Mystery Meat

Dinner.

On a Smattering of Topics

I have to admit, I've felt a bit burnt out the past two days. Yesterday seemed like an epic fail on my part in class, and I got really discouraged about what I've learned (or not learned). See, time goes a lot slower here, so I feel like I've been in Amman for ages. I have to remind myself that it's only been three weeks. I have six months left. Breathe. It's just hard to gauge where I'm at, or whether I'll get to where I want to be by the time I head back to the States. While I want to learn, I've been having a hard time studying much here. Well, the thing is, I'm really good with grammar - I don't need to study our lessons; the teacher teaches us, and it's forever implanted in my brain. I need to speak, speak, speak. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I feel lazy because I don't spend a lot of time on Arabic outside of class. I have Arabic class for 4 hours, five days a week. My day ends at 2pm. I should join a university club, or volunteer, or do something more productive, but the thing is, by the end of the day, my brain hurts. All the translating tires me out. I just want to go home and lay on my couch. But lying on the couch does not teach you Arabic. Insha'allah I will begin to get less tired, and I can start doing another activity. Plus, I have my break soon (six weeks in between terms) so I can do something during this time. Although, then I have to study for the GRE, which I'm taking here in Amman at the end of August . . . it never ends.

I finally met with my peer tutor today. It was about as awkward as I anticipated. I just don't know what to talk about. She wore gloves and the niqab (only her eyes were showing), which undoubtedly means she's extremely conservative, which is fine, but it limits our conversation topics even further. In addition, I can't see her mouth when she talks, so I had a hard time picking up the Arabic she used. You sort of need to see someone's mouth when learning a new language. At UJ there are very few women who wear niqab - most dress pretty liberally - either western clothes with a bright hijab or no hijab at all. I noticed though when we had lunch with the peer tutors a few weeks ago that all the females wore hijab and more traditional clothing, and a couple wore the niqab. I guess none of the secular students are interested in forming relationships with Americans? I would have thought it would be the other way around. Whatever the case, my relationship with my peer tutor is going to be a struggle. I just can't be myself. Insha'allah she will be accepting, as I will be of her. Plus, I think I endeared myself to her, because she thinks I want to get married and have babies ASAP. Not exactly what I said, but she misunderstood me. Whatever, if that makes things less awkward, I'll pretend I want babies now. She just found out she was pregnant, so she's all excited. Yes, she is married.

This weekend, we're headed to Petra and Wadi Rum, and I just found out we get to camp in the desert on Friday night!!! Probably not real camping, more like some fancy Bedouin tent with bunk beds, but whatever, still cool. Can't wait to get some sweet shots of the desert. Plus we get to ride camels! Also, I found out that there are 130 students in the fall program . . . I had no idea it would be so big. We only have 30 in the program this summer. Thankfully, they split us up into groups, so no more than 40 go on one trip at a time. You know how I hate organized tours. Hopefully my dislike for them does not ruin our trip this weekend, because I've wanted to see Petra ever since I first saw Indian Jones. I can remember being told, "that's Petra, in Jordan" when I watched that movie when I was like 5.

Dead Sea Shore

Today, I went to a beach resort. With a pool bar. And no rules against showing skin. Was I in Mexico? Maybe Jamaica? Hell no, I was in Jordan. That's right. I sat at a bar, in a pool, in my skimpy bikini and gazed across the sea at Palestine. Yes, I may have failed at adhering to cultural norms today, but whatever, it was the best mini vacation I've ever taken. I wanted to stay there forever.

If you never learned about the Dead Sea in science class, here are a couple of facts: The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth. According to Wikipedia, it's 1,388 feet below sea level. Cool right? It's also super salty; so salty it burns. Apparently 8.6 times saltier than the ocean. You could feel the salt on your skin when you got out, and it was not something you wanted to stick your face in. Also, life is obviously not sustainable in the Dead Sea. So while you're out there floating away, you don't have to worry about a fish coming up and biting your bum. Mumtaz.


Here's a pic of me floating away, doing my best "Bam-ZaH" pose. Which apparently was too silly for my friend Sean, because he made me take a "normal" picture after that. I prefer this one.

And here I am covered in the exfoliating, magic mud of the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea was the hardest water I've ever had to maneuver (it just took me an embarrassing amount of time to spell that word) in. If you tried to swim on your stomach, your legs would just flip up in the air. Or sometimes you would just randomly flip over against your will. Getting in was hilarious; I felt like a canoe or something. The rocks on the bottom were so heavily crystalized that they too painful to walk on, and you can't really walk in the water anyway, so I would just kind of sit down a boulder, and push off from there. Super awkward. But cool too. Floating is awesome. Except that the salt burned certain private parts of the female variety that made long periods in the water an impossibility . . . Hence, we spent most of our time in the pool.

We got there bright and early, before it opened in fact, but they let us in, and we had the whole place to ourselves for awhile. It never got too busy though. I think tourism is definitely hurting because of the situation in surrounding countries. Which is a shame, because Jordan is far safer than most places, including the United States.

All in all, one of the best experiences in my life. Despite the fact that I spoke no Arabic and felt guilty about wearing a swimsuit. Oh well, sorry for partying. And I didn't burn too badly! I have a tendency of not being very good at applying sunscreen, burning myself to a crisp, and yet never learning (Erik, remember Cali last year? ha). That's not to say I'm not burnt. But it's not one of those things where I won't be able to sleep because it hurts so bad. Alhamdililah.

اهلا و سهلا Welcome to Jordan!

I think I need to paint a picture for y'all about what it's like to walk out on the street here as a Western female. Because it's just too much of an experience to keep it all to myself. Ready? Picture yourself on a major road that has both a lot of traffic and a lot of pedestrians. A la 5th avenue, New York City. Start walking, except remember - there isn't a real sidewalk. Sometimes you walk on the street. Sometimes you walk through rubble. You always avoid curious spills. It's a constant up, down, left, right dance. Now, imagine that every shop on the street has men hanging out in the doorway. Every single person in view has their eyes on you. The men in the shops will call out "Welcome!" "Welcome to Jordan!" "Helllloooo" "Ya Shegfay!" Don't look. Don't stop. Try not to smile, no matter how funny they sound. If this isn't enough, you have to deal with the traffic too. If you're lucky, the car will only honk once. If not, it will honk continuously, while passengers shout things at you, or it will slow down, pull over, and cruise by, with riders staring intently. Or like today, it will be a police car, and the honk will be more like a siren, and you'll think you're in trouble, but then you see the tell tale stare . . . It really doesn't stop. It will never stop. I could live here the rest of my life and it would be like this, because I am "blonde". I could speak Arabic perfectly, and still get 50 people a day telling me "Welcome to Jordan" . . .

But thankfully, I've adjusted. I listen to my iPod when I need to go somewhere alone. When I'm with friends, it's usually just funny. Honestly, it's almost easier - people know you're foreign right off the bat. When I was in Germany and Poland, I could pass as a local - so people would start babbling in the native language to me. Then, I would have to awkwardly reveal myself as a foreigner . . . or try to pretend I understood what they were saying. I did that once at a thrift store in Berlin. This woman was babbling to me about return policies I think. I just kept nodding my head and saying "ja". She apparently never noticed that I know like 12 words in German. Here, I'm a foreigner, that's it. Everything is already out in the open, so no hiding. You just have to put yourself out there and make a fool of yourself. Thankfully, I do know more than 12 words here - I can read Arabic, and I can carry on a basic conversation. So once natives do realize that, they lay off. In fact, I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back to the States. I think my self - esteem is going to take a major hit - not being the center of attention and all . . . I guess it's kinda like being a celebrity - I can see why some of them get addicted to it. Maybe.

Food In Jordan

Note: This entry is a tad on the whiny side. Sorry.

I realized yesterday at the supermarket that one of the biggest adjustments here for me has been adapting to the diet in Jordan. I'm not a huge fan of the staple dishes here; they're very heavy and/or oily. Plus, the things I loved back home either can't be found here or are really expensive - like yogurt that isn't sour/plain or granola bars.

Jordanian Staples
Note: Pork does not exist in this country.

Pita Bread - I used to love pita bread when I was little; I would heat it up in the microwave with butter. But it gets old really fast here. Both literally (as in stale) and figuratively.

Hummus and Fool - These are similar dishes made from beans and served as appetizers with pita bread.

Schwarma - Schwarma is everywhere; it's cheap and quick - made with either chicken or lamb. It's basically a burrito AKA Jordanian Taco Bell. Schwarma is what made me really sick when I first got here. It's ok in a pinch, but it's far too greasy to eat everyday.

Falafel - I actually really like falafel, but 1) it's actually not as common as I though it would be here and 2) it is far too heavy to eat very often.

Mensef - This is a Jordanian national dish - lamb in a warm yogurt sauce over rice. To be fair, I've only tried it at the school cafeteria, and their food is generally awful, so I really should try it some place else. The thing is, I've yet to adjust to the whole warm, sour yogurt thing, as I previously mentioned.

Cucumber salad - I eat a lot of this. For lunch I mix it with rice and call it a meal. Funny, since I never, ever ate salad back in the States. But it's light and cool, as opposed to much of what's offered here. I'm a huge fan of Fatoosh, which is salad with pita chips, but I don't see that often; only when we've eaten at nicer restaurants.

I'm worried about my diet here - I have a kitchen, but anything I ever made back home calls for about 100 ingredients, and I don't want to buy all those since I'll only be in the apartment for another 4 and 1/2 weeks. The only thing I've been cooking is omelets. Thankfully, we have some nice fruit and veggie markets in the neighborhood, so I do eat a ton of fruit. My new favorite food: The donut peach. Absolutely delicious.


So I do eat a lot of fruit. That's good. But I've also been eating a lot of bread and drinking a lot of . . . soda. Yep. Soda. It's everywhere. Ice tea doesn't exist here! Ya haram! Bebsi anyone? I'm so afraid of my teeth rotting away right now. They're oh so pretty . . .

Anyway, I guess I just didn't realize that adjusting my diet would be the biggest obstacle for me here. Thankfully, I'll eat pretty much anything, even if I'm not a huge fan. And I'm assuming I'll eventually adjust to the whole warm yogurt deal. Especially when I move in with my host family in September. And there's always pizza to fall back on. Or the numerous America fast food restaurants. I've yet to visit any although Burger King (or as I affectionately call it "Burger Malik" - Malik is the Arabic word for King, but they unfortunately do not use it in the title of Burger King) is looking mighty tasty.

At least I discovered Juice Milk! It's fabulous. Mostly because it's called Juice Milk! It's one of those things that always has to be followed by an exclamation mark.

On Taking My First Bus Tour

Yesterday, everyone in my program went on a "Biblical" bus tour of Jordan. Bear with me, because not only is my knowledge of the Bible negligible, I tend to shut down the minute a tour guide starts explaining things. We went to three places - Mukawir (don't know how to spell this in English), Madaba, and Mt. Nebo. Mukawir was definitely one of the most gorgeous places I've ever been. (Pictured left) It's some ruins on top of a big hill/tiny mountain where I think John the Baptist was held prisoner and eventually beheaded. I think. I don't even know who John the Baptist was so . . . sorry. Epic fail on my part. I just know that it was pretty. The water you can see in the picture is the Dead Sea, and beyond that Palestine. I wish a camera could capture how amazing it was to have this all around you. It was so peaceful, and it would have been great to be out there all alone. We were the only people there, but still that's 30 of us, and some people have really shrill, annoying voices . . .

Oh btw, being the showoff I am, I insisted on racing some guys up the steep side of the mountain, but immediately regretted it. The change in altitude messed with me, and I felt sick and irritable the rest of the day. This is what happens when you don't act ladylike. And this is what you look like. I think a good 50% of the people in my program came up to me and commented on how much I looked like a hippie because of my headscarf. Have these people seen hippies before? I was wearing jeans, tennis shoes, and a black t-shirt. I don't even have my ears pierced. I was about to slap someone upside the face. Whatever.

So anyway, going on an organized tour is tiring. You're always following, and listening, and being told where to stand, and what to look at. I do not like it. It does not mesh well with my wandering mind. I felt like a cow in a herd of cattle. Everyone acted like cows in a herd of cattle. I have a picture to prove it.


No one apparently realizes that the path down is actually directly beyond me; they all chose to walk to the other side of the hill where the tour guide was standing, and therefore walk in a complete circle before heading down. I do not understand this mentality. I would hope these people don't just follow anyone so willingly . . .


After Mukawir, we headed on to Madaba, which is a town famous for this Christian church, with a lot of mosaics. And then we went to Jebel Nebo where Moses is apparently buried? But they don't know where? I didn't get any exceptionally great photos at either of these locations, but I do enjoy this one.

Not only is it an inn, it's ALSO a hotel. And it says "goodpye". I have many things to say about this. 1.) Why does a billboard say goodbye on it? And not hello or welcome? The arabic next to the goodpye says ma-ssalaama which is goodbye in arabic - so it wasn't lost in translation. 2) Why is it spelled with a "p"? There is no "p" in the Arabic alphabet. They often don't use it when speaking English, as in Bobe John Baul . . . so why all of a sudden throw it out for a word that doesn't even have a 'p' in it? Sigh. Arab culture.

So our first week here, we had lunch with our assigned peer tutors - except mine was out of the country so I've yet to meet her. She called me today, and it was probably the most awkward conversation I've ever had in my life. Phone service kind of sucks here, so it's hard enough to understand native English speakers over the static, let alone people speaking with a thick accent. The first time we try to talk, the call gets disconnected. She calls again, and it quickly becomes obvious that her English is not great. Which surprised me because all the peer tutors I've met so far for other students have had excellent English. (Sidebar - this is actually good, because it will force me to speak in Arabic with her. But it did not make for a simple or easy first conversation.) I can't even go over it, it was so bad. We're meeting tomorrow, and inshallah it will go smoothly.

It's hard to make a connection with many of the females here, because their lives are so drastically different from ours. It's doubtful that I will be able to be myself with my tutor, which makes these interactions tiring. It's not that there aren't women in Jordan that I could be friends with; I just think it's harder to find them. Although, I do love my Ahmia teacher, Ghadeer. She's great. She has a sense of humor, is super cool, and told us all the best places to go dancing. Today in class we talked about flirting. However, in Jordan there is no flirting, only harassment. But she wanted to know how people flirted in America. It was super funny. Ahmia is a lot of fun. We have fus-ha every morning for two and a half hours, and it's all grammar and seriousness, so it's great to be able to just have a fun, laid back class in the afternoon. I feel like that was just a really poorly written paragraph. Which means it's time for me to go to bed. Wish me luck, I have my first test in fusha tomorrow!

On Dining with Jordanians

Busy weekend!

My roommate, Minna, is half Palestinian and has some family here in Amman, so on Friday, we headed over to her great aunt and uncle's for lunch. A seven hour lunch mind you. Quite the experience. I'm well read on Arab culture, so I knew the lunch wouldn't be quick, but I had no idea it would encompass my entire Friday.

We were picked up at 11, and our day started with a chat in their fabulous sitting room.
They own a pharmacy and are obviously pretty well off.

Minna's aunt does these amazing cross stitched patterns that she hangs on all the walls. This is one of them. Apparently they're traditional Palestinian designs. The detail was amazing.

So, we sit and talk for awhile. We bumble around in our stilted Arabic, they laugh. Their English is really good, so there isn't any communication barriers, but they want us to learn . . . at noon, Minna's uncle goes to mosque, and we head into the kitchen, to learn how to make Shishburek. Shishburek is a traditional Palestinian dish, composed of small balls of dough with meat inside, grilled and then covered in a warm yogurt sauce, seasoned with garlic and cardamom. Minna's aunt has also made a dish called Koussa (hollowed out zucchini, filled with meat, and eaten with the same yogurt sauce) and the best chicken curry I've ever had.


The Shishburek is at the top, and the Koussa is to the left. Mind you, we didn't get to eat this food until almost 2. She gave us all Shishburek first, which I didn't hate, but the whole warm, sour yogurt thing is something I haven't quite adjusted to yet. But I loved the chicken curry. Especially since I didn't expect to get any awesome Indian food while here. So we eat, and clean up and head back into the sitting room. Here, Minna's aunt tells us she is very tired and is going to take a nap, but then after we'll have dessert and take a drive around the city. This is at 2:30. They nap until 5:00. We watched Ghandi in it's entirety. I understand, they're in their late 60s yet still work full time in their pharmacy six days a week. I'm sure they're exhausted. It felt super silly though. They finally wake up though, and she brings us the cutest fruit plates ever. We each got one of these. I like the whole fruit as dessert concept here. It totally works. Which reminds me - Minna's uncle told us that American's were all fat because they ate too much ice cream. We got a good laugh out of that one.


We eat our fruit, and then we take a drive around Abdoun, which is the swankiest neighborhood in Amman. I'm talking gorgeous villas. And the amazingly ostentatious US Embassy; walled and guarded by tanks and Jordanian guards with automatics. Of course that's what our embassy looks like. Surprise, surprise.

Overall, a really great experience. I'm so lucky to have a roommate with family here. It made me love Amman just a little bit more. A love that seems to grow day after day. Who would have thought I would be so enchanted by all the dirt, pollution, traffic, and harassment that is Amman? Ha. For every negative thing, there's twice as much positive, and I just look at all the negatives as differences, not negatives. America is the exception, not the standard. This is the rest of the world. Accept it or hate life are my only choices.