Amman, You Win This Round

Well Amman won this time.  I got pretty lost and turned around today.  And Amman won, as I missed a chance to meet a friend of the family living here in Amman.

I was supposed to meet a family friend at around 6:00 today.  He's a guy who's been in Amman for a while, but we haven't yet connected.  I found out that the place we were supposed to meet, the Souq Um Uthaina, was about 20 minutes walking distance from the house here.  After getting three different sets of directions from Bego, Othman, and Sharaf, I set off walking.  I immediately turned left instead of turning right, which led to much confused walking about.  It took me 45 minutes to an hour to find the location, and I had to ask a bunch of Jordanians along the way.  Needless to say, I was extremely late and the friend had left, though I did meet some nice American ex-pats.

In other news, we gained back a member of the family yesterday.  Bakr, one of the family's sons who was studying in Spain, came back!  Very exciting, he's a really nice guy.  Of course there was a nice little welcome-home dinner for him.  The food was delicious, and Sharaf even cooked.  Chicken with apple, mashed potatoes, salad... great stuff.  Sharaf's husband joked that Bakr would have to leave and come back if that's what it took to get Sharaf to cook like that!  Funnier in Arabic, probably.

Mid-terms are next week, so there's not a lot planned for this weekend.  Lots of studying, or procrastinating, take your pick.  We did, however, visit the bootleg DVD store today.  6 movies, all pretty new, all pretty good quality, for 5 JD.  That deal can't be beat.

Just thought I'd post while I had a minute, that's all for now.

Until next time, Inshallah.

Obligatory Post-Birthday Post... I Play Soccer with the Bedouins!

It's been about two weeks since we last chatted, I'm sorry about that but I've been busy.  We left off with the trip to Ajloun, which was a blast.  That being said, this past weekend's trip to the Dana nature reserve blows it out of the water.

View at the beginning of Dana Valley

We'll start with last weekend, I guess (nothing much happens during the week, other than school).  We've had a crazy run of birthdays in our group, with four different birthdays during the space of about 10 days or so.  So, to start, Wednesday night a group of us planned to go to dinner at a Japanese restaurant that we sort of knew the location of, called Yoshi.  By sort of, I mean none of us knew exactly where it was.  So, after getting out of the taxi at the nearest circle (Jordan doesn't have many stoplights, they use big rotaries instead) I wandered around a bit.  Luckily, I ran into my friend Liz, who was also confused about the directions.  I'd say we walked for about 25 minutes, before we ran into a security guard in front of an embassy who knew where it was.  Oh, it's just your next left, he said, then go straight.  We saw an opening to the left, but it was not well lit and had a low fence protecting about 90% of it.  Luckily, there was another guard about 100 yards in front of us, who directed us back to said sketchy alleyway/street.  Turned out it was the right place, but it was definitely an adventure.

Dana Village

Thursday day we cooked with Kirsten's (program director) husband, who has formerly run restaurants. Needless to say, the food was incredible, and I even learned to cook a bit.

Then on Friday night (our Saturday night, we have school on Sunday), we had a surprise birthday party for our friend Elizabeth at her apartment.  "Mufaja'aa!" is a little more startling than "Surprise!" but everyone had a good time.  We did go to a bar (there are several in Amman) and I may or may not have sung karaoke to Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl.

On the hike

Again, not much happened during the week, so we'll skip ahead to this weekend.  Thursday morning, most of the group hopped on a bus and headed south to Dana Nature Reserve.  Around 2:00, we found our way down a winding trail (walking, we had to leave the bus at the top of the valley) to a collection of tents and a picturesque desert view.  We wandered around, finding caves and different rock formations and such, and the food was really good.  Unfortunately, we didn't realize how cold it would be, and most of the group got pretty cold.  I, however, had brought an extra jacket (something my mother might do?) and was just chilly, but they had blankets and it was warm inside the tents.  This was also my birthday.  Now that I'm 21, I feel like a real man.  The change is significant - I'm pretty sure I could now grow a moustache if I wanted to.  I've matured so much in just one day.

The soccer field from afar.
Note, no green there.

Friday was pretty solid, all around.  Breakfast was good, and then we ventured out to the Dana village to start our hike.  The village is (if I understood correctly) about 1500 years old and was pretty darn cool.  The hike was about 4-5 hours, mostly downhill.  The path was winding and sloping and rocky, but we saw our fair share of goats, flute-playing bedouin, and young bedouin girls chanting at said goats.  Pretty cool stuff.  At the end of our hike, we reached the Feynan EcoLodge, which was a sight for sore eyes.  Sweaty, dusty, dirty, and tired, we stumbled in to find hot water showers and a nice cool hotel for the night.  There was no artificial light, only candles and the occasional flashlight.  The stars were bright and beautiful, it was really quite a romantic place.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Soccer on Saturday at the school

After showering at the lodge, I was about to settle into a hammock for a nice little nap, when someone said something about a sunset hike.  I had literally closed my eyes, but then my father popped into my head with his favorite vacation saying - "We didn't come here to sleep."  So, I went on the hike and I'm glad that I did.  It was only about a 20-30 minute hike to the ridge, where there was tea and a magnificent view.  I didn't see much from there, though.  Along the path, there was a small school, and across from it, a large group of Bedouins playing soccer.  Initially I didn't think I was going to play, but then a friend of mine really wanted to so I went with.  The field was all dirt and rocks, no nets, and many of the Bedouins were playing without shoes or with one shoe.  It was crazy.  They immediately put me and Zoe on opposite teams, and we started playing.  I actually scored two goals - unbelievable right?  Ah it was so much fun.  Then we went back to the hotel, ate, saw Mars, Jupiter, and Venus (among all the other constellations) through a pretty great telescope.

First-class Jordanian transportation

Saturday, we drank tea at our Bedouin friends from the soccer game's tent, which was a cool experience.  Afterwards, we played for a little while again, and then jumped into the back of a bunch of pickup trucks who were to take us back to the main road, and our bus.  It was pretty remote (only dirt "roads" and I use the world road loosely), and one of the trucks in front of us stalled out a few times trying to climb a hill.

That brings us back to today, with class and all that jazz.  Not the most exciting, but my Iraqi friend Ali (general friend of the group) from the gym said that he's making Iraqi food for us this weekend... can't wait for that!

Also, I was twice confused for a Jordanian today.  Don't know if that means I'm fitting in better, or that I'm tanner, but it was cool.  First, someone thought I was an employee at the Adidas store.  Then, coming out of the gym, someone asked me for directions.  Sort of cool, but I had no clue where he wanted to go.

Until next time, Inshallah.

Guest Blog!

                       

           

          Hello! My name is Eden. I am a junior at Wellesley College and currently studying Arabic in Amman, Jordan with Middlebury. First, I would like to thank Zack for asking me to post a guest blog, hopefully I don’t disappoint. I have read his blog and I think he has been doing a great job giving you an idea of what it is like here in Jordan. Obviously, the one thing that he can’t tell you is what it is like to study here as a girl. I can’t speak for every girl visiting here, or for what it is like in all of Jordan, but I thought I would share a few of my experiences in Amman thus far. Here is a list of some things that I have come to expect while living here.

           

            • Particularly near the university, I know that no matter who I am or what I am wearing, there will be random guys unapologetically staring.

            • These same guys will then proceed to cat call and then sometimes literally call to me as if I were a cat.

            • I have come to expect that no matter how covered up I am this behavior does not change.

            • I will never walk to school in the morning without being bombarded by car horns.

            • I have been told the streets near my apartment are known for prostitution and that some guys will assume that all foreign girls are either prostitutes or easy, which is why they honk and drive slowly past to see if I will just jump into a car with them.

            • Every once in a while on the way to the university, a car will follow me with the windows down and matching my walking speed as I speed up, or slow down. Incredibly creepy.

            • Unlike in the US, I do not have the words and the vocabulary I need to tell these men off as they deserve. But, I have learned some new phrases. My favorite is: If your hands come near me, I will break them.

            • I have moments when I think I hate all men and then quickly remind myself of the really cool, appropriate, and nice guys I have met here, who do not act like that, do not put up with those actions from other guys, and who are all around awesome.

            • I have met some really neat girls and am able to have closer friendships with them than my male counterparts can.

            • The program here is very supportive and I know that I am not alone in experiencing these things.

            • There are many places that are just for women, which are comfortable and safe environments such as all-women’s gyms and Turkish baths.

           

          For the most part though, any negative moments have ended up being a very small part of my experience here. I am not here to just improve my Arabic, I am also here to learn and experience a new culture. I think all study abroad experiences have their good and bad parts to them. I am learning to ignore the negative here, because as you know by reading Zack’s blog, studying abroad in Amman, Jordan is a fantastic experience.

           

            Thanks for reading!

            Sincerely,

           

            Eden

Women's Rights in Morocco

I just saw this on aj-Jazeera, and thought I'd pass it along.  It's not very pleasant, but is a sad testimony to the status of women in much of the Arab world.  It caught my eye because I wrote an essay this fall on constitutional reform in Morocco, and cited the family law mentioned as a sign of progress.  Looks like it wasn't enough. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/03/20123171132404140.html

More to come soon, I hope.

Fiiiiiight! Fiiiiiiight!

There's been a little bit of unrest on campus these last few days.  Basically, a kid from one tribe (the Capulets) was talking to a girl from another tribe (the Montagues), and the result was a large fight on two consecutive days.  I didn't see or hear any of this, except from my mother who was peppering me with new articles about the outbreaks.  The tribes were apparently throwing rocks at each other and hitting each other with sticks.  There has been heightened security around campus, and a visible police presence at the entry/exit points, which is good.  I have felt safe the entire time.  The main result was 16 expulsions, you can read more here if you want http://jordantimes.com/University+of+Jordan+expels+16+students+over+violence-45998 but I thought I'd just keep everyone updated and let everyone know I'm OK.

UPDATE: P.S. I forgot to add this earlier, but we just reached 1000 views all-time!  Woooo!  Go team!

Snow to Sunburnt

Soul Food

When we last chatted, the weather was miserable and I was stuck inside with nothing to do.  Yesterday, I had to buy aloe vera for a sunburn I got.  To say the weather has improved would be a drastic understatement.

I'm sure someone had a pool going for how long it would take me to find a soccer game, so if you had money on last Tuesday, you'd be correct.  First off, after class some friends and I found a Waffle House, and had breakfast for lunch.  That was absolutely a great decision.  God it was amazing.  Nutella and banana pancakes... out of this world.  Great way to spend the first part of an afternoon.  Then we went to the game!

Pretty darn close to the field,
which was cool.

I found out about the game because it was at Amman International Stadium, which is in the Sports City where I go to the gym.  As I walked in on Monday night, the floodlights in the stadium were on so I of course asked the guy at the gate what the lights were about, and he said there was a game the next day.  Obviously I had to go, especially when he further informed me that it was between Syria and Jordan.  I got that last part wrong (as well as the time of the game, but I'm still happy I found out there was a game). It was between a Syrian team, al-Ittihad, and a Jordanian team, al-Faysali.  Not the national teams, but still cool because it was an Asian Federations Cup game (best teams from the leagues all across Asia).  

Notice the security guard between
us and the crazy fans

There are two big Jordanian teams here, and you should know that Arabs care deeply about their heritage.  There is a significant Palestinian-Jordanian population here.  As you may have guessed, one team is supported by the Jordanian Jordanians (al-Faysali, the team we saw), and the other by the Palestinian Jordanians.  Jordanian Jordanians also wear read headdresses, whereas Palestinian Jordanians wear white ones.  Small things, but important nonetheless.  Overall, I was not impressed by the level of play.  If I had more time I'd try to write a full match report, but that wouldn't be of much interest to too many people, I would think.  Basically, the game ended in a 1-1 tie.  Faysali dominated much of the game and scored in the first half on a corner kick, and the Syrian team mostly bunkered in and counterattacked, scoring their goal on a dubious penalty kick given at the beginning of the second half.  

Looking down from the Castle

The group was about 20-25 American kids, including many girls.  Not sure what to expect, we were seated in front of the limited number of Faysali supporters (in a completely different section) with basically a wall of security forces between us and the crazy fans.  The security forces also politely suggested we leave about five minutes before the game ended, as we had a bunch of girls with us, which we did.  No need to get caught up in anything we didn't need to be caught up in.  

Wednesday night has become Guys Night (Plus Kelsey and Lily), which is super fun.  For me it's a way to kick back at the end of the school week and get my American fix for the week.  Basically, we get a bunch of Domino's pizzas and watch Game of Thrones, which is an awesome HBO series that someone bought here bootleg for 3 JD (Arabic subtitles, of course).  Foreign Policy says that watching it is a great way to understand international politics (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/07/18/realpolitik_in_a_fantasy_world), so it's educational too!

Looking up at the Castle

Soap Everywhere

Thursday I played some soccer with a bunch of Jordanians, first at the University with our program and then later with a Jordanian friend and his friends at a futsal place about a half hour away from JU.  Quite fun!

Friday, we took a trip to Ajloun, which is in northern Jordan.  This is where I got my sunburn.  We went to an old castle from the 1100s, when Saladin ruled the area and the Crusades were in full swing.  Needless to say, it was pretty cool.  It was at the top of a pretty big hill, which made it a great spot to keep watch of and seemingly hard (or at least tiring) to attack.  Then we went to a soap house where they make soap out of olive oil, and then a calligraphy studio.  All pretty cool locations.  I'll put up more pictures on Facebook in addition to the ones here.

Lunch for Class

Then today, for my Amiyya class, we went to a restaurant for lunch.  Very cool.  My kind of class.

Also, I've been seeing things about Joseph Kony all over Facebook.  After reading this FP editorial I'm pretty disenchanted with Invisible Children.  Oh well, just a thought.  http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/07/guest_post_joseph_kony_is_not_in_uganda_and_other_complicated_things 

Until next time, Inshallah.

P.S. Stay tuned, we may have a guest blogger coming soon to stores near you.

Spoiler Alert - Jordan Is Not a Desert

Well it's raining/snowing/sleeting again.  Started up Tuesday night, with some light rain, and yesterday turned into a full-on snow/sleet storm with a strong wind.  I was at the gym yesterday, and they even closed that because of the weather.  I figured gyms were like Twinkies, that they would survive anything. That even after a nuclear war, you'd still find one roided-out meathead in the gym working out.  I guess not.  I haven't gone outside today other than to squeegee water off of the deck/landing.  It's miserable out.

Well everything is soaking wet here.  2-3 minutes outside and you're drenched.  And I'm woefully ill-prepared for this weather.  It's like a Middlebury March (mud season) without boots or a fully waterproof jacket.  Not a good recipe.  Tyler was supposed to have class today (I wasn't thank God) but that was canceled as well.  Amman has no idea how to deal with this type of weather either.  He said he went down to the major street close to us at one point, and that there was at least a foot of standing water/snow in the streets.  Broken-down cars everywhere.  Almost no functioning cars on the road itself.  At Midd, crappy weather was never an excuse for doing nothing, but here, it completely is.  Also, they don't really have dryers here.  The normal thing is to use a washer and then clotheslines to dry, but in storms like this that doesn't happen, so we just have to put wet stuff on the heaters.  Woof.  I did voyage to a friend's apartment last night, which was quite an experience, and met a very nice taxi driver.  More to come on taxis at a later date.

Before the weather turned for the worse, things were good though!  We even had class outside on Tuesday, which was pretty cool.  Not much to report on classes, they're mostly good and fun, and I like my professors.  Class starts daily at 9:00 AM, so I leave here around 8:15-8:20.  I have about a 2-hour break between classes, so I usually go to a nearby cafe and do work/eat or I go to Teddy's apartment.  We've played chess a few times, which has been quite fun!  He's wicked good, but I'm learning and he even let me win once or twice.

In other news, we spoke with Jamal a little more about his military career.  I'm being completely serious when I say this, but he was absolutely the boss.  He was a Major General, #5 from the top.  He showed us his graduation certificate from his program at Fort Knox, where he graduated with the highest possible marks (Distinguished Graduate).  He completed everything with high marks, and apparently his name is on the wall at Fort Knox with other officers who graduated with the high marks he graduated with.  And he apparently did the same at every other military school/program he attended throughout his career.  Total boss.

Until next time, Inshallah.