Jordan
The Dream of Fluency
The first year in Amman, I encountered lots of things I didn’t expect. I didn’t expect that my Arabic voice would sound different than my English voice. That people would laugh at me for saying something correctly. That in the same day I would feel the heights of exhilaration and the depths of humiliation.
‘The Most Important Blessing Is Bread’
In Amman, writes Heather M. Surls, reverent care for bread is an economic necessity, a religious discipline, and a cultural obsession.
The Refuge in the Desert
At the Shaumari Wildlife Reserve in eastern Jordan, oryxes, onagers and other imperiled wildlife species are making a rally, writes Danny Wright.
Playing in the Ruins
In Amman, a beloved playground becomes a popular tourist attraction. “When the archaeologists came to dig they would leave holes,” Yoseph said. “We had fun playing in the sand piles and refilling their holes.”
City of Mosaics
In the central Jordanian city of Madaba, the tedious work of restoring ancient mosaics never stops. “Replacing tesserae,” writes Danny Wright, “requires a dichotomous balance of strength and subtlety.”
Memory Songs
In a refugee camp in Jordan, a Syrian flute helps a displaced shepherd keep the past alive: “It took weeks to learn how to breathe in and blow out at the same time,” Jehad says. “Now I can play nonstop for hours.”
