Madaba

Friday was an adventure; a group of us decided to hop on a bus and go to Madaba, sort of midway between Amman and the Dead Sea...only...not? I don't know, only about 40 minutes outside the city, and like 75 quirish (about 1$) by bus.

When we got there, we picked up some lunch and then walked around, trying to find the churches and the mosaics. There were lots of cool shops, and I think I might go back towards the end of the trip to check out the souvenir selection. We ended up finding St. George's church; the mosaics were so crazy...teeny tiny bits of ceramic, with shading and everything.

It was a very cool place; though one of the guards came up to me and told me it was disrespectful to cross my legs in a holy place. Who'da thunk it?
After the church, we decided to head to the hot springs. I hopped in the car with Chris and the 3 Iraqis, Noor, Haydar, and Senan. The others took a taxi to go the 30km. Along the way we stopped and took some great photos of the countryside, which I like to tell people is the same place Moses walked around :-P
(Blog has for some reason started hating my uploading pictures, so will have to show some other time).
We ended up arriving first, and had to pay to get into this place; we Americans were totally charged 5JD more than the Iraqis!! Went in, headed to the (one) hotspring, and were totally disappointed. All it was was a relatively large hotspring, which was (surprise!) disgustingly steamy on such a hot day and at such a low elevation. What hurt most was the fact that it was mostly men and conservative women there: I'd been expecting more tourists and brought my only (bikini) swimsuit. I could tell it wasn't going to happen when lifting my shirt just a little caused all heads to turn towards me in surprisingly perfect unison. Guys were starting to the point of me wanting to get out my camera and snap a photo of them just to send the message. So no swimsuit, and i wasn't about to get the clothes I was going to wear for 45 minutes in a cramped car wet. Slightly miserable, and we called the others to warn them that it was not worth the 15JD to enter, particularly for the girls. They ended up taking off in the taxi in which they'd come, and we left soon thereafter. Headed back to Amman and ate at an overly air-conditioned restaurant (I just can't be satisfied, eh??) We dropped Chris back at his apartment and got to check it out, even though as a girl I'm technically not allowed in a guy's apartment, according to CIEE and the landlords. But I went, and was so shocked by the amazing quality of that place! Huge rooms, each guy had a bathroom, nice kitched, fully furnished...and aparently most apartments were that fantastic.
Headed home and went to bed!

Just awful!

So I know, I know, I'm a terrible person, who can't even maintain a blog/journal thingy beyond a week. But I promised updates will come soon!! I'll probably skip the first week (except for mentioning a few key details like getting my internship, visiting Madaba, and our peer tutor day of middle-school awkwardness), but I'll try to be better, I promise!!!

Day 1 of school!

It was rather weird starting classes on a Sunday, I can't wrap my mind around what happens when! Met the guys and headed towards the main road to hail a taxi around 8am. Found our way to the classrooms with the help of one of the CIEE office folk, and began at 9. My teacher was Rabi'a, in Intermediate One; the lesson was mainly a review of things we should have already learned, like past and present conjugations, pronouns, possessives, etc. I felt really strong though, and was very vocal in the class (like a certain Hillary Sue was :D ); the teacher seemed to acknowledge that I wanted to move up a level--I'd rather have to push myself than be the one who's reminding the others how to say "her pen" and "he works, not y'all work". Really now. We will have meetings on Tuesday, one on one with the teacher, to go over our placement tests to see if this is where we should be, so all that can be sorted out at that point.
After class we all headed towards the CIEE office to check the final rosters for the culture classes that we'd be starting the next day. I'm enrolled in "The Middle East: Alternative Perspectives" and "Introduction to Islam" (which, for the record, is pronounced ISS as in "kiss" LEHM as in "flegm"...not like IZLAWM).
Also went to check out the gym Aspire, which is just up the hill from the CIEE office, and is women only so I can wear anything I want to work my buns! Pretty good deals for a 3-month membership, and I really need a gym if i'm going to be snacking on Reese's p.b. cups, putting cream milk in my tea, and eating like it's going out of style!
Some other nitty gritty stuff...got a lock for the gym, tried out the McDonalds for lunch (I had to see if it was different!! it wasn't, so soooo not worth it :D ) etc etc. Took forever to hail a taxi since there were many people trying to do the same thing, and they were all very well practiced in the art of diving into the taxi that stopped for us.... Elizabeth and I just ended up sharing a more expensive taxi, just cause we were sick of waiting.
Spent the rest of the evening at the apartment, mostly alone since the family ends up lunching with Rita's family then going to church. Good chance to review my Arabic lessons from the book though, and to start on the next chunk of vocabulary! I went to bed before they got home, since the first day had wiped me out, and left a "jayyid jiddan" note on my door (in arabic!) to explain my schedule the next day.

first Saturday

Because the family is Christian, Eddie and Rita both work on Saturdays, and their son goes to school; their weekends are subsequently Fridays and Sundays. Had the apartment to myself, and ended walking with Aaron to "Food City" to both get a few favorite snacks to keep in the kitchen (as if I'll ever be hungry again...) and to get passport photos that we supposedly need to turn in with our applications to the student center (TAGKS) just underneath the CIEE office, located just off campus. Came back and cooled off after the walk, then decided to do a trial run to the University, just to see how long it would take to walk to the main street and hail a taxi and get to the Main Gate of the uni. All the taxis wanted to charge us 5JD when we flagged them down, when really it's a 1.5JD ride, if that. We quickly learned that it's best to get in without letting them set a price, and make sure they restarted the meter!! Anyhow, we made it to the main gate of the university, and then found our way to the CIEE office. We also turned in our TAGKS application and got set up for that so we'd have a computer/study place to chill at.
Got some foods and headed home, testing where a cab would drop us off. I took a nap 'cause that sandwich was too heavy in that heat, but then woke up in time to chill with Rita and Eddie before they went to the doctor for Rita's cold and I headed out to meet some folks at Books@Cafe for some (tobacco!) hookah. Managed to handle the taxi by myself; did everything right: wore the sunglasses to avoid eye contact, sat in the back, had exact change, didn't answer the probing questions....couldn't help it that he took me about 500 feet beyond where I was supposed to meet Elizabeth to get to Books@! It ended up being a good spot, but how was I supposed to know? I just didn't think quick enough to say, Hey, I asked for First Circle, this looked like a 3-way-stop to me!
Nice evening, met some apartment people (they had a whole separate orientation so we never all met...they were kind of seen as "those apartment people", a whole separate entity!). Some of us started scheming about travel later in the semester, and planned on going to the Royal Jordanian Airlines office to start sucking up to them!
Came home, not to late as school starts the next day, ended up staying up anyway talking since the neighbors were visiting. Their little girl Amanda was very friendly and begged in English for me to come play with her (nice change from Andrew who is so shy!). The neighbors have an American girl staying with them, from the SIT (?) program, named Sophie. Nice to have a fellow Amreekiya right next door! Had some tea (yes, tea!) and passed out. So ready to start classes!

first 24 hours with the family

Waiting for our host families to show up at the hotel lobby was such a funny situation. I don't know..I kept thinking how hilarious it would be if, when the family came in and Rana called out the student's name, the family was like "Um..no, I don't like this one. Can I have that one over there? She's not so tall." It was just a weird limbo; being checked out of the hotel, but then waiting for this relatively unknown person to come and take you away. :)
Eddie came for me; he's the father of my host family. His parents actually live in the top floor apartment, above Eddie's family a few floors, so he also collected the two guys, Aaron and Andy, who would be staying with the grandparents. Neither of those guys have taken Arabic lessons before, and I really admire them for being able to just jump into something completely new, only being able to say a few words and greetings, that must take a lot of courage!
Managed to get my luggage into the apartment; luckily it was on the lowest floor!! Rita was there, and Andrew, the five year old. It was such a relief to just finally meet the family and be installed in the place I would be spending the next 3.5 months in. Not only was it nice to not have to live out of my suitcase anymore--which I absolutley hate!!--but the whole hurdle of mystery and nervousness of the initial connection was in the past now, and all that was left to do is to just build a friendship.
Soon thereafter Grandma and Grandpa (Eddie's parents, Monira and Albert) came downstairs with Andy and Aaron to sit around and meet 'n greet. Monira (my host grandma, shall we say, "tita Monira") knows English, but she's very adamant about teaching vocabulary words. If we ask for something in English, which of course the other guys do because haven't learned much yet, Monira says and repeats the Arabic word, insisting that we say it back to her. She assured me that by the time I leave in 3.5 months, I will be fluent! She even promised that those guys will be "jayd jiddan", very good.
There was recently a wedding in the family (not sure whose) so Eddie's brother was in town, and had with him his American friend and her husband, who seemed to be longtime friends of the family. So dinner had lots of English going on, but I think that was nice for the first night. Rita made lasagna, but since apparently last time the lasagna had failed, Eddie had also ordered pizzas... Not a very traditional meal, I must say, but I knew I'd get plenty of that in my almost 4 months here.
Managed to unpack my bags, which I was definitely itching for. Somehow about fifty Reese's peanut butter cups found their way into my sneakers :-D
Finally heard the Call to Prayer around 5am, having slept with my windows open...It's definitely not as cool as I thought it was going to be, and I'll hear it all the time! But no, the idea is still pretty cool.
Yesterday when I woke up, we all went upstairs to tita and jaddu Leitch's apartment (my "grandma" and "grandpa" since Eddie and Rita are my "mama" and "baba"....which makes aaron and andy my "uncles", since my "grandma" and "grandpa" are actually their host parents...?). We had hummus and foule (mashed beans) and lebana on pita for breakfast, along with tea. The Jordanians have this 'communal plate' practice which I'll explain later for lunch..
We then went to visit Rita's family; they all met up at this old farmhouse in Jerash. Tiny little place, and the living room consisted of 3 cots around the walls to serve as couches, with a coffee table in the middle. Rita's parents were there, and her grandmother (I told Rita later that I really want to photograph her grandma because she has a great face for a portrait!). There was tons of Arabic, of course, and after about half an hour of trying to pick up the jist of the conversation, it was too tempting just to zone out. After a while of fighting off heat drowsiness, a huge platter of barbequed chicken and ...lamb? was brought in. I got my own plate, I suppose because I'm a guest? But everyone tried piling more pieces of chicken onto it, and it was all i could do to politely say it's delicious! amazing! i'm so full!! no more, please, i beseech you! yadda yadda.
Afterwards, I asked the maid who had helped me wash my hands from a bottle of water if my face was clean, and she goes laughing into the room with the whole family: clean?? you're face is too clean!! (referring to the fact that I"m so white :-P).
Showed the grandma--my host great-grandma-- some photos, since she'd been asking about my grandmother, then headed home. Can't remember what I did at that point, but it was late afternoon and I'm pretty sure I just passed out and hung around the apartment. Good ol' shower was definitely in the mix after such a hot (yet fully covered) afternoon!

Just to be clear!

It has come to my attention that what I mean by "hookah" or "sheesha" is questionable. JUST TO BE CLEAR: as this is an Islamic country, most places do not serve alcohol, although it is possible to go to bars if you choose. A more popular pastime is to go to hookah lounges/cafes. These places only serve tobacco in their hookahs, and do not add anything but flavors. There is a strict no-tolerance rule set by my program about exploring beyond tobacco, and I want to be clear that this is not offered in any of the places I go to when I write that "we're going out for hookah/sheesha". Believe me, I want to stay here and enjoy the local customs as much as possible!! That is all. :)

Orientation

Tuesday was Dead Sea day. The sea itself is about an hour's drive outside the city, so we left around 8:30 and went straight to the Dead Sea panorama, a building on top of the cliffs near the DS with a museum and such. Got a few good photos, i think!

So this was the beginning of our study abroad orientation. We had a few presentations in a conference hall of the museum (things like why are we here, ice breakers, program overviews, rules, policies, paperwork...all the nitty gritty). After that bit was done though, we had lunch on the panorama deck (some good ol' schwarma) and slathered on all that sunblock.

Drove down the cliffs to the Dead Sea Spa Hotel, where we changed and went down to the beach to float. Craziest feeling ever! So buoyant; if you're floating on your stomach--which is a bad idea anyway since you want those eyes as far from that water as possible--it's so hard to bring your knees under you to become vertical again. I could literally just SIT in the water, and float. Went way far out to the boundary buoys: it was great since we didn't have to tread water, and my discomfort with going out beyond feeling the rocky bottom in a body of water was dispelled by the fact that no way can anything live in that water.  We of course did the whole mud thing, how could we not!? Can't miss out on all those cultural experiences!

Had tons of time at the resort, so chilled around the lounge a bit, went through my notecards to prep for the placement test that we'd be having the next day. Took the time to ask Ahmad about work opportunities, will have to wait til next week.

Had another presentation out on the pool deck with some program alumni, some of whom are here working through Fulbright Scholarships. It was just an opportunity to get answers from a student's point of view, as opposed to from our coordinators and directors... It was pretty helpful, and the sunset in the background made it slightly more bearable :)

Had dinner at the hotel--a super nice one. Hour's drive back to the hotel, mad stampede to shower all the salt, mud remnants, and grime from us. Generally a very fun, very exhausting day!

Wednesday was all about academics. After breakfast we were driven to the West side of Amman, to the university. Got a quick greeting and immediately entered our placement tests. Ugghhhhhh hardest test EVER. There were some reading comp sections that I couldn't even complete because the paragraphs were totally foreign (some written in aamiya, the colloquial, and others just too advanced and i only knew every third word and might be able to guess some of the new ones...). Everyone came out ready to cry, but the staff assured us that it was meant to cover everyone from beginner beginner to native speakers, and our scores would be relative to everyone else's when it came to separating into levels. We won't know how we did until Sunday, when classes begin!

Had some tours around campus (funny story: there's a rock sculpture hut thingy on a quad, and during one tour with CIEE students a few semesters ago, they joked that everyone at the university says it's ossama bin laden's hiding spot. kid told his mom, who subsequently freaked out, called ciee, and demanded why we were studying at the university where ossama was hiding!!). It's a pretty nice campus, lots of trees and shady spots to sit, a big ol' clocktower, etc etc. Apparently the path that runs from this side of the campus through the other side is about a 45 minute walk. Lots of cafes, restaurants, and supplies shops around the gates to the campus. After this we had our oral interviews, in which we went in one by one to speak with a professor who would assess our speaking ability. I think i did really well, and the prof seems pleased, and really impressed when I realized I'd messed up the iDHaafa construction and corrected myself. So the test was over, no more worries, and anyway we can petition our levels once we're placed and feel that it's not right for us, not a huge deal. Meanwhile we got lunch on campus at a restaurant, then went to a lecture hall for a 'health and safety' briefing, which was for the most part directed at the girls, but they also covered some good points about traveling outside Jordan, travel warnings, sickness, etc. Back to the hotel for a relaxing evening. Went out downtown to a sheesha lounge called Jafra with four Iraqi-Jordanian guys (who had been friends Elizabeth, who was here in the spring, all summer, and now back for this semester), as well as six friends from orientation. It was so nice; the place was really interesting, very traditional: no booze, inexpensive sheesha, a singer performing old Arab songs on what was the precursor to the guitar. Awesome atmosphere, and great conversation!

Today the drill was all about daily living and getting along with host families. Talks took place in the hotel, and we covered things like how to get around in buses, where to find good gyms and bookshops, how the money works, how the post and phones work, how to behave in the hosts' houses, what's acceptable and what's not, etc. Useful information, but I feel like most of it is common sense, really, and observation.

Just been lounging around the hotel now...went to the grocery store across the street to browse the Arab candy situation, found lots of American items with Arabic labels, and I just want to grab a sample of everything to show to people, like "look! it's Pringles written in Arabic! it's Snickers!!" Definitely picked up a sample of Kinder Buenos, typical typical.

Had a quick meeting with the staff to ask questions about my specific host family, and to receive my travel stipend money (which should just turn into extra spending cash: if not taking advantage of the half hour walk each day, i can at least split the taxis with the other CIEE student living in my building!). Packin up the suitcases now; so relieved my family lives on a ground floor!!!!

Will take a snooze and meet the Lietches in about 2.5 hours!