We continue to be safe. Life in Jordan is continuing as normal. We had less sirens yesterday and today, and still no attacks have hit their targets in Jordan. Our air defense system has been shooting down all the things that are entering our air space. No recent word on debris. No recorded deaths. One source I read had a few injuries from debris, but nothing serious.
Today is our third day of online school, and we just got the announcement that we are opening for in person learning tomorrow.
After the US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was hit by drones, the US embassies in the region, including Amman, evacuated all personnel from the embassy compounds. Then, yesterday the embassy here in Amman (and others in the region) announced that they were ordering the departure of all non-emergency embassy employees and all families. Embassy kids are big part of our student body, so a bunch of students will be affected. We will be doing hybrid learning (both in person and online) while those students are out of the country. It will be challenging, for sure, but that’s where we are. I am looking forward to being back in my classroom.
There is a lot of confusing information coming from the US government right now. On X and on WhatsApp there was a message that was urging American citizens to leave the Middle East. Our embassy has not given similar messages. The state department website lists Jordan at Level 3, which means reconsider travel. That is not the same as being evacuated. The embassy employees are being ordered to return to the US because of the attacks on US embassies, both Riyadh, and the Dubai consulate over night. What I have heard from our embassy in Amman is that the threat of attacks is on US embassies, not any civilian targets. The embassy is not evacuating US citizens from Jordan. We are not evacuating; we have no plans to leave right now.
I understand that you may be watching the news and reading this and thinking that you would do something very different were you in my place. That is totally your right to think. And if you were here with me, you would have the right to make your own choices. But please recognize that you do not actually know what this is like and you are not here to make the real decisions. Please trust that we are smart people who are making the best decisions with the information we have at hand. I promise you that no one is being foolish.
If things change, then we will change. You can trust that. If we need to leave, we will leave. Planes are flying out of Jordan each day. Royal Jordanian is apparently famous for flying consistently, even in a crisis. There is not precedent for what is happening right now, but I have faith that we will do what we have to, if we have to.
If you need a little perspective: ICE has killed more people on US soil than Iran has killed people in Jordan.
My sincerest wish is for peace.
