Sightseeing

In my first few weeks in Jordan I have also managed a bit of sightseeing. There are certainly a lot of sights to see in this country and I already know that my short-time here will not allow me to see as much of it as I would like!

A two-hour drive north of Amman is the town of Umm Qais. Situated on a hill, close to where the borders of Jordan, Israel and Syria meet, are the Roman ruins of the ancient city of Gadara, complete with amphitheatre, columns and stunning views out towards the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights.

It was the first warm and sunny day since I arrived and we spent some time wandering among the ruins before enjoying a long lunch at a restaurant overlooking the site. We then drove back to Amman through the fertile Jordan Valley, which runs parallel to the border with Israel and is full of greenhouses where a multitude of fruits and vegetables (but probably mostly tomatoes) are grown.

Last weekend I visited the Amman Citadel, right in the heart of the city. The site dates back to Neolithic times and has an immense history of occupation over many centuries. The two dominant feature are the remains of the Roman Temple of Hercules

And the restored Umayyad Palace

It's all set high on one of the many hills of Amman and so you get amazing views of the city in all directions.

Apart from the fascination of these historical sites that have survived so much I thought one of the nicest things about them was that for Jordanian residents the entry fee is affordable to most people as it's the equivalent of about 25p or 35c. This means that they are not just somewhere for tourists to go but they are also a great day out for local families who take along a picnic and enjoy spending time together.

First weeks in Jordan

I have now been in Amman, the capital city of Jordan, for three weeks. It's been a busy time as I have met colleagues, tried to get to grips with my job and started to find my way around. It's been a mixture of emotions these first few weeks.

I am frequently confused:

• Although a lot of people speak English the majority of conversations are in Arabic and so a lot of the time I have no idea what people are talking about. Even when someone kindly translates I am often still not exactly sure what has been said.
• We work from Sunday to Thursday and go to church on Friday so I never seem to know what day it is.
• As the 'newbie' on the team I have a lot to learn about the projects we are running, the places we are working and the people we are partnering with. It's a lot of information to take in but I think it's gradually making sense.

I am often amused. As I get to know a bit about another new culture there are always things that make me smile:

• The Jordanians really don't like snow. In the first week I was here it was very cold and when snow was forecast the government declared two days of shorter working hours and strongly recommended that people didn't travel around the city before 9.00 a.m. or after 6.00 p.m. In the end there was more rain and sleet than snow but my colleagues were very concerned for a few days.
• If you go to a meeting that finishes at 11.00 a.m. you may need to eat the enormous 'breakfast' that has been prepared before it is possible to leave.
• Although Amman is a modern city I still managed to spot some camels just hanging around with their Bedouin owners on the outskirts of the city. 

I always seem to be eating:

• Amman is full of places to eat, with restaurants and cafes serving food from around the world. In the short time I have been here I have eaten fish and chips in an Irish pub, Lebanese wraps, Chinese take away, Italian lasagne, Jordanian chicken and English breakfast (but without the bacon!)
• Every lunchtime my colleagues order food to be delivered to the office. This can be anything from more traditional Jordanian food to MacDonald's.
• There is an Italian ice-cream parlour across the street from where I am living and it's never too cold to eat ice-cream...

I am sure this is just the start of many new experiences and emotions in the coming months.

Off on my travels again

It has been a year since I last prepared to go overseas and as I do so again the familiar feelings and routines kick back in. The initial excitement and anticipation is replaced with apprehension and activity. It feels ‘right’ to be embarking on this next contract but in many ways it is a step into the unknown so it is also a time of mixed emotions.

Although it is my 11^th overseas assignment there is still a lot to do in order to be ready to go and for a few weeks my life consists of e-mails, lists, visits and packing. There are multiple e-mails back and forth with Head Office making sure all the required documents are read and signed and all the practical arrangements (like flight bookings, insurance, etc.) are in place. I make lists of things I need to do (tell my bank I will be using my debit card overseas, get my haircut, check my vaccinations are up-to-date, etc.) and lists of things I need to buy (an international driving permit, US Dollars, toiletries, etc.). I try to see as many friends as possible before I go. I start ‘gathering’ – gradually putting more things in the corner of my bedroom that I want to take with me and I go over and over in my head the clothes I will pack. This also requires some research about what the climate is going to be like and what is culturally acceptable and usually results in things being added to the 'to buy' list. The actually packing happens the day before I leave when everything I want to take is laid out on my bed and things are added and taken away until I am happy that nothing has been forgotten and everything can be justified. I try and fit it all into one suitcase and even though I think I have kept things to a bare minimum I inevitably find there are things I take that I never use or wear. 

This time I am preparing to go to Jordan for three months to work with Medair in one of their four programmes in the Middle East responding to the humanitarian fallout from the crises in Syria and Iraq (the other programmes are in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon). It’s a part of the world I haven’t been to before and I will be living and working in the capital Amman. There are an estimated 600,000 refugees living in Jordan, mostly from Syria (although some reports suggest this could now be as many as 1 million) amongst a population of around 7 million people. Most of these refugees are living outside of formal refugee camps in sub-standard accommodation with limited access to water and healthcare and Medair is working to improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable. You can read more about Medair’s work in Jordan here. I will be working in the office in Amman supporting the project activities both in Jordan and the surrounding countries through the strengthening of the logistics, finance and HR functions. 

I will endeavour to update this blog on a regular basis over the next three months with reflections, anecdotes and photos of things I see and do. So thanks for stopping by…

On being home

It's 4.00 a.m. in the morning and despite how tired I feel I am wide awake. Jet lag. The seven hour time difference between the Philippines and the UK means my body thinks it's 11.00 a.m. and way past the time for sleeping. Last night I fought the tiredness I felt in the evening and stayed up until after 10.00 p.m. in an effort to get back into a normal sleep pattern again. Clearly it's not working yet...

Jet lag is not the only thing I'm wrestling with as I adjust to being home after three months away. I always liken that first 48 hours or so of 're-entry' to an out-of body experience (not that I've ever had one of those!). My body is in the UK but a large part of my heart and head is still full of where I've been. I have to adjust all over again to things that are so familiar because they haven't been part of my world in the last few months. My world has been very different.

So I'm getting used to:

• Sleeping without ear plugs. The world outside my window in rural Cumbria is a quiet one compared to the life lived on the streets of Leyte. There are no motorbikes roaring up and down the street. There are no dogs barking. There is no karaoke bar. No one is sweeping the street, chatting loudly to their neighbour as the new day dawns.
• Drinking tea without ants. The ubiquitous tiny brown ants that have a surprisingly sharp nip are no longer floating to the surface of my morning cup of tea.
• Taking a shower under hot running water. No more lukewarm (but not quite warm enough) bucket showers for me for a while.
• Drinking cold running water from the tap. Filtered water is the norm whenever I am overseas and despite the luxury of now having drinking water literally 'on tap' I am still dehydrated. In a hot climate drinking water all day long becomes the norm but when the temperature is cooler the immediate thirst is not there. My body can't seem to adjust that quickly to this lack of water and the combination of tiredness and dehydration feels a bit like having a constant hangover (not that I've had one of those for many years...).
• Not sweating while just sitting. It's spring in the UK and although the sun may be shining by no stretch of the imagination could the temperature be described as even being 'warm'. There is a distinct chill in the air and as long as I remember that I now need several layers of clothing to keep warm all will be well.
• Walking down the street and not hearing 'hi' shouted at me by every child I pass, to which the expected response is 'hi' and a high-five.
• Not being with the friends I've made and the colleagues I've worked with over the last few months. The toughest part of coming home is having to say goodbye to the people who have enriched and touched my life, not knowing if our paths will ever cross again.

And so much more, including a house with carpets, driving on the left, no rats in the kitchen, no cockroaches in the bathroom, TV, a comfortable sofa to sit on, it not getting dark until gone 9.00 p.m., fast internet, a reliable mobile phone network, no power cuts, no water shut-offs, doors that open and close easily because they are not warped by the constant humidity, not eating rice, flushing toilet paper down the toilet. The list goes on and on.

I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to experience something of life lived in another small corner of the world. It just seems to take a while for my body and mind to get used to the differences. Now, let's see if I can get back to sleep...

Transforming a house into a home

This is Leena's* story. She is just one of the many people Medair is helping here in the Philippines and it seems a fitting story for my last blog post from this fascinating country.

Leena is a single mother with five children who lost her home during Typhoon Yolanda. In the first phase of the project Medair provided her with a basic house structure but she did not have means to complete it. She did the best she could but it wasn't really a good environment for the family to live in.

This year Medair is returning to families like Leena's and is providing them the materials they need to finish their houses. If necessary, we are also paying for a carpenter to do the needed work.

The materials are delivered

Within two days, and after some hard work by a small team of carpenters, the house that Leena and her family have been living in for nearly a year is virtually unrecognisable.

Inside there are separate areas for preparing food and for sleeping.

The family finally have somewhere they can truly call HOME.

* not her real name

All photographs in this blog post by Edsel Delopere / Medair Philippines

What's cooking?

On my arrival in the Philippines a few months ago one of the first things I learnt about was lechon. The people of the Philippines seem to love their food and lechon is one of the favourite dishes: sold in the street and served at all special occasions.

It is a young pig of about six months old that is seasoned, skewered and roasted whole on a spit for several hours. I have seen lechon stalls in the streets of Tacloban. Some have a cooked pig on display, while others just have the slices of meat waiting to be purchased. Until this week I hadn't seen the actual cooking process.

On Friday our neighbours at the office were cooking lechon in their back yard. The pig had been skewered with a large bamboo cane and two men were cooking it over an open fire. One man was constantly turning the pig to ensure it was cooked right through while the other was keeping the charcoal hot beneath it by adding dried coconut shells to the fire pit.

A few hours later we were informed that the lechon was ready so work stopped again to go and see what happens next. The head and two front legs had been removed and were sitting on a table.

The rest of the pig was lying on banana leaves on another table and one of the men was hacking it into pieces using a very large machete.

It seemed only right that I should taste this local delicacy so we purchased a kilogram for PHP 320 (about $7 USD or £5 GBP). There was no discussion about cuts of meat. We got the next kg the man cut away from the carcass - skin, fat, bones, meat and all...

I'm told, by others, that this was not the best lechon. By the time we ate it at lunchtime the skin had turned chewy rather than being crunchy and for me there was a lot of fat and bone to pick through to get to the meat (although my Philippine colleagues didn't seem to distinguish between meat and fat). But the meat was tasty and I couldn't really have left the country without tasting their national dish, freshly prepared and cooked right next door.

Easter Getaway

The Easter holiday in the Philippines runs from Thursday to Sunday and, due to the country's Roman Catholic heritage, it is probably the most important holiday of the year for many people. It is a time to spend with the family and to participate in the various church services that take place over the four days.

For me and my colleague Esther it was an opportunity to take a break away from work and to explore another part of Leyte Island. The office and the team house where we live are just 200 metres apart at opposite ends of the same street and so it is not uncommon for the majority of our time from Monday to Friday to be split between these two locations. I may be living on the other side of the world but the demands of work often mean I only see a very small part of that world.

We booked a three-night stay at a diving resort in Southern Leyte near the town of Padre Burgos. We had no intention of going diving but as this area is known for its diving sites most of the resorts are aimed at divers. On Thursday morning we left Dulag and drove south and within a relatively short distance you could see the landscape changing. Dulag and the area to the north towards the city of Tacloban were right in the path of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) and the devastation caused by the typhoon and the accompanying storm surge is evident all around you. In the collapsed buildings, the missing roofs, the on-going construction, the blown down trees, the coconut palms missing their tops: everywhere you look you are reminded of that event. But further south is a different picture. It is less built up, less industrialised, which also makes a difference but I was struck by how many more coconut palms there were, how much greener, how much less 'broken' everywhere looked.

We had been invited to call in at the home of one of our suppliers on the way and so after an hour of travelling over the mountains that run down the middle of the island we arrived at her home on the west coast. The Philippine people are very hospitable and very generous and breakfast had been prepared for us and what a breakfast it turned out to be: fish, shrimps, mashed potato, salad, bread, watermelon, coffee. If we had not stopped eating I think she would have just kept on bringing out more food!

As we left we were presented with two cake boxes "for the journey". Her daughter is a baker and had prepared us blueberry cheesecake and some kind of mango desert. We accepted them with great thanks for her generosity although we were both wondering what on earth we were going to do with them*

Then it was back on the road for a further two hours drive to reach our destination. And what a destination! It was like being in a different world. Beautiful clear blue sea, the coral beach, the only sounds were the waves on the shore and the breeze blowing through the trees. This was a great place to get away to! On Friday we went out on a boat with the divers. We sailed across Sogod Bay and while some people went diving I went snorkeling. It was stunning. The corals were just so alive - vibrant in colour and teeming with so many fish of all shapes, sizes and colours.

Most of the rest of the weekend was spent relaxing by the sea, reading, sleeping and enjoying the view.

As we were on the west coast the sunsets were spectacular.

 

And on Saturday evening there was a partial lunar eclipse.

It was a weekend of rest, relaxation and awe-inspiring beauty - the perfect Easter getaway!

* We gave the cakes to the manager of the resort and asked him to share them with the staff - I hope he did!