I’ve been in Madaba, Jordan, for five days now and there has been so much to take in throughout these days. The Jordanian people are very hospitable and it is not uncommon for them to say hello to us as we walk down the street. Even those whose English is not very good (or nonexistent altogether) make an attempt to welcome us to their country.
We have had some great meals together and it has reminded me of the value of breaking bread together (and by the way, there is literally a ton of bread to go around here!). One meal we had together was at a BBQ restaurant. As a Kansas Citian, you can only imagine my skepticism about eating BBQ in Jordan! Indeed, it wasn’t BBQ from my homeland but it was nonetheless tasty!
The guest house where we are staying is next to a Greek Orthodox Church that was built during the 1800s. During the building of the church, a mosaic was uncovered that is thought to be more than 1,000 years old.
During the day, I am a part of a group of people working on communication issues (e.g., the importance of audience analysis, how to create effective messages, etc.). I’ve enjoyed these discussions as it allows me a different way to talk about the content I teach in the classroom. It’s refreshing to step out of the classroom and see the content in action, so to speak.
We took a bit of a break from our meetings to visit the Dead Sea. It was amazing! We followed the swim (or more like the float) with an outdoor BBQ on a cliff with a beautiful view of the Dead Sea with Jerusalem in the background.
