Site Assignment!!!!!

Ghoor Al-Safi. That's my site placement, and that means nothing to you! And it meant nothing to me for about five minutes. All 30 of us (we had our first drop out already) were in the Irbid training center. Our LCFs and the entire PC staff from Amman was there, all very excited to announce our sites. They put tape down on the floor of the theatre room in the shape of Jordan, and made us all go behind the curtain on the stage, and called us out one by one, cheering and yelling our site assignment. I was nearly last, and they yelled out "Ghoor Al-Safi, Karak region!" And I smiled and pretended to be excited, but I had no idea where it was! So I get ushered to the map, and placed RIGHT next to the Dead Sea. I was then told that I am officially the Peace Corps volunteer serving at the absolute lowest altitude in the world!!!! So now I'm world famous.

Ghoor Al-Safi is a village of about 14,000 people. There is a two-story girls youth center there, the Ghoor Al-Safi Markez Shebbat. It is about 10-15km from the Dead Sea. Literally, the lowest point on earth. The town is slightly bigger than I thought it would be, and it is only about an hour and a half from Amman (thank God), and only about an hour from Karak, and maybe 2 hours from Petra. Andi is living about 10km from Petra, which is soooo cool. She's gonna get lots of visitors. We all live alone in a a house or apartment in our villages (or cities, there are a few people in Amman, Irbid, etc.), and I get my own house too, which they are currently building for me. It isn't finished yet, which makes me nervous, but insha'allah (God willing), it will be done by Sept. 15th.

The only bad part about my village is the weather. In the summers, it is usually over 40 degrees Celcius. Which is about 106 degrees Ferenheit. It's really really really hot all summer long. In the winter, however, it's nice! Not hot, but definitely not cold. Probably around 75-80 degrees everyday. So, no winter for me! Which is nice, considering the rest of Jordan gets really cold, and all the schools and centers have are little space heaters, making it pretty much cold all day no matter where you are. Except in Ghoor Al-Safi. Most of the people in my village are farmers...lots of banana fields, potatoes, olives, and dozens of other crops. Water is plentiful. :) Which means I'll be able to shower more than once a week. Fantastic.

Kim is really close to me, and so in Andrew, another YCD boy. Jennifer is in the highest elevation in Jordan, where they enjoy lots of snow every winter. Of course, "lots" of snow to a Jordanian is probably like "lots" of snow to a Washingtonian. There are a couple of other PC volunteers in neighboring villages, too, but theyve been here for a year or more and I don't know them yet.

So, I won't be teaching music, and health isn't really going to be my focus at all, but the country director (everyone's boss), Darcy, told me that when she went to my village, she felt like it was as close to a "real" Peace Corps site as it gets. She said, "I really felt like it was PC." I'm guessing she meant that it's a village that really needs and wants my help, where I won't be bombarded with tourists or English speakers, and I'll really be able to get into the Jordanian culture.

Thanks to everyone who has been emailing me! I really love hearing stories from home. I feel like all I do is talk about Jordan and the Peace Corps all the freakin time, so hearing other things is realllllyyy nice. Nikita and Jiyoung: please tell me all the gossip from US magazine. Dad: what's new in golf? Jae: I'll be able to get packages starting September 15th.