– “Hello, Mother!” said I excited for finally hearing from her.

– “ Oh, sweetheart! I missed your voice! How are you doing?”

Her voice was like medicine for my lonely soul; she always represented an anchor for me, making sure I didn’t fly away too far from her nest, but apparently, she did not succeed well. Because she let me free; she let me fly and find my own little purpose in this giant world.

– “I am good. Everything is fine here, what about you?”

– “Nothing special. As usual, your Father went fishing with his buddies for the weekend. Soon I will garden a bit; I miss your helping hands there…” said she laughing remembering the old times of our teamwork. I could feel in her voice, how it changed slightly at the end that she really did miss those days; me too, but I was more passionate about something else at the moment.

– “Me, too.” was all I could say feeling a little ball in my throat.

– “But tell me, how is Jordan? I was looking forward to hearing from you and your exotic experiences!” raised her voice with excitement, I needed to put further a bit the phone to make sure that my hearing did not get damaged. 

– “Well… Where shall I start?” popped up the poetic question. “Today I wandered to Petra. It is not that far away, a couple of hours from Amman. In spite of the fact that Petra is an ancient city; yes, Mother, it is actually a city, you cannot imagine how huge it is, I did not manage to see everything. At the entrance, I got a map, which helped me to navigate through this breath-taking red maze. It felt like a true adventure walking-in history witnessing architectural miracles with the stone-craved temples. I could feel the ancient aboriginal’s spirit lingering there whispering prayers. What is more, Mother, it was well preserved! Unblemished and taken care of! Jordanians truly respect their past.” said I thrilled remembering the day’s adventure.

– “It does sound magical. But what else did you do there?” asked my mother curiously.

– “As I said, I did not have time to see everything, because I planned also to cruise around the desert, Wadi Rum, which was around an hour away from Petra. Mom, I have to confess that I have fallen in love with the desert. It was beautiful and miraculous! The pictures are not even close to show that hidden gem. As we traveled around the desert guided by Beduins, we stopped from time to time to check out the most dazzling views. The tranquility of sitting by a small fire in a Beduin tent and watching the calm camels just laying around in the red sand.”

– “Quite an extraordinary adventure, we can admit that. But besides true beauty and hidden gems in Jordan, what else did you find?”

Her question struck me back from my imagination, it made me stop and think. Indeed, besides well preserved and dirty places, what is actually the message to the world, what this place is trying to send. I saw and felt so many in the last couple of days, that in my head quite a sum of ideas was swirling around showing contradictory images. Now, dear Reader, you may think I almost went crazy, which is true, because it is hard to create an overall comment on something layered with complex levels. First, we have the green upper part of Jordan, as well as the deserted, mostly Beduin habitat part; equally, we have the downtown and the outskirts, the more modern part of Amman. I felt like in the windy maze of the Jordanian desert.

– “One opinion is clearly made, Mother,” said I after a prolonged pause. “we all could learn from them, from their incredible method of preserving historical sites. Not surrounded by garbage, not damaged. Nevertheless, at the seaside of Aqaba, the quantity of waste is not environmentally friendly, however, the application of circular approaches are implemented to reduce the waste, also using that opportunity into a possibility of new job creations. These methods resulting in new business cases for resource-efficient ways and grant a stable income for several communities. Mother, do you know Aqaba what is most famous for?” silence from my Mother’s part “For clear water and coral reefs, even though they can discard 150 tonnes of waste per DAY! Due to the numerous restaurants and hotels; as you know it is a well-known tourist destination.”

– “Stella, dear, what did they do to improve this horrible situation?” 

– “They trained hotel and restaurant staff in waste management practices and implemented projects to cut waste to landfill, by revised menus and better food management. Also, there is a fixed waste tax, which could be reduced for those hotels that manage better their waste.” said I proudly, hoping that this nation tries all means to protect the environment.

– “Indeed. Great point, dear. However, let me tell you the news. I cannot wait more to disclose this.” changed my mother the subject abruptly, making me worried mostly. “I received in the mail a very ‘magical’ little package.”

– “What package?” asked I truly tensed at this point of the conversation.

– “From the university, you applied for a month ago in…” my mind went silent, I did not want to hear, or at least, to accept what she revealed.