Tarabot-Daily

Thursday, November 7th

7:30 am. This morning, same routine as yesterday: shower, breakfast, walk to Tarabot, play and craft with Sara, Jafer, Hamed, and Aiham, learn Arabic briefly, lunch break at Abu Wahid's. Sophia and I noticed that we are the only women who come to Abu Wahid's. There are some places here in Amman that are populated either by men or by women, and this one is definitely intended for the male gender. Nevertheless, we feel comfortable here, and Abu Wahid already knows what we want to eat before we order. Potatoes and hummus from him simply taste the best.

Here's a little anecdote: yesterday I took an empty oatmeal container from Lea's and ordered takeaway hummus from Abu Wahid with it. Everyone at Tarabot noticed that, which was the laugh of the day. Amer and Samer are still laughing about it today, and I have the feeling that this will continue for the rest of our internship. It's probably not common to bring a Tupperware container from home to buy hummus. And then also in Abu Wahid's rundown place. But I don't care. I'm happy to be laughed at for good hummus.

After lunch break, there is suddenly life in the house. Between 10 and 15 children come at the same time, all different ages but full of energy. The Tarabot colleagues struggle to keep everyone equally busy and satisfied - it feels like every child wants to do something different. We now realize that there is obviously no real strategy for such situations here, except to try what works best. Kemo, who read out the story about Mohammad yesterday while dressed up, suggests a few games that the children also enthusiastically participate in. Sophia and I, however, observe everything with raised eyebrows. In one of the games, the hands are shaped like a gun and you have to aim at other children, in another one, he makes the children march, left, right, left, right. We both hope that the kids don't quite realize what a soldier character all of this has. Sara, another colleague, takes over afterwards, and we relax a little. Hangman and "Who has the eraser" are definitely ethically more justifiable than the previous games.

At 3 o'clock, a bit earlier than usual, we say goodbye to the weekend. And it's truly the weekend: there is no lecture today. Sophia and I decide to go to the MMAG Foundation again and take a peek at the library that Bashar told us about two days ago. He is the first person we meet there again and offers us tea first. We then see the inside of the second villa, which is no less beautiful than the first one (beautiful floor tiles, high ceilings, a window front facing the city) and then go up the stairs to the library. Although calling it a library might be a bit of an exaggeration: in principle, it's a small room with a row of tables in the middle, bookshelves on the walls, a mini kitchen, a toilet, and a small balcony. However, everything is very cute and cozy, and it creates a relaxed learning atmosphere. Sophia and I use it for an Arabic session with Ammar and then at 7 o'clock we are sent home - closing time.