Mateo ’26 and Louis ’27, reflect on the meaning of camaraderie, new perspectives, and a special visit with His Majesty.
Today we grew our sense of camaraderie and challenged our critical thinking skills, considering solutions to real world issues. In the early morning, all the boys woke up due to our jet lag. An hour before breakfast we decided to explore and admire the beautiful campus of King’s Academy. We felt reminiscent echos of our home campus, a comforting feeling, especially as we were in a foreign place. The dry morning air and pink sky filled each of us with excitement for what was in store for us. Together, we were ready to take on this challenge and, more importantly, have fun. At the end of our walk, we played soccer next to a beautiful view of Madaba. The lush, green grass, staining our sneakers, gave us a sense of familiarity to Deerfield’s vibrant campus. It was refreshing breathing in the cool morning air, which prepared us for the long day ahead.
We began the school day with a crucial discussion with the passionate King’s Academy alum, Mr. Hamzeh al Qudah. He described in detail Jordan’s essential role in the Middle East and the nuance of their perspective in comparison with other nations. This made us feel enlightened because we now had an in depth understanding of a new perspective, one which we previously did not consider. We also were given a chance to ask questions and even challenge his point of view. We left the discussion with knowledge and a sense of consideration for several perspectives as we now understood how each may be affected by political, social, and economic policies. He spoke eloquently and delivered his information with brevity.
Later in the day we met with His Majesty, a surreal moment where we all grew our inner Deerfield pride as we listened to his stories of past experiences as a student. Afterwards, His Majesty, King Abdullah II, addressed the school, encouraging students to finish the year strong despite any bumps in the road.
Additionally, we met with several of the students at King’s as we continued to explore its campus. Jean and Mateo attended AP seminar and some of our students shadowed our King’s peers and attended classes. Seeing the similarities between our curriculums makes it evident that the Academy’s goals are modeled after Deerfield.
We ended our day by making our own dinner at a restaurant called Beit Sitti which means “grandma’s house” in Arabic. At this restaurant we made our own dinner and were further immersed in Arabic culture, learning how to make traditional foods. These foods included maqlouba (a rice and chicken dish), moutabal (an eggplant dip), bread and mousakhan rolls (fried rolls filled with chicken). While we cooked we listening to Arabic music. Once everything was in the oven we learned how to dance Dabkeh from Ms. Samawi.
