in Connecticut in the middle of a Nor’easter storm, it is hard to believe I will soon be with you all in Jordan. I’m Jen O’Brien, a native upstate New Yorker who came to Connecticut for grad school where I studied the......Read More
1) What led you to your vocation as an educator? I ended up in education by accident. I loved theater and in college started teaching theater workshops in a women’s prison. I then spent my junior year at the University of Cape Town going into......Read More
