3 Weeks to Go

April, 2011 is over today. 

In some ways, I really can’t believe it. In others, I am itching to get back to the States. As for my schedule, this weekend I cancelled plans to go camping after taking a peek in my wallet. The next week is our last two Arabic classes, then that weekend will be spent studying for the Final, buying presents, and prepping for my internship case-study. That week I will continue to write, go to Wadi Rum and camp under the stars, finally to Petra (inshallah), then more finals, end of classes…and then I leave to Israel! Four days later I move over to Sweden and then finally I go to the states June 2^nd. Absurd.

In any case, the last few weekends I have spent hanging with my host family, around Amman, talking with actual Jordanian residents, and doing some self reflection in Aqaba. Here are some cute photos of my host familia…(during a commercial of “Ashqa Mumnu’a” (Forbidden Love—an arab favorite Turkish soap opera).

Lara, Baba and Mousa

Lara and Mousa

Aqaba was beautiful. Originally I booked this trip by myself, with the intention of figuring some things out in my life—among them was being assured I could travel by myself. However, when I got to the hostel, I realized there were 8 other CIEE students in the same hostel! Though, this didn’t bother me, I just continued on with my figuring.

Essentially I spent most of my days thinking, swimming, sunning, reading, snorkeling, and talking with some of the folk I met at the hostel.  Here are some photos of beautiful Aqaba.

Aqaba Beach at Sunset

And if you think that women here are liberated of clothing when they are at the beach in 90 degree weather…you are severely wrong (in some cases). When I went to swim, not only was I harassed by many of the shabaab (youth, men), but a big Muslim family parked their camp about a foot next to me. It was laughable, really. So typical Jordan: hijab, full coated women and big bellied men, with a huge umbrella, naked children, brewing tea and coffee on the beach. It smelled good, I’ll give you that.

Aqaba Public Beach; notice the clothing contrast...

As a last thought: here is how I know I have assimilated to Jordan.

One day, as I was walking down to Rainbow Street to meet for argelieh on a roof (yes, so fun)…these events happened all in 2-3 minutes of walking, one after the other.

First, a car stopped on the road, rolled down the window and the man (maybe 5 years older than me) demanded for my phone number. After I refused, told him I was married, told him I had three children, and told him I lived in Amman, he persisted. Eventually I told him to “piss-off” in Arabic, and with the help of a loud car horn behind him (since he was holding up traffic), he went on his way.

The Sheep Herd

Two or three steps later, I realized I was headed straight for a heard of sheep travelling upstream the hill I was walking down! As I attempted to move around the sheep and their Bedouin hearders (mind you this is about 50-60 sheep!) while simultaneously avoiding oncoming traffic and sheep droppings, another car full of young men passed by me shouting out their window: “Sex! Sex! Sex! Sex! Sex!” At this point I’m sure I stepped in sheep poop, stopped dead in my tracks, and as I neared the end of the heard of sheep, the Bedouin header says, “Ahalan Wasahalan Ala’ al-Urdoun” (Welcome to Jordan).

Yes. Welcome to Jordan three months and 1 week later indeed, dear Bedouin header.

Addendum

Apparently there was a violent protest, as I was writing that last entry. Fortunately not in Amman. Just goes to show you the unpredictability. But not to worry friends and family--this protest WAS known and predicted to happen (not the violence), and I have to stay far far away from them or else I will be kicked out of the CIEE program.

Anyway, here is the link:

http://aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2011/04/2011415153839185473.html

Welcome to Reality

                One of the biggest mistakes I have made here in Jordan is living under the impression that this experience is all about me. Which, when you’re assimilating and trying your hardest to stuff as many foreign words into your head as you can, is easy to do.

                Though this experience was my choice, it isn’t mine alone, and it’s certainly not all about me. My family has been kind enough to not freak out to the degree that I am hearing other CIEE students’ families are doing—but let me make something clear: Jordan is a third world country. There are a lot of things here that occur that I’ve ignored and not told my family or friends because (fortunately or unfortunately) I’ve been consumed with keeping myself inside the lines of harmony. So when I say this experience is not all about me, what I am implying is that it is about the people I am affecting here, and how family and friends home perceive my experience. 

                So let’s go back to the beginning. Here are some fun statistics about Jordan you may or may not know, but are important.

1.       Jordan is almost 70% or so Palestinian (this means they have some kind of “western” origin)

a)      However, the ministry is comprised of mostly “tribal” Jordanians…AKA “east Jordanians” who only comprise 30% of the population. AKA: representation is real unequal.

2.       Jordan has a huge youth bulge: almost 60% of the population is between 15-64 years-old. The median age is 24.3 years-old. This reality hit me recently when I met with some diplomatic attachés who were 24, 26, and 29. All of which,  dawned suits and ties, and worked in the foreign ministry of Jordan.

3.       92% of all people are Sunni Muslim. After that comes 6% Christian (mostly Greek, Syrian, Armenian Orthodox).

4.       Also: Jordan has constantly had a high unemployment rate, hovering between 11-14% usually.

5.       Jordan is pretty much owned by the World Bank. They are in debt to it since 2007 I think. This means a lot of their laws, changes, and economic reforms much be reviewed by the World Bank. –they are 6.7 billion dollars in debt since 2009.

6.       Jordan has very few natural resources. No oil. Though it does has phosphates, agriculture, and human capital (mostly in the form of Medical Tourism)

7.       Jordan is one of the most water-poor countries in the world, and can’t afford to desalinate their water, like Saudi Arabia.

So, consider these fun stats, and now I’ll tell you three things I’ve witnessed.

Something I never really addressed is the giant revolution craze going on through the Middle East. In case you’re wondering, yes: everyone is talking about it. In fact my Baba gives me an update every day telling me who died where, and where the protests are the hottest. Right now, is Syria. In fact, if you are over 40 years old and Jordanian, you are forbidden to cross the border right now.

Jordan, luckily one of the most stable countries in the area, has only felt faint left-over vibrations from the rest of the revolution-addicted countries. There have been protests every week, and only one was “violent.” I use this term because from what most Jordanians say, it was a misunderstanding between two groups that are actually relatively for a similar reformation, but rocks were thrown and one old guy died…so the media ran with it and called it “violent.”

In any case, most people want reform, they want representation in the ministry and the legislation, they are frustrated with the constant pouring in of immigrants…and they are taking hold of the strings of motivation from the neighboring countries and running with it.

The protests are unpredictable elsewhere, but many of the protests in Jordan are widely known. For example, there were two yesterday which was made known by CIEE staff and the traffic. So. There is that.

Many people are attributing the protests to facebook and other media, but honestly…I think the time bomb just went off when the dear Tunisian man set himself on fire. What a way to start a revolution. Here are two quotes I really enjoy concerning the revolutions in the Arab world:

“If the one dominating factor of events today is their unpredictability, then it would be foolish to predict where they will end up…we don’t even begin to know. But the one thing I’m sure of is that history is on the move, and we’re just at the beginning.” – The Independent

And….

                “It is fascinating but quite provincial to focus attention — as much of the Western media is doing — on whether Facebook drove these revolts or what will happen if Muslim Brothers play a role in the governments to be formed. The Arabs are like a bride emerging on her wedding day and many people are commenting on whether her shoes match her gloves, when the real issue is how beautiful and happy she is.” – Rami Khouri

Anyway, this entry was sparked also by this new graffiti I saw on the wall near my house:

This refers to the fact that education here IS NOT free, and those that are almost free, are not of good quality, or do not have any good resources. Not to mention, Jordanians tend to complain that they are paying for Iraqi education, since there are so many refugees here. But even University of Jordan has major issues. In the past there were protests about the poor quality of the bathrooms in the university (in case you’re wondering, maybe 60-70% of the bathrooms are still squat-toilets, and toilet paper is a rare find).

It is also sparked by the fact that my 7-year-old host sister constantly mocks Gadaffi by saying “Bayt Bayt Dar Dar Zenga Zenga!” Take what you will from that.

Another photo:

 

This is a photo of my host sister wearing a blanket, but it illustrates the whole hijab issue. Yesterday I met some of my host cousins and one of them (around my age) helped Lara put on a hijab—and Lara was beaming. Hijabs (just the head-covering) here are really a style statement, as well as a step toward maturity that many girls want to take. It’s probably 90% of the time completely their choice, and its kind of weird to see Arab girls without one now.

There is no photo to illustrate this, but Jordan is still struggling with some major racism issues. For example, today I was cat-called/yelled at (you can never tell) by the word: “whitey, whitey!”…but more importantly, others—like Jews and Iraqis are more often the victims of prejudice. You can imagine why.

So, that concludes my poly-sci discussion. It’s a rough overview, and does not encompass nearly enough of what’s going on here (when you add all the factors together), but it’s a start. 

Travels and Beyond

                Considering I have been quite incompetent in updating this blog in the last month, I do not blame you if you have stopped looking for updates. But for that one lone set of eyes still dedicated to my letters: here is your update on, well, myself.

                The last time I wrote it was March 14^th, my lovely 21^st birthday. However, I am pretty sure I only wrote about the sheer possibilities of my birthday happenings. WELL, ladies and gents, let me try to give you a giant, yet organized and skim-able gist of my past month.

                March, in general, has been quite nutty. Not only was it my birthday, but it also contained the birthdays of many CIEE students, which is quite evident from the looks of my bank account. Birthdays in Jordan all follow a similar ten-part recipe:

1 part singing

2 parts company

5 parts alcohol

2 parts food (mostly in cake format, though sometimes Kanafé—see below--, and sometimes French fries)

Lest I say, much fun has been had. Besides birthdays, I have also gone on many amazing jaw-dropping trips.

#1 Ajloun. This is a nature preserve. There is also a castle. Here are some photos.

#2 Wadi Rum. This is the desert that you think of when people talk about Jordan. The Bedouins, the desert, the wadis/valleys, the sugary chai, and of course: THE CAMELS. This trip was an overnight trip which, at one point, I was not sure I would ever be warm again. This is when I really came to the realization that I came to Jordan unprepared for cold. Because the desert was very cold at night. Thankfully, some Bedouin lent me his camel-jacket and aint NOTHING getting through that thing. Anyway. Riding camels through the desert was definitely something I advise every human to do, as well as getting up and watching the sunrise. It was astounding—and it was so much fun to climb over everything…I want to learn to climb professionally.

Wadi Rum Photos!

#3 TURKEY.

                Istanbul.

At the last minute sometime in March I decided to go to Turkey for CIEE’s made-up “Spring Break.” I went to Istanbul and stayed with my Dad’s friend (who, with his personal assistant, Hediye) was unbelievably generous. We stayed in his house for four days while Hediye organized a personal driver for us named Oral, who was a riot, for free, and twenty-four. Istanbul, albeit rainy our first four days, was absolutely wonderful. We visited all the touristy sites: Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, The Grand Bazaar (The Scarf Epicenter),  The Bosphorous Sea, Taksim Square, Istiqlal Street, Sultanhamet, The Dolmabahce palace, some absolutely wonderful breakfast nooks, and some great live Turkish music bars. We also got home-cooked meals, free breakfasts, and hot showers! The generosity of the Turkish folk was just way more than I could have expected and I hope to eventually repay them for everything. 

                Antalya.

After some debate, the four girls I was travelling with decided to forgo a 9-hour bus ride and buy some plane tickets to Antalya to stay in treehouses and get some sun. Yes. That’s right. TREEHOUSES.

…Six hours, a car ride, plane, and three buses later we arrived at the Bayram Treehouse Pension where we ate awesome food, sat by the fire, drank fat Efes beers, and skinny-dipped in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, the beach was a whole quarter mile walk away and you had to walk through the 1^st and 2^nd century ruins in order to reach the beach. Haha, it was just beautiful. I would work there in a second if I had time/did not have to return to Jordan. When I told the Turkish workers that, they pointed at the “Help Wanted” sign and demanded I stay. In any case, this place was just incredible. Good company, GREAT breakfast nooks, quiet and lovely. Though our trip wasn’t over yet.

                Istanbul Part Two.

Six hours and, three buses, and one cab ride later, we arrived back in Istanbul to stay with my Dad’s friend’s sister-in-law’s apartment. Yes. That’s right. In Taksim Square. I loved them, and their apartment. Their generosity was again, humbling. We brought them cookies, and they brought us all over Istanbul—and danced until 4 in the morning, flipped a coin of fate which decided we should go back to sleep (though everyone else in Turkey on a Thursday was still up and about) to prepare for our journey the next day. We went back to the Grand Bazaar, haggled, ate more food, and enjoyed our last day in Turkey (and it was sunny!). Finally at 8:30 we called a taxi and headed to the plane back to Amman…

Link to whole Turkey Photo Album!

                The lessons learned this week include:

1.       I love nature. I think living in the city has made me realize how much I miss hiking, running in the hot sun and in the soggy rain, and napping in the grass.

2.       I can speak Arabic. For some reason, Turks don’t speak anything else but Turkish. Between the 4 girls, we could speak 6 languages: Hebrew, Russian, English, Arabic, Spanish, and French. But they only spoke Turkish. Thankfully our 10-word vocabulary of Turkish got us around. But when I returned to Amman, I realized how much I actually know. It’s worth a pat on the back. J

3.       Turkish men are much more direct than Jordanian men. Too many times I was directly hit on by Turkish men. They are much more direct, a little more dangerous, and kinda smelly.

4.       Pick the people you travel with wisely. I found out a lot about the ladies I travelled with. Good and bad. Travel brings out the best and worst in people. As Meredith (one of the girls I travelled with) said, “you can find out a lot about people from how they deal with two things: rainy days, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”Enough said.

5.       I want to live in Turkey. I plan on coming back and getting an apartment here. It is the perfect mix of middle-eastern culture and European style. I adore it. So much art, so much life!

6.       “Your niceness brings out the niceness in others.” Ercan (the boyfriend of the sister-in-law of my father’s friend) told me this when I told him he was too generous. Once I wrote in a journal entry of mine that there was not a shortage of genuinely nice people in the world. This saying, along with my own past thought, has certainly been solidified throughout this experience.  I could not have planned any of these events—they have all just fallen into place because of the generosity of others. It was beautiful.

This concludes the epically long update on my life. Now I am back in Amman, back to my schedule. It is crazy to think, but I only have four more weeks of the program here. I decided after travelling with the girls I would book an independent trip to Aqaba for one to just chill by myself, read, swim, scuba, and snorkel in the heat. Hopefully it will be sunny. Five weeks, and I will be in Israel/West Bank, then to Sweden, then home to Seattle. Time is speeding up. But I’m ready. 

Children & the Neighborhood

Three days after the race I attempted running on the treadmill again. After about 5 minutes, my shins were shouting some angry bits and pieces at me, and the end of my run (a whopping total of 5K) finished with an awkward and wobbly ending. Needless to say, I was still sore. However, I tried out running again yesterday and it was a bit less everywhere, yet still only 5K. Today my goal is to hit 6 or 7K.

                Skidding into another topic: TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!

This event has just begun, as its only 8:02 am here. I tried to sleep in, but the gargantoid windows in my room do a really good job at preventing this from happening. In any case, my plans are as follows:

1.       Go to Abu Jbara (a restaurant) for my Amiyah Jordan dialect class. We are studying food, so obviously we have to go out to get food to study it!

2.       1. Go to a meeting, then class (boring, necessary duties)

3.       2. Go run 6-7K at the gym, take a loooong shower  and a loooong sauna, and MAYBE even partake in some quality hot tub time.

4.      3.  Go home, grab some Maglouba (tasty chicken and rice) and celebrate with the family*

                (*This is something where I really don’t know what to expect. I know there is a cake      involved, but the extent of celebration is really unknown to me. I guess I’ll find out)

5.       Off to Paris Café for Tango and Tequila Night! (well, its just tango night…but for me its tango and tequila).

6.       Boogy home/sleep.

So anyway, those are my plans…we’ll see how they go. I shall update this blog about the realities of these plans on another date.

Anyway, this post is really about my perspective of kids here and my neighborhood. It is a positive and a negative topic.

In terms of children, the vast majority of children I’ve met here are horribly spoiled. Its not their fault, as the mothers and older siblings if any, dote upon the kids all day long—especially if it’s a boy. For example, Mousa, my dear brother, is three. Generally that’s not a bad age—however. Boys here are horribly destructive. He is obsessed with the song “Boom Boom Pow” (along with my two other sisters), and my computer has become a “boom boom pow” machine. Any time I am working, he says “Boom Boom?” and after I tell him no in about six different ways  and tones, he turns to the closest thing he can get his hands on and breaks it.

This is very frustrating.

My sisters are relatively similar, but they do less destruction and more “luk-luk-luk-luk-luking” (blah-blah-blahing). This is the best example of a day with them (translation from Arabic).

Gabby enters through main door and greets her Baba. After awkward mumbling renditions of “I’m good, yes, how are you?” she exits the kitchen and goes to her room to put her bags down.

Enter Sara and Lara to Gabby’s room.

Sara: Are you studying?

Gabby: Yes. How are you, how was school?

Sara: Okay. Do you want anything?

Gabby: No, thank you.

Silence incurs. Sara stares at Gabby as she studies. Three minutes pass.

Sara: Are you studying?

Gabby: Yes.

Sara: Do you want tea?

Gabby: No, thank you. I told you I don’t want anything.

Sara: Do you want to eat?

Gabby: No, I’m not hungry, thanks.

Sara: Are you studying?

Gabby stares at Sara, then looks back to her work shaking her head. Enter Lara.

Lara: Can I use your iPod?

Gabby: No. I’m using it.

Lara: Oh.

Lara and Sara sit in room, staring at Gabby. Enter Mousa and everything goes to hell.

Anyway, you get the point. The result of this interaction is that I cannot study in my house. Thankfully, there are now two places nearby I adore that I can go to hide when I am sick of these guys.

1.       Paris Café

2.       Zach’s apartment

Paris café is wonderful. It has anything you can ask for, and I’m finding out how truly wonderful my little town of Weibdeh really is. There are awesome artsy cafes and restaurants all around, an art museum, and lots of very friendly people. Café Paris is really my favorite though, as it is a French Café with a library, free internet, alcoholic, hot, and cold drinks, pasta, hookah, and a really great atmosphere. It also helps that the owner took a liking to me and insists I eat frozen cheesecake with him. Anyway, tonight is Tango night—and he is excited for me to come for my birthday.

                The second place I have uncovered is literally about 100 steps from my family’s apartment. Zach, a Fulbright scholar here, lives down the street in about the same size apartment my family lives in for 400$ a month. This place is huge. You could never find this quality of an apartment in New York for 400$. If you asked in NY for one for 400$, the landlord with laugh, hand you a box, and send you to the alley.  So, in any case, this new friend of mine (as I’ve told him a bunch of times) is really a savior, because not only can I swipe some of his internet, but I can get lots of work done, make dinner that won’t make me feel like I’m never going to be able to get out of my chair (we made salmon cakes and broccoli last night!) and I can sprawl across his couch or do yoga on his floor without feeling awkward. Needless to say, I feel at ease. This is a huge deal…as I am somewhat tense in my homestay.

               

                In other news, this weekend I go to Jerash to see chariot races, and I think there is a celebration at an apartment for my bday (though I don’t know what that entails..), and the following weekend in Wadi Rum (VERY excited for this). After that it is TURKEY TIME!! Lauren, Lura and I finally finalized our tickets to Istanbul, Turkey, and I am very, very excited.

So, until next time. I will try to update this little blogger post thing with more updates maybe this Thursday. 

Time Decided to Move

I’m not sure exactly when I wrote last, but it feels like it’s been a while…so to inform readers (if there still are any present) I’ll give you the lay down of the past two weeks of March/February.

Firstly, I’ve been here for over a month already! I know they said time would go fast, but it has really done its job on me! In fact, I have plans for every weekend until April (AKA Spring Break for us Americans)—which is just nuts. After Spring break, its already beginning-mid April, and in one month after that we will have finals! So, time is doing real work here.

The last two weeks have been quite enlightening. After a bunch of ups and downs in the beginning of the program, I’ve finally unearthed bits about myself that I didn’t really know existed. Mostly they are simple things, those qualities that you thought you no longer cared about, or those facets of yourself you think left on hiatus and would never return. Well kids, I did some accidental soul seeking and turned out to find some real hard details about myself. But I won’t get into that now…

The last two weekends I spent a lot of time outside, which has been WONDERFUL beyond anything that could have ever picked up my mood.

The last weekend of February a couple friends from CIEE and I went to Ma’In Hot Springs and Madaba. Madaba (for those who don’t know), is an ancient Christian city where lots of Biblical history occurred, and Moabites reigned. Personally, I’m not one for history, but I have to say the Church of the Map (a greek orthodox church) and the archeological museum (with ancient Roman and other era mosaics) were among my favorites.

After our historical tour of Madaba and a meal where I finally did not feel stuffed to the rim, our group collided into another CIEE group, and all hung out, doing fun American things in the Hotel rooms, which one room (not ours, I’m proud to say!) got kicked out of the hotel. Well, actually they got “evicted” because of some angry German man who demanded the manager perform RA-knocks on all our doors. In any case, we slept 7 people to a 3-person hotel room, and in the morning got free breakfast before heading to Ma’In Hot Springs which were just astounding, relaxing and wonderful. When I was there I could not think of having any other motivations in life other than to gain enough money in order to leave peacefully on a tropical island in the hot sun.

So, lest I say, Madaba and Ma’In were beautiful. And I got a 

slight marriage proposal from a very persistent Lebanese woman in the hot spring. She wanted me to marry her son from Chicago. I  said, “La” (no).

Church of the Map

Ma'In Hot Springs--the Public Hamam

THIS past weekend (Mar 3-5) was also quite the event! I and nine other official team runners ran 242 Km from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea. I don’t really want to talk about it, other than it was beautiful, difficult, and an experience I would advise any runner to partake in.  All I can say now is that I am sore (though not swaggering, like some of the guys). We finished in 19 hours and some amount of minutes.

The Beginning of the Race, After everyone did 10 min runs

Dawn, probably about 3/4 of the way through

Me! Running in the morning, about 30K left, Israeli border to the right.

FREE MUD! At the Dead Sea Spa Hotel, muddin' up.

The Dead Sea. Across the water (again) is Israel. The people in the distance are standing on salt.

Finally I went to the Dead Sea on Saturday, after coming back from the race on Thurs/Friday at 3am, which was very relaxing and very very salty. Though probably the best use of Mud I have ever seen. Here are some fellow students partakin’ in the fun!

I also have to say trying to touch the bottom of the sea is extraordinarily difficult! You bounce. Its just silly. And yes, you could totally read a book if you wanted to, although I would not advise trying to swim, as any water in your eyes will sting horribly. Apparently it is 33% salt. Yes. 33%.

This next weekend is Aqaba! (back to where I ran)…and its just for relaxing.

Things have been going smoothly, though I’m really needing to start stepping up my studying considering I really haven’t been doing any. And my writing is very poor. But this blog post I will use the excuse that I am exhausted from running 242 Km. Yalla Bye!

Blondes and Trust

Good Afternoon!

Today's lesson is hair color and trust.



 <-- That is blonde.

I am not that blonde. But apparently I am blonde enough. My blonde-ness has its perks and its downsides.
For example, one downside to being blonde is you often get ripped off, hissed at (men hiss here instead of hooting or whistling, its real weird, I feel like I am stepping on angry snakes).

The perk, however is that sometimes people trust me more or are more helpful because they assume I am foreign. As the maintenance worker in the gym commented abruptly one day:
You are Christian? - her
Me?
Yes -her
Sort of, why?
You have blonde hair. -her
I have a Jordanian friend with blonde hair.
Yes, but not with your skin color. You are Christian and maybe American -her.
Okay...thanks.

Anyway, that's how it went. So I am apparently American. But the other day as I was buying an orange and a coffee, I only had 5JD. The man told me, it was "mish-mushkila" (or no problem), and that I could just pay him tomorrow.



Yes. Tomorrow.

Welcome to Jordan.



Anyway, I know this doesn't necessarily have to do with being blonde BUT there are other instances that people can tell that I am foreign based on my skin and hair, which is nice because they will give me easy directions to a restaurant, or welcome me, or occasionally tell me good places to eat. So, its got its ups and downs. This weekend hopefully I will update the blog with lots of photos, as I'm going to try to go to Madaba and Ma'in Hot Springs with some folk!

Hummus Spotting: I had the most delicious hummus and Baklowa (Baklava) in this restaurant that used to be a cave and then a mansion? It was incredible. Subtlety spicy, yet smooth and with an acid twist. Words don't do it justice.