The most popular girl in school

'You speak english very well' (leally? churs bro!), 'tomorrow you will follow Kholoud to school and speak english with her students.'

I have never been so popular in my life. By now I'm used to everyone staring (apparently their mothers never taught them its rude to stare). But at school,they didn't just stare, they followed. Followed me out the staff room, down the hall, up the stairs and to the classroom. Now Ive been swarmed by children in different countries before, but Im telling you: this was extreme. They crowded around the door, ignoring Kholouds orders to disappear. She shut the door; one girl got up and locked it. So there I was on one side of a locked door with 40-odd giggling, whispering fans and another mob of the same the other side...the only difference to me was that on this side the teacher was there for crowd control. So they all stared and smiled and asked me about myself and I drew a horrible map of Australia and NZ to show them where our noble country was and then Kholoud got on with her lesson. They were learning about 'Medieval Spain': 'Muslim scholars made many discoveries' 'Astronomers built many observatories to watch planets and stars' 'Nothing matched this knowledge until the 17th Century...'. What amazed me was that they could read and write all this, but then struggled to ask me the simplest of questions: 'Is you have brothers and sisters?' 'How you Jordan like?' 'Do you love you like?' (couldnt answer that one...) One girl raised her hand 'I love love you'.

The next few classes weren't as crazy, ie it was safe to leave the door unlocked. Though every 2 mins there would be a knock: 'Miss do you need chalk?' 'Miss, can I speak to my friend?' 'Miss, a message for so and so...' Oh they'd to anything to get a peek at me! The other teachers realised this too, after letting the same girls out 'to the toilet' multiple times. 'Haven't you ever seen a chinese before?' I asked them. They have many tourists in Madaba. 'Yes, but we haven't talked to one before or had one visit our school! ' Glad to make your day then.

I'm sure I'll be the subject of conversation in days to come, but I don't mind. Under the white head scarves and green jackets are young, cheeky, curious minds. I hope they don't lose them when they grow up. And though it was amusing to see the mania I thought it rather sad. All they've ever known are white headscarves and green jackets: the community here is very closed, Kholoud said. I didn't do a dance, make a speech, score a try or win the Lotto. The everyday me in my everyday clothes and everyday unbrushed hair fascinated them so. How I wished I could've shown them more of the things I've seen. I'm realising we've got a lot to learn about this world, but I think we also have a lot to give.