Glimpse Inside the School Grounds

  

On one side of the school grounds there is a covered eating area.  The middle schoolers and high schoolers can choose to eat lunch in the cafeteria or out here at the benches.  They have 35-40 minutes for lunch and have the freedom to go where they wish (lunch tables, field, basketball court, gym, grassy plots, library, cafeteria...).  It doesn't get much better than that.  There's a hot lunch option each day as well as regular daily offerings... salads, sub sandwiches, yogurt, juices.  The school is a no soda or billion calorie sugary snacks zone.  The kids are chomping at the bit to buy lunch.  I sent Nicholas off with money today to purchase lunch tickets.  They'll each get 10JD/month for food (a lunch costs 2.25JD, I think).

Spending time outside is a big part of their school day.  Between every set of classes (they have four 90-minute classes a day) they have a break, one is only 10 minutes to visit lockers, but how relaxed compared to VA.  The school isn't that big, and 10 minutes to change books and get to the next class is a luxury middle schools and high schools in PW County did not have.  It's the way school should be, really.  Relaxed with a steady flow, not a crazy rush into the press of throngs of students between classes, only to choke down food in the 20-25 minute lunch period).  And the changing class bell?  Big Ben.

So if you're facing the outdoor tables and turn to the left, you see the basketball court.  The blue door to the right is one way to find the gym.  The school store is there as well.  Anyone want anything that says "Scorpions" on it?

Something you'll notice is all the green.  Amman has trees.  And the school has flowers, bushes and even some patches of grass.  The soccer field is artificial turf, but it looks good.  Yes there is a lot of brown, sand, white, yellow, tan, gray... but you'll see green sometimes too.

Turning 180 degrees to look the way we came in, you see the round multipurpose room on the left, some facilities rooms straight ahead, and more of the green patch on the right.   Apparently the seniors at the school have claimed the grass patch as their own.

The multipurpose room used to be the room for the school to congregate.  That's when it was small.  Now the school holds roughly 600 (?) kids and the multipurpose room is used for meetings and talks, and I believe some pre-K activities as well.  It's a nice room with powerful air conditioners.

Photos of hallways are uninteresting, the playgrounds all belong to the elementary school, the gym is too dark, and the library is under construction.  We'll see what I take photos of next time.  Maybe there will even be kids.