Stories

You know, if you're travelling to Jordan to study the Arabian Nights, then you'd better set aside some time while there to read the stories.  The stories themselves came up a lot in the course of the trip, often, happily for the professors, initiated by the students.  The most memorable time was planned, and, unlike most of my mad schemes, it could not have come off better.  On the day of our eight hour camel ride through the Wadi Rum (much more on that later) the students were exhausted so I figured they would try and beg out of the scheduled reading, but they were insistent.  So, we left the camp and walked out into the desert.  After the truly excellent Mahmoud lit candles we arranged ourselves in a circle and took turns reading from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.  At a certain point the students determined that Ali Baba wasn't actually the hero of his own story, and that, instead, it was his female servant Marjana; and another teachable moment arrived, and their upcoming Feminist literary criticism paper wrote itself.  We didn't actually finish the story because two of the students fell asleep in the sand, but I can't imagine a better story.  Plus, now they have to finish the story on their own for their papers (win/win).

The crew having a great time before we even started reading.  I've never led a group overseas who were more routinely and consistently happy and enthusiastic and engaged every single day.  A complete joy.

Rebecca, Emma and Liza locked in.

Hannah scrunched over and reading our copy of the Arabian Nights (we passed around a little flashlight or some students used the flashlights on their phones).  Nik is focused in and preparing for her turn.