Aqaba, and Five Days Left

I didn’t have much work in the office this week because I’ve done most of the filing for the incoming seniors, and the seniors have just about nothing left to do in the University Counseling Office. We had Sunday off, and then I stayed in my room on Monday because a cold that I had been escaping in Lebanon finally caught up with me, and I’m allergic to something in Jordan so my allergies were bad as well. With only Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for work, the time went by fairly quickly. There was one major highlight of my work week however, his majesty King Abdullah II paid King’s Academy a visit to address some of the issues in happening Jordan and the instability in the region. His visit was brief, but it was great to listen to him speak, because I learned more about the government and politics in Jordan. 

After school on Thursday, the Junior Fellow group boarded a bus, and drove south to Aqaba for a mini-vacation at the beach. Aqaba is a medium sized city in the southern most part of Jordan, and the only port city of Jordan. Medium sized beige, rocky, jagged mountains surround the city, and run parallel all around the coast. From Aqaba you can clearly see that Israeli city of Eilat right around the corner of the sea, down the coast are the mountains of eastern Egypt, and over the mountains just south of Aqaba is Saudi Arabia. What I love about that area is that everything, the mountains and the desert are different shades of beige and brown, but then the Red Sea is a rich, glittering dark blue. 

We spent our weekend relaxing at the Red Sea,  walking around Aqaba, and soaking/burning in the hot sun. 

So, It’s nighttime on Saturday the 7^th, I have work in the morning, and then in the afternoon I’m going into Madaba to pick up some scarves for my sister, and some things for me. I’m going to work for the whole week, since my flight home isn’t until Thursday night at 11:55, and I’ll probably start packing Tuesday or Wednesday night since I have so much to pack. It’s still a bit surreal that I am actually leaving this week. I feel like I have been here for so long, and yet my time here flew by. I’m anxious to get back home, see family and friends, catch up on all the little things that I’ve missed, but at the same time I’m a bit anxious to leave; my whole high school career I’ve been making steps to prepare for my walkabout, and now it’s over. I guess when I was leaving Columbus I was feeling very similar, anxious to get here, and just as anxious to actually leave. This walkabout that took years to dream up, countless advisories to understand, months to prepare for, a week to freak out about, and two days to get to, felt like it went by in a matter of minutes. Longest walkabout ever is just about over.