And now for another update from world-traveling Leslie:

"Hello All, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Life in Jordan continues to be a learning experience. The holidays have been a bit hard but I was fortunate enough to be able to spend the Eid for Ramadan with a lot of Peace Corps people and Christmas with my host family from Madaba, they are Christian. It was a very nice Christmas though as always nothing beats being with the fam. Anyway, I have been here almost 6 months now!! It is hard to believe. Time seems to be flying by. Aqaba is continuously changing with the new Free Zone, everyday there is a new shop that opens. Ramadan was wonderful, everyday I ate at someone's home to break the fast. Yes I did fast and it was not so hard. They make all this special food for Ramadan that is very delicious and they eat so much that you are thankful for a break from all the food.

I have been working on a capacity building proposal for the environmental organization I work for. We are trying to strengthen our team to make it a stronger lobbying body in order to advise the government here on environmental laws and regulations and continue community awarenesss. I am also trying to form a snorkel clean up team with local youth to pick up trash on the reef twice a month.

I feel I am pretty lucky here. I like my neighbors and my job. Though there are times when i question things about the way Jordan operates and get a little confused by the people. I have had a few people try to convert me to Islam but most of the time I have pretty good discussions about how people view Islam and what how they view the world according to Islam. It is interesting to see the relations between the different ethnic groups, i.e. Palistinians, Jordanians, bedouin, and all the other outside groups, Sadies etc. Then it is interesting to see the clash or tolerance of the different religions or even families and to see how they form various alliances depending on who the enemy is. First they all hate the government of Israel a uniting force. Then they have disputes between Jodanians and outsiders, Jordanians do not like Palestinians. Then you have the religious break down between Christians and Muslims. Though if you are a Christian woman you can marry a muslim man but if a muslim woman marries a Christian man she is killed. It is defiantly an interesting set up here to say the least.

I am ready to take a bit of a vacation so I am going with a friend to Dubai for a few days and then to Zanzibar, Tanzania for a week. It will be nice to be in a different environment.

I hope you are all doing well! Take care Love, Leslie"