Night of Dreaming

Tuesday + Wednesday, November 26 + 27

7:30 am. Today, after jogging, I'm taking some time for a cozy breakfast. I was planning to use the free time in the morning to clean our apartment (yes, it takes half a day for that), but yesterday we received news that there will be no water supply from the government in parts of Amman this Wednesday due to maintenance work on the water pipelines. Since our neighborhood Jabal Amman is probably affected too (no one seems to know for sure), we better be a little careful with our water usage. The water from the tanks on our rooftop terrace will probably be scarce for two weeks.

So, as I've been doing lately, I head to Manara, but today it's to learn Arabic in a relaxed manner on the sunny terrace. I really missed that during the busy days when I had no time for it. Also, today we have a mid-term exam in our Arabic class at GJU. It won't count towards our grade, but I still don't want to fail completely.

The exam goes well, and afterwards, I spend some time with Sophia on the premises of the MMAG Foundation. Later, we take a different route back to the university and stumble upon some unseen alleys while getting briefly lost. Amman really has an abundance of small, incredibly cute shops, cafes, and bookstores, all decorated in a colorful and loving way. I wouldn't mind getting lost here more often.

8:00 am. It's incredible how quickly time flies in the past few weeks. Today is already our third and (at least with this group) second-to-last English lesson at Tarabot. Not surprisingly, the group composition is different again from last week. Abdallah and Hadem, who were present in the first lesson, are here today too - I've nicknamed them the "Raudis". Even though I deliberately separated them right at the beginning of the lesson today, we can see that they are the main cause of disturbance in the class - it's noticeably louder than last week. However, we're getting better at dealing with it and manage to go through the lesson successfully. Most of the students are really motivated to improve their English. It's a shame that we only have four lessons for each group.

After our lunch break, there is a Tarabot team meeting. A Career Day is planned for Sunday, where different professions will be introduced to the children in a playful way. Sophia and I can catch a few Arabic snippets from the meeting and are already curious about how everything will unfold on Sunday. 50 children are expected - it's definitely not going to be quiet.

In the evening, after meeting up with our chaos group to reflect on our sound workshop and prepare for the final project report, I join the girls on a trip to Weibdeh. In the House of Dreaming, which we know from our Underground Amman Tour, the "Night of Dreaming" is taking place tonight - just like every Wednesday evening. Night of Dreaming means that during an "Open Mic" for 1.5 hours, anyone who wants to can present something of their choice on stage. Singing, dancing, art, poetry - whatever you like.

And indeed, there is a bit of everything. And none of us expected such high-quality performances - anything can happen at an Open Mic, after all. But the dance performances (hip-hop, breakdance, contemporary) are truly breathtaking and professional, as well as the singing of a singer-songwriter with a mini guitar, an older man who sings beautifully in Arabic, and a young woman who closes the event with an incredible voice. The poems and texts that are recited are also really impressive. We already recognize some faces here, including from the talent contest two weeks ago and from the MMAG Foundation. And even Ala'din, our guide from Underground Amman, presents a text. All in all, I'm really amazed. There are obviously many undiscovered talents in Amman. This certainly won't be our last Night of Dreaming.