Hello!
In this blog post, I’ll start by telling you about my Advent and Christmas period at HLID, and then I’ll talk about the rest of my holiday. Work on decorating the whole school grounds for Christmas began quite early on, in mid-November. Christmas trees were put up, fairy lights and artificial fir branches were hung, and nativity scenes were set up. I also decorated my room a little, hanging up a string of lights and, of course, a Herrnhut star. However, I couldn’t really get into the Christmas spirit without cold weather, time with family and Christmas markets. However, by the end of November, it did get quite cold, especially as it’s almost as cold indoors as it is outside. This meant putting on lots of layers and sleeping with at least three blankets.
In December, we spent a day baking biscuits with the children. Ina, who is also German and works at the school, had prepared everything, so the children could cut out biscuits and make chocolate crossies.
The day before the children left for their four-week winter holiday, there was a Christmas party. All the pupils had rehearsed group performances, signing to music. It was impressive and lovely to see everyone signing in sync and to the beat of the music, even though some of them cannot hear at all. The deafblind children and the Year 1 pupils had prepared a performance, too. Afterwards, Father Christmas arrived and gave all the children presents.
Two days later, the staff held their own Christmas party. The programme was very creative and included bingo, a raffle and a picture quiz where you had to guess who was in each picture. In one picture, for example, only the person’s hands were visible. Afterwards, we all enjoyed a meal together, and shortly afterwards, I suddenly found myself alone in the school.
I spent 24 December with Ina and some of her friends. We cooked maqloubah together, sang Christmas carols and played Ligretto. Maqloubah is a popular dish in which chicken and pre-fried vegetables are layered with rice in a pot and cooked. After about an hour, the pot can be turned upside down and the contents tipped onto a large plate. So, despite Christmas being celebrated on the 25th here, I was still able to celebrate it on the 24th.
On 25 December, the Christmas service took place at 10 am in the church on the school grounds. Afterwards, Father Jamil, the headmaster and pastor, and his family invited me to lunch. We went to a very fancy Lebanese restaurant in Amman and enjoyed a delicious meal.
I spent New Year’s Eve with Ina and one of her friends at the hot springs in Ma’in. These hot springs reach temperatures of up to 65°C in summer, but only around 45°C to 55°C in winter. The hot water cascades down the rocks in waterfalls, forming a river that flows into the Dead Sea. The scenery there is beautiful. The valley is green thanks to the river, and barren mountains rise up all around. The water in the hot springs was very hot but pleasant. However, you couldn’t stay in the water for more than ten minutes. The three of us had a lovely, relaxing time there.
I later spent another week travelling around Jordan with Rania and Jeremias, who are volunteers at the Theodor Schneller School in Amman. First, we took the bus to Aqaba on the Red Sea. Compared to Amman or Salt, it was pleasantly warm there, and we were able to swim and snorkel. There are coral reefs with a wide variety of fish nearby. After two days, we drove on to the Wadi Rum desert. It was freezing cold and very windy there. We really liked the camp, mainly because of the Bedouin hospitality and easy-going nature. We’d actually only planned to stay for one night before continuing on to Petra by bus the next day. We were told that a bus left at 5 pm. So we set off in the jeep for the bus station. However, when we arrived, we found out that there was no bus to Petra that day. We were therefore invited to stay another night at the camp. We gratefully accepted, of course, and the next day, we continued to Petra.
I am very grateful for the holiday and everything I experienced and did during that time. It’s now been three weeks since I returned to HLID, and everyday life has resumed.
Thank you very much for your interest. I hope you are all well and had a blessed Christmas and New Year.
Until next time!
Margarete
This text was automatically translated using an AI-powered translation system.
