I’m writing this on a plane somewhere between Paris and
Atlanta. I haven’t slept in a bed in 37 hours, and it’s still only 11:30 in the
morning in Texas (I’ll hopefully get in around 10:00 pm). Still, I’m fairly
awake, and this seems like a good time to sum up my thoughts on the summer.
First,
though, there are a couple other things I should mention. First, thank you for
your concern, and my ankle is doing much better. I walked around Paris for
several hours today without anything other than normal soreness. I won’t
mention much about Paris, since this post is meant to wrap up my experience in
Jordan, but I will post pictures, and I will also say that I understand why
everyone wants to go.
We must
have done one of the quickest walking tours of Paris ever attempted. We ate
breakfast at a café, walked down the Champs-Elysees, and saw the Arc de Triomphe
in about three hours. Despite the fact that we kept accidently speaking in
Arabic instead of French, everything went very smoothly, and we had a great
time. My favorite part, though, had to be Notre Dame – it’s been a long time
since I’ve seen anything so breathtakingly, elegantly beautiful. Despite our
rushed pace, I stopped a moment to sit and pray before we left.
With those
subplots out of the way, I can turn my thoughts to pondering the significance
of this summer. As the summer drew to a close, I noticed a lot of things I was
looking forward to returning to in the US: not just family and friends, but
little things like being able to flush the toilet paper, bread meaning loaves
or rolls or pastries instead of pita, driving or using public transport instead
of taking taxis, having WiFi at home, not getting constantly honked or whistled
at in the street, tex-mex food – the list goes on.
However,
the closer I got to leaving, the more things I started to realize I would miss
about Jordan: cheap falafel and shwarma everywhere, practicing Arabic on a
normal basis, the half-Arabic, half-English puns that no one not in our program
can really understand in context, beautiful warm weather, mountains everywhere,
Arabic hospitality, and the call to prayer that woke me up at four in the
morning and then lulled me back to sleep with its melody, reminding me that God
is great and that there is, indeed, no God but God. I’ll miss the inherent
conservatism and the religion that permeates all of life here, from the
always-present steeples and minarets to the religious sayings tacked up under
street signs.
It’s been a
lovely summer, and I know I’ve grown a lot. One way to measure this is to list
out things I’ve come to regard as common place: navigating around language and
cultural barriers, using taxis for everything, buying groceries, living with a
roommate. But I think the best way to describe what I’ve learned is general
independence. On the plane heading out into Paris earlier, it occurred to me
that I was comfortable with the idea of going out and sightseeing in Paris and
then making it back to Texas by myself. I didn’t need to, but it was a concept
that wouldn’t have occurred two months ago.
And of
course, my Arabic has improved a great deal. Seeing as I couldn’t get past
‘hello’ when I left, and I can now start intermediate level Arabic at Harvard,
I’ve made it quite a ways. I was expecting that more this time, so the thought
of how much I’ve learned doesn’t make me near as giddy as it did last summer,
but I’m still very content with the way things turned out.
Final
thoughts on Jordan itself? It’s a beautiful country, and it will always hold a
special place in my heart. The scenery is magnificent, from tree-covered
mountains to desert castles. The people live up to the idea of Arab hospitality
– I don’t know how many times I’ve had strangers offer me food and drink just
because I happened to pass by them. It’s definitely harder to be a woman here,
but Amman is a pretty safe city if one takes care, as one would in any large
city.
During a
practice oral exam, I was asked to explain what any visitor must do in Jordan.
Petra is obvious, and Wadi Rum is a close second; the Roman ruins in Jerash and
Amman are also a must-see. And of course, there are all the biblical sites I’ve
mentioned along the way. There are plenty of sites to see, but Jordan is more
than the sum of its sites. Buy some falafel or shwarma, visit a mosque, enjoy
the scenery, or wander through a suk*. Enjoy some Arab hospitality (be
suspicious if you’re a woman traveling alone, though); go to church and sing
the Lord’s Prayer in Arabic; listen to the call to prayer.
There’s
much more I’d like to say, but I’ve been long enough already. This summer has
been an incredible blessing for me, and I couldn’t have asked for a better
experience. In a couple of weeks I’ll be back at Harvard, so I’ll resume my
usual blogging then. I look forward to seeing many of you very soon! Thank you
for reading this summer, and God bless. Until September!
*the Arabic word for an outdoor market
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