I’ve been back in Jordan for a little over a week now, and my internal schedule has more or less readjusted back to normal. However, I have a feeling that a large percentage of that may be because the internet at my house has not worked since my return. Not having funny cat videos, tech reviews, and Facebook at my house has remarkably reduced my ability to stay up until the late hours of the morning. I may be getting a full 8 hours of sleep for the first time in a decade!

Wajih has invited me to be the teacher of another technology class down at Ayn al Basha. This is with a new NGO contract, not with IRD this time but with some organization called UNIDO. Today is the big day, in fact – their representatives are going to be coming onsite in only a couple hours for a ribbon-cutting or some sort of equivalent. Classes are supposed to start next week on Sunday. As opposed to my previous training course with the IRD contract, this time I’ll only have 4 students instead of 18. Apparently UNIDO hand-picked them for this class and they’re supposed to have fundamental knowledge of computers already, which is why I’ve been told to step it up a notch and discuss Windows Server vs. Linux Server, installing patch panels, and the differences between Cat6 and Cat5e network cable (the former I’ve been installing for the past 4 days; it’s so tough and thick that my hands have practically been bleeding).

It’s amazing how much this site has grown in the past year. I still remember my first trip down here with Philip, way back in late 2008, when it was nothing more than a dusty old tile factory site. Now, between the IRD contract and the new UNIDO group, we’ll be teaching 20 different classes in 15 different classrooms. We have a sewing class and two computer labs, a welding facility, and a huge garden – the courtesy of Nicholas’ legacy before he left 4 months ago.

I look forward to seeing how far along it can get before I inevitably move onto the next stage in my life.

Before I get out of Aaron’s office and get back to work on the last few touches on my new classroom, I suppose I should do some quick research on different available Internet Service Providers, just in case there’s a better deal out there than my old now-expired Orange contract. Frankly, I’m leaning towards Umnia’s “UMax” service, because who can resist an advertisement like this?

DOUBLE TURDO SPEEDS!!!