And the Family Comes to Dinner

I don't like to blog this much, but dinner last night needs to be blogged about.  Simply put, it was awesome.

Much of Jamal's family lives in the area, and they came over for Saturday dinner.  As the workweek starts Sunday, it was much like Sunday dinner in the US.  So, three of Jamal's sisters and their families came to visit, bringing plenty of delicious food.  I'd say about 15 people total.  I found it interesting that they also brought their servants... much different than America.  We all pitched in in cleaning but they did the dishes and made the tea and stuff like that.

Words can't describe the quality of the food.  This may have been the best meal I've ever eaten (sorry Mom and Dad).  Everything was fresh, homemade, and unbelievably good.  It was simply stunning.  I must have gained 30 pounds in one night.  Unbelievable.  There was everything you could possibly imagine.  Chicken kebabs.  Ground beef kebabs, spiced much like they are in Iranian food.  It tasted just like our favorite local Iranian place, Kolbeh of Kebab.  There was salad.  Tahini.  A salsa-like tomato concoction which was delicious.  Fettucini with shrimp.  God I must have eaten for hours.  Then came dessert.  Turkish delight.  Tea.  Swiss chocolate.  Fruit salad - we'll talk more about the fruit salad later.  Cookies.  Went into a food coma.  It was like Thanksgiving, minus the beer.  I can go on and on, but instead just look at the pictures.  Not great pictures, I know.  Sorry.

Tonight, after dinner and when everyone was at home (everyone pretty much eats on their own schedule), Tyler, Bego, Jamal, and Sharaf (daughter) sat down to eat some of the leftover fruit salad from yesterday, which was huge by the way.  Pomegranate, oranges, kiwis, strawberries, bananas, various other fruits that I don't know the names of... it was delicious.  Then Bego started talking about how it took her an hour and a half, maybe two to make the salad yesterday.  Jamal started kidding around, saying that it was probably just an hour and fifty-five minutes, and that two hours was exaggerating.  I chipped in, saying that an hour 55 is not two hours, while Tyler sided with Bego, saying that two hours is two hours.  Bego subsequently (in good humor of course) told me that tomorrow night, she'll make something absolutely delicious for Tyler, while Jamal and me will have to fend for ourselves.  Jamal and I then agreed that we'd go eat at the family's restaurant.  Not a huge thing but it was a fun interaction and the playfulness of it made me feel more comfortable.  It was fun!

Homework is a drag - I've been doing this same reading all day (should have started over the weekend), and just to add to the fun mentioned that I'd been reading for an hour and 55 minutes, but only gotten through three pages which got a smile and a laugh from Bego and Jamal.


Until next time, Inshallah.  

A New Kind of First Day of School

It’s been a week since I last posted, I’ll try to be a little more consistent and only go 4-5 days without blogging.  A lot has been going on, however, and I’ve been wicked busy.

So I started at Jordan U, officially, last Sunday.  Yes I know that sounds weird but the weekend here is Friday and Saturday (we get Thursday off as well, nice little 3-day weekend).  I’m going to be honest and say that I pretty much failed the proficiency test, which had a lot of grammar concepts that I had learned and subsequently forgotten, but I’m starting here where I left off in the States which is good.  It will be a challenge to say the least, but I’m excited for it!  We actually have a vocab test tomorrow… I should probably start studying.  It’s tough to accept that my mini-break/vacation is over…-[

I have two language classes – 1 in MSA fusha and the other in the local Jordanian dialect.  Both happen to be with the same professor, a very nice woman named Nadia.  My other classes focus on political transformations in the Middle East and the water/environmental situation here (it’s not good by any means, if you were wondering).  They’re going to be a pretty good challenge – I pretty much have to read everything twice – I read the first time without a dictionary and then the second time with dictionary in hand, looking up all the words I couldn’t figure out the first time around.  It’s quite time-consuming, but I’m excited and I’m already learning a lot, but I will say it’s difficult to shift from knowing words in your head to being able to used them in conversation. 

 

I’ve been to the gym every day this week, which feels great (my shoulder feels fine as well!).  I preached last time about how the gym has great showers, but in addition they also have toilet paper.  This may seem like a very mundane thing, but in Jordan toilet paper is rare.  Bidets are preferred.  Not my favorite invention in the world.  Jordanians use them (they are even present in public bathrooms).  I don’t particularly like them.  Half of my motivation to go to the gym comes from showers and toilet paper, half from wanting to work out.  I shower there, I shave there, it all works out.  Strange though. 

While we’re at it, here are a couple pictures of my living accommodations.  I’ve got the bed on the right (yes Mom, I do keep the room clean) and Tyler is on the left.  OK fine, I took the picture after we cleaned, it’s not usually this neat.

Bego and Jamal are still great, and this might give you an idea of breakfast here.  It’s pretty damn good, not going to lie.  I’m trying a lot of foods I don’t usually eat (tomatoes, onions), which is good I guess.  Tomatoes are starting to grow on me, I like them more and more every day.  Mostly I have no clue what the food is, but it gets served so I eat it.  I’m starting slowly to learn names of food, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I know what’s in it. 

Family pictures came out again before one meal, and this is a little bit of Jamal’s family tree.  At the top are his paternal grandparents (apparently his grandmother taught herself to read, they were from a bedouin family), followed by his parents, Jamal and Begonia (Jamal is not visible due to the glare, my flaws as a photographer are quite apparent), and then three of their four children (Baker, Othman, and Sharaf). 

Well I’m still getting settled in and adjusted, but I’m starting to get the hang of life here I think!  There’s still a significant language barrier but I’m working on it, it just takes time.  


Until next time, inshallah.

Bullshit

Snow?  Bullshit.

I'm calling bullshit on this one.  It's garbage.  Almost unbelievable.  I'm not happy.  It's got nothing to do with the program, or the food, or the family here.  Nothing to do with being inundated in Arabic.  It's the weather.  This is a desert.  There's not supposed to be rain.  Yet we've had three straight days of rain.  It's been raining cats and dogs.  Rivers running through the streets.  Water dripping down the walls of our room.  Puddles everywhere.  Even the house itself has been leaking.  And it's been cold.  Seriously?  If I wanted it to be cold, I could have stayed in New England.  And to cap it all off, it snowed last night.  Not a lot, but snow nonetheless.  Bullshit.

Language Pledge

Otherwise, things are great!  I took the language pledge last Wednesday, and it's hard to keep but I'm working hard at it.  I'm getting quite good at sign language, but it's hard.  It's frustrating on three levels.  First, I'm not used to the speed of speech here, which was to be expected, but is still frustrating.  That will come with time.  Second, it feels like what I've learned over the last two and a half years is useless.  It's not completely useless, but a ton of the words we use here are completely different.  Oh well.  Third, it's nearly impossible to express myself, which might be the most frustrating at all.  There are things I want to say, but I just don't know the words.  Quite frustrating.

That hasn't stopped the fun though!  After orientation ended on Wednesday, we went to a pretty cool restaurant called Hashem in Wast-al-balad, or the city center.  It was pretty good.  Falafel and hummus are everywhere, and I couldn't be happier about that.  We wandered around a bit afterwards, and found a cool DVD/CD place where Tyler (my roommate) got some CDs.  I'm super excited for those because the language pledge theoretically extends to music as well, so I'm trying to cut back on listening to American music (I haven't really used my iPod since I got here).  Then we went to Rainbow Street and walked around a little more, and got a great view of the rest of Amman.  Our Jordanian friends from the University were with us, and they're fun and awesome to hang around with!.

DVD Hamudeh!

Thursday, I decided to find a gym.  There's one within a half hour (walking) of our house, and it's in the Medina Ryadiah (sports city).  It's a huge complex, with a few soccer fields, the national stadium, tennis courts, pools... really every type of sport imaginable.  However, like I said, it's gigantic.  After asking for directions, I walked directly past the gym and wandered around for about an hour before finding the gym, right next to where I had entered.  Whoops!  The best thing about the gym is that they have showers, and plenty of hot water.  In all seriousness, I'll probably go work out just so that I can shower afterwards.  There's also a sauna which I'm definitely going to make use of.  I met a kid from Amherst there (small world again), who I'm sure I'll see again.  That night a few of us had dinner together, and then stopped by a hookah bar where my friends smoked hookah and I played backgammon (we taught our friends, too).

View from Rainbow Street

Yesterday was a family day.  Sharaf (the daughter) came by for the day with her husband, Said.  We had breakfast and dinner together, and Bego made something delicious involving rice, onions, and lamb or some sort of meat.  So good.  Before dinner, I showed Jamal and Bego the pictures of my family I had brought from home.  They liked them a lot, and then we spent about 45 minutes going through some of Jamal's photos, which was really cool!  He was quite important in the military, and has pictures with dignitaries such as the Emperor of Japan, President of France, various Kuwaiti/Saudi/Qatari sheiks and princes... you get the idea.  We also saw pictures of Jamal and Bego's extended family, wedding, and various family vacations.  I think we bonded, which was really good!  There's definitely still a significant language barrier, though, which will be worn down as time goes on!

Class starts tomorrow.  OH NO!  It'll be tough to get back into the school mindset, but I guess I'll have to shake the dust off my Arabic books and start the semester.

Until next time, Inshallah!

A Farewell to English

Tomorrow, I sign the language pledge.  That means I don't get to speak any more English.  Or French.  Or Spanish.  Ruh-roh.

It's been a fun few days in Amman.  From the Abuesalem's house, I've moved over to my homestay with my new family.  It's been really fun, and the food here has been amazing.  Jamal is the father, and he's extremely nice.  Bego (Begonia) is the mother, and she's a whirlwind of Arabic but means very well and is awesome!  Bego and Jamal own a restaurant in Amman, and she does much of the cooking here at the house... Yum!  Othman, their 22-year-old son, just got a job offer from Dubai so he flew out yesterday (and I have yet to meet him, but I've seen pictures and he looks cool.

Want to visit now Eliza?

We started orientation on Sunday, which is the start of the week here in Jordan.  The directors are awesome, as are all of my fellow students!  We've got people from most of the US, from colleges as far west as Pomona and Wisconsin and as far south as Davidson - it's a pretty good bunch!  I live with another Midd student, Tyler, who was here last semester and has excellent Arabic.  He's been a huge help and I'm not sure I'd be able to get around without him.  He does a lot of translation for me, which will stop tomorrow.  Begonia talks to me, I give Tyler a confused look, and he translates/puts what she said into fusha Arabic.  Fusha is "Modern Standard Arabic" but what they speak here is called "Amiya" or the local Jordanian dialect, which is different in many ways from the Arabic I've learned.  There's a pretty good learning curve there.

Best Grilled Cheese Ever

The first day we all went to City Mall (they have those) and the granddaddy of all Arabian supermarkets, Carrefour.  They had a ton of stuff to offer, but as I'm living with a family I didn't need much.  All I got was a towel (which I forgot to pack.  whoops!).  There were plenty of American stores, and I'm sure my sister will be jealous, a PinkBerry (free samples?  Yum!).  That night, I took a taxi back to some friends' apartment and because of their lack of propane for the stove, we had grilled cheese made with an iron.  Food innovation at it's finest.

We've met some Jordanian students at the University, and they love the fact that I'm Lebanese.  I've already been invited to the Maronite Church here (al-kaneesa marounia) which could be an interesting experience.  We shall see.  There's been a lot going on and I got my first schwarma tonight, after Yemeni food for lunch today and Lebanese food yesterday.  I love it here, and I'm happy and safe.  All is well and I can't wait to be able to do more on my own here (I do feel handicapped by the language barrier, though I can get places in taxis for pretty cheap).


Until next time, inshallah.  I hope all is well in the States!

PS Happy Valentine's day!  My sister's a cutie pie and slipped an awesome present in my suitcase!

On to Jordan

There's a lot to talk about since we last met.  Though I'll admit, some of the craziest things happened today, order prevails and we'll go chronologically.

The pub where J. R. R. Tolkien wrote the
Lord of the Rings trilogy.

That means we're starting with England.  Took the redeye from Logan into Heathrow, and saw Footloose during the flight.  I will say, Virgin Atlantic has excellent amenities.  And the flight was pretty empty, so I had a full row to myself.   Awesome.  So I took a bus out to Oxford, where the wonderful Sabrina Gordon was waiting at the bus station.  It was weird being in England, a) because the weather was worse than in New England and b) because I expected everyone to be speaking a foreign language, and they all spoke English.  I was pretty beat so we got a bite to eat and then took a nap, which was hugely beneficial.  That night we went out to a bar, which was a good time.  We played an olde English version of Catch-phrase, and also briefly saw the Pembroke rugby team drinking and singing together... reminded me a lot of Midd Soccer actually!

Wednesday Sab had a lax game, so I got to spend some quality time with Harrington throwback Emily Sillari, which was really great!  That night, we went to a club, which was a total blast.  My ears are still ringing... 3 days later.  Thursday, Sabrina had a Black Keys concert to go to in London, so I met up with the next great philosopher of our age, Aaron Dockser.  We made dinner with some friends at his apartment and hung out for a while, which was wonderful because we decided that we hadn't seen each other since high school graduation parties... there's something wrong there.  Then it snowed.  Weird that it was snowing in England and not Vermont.  Oh well.

There are very few people who would wake up at 6:30 AM, on 3 hours of sleep, just to make sure that you get to the bus station on time.  Thanks to Sabrina for that one.




Here's another funny airport story for you.  As I'm sitting at the gate, waiting for the plane to Jordan to board, Lisa Coale, a Middlebury girl on the program and in my Arabic class this past fall just happens to walk up - we ended up being 4 rows apart on the same flight.  Then, in the Amman airport, we met another girl (Lily) who was on the flight with us and is doing the same program.  And then the craziness begins.

So, through a long series of connections, I met an extremely nice Jordanian girl who goes to Bryn Mawr named Zaha.  Her family lives about 30km from Amman, and she volunteered her brother to pick me up from the airport.  Jordanians are well known for their hospitality, and I now know why.  Lily, Lisa, and I found Laith (bonus points for unintentional alliteration, "Laith" is Arabic for "lion") at the exit terminal, with a friend Rasha.  Five was to many for a cab, and through a strange series of events, Laith's car had busted both a tire and the spare tire.  We tried various methods of getting away from the airport (trying to board a military-only bus didn't go so well), and eventually Lily and Lisa headed off for their apartments together (I think they live fairly close to each other), while I took off with Laith and Rasha in a cab, searching for an open mechanic who could repair Laith's wheel.

It took a while but we found one, and he then drove us back to Laith's car.  From there we three headed into Amman in search of some falafel, and boy was I happy when we found some.  I've waited a while for authentic falafel - the stuff they call falafel in the US just isn't up to snuff.  I was taught how you're supposed to eat hummus and pita like a Jordanian, which was good!  From there we dropped Rasha off at her car and then headed to Laith's family's home in the city of Salt.  The family was extremely kind to me.  They fed me more food and let me take a shower, which may have been the most refreshing of my life.  It's now 2:15 AM local, and I should probably go to bed because tomorrow (later today?) I move in with my host family.

That's all for now, see you next time.

Stay classy San Diego.

First Leg

I'm writing this from the terminal in Logan Airport, with about an hour to go until I board my flight.  Pretty crazy stuff.  Exciting, yet nerve wracking at the same time.  I can't wait to get going, and I get a few days to transition in lovely (snowy) Britain.  Fish and chips instead of chowdah and Fenway Franks.  

Sometimes it's funny who you meet in an airport.  We randomly met a guy whose daughter is on the Williams women's basketball team - and he was in Middlebury a few weeks ago to watch his daughter score her 1,000th career point, which she did (I was also at that game, weird right?).  He's also related to some Lexington people, including a high school classmate of mine.  Small world.

I'd be remiss not to mention the Super Bowl, which was wholeheartedly disappointing.  It sucked.  Danny Woodhead was the best player on the Pats the whole game, which is not a good thing.  Bring Randy Moss back, he'll open up the field for Gronk and Hernandez.  

I'll touch down at 2:00 AM Boston time, about 7:00 England time so I'll be exhausted.  Goodbye America, see you in a few months.

Hi!

First blog post.  Big moment for me.  Wasn't really sure I was going to start one, but I guess this is the start of it all.  I'm cozily at home, with just a few days left before I head out.  The first leg of the trip starts Monday night, and I'll be on my way to England for a few days.  Friday I head on to Jordan, so it's a pretty quick turnaround.  Laundry is being washed, books being organized, cameras being charged... lots of hustle and bustle around the house.  We're having friends over for the Super Bowl as well so we're preparing for that as well, lots going on around here.

Well that's all there is for now, this is more of a test than anything just so I can get the hang of it.

Go Pats!