Retreat!

I had three titles in mind as I sat down to reflect on the crowded events of the last week. I will probably share all three eventually, but the chosen title of the entry, the word, retreat, is such a delicious word. Oh, the many implications of this word retreat! As I like to do, I checked with dictionary.com as to how that website defines the word. Here is what they offered:

re⋅treat –noun
1. the forced or strategic withdrawal of an army or an armed force before an enemy, or the withdrawing of a naval force from action.
2. The act of withdrawing, as into safety or privacy; retirement; seclusion.
3. a place of refuge, seclusion, or privacy: The library was his retreat.
4. an asylum, as for the insane.
5. a retirement or a period of retirement for religious exercises and meditation.
6. Military.
a. a flag-lowering ceremony held at sunset on a military post.
b. the bugle call or drumbeat played at this ceremony.

7. The recession of a surface, as a wall or panel, from another surface beside it.
–verb (used without object)
8. to withdraw, retire, or draw back, esp. for shelter or seclusion.
9. to make a retreat: The army retreated.
10. to slope backward; recede: a retreating chin.
11. to draw or lead back.
—Idiom
12. beat a retreat, to withdraw or retreat, esp. hurriedly or in disgrace.


So which of the definitions best fits the last week? If you know any of the events of the last week, appeals to the disciplinary committee and headmaster about a ruling made 10 days ago by the disciplinary committee (I sit on that committee), as well as a new problem/crisis from a team on an away game. (Remember that here “away games” do not mean Brooklyn, for example, but Beirut, Lebanon!). There was a colleague who was, as they say, on the verge. And new issues with…well…let’s just say it was a week crowded with events.

Which of the understandings of ‘retreat’ is it?

If you know me, you probably know my employment of ‘retreat’ can’t be anything with withdrawing—it’s just not what I do. But…oh, did you see choice #4 with the “asylum, as for the insane”?? That’s a good one! Perhaps a bit apt.

No, I chose the word because of the interpretation as a “refuge” or even for the “religious exercises” or “meditation.”

Last week at this time the History Department was packing up after a weekend retreat at Tala Bay. Back in August I had asked the department to carve out some time away from the campus, away from the issues of attendance and behavior and writing and sit-down meals and study hall, so we could enjoy a refuge from the world-at-large, and relax in a place of retreat. The Royal Court makes available for our use at school a big, rambling beach house condo if any groups care to make their way down the Desert Highway, four hours south, just past the port of Aqaba to the sleepy, quiet cove of Tala Bay. The bay is a retreat, a seclusion from the Red Sea. Pretty snazzy place for a department retreat, eh?

We piled on a KA bus on Thursday late afternoon, made a quick stop at Chili Ways in Madaba (it wasn’t even my idea!) and laughed our way down the spine of the kingdom to the comfy quarters of the beachhouse.

In all my years of leading history departments, I had always wanted to schedule a retreat where we could relax, have meetings, engage in collegiality and fellowship and discussion, and of course, it is never the right time, or well, not always does one have a Royal Court to provide the lodgings free of charge!

I have been to Tala Bay once before (check out a blog entry from late last May) so I knew to expect the banks of computer screens in the media room, the many, many flat screen TVs and the 15 or so bedrooms. Each of us could have a retreat-within-the-retreat, if need be. The plan was to work on our term exams, proof read a Mission Statement I had crafted for our department, and discuss how to be more effective teachers. And to cook together have some fun.

The refrigerators are well-stocked with bottled water and soda and there are mountains of candy bars around the compound as well. And there is the beautiful pool and patio area and just a three-minute walk around the pool area is the bay itself. An early morning walk provides just the retreat from the world can restore the soul.

We started in immediately on the fun. We played a game called “Apples to Apples” with which you may be familiar. It was a hilarious start to the weekend with the whole gang crowded around a big table. We would crowd around that table for several meals during our weekend stay, and each time it felt more and more bonded as a group.

One of the department members did not come on the trip, but otherwise, we were full force and on Friday morning people either started in on exam-writing or took a quick dip in the pool. I didn’t schedule the department meetings until the afternoon, so we could enjoy the balm that is the beach for a few hours. The AP teachers among us tended to put the nose to the grindstone immediately, but even when your environs are so splashy, it’s still a retreat from your usual surroundings.

In the afternoon I asked the department how we know when a comedian is effective. It’s actually pretty easy, isn’t it? When you hear an audience laugh—you know the comedian is effective. What about with teachers? Not so easy…how do we know?

We had a great discussion, sharing teaching joys and teaching terrors, committing ourselves to the Mission Statement, not just hoping these statements might come alive, but plotting how we can these hopes into effective practices of teaching. It was a stimulating discussion about goals and statements and aims and practices. After that, more shared dinners and games and laughter.

As we got on the bus a week ago about now to return—the opposite of withdrawing, I might add—my colleague Yasser announced that the weekend retreat had been one of two highlights for him so far in his tenure at KA. Delightful to hear after I “took away” their weekend, but good to know we had enjoyed that seclusion from everything else.

I was back about an hour when I got a call about the violators on the school trip abroad. Since our headmaster is away, Julianne would have to be in charge of the school and removed from the direct proceedings, and so she placed me in charge of the investigations and disciplinary committee hearings.

That little retreat had worked some magic, but now we were back into it. This disciplinary committee would consume large chunks of the next few days, resulting in about 11 hours of hearings. It was exhausting. Again, students violated trust and lied. Persistently! We met in many stages, and eventually recommended that more students withdraw from the school. That is never simple. One wishes we could retreat from such decisions.

On Thursday evening Julianne decided it was time for a dinner party. She asked me to make dessert for 13 and so Thursday afternoon I happily slaved over an Apple Crumble that tasted like autumn in the Midwest. We had a long evening enjoying the food and fellowship, enjoying a makeshift retreat from the difficult work around us, but reveling in this break. Her call had started the week, but the sweet apples, toasted oats, butter and sugar had provided the punctuation mark on the week. So, my runner-up for the title of the week was “Apple Crumble.”

During the week I decided I needed to indulge in some guilty-pleasure-escapist-fare television so I started in on the DVDs of last season’s heart-pounder 24. I have loved this show for years, but have missed it since coming to Jordan. I decided that since Jack Bauer’s days were always more crowded and nerve jangling than mine, it would be good for me to watch and escape into Jack’s earnest work to save the world. In one of the scenes when Jack meets the President, played by one of my favorite Broadway actresses, Cherry Jones, she questions whether or not he is truthful. She says, “How can I be sure where your loyalties actually lie??” Kiefer Sutherland, indispensable as all-mighty Jack Bauer looked her in the eye, and softly replied, “With all due respect, Madame President, ask around.”

I loved it! Ask around was my third potential title for the week. When I told Julianne I was spending my non-DC time and non-classroom, and non-Dean, and non-department Head time steeped in Jack Bauer’s difficult work, she looked me in the eye and reminded me, “Yeah, but he’s fictional! We’re in it for real!”