Since my exodus, it seems things are getting pretty exciting in my hometown of Madaba. According to this story in The New York Times:

Deerfield Academy, with its brick buildings, blazing maples, jacket and tie requirements and powerful graduates, is the quintessential New England boarding school. Soon, it will see its reflection in an unlikely place, outside Madaba, Jordan. Deerfield officials are helping to establish King’s Academy, the Middle East’s first coeducational boarding school, at the request of King Abdullah II of Jordan, who graduated from Deerfield in 1980.

"The idea is to transfer the American-style boarding school to Jordan," said Safwan Masri, a professor at Columbia Business School and chairman of the new academy’s board. "We want to bring the best of American education and create a school like no other in the region, one focused on preparing leaders, both men and women, in the public and private sectors." Construction started in 2004, and the academy is scheduled to open in the fall of 2007. Faculty members will be hired in the coming months.

I think this is quite exciting although I’m not sure how well the "coeducational" aspect of it will be received.