الآنسة المنزل

My Friends and Family,

I miss you all so much and hope everything is well on your side of the world.

I would like to start with an apology for being so out of touch these last few weeks—we have been insanely busy preparing for and executing orientation, and now getting the school year up and running.

While I want to tell you everything, I have an unfathomable amount of work and therefore not much free time at all—definitely not enough to even scratch the surface of ‘everything’. So, for now, here are a few highlights:

1. I am withering away in my hunt for hummus, falafel, and any other vegetarian source of protein…

I have been told by many credible sources that eating a vegetarian diet in Jordan is quite affordable and can easily be healthy and balanced. However, being a vegetarian on the King’s Academy campus is another story entirely. The vast majority of meals served in the dining hall are meat-based and hummus is only available about a third of the time—when it is, I eat entire bowls. Most of my meals consist of pita bread, potatoes, and salad.

Whenever we eat off campus, I stuff my face with more hummus and falafel sandwiches—my new favorite food. The other Junior Fellows and I loooove falafel sandwiches and plan to write a book entitled “Jordan, One Falafel Sandwich at a Time” in which we detail the social significance of falafel sandwiches, describe and rate the many vendors in the major areas across Jordan and of course discuss, compare, and rate the sandwiches themselves.

While I am discussing food, I should mention that they sell highly addictive lemonade here, known as “Lemon Ma Nana,” or “Lemon with Mint.” I have spent an absurd amount of money on this too-good-to-be-true beverage that we (the JFs) have fondly compared to air-conditioning in a cup—a true god-send in this heat. I’ll get the recipe and make it for you all when I see you next. It is orgasmic.

(I should be getting a fridge in my room soon, where I’ll be able to keep a personal stash of protein rich foods—this should be a short-lived period of involuntary fasting.)

2. My shower drain has many uses...

For my first two weeks here, I shared a huge bathroom (6 showers, 8 toilets, and 10 sinks) with the one other Junior Fellow who is living in my dorm. We each monopolized half of the sinks and declared a certain toilet and shower ours and ours alone. We kept our areas clean and respected one another’s space. While slightly absurd, it was very funny and we grew to appreciate the others’ cleanliness. When the time came to remove my toiletries from all over the counter in preparation for the students’ arrival, I knew the dynamic of my bathroom was going to change dramatically—however, nothing could have prepared me for what was to come.

In the last three days, our sacred space has been thoroughly infiltrated with students. Not just any students, but students who smoke cigarettes in the toilet stalls and showers, using the vents and drains as ash trays. Within hours of their arrival on campus, the bathroom began to reek of tobacco.

While I am upset about the new state of my once surreal bathroom, there is a much bigger problem at hand: an unfathomable number of people here smoke.

Smoking is not only socially accepted, but actually encouraged here. Children usually begin smoking between the ages of 8 and 10. By the time they reach their teen years it’s not only an addiction to the drug, it’s an addition to the behavior—since students here aren’t allowed to smoke on campus, they walk around using a pencil as a prop and going through the motions of smoking. I can’t tell if they do it completely out of habit of if some of it is just to look cool. Regardless, it is a serious problem.

Once I have interacted more with the students, I’m sure I’ll have more to report about this issue.

3. I have used a hole-in-the-ground-toilet…

Enough said.

4. I need to have more tolerance for incompetence…

Prior to my arrival at King’s, I hadn’t fully grasped the implications of my Phillips Academy education and experience: how completely and totally my time at PA had shaped my expectations and aspirations. Of course I knew that I was coming from a highly privileged background. Of course I knew that I had grown accustom to working alongside both professors and peers of exceptionally high caliber. Of course I knew that I was throwing myself into a setting that was just about the polar opposite of what I’d grown comfortable with. And yet, the differences between Phillips Academy and King’s Academy are still both shocking and frustrating.

It boils down to the fact that PA has been in operation for over 230 years, while King’s has been in operation for three. PA is a well-oiled machine: it functions with little to no internal complication and, by way of repetition, has developed an equation that has proven successful time and time again. Every individual (faculty, staff, and students) on the Phillips Academy campus had a clear job description, knows exactly what is expected of him or her, and exactly how he or she can contribute to the success of the school. In that respect, King’s is an unorganized mess. No one here has an accurate job description because at the end of the day, everyone has to pitch in to do what needs to be done. This school is still in the phase of trial and error—and it shows in just about all aspects of life here.

While Andover has Exeter and Deerfield has Choate, King’s is all alone out here. Because is such a unique institution—a New England style boarding school in the Middle East—it has nothing to compare itself to and measure itself against. In addition to the challenge of going at it alone, this solidarity has led to another tangible problem: without a rival school, the students lack school spirit. This is especially apparent in sports (they think, “Why should we practice soccer if there is no one to play a game against?”) but has also seeped over into the academic and artistic realms. Because this is such a unique place, and the students who go here are so unlike any other college applicants, universities may not be holding them to the same standards as their peers in other boarding schools. Their scores are lower, and they simply do not work as hard in their classes as other boarding schools’ students—and yet, because they are an anomaly, they will still get into the top schools, and they know it.

Additionally, there are so many factors that the administration has to juggle: cultural norms, expectations, traditions and values, the ethos and pathos of the school, its mission statement, what the school’s long-term-goals are and how exactly those goals can be achieved while also acknowledging and respecting all of the contradicting expectations of the students and their families.

I realize that I am being too vague for you to really grasp the particulars, and I apologize for that. I will delve further into specific issues that fall under these categories in my letters to come. For now, though, you should know that these are some of the puzzle pieces that we as a community are working with, and some of the concepts that I am turning over in my head day in and day out.

I want to be sure to also say that dealing with the many struggles that this school possess hasn’t been all bad. I realize that my phrasing may imply that these issues are just frustrating and irritating for me (which they are) but I want you to also know that I am excited to be at this place at such a crucial time in its history. Because everything is so new and nothing is set in stone yet, it is a really compelling place to be—new ideas are needed and therefore encouraged, thoughts can become reality. It’s like working with wet clay. This school isn’t even chiseled out yet, much less glazed.

This is where I will leave you for now.
There is so much to consider and always more to learn.
I will be in touch again soon.

Love,
Emily