Halfway Through

            Well, it’s hard to believe another week’s gone by already. These posts always surprise me when they come, and yet in another way I feel as though I’ve been here forever. We’ve gotten so much done, all the days begin to blend together. Depending on who you ask, I’ve done anywhere from a semester to a year-and-a-half of Arabic in four weeks – and that’s how tired I feel. Despite having rested for most of last weekend, I still come into class just wanting to lie down and go to sleep.

            My Arabic has shown marked improvement, though. The nice thing about starting an intensive language course from scratch is that progress is very noticeable: four weeks ago, I couldn’t form a sentence in Arabic. Now I can have conversations and write short stories. They might not be very original conversations or stories, but they’re much better than nothing. We have our finals for the session* this week

            In order to practice my listening/speaking skills in Arabic, I’ve been going to a young adult group and worship service in Arabic in addition to the English-speaking church I attend. So far, I can understand the general direction of the sermon, and I’m getting to where I can pick out more words. Church services are nice for learning languages, because they’re ‘real life’, but they’re similar to a textbook conversation in that they have a specific vocabulary associated with them, and if you’re familiar with the ideas and texts in another language, it’s very helpful in guiding you through what’s going on at the moment. Churches are also a good place to find friends who aren’t also foreigners, and while I haven’t been overly successful so far, I’m hopeful.

            I do have one adventure from over the weekend to share. A large group of students went out to a café last week to watch the US-Germany game. After hanging out a while, my roommate and I headed home. It was around midnight. We made it back to our neighborhood – it’s a rather large neighborhood – but before we got to our street, my roommate told the driver to stop, and we got out. It wasn’t until after the taxi drove off that I discovered we had no idea where we were. We spent the next quarter of an hour walking along, searching for something that looked familiar, and getting more and more lost. Finally, we ended up talking to this grandfatherly storekeeper, who apparently had his grandsons over to help him. And thus it was that we ended up being escorted back to our street by a ragtag band of boys on bicycles, ranging from around 9 to 14 years old. They spoke some English, and they agreed to take a picture with us at the end of the trip – it was only about a fifteen- or twenty-minute walk, if you knew where you were going. So that ended well. But I haven’t been out that late since.

            I still don’t seem to have culture shock. The taxis are better now that we’ve learned to be more selective – or maybe they’re just not supposed to cheat people during Ramadan. I did have one driver try to convince me to pay 2 JD** when the meter clearly said .94 JD, but he didn’t make a problem when I insisted on giving him only 1 JD. I do miss some American food, but I could find it here if I wanted to go to the trouble of going and buying it. The food at our house is good, though. They grow their own fruit, I think I mentioned before, and they make a lot of different dishes. Especially during Ramadan, supper is a very big meal. VERY big. I have pictures. And of course, there are the stares, comments, and wolf-whistles – there’s more than one reason to dress conservatively here – but it’s not like that never happens in Boston. Overall, I think Jordan is still growing on me.

            I have been more irritable than usual lately, but I think that’s just lack of sleep showing. Only a few more days, two tests and a final project, and I’ll be able to rest. There’s only a three-day weekend in between sessions, but it’s three days without homework, which I’m very much looking forward to. When I post next, we’ll have started the next session already. Until then!

* a session is basically like a summer semester – some people are staying for one; some people are staying for two. Each session has its own midterm and final. I’m staying for two sessions; this is the end of the first one. After this we’ll move up a class and have new teachers and schedules.

** about 1.4 USD

Note: Also, thank you to Kendra for taking that picture of me! 

Restaurants and Ramadan

Well, yet another week has passed! We had midterms on Sunday, so we’re getting grades back today. From what I hear, all the tests in all the classes were pretty hard, and at least in my class, no one’s overly happy with our score. It was the listening section that killed our scores – when you’re just learning a language, good sound quality is a must – and even would have been alright if they hadn’t waited until afterwards to mention that those few questions were half the grade.

However, my skills in Arabic, including listening, are improving. Outings help. I actually went to church three times this week. I attended an Arabic-speaking youth group, a church service in English, and a church service in Arabic (a very liturgical one) on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, respectively, and I could understand the gist of the talks in Arabic. It’s handy going to church to practice your listening skills, since if you know the passage you can guess the general direction of the sermon before it’s started.

Sunday was also the beginning of Ramadan, so all of our teachers are trying to get along without food, water, or coffee after around three in the morning. A few of the students are also trying to fast during daylight hours, or at least tried it for a couple of days. Not drinking water all day with 15% humidity and temperatures over 100 makes for some very wiped-out people by the end of the school day. I considered fasting, since our host family is; it’s a “cultural experience”, but I have my own fasts, and I’d rather study Arabic on a full stomach.

My roommate is attempting to fast, but our host family is determined that she won’t. By Sunday afternoon she was exhausted; we arrived home at around 4:30, and she immediately wanted water (most students aren’t fasting from water, just food – a cultural experience only goes so far). The host mother was in the kitchen, so while getting water, I explained to her that Jordan was fasting (yes, in Arabic) and she followed me into the room and was very confused when she saw Jordan drinking water. The language barrier and my roommate’s exhaustion didn’t help much in the ensuing conversation. In the end, the mother dragged us to the kitchen and ordered us to eat. I had no qualms about it, and my roommate finally gave in. Roughly the same thing happened yesterday. Thus, today, she is determined not to get home until the official time to break the fast, so that they can’t make her eat beforehand. We’ll see how it works.

We still haven’t gotten membership at a gym, though we have found the one we want to go to. Between fasting and the heat, no one really has the energy for working out, and we don’t want to pay for a membership we won’t use. Ramadan has a definite effect on the city; it’s practically dead for a lot of the day. You have to go further to find taxis, and places that were brimming with cars, people, and shops less than a week ago are almost silent until after sunset. Not only can you not eat and drink during the day, you can’t smoke – and smoking is a pretty big thing here. In addition, you have to get up at three in the morning to eat, so everyone’s sleep schedule is messed up. It’s just not a particularly good time, but it must be awesome for cultural cohesion. Nearly everyone in the Muslim community participates.

We did do a couple of things right before Ramadan, started though. On Thursday a group of us went out to eat an early dinner, and then we went to a pub to watch the US-Germany game (the World Cup is a big thing here), and then went to another, outdoor restaurant where there was more room. It was a good night.

So, it’s been a pretty good week, and hopefully I can stay home long enough this weekend to get some good studying done as well – most of last weekend was spent studying. A blessed Ramadan and a happy Fourth of July to all of you! Until next week!

Dead Sea Stories

            So far, life in Jordan is looking up. I’ve successfully moved classes, and I got an A on my first quiz, so the academic side of things is going well. The last couple of days I’ve just come home and studied, and I feel like I’m beginning to get into a productive routing.

            These last couple of days have also confirmed the fact that I’m an introvert – I’m not antisocial, but I get my energy from being alone. I was so tired every day this week, I couldn’t bring myself to do hardly anything. But the last couple of days, even though I haven’t really slept anymore, I’ve been energized at the end of the day, and I think it’s because for the first time in a week I had alone time to study, and I’m getting things done.

            Most of the time I’m alone is at home; my roommate and I have settled in comfortably. Our schedules still conflict, but now that we’re more comfortable making individual plans, there’s less friction. We and our family get along well; at one point, they told us we could only shower three times a week, but when we explained that we could, in fact, take short showers, they acquiesced. Sometimes, at night, the housekeeper brings in fruit plates and this excellent sweetened mint tea, and that has become one of my favorite things here.

            One of my least favorite things here is the taxis; for every nice one you find, there are two others trying to rip you off. If there’s a guy in the car with you, they’re less likely to cheat you, but they still either refuse to use the meter and try to charge you three times too much, or th

ey go the long way or take detours to rack up the meter. It’s easier to guard against now that we know our way around better, though.

            Speaking of being around, we went on the biblical tour of Jordan this weekend. The tour was interesting; it was the Islamic, Jordanian-slanted version of the story, but still fairly accurate. We went and saw the oldest map of Palestine, and the church housing it, and then we went up Mount Nebo, where Moses is said to have shown the Israelites the promised land (It was slightly anticlimactic – it was only a little less brown than the other side, but I suppose several thousand years can change a view).

            And then, of course, we went to the Dead Sea. I swam for about a minute-and-a-half, then decided I didn’t like it and went and rinsed and got in the pool instead. It was hard to swim and it stung and it left my skin coated and kind of icky, but who cares? I’ve swum in the Dead Sea. We also went to the outdoor market this past week, and I got a couple pairs of awesome athletic pants for a few dollars each. We’ve also decided that it’s a good place for souvenirs, so we’ll be going back.

            That was about my week; I went to church with a few friends on Friday, and it was a good service. The sermon was on John 3, and we discussed it a little afterwards. We’ve had some interesting religion and politics discussions (in English) in class, which I have watched silently, for the most part. This week, classes seem to be more relaxed; we spend a lot of time chatting instead of practicing, but I feel like we’re still learning a lot, and it gives me a chance to relax a little. And I’ve had time to Skype my parents several time – yes, I did call my mom on her birthday.

            So, I’m learning Arabic, I’m meeting people, and I’m learning to like the food. We’ve found a gym we’re planning on signing up for this week, and we’re starting to venture out into the city. And of course, we’ve swum in the Dead Sea. Overall, a pretty good week. We’ll see if the culture shock hits in a few days…

Jordan: Settling In

            Hi! I’m sorry for the lack of organization in this blog post; I have more work than I was anticipating. Something exciting and unexpected has happened since my last blog post – I’ve moved up a level! As someone who’s never studied Arabic before, I started out in Arabic 101, but I had already memorized the alphabet and some vocab as groundwork, and the grammar is really similar to Hebrew, so I talked to a few of the administrators, and they ended up moving me up to the second-level class. It’s harder, and the homework takes longer, but I’m learning a lot more.

            It’s been an interesting time so far. I’ve settled into my host family’s home and begun to get into a routine. Class times are set, but social occasions and outings are up in the air, and exercise is a small problem. Most of us, after trying to navigate to gyms and learning their prices, have decided to just work out in the house. Cardio is hard, because jogging out of doors isn’t really done, but we’ve decided it’s not worth a gym membership just for that, even though most of us are in ROTC and have to worry about physical fitness tests when we get back.

            Yesterday we went on a tour of Amman; I have pictures of the citadel looking over the city and the amphitheater. By the way, the name Amman comes from the Ammonites; remember them? The tour was great; they showed us the sites and showed us around the city, so we would know where we were and if the taxi drivers were ripping us off or whatnot. I took lots of pictures; the views were great, and museums and ruins are some of my favorite things.

            After the tour, another girl and I headed back to our host homes, which were fairly close to the building we study at. That was an adventure. Jordanian taxi drivers don’t know addresses; you have to either be able to direct them or know landmarks. This makes it difficult when your home is an apartment building surrounded by other, nearly identical apartment buildings. Long story short, we ended up losing the map and my address, asking about six people for help, and finally finding a mother who was willing to walk me to my address after talking to my host mother (in Arabic) to find out where it is. After that, my friend came home with me, and then my host mother’s daughter, who was visiting and speaks English, talked to her host mother until they figured out how to get her home.

            I was afraid my host mother would be mad, but the first thing she said to me after the usual hello-how-are-you was “Hungry?”. I had my own private feast laid out, and the rest of the evening was nice. If you don’t know, I’m not the most adventurous when it comes to trying new foods. However, I didn’t want to offend anyone, and I’m going to be here for two months, so I decided to do my best to learn to like the food. It seems to be working – after a few times having something, the food grows on me. I’ve gained a whole new level of insight into the phrase “acquired taste”.

            My roommate and I are getting along nominally; we’re both moving to the next level (she’s taken a year of Arabic already), so we’ll be in the same class. We have very different study habits, though, so we’ll see how that goes. My new teachers are very nice, I like the kids in the class, and hopefully I’ll have time to do the work needed. Today we studied some vocab and a lot of grammar, but the grammar is really similar to Hebrew, so I pick it up ridiculously fast. My teachers say I will have to work hard but should do very well. I don’t feel confident going home by myself, though, so I usually tag along with my roommate, who’s an extrovert and always going places.

            Jordan in general is pretty nice, especially now that I’m kind of used to the food. Shorts are absolutely unacceptable, unless you’re in a single-gender gym or gym section, but T-shirts are fine, as long as they’re not too tight or too short or etc. The city, because it’s undergone such rapid expansion with refugee influxes and etc., is laid out in no logical order whatsoever, and takes quite a bit of doing to get to know. However, the white stone buildings and palm trees are pretty, and the temperature is warm, dry, and breezy – I’ve heard it compared to California, actually.

            They say culture shock usually sets in about a quarter of the way through your time in a country, which for me is in about a week-and-a-half. We’ll see what happens. So far I’m not experiencing as much Jordanian culture as I’d like in the first place; most of my time is spent surrounded by English speakers. Perhaps when I can get around on my own a little better, I’ll be able to go out and explore a little more, maybe with a couple of friends. But for now, I’m still settling in.

PS - Yes, we did climb all the way to the top of that amphitheater. And the last picture is of a cold strawberry juice - those things are awesome!

Jordan: First Impressions

Yay! My first summer blog post!

Well, I’m sitting in a house in Jordan, listening to the call to prayer. It’s been a very hectic last couple of days, and I’m not through processing yet, but already there’s a lot to tell.

As they say, getting there’s half the fun, and I could write a blog post just about the day we spent flying from Austin to Atlanta to Paris to Amman. I traveled with another guy from Texas until Paris, where we met a bunch of the other people in our class who were on our flight. Long story short, I ended up going to bed at 2:00 Friday morning, Amman time, and then having an extremely hard time going to sleep due to jet lag and general anxiety. Long story short, it was a night full of tossing and turning and headache and sporadic homesick crying sprees, and I ended up getting about six hours of sleep between Wednesday morning and Friday afternoon, instead of my usual sixteen to twenty.

Once I finally decided to give up, get up, and pull myself together, though, the rest of the day was nice. We went down to the lobby at 9:00-ish, and then the AMIDEAST staff picked us up and took us to our host family homes. Instead of living in dorms or apartments, we go singly or in pairs to live with a family in Amman, to help us learn about the culture and language. I’m living in my host family home with another girl, Jordan, but she missed her flight in Chicago yesterday and isn’t supposed to be here until eight tonight, so right now it’s just me.

I was a little nervous about meeting the host family by myself, especially not speaking any Arabic, but luckily, they knew more about it than I did. Before I’d finished formulating, from my very sparse vocabulary, the phrase “where do I eat? In the kitchen? Not outside the kitchen/dining room?”, they began to show me over the house and explain the rules, in english, which saved everyone a lot of trouble (in case you’re wondering, you can’t eat outside the kitchen.)

The house is very nice; it’s an apartment, but it’s very nicely decorated. I’m bad at descriptions, so you’ll have to look at the pictures (my parents were awesome enough to give me a new, very nice camera especially for this trip). Our bedroom is not a bedroom at all, but a suite, with its own closet, bathroom, sitting room, and bedroom. And if that’s not enough, I’ve never lived in a house with a maid/cook before. It’s not America, of course; the hot water is limited, and you can’t flush the toilet paper, but there’s no getting around it; it’s a very nice house.

My host family, from what I can tell right now, is an older couple and their granddaughter. The granddaughter, who is nineteen, is serving as a translator right now; it’s very helpful when figuring out what to do, but kind of unhelpful when I try to use what little Arabic I have and get a shake of the head and an “in English, in English”. When they discovered I hadn’t had breakfast (I hadn’t eaten in a while, actually; planes have a way of killing my appetite, so I hadn’t had a real meal since Wednesday morning) they immediately showed me to the kitchen for pita, hummus, and falafel.

Overall, they seem very nice but also fairly reserved; they seem fairly content to lead their lives while I type here quietly in the back room, which at the moment is exactly how I like it. I feel like, if I was hosting someone, that’s about how I would be. Of course, it’s only the first day, but so far, I’m very happy with the arrangements. It looks like there will be plenty of time to study (and possibly nap), which is what I’m about to do now, but also time to practice my Arabic and partake in family life.

I haven’t seen that much of Jordan yet, but the people have all been friendly, from the passport control to the hotel manager, the weather is hot and very dry, and the culture is varied but definitely different from America’s. When in the airport we saw both women in tight jeans and t-shirts and women wearing full burkas. The week starts on Sunday; Friday and Saturday are the weekend. Driving around, the buildings all seemed compact, and most of them were made from the same beige substance, probably sandstone. There are trees, and there is English; we passed a Pizza Hut and a KFC on the way to the hotel last night. The hotel was nice, too, but it’s the first building I’ve been in in a long time where you could smoke in the lobby.

I don’t have Wifi at my host home, so it will be tomorrow morning, at orientation for AMIDEAST, when I’m able to post this. I’m sure other things will have happened by then, but I’ll save them for my next post. This isn’t this week’s post; this is just an initial piece. I should be posting around Tuesday for the next eight weeks, so look out for those!

Anyway, since my roommate’s coming tonight, I won’t be able to sleep then, so I should probably try to nap now. Best wishes from Jordan!

PS - The first three of these are the hotel room the night before last; the next three are my current living arrangements; the other girl is my roommate; the last few are from our drive through Amman.