"How I Spend my Days in the Ghor" by Anoud Alsalem
Countless weekends, summers, and school holidays are spent at our farm in the Ghor, loosely translated to the Jordan Valley. To us, it’s a peaceful sanctuary, and an opportunity to push pause on our fast-paced lives and refresh.
I wake up in the early morning to the sounds of birds chirping and distant, yet enthusiastic greetings. They’re here! I jump out of bed and rush down to greet my uncles, aunts, and cousins who have just arrived. Warm hugs and kisses are exchanged and we sit at the dining table for breakfast – the most social meal of the day. The aroma of freshly baked manakish fills the room as we eagerly wait to get our hands on the first batch out of the oven. The events of previous weeks are recalled as each person shares their stories, evoking the start of an endless stream of narratives for the day.
‘Did I show you my new garden plants?’
‘You need to give me this recipe!’
‘Who wants to play outside?’
‘Me!’ I yell, as my cousins and I rush to finish the last bites on our plates to spend the rest of the day outdoors. The series of activities begins with a common tradition: a game of spies. We begin our mission impossible by planning our objectives and final rendezvous on our – very real – walkie talkies while weaving our way through the chicken coop then the horse stables. We carefully make our way through giant thorn bushes and old furniture discarded in a place that the rest of our family avoids, to us: a perfect place for a secret base. Our base – a clearing under a canopy of intertwined branches – provides us with a sense of independence, time away from the adults, and a place where we can share secrets and plan adventures that don’t exist in our confined city apartments.
Next, we head to the beach. A ten-minute walk along a muddy path leads us to a steep ledge. The familiar scent of salt and Dead Sea mud sparks flashbacks from the same place but at different times, and with different people. We make our way down until we are finally close enough to touch the water. We smear mud all over our hands and faces, and inevitably get our clothes dirty. The same clothes our mothers pick out specifically for us to annihilate.
After hours of play, we take a much-needed break with the rest of the family as we admire the sun that colors the sky with shades of pink, yellow, and orange, as it sets behind the twinkling sea horizon.
Today, I get to see my brothers invent their own traditional games, find their own secret bases, and navigate their way to the beach for the first time as my cousins and I leave behind a piece of our childhoods for the next generation of adventurers.
The Ghor isn’t just a place we go to during holidays. It’s a place where we’re set free from the chains of the fast-paced modern world. A place for social gatherings, escapades, and getting messy. A free-zone and a gateway to thrilling adventures into the date palm forest that have shaped me into the curious venturer I am today.
Anoud Alsalem was an intern at the Amideast Jordan office.
