Monday, June 28, 2010
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!
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.”
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
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).
Saturday, June 19, 2010
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?
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?
Saturday, June 12, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
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.
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!
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!
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