here's a reminder of what wadi rum looks like (this picture is actually from a year ago)

Pardon the delay:

The past week has been a but hectic with having confusion over out of classroom assignments mixed with a overnight trip down to the south of Jordan (the Desert of Wadi Rum--- where, if you have read previously, spent a month living with two families last year). The trip in itself was extremely packed... not of events necessarily but of a lot of things. i'm still trying to figure out a way to pack it all in, but i'm not even sure it's packed into my head. So i'm going to save discussion of that trip for personal conversation, which is deserves.

As for life here in Amman right now. Classes have been going pretty well. Actually, the most rewarding aspect of the program has now become the tutors, and one particular tutor that all of the students love. Truthfully, all of the tutors are great and have their own quarks to offer. I am in need to find another outlet for speaking, but that's up to me... so we'll see what I do. I think with all the confusion settling over these "out of class excursions" I may find a way to get out on my own time.

The weather here is getting hotter. But there always seems to be some type of breeze (shout out to whatever force makes it...).

Food. I've been pretty bad, basically just snacking on things (not snack food though... no worries) mostly yogurt, cereal, cucumbers, fruits (apricots, apples), and canned tuna (spicy! that is). Today was the first day that I semi-cooked. i fried some potatoes and onions and made some pasta, and made a little cucumber salad. It was after a brief but fulfilling (and needed) yoga/stretch/jump around session. I'm finding that i'm using the hills as my exercise these days and then doing push-ups, yoga, basic room fitness on the regular. despite not running I feel quite healthy, so i'm happy.


Things that might be more interesting:

going down to Wadi Rum this weekend was a nice reminder of how much i have to learn. The bedouin accent that my family speaks in is extremely heavy, and I had forgotten how hard it had been for me to speak with them (even after living with them previously). Respectively, I had forgotten how frustrating it is to feel like a mute/deaf/dumb. I mean, I can understand and communicate for the most part. Having Ahmad (my connection to the family... he was my 'helper' when i was doing my research) around is always helpful because he understands my arabic accent and can translate into it... ie. he knows what i understand and what will be too hard for me. Take for instance though, the moment when i was sitting alone with his sister and she brought up the ever recurring topic of Islam, and why i should convert (whole different story)... this topic is so important to her, and i can see how excited she gets when she speaks to me about it. I guess the moment i'm trying to focus on is the moment when you can tell she's come just upon a really good point and she asks a question to see if i understand, and i can only say that I didn't catch it. and ever when she repeats it, I only catch a general idea... perhaps mostly now because i'm thinking about how bad i feel for not being able to understand, and how frustrating that is, that I actually end up not listening to her at all... so that even if i could get what she was saying, i'm now not even listening... and then to see the look on her face when i say again that i didn't get it... or when i nod as if i did, but she knows i didn't fully understand. that disappointment is heavy. and then what do you do? sit in silence. watch the two toddler boys play with the toys that i just got them... see their mom get frustrated with them as they start to fight over the toys. I know that their mother asked if the toys were from america probably to double check and make sure they weren't Haram (forbidden in Islam). Luckily i had gotten them in Jordan (which doesn't go for the bracelets that I got them).

Anyways, as you can see, i'm getting into the topic that i said i would stay away from. I could go on for a long time about this, but I really wouldn't do justice to either my own feelings, or theirs.... so i'll stop.


something else:

I'm feeling as if i'm beginning to find my fingers in part of arabic. I'm particularly enjoying poetry. The greatest thing about arabic poetry is that it's unending and has such a great history. Memorizing poetry is like the base of all arabic. People refer to certain poets as the source for studies of what is "proper arabic" (modern standard arabic i'm referring to) I'm enjoying memorizing some lines myself.

really, what's so great about poetry, is talking about it with people. From my tutors at ACOR, to one of the workers here at the hotel (egyptian), to one of Ahmad's friends down in Wadi Rum (bedouin), knowing poetry and also having written a poem in Arabic (which i can luckily recite off hand) has allowed me to have the most rewarding, engaging, and quite literally linguistically/musically beautiful conversations i feel like i've ever had. My recent 'revelation' was that i could spend the rest of my life just memorizing poetry and discussing it with people (and perhaps writing myself). of course, it's not just the poetry, it's really the interaction that comes with it that i'm interested in.

Truthfully, my favorite moment from the trip down to Wadi Rum this past weekend was when I got Ahmad's friend to go into multiple renditions of his favorite songs, poems, and lines of Samir (type of song.... see my research stuff below). At first we had been separated by the fact that I was not understanding his quick/heavy accent. Then I started reciting lines that I knew, and also recited a few lines from a poem that my tutor had just taught me. Instantaneously he was asking me... do you know this one?! and this Poet?! and this poem?! it goes like this.... And even though he would still stick to his thick gutteral accent, reciting poetry would force him to be speaking slower and more methodically to follow the melody, and it would depend mostly on FusHa (standard arabic) that I understand... although the bedouin dialect is also nearly completely FusHa, and most of the poetry he recited would use the Bedouin uses of FusHa words, having a general background in the dialect would give me access to the FusHa they were using. Poetry in itself is nearly impossible for me to understand off hand, unless it was extremely simple. The reason is mostly just the rhythm.

anyways, as we were bumping along in the desert trying to make our way out to the camp fire where Ahmad's uncles were having tea and entertaining some guests from Saudi, i couldn't help but grin so wide as the words ran over me.


One last thing about the desert... tea made over camp fire is simply unbeatable. as is the view of the stars, and the milky way....


ok that's it.

So just the other day i started teaching Abu Ali how to write/read. We haven't really gotten past writing the names of his daughters, son, and wife who live in Egypt and who he hasn't seen in 15 months. In exchange he's teaching me Egyptian dialect as well as cooking... although we're yet to make the big leap into the kitchen.

We joke with each other that he's my father (he's 57) and so I respond to all of his questions and commands with "Hadhir ya baba" (yes, right away, father) and he makes sure that i finish my studies.

looking up the street


















ACOR




the view from looking down ACOR


this is my room

more pics

the basics... nes cafe and tumr (dates)













this is the view from my window looking up the street at night.


the picture from the last post was from me looking down the road from my window at night.

um. yes. CUTE. and if you could see the box it has written on it "everything hosits seed" --> everything has its seeds... amazing. also on the shirt of the cartoon it says "rafai streat"... we can only guess.

two stories

I do have quite a few stories to tell, but i'll just glaze over some of my favorites right now to help you think about what things have become most important to me in my days here.

First story:
Being American. My friend Emma and I finally made a good excursion out of the University area of the town just two days ago. Emma works as a freelance photographer sometimes for newspapers and such and she wanted to get some pictures from the area.

Down town is a bustling place. Little shops and markets over packed with souvenirs, shawls, clothes, shoes, prayer beads, you name it. Men stand outside in groups, sit in their shops smoking, heckle and call, and always make the scene a bit of an adventure for Emma and I (two blondies). So we decided to climb instead. Amman is sprawled out over many (originally 7) mountains/hills, and the roads never cease to climb, dip, curved, and twirl. Emma and I found a stare case we liked and climbed. We were met with even more eyes of confusion, curiosity, and interest, calls of 'hello! welcome in jordan!" and random phrases in other languages besides arabic. The best reception we got though was from the children. Seeing Emma's camera two boys first stopped us shouting out "yella sowwarini" (take a picture of me!). After a series of many pictures, and repeated calls for more, we got to take a look into one of their father's shops and introduce ourselves briefly. Arabic has become a like a jewel these days, like a back stage pass to the best concert ever, and has allowed me to feel more welcome than ever before. It makes me happy when i feel as if my arabic makes up for the fact that i'm american, and can sometimes stand for one of the most hated places right now.

but that's only sometimes. Later on after walking we ran into two little girls who yelled out to us just the opposite of the boys "la tasowwarini" (don't take my picture). we stopped and talked to them either way, making quick friends. Alaaf and Raghad were they're names. Alaaf jordanian and Raghad palestinian (Nablusi). After a while a plethora of young boys were surrounding us, asking where we were from. One boy, was sure that we were either syrian or lebanese, (i had put on a stronger syrian accent for these girls because they were so cute... i couldn't help but elongate my questions in the most musical crescendo possible...3arafti shlloooown?). For a while i played with the idea of taking on a syrian nationality, but couldn't bring myself to lie. Only after telling him that i was american, did i regret it though. I saw a bit of estrangement and disappointment that's never fun to see in both his eyes and the eyes of Raghad. Of course, I'm just assuming that they've heard horrible things about america and americans, and couldn't put the two and two together that i might possibly speak their language but be from america. Nonetheless we remained talking for a bit until emma and i decided to head off (or rather when Alaaf emphatically called out, "yella" to us as a signal to go because she was bored with us and wanted to eat her chips).

It's sometimes a tough reminder to face, but i can only hope that these kids were more impressed rather than confused. who knows

Story 2:
Learning to Give

So over this past week I've spent most of my time either in the hotel where we stay or in the library just around the corner that is hosting our program. To be more accurate, I've tried as much as I can to be in the Lobby of our hotel, particularly because I've become so fond of the receptionists that work here. of the three working here now, two are brothers Lu'ay and Bilal, that I've gotten to know the most. In the beginning I started speaking to Lu'ay because i knew he didn't speak English, and with my lack of resources to keep speaking, he was always more than happy to sit and chat when he was free. Bilal speaks more English because he's younger and in University, but is also just as happy to speak and help me out whenever i'm around.

Of the two Lu'ay makes the most effort to speak with us all and find out our stories, as I was interested to hear his. He's 35, married to his cousin, has two children (two boys Muhammad and Ahmad) and originally from Yaffa (tel abib) although he was born and raised in Jordan. He's never been able to go to Palestine.

Quite frankly my lobby chats with Lu'ay have become the highlight of my time thus far, and we quickly became good friends. As soon as this happened I immediately began to think of the way that I could share my thanks for his help, and returned of course to trying to think of a small gift to give him that would show such. I only really brought gifts for women with me though and didn't have any time to go down and get something from the store when i first thought of it.

But of course. He beat me to it. Just yesterday Lu'ay came to work and brought me a gift; A mug with a cute cartoon character on it, and of course was packaged in a pink box with flowers all over it. He said that he had seen the mug and thought of me because it has "baby face" like me (his own words exactly... amazing) and also so that I can have my own cup when we drink tea together... which has become a daily routien. Here stuff that is tackily cute, is considered the best gift. Had i not received gifts like this before in my time in the middle east, i would have most likely laughed at the cup more than i would have enjoyed it (i'll post a picture later...it's pretty amazing). But instead I was so moved. I'm constantly amazed at the way people share here, sometimes giving gifts from right off their body (bracelets, necklaces, rings) just to give and be remembered by. I can't wait to find something to give in return for he, his children, and wife.

(note: the sad end to this story is that when i went to finally have tea with him using the cup, the cup cracked... and he noticed. I pretended not to care, but i could tell he was upset... we'll see what happens).

So that's it for now. I'll update with less fun things soon to fill in the gaps. but these are the moments i cherish.

bored

We just finished our first two days of classes here at the Qasid institute. Having only two hours of class from 8-10 makes it seems like we don't have class at all sometimes since we are done so early in the morning and have the rest of the day free. They haven't made us do any 'external activities' yet either, so I really haven't had too many opportunities to get into town and see things.

Two nights ago I did get a chance to go out to a very western/upper class cafe two watch the turkey/croatia game on big screen, but it was a place i knew well before and it was kind of weird to be around Jordanians who were so english-ized that they were speaking english to each other... not just to foreigners. It kind of through me off at first... but I guess it makes since. I did get to see a nice souq (market) that night which was down the street in Jabal Amman. They have concerts there every friday night along with the souq.

I also got to learn some fun facts about the Chechnian (sp?) community in Amman... apparently it's not that small. We saw a group of Chechyan guys doing some time of dance in the street. The jordanian friend of my friend Emma here was explaining to us that they come and take certain jobs in the police force, which i thought was weird because I had believed those jobs were reserved mostly for Jordanians, but either way, who knows.

I'm having trouble thinking of things I want to put down. my mind is on something real specific right now that i can't really work out, so maybe i'll write again later. but that's all i can really offer for now. maybe i'll put some pic's up tomorrow.