A Weekend Excursion: Dead Sea

What better is there to do on a beautiful, warm Friday afternoon than to escape the city? After packing up two cars, a group of my local friends and I set out for the Dead Sea.  It seemed as if half of Amman had the same idea, as the public beach was packed.  Families gathered on the picnic blankets, with the women making kebab on small grills, the men smoking argileh (hookah) and the children running around the pebbly shore and in the salty water.  As it was a public beach, I was only bold enough to just wear my long basketball shorts that reached below the knees.  Every woman wore the hijab (veil), and were completely covered.  The men, on the other hand, would strip down, many not even wearing proper swim wear (I saw a lot more to middle aged men than I cared to see).  All enjoyed the water.  Despite its salinity, I feared that some of the women might drown from all the layers of clothing they wore.

Partway through the evening, I noticed (along with the rest of the beach) a lone young blond woman, clearly not Arab, wearing only a string bikini and wandering the beach as if lost.  After watching for a minutes, I decided it was too painful and rushed up to her with my large beach towel.  We started talking, and I learned that this Canadian had decided to move to Jordan to work here for ten years, and then she planned to move to the "Holy Land." In the meantime, she had been staying at some apartment by the Dead Sea, and hadn't had the opportunity to get out much. Clearly. Today was one of those few opportunities and she seemed to have missed the memo that public beaches tend to be more conservative.  As if bikinis are really accepted anywhere in Jordan.... Anyways, this poor girl lost her purse, which contained her money, ID and passport.  She ended up going to the tourism police, and while there, two men approached our group and asked me if I had a friend who had lost a purse.  Well, I was thoroughly surprised and excited (as I was pretty pessimistic about the whole situation) and rushed to get the girl.

The girl, the police, the two men, me and my friend all went to the location of the purse and before we had even fully arrived, a crowd of about fifty men had gathered. Anybody's business is everybody's business here.  Ahlan wa sahlan.  (Welcome.)  I stepped back as I clearly had nothing else to attribute to the whole situation. One curious gentlemen, wanting to push to the center of the milieu, saw me standing back, hands free, so he handed me his baby girl - not even a year old - smiled, and then tried to the discussion (there is always a discussion).  Again, ahlan wa sahlan - it's normal.  I now had a baby.

Well, the purse drama got cleared up, and despite a missing 150 dinars ($220), the girl reclaimed her items and departed the beach.  My friend and I returned to our picnic, baby still in hand.  It should be noted that I tried to return the wide-eyed baby, but the father just smiled and waved me away.  The poor baby went from person to person, receiving all sorts of baby-talk and kisses from members of my group before she started crying and the father came to take her away.  After several more hours of argileh, music and stories, we packed up and headed back to Amman.  We left around midnight and there was still a great number of families continuing their picnic on the beach.

If there is one thing Jordanians love, it is a family picnic. :)  I like this culture.

Picnic by the Dead Sea: me and my family :)

A Weekend Excursion: Beirut, Lebanon

Taking advantage of a three-day weekend, some friends and I got on a bus early Friday morning, April 22nd, and headed to the airport to catch a flight to Beirut.  One hour later, we landed in the city by the Mediterranean with the pine-tree mountains sloping into the blue water.  After hailing a bus that would be perfect for a "don't take candy from strangers" ad, and getting dropped off downtown, the party split ways to find lodgings and my friend and I began our day long foot tour of Beirut.

Unlike the government regulated short, white buildings that make up Amman, Beirut has a lot of varying architecture. There was everything from European style apartment buildings painted in fresh spring colors with shutters and cast iron balconies, to the classic white sandstone Middle Eastern homes to the modern skyscrapers that towered above.  So much old and new side by side.  Most striking of all were the buildings half fallen down or peppered with bullet holes from the 2006 Israeli strike in response to attacks from Hezbollah.

Zane and I spent one day by foot, walking till we were half crazy. We wandered along streets, explored neighborhoods, sipped coffee at a couple cafes and sat on the rocky shore.  Ecstatic about the bit of French culture, I insisted we stop somewhere to eat crepes. The beautiful trees in the well gardened campus of the American University of Beirut were just about enough to convince us to submit applications for grad school. The campus wasn't the only place with trees and gardens. The whole city was covered in floweres.... any open space was brightened up with a bedded garden or flower pot.  The city bloomed.  I was most happy.  :-)  Informed of an Arab contemporary dance festival, Zane and I tried our luck and attended one performance.  Tired from the day's wanderings, our minds couldn't quite grasp the many themes portrayed in the 2-hour performance of two men dressed only in black underwear.

We stayed in Beirut from Friday morning till Saturday evening.  So, as we wanted to give our feet a rest and not risk our precious money with taxi drivers, Zane and I rented bikes for the morning and afternoon, and enjoyed the lovely weather riding along the Mediterranean.  We did stop for a while to walk on a public beach which was mostly empty.

All-in-all, Beirut was definitely a highlight of the semester and a much needed break from the routine of Amman.  It was also a wonderful opportunity to experience another form of Arab culture.  As my host mom put it, "Lebanon might be in a war, might have their government run over by Hezbollah, or are attacked by Israel, but the people keep living and loving life.  They are just so happy." From what I could tell from my two days there, she is right.

I highly recommend a visit. :-)

The final posts

As these past few weeks have been all papers and finals, in addition to some lovely weekend outings, I haven't had much time to update this blog.  I will try to do so now in a few short posts that highlight some of the going-ons in this past month. In my few remaining days in Jordan before I ship back to the Americas, I think it will be nice to be able to take a break from all the goodbyes and lasts of everything, and to quickly reflect and write down some good memories.  So, if you are at all interested, stayed tuned over the next few days, or just wait to talk to me after Sunday!

But first, I have to go teach my second-to-last English lesson.....

Mind off of classes

Let's play catch-up.

Last week I had my spring break, and the wonderful gift of having my parents meet me in al-Quds (Jerusalem) to spend the next six days together.  For three days we traveled on the Israel side of the Jordan River, visiting Tel Aviv, Masada, the Dead Sea and Eilat, before crossing by the Red Sea into Jordan to snorkel in Aqaba, hike around Petra, blitzkrieg through Amman and meet my host family, and then finally squeeze in a trip to the Roman ruins of Jerash and Umm Qais, nestled in the rolling green hills of northern Jordan.

Since that lovely visit, I have been very unmotivated to labor on with the studies. I'd much rather spend my last month and a half here enjoying the network of friends that I have established in Amman and in the CIEE program.  Oh well, I dream.

I have been teaching English at an ESL center.  I have five students - four men and one woman - all but one older are older than me.  I love the job.  The two hours I spend with them three times a week is just good fun.  We laugh a lot at my efforts to define a word, as I resort to most anything: charades, pictionary, singing, you name it.  If the students are having half as much fun as I am, I'll be happy. :-)

Last Friday, I went downtown with my good friend Ahmad, to do a little market wandering.  We took a service (shared) taxi, and the twenty minute ride with two other passengers was a beautiful display of politics of the people.  The debate started between Ahmad, the driver and the first passenger.  Then another man was picked up, I was squished in the back corner (men around the world insist on sitting with their legs wide apart despite the apparent lack of space), and hid my smiles as all four men talked over each other, flailing their arms about as they argued their opinion on the politics of the region.  It was beautiful.  When one man was able to demand the others' attention by shouting "Isma'aee! Isma'aee!" (listen to me, listen to me), the three men would oblige for no more than a minute or two before pushing him off his soapbox.

Amanda the bunny,
photo courtesy of my dear friend Samer

After the taxi ride, our first stop downtown was a pet shop where my friend quickly picked out a fish, placed a tiny, fist-sized white bunny in my hands, handed the shop owner some money, and then guided me back up the street.  This bunny was precious! She buried herself in the crook of my arm, and I just cradled her for three hours as we navigated through the crowds and lingered by some cheap second-hand clothes sold in the bustling suq.  I did pay attention enough to buy a t-shirt, but the bunny really stole my attention and my heart.

After the suq and coffee with a friend in the mall (for which I had to hide Amanda in my pocket from the security guards), we went to the Modern American School to play ultimate frisbee with a group of young graduates from the States teaching at the school.  It's pretty amusing being introduced to more Americans through my Jordanian friends.  Being able to play frisbee is so nice, even if it is mostly with Americans on a turfed field within the high walls of the school.

I know this is long, and I really try to keep posts short.  But there is a lot going on, and I haven't even mentioned politics today.  In conclusion, I am ready for the semester to be over for the sake of ending classes, but am not ready to leave this community indefinitely.

Playing dress up

A good friend invited me to his host family's home for a show and tell of some beautifully embroidered, and rather old, traditional bridal outfits. The embroidery and colors act as a map to the region. My gown came from Umm Qays in Northern Jordan

The headpieces are laden with coins, and is a way of displaying the bride's dowry.  This headpiece that I'm wearing has coins dating back to the earlier part of the Ottoman Empire, and weighed at least 10 lbs.  

bsoora! bsoora! (Quick quick)

There is just so much to cover since I last wrote and I don't really have the time at all.

But first thing's first: I see my parents in three days!  They arrive in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and I will cross the border on Thursday to see them.

The reason I don't see them sooner is because I have midterms all this week, and my lovely and oh-so-threatening foos'ha (modern standard Arabic) exam is on Thursday and lord knows I need to do well on that.

Last weekend I went on the program overnight trip to Wadi Rum where we raced jeeps and camels through the desert and all its beauty. The stars at night were spectacular (nothing compares) and I would've spent the whole night on the sands, but the temperature plummets once the sun goes down.  And I raced a camel. That was one of my goals on coming here, and it was realized on Saturday.  Seriously, me and my camel raced for at least a mile, encouraging the others in the train to speed up their camels, but with about a kilometer to go, I paced the last twenty camels and arrived at the camp first. Along with my awesome partner in crime, Desiree (a neighborhood gal), and our wonderfully obliging bedouin, Yousef.

Finally, while on this trip, protests downtown on Friday, which just this past week gained momentum again, went from peaceful to downright ugly. Pro-reform protestors stood on onside of the Dakhlia circle, and supporters of the king stood on the other.  It started on Wednesday and they called themselves the March 24th Shabab (youth) as the pro-reform group mostly consisted of twenty-something year olds. Anyways, long story short, on Friday rocks were thrown from the opposition group (supporting the king) despite calls of peace from the March 24th Shabab, riot police came, water hoses were aimed on the shabab to be dispersed, and people were beaten in the process of evacuation.  One man, aged 56, died from heart failure that was caused from the beatings.  My Political Islam professor was there, and told us about it today. He was very discouraged and disappointed with the governments reaction and what this means for Jordan and state reform.

Rumors that the shabab consisted of Palestinians wanting to create a revolution against the king, or rumors that the Islamists were behind it, are false.  PM Bakhit blamed Islamists for the clash on Friday. However, according to my professor, Islamist groups did not show up the protest until it was well under way. It wasn't their push.  Nor were the shabab mostly Palestinian.

It is disheartening to see the government take such a position against people asking for reform - the same reforms that King Abdullah has been talking about in the past weeks.  This could have been a good opportunity to rally with the people, instead, the pitted the nation against itself.  People are taking sides, spreading rumors and not understanding each other.  Hopefully, people will start a dialogue.  In the meantime it is frustrating to watch - very, very frustrating.

Well, that wasn't as brief as intended. No matter. Now back to the books. :-)

Pictures are coming soon.

Dr. Samira

Perhaps, in my last post I was a debbie downer about my little exposure to the more conservative communities in Jordan. I realized, however, that there is someone who opens her religious world to me every Monday and Wednesday for an hour and a half in my Islam class.

My professor, Dr. Samira Khawaldeh, is a soft spoken, opinionated, and well-versed Muslim, who carries the class through concepts of the Quran and the various interpretations that have gained popularity over the centuries.

This past Friday, Samira took the class all around northern Jordan, hopping from shrine to shrine in order to see the tombs of important figures of Islam.  She asked the ladies to bring a scarf along in case we entered a mosque, but as we were mostly seeing shrines, we didn't have to cover our hair as much. However, at one stop, a boy saw our uncovered hair and started protesting loudly, pointing at us and saying, "Haram!" - forbidden.  Samira, clearly annoyed, went over a gently talked to him. The boy rudely ignored her explanation and kept on complaining loudly until the sheik arrived.  After the sheik informed the boy that Samira was a professor at his university and held two PhD's, the boy quickly left and didn't reappear.

In the bus, Samira tsked at the boy's behavior, called him a hothead, and explained that these young students of shariah think they know something after just starting their studies, and then try to enforce every little thing without understanding the surrounding text or the other verses that provide exceptions.

neighborhood girlies on the class trip at the Hussein mosque

At our last stop, the royal al-Hussein mosque, Samira engaged in a conversation with the muezzin - the one who gives the call to prayer - about the passages concerning marriage and the number of wives a man is allowed.  Afterward, she turned to us and translated the argument, finishing with, "at first he tried to defend the legality of having four wives, but after a little while, he started to see it my way."

This is how she is.  Her religion poses no conflict for her. She only sees people take it and misconstrue it to fit their own agendas.  She simply says that they do not choose to read the Quran fully, but take what they want from it.  If they were true scholars of Islam, she says, they will not try to make these claims about the religion. From issues such as the veil (which she wears), to Islamists, marriage, science, and history, she has confidence in her answers and smiles at the confusion of others before humbly "showing" them the truth.