Humanly Speaking...Tine

In my nomadic wonderings, little intrigues me more than the human dimension. Yes, I enjoy the architectural oddities, the distinctive landscapes and texture, and sure, sampling the exotic cuisine always has its appeal. Ultimately though, it is always the people that hold my attention. The more I travel, the more I am persuaded of the transcendental quality of the human experience. The full smorgasbord of human sentiment (pain, joy, anguish, fear, hope…and everything else) is universal regardless of one’s precise or approximate locality.

The human aspect of Bentota, Sri Lanka held even more charm because of the feast’s potent humanitarian dimension. For the Jordan 5, it was especially gratifying for us to be able to serve and fellowship with people with whom we had an instant camaraderie. Whether it was over cocktails by the pool, or while bringing the roof down to Rodney Vanheers exceptional saxophone genius, we relished in the opportunity to probe the unique experience of each feast attendee, learning and growing even as we communed. The Sri Lankan brethren have a corner on the market as far as hospitality and generosity go. I was so very moved by their unrelenting efforts to make sure we were settled and happy, and was almost moved to tears when they lavished us with the feast gifts they had so carefully prepared. When we sang “God be with you till we meet again”, I felt that recognizable lump in my throat. Saying goodbye was emotionally draining, and yet we know that the future holds out to all of us in exceptional promise.

Personal Feast Highlights: The Hook’s baptism; Extracting a promise from the Hook’s to visit us in Jordan; The bus ride to Galle; Rodney Vanheer’s saxophone extravaganza; Teaching the “stepping stones” in God’s plan to the little ones; Encouragement from Mark Wine; The story of Carol’s calling; The day I was “sorted” (inside joke, dear reader); The ruminations of the inconsolable 3 (Andrea Mather, Becky Horchak, Tine Banda); Hearing the sea roar from my hotel room (delightful); The tuk tuk ride into Bentota with Andrea and Mrs. Mather; Laughing till my stomach hurt (Thanks Becky); Lena & I freezing in the so-called “hot” tub; Zach’s “Got any grapes” joke at the dinner table; Seeing the Jordan 5 so content, so exhilarated, so hopeful.

Sleeping in Abu Dhabi --Zach

We had such a great time in Sri Lanka for the Feast this year. Like Lena said, we enjoyed the beautiful, hot, humid, rainy country of Sri Lanka, and we especially loved getting to spend some time other brethren. We knew we were missing our church family back home, but we didn't realize how much we missed having real church services and singing with other people. We got to see some sights and spend some time with some of the cutest kids in the world. It was a great Feast and we didn't want to come home, but traveling can be tiring...especially when you fly over night, change time zones, and have your flight delayed. But no worries, we are adaptable. Our flight from Colombo to Abu Dhabi was on schedule and we were ready to waste our 3 hour layover in the airport. But our flight from Abu Dhabi to Amman was delayed a few hours and we got to take a little nap in the airport. We did our best to make our cold, tile, airport floor into a cozy little napping habitat, but it didn't work out so well. After we spent a few hours waiting by our gate trying to cuddle up and sleep in many different positions we were told it was time to move. We got on a bus and drove to another part of the airport where our new gate would be. We only had a little bit of time left before take off when we arived at our new waiting area--a warm, carpeted area that would have been perfect for napping. Go figure! Oh well, what are you going to do? We had a lot of laughs from the situation, and when you look at the pictures below you will understand why. Things seem a lot funnier when you haven't slept, but if you are Emily things just always seem funny. She stayed up and giggled all night while she watched us try to sleep on flip-flops, jackets, or on a row of seats with arm rests in the middle. Check out the creativity in this group...

Sri Lanka Part 1 -- Lena

I believe there will be approximately 7 blogs or more about Sri Lanka, mostly because we had such an amazing time there and I know we all are going to have something to say, our own perspective to add. Without a doubt we all wish we could go back and be with our brethren again. There were (to start) 32 brethren celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, 6 of which were children (the most adorable children you could hope to meet). About half way through the Feast we lost 2, and we were 30 (Mr. Horchak and Mrs. Horchak went to spend the second half of the feast with brethren in India {I'm not gonna lie, I'm slightly jealous, I've always wanted to go to India}). I recommend that everyone go to Sri Lanka at least once, if not to see the beautiful country (which it is), but to meet the wonderful church family we have there. Although we were comparatively small in number we had a huge number of countries represented there: 1 from Great Britain, 1 from Singapore, 2 from the Bahamas, 6 from the US, 1 from Australia, 7 from Kuwait, 5 from Jordan {us :)}, and of course 9 from Sri Lanka.
Being small in number gave everyone a chance to serve in some way. The Jordan 5 did special music one day and Zach and Emily did special music together one day, and another day Lewis sang with Jude Pereira (one of our new Sri Lankan friends), we had special music most days and it was always wonderful, whether it be an a capella hymn by Mr. Clement Lim, or amazing vocals by Mrs. Jean VanHeer accompanied by a recording of her husband Rodney playing the sax (I think that the Sri Lankan brethren may be the most musically talented bunch I've ever met). Zach and Lewis both had the opportunity to lead songs and give sermonettes while us girls were able to have FYI classes for the little ones. We ate all of our meals together spread out amongst 2 long tables. The food was always delicious with plenty of fresh fruit at each meal. Besides the 3 buffet meals, we also had tea 2 times each day, and each one was accompanied by savory treats in the afternoon, and sweet treats in the evening. Of course all of this had the breathtaking backdrop of the Indian Ocean and beach.
We took a couple of tours of the nearby town (Bentota), and one day we took a trip to Galle, a dutch fort from the 1800's. There were charming shops, and little museums, and even an old dutch church that we got to see. On our way to Galle we stopped at the Sea Turtles Research Center in Kosgoda, Sri Lanka. Turtle eggs are considered a delicacy to some, and therefore there is big money in selling them (although it is illegal). The research center pays money for eggs as well, but they bury them in the sand until they hatch, and then they move them to tanks of sea water where they give the little guys 3 days for their underbelly to harden, and then they release them into the sea. They have been in business since 1978, and in that time they have released around 30 million turtles into the sea. They also run a clinic for injured sea turtles that people bring them. Sometimes they get caught in the nets of fishermen because they are injured, and sometimes they are found on the shore. There was one BIG turtle who was blind and had spent his whole life there in the tanks. There were several that had been found after the tsunami in 2004 that were missing flippers and couldn't survive in the wild. The best part was getting to hold the little guys, they are so cute.
Before we left for Sri Lanka I had told Cory Erickson (our project manager here in Jordan) that one of the things I was looking forward to was seeing rain again (right now the wet stuff is pretty scarce in Jordan). And rain I got to see. It rained every single day, and it was wonderful. We had sun every day as well, but storms would roll in, and then roll out, and we really enjoyed swimming in the rain a couple of times. The last 2 days we were there we had some pretty intense storms that caused some flooding in parts of Colombo. I'm told it's not unusual during the rainy season (which October is). Our hotel was nice, and the staff was very accommodating. Each day and night the power would go out several times, with all of that our services were interrupted only once, it was during the last sermon on the LGD, and it was when Mr. Mather was giving us the last verse in his sermon. We sang our final song a cappella and it was wonderful.
I could probably write forever about the wonderful time that we had. I always find it interesting that the stories of all the things we do in an 8 day period could fill up double that time. I guess the saying 'a picture is worth a thousand words' is the same for experiencing, only it's even better, it's worth a million and one words. Just a couple of shots from our time there. A sunset from our hotel. Mr. and Mrs. Horchak and Mr. and Mrs. Mather. Lewis holding a baby turtle. Train debris from the tsunami in 2004. A shot dedicated to Laurel Krenz (her favorite flower if I remember correctly {she's always drawing them}). Another beach shot from our hotel. A picture of Mr. Lim and Lewis and I. The Wines (from Texas) and the Hooks (living in Kuwait, but from the States and Sri Lanka).

VIDEO - Wadi Musa - the Valley of Moses

Petra -- Lena

As a group we had our first big trip this last weekend, directly after Trumpets. We caught a cab to Abdali bus station, and (so it seemed) the mini-bus was waiting for us, we all climbed on, and the bus immediately headed out. 5JD and 3 hours later we were deposited right in front of our "hotel" Musa Springs Hotel. We got quite the deal 10JD a night for a single, 12.50JD for a double, with a shared bathroom. It wasn't worth it, we just avoided the bathrooms as much as possible for the 2.5 days we were there. The first day we were there we took a little stroll down the hill bought a hat, and then back to the hotel for a few minutes. We decided to go up into the hills around Wadi Musa (which means the Valley of Moses--legend has it that the rock Moses struck to get water is there... and that the same spring still runs through the town). Going up into the hills we decided to climb a little mountain. It was a beautiful view with the valley, and then Petra in the distance. We took lots of pictures and spent some time reading. We then decided it would be an excellent idea to go even higher up the mountain, and it was, until we had to come back down the mountain. Tine and I had a bit of an emotional moment, not sure that we could make it down (loose rocks and steep incline aren't a good mix). It all turned out okay in the end, we made it down safely, and a little braver for it too, of course Zach and Lewis were totally in control the whole time, without a hint of worry, Zach guided Emily and Tine straight down, and Lewis and I took a more circuitous route, but we made it safely. Pretty hot, and a little tired we headed back to the hotel, and then back down the hill towards town for food. As we were making the trek a truck pulled up alongside us and asked if we would like a lift to town, we said, sure. We had heard of people hitching a ride pretty regularly in Jordan, and particularly in the Wadis so we thought alright, no big deal. After we got in he asked where in town we wanted to go, and we just said we were going to eat dinner, so just in town, but then he kept driving, and told us he would take us to little Petra first (it would only take a couple of hours) and then he would bring us into town for dinner. He took us pretty far out of town before we convinced him that we really wanted to go back to town to eat, but we finally made it and he took us to a nice (but a little too expensive) restaurant. After dinner we walked back to the hotel to rest up before our full day in Petra.
We got an early start for breakfast and into Petra for the day (around 6am). Since us girls had our residency cards already and the boys hadn't gotten theirs yet we tried to buy the tickets into Petra (for foreigners its 21JD, for Jordanians 1JD). The man didn't want to give all 5 tickets for that price, but Lewis and Zach were very convincing and we all got in for 5JD. When we first got in the gates it was pretty mundane, just a big gravel lane with rocks on either side. There were a couple of carvings here and there, but nothing overly impressive, until, of course, we made it to the Siq (pronounced sick). Words can't really describe how beautiful and awesome this place is. Most of the time we walked around with mouths hanging opening taking pictures of everything. As you get towards the end of the Siq you see just a hint of the treasury through the rocks, its a very pretty sight. And then the siq opens up into a clearing where the treasury is and there are camels and donkeys and people everywhere. Emily got to pet a camel, and later in the day I got to ride a donkey. We got to have to tea with a Bedouin woman and her children, and then we started the ridiculous trek up to the monastery. Basically you climb this mountain dodging donkeys and their "remnants" as you go. At the top of this mountain is another huge carving called the monastery. It was totally worth the effort, and heading back down was much easier. All in all it was a wonderful, and exhausting day, and we can't wait to head back again very soon. The first picture is of Wadi Musa from the mountain we climbed, the second is of Emily and Tine sitting on the rock that Moses reportedly struck to get water for the Israelites. The next picture is of Wadi Musa, and Lew and Zach in the Siq in Petra. The next picture is the Treasury peaking through in the Siq, the Treasury in full view, and Emily petting a camel (look how happy she is!!!). The next picture is of me climbing a wall to see the "lions den", and finally a picture of the Monastery, the two tiny little people in the doorway are Emily and Tine.

First Rain in a Desert Country -- Lewis

I bet you thought this post would come from Lena. I sure did. She has been hoping and praying for rain since the day we arrived. For the longest time the skies were clear and every day a sunny day. While sunshine is lovely, as weather goes, there is something comforting about the rainfall, especially in the desert. The past summer was strange for the weather in Amman, with a relatively mild August and a rather sweltering, and at times even humid, September. Every other day it seemed that I heard someone complain about the weather not usually being like this. One of our neighbors said that the weather came from India. Some days would cool down a little and I would put on a jacket before heading out the door to work, but usually by nine or ten o'clock my jacket would be hanging on the back of my chair and sweat would again be dripping off my brow. Some of my coworkers claimed that the weather was changing, but then it would change right back and be hotter than it was before. What a strange Fall to be having in the desert. "I miss my Jordanian weather," our friend from upstairs had said on multiple occasions. Crazy stuff. But yesterday morning, early, as we were all busy sleeping in and having our weekly day of rest, the strangest thing began to happen. The clouds were darker than we had seen and they spanned the extent of the city skyline in view of our window. Rain had actually begun to fall in Amman for the first time since we showed up. Lena and I quickly put our shoes on and ran up to the rooftop to enjoy the cool breeze and the scent of fresh rain on the dust of the city. The rainfall was remarkable, although brief and very light. We have been told that the olives on the trees would be ripe when the rains come and today was the second day of rain, although again it was brief and light. The clouds seem to return in the early morning and then slowly drift off by noon.
We're still hoping for more rain to quench the thirst of the local foliage and of the locals. And to reassure ourselves that we will in fact not go without water; a thought that is in the back of the minds of those who dwell in a desert climate.

A hurting heart -- Lena

Emily and I had a heart wrenching day on Wednesday, and it had started out with such promise. It was my first day back at school after a bout with a nasty stomach flu. It was so wonderful to see my co-workers and the students again. I was greeted with smiles, hugs, and rejoicing at my recovery (Jordanians are a demonstrative bunch). Emily and I were told that we would be going with 23 students to get new clothes for the Eid (the celebration at the end of Ramadan). It was wonderful to see how happy the students were, and even the teachers taking them were in good spirits. We took a 30 minute bus ride to a shop downtown. It was a small shop so only a couple of students at a time could go in. Emily, myself, and the bus driver stayed on the bus with the remaining students. They were singing songs, clapping their hands and chatting it up. It was a big party. After we had been there about an hour and a half the energy levels dropped and most of the students were sitting fairly quiet, talking to us and each other. Around this time some small school children started passing by our bus (during Ramadan schools are let out quite early). Initially they would just look on in curiosity at our bus, but then the curiosity changed.
It brings tears to my eyes thinking of it even now. These small kids, ranging from 5 to 15 were staring, teasing, taunting, and ridiculing our students as they sat on the bus, or when they walked between the bus and the store. I would chase them off, and they would be replaced by more kids doing the same thing. Although our students are mentally handicapped, they understood what was going on. Seeing the hurt in their eyes made it all the worse. I wanted to take each and every one of those kids and introduce them to the human beings that they were treating so cruelly, to show them that my students, my friends are people; wonderful, kind, and loving people. People that, sadly, live in a culture that hasn't yet learned to treat them with the respect that they deserve. We long for the day that this reality will be no more. Honestly we long for the day when they will be healed of their infirmities, but until that day comes, we have schools like the Bunyat that are striving to make this world a better place. They give skills and dignity to the students that they teach and bring understanding to the culture around them. I'm proud, for the short time I will be here, to be a part of something so wonderful.

Special Iftar Event at the YMWA - Emily

Last Thursday marked the event that students and teachers look forward to all year at the YMWA. The student Iftar! After school, the students in the vocational section headed to the gym area to enjoy the special evening of games and fun. Students from weaving, ceramics, agriculture and wood-working joined together, with some graduated students from previous years, to enjoy an afternoon of activities. It all began with the students gathering together in the gym area, and teachers preparing for the event. Before we knew it, there was music and dancing, clapping and smiles. They watched a video from the year before, and pictures from the Youth Corps camp they had this past summer. Next came relay races and the football toss. Soon after things were underway, Tine, Lewis and Zach arrived to find themselves thrown into an intense relay race. Determined to get the gold, Tine came to a diving halt at the end of the race. (She's still recovering from her hand injury!) After the games, Lena challenged her arm-wrestling buddy Nasar to a match. Next thing we knew, it had grown to an arm-wresting tournament, with pairs of wrestlers spread across the room! From the smiles on their faces, we could tell the students were having a blast! It made our hearts glad to see them all having fun and enjoying themselves! After the activites, we piled into the buses and headed to a special place to eat the iftar meal. When our stomachs were full, we settled back onto the bus and headed home. We were sad to see the event come to an end, but were so happy to see the students have such a great time!

Our popcorn experiment...Tine

Research Question: Can the microwaves transmitted from 3 cell phones pop a few kernels of popcorn? Hypothesis: Yes. Method: (1)Place 3 cellphones around a few kernels of popcorn. (2) Call the cellphones (skype is a good way to do this). (3) Wait for the cellphones to ring out. (4)Observe whether the kernels are popping/have popped.(5) Throw away your microwave. Results: The Kernels did not pop. Conclusion: No, the microwaves transmitted from 3 cellphones cannot pop a few kernels of popcorn. Evaluation: A dumb experiment overall. UPDATE: Lewis later informed us that the whole thing was a hoax (which despite our limited scientifc knowledge, we should have figured out). It was still entertaining though...

My Assignment...Tine

I am deployed to the Regional Human Security Centre (RHSC) at the Royal Scientific Society in Amman. The RHSC is a research institute that engages with the emerging paradigm of “human security” in the Middle Eastern region. I wear many hats but if I were to distill it, I’d say my role is essentially 3 pronged; I am a research fellow, a trainer and a supervisor. As a fellow, I lead a research cluster and I am responsible for the dry but obligatory minutiae of research work (literature surveys, agenda building etc) I also have publishing and conference commitments. As a trainer, my role is more dynamic. I will co-teach a training course aimed at introducing Jordanian government officials to the concept of human security. I am also in the process of designing a course-“the philosophical underpinnings of human security”, which I plan to teach as an elective at the University of Jordan next semester. As a supervisor, I have 2 research assistants and oversee the center’s interns, assigning and evaluating their tasks. This triple combo works well for me because the research component gives an outlet to my nerdy and technical side, while the training and supervising aspects feed the more sociable part of me that loves working with people. Life at the centre is not as precise as my description may lead you to believe. Some days things can be rather sporadic; I may be called away to an unanticipated meeting or have to host an unexpected “guest” ( a little intrigue for your enjoyment dear reader…) I also find myself doing things that do not fall within (um how shall I say this?)…my precise purview of expertise (like looking at budgets…and trying to interpret those annoying little symbols). However because the centre needs to run on the backs of a relatively small team, I have quickly had to become au fait with a plethora of tasks.

Even though my assignment is somewhat atypical,the point is not so much what we do but how we do it. Do we serve with character and industry? Are we setting a superior example in how we handle conflict and disagreements? Are our lights extinguished under stress and duress? Are we really invested in what we are doing, or are these just day jobs? Do we treat people with outgoing concern, using the way we would like to be treated as the appropriate benchmark? I find it revealing that whenever I am unsure about how to handle a challenging individual, mentally substituting that person with myself almost always yields clarity(…“Self’ is never unsure about how it wants to be handled).

Knowing the standard does not mean we always meet it. I know I certainly fall short in a myriad of ways. This does not mean we quit striving for the gold. Being here is a big enough responsibility, but when you compound that with all the responsibilities we have on the job, it can get a bit overwhelming at times. In many ways, this is a 10 month leadership training course; we serve to today to lead tomorrow.

Keeping The 7th Day

Being across the seas and away from our congregations, our church families as well as our family families, we can't meet our brethren for church each week. It gets a little lonely sometimes. We are used to singing with a whole chorale of voices and seeing and hearing the speaker in real time. It's nice to be able to call up a minister for an anointing and have him come into your home, oil in hand, to pray over your ailments. It's also nice to have a live pianist to play the hymns. We have none of these things here in the Hashemite Kingdom. But what we do have is internet access. The internet is our gateway to letters to and from our loved ones, online sermons, and phone calls to far off lands. Where would we be without the internet? In Islamic countries the weekly holiday is on Friday. This makes for a different weekend than we are used to. It's like having Sunday first and then Saturday for us. The Sabbath always feels a little different because we already had a day to rest the day before. But still we try to make it special. The five of us gather together for special meals and always make extra desserts. In the morning we read our emails from friends and family and our weekly Sabbath note and choose a sermon from the internet to listen to. Sometimes we sing the hymns from the recordings if there are any. On other weeks we sing hymns of our own choice. Sometimes Zach and I practice leading songs even though there is no pianist to lead. It makes good practice for the coming Feast of Tabernacles. Sometime in the near future we are going to practice our sermonettes we are working on for the Feast. We have our opening prayer and then begin the sermonette and sermon. Mostly we listen to messages from the home office, but there are plenty of options. One Sabbath we listened to a recording from my old stomping grounds, the Great Northwest. It is different having such a small congregation that meets together, but it helps us grow closer as both friends and family. I know I speak for the others when I say that I miss actually going to church every week and seeing all of the friendly faces that greet me. I miss the handshakes and the congregation in voice. I miss serving, passing out hymnals, the children running about, and everything else that happens at church services. God has called us to congregate weekly so we can be together and so we can learn from each other. For us in Jordan, being such a small and isolated congregation, the Feast of Tabernacles will mean a whole lot more than it would have just a month before. Lewis

Rise and Shine!

A new page has been turned in the book of Emily. As long as I can remember, sleeping in has been an important part of my day. Getting up early is not a skill I have ever learned before. But coming to Jordan has brought many new experiences for me. Who would think that seeing the sunrise would be such an exciting experience? This morning at 5:30 I awoke to the sound of our alarm. I wasn't sure what to do... should I get up? Or go back to sleep? So I got up and poured myself a drink of water to wake myself up a bit. Then it happened. I saw something from the window. My eyes were drawn to something orange and pink covering the horizon. It was the sunrise! I've seen a million sunsets, but this was different. Intead of everything getting darker as the sun goes down, everything started getting brighter as the sun came up!Maybe the beautiful sunrise is just what I need to want to get out of bed so early in the morning!

Lessons from an Event -- Lena

As those of you who have been following the blog may know, it is currently Ramadan. There are some interesting customs during Ramadan. The most obvious is the fasting; it lasts from sun up to sunset, which means most people are up for the 4:30 call to prayer, and immediately start cooking a giant feast for the breakfast, usually followed by a half day of school or work (its much too tiring to stay at work that whole time -- that, and many people in Jordan smoke, and if you've ever been around a smoker that can't smoke, you can understand the crankiness). And then an iftar at sunset, which is another giant feast. We've had the opportunity to attend an iftar, and we thoroughly enjoyed all of the food. This past week the YMWA (where Emily and I work), was sponsoring an event at the Four Seasons hotel. It was a fundraiser/promotional/thank you event for many of the donors at the school, without which the school couldn't survive. Since this event took place during Ramadan, it had to take place after the iftar, the iftar is approximately 7:05ish, and the event began at 9pm, and didn't end until well after midnight. It was a wonderful event, full of good food, excellent apricot juice, beautiful Arabic music, and good company (and all for a good cause!!!). Besides the wonderful memories created that night, I also learned some valuable lessons:
1. Patience, not everything happens at the exact time you expect it to.
2. Pace yourself (you never know whats coming next)
3. Sit back and enjoy the show (you'll appreciate it a lot more that way)
and MOST IMPORTANTLY
4. NAP!

Aaah nuptials...Tine

The Jordan crew convened at my apartment to honor the day the VanAusdles were united in holy matrimony. It was a spectacular affair--soft background music, dimmed lights, shimmering “appled candles”--thanks to Zach’s last minute innovation--“Hey Tine, what if we drill the top of these 2 apples and stick candles in them?” (Dear Reader, although the apples were meant for my work lunch the next day, I did not have the heart to stifle Zach’s ingenuity, and so marked the demise of the apple as victuals, and the rebirth of the apple as ornament)




Per the menu, I made a creamy (instead of tangy) lamb mensaf ("a la Tine") and a mango cocktail. For desert, Zach and Em made a fantabulous peanut delight. At first the happy (and ravenous) couple were overwhelmed, in the end they were just stuffed (and lay immobile on my couch for half an hour...he he)

Lewis and Lena (my “Double L”) you are one year old now. Mabrrok!! Thank you for being the mom and pop of our new family.