October 5th, 2019 – Much like in the US, October is harvest season in Jordan. As a cultural excursion, CIEE gave us the chance to travel North to Ajloun to assist some locals with the olive harvest. Ajloun is about an hour North of Amman, home to Ajloun Castle and two churches to the Prophet Elijah, as it is believed Elijah was born near Ajloun and lived there for a period of time.
We arrived around 11:00 AM and loaded into the beds of pickup trucks that would take us to the trees we would harvest. Most of the olive trees in this region were planted by or before the Romans, making them over 2,000 years old!
Olive picking in Jordan is not easy work. It’s long hours in the sun day after day, but if you have friends with you, the time passes quite quickly. We are also told that not a single olive is to be left on the tree, it must be picked clean! While olive trees are not tremendously tall, you still need a ladder to get the olives at the top, but if you don’t have a ladder, there are other ways to acquire the harvest..
One of the center coordinators at CIEE grew up and still has family in Ajloun, so when we were done harvesting, we enjoyed a dinner with them in the orchard.
After returning home, I quickly fell asleep and did not wake up until 11 AM the next morning.
Midterms commence tomorrow morning so today was mostly filled with study. While doing Arabic drills on my patio, I heard a noise like stones bouncing off of metal. I looked out to the street and it was raining! The first rain of the season was today, and it was fun to watch kids in my neighborhood run out to play in it like how kids in the US play in the snow. The rain only lasted about 20 minutes, but it still seemed to be a momentous occasion for the kids of Ahmad bin Hanbal Street.
In the evening, after mass, I decided to indulge a little bit and go to Fatty Dab’s Burger Shack, which supposedly has the best burgers in Amman. I even sprung for the milkshake to make it a true American meal.
Following midterms, I’ll be on fall break from October 10th to the 19th. My friends and I have an amazing itinerary planned, but, once again, you’ll have to wait until next time to find out what’s on it!
-Matt
Reports and Reflections from Life Abroad 