Farewell Blog...Tine

Dear Readers,

We have closed a significant chapter in our lives. Lena had the pleasure of launching this blog and I now have the displeasure of terminating it. The project officially ended a few hours ago when Zach, Emily, Lewis, and Lena boarded a Royal Jordanian aircraft to Chicago. As I write this, they are cruising across the "big pond" and will soon be in the embraces of their loved ones after spending just under a year in the Mid-East. Even though I am hurting, I take comfort in the knowledge that while this life is temporary, the bond we have built is everlasting. We will be together again.

We would like to thank all of you for taking a few moments to vicariously live out our experiences through these entries. We hope they were able to touch your hearts, if only in a miniscule way. Last night we had letters from our project team read to us over Skype. I would like to close with a portion of Mr. Horchak's letter because I think it beautifully answers the question we have all been asking ourselves and each other - where to from here? He writes, " As time passes, this 11 month adventure will become a smaller part of a larger mosaic that will comprise your individual lives. Yes, your United Youth Corps project is over. However, you are all formally engaged in yet another “project”. It is called true Christianity. It is preparing for another world where the peace that man yearns for will finally be possible. We are all in that final project together. All on the same team. How exciting to realize. Don’t forget it."

So my fellow team members, I wish each and every one of you God's blessings and guidance as you labor on your unique portion of this great project, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).


A loving and tearful farewell to you all.

Your sister in Christ
Tine

PS: Could the last person in here please turn out the lights?

More (Mis)adventures of Miss Lena and Crew -- Lena

It seems that if I am involved there is a recurring theme…MISadventures. I’m not sure how this happened, but it seems if I am around, the silliest things are going to happen. Our vacation here in Cyprus has been no exception. Things began without a hitch; we arrived at the airport on time with no major setbacks. We flew into Larnaca airport with no fanfare and were greeted with hugs from Jo. We were happy to see her. We had expected to see Tine, but we weren’t overly worried that she wasn’t there…and thus the misadventures begin. As Jo has previously stated we waited hours in the blazing sun, alternately smelling jet fuel and salt-scented air, taking the many stares we got as we sat on the side of the road in stride. People-watching when everyone is watching you can be rather entertaining. Other than knowing that a bus actually went to the village we were staying in we had done very little planning for this trip, and it has gone surprisingly well considering this fact. I must admit I did much of the legwork for acquiring our rental property. We found an amazing website that advertises rental properties in most vacation sites, and you can narrow it by region and even city. We had it narrowed to a few miles from the airport, and we had specific criteria to be met. We wanted to be near the beach, have a pool, 2 bathrooms, and be under a certain price (we are poor after all). I narrowed it to a choice of about 7 properties, all fitting the description. We chose this one because it fit the description to a T (including an extra ½ bath), and was the least expensive. I should have known. The drying machine turns out to be a drying rack on the back porch. The “pull-out couch” was actually a mat hidden behind the couch with room for one (not 2!). The 20 minute “stroll” to the beach meant an hour long hike to the waters edge that was completely rocky. And don’t get me started on the nearly 4 full days of no water that we’ve endured.
Despite all of these “misadventures” this has been the best vacation. It’s been a great end cap to an incredible year. Before leaving for Jordan I couldn’t imagine what it would be like, or how I was going to survive 10-11 months away. Now that those 11 months have come and gone, I struggle to remember the time before I was part of the “Jordan – 5” or the “Jordan – crew” and the family that we’ve become. I’d like to thank each one of the Jordan - 5 and the various honorary members we’ve had this year (Sheri, Jo, Mr. Register, Michelle, Leslie, Kile, Terry, Shannon and Samantha) for making this an unbelievable year. Also to all those that supported us in so many ways this year (our family and friends, and strangers that prayed for us like family).
Our "sandy" beach

Our Day in the Mediterranean...Tine

By general consensus, today was our best day since the vacation began. It didn’t start off on a promising note though. Our shouts of joy that the water was back on were short-lived - it was on for just under an hour. It was a brief opportunity to flush all 3 toilets, get a half load of dishes done, and lucky Lena, she got in a 3 minute shower too. According to “Aunt Glinnis” (our next door neighbor) the local council never turn off the water on the weekend. I guess they were just waiting for us to show up before trying that. Unfortunately the basement facilities are also out of water. Thanks to Zach they are in relatively modest shape as he has been using buckets of pool water to flush them down. A second mishap; we had initially planned on spending the day on the sandy Larnaca beaches, however just before we trooped out of the house I vaguely recalled a bus schedule I had printed out back in Amman and had the displeasure of informing the group that the local buses did not run on Sunday. At this point we were out of drinking water too. Just great. Determined not to get our spirits down (we are in Cyprus after all!!!) we sat down and begin to think up a plan B. Any feasible alternative plan had to meet 2 requirements, number 1, it had to be away from the house and number 2, it had to involve water of some kind, preferably sea water. Lewis and Lena had taken an hour long walk to a local beach a couple of days ago and suggested that we try that. Armed with sunscreen (except me because I don’t burn - well I guess I could burn but it would have to be far hotter than this), we began the trek. It wasn’t half bad as we had enough sillies among the 6 of us to keep us nicely entertained. As we walked through a dry artichoke field, we wondered whether distance was calculated differently in Cyprus (according to Lena who did all our holiday house negotiation rentals, the original advertisement had claimed that the beach was only a 20 minute “stroll”…mmmh…) Anyway, in just over an hour we were at the beach…and utterly mesmerized as we beheld the majesty of the Mediterranean. Today was windy and there was a very strong undercurrent that took “riding the waves” to a whole new level. I felt like a little kid in the water and when Lewis asked me “how’s it going Tine?,” I yelled “amazing, Lewis, just AMAZING” just before being dragged under by a livid and violent wave. Jo and I were the last ones in and when we were finally defeated, we made our way to the shore half drowning with every wave. As I was just about to get out I slipped on some rocks and while on my knees, I received the thrashing of my life. All my attempts to get up failed as wave after wave beat violently against my back sending me reeling and sending Jo into fits of laughter. Anyway as you can see, I lived to tell the tale. On our way back we realized that we should probably stock up on groceries as we were running low. Well, no one banked on the supermarkets being closed today (this is a Greek Orthodox country) and so, yes, I guess the adventure does continue…

Blogging the Sabbath in Cyprus -- Jordan Crew

We just ended a lovely Sabbath here in Cyprus taking a much needed rest from the(mis)adventures of the past few days :-) Friday night we had steak from the local village butcher and sautéed fresh peppers, zucchini and mushrooms. Sabbath morning started off on a pretty lazy note. We woke up at different times (from the very early...to the very late) and had breakfast separately as the early birds stealthily tiptoed in and out of the kitchen trying not to rouse the late birds among us. Later on in the morning we put our feet in the pool, relaxed and talked. We had our service and then changed from our Sabbath best into lazy home gear and had exciting fellowship about everything from the gap theory to the resurrections. On a domestic note there is water rationing in Cyprus, so our water has been turned off for the entire day! Good thing there are showers and toilets in the basement under the pool that have water otherwise we would all be pretty miserable (and stinky) by now. We have also been adopted by our sweet next door neighbor who is officially playing “holiday mum”. She brought over some delicious deserts and her husband went to the bottle store to buy us a few drinks. Tomorrow is our “beach” day and we will be heading out nice and early for what promises to be an exciting event!! We ordered some Cypriot Pizza for dinner and we were not disappointed. We are having a super vacation and can’t wait to leave the house tomorrow after being cooped for the day.

First Impressions of Cyprus - Guest Blog by Jo Robertson

Introduction: Hi there! I’m Jo Robertson (from Australia), vacationing with the Jordan Five here in Cyprus. I met them on the UCG tour in Israel this year, and afterwards came to Amman and stayed with them for a few days. Two months later we decided that we should link up together again...in Cyprus!!

After waiting at the Larnaca airport for nearly 7 hours, it was nice to finally meet up with my ‘Amman friends’, as I call them. Their flight got in a lot later than mine, and I had decided to wait for them, as I didn’t have enough directions really to try and find this shared house they were renting for the week. After all the exchanges of hugs, we all troop outside to find this bus that’s supposed to take us to Kiti - a small town 7km from Larnaca. Zach found out the bus information, and we then trooped up to the roundabout to wait for the bus. The bus didn’t go the airport, but would circle around the roundabout, and it was our job to flag it down, as there was no bus stop to be seen anywhere. All we knew was it was green.

After half an hour... an hour... an hour-and-a-half of camping out on the side of the roundabout, I started to see green buses everywhere - even arguing that the blue ones had a hue of green to them. Finally, this grey bus with a green sticker on the windscreen comes into view. We didn’t care that the bus wasn’t actually green - it said ‘Kiti’ on it!! Proud of ourselves, we jump on the bus and head for our little resort town.

So we arrive in Kiti, with nothing more than the address for the place. But how hard can it be to find a street address in this peanut-sized town? Lewis and I end up going to the police station to get a map. We were shown where to go by a Greek policewoman who spoke broken English. The map was all in Greek, so we just tried to memorize the general direction. Lewis and I emerged from the Police Station, armed with directions such as, “After some street sounding like ‘Stephanos,’ turn right... “ Lewis hadn’t heard ‘Stephanos’ but thought the street ended in the word ‘Andy’. Then I thought she said something about a church, but were we supposed to turn right at the third street, or was it the second? The sun was beating down, and we had about 10 bags between us. After walking for about half an hour, we decided we were lost. The boys decided to go back to the police station and ask again. We had this bright idea to save backtracking - Zach would blow one note with my Irish tin whistle if we were heading in the wrong direction, and we would come join them with the bags. Otherwise, he’d just play a happy little tune and that meant to stay put. Sounded like a great idea at the time, but we hadn’t counted on not being able to hear a little whistle over the traffic. Finally the boys came back, and we strained to hear the whistle... They were practically within earshot before we heard this faint little happy tune, and we rejoiced. Not far to go now, and we’d be out of this heat....

An hour and a half later, after wandering in circles, the runner boys, Lewis and Zach, finally stumbled upon the right street. We show up, dusty, sweaty and tired, glad to see Tine who was already in the house. A test in patience that day, but smiles and hugs all around, glad to be together.

Conferencing in Nicosia (Getting Lost Part 2) ... Guest Blog by Jo Robertson

Getting lost seems to be the reoccurring theme here in Cyprus. On Thursday morning Lewis, Zach, Tine and I all headed for Nicosia to attend the IASFM Conference where Tine was presenting her paper on Iraqi migrant policy in Jordan. The bus trip took about an hour from Larnaca to Nicosia, and just as we were approaching Nicosia, Tine noticed a sign for the Cyprus University. That’s got to be it! Tine said she thought someone told her that the Cyprus University was the same as the University of Nicosia. So we all hop off and wander onto the Campus. Turns out, not only was it the wrong university, but that there were two others! We headed to the Hilton to ask for directions, in the hope of there being a shuttle to take us to the conference. Tine said that most attendees were staying there. Well, no one at the Hilton had heard of the conference...because the attendees were not staying at the Hilton, but the Hilton Park, so we had to catch a cab from the Hilton to the University of Nicosia. Tine’s lecture went very well, and her enthusiastic entourage were very impressed. She was professional, “lawyer-like”, and a smooth talker. Zach said she used a few small words for his benefit :-) I thought she was the best! After her conference, she ditched her smart suit pants and heels for a pair of shorts and slippers and did a little victory dance on the steps of the university.

After a lunch of giant cheesy bread chunks, we headed out into the heat to find the bus back to Larnaca. We found out we had an hour wait, so Zach and I went to the nearby cafe, and ordered a large, local Cyprus beer to try. We called Tine and Lewis over and we all sat there in the shade, enjoying a cold, refreshing beer. We could see our little green bus sitting in the parking lot, and Zach was keeping an eye on it. We could NOT afford to miss that bus. Laughing and chatting away, we temporarily forgot about our little green four-wheeled friend. Next minute, Zach looks over and notices the green bus had gone! “Where’s the bus??” we yell. Then we spotted it down the street ready to disembark and made a run for it. I yelled out, “I haven’t paid yet!” The others ran ahead to hold up the bus, and I went to pay. We made it (luckily) and on we went, laughing silly at ourselves in the process.

Back in Larnaca, we realized we had missed the last bus back to Kiti. The options were to pay a (very) expensive cab ride, or to hitch. I stuck out my thumb and promptly got honked at. I didn’t know if it was angry honking or laughing-at-you honking. Either way, I didn’t feel so inclined to try that again anytime soon. I have never hitched with a group before, and didn’t feel very hopeful. We walked for about 2kms, before we stopped in the shade under an overpass. We were hot (it was over 100 degrees), sticky, and our feet hurt. A guy in a sports car was parked under the overpass. I glanced at him briefly, half-contemplating whether I’d attempt to ask him for a lift. He wore a rather screwed up expression and was staring back at us with this surly look on his face. “Nup,” I thought to myself, “No way he’s going to give us a lift. And I’m not going to ask and give him the satisfaction of saying no.” Tine came up to me, and we both commented on the demeanor of the man and wondered why the sour expression? After a few unsuccessful attempts to wave down a cab (At this point we didn’t care about the cost.) the man motioned for us, and Zach went over. He didn’t speak a word of English but turns out he wanted to give us a ride! In the comfort of his air conditioned car, Tine and I commented on how God was trying to teach us a lesson on judging by appearances, turns out the mean spirited looking man was actually an “angel” (could have been because were were really stranded).

In a few minutes we were back at the flat laughing ourselves silly about the events of the day.

Blogging Cyprus Part II...Tine

Day 2 in Cyprus: I was hoping to sleep in this morning and retired to bed without setting my mental and physical alarm clock – I was up at 5:45am. I said to myself “self, this is ridiculous go on back to bed you are on holiday!” (Well a working holiday… but self chooses not to acknowledge this). Self obliged. However, at 6:30 a.m., I was up again. It’s odd because I usually have little trouble sleeping in when the opportunity arises, and it is not for a want of being tired – my mind is exhausted and my body desperately needs the rest but I guess it’s just the excitement and unfamiliarity of a new environment. I went down for breakfast at about 8:30a.m., and then left the hotel on an investigative excursion round about noon. The hotel I am staying at is just a stone throw away from the beach and my first thought was when do the Cypriots work? I realized soon after of course that it is all the international tourists flooding up the beaches and crowding up the plentiful restaurants and bistros. I took a walk to the dock where a notable sight of interest is a glass bottom boat that doubles as a restaurant and café. I met a few interesting people - it is amazing everyone is so C.H.I.L.L.E.D in Larnaca and it is hard to believe that this is ordinary life for some. Of course this realization sent me into deliberation mode, and I debated with myself about whether I would prefer life in a touristy, beachy town as opposed to a normal town (“normal” being relative of course - Lusaka, Cape Town, London, Amman are all “normal” in some respects to me). My conclusion? No, because if this was my permanent abode, I wouldn’t have it as a therapeutic getaway. Satisfied with this insightful answer, I found a lunch spot and headed back to the hotel - allegedly to work on my paper which I am presenting on Thursday (ahem). A couple of hours ago I ventured out into the mellow evening for a brief walk. The rest of the crew arrive here tomorrow afternoon. After I check out of the hotel at noon I will head to the apartment and wait for them there. So far, this trip has really been one of the highlights of my year. I think sometimes God gives you just what you need exactly when you need it. I didn’t realize how much I needed to get away and sort through a few things in my head and these 2 days have greatly aided that process. The adventure continues…

Blogging Cyprus...Tine

I arrived in Larnaca, Cyprus about a few hours ago. The island is gorgeous and the Cypriots are a delight. Larnaca is very touristy and from what I have seen so far, there is no shortage of activity and of course an impressive array of cuisine to thrill every palate. The rest of the crew will join me on Wednesday. How our Cyprus trip came about is an interesting tale in itself. When I found out I would be presenting a paper at a conference in Nicosia, I said to the gang wouldn’t it be awesome if we could all go… white white beaches…green green trees…blue blue water…and we all kind of dreamily went “oh yeah that would be incredible.” Next thing you know, everyone was on their computers looking for tickets, and what a steal we found! What was just a pipe’s dream turned into an instant reality, who knew? Anyway to cut a long story short, we will be vacationing in Cyprus for about a week. We have rented out a holiday apartment on the cheap (and while it looks amazing on the pics, I won’t be surprised if it is less than fabulous, but hey it is 5 minutes away from the beach, what more can one ask for?).

After showering and unpacking earlier this evening, I left my hotel and took a walk along the pier with a no-nonsense mission in mind; finding food! Not surprisingly, I was soon enamored with “Cyprus by night” and walked a fair distance through the restaurant and shopping district, taking in the different sights and sounds that sit in very stark contrast to Jordan. I am biased towards Jordan (and Jordanians) and it will be hard for any other country to steal first place…possibly ever . However Cyprus came close. Just walking through the streets was so relaxing. I just let my mind stop for the first time in weeks and for a brief moment in time “it was all ok”. Tonight was the most relaxing I have had in a while. I feel invigorated, optimistic, and unrushed. And why wouldn’t I? The weather is perfect, the people warm and vibrant, the mood festive, and the vendors charming and endearing (yes that is possible!).

After my circuitous walk on the pier, I finally found a restaurant and guys you will be happy to note, the portions are ridiculously huge…I ate just over half of my meal and couldn’t go any further.<















I also found a Movenpick Switzerland, and no, I didn’t have some without you…BUT I did take a picture to inflict mental anguish and entice you to get here fast!
I repeat: GET HERE FAST! Let the Grand Finale begin – we couldn’t have picked a better spot. I’m off to bed now, but can’t wait for “Cyprus by day” in a few hours. Till then dear reader...

What a Day for a Daydream - Em

I guess I'm in between stage 6 and the stage of feeling I'm in a dream. I can't fully comprehend or process everything that has happened, and how quickly time has flown by. As Lena mentioned in her last entry, we had to say a real goodbye to our students. I don't think we could've asked for a better goodbye, with the party bus showing up at our house and the students clapping us a party on the street, getting tons of hugs and teary eyed goodbyes before zooming away, tearing our hearts to pieces. I think the only thing that keeps me going is the hope of the future. I know that someday we will see those kids again, except on that day, they will be healed of their current handicaps and given minds that fully comprehend the meaning of life. It sounds like a dream, but I believe with all my heart that this day will come. I can't wait to be able to talk with them, understanding the same language, and get to know more fully, their incredibly beautiful hearts :)

A Sixth Blogging Stage...Zach

I have a little bit to add to Tine's latest comments. I think there is at least one more stage that fits into the lapse of blogging of which she spoke. I don't know where it fits numerically with the stages she supplied...either stage 6, or, more hopefully, it becomes stage 5, meaning that there will still be a frenzy of blogging in my future. That stage is this: Feeling like words don't do the experience justice. That has been a major barrier for me lately. I want to blog, I want to journal, but I find myself saying the same thing...I can't believe it's almost over; I can't believe what this experience has meant. Those are the only words that move from my mind to my fingers as I'm typing or writing away. Believe it or not (I wouldn't blame you if you didn't) there is more going on in this head of mine. It is just impossible to express all of the feelings and emotions traveling around in there during this final inning. I guess that isn't a good enough excuse to prevent us from trying though. We were talking today about how we wouldn't know what to say if someone asked us to talk about the project. We wish it were easier to pass on encouraging words that show the depth of the meaning of UYC Jordan 08. I wish that for just a moment you could step inside any one of our hearts or minds and really feel what we feel and understand the fondness with which we reflect on the past 10 months of our lives. Then and only then would you understand the reason for this additional stage in the blog-hindering process that goes through our minds. The experience is beyond words...but we will keep trying.

Hallassed -- Lena

In the last ten months our little group has grown closer together in various ways. We've often lamented that we don't think we will be able to function in society any longer simply because we won't remember how. In some ways we have been very insulated; this insulation has had various side affects. One such side affect has been "crew-speak". (I just coined that term, by the way). Crew-speak has developed in several ways, just as most languages do. The first is from NATIVE SPEAKERS meaning we each brought our own language idioms, and we've all adopted them (I am *apparently* the most guilty of this), some instances are LAME, SHAME, and STINKIN'. The second is from LANGUAGE EVOLUTION; things we've talked about that have brought about common phrases, which is also closely linked to ADOPTED LANGUAGE; adopted language has come about from the little Arabic that we have picked up while here that we have incorporated (with NO regard for proper Arabic grammar) into our every day language. Some instances of this are: HALLASSED (finished/done), HARRAM (this shouldn't be), ECKTEER (too much/very much) and ANA KAMAN (me too). Which brings me to the ACTUAL subject of this blog. Emily and I just returned from summer camp at the YMWA, our last chance to spend more time with some of our students before returning back to the US.

After three exhausting, yet suprisingly idle, days we were dropped off at our flat this evening at 10pm. We spent the last 2 hours on what we termed the "party bus". ****For those concerned about traffic safety, please skip to the next paragraph.**** On a giant bus (kindly donated by the people of Italy), Arabic music was blared while 30 (or so) students and teachers alike, Arabic-danced and clapped their hearts out. 10 months ago I would have been appalled at the complete lack of concern for safety, but now I am Jordanian, and was just as guilty, jumping into the dancing fray. It was a marvelous time.
After arriving at our flat all the students and teachers filed off the bus and gathered around to say good bye. Some students didn't understand that this meant good bye, not I'll see you in a month. Some did, and their tears matched ours. I made sure to hug each student tightly (Jordanian social norms step aside), looked them each in the eye and told them, "Ana Behebick/behebuck, eckteer, eckteer". Which means, I love you, too too much. And it's true. Our dear friend Mohammed Ghanam leaned out the door and said, "you are my sister, I will see you, inshallah(God willing)." Emotionally speaking, I am HALLASSED.