Returning to Jordan

After years of threatening to do so I'm actually going to lead a student travel course trip this spring.  I've had students and colleagues, both here and on the other side of the planet, repeatedly encourage/dragoon/beg me to take advantage of my experiences and connections to lead a student group overseas.  For any number of reasons I've always begged off, but this year I've changed my mind.  My dear friend and stand-in little sister Cyndi Brandenburg are taking nine students to Jordan over spring break in March.  Initially I was considering a study abroad trip to India, but my excellent friend and student Mahmoud Jabari dashed the idea.  Mahmoud and I meet for coffee every month and solve the problems of the Middle East.  When I proposed the India trip he essentially said - and I'm not paraphrasing much - "no, you're going to Jordan, because you do love Jordan and the students will love Jordan." (spoken like a true Palestinian, I might add)  Who am I to disagree?  I'm embedding the trip in a couple sections of my Heroines & Heroes course, and I always have the students read a short retelling of the Ramayana, so the India trip made perfect sense.  Instead, Mahmoud proposed that I should build it around Lawrence of Arabia, both the reality and the legend.  It is a great idea, and so I took his suggestion.  I haven't turned my back on an India trip, although Jordan is certainly much easier to throw together in a hurry as compared to an Indian excursion, which would take much more planning.  So, get prepared - Jordan will be dominating the blog again very soon.

As these trips tends to be, it has been more than a bit of a logistical nightmare to put together (although it will pale in comparison to planning a trip to India).  Still, I am getting very excited.  There is so much to be revealed in Jordan.  As my friends quite correctly point out - I like to introduce my students to parts of the world that their parents aren't going to take them to on family vacations.  And, truthfully, can you think of a time when American students need to acquire a more sophisticated understanding of the Middle East?