chillen
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
returned from Disi
this is just a blog to let anyone know that I've returned safely to Amman from my stay in Disi. I spent to two weeks living with two separate families, researching a type of traditional song/poetry called Samir. The song is traditionally sung at weddings and circumcision ceremonies. unfortunately i didn't get to attend either of these types of ceremonies where it is traditionally sung, but instead was able to speak to people, young and old, about the vanishing art form. Hopefully I'll be able to write more about this (if i can find time between my four papers to write in the next two weeks).
For an overlook of the average day:
wake up around 7-8, wash up, sit to eat breakfast with whomever was around. breakfast consisted of bread, lebneh, thyme, olive oil, olives, perhaps some type of cheese, and of course, the sweetest tea (perhaps with camel or goats milk). then sitting around and looking over works, asking comers and goers simply questions about thoughts from every day life, to Samir, and of course in the end it would somehow come back to Islam. nap. lunch. talk with more people (perhaps be taken to meet someone). sit and go over work. nap?. sit around with visitors outside or inside, drink tea. once it became late, eat dinner. tea. watch TV/ talk until everyone is tired. sleep.
Of course this varied depending on the two families i stayed with. In the second family I spent countless hours sitting with my friend who was like my host to his family, discussing the verses of poetry from Samir, learning the endless names for "camel" in arabic, and bedu dialect words that can only be explained by sentences in English (or atleast my english isn't strong enough to know the correct translation into one english word... for instance).
names for camel i learned:
إبل (camels)
هجن (a bunch of camels)
قعود -male camel (possibly young?)
ناقة -female camel
فطر -old female camel
حيل- the pregnant camel
عفر- camels
ذلول - camel
غوج- camel
زمل - male camels
حوار -baby camel
that's right... that's 11... and there are more
but yes, I'm still trying to figure out how i can ever fully reflect in writing the experience that i had... hopefully it will come soon enough.
that's it for now.
For an overlook of the average day:
wake up around 7-8, wash up, sit to eat breakfast with whomever was around. breakfast consisted of bread, lebneh, thyme, olive oil, olives, perhaps some type of cheese, and of course, the sweetest tea (perhaps with camel or goats milk). then sitting around and looking over works, asking comers and goers simply questions about thoughts from every day life, to Samir, and of course in the end it would somehow come back to Islam. nap. lunch. talk with more people (perhaps be taken to meet someone). sit and go over work. nap?. sit around with visitors outside or inside, drink tea. once it became late, eat dinner. tea. watch TV/ talk until everyone is tired. sleep.
Of course this varied depending on the two families i stayed with. In the second family I spent countless hours sitting with my friend who was like my host to his family, discussing the verses of poetry from Samir, learning the endless names for "camel" in arabic, and bedu dialect words that can only be explained by sentences in English (or atleast my english isn't strong enough to know the correct translation into one english word... for instance).
names for camel i learned:
إبل (camels)
هجن (a bunch of camels)
قعود -male camel (possibly young?)
ناقة -female camel
فطر -old female camel
حيل- the pregnant camel
عفر- camels
ذلول - camel
غوج- camel
زمل - male camels
حوار -baby camel
that's right... that's 11... and there are more
but yes, I'm still trying to figure out how i can ever fully reflect in writing the experience that i had... hopefully it will come soon enough.
that's it for now.
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