Coffee soon to be considered a Health Drink??

“Coffee found to be high in health-giving antioxidants“, according to a news article in the Belfast Telegraph.

I had previously shared my great appreciation for coffee (black; no milk, no sugar) and its fascinating cultural and social significance. But my health-conscience always attempted to regulate my daily intake, and went as far as thinking I should give it up all together (it never got close to the point of execution mind you )

You can tell I was pleasantly surprised by this article I came across today.

A study has found that coffee contributes more antioxidants – which have been linked with fighting heart disease and cancer – to the diet than cranberries, apples or tomatoes.
Fruit and vegetables have long been known to be a good source of antioxidants, but the new findings are surprising because it is the first time that coffee has been shown to be such a rich source of the agents.

[...]

Antioxidants help to rid the body of harmful free radicals, destructive molecules that damage cells and DNA. They have been linked to a number of health benefits, including protection against heart disease and cancer. Studies have associated coffee drinking with a reduced risk of liver and colon cancer, type two diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease.
But Professor Vinson urged moderation, recommending that people should drink only one or two cups of coffee per day. He added that it was important not to ignore the benefits offered by fresh fruit and vegetables.

[...]

A spokesman for the British Coffee Association said: “This study reconfirms the fact that moderate coffee consumption of four to five cups a day not only is perfectly safe but may confer health benefits.”

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Well I wouldn’t go that far, but I’m glad I can savor my two daily cups with no guilt attached

Picture time ;)

I have around 1500 pictures from Public Achievement ’s International Youth Camp in Northern Ireland; digital cameras are a wonderful thing… not only did I fulfill my heart’s desire of clicking and capturing every moment, we also put together all the pictures from the participants who had digital cameras, and burned them on a CD for everyone to take home as a memory from camp

Here are a few glimpses from the amazing ten days…

This is a side-view for the Corrymeela Peace and Reconciliation Center where the camp was held

Me after hiking to the top of the hill overlooking the Carrick-a-reede rope bridge, note the people on the bridge far down

Here are pictures from the town of Ballycastle, the incredible nature and scenery, the surroundings through which I enjoyed a morning run. Every morning no matter how late I’d gone to bed the previous night, I’d go for a run to the beach or through the fields, you’d just want to run and run and run because it’s so beautiful!

See the bench, it overlooks the ocean… across you can see Rathlin Island and to the right you can see Scotland on a clear day, it’s perfect for quiet time with yourself. Then there’s Finland’s cultural night which was a lovely colorful mid-summer’s eve celebration.

Click to enlarge

Note; I am saving all the pics and thoughts from our Arab cultural night for a separate post!

One of the things that characterize Corrymeela is that they ask for volunteers to help with the dishes after meals… this was actually quite fun and a nice way to work together and be part of the community! I realized when I got back that it really doesn’t take that much time or effort to lend a hand after lunch, and I guess it was a pleasant surprise for mom

Click here to see more of the people, and the last night’s activities and goodbyes.

Discovering Jordan

I’m in love with the Mujib Nature Reserve!! Hiking through that water trail has by far been one of the most amazing things I’ve experienced in Jordan. The stunning beauty of the sandstone Mountains with their mind-blowing colors is just beyond description. I was so very disappointed for not being able to take my camera along, but the hike involved not only walking in waist-deep water, but also swimming in water 10 meters deep, climbing slippery rocks, sliding through waterfalls, and jumping into the current… IT WAS GORGEOUS!! Next time I’ll buy a water-proof cover for the camera and show you what I’m talking about

So what got me there? I still haven’t rested from the youth camp in Ireland and I still have so many pictures to post from there and so many stories to share… but today’s hike was part of the program for a conference that started yesterday entitled “Middle East Regional Youth Action Network”, organized by the Quaker Service in Amman, and bringing together 28 actively involved youth from Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq. At first I wasn’t sure I was up for it, because I felt I really desperately need time to digest the Ireland-experience, besides sitting with the family and relaxing a bit… but today was just so wonderful and the participants are really inspiring and fun that I feel there’s so much to learn, share and enjoy.

The Mujib Nature Reserve was the most perfect reminder of the fascinating authentic beauty of Jordan, with its own unique character. You really have to experience it!

Just a few tips though…
-GET A CHANGE OF CLOTHES!! I had to dry naturally in the sun after being completely soaked wet, and it wasn’t exactly comfortable!
-Hiking sandles would be better than shoes.
-Don’t go in a very large group, up to ten maximum. For us today it took much longer than it was supposed to and we didn’t finish it all the way through for lack of time.
-You need to have some level of fitness, and not be afraid of heights or water.

Big thanks to the guides who were with us today… they really ensured everyone’s safety throughout the tough risky parts and put up with our lack of discipline and inability to listen sometimes… and Cheers again to RSCN and the Wild Jordan initiative

At the end of the day we went to Mount Nebo and watched the sunset there, which was very serenely beautiful.

Back from Northern Ireland

I don’t know where to begin… there is just so much that I want to share and reflect upon after this incredibly rich and exciting experience. The 10 days I spent at Public Achievement’s International Youth Camp- Youth as Evaluators at Corrymeela were very intense, organic, thought-provoking, and quite enriching.

I would’ve loved to blog everyday, because there was always so much that I wanted to say, but there was just so much to do and experience that I couldn’t bring myself to wait for a turn to use the one internet-connected computer. I did however keep Journals, well… up until a certain point at least!

Well, I won’t attempt to be brief, but I guess I will just keep writing bits and pieces for the next coming days or weeks or months, as I try to put together all the thoughts and tackle all the questions and understand the impact of the experience.

During the opening of the camp, one of the things said was that you learn the most about your country when you’re outside of it, and throughout the entire camp, this just struck me as incredibly true. People were always asking me lots of different questions about Jordan, and there was that part of me that tried so hard to give a representative answer that reflects the majority of the Jordanian society and not just me in my little universe… but eventually I realized that I can’t do this; first of all, I can’t attempt to give a perspective broader than the one I experience, and second, I shouldn’t feel guilty or think that I am not quite entitled to reveal Jordan to the world through my eyes. The best you can do is just share your own experience and your own life with sincerity and honesty. Another thing I realized was how important it is to be politically and socially aware… which is something I always pick on my sisters about! Sadly there are lots of young people in Jordan who don’t read the daily newspaper, and if they do then they’d mostly skip the local and international politics… Many are just stuck in a bubble and live in denial to the bigger reality of Jordan!! For a while I guess I was like that, and stepping outside the bubble proved to be frustrating and disturbing at times, but you cannot turn back!!!

There was one time during the camp when I experienced the most brain-picking, thought-provoking conversation I’ve had in so long… well, it was not quite a conversation but an interview, and the question that was put forth time and time again was “Why?” “How come?” Why did I make the choices I made? What was it that made me want to do something different? Why not stay in your bubble? Is my family the average Jordanian family? What is “Typical” in Jordan? Why do I think that I can make any difference?

I can only tell you that I’ve brought back lots of questions with me, and as tiring as it might be for my brain, I am very excited about this new quest to understand myself and where I am and what role it played in shaping me to be the person I am today.

Throughout the camp I got to remember what it is I love doing and what I am passionate about… I guess the challenge lies in not allowing myself to simply forget it now and fall back into the quick-paced rhythm of daily life, fitting into pre-defined paths and patterns!! I also realized how amazingly rich and vibrant our culture is, and how much I want to immerse myself in it and preserve its character.

Wow! I am actually in the mood to write on and on… but I guess I should just do it in separate posts. I am sure that I will keep on writing and reflecting for some time to come. I still have to tell you about the incredible beauty of the place, about running and swimming in the freezing ocean water, about our activities, about our wonderful Arab cultural night, about volunteering in the kitchen about my impressions and observations on Northern Ireland, about the interesting things we’ve done, plus bits and pieces of random thoughts.

Look out for lots of pictures to come your way in the next couple of days (I personally took over a thousand)… but for now I’ll leave you with these two; the first is the sunset from the plane to Belfast, and the second is yours truly during the cultural marketplace presentations – never mind the shoes though!!!

Please Lord keep those Maniacs out of my Jordan!!

Live from Corrymeela, Northern Ireland

It’s 4:30 AM… no I didn’t just wake up, I never went to sleep I finally got the computer with internet connection and no one waiting in line, and finally downloaded some of the pictures (already took around 200, in three days!!) and uploaded a couple to share and give you an idea of the wonderful time I’m having here. There is so much I want to share, but I don’t have the time nor the energy to do it at this very moment so I’ll kind of go in points:

- Northern Ireland is a GORGEOUS place… we spent one night in Belfast and then the next day went up north, to a center called Corrymeela – which just deserves an entire post, to describe not only the beauty of the location but the fascinating concept upon which it was established and all the wonderful volunteers who help in this place… there’s a very special sense of community around here, and we’ve all come to be part of it. “we” as in the 70 young people who are here from 12 different countries as diverse as South Africa, Holland, Serbia, Finland, Palestine, Israel, Turkey, the US, Ireland… hmmmm… who am I forgetting?? Well… anyways, the main theme of this camp is for young people to learn to become evaluators of the different youth programs, but also there’s a huge cultural and intellectual input, and there’s this amazing process of breaking down barriers, presenting the issues that we feel challenge young people in our countries, and just getting to learn, undertstand, and network!

I woke up at 5:30 the first day, while we were still at Belfast in a place called Farset, and got to see the sunrise

The next picture is of Ballycastle, the small town next to the center where we’re staying. You can see Scotland across the sea on a clear day.

-This morning (or should I say yesterday morning) I got up early and went jogging along with a group of Finnish girls and some others… it was the most beautiful, liberating jog ever, with the green hills on one side, the sea on the other, Rathlin island across, and the lovely small town houses and golf hotels up ahead. We got to the beach and continued running there, and then got caught under one big sudden shower of rain… which was so refreshingly nice and such an authentic Irish greeting

-An example of how friendly and down-to-earth Irish people are is the way people who were walking along the beach would immediately smile and say Good Morning to you when they see you! I was trying to imagine doing such a thing while running in a street back home… enough said

-They’ve got great fresh milk, and the best chocolate you could ever find.

-The political situation in Northern Ireland between Catholics and Protestants is very complex and I’ve realized that I know practically nothing, so it’s been very enlightening to get to hear about it from the young (and less young ) people here, and the way it’s been affecting their lives. I never knew the extent to which the Catholics identify with the Palestinian struggle and cause, just check out these murals…

-One little adventure before we got here was that we missed connectine flight from Heathrow to Belfast (we were 6 from Jordan and three from the West Bank). We were so lucky to have a nice Spanish lady who works at British Midland airlines help us and get us boarded on the last flight of the day to Belfast without having to pay any difference or anything. Wouldn’t it have been interesting if we ended up spending the night at the airport, especially that it was that night when the British Airway strike took place and things got so chaotic at Heathrow!

Anyways, this was just a tiny glimpse of things here… I’m trying to keep regular journals and I’ll try to find a way to keep posting them. I guess I forgot to mention that we’ve been divided into six committees to sort of take ownership of this camp and take charge of running it, and I’m with the media group… so we’re using all sorts of methods to capture the essense of this conference and document it

Off to Ireland!

I just woke up (Instead of two hours ago when the alarm was supposed to go off!!!)

I still have a few last-minute things to do (procrastination sucks sometimes). My friend was telling me the other day that I am always ‘m3jou2a’ and that hopefully these 10 days in the beautiful countryside of Northern Ireland would teach me to relax

I’ll be leaving the house in less than two hours… I don’t know when I’ll be able to post again, but I sure will try my best! I’m sure there’ll be loads that I wanna share… Oh you should see the amount of stuff I got on Jordan; it’s been so much fun preparing and coming up with different ideas!

The best part was getting together with Roba for the Jordan Planet cards… You Girl Rock

Ok gotta run! I can’t promise when the next post will be bs nshalla soon

The Quest for a Visa

My upcoming trip to Ireland is co-sponsored by the Quaker Service in Jordan and Public Achievement/Ireland, and since it is an International Youth camp I figured the Visa issue is just a formality that I don’t need to worry too much about! Two of the participants went before me to the British Embassy in Amman with only an application and two invitation letters and got their visas right away… so naturally, I – Lina – went there only two weeks ago with all the confidence in the world. Since this is Jordan and since you always end up knowing somebody somewhere, it turned out a relative of ours works at the visa department, so I called her the day before to check how the procedure goes and what I might need. The next day I went with dad early in the morning, only to find a whole lot of people waiting for a turn outside (outside as in, behind barriers, on the pavement, standing, in the sun!!) An embassy employee would come out every once in a while to take down names and call in a few from the list. The majority of the people waiting in front of the consulate were Iraqis applying for settlement visas… I don’t know why I just felt so sad, especially when I saw those applying for a “highly qualified immigrant” visa!!

I was extremely embarrassed when that man came out and called my name and my dad’s to come in, before everyone who had signed up earlier – turns out our relative put in a word for us!! And then inside, they took us straight to the counter where you take a number, ahead of everyone sitting in the waiting room… I just wished I could disappear at that moment! Then I got what I deserved when it turned out we forgot to bring sufficient cash and that they don’t take credit cards, so dad left me to go get the money and I ended up waiting for the 30 minutes I was logically supposed to wait in the first place!

When my turn for the interview came, I thought that having the invitation from PA Ireland and the Quakers here was more than enough… but looks like the person I got was in a picky mood; she asked me tons of questions, and called me 20 minutes later to tell me that my request for a visa had been rejected! REJECTED!! ME??!! I was so unprepared for such a thing! The explanation she wrote was “You are a single 22-year-old Jordanian female who says will attend a youth camp. However, you have not provided sufficient evidence to establish your circumstances in Jordan. […][…] I am not convinced that you are seeking entry for the purpose and period you stated nor that you intend to return to Jordan afterwards.” When I told her that they had already granted the visa to two GUYS with the same documents I had she looked at me indignantly and said “we do not base our assessment on previous cases, we study each case individually!”

Can you believe that??!! Well… I couldn’t! So then I had to go to the University and get something that proved that I am a student and that I have credits left before graduation, I also got a document from the company where I’m training, and I had dad get me bank statements and asset documents and stuff… and I went there the following week (last Thursday). I didn’t call our relative or anything, and my turn didn’t take that long to come. It was actually quite interesting to see faces who had been there the previous week… we greeted each other like old friends “Oh you got rejected too?”

It’s fascinating to chat to the different people there, and hear their stories about why they’re going to the UK. There was one Iraqi woman with four children, all looking so tired and anxious! There was something about her that moved me… she didn’t look like the well-off Iraqis, she looked so worn out and her kids looked very messed up!

So my story has a happy ending; they took all my documents at the interview desk, told me that they weren’t holding interviews that day, and that I should come back at 5:00 PM to find out if I got the visa or not! Well… as you can tell, I GOT IT

What’s quite irritating though is that they make you pay the first time (70 JDs), BEFORE you do the interview… and then they reject you! Then you come back the following week; and they make you pay 70 JDs again!!! Wow I’m just trying to imagine the amount of money the embassy makes out of visa applications!

I know these countries have every right to worry and filter those who seek entry… BUT, I hate the whole concept of a visa!! I hate how an American or European passport is the magic key that opens all doors for you, you can travel the whole world with it! But if you’re a citizen of a developing country, you have to go through all sorts of senseless situations to be allowed to set foot on foreign soil!! Go see the sight of the people outside the British and American embassies, it’s humiliating, and plain horrible!!

Would they miss me? :(

On Thursday (in less than 48 hours) I will be on my way to Northern Ireland with a group of 6 Jordanian youth to participate in an eleven-day International Youth Camp – Youth as Evaluators. There’s a lot I want to write about this – the preparations, the quest for a visa, and a bunch of thoughts… hopefully I’ll get to that very soon. But I just wanted to share this thought that’s been haunting me since morning…

I was feeling so bad about how I’m gonna miss my sister’s Tawjihi party… and then I started thinking if the family would miss me during these 11 days, when it suddenly hit me… for the past month I barely spent anytime in the house with my parents, sisters and bro that they probably wouldn’t feel any difference when I’m away!!! With the 8-to-5 internship schedule I don’t have lunch at home anymore, I just eat at the company’s Cafeteria or grab a snack, and I usually have plans with friends and stuff to do after 5, and then at night I sit in front of the PC to check my email (which is blocked at work), read and write a little, then go to bed!

I hate this… I hate treating the house as a hotel – yes I guess many of us have heard it from our parents before but it never bothered me so much until now. I miss being so involved in our ‘home community’; lending a hand with an essay, giving someone a lift somewhere, taking one of my sisters shopping, or just talking and listening for hours!! I miss fighting with Laith over the PC, sitting with Sally to watch one of her teen chick-flicks, listening to Lara’s accounts of the hospital and patients, enjoying Rania’s music on the guitar or piano that has become so characteristic of our house, and sharing all my crazy ideas with Rasha!! I want to hear how mom’s day at work went; everyday! and I want to go see dad’s new clinic and get him something nice for it. I want to be in the loop on all the little house issues and details, the fun stuff, the silly stuff, the parental lectures… everything!

I guess this is how it becomes when everyone is on a different schedule and everyone is speeding on a different track… but I’m not ready for it just yet! I know this is how it is with most of my friends, I know many would say it is normal at this stage, but I’m sure it doesn’t get better as everyone grows older and goes their separate ways!!

Bottom line is; don’t take family for granted… you don’t know where life might take you, and every little moment you share with them is priceless!

I don’t know why I’m so mushy right now, so I guess I better stop here!

More on the Ireland trip to come

Amman after Sunset

I was driving close to ‘Da7iet Al-Rashid’ (behind the University of Jordan), and just couldn’t resist stopping to take a picture of the gorgeous view.

Little tip: when you’re driving in Amman after 6:00 PM, forget the car AC and just roll down the windows… I don’t think you’ll find such beautiful evening weather anywhere!

(plus you’ll save on fuel, which isn’t such a bad idea in Jordan these days ;p )