Romping around Roman Ruins and other previous adventures worthy of mention...

UPDATE: Just wanted to add some pics to this previously WORDY entry...Coop president and beekeeping supervisor having a looksy at one of the hives

(from left to right Ogab Al-Shurafat: Project Site Supervisor, Khalaf Al-Massaed: Beekeeping Supervisor, A'eada Kassab Al-Shurafat: Cooperative President, Dr. Mustafa Al-Shudeifat: My ISP advisor, Myself: American Female Researcher... so out of place)

Nighttime Citadel Exploration

Evening view from my new roof of the Citadel (on the left side of the hill in the distance)

boy oh boy did I have a wonderful past two days or what!

I have to apologize yet again for the infrequent blog posts but it is just plain tough to keep this thing updated.

I am thoroughly exhausted and so I'll try to keep this entry short but I thought that the past few days are above and beyond worthy of mention (as my blog title points out).

#1 Finished my Independent Study Project (ISP) yesterday! It was due at 8pm. I finished the final touches around 7:20 pm after about an hour of frustration with interspersed bouts of hysterical laughter over creating the Table of Contents page... that is when you know you have been sitting in a library writing for too long.

Just to fill those in who do not know I chose to write my ISP somewhat in the form of a case study for a cooperative in the Northern Badia of Jordan called Anaqeed Al-Khair. Research for the paper consisted of as much background reading about the cooperative as possible, but most of the information I obtained was through interviews that I conducted while staying in the small village where the cooperative is located for a few days. Overall my ISP ended up being a study of the projects that the cooperative has executed in the past and is working on in the present... It is actually quite the amazing little organization. Some of the projects that are most successful presently are 1. Honey (they have 50 hives of honeybees that are placed on the Jordan-Syria border for a few months out of the year where vegetation is thickest since it is a no-go zone for humans and their animals... mainly herds of sheep and goats. A lot of nutritional honey from this project is produced and sold. Yum yum yum. 2. Sun-dried Tomato Project 3. Brick Project that has a really great revolving loan system (a certain number of loans are given out at a time with some of the cooperative's money, and then once those loans are paid back the next group of people who have applied get funds) that supplies people from villages throughout the area with the funds to purchase bricks and other construction materials.

The bottom-line for why I studied this is that first off I am interested in small-scale approaches to sustainable development, secondly it is a really interesting model of success in an area where previous development/attempts at generating income for the overall poor region of Jordan have failed miserably, and lastly it could be used as a model for other cooperatives or small scale development organizations to follow in other regions suffering from the same problems, and insha'allah help to solve those problems!

Enough about the ISP.

#2 After turning in the paper last night a lot of my friends and I decided to go out and celebrate. Part of these celebration plans took an unexpected turn as we found ourselves gazing at a view of the Citadel (ancient ruins on the top of one of Amman's many hills that are lit up at night), and almost immediately hailing a taxi requesting a ride to the Citadel... why not.

The taxi ride was great. We danced in the backseat shaking our hands in the area singing "shuggah, shuggah, shuggah," a common dance move for traditional Bedouins have their own celebration, as a popular Jordanian song about the King blasted from the taxi's speakers. Our driver was unbelievably impressed with these dance moves.

After the momentarily disappointing realization that the Citadel was closed to visitors at night we recovered quickly and decided to visit anyways. . . are rules like this in Jordan really that important? After slipping through a break in the fence we found a nice spot to perch, gaze at the ruins and at the city surrounding us like a lit-up blanket spread over many hills.

Five minutes later a security guard approached us. Uh oh, time to leave we thought... maybe? My friend Vanessa decided to attempt to sweetly discourage (using her Arabic skills) the guard from making us leave. "But the view is so beautiful... maybe just a little longer we can sit?" Surprisingly the guard told us he'd ask his boss. After a short discussion with his boss nearby they decided we could stay a little longer if the guard accompanied us around the area. And so our private tour of the area followed. I'll just say that this is not the sort of experience that you can plan in advance. It was a wonderful night to say the least.

#3 After sleeping in and making a tasty breakfast at Vanessa's house we headed to our appointment at the Turkish Hammam as a little reward for finishing the lengthy forty page paper the evening before. For only 25JD you get an afternoon of steaming, jacuzzi, being scrubbed and massaged while drinking fresh pomegranate juice in a traditional style bathhouse.

Yep, I am a pretty happy lady right about now.

Southern Jordan and Pictures

I cannot believe it has already been three months since I arrived in the Middle East. It has been increasingly hard to keep up with written accounts of all of the experiences I have had throughout the past several months. Day after day I continue to live in a region so far from my own home, but I am finding that despite this great distance between myself and most of what I have found comfort in my whole life, it is still me that is living these experiences.

After a couple of months of spending most of my time in cities much larger than Eugene, or even Portland, the largest city in Oregon, I felt a strong pull to explore outside of the cities. In Amman, where my home stay family and school is, there is a unique blend of western restaurants, stores, and modern lifestyles that similarly reflect what is commonly seen across the U.S. and other "western" countries. While living in this city it is easy to get caught up in the same sort of routine that I would find myself in at home in Eugene, and rarely venture outside of that routine to remind myself that I am in fact in the Middle East, one of the most misunderstood but commonly discussed regions by international reporters and critics. But back to this strong pull towards the desire to explore outside of the cities... I spent a week with the rest of my program venturing around Southern Jordan at the beginning of November, and this was by far the most enjoyable excursion for me.

After leaving Amman we headed south stopping at Kerak Castle and then Dana Nature Reserve, where we spent the night at a remotely placed Youth Hostel. From there we headed to Petra where most of the day was spent wandering the enormous ancient Nabatean city. Before visiting Petra I expected to be in awe of the Treasury, but had no idea how huge the area actually is. You could spend several days exploring all of the hidden nooks and crannies. Even the mobs of tourists didn't take away from my amazement of this ancient city.

The next morning we continued to head south, briefly stopping at the campaign "office" (in reality it was a beit sha'ar, or tent made of goat hair, where a bunch of men hang out and drink tea) of my host-dad from my Badia home stay. He was running for Parliament, although sadly did not succeed in obtaining one of the 120 seats out of the 800 something candidates running for seats. After a short speech from Sheikh Hussein talking about his campaign, he invited our whole group over for a Mansaf lunch prepared by his wife (my Badia host mom). Needless to say, it was delicious, and really great for me to see their family again. I hope to visit a few more times before leaving Jordan in March. We left their small village of Qrain and headed to Wadi Rum.

After arriving in Wadi Rum we took a jeep ride around the desert, ran around some sand dunes, watched the sunset, and then returned to camp for a dinner cooked in an iron stove buried a meter under the sand. After dinner people wandered in different directions and all I wanted to do was lay down in the desert and star gaze. That night in Wadi Rum the sky was one of the most star filled night skies I have ever seen... AND I saw the brightest and longest shooting star that I could ever imagine. It was so huge that it looked almost like a flare shot up into the sky, but no, it was definitely a shooting star. The next morning we woke up with the sun and hung out for a few more hours wandering around the picturesque desert before the sun heat really started to beat down on our backs. Next stop, Aqaba.

In Aqaba we had an evening boat ride on the Red Sea. As you can imagine, this was beautiful. After heading off the shore a ways we jumped off the boat and swam around in the sparkly turquoise water until a barbecue dinner was ready. Mmmm, lovely evening.

Although that was a very rushed preview of my favorite excursion I thought it was necessary to at least explain briefly all that we did during the week in the South.

Since then classes have finished and now we are in the Independent Study Project (ISP) period of the program which ends December 12th. Following less of a strict routine has been really nice as I can spend my time outside of the classroom wherever I would like to research, read, or just enjoy the weather that is only now beginning to cool down to an even mildly Fall like temperature (comparative to Eugene). On Sunday I am heading up to the Northern Badia to do some field work at a cooperative project site called Anaqeed Al-Khair that I am doing a case study on for my ISP. More time out of the city to be enjoyed!

sunset over the Red Sea

Camp in Wadi Rum Desert

No Explanation

King Abdullah II present at all times... (a peeling poster of him in the Youth Hostel)

Dana Nature Reserve

Wadi Rum Jeep Ride

Wadi Rum (Camels in distance)

On the Red Sea (Christina and I)

In one of the many rooms carved into the sides of rocks in Petra

Bedouin just relaxing.. trying to rip off German tourists

The Treasury! Tourists galore!

Wadi Rum

Egypt Recap

Egypt... there is so much to say about Egypt....

I could begin with an expected commentary on how rich and vast the history of the country is.

I could attempt to explain the bizarre feeling of standing in front of a tangible relic of that rich and vast history.

I could delve into the intense topic of the ever-growing gap between excess of possessions and the lack of items necessary for life that Egyptians have.

I could write about my shocked reaction of entering a beautiful park in the middle of Cairo that was filled with young (and mostly Muslim) couples openly expressing their affection towards one another through holding hands, or sitting closely on the grass... something unlike anything I have seen in Amman where the topic of dating around or hanging out with someone of the opposite sex in a possibly affectionate manner before marriage is discussed very quietly and not often seen in the streets or parks.

There is also the comparison between my experience in the dry, water scarce country of Jordan that I have been living in for the past two months, and the green and lush fertile Nile delta that Cairo is placed.

There is that amazing fresh seafood meal that I ate while on a short excursion to Alexandria.

There is the experience of trying Egypt's national dish called Koshary, a bizarre but surprisingly tasty mix of macaroni noodles, tomato sauce, fried onions, rice and garbanzo beans...

Okay, enough of that. Bottom line is that Egypt exceeded all of my expectations. It is difficult for me to even begin to explain what my brief but packed seven day adventure consisted of. My senses were often bombarded by the heat that was still lingering in late October, the pollution that nearly every day inhibited a clear view of the city, the honks and yells and songs blaring from car windows and pedestrians... you all probably get the idea.

One thing I can say with confidence is that I am so grateful for the opportunity to travel to another country within the region of the Middle East. It is so important to expand your idea of what one culture may be like, rather than simply assuming that your first impressions, or even final impressions of one area, are the final say. One thing I learn more and more every day is that this region that is often clumped into one solid idea (especially from the view point of Americans), whether is be titled as the Arab World, the Muslim World, the Middle East, or any other generalized label, is in fact an enormously complicated and interesting jumble of separate worlds, identities and realities that has more differences within itself than similarities.

A lecturer a few weeks back made a brief comment on the fact that many people visit this region and find themselves "addicted to the problems." Although I do not particularly like to view individual's interests in the region as an addiction, I understand the point that he was trying to make through this statement. This area, that is so frequently described somehow as one big cluster with some unifying title, is a very complex and interesting area that never ceases to surprise people who were raised from within it, or others like me who are only beginning to explore the surface of these complexities.

The trip to Egypt brought all of what I have stated above to my personal attention as I am beginning to explore outside of Amman or the entire country of Jordan... I cannot wait to travel further in the region and continue to reflect on all of these experiences.

This entry was not as fun as I had hoped so I will attach some pictures to make up for that serious diary style ramble that I just went on...

Katherine displaying part of the delicious fresh seafood meal in Alexandria

Fisherman on the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria

preparing for the Felucca boat ride on the Nile

Shop keeper in the small alleyways of Coptic Cairo

Some man trying to snap secret pics of our group... so my friend Christina snapped a little picture of him.

Does this picture really need an explanation?

from left to right, Christina, Victoria, Great Pyramid, Sphinx, Myself, Katherine

Cemetery in Coptic Cairo

A group of Egyptian teeny boppers that literally ran up to me like I was a movie star, took a picture with me, and then ran away screaming "OH MY GODDDD, OH MY GODDD"... pretty hilariously unexpected.

Laurentina and I at the Mohamed Ali Mosque and Citadel in Cairo

Camels near the Pyramids

Camel ride!

Umm Al-Duniyeh Awaits Me!

Just a quick update since I have not written in a few weeks. Since I returned from Aqaba (which was a brief but amazing getaway weekend trip for Katherine's birthday) two weekends ago I have been quite the busy bee with lots of school work, more adventures exploring Amman, and some time with the family.

Tomorrow all twenty-three of us and a few staff members leave Amman for yet another big adventure... this time to Umm Al-Duniyeh (أم أدنيا), aka EGYPT. Umm Al-Duniyeh translates to Mother of the World which is what many people in the Arab World know Egypt as because it is known as being a place where one can find everything... the extreme contrasts between tradition, modernity, excessive wealth, extreme poverty, new development, ancient ruins and holy sites, and of course, the Nile River. We will be there for seven full days that are mostly scheduled by SIT but we have one free day to do as we wish. My plan is to take a little day trip to Alexandria which is not very far by train and is situated on the Mediterranean Sea. I want to venture outside the mega city of Cairo at least once so that I do not have that experience as my only impression of such a diverse country. We'll also be visiting the Pyramids, of course.

That is all for now as I am truly making this blog a quick update! More to come after Egypt! Love and miss everyone dearly!

... just some fresh fig eatin'

I am currently sitting in a five star luxury resort in Aqaba as I’m about to write about my experience in the Southern Badia, which was pretty much as far as I could get from the lifestyle I have been living this weekend in celebration of my friend Katherine’s 21^st birthday.

A little over a week ago I spent four days with the Bedouin family of Sheikh Hussein in the South Badia town of Qrain. The town of Qrain has about 400 families, most of which are somehow related giving the town a really strong feeling of community and warmth. I was welcomed into the home by Sheikh Hussein, his sons, and another Sheikh from a nearby village with whom another student would be staying with for her Badia home stay. I was feeling a little nervous because I had no idea what to expect. Dr. Raed had only told us about where we would be going and which families we would be staying with the day before and for this reason I did not have much time to mentally prepare myself for whatever situation was about to come my way. But, thankfully, I found myself feeling pretty comfortable in the home after the first few hours. After the initial meet and greet period with the Sheikhs and sons in a large welcoming room with cushions surrounding all the walls on which you sit on the ground I saw very little of the father (Sheikh Hussein, aka Abu Omer which means father of Omer, the oldest son). An obvious separation between the females and males in the town was apparent as my host Mom (Umm Omer, meaning mother of Omer) would bring each meal of the day to me in my room, where she would share whatever dish she had prepared for us with me. All meals were eaten on a large silver platter on the ground. Breakfast usually consisted of pita bread, olive oil, zatar (a thyme mixture I have never eaten in the states, it is zaaaaaaaaki (tasty)), jam, sometimes thick sweet cream you are supposed to eat with the jam, cheese and hard boiled eggs from chickens they had in the backyard. Lunch is the main meal that is usually eaten at any time between 2 and 5pm and was different each day. One day I had Matluba which is a chicken, rice and eggplant dish. One day she served a chicken, tomato, potato dish that was sort of soup like. It was delicious and probably my favorite meal. The last day I was there she specially prepared some sort of fish from the nearby Red Sea (which I can currently see out my fancy hotel window as I write this blog entry) which was interesting although not my favorite. Enough about food…

The four days I spent there were pretty slow-paced and I felt myself feeling stir crazy at times. I did not really do all that much while I was there besides socialize with family members I was introduced to and try to carry on a confusing conversation in a blend of Arabic and English while being served copious amounts of the sweetest black tea I have ever tasted with a little hint of mint. I got over this stir crazy feeling after the 2^nd day as I began to just adjust to the slower pace of life and my acknowledgement of the fact that not every waking minute has to be spent being efficiently productive (which I believe many Americans are almost programmed to be like so that it often makes it hard for people to learn how to relax). One evening one of my sisters dragged me out of the house yelling “jamal jamal jamal” at me, I followed her outside to see five camels sauntering down the road. That was definitely a highlight.

The last evening I was there the family decided to take me to Little Petra, a smaller version of the more well-known area of Petra. It was only a 40 minute drive from their home and about twenty minutes in you begin to see a backdrop of rocky, sharp mountain peaks in the distance, within which Petra and Little Petra exist. We went in the evening, which was beautiful because the temperature had dropped significantly and the lighting was perfect for wandering around an ancient town carved out of red hued rocks. I was amazed by the fact that despite the fame that Petra has acquired for a must-see tourist destination people living immediately outside the site still went about their lives in a fashion that seems as though they could be doing the same exact thing even if it were centuries earlier in time. I saw many houses literally carved into the sides of mountains with the Shepherds in the area herding their goats and sheep, sometimes with the appearance of a camel, sometimes riding a donkey. After we left Little Petra I expected us to head straight back home since the sun was setting, but as we got back on the main road we quickly drove right off again straight into the desert… I was sure we would pop a tire or get stuck in the mixed sand and jagged rock covered desert ground, but Abu Omer confidently drove the eight of us in his tiny sedan to a nice little spot where we laid out a rug and made tea and the sun went down completely.

By the time I left Qrain the next morning I was feeling as though I could’ve spent a lot longer with the family in the village. So many people that visit rural areas and have experiences with the Bedouins within these areas comment on the hospitality they receive from the Bedouins as a guest. I completely agree but want to comment on the fact that it is some of the most genuine hospitality I have ever experienced. I felt as though I was completely welcomed and embraced by many people that knew very little about me but were willing to offer me anything in an attempt to make me feel the most comfortable I could feel. I think I could have walked through the village alone and been welcomed into most all of the houses because of how tight knit the community was, and the fact that it in itself is a huge family both literally (many people are related) and figuratively. I plan to go back to Qrain many times to visit before I leave Jordan.

So now it is a week later and I am sitting in a very luxurious hotel room situated directly on the shores of the Red Sea in Aqaba. My friend Katherine is turning 21 today and for this celebration her father decided to reserve a hotel room for a weekend of celebration in a beautiful area. I won’t go too much into details because I think debriefing Aqaba could be a whole separate blog entry, but to just summarize briefly, I love it here. It is a coastal town that borders Israel and Saudi Arabia, is surrounded by huge rocky bare mountains, and sits on the edge of the turquoise-blue colored Gulf of Aqaba (Red Sea) that I even got to go snorkeling in yesterday! Amazing? Yes.

Cutest sister Zain

Sister Zain and I

Sisters Thoha and Zain

Little Petra, host mom, sister Zain, and brother Adel

Evening Tea in the Desert

(above two pictures taken by another SIT student, Ian Goldin, staying in a different village near the village of Qrain... I thought I would include them since they are such nice pics... credit to him)

Camel licking my ear... Five camels sauntered into town so everyone got excited... Zain is holding my hand being adorable as usual

Last three pics taken in Little Petra

Brief Home stay in Jordan's South Badia

Tomorrow I will venture about 5-6 hours south of Amman and lunge into a five day home stay with a Bedouin family living in a small village by the name of Grain (it is an arabic word that sounds just as the English word grain is pronounced). Although I know very little about the family so far today each student was told where their home stay families live and we were given a general idea of what the family was like.

I am SO excited. Of the 23 students in my program 11 are headed to the Southern Badia. Jordan has three Badia regions which are basically rural areas where small Bedouin villages are. The other 12 students are will be staying in northern Badia villages, most being right on the Syrian border. I would have been happy with being placed in the Northern Badia as well but let me tell you why I am so thrilled about my southern Badia family!

The father of the family is a Sheikh (leader of a tribe) named Sheikh Hussein Abu Nweir. He is well-known in the area and Dr. Raed described him as one of the most wonderful people he has ever been in the presence of. He is also running for a position in the parliament for the upcoming election! I hope my facts are right on this. I know he is running for something but I'll have to add more detail after I return. The family is supposedly really large, like most families in the Badia. I'll be buying some candy and surprises for kids after school today to bring to them.

Another reason for being excited is that a lot of Southern Jordan is dramatically beautiful, dry, red, deserts that most people could never even comprehend what life in this environment is like. Can't wait can't wait can't wait!! I will hopefully have lots of pictures and things to say about the experience after I return on Monday...

Salt Pictures

The day trip to Salt was great. We basically had a walking tour of most of the city because it isn't all that large, especially in comparison to Amman. Below are some pictures that my friend Katherine took which I decided to upload because I think they better show the beauty of the area than my chaotic picture taking skills ( I was a little too excited all day and took way too many pictures way too fast and because of this ran out of battery early in the day).

They are out of order so this picture was actually the last stop of the day. It shows the sun setting over the West Bank (Palestinian territories to the west of the viewpoint we were parked at). We just pulled off the side of the road and it was a great view of the Jordan valley that separates hilly terrain to the east (where Salt and Amman are) from the hilly terrain beginning in the West Bank kilometers to the east.

Me picking Pomegranates.

Old men playing Mancala in Salt

Man selling fruit on a back road

The city of Salt.

Lemon Tree

"From blossoms released by the moonlight, from an aroma of exasperated love, steeped in fragrance, yellowness. Drifted from the lemon tree, and from the planetarium lemons descended to the earth."

Just a hilarious little poem I read on the placemat of an upscale Cafe I thought was worthy of sharing. Lemons descending to earth? Okay, that is a little weird.

Week two of real classes is now complete and so far everything is great. I am so happy I chose the SIT (School for International Training) program over the larger, more well known program in Amman through CIEE. Every week we have about three guest lecturers come and share with us knowledge about their specialty that has to do with whatever our weekly topic was. This week one of the visits was from former Jordanian prime minister, Dr. Jawad Anani! It was pretty cool to have someone who worked with King Hussein personally for ten years and got to meet a handful of other significant figures in the realm of world politics come and talk to a group of 23 Americans about his experiences both professionally and personally. Just wanted to share an example of why I have really been enjoying the school portion of my visit here so far.

My weeks here so far have consisted of A LOT of exploring in and around Amman because there is A LOT of exploring to do in such a big city. One highlight of my explorations last week was visiting the ancient Roman Amphitheater that literally is right in downtown Amman. I will definitely post pictures sometime next week.

Tomorrow a group of students and I are going on an to the city of Salt. I don't know a whole lot of specific history about Salt but I do know that it is an old, old, city. And for this reason I have heard it is very beautiful with a lot of older architecture, unlike Amman which for the most part has only recently (in the past 60 or 70 years) become a larger city. Here is a little blip about it from The Rough Guide to Jordan, my nerdy tourist book of choice.

"A regional capital under the Ottomans, the town- who name derives from the ancient Greek saltos, meaning "thick forest" - came into its own in the late nineteenth century, when merchants from Nablus arrived to expand their trading base east of the river. Into what was then a peasant village of shacks boxed between precipitous hills, the merchants brought sophisticated architects, and masons to work with the honey- coloured local limestone; buildings were put up in the ornate Nabulsi style to serve both as grand residences and as merchandise centers... Salt has seen none of the headlong modernization that has afflicted the capital (Amman): much of the Ottoman architecture in the old quarter has survived, as has peace and quiet, perfect for aimless exploration." Anyways, that was a good summary of why I am excited. Amman has so much to offer but I am still in the stage where I want to be in awe of how far I have traveled and the vast history that this area has seen. I guess my host mom is also from Salt so I will have to write about what she thinks about it after I talk with her a bit.

Another exciting trip awaiting me is my 5 day homestay in the Badia next week!! The Badia is a large area northeast-ish of Amman that is usually described as rural and traditional. It is also where many Bedouins live, although most are no longer nomadic so sadly I won't be traveling around on camels pitching the tent at a new spot every few days. Since the academic director, Dr. Raed, of the Jordan SIT program is from the Badia his personal connections have allowed students to get this unbelievably rare opportunity to have a short stay with families in more remote, traditional areas, with the Bedouin. Every student will be staying with a different family and maybe even in different villages. Most likely the families will speak little to no English and the living standards are in general much lower than the modernized city of Amman. I am mostly looking forward to it just to have some perspective on the diversity that exists within the people of Jordan's lifestyles, political view points, etc. Hopefully my explanation of the short home stay in the Badia has made sense but you will all hear much more after I return....

Now it is bedtime for me since I have an early morning expedition to Salt! MaaSalama!

In an effort to write blogs more often I am going to attempt to just write shorter blogs instead of covering whole weeks.... I have been in Amman for a little less than two weeks and already feel fairly adjusted to my "new life" here. I am settled in with my wonderful homestay family, attending interesting classes daily, and feeling as though I am getting into somewhat of a general routine which I don't mind one bit.

Last night I met a few friends on Rainbow Street for my first time. This area is great. It was my first time venturing to the neighborhood or anywhere near there for that matter because I think it is by the 2nd circle and my house is somewhere near the 7th circle. In case blog readers don't know, Amman is often explained as having seven circles around which most of the city exists. Since the creation of seven circles (just the same as traffic circles in the US but at a higher speed and intensity ha ha) the city has grown more so not all areas can be described in relation to a circle but it still gives you a general idea of distance between most places. ANYWAYS... I don't know how well I will be able to keep these blog entries short after all...

So, Rainbow Street. Very cool neighborhood. The Royal Jordanian Film Commission had a free film showing of a Tunisian movie which was our incentive to check out the neighborhood, although I only stayed for part of the film. The showing of the film was at an outside amphitheater situated in a really beautiful area. A view of the enormous Jordanian flagpole and Roman ruins were directly to the left of the movie screen along with the lit up hills of the city in all directions. I will have to go back in the day and take a picture. It was almost surreal sitting outside in the warm night air, the constant smell of Jasmine, and this amazing view. And now will be the appropriate time to mention my possible Alien sighting...

While watching the movie several planes flew low overhead as they must have been departing from the airport, there were also planes in the sky further away, and some very bright stars. BUT, at one point in the movie I noticed something that at first I assumed was another airplane when I realized it was BRIGHT ORANGE and was sort of drifting up and down in the sky until it finally started descending at a slow speed and eventually disappeared behind one of the hills. EXCUSE ME but I really cannot think of a rational explanation for what in the world this weird bright orange lit up blob in the sky was... Maybe a meteor about to crash into earth? Maybe an airplane lit up in flames falling to a fire-y crash? I think not. Most likely an alien spacecraft. I will probably never know.

Okay, I know that sounds a little weird but it was a little weird and is funny to talk about. Who knows what it was.

I think this is a good place to end the blog entry. If anyone has questions or comments PLEASE SPEAK UP! I want to hear what people are thinking of this blog so far and if I should include more about certain aspects of my time here so far... Miss and love everyone!

view from Leweibdeh neighborhood

pic above of my school, SIT, which is in a fancy residential area next to the British and Venezuelan embassies.

Well the first week is coming to an end… already. So much has happened and I have been occupied every minute of every day, so much that I haven’t had much time to keep up with the blogging. But, to start this simply, I have been having a great time. There are so many different layers of my excitement to the new things I encounter that span from driving through a new and interesting neighborhood, to getting excited about starting the Jordanian dialect classes so I can more confidently interact with taxi drivers, my host family, etc. Speaking of my host family, I met them today!

The day started early because I had to shove all of my clothes and random trinkets I had fished out of my overly stuffed bags back in the stuffed bags, shower, and eat breakfast by 8:15. After all of that we were bussed over to the SIT building (my school until December), had a health orientation which was pretty silly and explained things that anyone who is over the age of ten would probably know, and then we took our Arabic language placement exam. Classes officially start on Sunday (the weekend here is Friday and Saturday since Friday is the Muslim day that is equivalent to Sunday for Christians) so we had to take the exams in order for the teachers to separate us into classes with other students around our same level of Arabic. There are five different levels that we can test into, which is really great for only 23 students because that means there will be about 5 students per class!! Last term at UO my class only had something like 8 students and I absolutely loved having a smaller class for learning Arabic.

After the language tests we ate lunch and basically waited around for our host families to pick us up. Everyone was really nervous, including me. It felt like we were being sent off to summer camp away from all things familiar for the first time or something. I don’t know why I keep explaining it in that way but it was this strange type of anxiety that I haven’t felt since I was a lot younger ha ha. My host father arrived with another host father and took me and another student back to our homes that are relatively close to each other. Soon after they picked us up all of my anxiety disappeared because the two men were pretty funny. Both of their families are Christian, which is about a 4% minority in all of Jordan, and they don’t seem too religious. Muaad, my host father, was explaining to me that a part of the family name, Al-qsoos, is the plural of saints in Arabic when George (the other host father) loudly interrupted him to explain that Muuad hadn’t stepped inside a church since his marriage day. Side Note: A woman I met later in the evening named Tala blatantly told me that in Jordan everyone has a religion even if they are not particularly religious, it is just strange to claim that you don’t have a religion here like many people do in the US. So no matter what religion one claims to adhere to there are many varying degrees of what exactly that means, whether Christian or Muslim.

I arrived at the house to be greeted by my three host sisters who are 16 and twins that are 14! They kissed me on both cheeks and then invited me in to show me around the house. It is a small flat on the ground floor of a tall building and is situated at the end of a street with no traffic, which is amazing considering the chaotic nature of Amman. After my host mother arrived home from her job at a bank we ate a casual but huge dinner. I felt as comfortable as possible given the circumstances and was pretty glad that I got such a welcoming and warm family. Later in the evening they invited me to join them to another family member’s house where an uncle and some cousins live next door to their somehow related friend named George who was hosting the other student Nick from SIT. We sat in their living room until about midnight being fed snacks like an assortment of really salty nuts, delicious tea with fresh mint from their garden, and way too many sweets that were all similar to Baklava in their texture but had different fillings and toppings. The uncle has three daughters, one of whom was home and I had a really long and interesting conversation with that I was happy about. Tala is 24 and got a B.S. in Engineering from some small technical school in Jordan, but she also spent a year abroad in the U.S. at a huge university in Illinois. She offered to take me on multiple day trips around Jordan, including some areas in Northwestern Jordan where there is actually a pine tree forest and it is the site of some significant biblical history. I plan on taking her up on any and all of her offers. I’m pretty excited about this.

A lot of the night was spent on my part listening to the rest of the group talk furiously and often hysterically in Arabic which was fun to try to follow and at least get the gist of what the conversation was about. Occasionally Tala would try to translate some of the funny stories that were being told by Muuad, apparently he is a great story teller. At one point Suwwar, one of the twins, starting repeating some cheer about falafels and going to the Balad (downtown) and I put it together that her and the uncle were trying to convince the family to make a late night munchie trip. The Uncle accused Muuad of not being a true Jordanian if he didn’t want Falafels of all hours the day. I thought that was pretty hilarious.

I can tell my family is really close with their other family members and friends in Amman I’m positive there will be many, many more evenings like tonight.

WELCOME TO JORDAN

I made it here in one piece at 2am yesterday (this?) morning. Most of my day was spent resting since I arrived early and no other students were here, so I got a little caught up on sleep and just tried to let the fact that I am actually in the Middle East start to seem real. After I woke up from a nap some other students have arrived so we wandered around for a bit and almost got ran over a few times ah ha ha... Jordanians drive very crazy and I'm pretty sure there actually are pedestrian and traffic laws but they seem to not be enforced at all... Lots of the cars sped by with Arab pop music blasting from the open windows as well as some hoots and hollers which will probably get annoying but at this point it is easy to ignore and sort of funny. We also got a loud shouting welcome from some hilarious prepubescent looking boys that said "WELCOME TO JORDAN WELCOME TO JORDAN!"

After the first outing I was still tired so I went back to the hotel to read for a while and could actually hear the loud call to prayer that was being sung as the sun went down! Since this month is Ramadan on the Muslim calendar most people (Muslims) fast from sunrise to sunset and then have a big meal after sunset called Iftar. Even if you don't want to fast eating and drinking, and smoking, is prohibited out in public. So for the last ten days of Ramadan while I am here I don't have to necessarily fast but I have to keep my eating to behind private walls where I won't offend anyone. It is a strange thing to get used to but I don't think it will be too hard. Most likely I will just end up eating less for the next ten days because getting food is more difficult than normal... but after that I plan on feasting regular on all sorts of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern foods mmmmmmmm.

After a big Iftar meal at the hotel and meeting the other students a group of us walked a few blocks away to Shariah Thaqafa (Culture Street is the what it means in English... and I don't really know how to write the equivalency to Arabic letters into English yet so words might look weird for a while to those who do know)... The street was very busy as everyone was out and about at cafes, drinking coffee, smoking lots of hookah which I think is called argileh here or "hubbly bubbly" haha! We settled at a nice cafe that was on the street side but had tapestries that made it a little more private and played cards and smoked hobbly bubbly (as they had it on their menu) for a few hours. That was the first real cultural experience for me as there were two men playing some traditional Arabic music on the stage, and then after they finished some Arab soap opera was turned on and blasted through the speakers throughout the cafe. It was pretty dramatic and hilarious. Oh! I forgot to mention that we found a tiny kitten outside the hotel and so we brought him along as well because he obviously didn't have a home. Overall, great evening.

All sorts of activities are planned for tomorrow to try to attempt to force ourselves out of jetlag during this orientation week. Friday we get picked up from the hotels to stay with our host families and school starts the following Monday. I have so much to look forward to.

Expect to hear more soon! Love and miss everyone already!