Athens, Greece

Stepping off the plane from Cairo into Athens was like entering another universe. Tiny dresses, Eurorail, designer clothing stores… But we couldn’t enjoy the familiarity without some sort of dramatic adventure first. Wanting to save money on cabs, we decided to take the metro from the airport into downtown Athens. Great idea, until the train became so packed we could barely move, let alone hold all our luggage and maneuver it out the door. We were in physical pain from carting around our lives from the past two months, and annoyed by the stares and unhelpful attitudes of the other passengers as we struggled to depart and switch lines. We had planned to stay in a cheap hotel we found online, but once we were there it was cheaper, (read-scarier), than we realized, and we left to find my friend Hashim, who was staying in a much nicer part of the city. Hashim is one of my best friends from Persian class. He’s from Pakistan, but just graduated from UW-Madison. It was so nice that he met us to travel in Greece! Unfortunately, his passport was stolen his first day there, but he was able to get a new one the next day, (things happen quickly when your uncle is a chief minister in Pakistan). The hotel we stayed in was small, but the old Greek couple that owned it was nice and funny. We spent our first night sampling appetizers and salads, (fresh vegetables were finally safe to eat!!), and walking around the city. Athens is very pretty at night. The Acropolis is lit up, squares bustle with street musicians and vendors, the steps in front of Parliament provide a nice spot to sit and chat, and the beauty of the old buildings is shown more in the moonlight. By day, Athens actually reminded us of Irbid in some areas. A bit run down, tattered and dirty. Other areas in the center, namely the Plaka and Psiri, were slightly nicer and full of clothing stores and cafes.
Thursday morning we set out for real coffee, which after weeks of instant Nescafe was amazing, and traditional Greek raisin cinnamon breakfast rolls. Then Brianna and I shopped while Hashim took care of business at the embassy and met us to trek around Athens. Our wandering was interrupted by riots in front of Parliament. On Thursday, Greece passed a pension bill to overhaul their debt, by reducing benefits and increasing the retirement age. Central Athens were shut down, as riots estimated at about 12,000 people erupted. The best part of our trip came Thursday night when we ate at Paradosiako. The restaurants in downtown Athens were all touristy and served overpriced, not very authentic food. We wanted something better, so we looked up local reviews and found this place. The food was amazing. The Greek salad was fresh and delicious, the cod melted in our mouths, the grilled squid was excellent, as was the zucchini, octopus, and of course, fresh bread. The presentation was beautiful, and the seafood was what we had been craving for weeks. Everywhere we went in Greece, (and also often in Jordan), melon was served after the meal as a complimentary dessert. A trend I think we should adopt in the U.S.!! Along with more olive oil, hummus and falafel, my favorites. :) Friday we hopped back on the bus and actually stopped at each site. We climbed the acropolis, which was really impressive. We’ve seen a lot of ruins over the past two months, but it’s still amazing to think of the history, and how we’re taught about these places, and then to actually see them. We also stopped at Zeus’ Temple, the site of the first Olympics, and the National Gardens. These were pretty, but have nothing on Olbrich Gardens, the Arboretum, or any of my dad’s gardens…we were not impressed by them at all, but we did enjoy the turtle pond!
Saturday was our best day in Greece. We woke up early, (Brianna is getting really sick of me waking her up “freakishly early”), and took a ferry to Poros, an island about two and a half hours away from Athens. The ride was beautiful! The mountains and Mediterranean are gorgeous, and we stopped at two smaller islands on the way. The islands are much nicer than Athens, (think Mama Mia the movie), and we enjoyed a lazy day of tanning and lemonade and lunch. For once I’m actually tan– it’s a miracle!
We took the metro to the train station, said our goodbyes to Hashim, (I’m so sad he graduated and won’t be there next semester to entertain us in Farsi class), and left on the midnight train to Thessaloniki. And the next 36 hours were the worst of the entire 8 weeks. We expected our sleeper car to be small and cramped, but we did not expect to not be able to fit inside it with our luggage. So, we traded with Andy, who had a (barely) better room set up and a couch under one bed. Sunburned, tired and annoyed, we settled in to watch our pirated, only 3 euro copy of Sex and the City 2, and went to sleep. The train arrived in Thessaloniki at 7:30am, and we were told the train to Istanbul departed at 8am. At least, Andy swears that’s what he was told. But when Brianna and I went to buy tickets, we found it was 8pm, and thus we had 12 hours to waste. Fuming, and annoyed that Andy had gotten this wrong, we left him on the platform to watch our luggage while we explored the city. In hindsight, this was a little mean, but we were tired, dirty, our clothes were severely wrinkled, our sunburns killing us, our luggage much too heavy to drag around… Besides, we needed a place to stay in Istanbul, so we went in search of Internet, convincing ourselves we were doing Andy a favor. Internet is hard to find in Greece, which surprised us. It was easier to find in Jordan. Finally, after asking many people, after several awkward language barrier encounters, after espresso at a café that said it had Internet but didn’t, after wandering around and holding up Brianna’s phone trying to get a signal, we found wireless. BUT, the restaurant wasn’t opened because it was Sunday, and Greece is very Orthodox and NOTHING was opened on Sunday. Luckily, the owner was sitting outside and he let us sit at an outdoor table and use the Internet anyway. We found a really nice hotel in Istanbul for almost half-price on a last minute Web site, and in much better moods went for a walk by the water. We walked, got ice cream, and started the 45 minute trek back to the train station, our sunburned shoulders in pain at each step and movement of our bags. Then…we waited. For 5 hours. In a train station with nothing to do. Finally 7:40 pm arrived, and we crawled into another small car, finished our movie and slept. We woke up at 4am to banging on the doors and “PASSPOOORTS” being yelled in thick Turkish accents. We handed ours to the conductor that came to our door with our eyes still closed, only to be woken up a few minutes later to have them returned. And then a few minutes later again to have them taken away. Then, we were forced out of the train to a hut on the side of the tracks at four in the morning in our pajamas, in the cold, on the border of Greece and Turkey with nothing around us for miles. Bewildered, half-asleep and kind of nervous, we stood and shivered until we could pay for our visas and go back to sleep. But in another half hour we were woken up for a customs check. And lastly, to have our passports returned. Moral of the story: DO NOT take overnight trains, especially across borders, especially when the night before you could only sleep one hour due to another train experience. From wherever the train stopped, we had to take a bus to Istanbul. This was supposed to take an hour, but took two. Finally, we arrived, and took a cab to our hotel. From here, the trip, and our moods, improved greatly.

Farewell Jordan, Hello Egypt!

This is a mix of Irbid, Amman, Cairo and Alexandria. I kept finding pictures, so the order is very confused. Sorry! And writing about all of Egypt in one day was a bad idea..it's rather boring and repetitive.

Alexandria

Tuesday we woke up extremely early to start our 3½ hour drive to Alexandria, the Greek city in Egypt on the Mediterranean. It was really pretty, and nothing like Cairo. The city was founded by Alexander the Great, and was Egypt’s capitol for almost a thousand years, until AD 641 when the Muslims took over and founded Fustat, later Cairo. Once there, we saw the Catacombs or Kom el Shoqafa, multi-level labyrinth tombs. These were really cool, and just like the pyramids hard to imagine how they was built and carved with minimal tools. Again, sadly, pictures weren’t allowed. Then we went to Pompey’s Pillar, a Roman column originally part of a colonnade made for Diocletian, in memory of the rebellion of Domitius Domitianus. It is one of the best-known ancient monuments still standing.
Alexandria is much different than Cairo, as you can see the Greek influence in the statues and buildings. It’s also much cleaner. I thought it was pretty and nice, but Muhammed said as an Egyptian man, he does not like Alexandria.
We went to the Alexandria Library, which is not an average library at all. It’s huge, and has the largest open space to read in the world. It’s also a museum. The library was only built seven years ago, and the architecture is really neat. There was a contest, and a group of architects from Norway won. From an aerial view the main building is shaped like the sun, and it has writing in many languages on the sides to represent blending cultures. There’s a planetarium on the west side, representing the Earth orbiting the sun. It has one of the largest Internet databases in the world, and you can read ancient books online. Each page of the actual books are photographed, so you can flip through them and read.
We also went to Montazah Park, a cute garden park on the beach. It was very pretty, but strange to see women swimming in clothing and hijabs. We would have been VERY out of place in bikinis, so we just walked around and went to the Presidential House to take pictures. Then it was back in the van for the long ride to the hotel and our final farewell to our guide. He is a very funny man. He’s kind, and jokes with us and quizzes us. But then there were moments we wondered if he was lying about prices and keeping some for himself. According to himself, he’s a good Muslim, and he told us many times of good things he’s done, how he refuses pretty women who try to get him to sleep in tents when he does tours in other areas, how he helps people, how he doesn’t drink and reads the Qur’an daily. And mostly he just really, really wants one of us to convert. We enjoyed our time with him though. And now, we’re going to try to sleep through the very, very loud wedding happening at our hotel, and prepare for our flight to Greece in the morning!

Cairo! Day 2....

Our second day in Cairo started out just like the first. Breakfast in the hotel, and meeting our guide Muhammad, who by this point was set on converting us to Islam. He brought it up at least 12 times and even bought us Arabic to English translations of the Qur’an. If you’re Muslim, and you convert someone, you’re almost guaranteed to go to Paradise.
Anyway, we went first to the citadel, overlooking all of Cairo. We saw the prison there, and the military side. It was interesting to see the security measures in place at the time, but the mosques were much nicer to look at. El-Naser Mohamed mosque was the first mosque in Cairo. It was made with stolen pieces, so the windows are all slightly different, as well as parts of the pillars. It was really cool though, and we learned how all mosques are set up. There’s a curved spot in the front so the Imam leading the prayer can be heard in back, or his echo can, there’s an open area for praying and facing Mecca and Saudi Arabia, and there’s a balcony in back to lead the people outside. There are a lot of other features, but those are the most important. The second mosque, the Mosque of Mohammed Aly, was incredibly beautiful. It was built in 1830 AD, modeled after the Sultan Ahmet mosque in Turkey, (which we’re going to see in a week!). The painting and decoration is so intricate, and the lamps lighting the inside give a magical glow. Mohammed Aly’s tomb is in the mosque also. Next we went to the Hanging Church, or Saint Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church, also in old Cairo. It is called the hanging church because it is above the gates to Babylon Fortress, and ancient fortress city for the royal family. It is one of the earliest churches in Egypt, built in the 3rd century AD. The Ben Ezra Synagogue is near the Coptic Church, so we went there as well. It’s located on the site where baby Moses was found, according to the local tradition.
One of the best things we did in Cairo was go to the Khan Khalili bazaar. It’s a narrow street packed with stands and shops and hundreds of people weaving through and yelling and pushing. I heard “hey Barbie!” and “blondie!” way too many times, but it was worth it for all the good deals we got. It turns out Brianna and I are fantastic bargainers. We got everything for about 30 percent of the price they asked, which is really good. People told us before we went that they obviously overcharge foreigners, but if we could get to 50 percent we’d be good, but that the real price was probably 20-30 percent, so we were very happy with ourselves. I think it helped that we knew Arabic numbers and once we asked for a price in Arabic they didn’t think they could rip us off as much. We bought eight scarves, t-shirts, perfume, glass bottles, all for less than $40. I want to go back!
After that, we ate Kushree, the traditional Egyptian dish. It’s really good, made with rice, macaroni, lentils, tomatoes, and a spicy sauce.
We went to the Egyptian Museum last. This is one of the coolest things we did, but sadly, pictures are not allowed. This is terrible because I don’t think it’s possible to explain how amazing it was! It has ancient statues, mummies, tombs, and an entire floor dedicated to King Tutankhamun. His was the only tomb ever found intact, all other tombs had already been raided by the time people started looking for them. His tomb was impressive, one of the most decorated and protected. He had a solid gold casket, inside another one, and another and another, to protect his body. Then there were gifts and offerings and things to protect him and keep him happy in the afterlife. Chairs, statues, jewelry…the jewelry was so pretty, and so detailed it’s hard to imagine how it was made then. We saw the solid gold headdress put on King Tutankhamun when he was buried. It’s extremely protected in the museum, and for good reason. The most amazing thing was that because he died so suddenly and so young, (he fell off a chariot), all of this was made in a very short amount of time. It seemed like each piece would have taken forever to make, it’s unbelievable that everything in the entire floor, which is like six rooms, was made in such a short time. Each artifact, and each painted chair, bed, box and jars holding his insides, statues of gods to protect him was incredible. And in really good shape for being so old. I wish we could have taken pictures!!
We were exhausted by the end of the day, and came back to the hotel to drink smoothies in the hotel café, Skype, and sleep.

Cairo! Day 1....

We were picked up from the airport in Cairo by our tour guide Muhammad and his adorable three-year-old son, who escorted us to the Horizon Hotel. It’s much nicer than we were expecting! Sunday we were up early for breakfast at the hotel, and a day of touring Cairo. Our first stop was the Step Pyramid of Saqqara/Pyramid of Djoser. It was the first pyramid ever built, in the 27th century BC for Pharaoh Djoser. The first pyramids were made in step formation, before the traditional smooth sided pyramid. Originally, the Pyramid of Djoser was 62 metres/203 feet tall, and was covered in white polished limestone. It has decreased by 11 metres, but is still enormous. The pyramid is surrounded by trenches and a colonnade entrance, and there is a vast open courtyard. At the time the pyramid was built, the Pharaoh would race a bull from the colonnade entrance, to the front of the pyramid where they would circle a stone structure, and back to the entrance. If the man beat the bull, he was fit to rule, but as our guide said, they probably drugged the bull somehow. We also learned about the ancient Egyptian religion, and how they worshipped. Many people think they worshipped animals and objects, but this is not true. They worshipped the jackal,Anubis, god of the dead and fire, and the ram, hathor, goddess of fertility, for example, but not in their animal form. They worshipped the things they could not defeat, and the virtues they brought. They couldn't defeat fire, so they worshipped it's heat, they couldn't defeat the ram, so they worshipped it's milk as fertility, they couldn't stop the jackal from entering tombs, so they made him a temple and designated him as guardian of the dead, and they couldn't defeat the falcon, so they worshipped him as protector, and on and on. Also, they ate the meat from these animals, and if they worshipped the animal itself, not only its abstract quality, they would not have been able to eat it.
We saw tombs after the step pyramid, and were amazed at the hieroglyphics inside. They're so intricately carved and beautiful! Next we went to the Great Pyramid of Giza/Pyramids of Khufu, the most famous pyramid. It is the oldest of the seven wonders of the Ancient World, and for good reason. It is massive. It's crazy to think that people built it with rock, pulley systems, water movement and their own strength. It was built as a tomb for Pharaoh Khufu in the fourth dynasty, in 2560 BC. For the next 3,800 years It was the tallest man-made structure in the world. We took camel rides to the spot where you can see all three pyramids in a line. It was fun! But a little odd. The camels are all just sitting there in a field with people ready to surround you and try to overcharge you. And they smell. The little boy pulling Brianna's camel was so cute though!
The smaller Pyramid of Khafre, next to the Great Pyramid, is still impressive, and belonged, along with the Sphinx, to Pharaoh Khafre. The Sphinx was really cool, but actually smaller than we expected. It's hard to believe when you're standing in front of the pyramids that they were built by hand so long ago, and that civilizations flourished here. Muhammad gave extensive detail on the dynasties, the pharaohs, anything you could think of. Apparently being a tour guide here is a really good job and takes a lot of schooling. I guess that's understandable though, as there is so much history to learn. I'm definitely glad we got a guide. Taking cabs and figuring out what we should and shouldn't waste time on would have wasted a lot of money. Also, the people who don't have guides are swarmed by people selling post cards, mini pyramids, etc. The people here are much, much more pushy than in Jordan. At every tourist place in Jordan, the same people would come up to you offering to take a picture for free, then charge you, but here it's worse. They don't stop, no matter how forceful you are, how many times you say no, even in Arabic. And they demand tips for EVERYTHING. In Jordan, tipping was unheard of, and they were more welcoming, hospitable and happy to see us. The falafel was better in Jordan too–we miss it! But the stares are pretty much the same.
After the pyramids we went to a school where they teach students starting at age eight to weave rugs of silk and cotton and wool. The rugs were beautiful, and the students' hands were flying! We also visited a place where they make lotus perfume and many other pure scents. It was really cool. They blow glass into beautiful shapes for the bottles, and since the scent is so concentrated it lasts for much longer than perfume at home, (there is no alcohol added). They make exact copies of brand names like Armani, Chanel, Lancome, etc. Lastly, we visited a shop where they make papyrus paintings. These were really pretty, and the process of making them was very interesting.
We finished day one with a nighttime fluka cruise on the Nile River. This was relaxing, and very pretty, but strange because when you think of the Nile, you do not think of being surrounded by hotels and McDonald's and bright lights. Definitely a successful and enjoyable first day overall!

Jordan, We miss you already!

After a week of last favorite things in Jordan and long nights of studying, we took our final tests on Thursday and left Aphamia hotel for the last time. It was sad to say goodbye to some of our favorite teachers, (Ahlam we love you!), but finals went very well, and we were mostly glad to be out of Irbid. Within an hour of our luncheon/graduation ceremony we were on the bus to Amman. There, we checked into the Dove Hotel, the adorable place we found the weekend before, and called the friends we met there. They took us to Dubliner’s for dinner, an Irish pub/restaurant, for fish and chips. I don’t think anything has ever tasted so good! We hadn’t had fish since before leaving the U.S. Zaid, Ramsey, Khaled and Mohaned, our new friends, had made reservations at one of the nicest clubs in Amman, so we dressed up and got ready to actually go out for the first time since Dubai. It was SO much fun! It was just like clubs at home. Loud music, lots of dancing, bottle service, and packed with people. Hours of dancing, dozens of pictures and three lost friends later, we finally found a cab and made our way back to the hotel. Friday we showed Derek, (Cassidy’s boyfriend who had arrived from the states the night before), around downtown Amman and ate at Hashim’s. This restaurant has the best hummus in Jordan we ate there every chance we could–I’m going to miss it! The day wasn’t too eventful after that. We went to Dubliner’s again with our other friend Hala, (thank you again for everything Hala we already miss you!), for dinner, to a cute garden bar for the Ghana/Uruguay game, (which was crazy), and then to the airport to pick up our friend Andy who is traveling with us. Saturday we went back to the citadel and amphitheater we went to on our first week in Jordan, but Andy and Derek wanted to see them, ate at Hashim’s again, and finally we were on our way to Egypt! It was sad saying goodbye to Cassidy and Mike after becoming such good friends, but we’ll see them very soon and for the rest of the summer in Madison. I really enjoyed the six weeks in Jordan. We learned much more than I thought we would, and living there taught me more than studying at home ever would. Things I'll miss the most: Hummus, falafel sandwiches, hareesa, the friendly people, the cheap prices, the english words put into Arabic, (this is hilarious), the warm weather, the history, the odd cultural things, (see "lessons" post), the simplicity. Also, living in Jordan made us realize how lucky we are at home! Brianna and I were joking yesterday that even the dirty areas of any place at home are going to seem shockingly clean. And we're going to bring water bottles places, then realize we can drink out of the taps. We're going to be amazed by clean bathrooms, and appliances that work. Everything in the U.S. is just ten times nicer, there's no other way to say it, and it's not a bad thing, it's just how it is. I love Jordan, and will really miss it, but there's a reason most of the people there want to move to the "freedom dream land," (as one elderly man told us), and now I understand it. In Jordan, we were extremely wealthy. At home, we're poor struggling students. It's a very strange culture difference. There are things about Jordan, and the people, that I think are better than America, but for a permanent residence, I'm glad to be living in Wisconsin, (and hopefully soon New York!).

Night in Amman!

Lessons

It's our last week of classes! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. We're ready for level 3 in Arabic, we barely realize we're in a third world country, and we're going to miss this place more than we realized! Though we can't wait for travels in Egypt, Greece and Turkey! This week is busy with final tests, final favorite foods, final favorite places and final goodbyes.. We've learned so much about this country and culture. There are too many things, (probably more important things), but these are the most relevant day-to-day lessons we've learned thus far.

1. High-speed Internet only exists at American cafes.
2. A cocktail is a very popular, non-alcoholic fruity beverage
3. Napkins=Kleenex
4. Coffee=Nescafe
5. JD1/$1.40 is an overpriced cab ride
6. Toilet paper in public restrooms is unheard of. Come prepared, as asking is a laughable offense.
7. Jordanians love, love, love Americans, but will double or triple charge the actual amount that any item or service is worth.
8. Nail files and chapstick are ridiculously expensive. So are napkins, canned beer and apples.
9. Everyone and their brothers and their friends want to learn English. With you as their speaking partner.
10. Women must sit upstairs in many restaurants.
11. Women dress just like us, (sometimes even more risqué), but in the privacy of their homes and beauty salons.
12. Men link arms and hold hands with men in public, (out of friendship). But never women.
13. Indentured servitude DOES exist.
14. A sidewalk isn’t right if it’s not uneven and dangerous.
15. When all else fails, open a furniture store or sweets shop.
16. Black September was never a problem, and the Holocaust wasn’t that bad, (according to some Jordanians).
17. Creepiness=affection.
18. To be stylish, wear outfits via ’99.
19. Water is actually bad for your health.
20. Vegetarians and nut allergies cause confusion and are a big problem.
21. King Abdullah>anything
22. PINK underwear is more overpriced than previously thought.
23. The Persian Gulf is an unheard of body of water. (Arab Gulf is preferred, but that’s just plain incorrect).
24. Israel=Palestine
25. People are generally kind, helpful and trustworthy. But then old men ask you to marry them so they can move to the “Land of Free People.”
26. Hareesa, hummus and falafel are a hundred times better when they’re fresh and not American.
27. A cool day is 78 degrees, (those are the days we worry that we didn’t bring sweaters. It’s going to be a very, very rough winter in Wisconsin this year).
28. People like you more once they know you’re learning Arabic.
29. 20 minutes means 1 hour and 20 minutes. Arab time. My mom would fit in perfectly. ☺ Just Kidding!
31. Americans are rich.
32. Wake up calls are not reliable.
33. The way things work/happen here is rarely the most efficient or best way to do something, but we’re starting to like it.
34. Going anywhere with Rebecca, Brianna and Cassidy=priceless, usually dramatic adventure!

An unexpected trip

Disappointed and angry about not getting into Israel, we woke up Friday morning looking forward to coffee at our favorite, (American), coffee shop. Yes, it is way overpriced, but it's also the only thing that tastes anything like coffee or has any amount of caffeine. We were overly excited for our espresso and muffins, so when Port City Java was closed, we broke down. Brianna took out her iPhone in determination to find real coffee. I slumped against the wall in severe caffeine withdrawal. It was Cassidy who mentioned she hadn't seen a movie in forever, and next Brianna was looking up show times in Amman. Within an hour we were on the bus, after waking up Mike and telling him he was accompanying us shopping and to a girly movie. And no, he did not have a choice. We can't go anywhere without him, partly because we're scared of the creepy guys here, and partly because he's scared for us and won't let us. Amman is only an hour from Irbid, but is such a different city. Things work, for example, and while all of Jordan is dirty, it's a bit cleaner. There are also really nice and modern areas. We went to Mecca Mall and ended up shopping for a few hours. They have a lot of European clothing stores, so we all spent more money than we were planning, (but we also got really cute clothes! And we justified it with, well we missed out on summer shopping at home). The only American movie showing was Karate Kid, so we decided against that. Instead, because we felt a little bad that Mike was following us to girly store after girly store, we found an Irish Pub and watched the Brazil/Portugal game. Pubs, or places that serve alcohol in general, are very rare in Jordan. It's legal to sell alcohol in hotels though, and this pub was underneath onel. It was a cute building, and half of it was outdoors in a tent. Mike met some girls who were Jordanian, but Christian, (aka able to drink and wear tank tops), and we talked with them for awhile. Next thing we knew we were making plans to stay in Amman for the night. Luckily, their grandpa owned the hotel we were watching the game at, and they had a spare room. Jordan hotels are nothing like American hotels, but this one was nice and clean and had much Jordanian charm. We rushed out to buy toothbrushes and clothes to go out in. When we met up with them again, they were with more of their friends-coincidentally, one of them was a guy we had met at the Dead Sea the weekend before. We were all surprised. The girls we met were so much fun and we saw a completely different side of Jordan than we were used to. Irbid is extremely conservative, even more so than we realized. Everyone we met in Amman was like, "We feel so bad for you! Irbid? We've never even been there! Transfer to Amman!" Yarmouk is one of the best schools in the country, but if we would have known earlier we probably would have sacrificed a bit of learning for Amman's nightlife and more liberal atmosphere. We were wearing dresses. In Jordan! It seemed unbelievable. They took us out for late night falafel sandwiches with our favorite spicy sauce, and we made plans to come back next weekend. Our program ends Thursday, and we leave for Egypt Saturday, (Cassidy and Mike leave for Syria Saturday–we'll miss traveling with them!). We were planning on staying in Irbid or finding a hostel in Amman for the two nights before we leave, but this will be much more fun. One of the women we met is a pilot, and she's taking us flying on Friday! Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel...never in the US could you stay in an adorable hotel, and eat omelets, bread, cheese, vegetables and coffee in the morning all for JD14/$19.60. I'm going to miss spontaneous weekends like this in Jordan, not worrying about taking off work, or breaking plans..and I'm definitely going to miss meeting so many new people!

Jordan>Israel

“I am fuuuming!” “My OTHER passport??” “We give them the most aid!” “I’m writing my congressman John McCain.” “With the amount of money the US gives them, Americans, especially students, should be able to visit Israel whenever they want. We should have our own express line.” “We love Jordan!!!!”
Yes, it sounds harsh, but this was the chorus of voices on the cab ride back to Irbid from the Israeli border. Claire, Brianna, Akrum and I decided to visit Israel for Thursday night/Friday day, just to see Bethlehem and Jerusalem. However, our time in Israel consisted of 15 minutes in the customs building. We knew it might take awhile to get through, because Akrum, though born in Texas and clearly an American citizen, is of Arab descent. His parents are from Irbid, which is why he decided to learn Arabic and come to this program. We heard from many people that he could be detained for two or three hours, but because he has an American passport, and because Jordan and Israel are on good terms, there shouldn’t be any other issues. Getting to the border was an experience in itself. It’s a half hour cab ride from Irbid, then we took another, special cab to get our exit stamps from the Jordan side, going through several checkpoints on the way, another baggage check, and some questioning. Once we had our exit stamps, (stamped on separate page outside our passport, where our Israel stamp would have also gone so we could hide it if we wanted to get into other countries, namely Syria and Lebanon, in the future), we had to wait for a bus to take us to Israeli customs. This was annoying, as we could see the building about 300 feet away, yet it’s illegal to walk to it and we had to wait 45 minutes for the bus. Once on the bus, passports are checked again, then we were finally on Israel territory, as was obvious from the giant rifles and bomb checks. The Jordanian guards and military were friendly at every checkpoint, and joked with Akrum on the bus that the three girls would have no problems, but he probably wouldn’t get in. Or he would for sure. They all seemed to have different opinions. My favorite was, “Ha! They’ll never let you in! Never. But, eh, insh’Allah, (god willing).”
The Israeli military was much less welcoming. The very first words spoken to Akrum were, “Where is your other passport?” Answer–“I don't have one. I’m only a citizen of the United States.” He was immediately taken aside and asked again where his other passport was, his family name, what his parents do, why he’s studying Arabic, and on and on. This was normal, and would have been annoying but understandable if they would have proceeded to move the rest of us through the line, and eventually Akrum as well. Instead, Brianna was asked several times if she was carrying anything for anyone, and if anyone had asked her to take something across the border, (insert insinuating glares from the guards at Akrum). Finally, they decided none of us would get through. Their reason: It would take over four hours because it was all of our first time visiting. This made no sense, especially when we recalled the group of all white American students who went last weekend and got across the border right away with no complications. Akrum said we should go without him, but by then the guard was suspicious of all of us, so he said none of us could go and his reasons were “confidential.” The border guard continued to be rude to Akrum, then actually suggested we come back the next day. Like we would actually be enthusiastic about that idea. None of us were thrilled to visit Israel in the first place. We’re disenchanted with their government, especially following the recent raids on aid flotillas and the side we’ve seen while living in Jordan. We were going for the historical aspect, but at this point any slim want to visit was gone. The way Akrum was treated was unacceptable, especially because he’s an American citizen. The United States gives Israel billions of dollars in aid each year, yet American students, who are studying the Middle East and religious history cannot visit and see what they’re studying. It’s absurd. Our love for Jordan increased as we climbed back on the bus to the Jordanian border and the same guards met us with laughter and "Welcome back to Jordan!" It wasn’t Akrum's fault, they said. He was just “too Arab.”

Fabulous weekend

Pictures!! Mostly from the Dead Sea, but there are a few randoms thrown in...

Birthday..

Celebrating my birthday in Jordan was almost as fun as at home. Minus angel food cake and sky diving :) We had class, and Brianna, Mike and I went out to lunch at TCHE TCHE, (our favorite, and the only, American style restaurant). Later that night, the entire group was invited to Akrum's aunt's house for a traditional Jordanian meal. His mother is visiting for two weeks, and she made us mensaf, a very popular and delicious dish here. We had a lot of fun talking to his younger sisters, who are extremely adorable, and his mom. Akrum had told him mom it was my birthday and she brought out two huge cakes–one coconut, one chocolate–she had made. It was SO nice of her, and they were so good we all left very full and happy. I skyped with my mom for a long time after that, and talked to Jimmy on the phone. Not an overly exciting birthday, but 22 isn't a very exciting age. And Jimmy has promised me a celebration when we go to New York so I'm holding him to it!
In other news, classes are moving faster every day, and the homework is piling up. Our weekdays consist of class, speaking partner, homework, dinner, homework. We have learned so much though in only five weeks I can't believe it. It's crazy that next week is our last week of classes!
Tomorrow after class we're going to Israel. Only for one night. We want to see Jerusalem, though we're less than thrilled with the Israeli government, (even less in the past few weeks than normal). Hopefully we get across the border quickly, but we're budgeting in 5-6 hours from some stories we've heard. Though Jordan and Israel are allies, there is much tension. For example, when we were at the Dead Sea and could see a city all lit up right across the water, Akrum asked someone, (in perfect colloquial Arabic, which made it worse), what city in Israel it was. He was quickly reprimanded and told that THAT IS PALESTINE! The professors are the same way, especially lately, and our friend Gabe who is studying in Israel next semester tells everyone we meet he's studying in Egypt just to avoid conflict.
Anyway, right now we're watching the USA/Algeria match in a cafe. Clearly we're the only ones cheering on USA. As if we didn't get enough stares already :)

A weekend of sun and the salty sea

A long week of class last week was made brighter by booking rooms at the Holiday Inn Dead Sea Resort and Spa for the weekend, and 15 minutes after class on Thursday Brianna, Cassidy, Mike, Claire, Akrum and I were on our way! Nothing ever goes perfectly in Jordan though, and after our bus ride from Irbid to Amman, getting a taxi to the Dead Sea proved more difficult than expected. Cab drivers swarmed us at the bus stop, which is completely normal. They push each other out of the way, shout prices, pull you towards their car, but this time was the worst we’ve seen yet. Because Akrum speaks fluent Arabic, and is Jordanian, they pounced on him and bargained more than usual. This is good for us, because we don’t get ripped off as much, but the number of people and chaos surrounding him was hysterical. All other customers were ignored, prices dropped from 30 to 8 and back to 20. They were killing each other’s business. Meanwhile Akrum is standing there weighted down with a backpack and giant pink plastic bag, wearily yelling back as they close in on him. I wish I could explain the noise and the way they fought each other to get to him. What should have taken two minutes was taking over 10, then the shouting got so loud the police walked over and joined in. Finally, we were in two cabs for JD15 each. At least until they pulled over the second we were away from the station and demanded 17. That’s how it works here. It’s extremely annoying, but when you’re in the middle of the road there’s nothing you can do, (actually, they demanded 25, but Akrum got it back down to 17).
The hassle was worth it when we saw our resort. Giant! Pools and beaches and swim up bars and buffets! (Unfortunately, the drivers saw the hotel too and decided we were rich, and forced 2 more JD out of us). Anyway, we jumped in the pool and spent the rest of the night enjoying happy hour, a feast, watching the World Cup outside and a beautiful summer night.
Friday was spent the same way, mostly at the pool. We ventured through the sand, (which felt like fire on our feet), to coat ourselves in mud and float in the Dead Sea. It was such a weird sensation! Being in a giant body of water and not doing any work at all, not to mention not worrying about sharks or any other sea life, doesn't quite feel right. But it was a lot of fun, and our skin felt extremely smooth after rinsing off the mud. The salt starting stinging our skin after awhile though, so it was a short swim.
We met a man from South Africa who is working in Jordan as a consultant, (the sea is dropping 10 cm each year, and they're trying to stop it...I think..), and he took us to lunch at a restaurant much cheaper than the hotel. He told us about South Africa, his experiences traveling in other parts of the world, preparation for the World Cup, etc. It's nice to meet other foreigners, even if they're not from the US. Usually they love and hate the same things about Jordan. We decided to go to the dinner and music show later that night, which was hilarious. They had a traditional band, which was especially exciting when they broke out in, "Wayn al Ramala," (Where is Ramal), a song we learned at our culture club. We actually knew an Arabic song!! It was embarrassing though, when the leader of the program jokingly yelled into the microphone, "Will someone come up here and teach the Americans how to dance?" He said it in Arabic obviously, so we didn't realize until a woman came up and showed us some traditional moves. Definitely different than our dancing :) They had contests too, and Mike, Akrum, Claire and I got pulled out of the audience for one. It was basically musical chairs but with a newspaper. Each pair dances around their newspaper until the music stops, then they both have to jump on, and each round it gets folded in half. Out of all the people that were called up, it came down to the four of us. Claire and I had to jump on Mike and Akrum's backs, which Cassidy and Brianna found highly entertaining, and in the end Claire and Akrum won...because Mike apparently has no balance. The main event of the evening was the belly dancer and the couple that danced. The belly dancer was good, but the couple was doing ballet, and they were not very graceful. More awkward.
We were sad to leave on Saturday, and spent as many last minutes as we could at the pool. We did manage to get the breakfast buffet for free after bugs invaded our room. Yes, it is a desert, but it is not ok to wake up with ants on your pillow and a lizard in your shower. The trip wouldn't have been complete without another, almost worse, taxi fiasco on the ride home. This one included the car breaking down in between Amman and Irbid.
Overall, an amazing weekend. One of the best yet! Which only made it harder to go back to classes, (they're getting much more difficult), and Irbid, (it's getting much more boring).

A quick story

School is going well, and we feel at home in Irbid now. We barely notice stares, we don’t complain when our shower doesn’t work, and we’re regulars at Alahandra Sweets. It’s a bakery on our way to school that makes the best pita, and my favorite, Hareesa, (a coconut, syrupy cake type concoction). The owner is a very sweet older man who loves America and is so happy that we are students here. He lived in Alabama for a year, and when I asked if he liked it, he said, “They call it Sweet Home, yes?” He also happened to go to high school in Irbid with the head of our program, (who now lives in Minnesota). One day we were running late for class after a coffee search fiasco, and complained there was no good coffee anywhere near school. The next day as we walked by, he ran out with two cups of coffee he had bought for us. The people here are SO nice! There are a few exceptions, (see previous post), but that family wasn’t Jordanian, and almost every Jordanian person we meet is helpful, polite and welcoming. It makes the third world aspects of the country bearable, and is one of the main things that will make me sad to leave. AND, I need to get his recipe for hareesa before we come home!

Manicures, adventures, and indentured servitude

Sick of Irbid, and bored of our class, dinner, study, café routine, Brianna, Cassidy and I decided to explore downtown Irbid and get really cheap pedicures people had been telling us about. Akram, (our classmate and oftentimes translator), explained to our cab driver and we were on our way. Downtown Irbid is different than campus. More stores, hotels, fruit stands, people…dirt. We stopped at the post office and mailed postcards no one will probably get until we’re already home, then the adventure began. Our driver went to a salon that was closed, then another that only did hair. The woman working at the salon recommended another called Ms. Fensualahe. Or something like that, judging from how she spelled it out. We couldn’t find it, and instead saw a huge, new building called ‘Queen’s Palace Beauty Parlor.’ “Perfect,” we thought. But upon entering we were greeted with strange looks and a lot of running around. “Have a seat,” a man who I think was the manager told us and brought us in his office. “We can do it, manicures and pedicures…It isn’t easy, but we’ll do it.” Confused, we said yes we still wanted them, and were led upstairs. They sat us down and disappeared. The three girls that worked there kept staring at us, and we felt extremely awkward and unsure why after 15 minutes no one had started doing our nails yet. Then we looked around and realized there were no scissors anywhere, no shampoo, no nail polish. The place was bare except for mirrors and two chairs. “Oh my god,” Cassidy said. “I don’t think this place is open yet.” Then we realized they were out buying nail files and other supplies that very minute. We had to call Akram and make him translate over the phone, and sure enough they weren’t open, and were going to charge us JD25 for manicures and pedicures. That’s about $34 and way more than we were willing to pay, so we left to wrathful stares and whispers.
We wandered for a few more blocks, seeing salon after salon, but not Ms. F….. We asked people on the street, but they couldn’t understand us. It’s very frustrating trying to communicate here because we learn Fusha Arabic, which is very formal. It’s the form spoken on the news and in the government, but no one speaks it. Everyone here speaks ameea, which is colloquial and very different. The dialects of Arabic vary greatly. Egyptian Arabic is different from Jordanian ameea, and so on. This is problematic for us, especially because Cassidy is in advanced level Fusha, and could debate politics for hours, yet we could not find a nail salon. Just as we call Akram to have him ask someone for us, there are two guys behind us going, “We speak English, we speak English,” but we were ignoring them completely, because we’ve gotten used to ignoring the guys here and their usually rude comments. Finally, they got our attention, and did speak English very well. They pointed us literally two shops away, (if only we would have kept walking!), to Ms. Venezuela’s Salon. There is no ‘V’ in Arabic, hence the Fensualahe confusion. We felt like complete idiots.
Ms. Venezuela’s Salon was another adventure in itself. We had to go one at a time, meaning we were there for three hours, and all of the nail supplies looked old and like they were from the Jordan equivalent of Walmart. The women were clearly talking about us, but we don’t know what they were saying, and they seemed more concerned with doing their own nails and makeup. The only one who spoke English was the Filipino woman who scrubbed our feet. She was very nice, and kept making comments in English to us about the other girls and how conceited, lazy and stupid she thought they were. She also thought I was from England no matter how many times I corrected her. “Your friend Brianna, we understand her English because of her Chicago accent. Her American English is so easy to understand. We cannot understand your British accent very well,” she told me. “But I’m from Wisconsin! I live right next to Chicago! I am American!” I know I speak very quickly, but I was trying to speak more slowly than I ever have in my life. No matter what I said though, she had her mind made up. “No, no it is ok to be from England! I just don’t understand you as well but it is ok. England is nice!” Oh well. When Cassidy’s turn came the woman ended up telling us her life story. She was in nursing school, and only had one year left, but her son was born with leukemia and she moved to Jordan to work for two years as a nanny to pay for his hospital treatment. She signed a contract with a family, and she was to be paid very well, live with them, and have her own bedroom and bathroom. The contract was for two years, or if she wanted to end it early she had to pay them the $3600 they spent on her plane ticket, papers, etc. However, when she arrived she found she was sleeping in basically a closet, and was more of their slave than a nanny. They decided they wanted her to work in their salon, (the family she works for owns Ms. Venezuela), but she had never done nails before. She doesn’t get paid, and they treat her terribly. She was desperate and near tears telling us this. Her mother died two weeks ago, and her family sent her the $3600 to come home, but the Venezuelan family said no, she cannot go. They have her passport and visa locked away. She went to her embassy in Jordan, but they said they didn’t have time and this is a common problem and didn’t help her. Meanwhile, her son is in the hospital and very sick. Her sister’s husband is a lawyer, but it’s very hard for him to help her from so far away. From researching Jordan, I knew it had the best human rights in the Middle East, but was known for having this one problem. Indentured servitude, especially Asian servants, is common in Jordan. I knew this, but seeing it firsthand was heartbreaking. What made it worse was when we went to pay the owner, she raised the price JD8, (it is very, very normal for people here to try and rip Americans off). She didn’t know Cass knew Arabic and had heard the original price, so she had to end up giving it to us, but she was unhappy, and we felt even worse for the Filipino woman who had to deal with her all night. At dinner we were upset and felt so bad for this woman. We want to help her but we don’t know how! We thought about pretending we were some news organization that knew what the family was doing and going in with a camera and pretend to interview/investigate them, but clearly that wouldn’t work. Ideas anyone?

Irbid–Umm Qais–Jerash

More pictures!

Dubai!!!

Click and check out the pictures!

Umm Qais/Jerash

After a long week of classes and our midterm, we were happy to go to bed early Thursday night and rest up for a day of hiking through ruins. Friday we left early for Umm Qais, the site of the ruined Hellenistic-Roman city of Gadara. The view from the edge of the ruined city was beautiful, looking over the Sea of Galilee , Tiberius and Golan Heights, (part of Syria occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War). We spent a couple of hours walking through ruins and looking at monuments, then drove to the nearby Yarmouk River. The river forms the border of Jordan and Israel on its northern end, and of Jordan and Syria on the south. We were on the south end, and it was really cool to stand on a hill, look across and see Syria only about 100 feet away. LIterally the mountain on the other side of the river is Syria. In 636, the Muslim Arabs overtook the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Yarmouk, which is significant historically because until this time the Arabs were a small power. The Byzantine Empire was the most powerful, and the Persian Empire second, but this battle started the string of Islamic Conquests following Muhammad's death, which would lead to the swift advance of Islam in the Levant, (Eastern Mediterranean/West Asia).
After Umm Qais we went north to Jerash, or the Gerasa of Antiquity. It is known for its ruins of the Greco-Roman city Gerasa, and is considered the most well preserved and important Roman city in the Near East. Gerasa was part of the decapolis, and is home to many impressive monuments. After a giant lunch, (pita, hummus of several varieties, kabobs, tea, salad, beans, noodles), we had fun wandering through columns, posing for pictures and jumping off rocks. There was an amphitheater, (we've seen a lot of those now), with two men playing bagpipes for tourists. The second our group walked up they started playing Yankee Doodle, (embarrassing), which was made even worse by the clapping and foot stomping some of our more annoying group members participated in. What they didn't realize, is they played Yankee Doodle to mock us, and the security guards were laughing at pointing at their enthusiasm. Our group of 13 does not get along very well. There are three or four small groups of people who get along really well, and some of those groups get along with others, but overall it is a strange dynamic when we're all together. It's mostly two people that ruin things for everyone, and our professor/advisor is so nice I feel bad for him that he has to mediate this, (he's especially involved because the cause of all the trouble is his own daughter). Regardless, Jerash was very interesting and pretty. It also reminded me of Hercules, one of my all time favorite Disney movies :)
Exhauseted from a day in the sun, we went back to the Yemeni restaurant–delicious!–and fell asleep early. Today, we had a lunch with a student at Yarmouk. He cooked a huge amount of food, followed by at least 9 watermelons. Now Brianna, Cassidy, Mike and I are studying and watching the World Cup at our favorite cafe. The World Cup is crazy here. Everyone is so excited and there are flags and jerseys of every country hanging in restaurants and the streets. Robert, Rick and Jimmy would love it. We're halfway done with the program, and we're getting used to Irbid and liking it more at the same time as we're getting sick of it and missing the U.S. more. I'm excited to move into level 2 for Arabic this week! And next weekend we're going to the Dead Sea, which should be a lot of fun.

Another reason to love Victoria ♥

After class today we went to a factory in Irbid that makes clothes for Gap, Victoria’s Secret, Calvin Klein, and seven other brands. We weren’t thrilled about the excursion, but it turned out to be really interesting and fun. We talked with the manager of the factory, a man who worked in the United States for 21 years in immigration and worked for the United Nations. He explained how this specific factory is known for having exceptional conditions and wages, and is visited frequently by worker’s rights advocates and applauded. The women who work there work from 7:30AM to 4PM, with a lunch break, and are paid $200-$500 a month, which is more than most women in Irbid. The most interesting thing is that the company is the result of a 1994 Jordan/Israel peace agreement, so it’s owned by an family in Israel. Through the agreement, Jordan is permitted to export products duty free to the United States, the condition being eight percent of their industrial inputs come from Israel. The products, when sold in the U.S. and parts of Europe, say “Made in Israel”, while when sold in other areas of the world they say “Made in Jordan.” We found that entertaining. The women working were nice and seemed genuinely happy, (though of course we wouldn’t know for sure). We saw piles of Victoria’s Secret ‘PINK’ underwear, and were fascinated with how they stamp on the labels and designs we adore. I stamped a size/PINK label on one, and we all got free underwear and Gap tank tops! Overall, a better afternoon than anticipated, though no matter how great the conditions are, or how well they compare, I’m still very happy to not spend my day stitching indoors.

Random

First, I cannot believe this wasn’t in the Dubai post. I forgot my passport, or rather thought of it, then thought I grabbed it but didn’t, on our way to Dubai. I realized when our bus from Irbid was about five minutes from Amman and there was no going back. After scrambling to find a phone charger and phone numbers, we, (or really Mike), arranged for the hotel to give my passport to Nabil, the same Nabil who brought us home, and have him speed it to Amman. He got there seconds too late. The man at the check-in desk was going to have someone taxi me out to the plane, even though it was about to take off, but some lady and her child came up and she was yelling and crying in Arabic and a fiasco ensued and I missed the flight. He felt bad and switched my flight for free, and I arrived three hours after the others. Being in the airport alone for three hours was boring, and a little creepy. It’s a nice airport, but I counted only four other women there in the first two hours, and they were with their husbands. Everyone stares at American girls all the time, but usually Brianna is there and we distract each other. As I sat in different spots, and was surrounded each time, I began to feel very uncomfortable, and I called Jimmy from a payphone. It was about 5AM his time, so I left a message. Everything was fine and I ended up sitting by my gate and finally meeting a group of American students studying in Syria, but the interesting thing is Jimmy never got the voicemail, even though the call went through and I definitely got a confirmation message at the end. His theory: “You’re studying Arabic, you know Farsi, you’re calling from an airport in a Middle Eastern country, traveling by plane to another Middle Eastern country, calling someone from Afghanistan, currently in the U.S….seems suspicious, I’m not surprised I didn’t get the message.” Maybe this is why he and my dad get along.
Anyway, we took our midterm yesterday and now we’re essentially done with level one of Arabic! It doesn’t feel like we’re already halfway through the program, but we have learned a lot. We study for hours here. Much more than at home. The program is intense and we’re moving fast, but I’m really excited about it. It’s so crazy to me that you can learn a language, at least learn how to read, write and get by with it, in only 6 weeks. This program is making me want to study Persian more next semester too. If I studied as much at home as I do here I would be practically fluent by now. Learning languages is really fun and fairly easy for me. Something about it makes sense, which is probably why I’m terrible with math or science…you can’t have everything I guess. This week was not too eventful, just school and studying and running errands. There is some drama among the group, which is not worth going into, but I feel like I’m in middle school when certain people leave for class early just so Brianna and I can’t sit next to each other, (and that’s a miniscule example). It’s ridiculous how immature some 24-year-olds can be. Our shower is finally fixed! That’s the good news. And even though Irbid is wearing on us, I think its small charms will hold for three more weeks…then Egypt, Greece and Turkey!
Last night to celebrate being done with the exam, a group of people went to a traditional Yemeni restaurant for dinner. You sit on rugs and they bring sweet tea and huge rounds of the best bread I’ve ever had in my life, and everyone orders a bowl of food, (spicy chicken, an egg dish, a bean dish, veal…all delicious and hard to describe), and digs in with their hands and the bread. It was a lot of fun and different than anything we’ve had here so far.

DUBAI!!

It’s the little things about Irbid that I love. The music blaring from cabs and shops, the smell of roasting nuts and baking pastries, the overly friendly people... But it’s also the little things that get to me and make me really miss the U.S. The trash and cigarettes filling the streets, for example, the uneven sidewalks, the stench that emerges on a corner and lasts for blocks, the broken everything, or the excruciatingly slow internet, just to name a few. That’s why we spend our weekends elsewhere. Last weekend there were no trips planned for the group, so Brianna, Cassidy, Mike and I went on a very last minute trip to Dubai. We bought our tickets Tuesday and Thursday we were on our way to the UAE! Luckily, Brianna has friends there. ☺ We stayed with Ashank, who is a student at UW-Madison, but lives at home in Dubai over the summer, and his extremely welcoming family. His family is Indian, and his mother treated us to amazing meals and tea every day–we were spoiled! Their house is right on the Persian Gulf and the view was gorgeous! The water was so warm and the beach was beautiful I never wanted to leave. Now we’ve been swimming in the Atlantic, Pacific, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and soon the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean…. Everything in Dubai is so nice, and clean, and big! The biggest mall, fountain, building, etc. It’s very, very hot though. Almost too hot even for me. It was 113 degrees and humid every day we were there. The architecture all over the city is really impressive. Nothing is boring or plain, and the best architects all over the world go there to design things. Every building has something special about it, even the malls. One mall is modeled after Ibn Battuta, the Moroccan scholar and traveler. He was known for the Rihla, (voyage), his account of his travels to the entire known Islamic world, as well as North and West Africa, Europe, and Central and Southeast Asia–the distance he covered was much greater than any traveler before him and he is still considered one of the greatest travelers ever. SO the mall dedicated to him is divided into sections representing his travels. There is a Persian hall, an Egyptian room, an Indian hall with a giant Elephant statue and the area dedicated to China has an entire boat. We went to the Palm Islands, (artificial islands shaped like a palm tree), and the aquarium in the Atlantis hotel there. Ashank was the best tour guide we could have asked for–extremely enthusiastic and ready with details about everything. We went out both nights, (and had to frantically shop for dresses to wear to the clubs there–our scarves and linen for once were unacceptable). The second night we drank giant, beachy drinks at a bar with a salsa band, before heading to an outside bar until the humidity got to us, and finally a club where we were at first denied for having American driver’s licenses, but let in after showing our school ids and our most convincing smiles. On Saturday we went to the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. There’s an interactive feature inside, where you can scan across the world and pick other tall landmarks, (the Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower, etc), and see how the Burj Khalifa compares. It shows a picture of the city and landmark you pick, then the Burj Khalifa will spring up next to it. At 2,717 feet it’s significantly taller than anything else.
Craving anything but pita, we went to Sushi, and it was delicious. It was a cute place too, and had a lot of different, creative rolls. Cassidy got the sushi sandwich– spicy tuna, egg roe and rice in little triangles. On our way to the airport we stopped at Dubai’s version of Chinatown and picked up sunglasses and soccer Jerseys for ridiculously cheap.
The flight to Amman was short, but the car ride to Irbid was long. Our friend Mohammad had his friend Nabil pick us up, because we didn’t get in until midnight and the buses don’t run that late. Nabil is a really nice guy, but was not in good shape that night. His father recently passed away, and he told us about it right when we got in the car, then proceeded to make the sign of the cross, (he’s Christian), and drive half the speed limit, and play this really slow, sad song on repeat, and not pay attention to the road at all. Cassidy, Brianna and Mike were asleep at this point, but I was very much awake and concerned. Nabil was clearly drifting off into his sad thoughts and not focusing on driving at all, and we were driving on edges of mountains, and frequently over the line on the side of the road, and then I realized he had been drinking, (he wasn’t drunk, but either way it was a bad situation). I kept asking him questions about where he was from, because every time I talked he perked up and snapped back to attention and the road, much to Cassidy’s annoyance when she had to wake up and translate for me. Soon he was bright and alert and that was even worse. “Rebecca, Rebecca do you like coffee? Let’s stop at this {really shady side of the road} stand!” Then the police came and we panicked but they didn’t do anything, just smoked outside. Then, “Rebecca, Rebecca this is a church! Let’s back up {in the middle of the mountain highway} and look at it!” Then “Rebecca, Rebecca, do you want some beer? You’re from America you must love beer!” After two hours, which should have been one, we were safely at our hotel, and exhausted. But Dubai was definitely worth it, and we’re going again in January!

Israeli raid on aid ship to Gaza

A deadly Israeli raid on an aid flotilla headed to Gaza caused uproar in the Middle East and the world today. Currently, in our hotel room, I'm watching the Turkish Foreign Minister speak at an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting. Protests and riots have broken out, primarily in Turkey and Palestine, and also Jordan. We received a travel alert, but the protests are mostly in Amman. I haven't seen any in Irbid yet. I've been watching AlJazeera all day, and reading U.S. newspapers and Web sites, and the difference is astounding. I first saw news about the attack at 6AM my time. I was talking to Jimmy, who couldn't find anything about it. The New York Times still only has one story online, and it tells Israel's side for the entire first page. Meanwhile, on AlJazeera they've been interviewing a variety of government officials, protesters and commentators from all sides of the story––Israel, Gaza, Turkey, United States, France, London, etc. This is not a light issue. Turkey has said relations with Israel could be irreparable after this, and Jordan and Egypt, two Arab countries who actually have peace treaties with Israel, are protesting the behavior and considering consequences. Israel attacked on international waters, and up to 19 people have been killed and dozens more injured. The pictures, audio clips and videos on AlJazeera are also much more graphic and telling than anything you would see on the news at home. Lucky for me, I'm learning Arabic and Farsi, and from what I've seen AJE is fond of blonde reporters. :)

Jordan

Look at all the pictures!!

Wait...We came here for classes?

If I could go boating on the Red Sea every day, I would never come home. We left class early Wednesday for our weekend excursion to Petra, Wadi Rum and Aqaba. It was a long five hour bus ride to Petra, but when we arrived we realized we were staying at the Crowne Plaza resort, which was amazing. Never have I appreciated a real shower with actual warm running water so much. (Our shower in Irbid is touchy, to say the least). We were free until the morning, so the four of us from UW-Madison gathered around the hotel bar for way overpriced Amstel, (the only thing they brew here), in honor of all of you at home drinking at the terrace. Thursday morning we woke up at 5:45 to hike through Petra before it got too hot. It was mind blowing...an entire city completely carved out of rock. We wandered through caves, climbed rocks, saw the treasury and monastery, then ventured up the mountain of carved stairs to the highest point. 1,000 steps later, (literally), we reached the top, and it was worth the sweat, sore feet and Bedouin women begging us to buy souvenirs. The view was "stupendous!" as the retired couple from Toronto we met kept saying. I tried keeping the beautiful sight in my mind as we trudged the two hours back, but in the desert heat it was hard. I don't think I've ever been so exhausted. The people just starting out as we got back at noon probably got heat stroke.
Trading our resort for tents that night at Wadi Rum was not a good deal. Canvas is suffocating. On a typical night, or basically any night except the one we were there, Wadi Rum is one of the most beautiful places on earth, especially at night. Lawrence of Arabia owned the land and was known to come and lay in the mountains and sand dunes and look at the stars to help him think. Unfortunately, we came on what everyone told us was the first night of bad weather in months–cloudy and dusty. We were entertained by traditional Bedouin dances, but rushed to the bus early Friday morning to get to Aqaba and the beach!!
Beach towns are beach towns, whether in Delaware or Jordan. Little kids running around with ice cream, touristy shops with cheap jewelry and sundresses....but only in Aqaba is it not safe to wear your bikini until you're far from shore. We ran onto the boat, free from linen pants and scarves and excited to finally get tan! As we sailed along, Jordan on our left, Egypt on our right, Israel behind us, we couldn't get over the fact that we could actually see and were so close to three countries at once. After the sun got too hot to stand, we jumped in for snorkeling. The water was SO blue. We floated around coral and held a puffer fish, which was surprisingly cute. For the next few hours we ate fish, drank, had a dance party and did everything in our power to keep the day from ending. Taking advantage of the one city we could wear dresses in, the seven girls on the trip went shopping and met back at the dorms for a night out downtown. It started out rough, as we were surrounded by little boys with knives who wanted our wallets, and got even more interesting as fellow classmates decided to make complete idiots of themselves and turn the rest of us against them, (more on that when I can tell it in person), but turned out to be a lot of fun. We ended up at a bar called F.R.I.E.N.D.S, yes, named after the tv show and right next to a McDonald's, (not surprising). Mike, Cassidy, Brianna and I explored at least six other locations, but a hilarious cab ride, (the driver wanted to marry Cassidy and have five kids) and a gold plated elevator, (haha), later we made it back.
Now, it's Sunday and week two of classes, which I actually really like. If only we could get past the alphabet! Brianna and I are at our favorite cafe again, and our google translate friend just brought us free ice cream for the second time. Yum :) I think we'll make this a weekly thing. It's extremely hot outside, and wearing long pants is killing me, but we get enough looks as it is I wouldn't dare wear anything else. It's been a very fun, very busy first week. We've done so much I feel like it has been much longer. I can't wait for future adventures, but I miss everyone at home! Happy Memorial Day...eat a Bratfest brat for me :)

Amman!

Tuesday was Jordan's Independence Day, so school was cancelled and a few of us decided to take a bus to Amman, the capitol. The city is huge, and really crowded. It's built into mountains so the roads are kind of scary, but make the city look really cool. Mom, if you thought the cab drivers in New York were insane, don't ever come here you might die. Amman is a really interesting city though. In some areas it's crowded and dirty, then on the far west side is the palace and really nice areas, and downtown is a mix of that plus ancient Roman history. We went to Citadel Hill, (Jabal al-Qal'a), home to the temple of Hercules. The Umayyad palace/mosque there is beautiful, and there are remnants of statues and buildings across the hill. Amman is situated on seven hills, resembling Rome, and behind Citadel Hill is a huge amphitheater used by the Romans. It was thought to be built between 138 and 161 AD by the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius, and can fit 6,000 spectators. We climbed to the top–so scary! The steps were extremely steep and slippery from hundreds of years of use. I almost couldn't come back down, and Brianna and Jaimie and I had to sit on each step and scoot down like little kids we were so afraid of falling. We went to a restaurant for lunch that had all you can eat for 1 dinar...the tables were outside under an awning and they just kept bringing bowls of hummus, beans, vegetables, falafal and pita bread. Hummus in the U.S. is never going to satisfy me after this. We tried to visit a historical Byzantine church, now an art museum, but it was closed. An employee of the museum happened to be doing maintenance though, and let us in anyway, then brought us fresh squeezed lemonade, (which is why, as Brianna says, "you should only travel with pretty people)". The rest of the day was spent shopping, (Robert and Rick I got you presents!), and taking the bus home. We met some people on the bus who taught us much needed Arabic words in exchange for English sayings.
The day wouldn't be complete though, without a dramatic, language barrier incident, and that's where buying a hair dryer comes in. Brianna and I made a trip to the mall with Jay, (he came along only for food), because the heat is making my hair do crazy things and the dryer I brought doesn't work with my converter. It was a disastrous first week without it. We finally found hair dryers in a grocery store, (grocery stores here sell everything), but there was only the display, none on the shelf. I tried to ask, but was unsuccessful, and soon a group of women with babies were trying to help me and give me a stereo. "Phillips! Phillips is what you want!" NO, I want this Sizzler hair dryer do you not see the lion mane on my head? Next thing we knew there were three employees trying to figure out what I wanted, and after much difficulty they gave me the hair dryer on the shelf. We headed to the cash register, but one employee insisted we follow him to one side of the store, where he proceeded to plug in the dryer and wave it around to demonstrate its drying abilities. We couldn't stop laughing, and then neither could he, and soon the entire store had gathered around us. The ironic part is, as we waited in line at the register, we saw an entire crate of the exact same hair dryer waiting to be stocked.
Anyway, I'm getting used to things being insanely cheap. We usually eat for less than 1 dinar, and anything over 5 seems ridiculously overpriced. I'm going to come back stingy and cheap....Jamsheed you might have to force me to spend money in NYC, the most expensive, opposite place we could go after this.

Catching Up

We're here! After weeks of packing, panicking, phone calls and emails, running about a thousand errands and a long day of travel, we arrived in Irbid, Jordan. The city is way different than expected. In some ways very modern, in others not so much. Everyone is extremely friendly though, which is good, as Brianna and I don't know any Arabic and rely on our smiles and pointing to get us directions and tea.

The Alphamia hotel, our home for the next six weeks, is also nicer than expected. The one review Brianna found said it was a one-star hotel, so we were a little worried, but it's pretty much your standard hotel, but with a cafe downstairs for tea instead of a bar, a slightly cold shower with bad water pressure, cute little seating areas, gold accents everywhere, old fashioned steps, decorative rugs and a much friendlier staff than most hotels in the U.S.

Backing up: Our first flight took off Friday evening from Chicago, and we arrived in London at 8:30 am their time. We had five hours until the flight to Amman, so we took the underground downtown, (about 45 minutes), and spent the next hour and a half on a whirlwind tour of the city. We saw Big Ben/Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace, then ran back to the subway to catch our flight, (we were so proud of ourselves for figuring it out!). I loved all of the houses we sped by, little brick things with gardens, and I'm even more in love with English accents. We debated whether they find our accents as charming as we find theirs, but decided definitely not. An airport security guy tricked us and said our flight to Jordan was cancelled, and too bad we would have to stay with him. We momentarily panicked, and he was scolded for flirting with Americans and neglecting his work.

When we finally made it to Amman around 11 pm we were exhausted, but customs and currency exchange and everything went quickly. Sunday was orientation, which consisted of a bus tour of Irbid, (the city we're studying in), and the University. We stopped at two museums, neither one too impressive. They reminded me of the rock shows I used to put on with Emily Schreiber in my bedroom, where we would set things on paper, write the scientific name, and force our parents to pay to see it. There were Persian squirrels, (the only difference I could find was they were skinnier than Wisconsin squirrels), some shells, insects, and a jungle cat with an expression like it was about to get shot–which maybe it was. It was hilarious though, and someone has a picture so expect to see it soon.

Irbid is known for their desserts, (my favorite thing!), especially Cannafa, a cheesy, sugary, syrupy concoction, so we stopped for some of that as well. We had a welcome lunch at the University of Yarmouk, and took a placement test. Or, for half of us, wrote our names down, didn't know anything else, and left to go to a cafe with students at Yarmouk. We ended up going to a really good restaurant for mensaf, the national dish of Jordan. It's served on a giant platter for the whole table, and is rice with fried almonds, lamb, and a yogurt oil sauce with some other flavor I can't describe. It was delicious–and so filling. All of the food here so far is amazing, and that paired with the famous baked goods is trouble for us. Brianna and I were planning on working out a few times a week, but so far that's not going well, and we were told most of the gyms are for men only. We're almost to the point of doing workout videos in our hotel room, (she might kill me for putting that online), but at least we walk around the city a lot. After dinner last night we went to another cafe, (that's the main entertainment here), and then ANOTHER one, then finally got calling cards and phones and went to sleep.

Today, Monday, was our first day of class. Very easy, but I'm sure next week will get much harder. We learned the alphabet, sounds, and a little bit of reading. I already know all of it from Persian class, so it was a little boring, but after the first week we're supposed to finish learning to read and write, and start speaking, then I'll know nothing. We have class Sunday through Thursday from 8:30 to 2:30, so we have time to go through a lot. Tomorrow is Jordan's Independence Day, so we have off, and Wednesday through the weekend we're going to Petra, Wadi Rum and Aqaba. Exciting!

This is a really funny story: Right now, Brianna and I are at a cafe using the internet, (it's nice you just sit on couches and they bring you water–bottled–and wait on you), and we didn't really know how to ask for the password so there was a lot of pointing. Then we asked for tea, we thought, and when the guy working asked what kind we told him to surprise us. So someone came back with a Hookah–not what we asked for at all. We tried explaining, but it turned into a lot of confusion on both sides. Eventually, we kept the Hookah, but also got our tea and coffee. Next, about 30 seconds ago, he came back to see how things were going, and tried to ask if we speak Arabic. We told him it was our first day of class, but it wasn't coming across right at all. He asked if we liked America, but that was the only successful question/answer. Everything else either side tried to say was met with blank stares. Brianna kept trying to tell him we would come back when we knew more and would talk to him, and he was trying so hard to understand and turning so red, and I think also thought we were crazy, so I went on google translate and typed everything we were trying say and he read the arabic version. He burst out laughing...so did we, and then said Ohhh ok he is excited for our return. It was awkward, but really funny, and as Brianna said, would of course only happen to us. Thank god for technology I guess. Also, they really like American slogans and music here–a lot of shirts with weird American pictures and sayings, A LOT of Enrique Iglesias, (we've literally heard Hero four times in the last 20 minutes), pictures of Shakira, and even a McDonuts.

What else.... The call to prayer is really loud...There's a very strange kid in our group who just graduated high school, (actually missed his graduation to come), who I have many funny stories about, two other students from UW-Madison, one who happens to live in the same apartment building as me and only one floor up....The boys remind me of Jimmy with their tight v-neck shirts, gelled hair, cocky walk and winks, (I'm sure he'll love that haha). I think that's it for now. Hopefully the next posts won't be so long!