Things I'm Looking Forward To

In no particular order:

Things I’m Looking Forward to:  (In no particular order)

Taco-Bell

Eating Vegetables

Not having to rely on taxis

Some form of normalcy

Family dinners at San Fernando street

Moving into the Orchard house

Using my smart phone (First world problems?)

Showering with hot water

Seeing the ocean

Eating bacon

Having more than 4 outfits

Giving presents to people

Thai food

Being able to communicate with everyone  I see

Listening to the radio

Driving my LRC

California Burritos

Having normalcy in my life

5 Guys

Being able to go places alone

Seeing my friends

Netflix

Beat Poet Coffee days

Hanging out with my mom

Going to church/Advent

Playing Soul Calibur with my brothers

Going to the gym

Getting my back fixed

Watching Greys/Sunny/Modern Family 

(A disturbing number of these have to do with food. Don't dwell on it) 

And so it begins

Today is Thanksgiving Eve, which  I, as a good American and Episcopalian, have always considered to be the beginning of the holiday season.

Despite my fierce independent streak, I have never actually spent a Thanksgiving away from my family before. Dr. Raed suggested that we have a Thanksgiving dinner at SIT, which is a great idea. I'm looking forward to a large celebration with my large and dysfunctional study abroad family, except I'm worried that there will not be enough food (ask any of my roommates, running out of food is one of my biggest fears.) Many of these people have never cooked a meal before ever, much less assisted in preparing Thanksgiving dinner. I offer, for the edification of any of my readers, the Alexander Guide to Thanksgiving Dinner:

1. If there will be more than 7 people, just stop counting and cook two of everything.
2. Cornbread dressing is the true partner to turkey. Stuffing is not.
3. Olives should be on the table, even though no one likes them (In this, at least, the Jordanians are  a step ahead)
4. Concerning gravy: stir it till it feels right.
5. There shall be no fewer than three types of cranberry sauce: Jellies, whole, and relish.
6. Cigar smoking and cards are the only acceptable after dinner activity. (Unless you attend a Nazarene college, of course)
7. The wine list is "Red. White. Pink" (see previous clarification about college attendees)
8. The more types of starch, the better. I recommend rice, brown-and-serve rolls, biscuits, dressing, twice baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes, which might be a vegetable.
9. If there is any talking, which is not a statement praising the quality of the food, it is an insult to the chef(s). The meal should be so delicious that diners spend the meal attempting to get as much of it into themselves as quickly as possible.
10. Pies (apple, pecan, and pumpkin) are the only appropriate dessert. Cookies and candies should wait until Christmas. It is also acceptable to eat any of the above pies for breakfast.

I do not expect my classmates to follow this list, but I will be making two pies just in case.

Happy Thanksgiving, America!
B 

Reason #12 to go abroad with SIT

Reason's 1-11 don't matter enough for their own post. The biggest reason (at this moment in time) is that my classes have been over since the 27^th of October. No Arabic, no thematic seminar, just one month to research and write a paper. Can you believe that? One month. To write one paper. Not one week to do 3 papers, 4 finals, and a debate tournament. One paper. That’s it. Piece of cake.

In a lot of ways, it is like having a job. I go to SIT everyday where I work on my paper. We’re supposed to have 5 interviews to gather information for our projects. So far I have one, and have another scheduled for Tuesday. Considering the fact that my 40 page paper is due on December 3^rd, I’m a little behind. My local advisor, who works for the Royal Scientific Society, is very nice, but was out of the country for a while. He is supposedly lining up my interviews, but I’d like to get them done and start writing. I offered to schedule them myself. Nothing doing.

So all in all, it is pretty easy. I get up in the morning. Go to my “office”, work for a few hours, and go home. Inshallah (Allah willing) I’ll start going to interviews too.

My office and rainy Amman. My pictures are boring since I stopped traveling and started writing. 

It has turned cold and rainy in Amman. Winter makes me homesick for my cozy apartment with Kim, Alex, and Kaitlin. I miss our scraggly Christmas tree and paper snowflakes. I miss the piping hot wood stove at my parents house and sitting on the porch on frosty mornings. I even miss Starbucks red cups and Christmas lights in Target, even though it is only mid November.

Next week we’re supposedly having a Thanksgiving dinner at SIT with all the students. They really should celebrate Thanksgiving here; it is a very Arab holiday. You hang around with family and eat too much. That is the definition of Arab celebrations. 

THIS JUST IN: My advisor just called me to tell me that he just lined up an interview that could be the biggest one of my paper. I take back what I said about him before.

Back to work. If I'm going to to do this interview I need to re-write my interview questions so that they sound like something a real adult would say.

Until next time,

B 

An Irony Post

Not hipster irony, real irony. The irony is I’m about to make observations about Jordanian work ethic and I really should be studying for my Arabic final. Hypocrite: maybe.

Alexandra and I were talking recently about the lack of conventional work ethic in this culture. Here are a few examples so you can see what I mean.

-Every weekend I am the first one up, and usually gone before anyone else even stirs. Today I left the house at 10am, but sometimes it is noon and there is still no sign of life from the host family.

-Hiba sleeps all night and then takes a 4 hour nap when she gets done with classes. Alexandra reports similar behaviors from her host sisters.

- Alexandra and I both have host brothers who really should have jobs and don’t. Mine goes to school for 3 hours and then comes home and does nothing her brother does nothing period.

-The HF gets confused when I say I have to study all day. Hiba never studies for more than a few minutes at a time.

These are not criticism, per say, but they are observations. I am constantly telling people that culture is much more than food and music. Culture is about fundamental beliefs and behaviors that make up the social fabric of a society. There are good and bad aspects to every culture. American culture tends to be rather ethnocentric and imperialist, these are bad things. It also has a tendency toward individualism and hard work. These are good things. 

I also wonder what extent politics plays on the behavior of the people. Jordan is an aid-based economy. I have to think that having ones economy supported by another country would have an effect on the people participating in that economy.

On an only slightly related subject: I have singlehandedly solved a major health issue in Jordan. When we arrived we were warned that a lot of people in Jordan take B-12 shots because they get really depressed. Symptoms are like that of seasonal depression, but happen year round. We were warned that we may need to get some of these shots ourselves by the end of the trip.  Here I present my solutions to the problem.

1.     Let there be light. All the houses have heavy shades that block out light completely. This is great when one is very ill and needs to get a lot of sleep, but every time my alarm goes off I feel like I have been awakened in the middle of the night because there is zero natural light in the room. Messing with the body’s natural sleep cycle is a no-no for mental health. Rooms are lit with god-awful florescent lights, the likes of which are found in many college classrooms in America. In addition to making ones pores look terrible in the bathroom mirror, the glare and hum is irritating.

2.     People do not drink water. It just doesn’t happen. Tea, coffee, and soda round the clock, all with a heaping spoonful of sugar. I understand the water crisis, but I believe that it is more of a cultural thing than an environmental issue.

3.     Meals consist of meat and carbs. The people aren’t missing B-12 vitamins so much as they are missing vitamin C. A few more pieces of fruit and a vegetable besides the occasional cucumber would make everyone more chipper.

There you have it. Barbara’s simple solutions to the depression crisis in Jordan. Basically it is what my mom told me when I was depressed in high school “eat something and go outside.”

Don’t let this all sound like Barbara’s whining hour: there are great things about Jordanian culture too. Hospitality, generosity, care and respect for elders, and community, to name only a few. No one is perfect, and I think it is valuable to be able to criticize and appreciate what is good and bad about the place where you came from. 

Now I’m going to pull out that good ol’ American work ethic and study for my Arabic test. Right after I check up on the Kardashians and watch the finale of “16 and Pregnant”. 

To the South

3 November, 2011
Damascus Street
Abdoun, Amman Jordan
4:00 PM

Greetings,

I just got back last night from a 5 day tour of the major landmarks in the south of Jordan. I am now “Studying” for Saturday’s Arabic final (and by “studying for Arabic” I mean “blogging and trying to forget about Arabic”). 

Before I begin, let me say that this trip was by far my favorite thing that I have done so far in Jordan, with the possible exception of the Badia homestay. It was simultaneously adventurous and relaxing encompassing the entire gauntlet of travel: desert, coast, ocean, mountain, tents, camels, and a 5 star stay in a 5 star hotel. I did not want to come home and face a month of research (and the aforementioned Arabic final)

Day 1: Karak Castle and Dana

The first stop on our tour was at Karak castle, an ancient structure that has been standing since the time of the crusaders. The architecture is an interesting mix of Middle Ages Christian construction and the finer Ottoman and Mamluk design. The hallways are winding and cavernous, and I more than once mentioned that it was cool to wander around an ancient, ruined castle on Halloween weekend, even though I don’t celebrate Halloween because I’ll go to hell if I do.

Karak Castle  

After Karak castle we hopped back in the bus and drove for a while until we reached the perfect picnic location. Cultural note: any spot can be a perfect picnic spot. I frequently seen Jordanian/Bedouin families parked on the side of the road with tea pots bubbling on camp stoves behind their cars. Today, we got to be those Bedouins. We piled out of the bus, spread some mats on the ground, and ate cucumbers pastries, and Pepsi on the side of the road, overlooking the valley.

The bus then continued down an overly windy valley that made all of us feel shway (a little) ill, before stopping in the cold, clear air of the Dana Biosphere reserve. This is truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, just behind my parent’s home in Northern California, Loma, and about tied with the Scottish highlands. 

We spent about 2 hours hiking along ridgelines and through groves of pomegranates, olives, apricots, and poplar trees. On the hike I saw a baby camel AND a baby donkey who were totally BFF. Too dang cute.  

 Seriously. How cute is that? 

The second part of the hike was quite strenuous; we picked our way through brambles and down steep embankments. It was glorious to be out in nature in the clean, fresh air. We had a naturalist for a tour guide who gave us a lot of information about the preserve. If I ever come back to this part of the world I would like to spend a solid week camping, hiking, and backpacking here.

We stayed the night in a youth hostel that used to be an orphanage, though I claimed it felt more like an mental institution. It was COLD in that place, but luckily I packed my polar bear jacket, so I survived pretty well. I also came down with one of my famous headaches, so I went to bed at 7:30 and didn’t wake up until 7:00 the next morning.

The Orphanage (not a real name) 

Day 2: The Red Rose City

At 9:00am we left The Orphanage and headed up the mountain to see the ancient city of Petra. If you have ever seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade or Lawrence of Arabia then you may have some idea of what Petra is like, but let me tell you right now, you are wrong. It is mind blowingly more than that. The city was built by an ancient civilization called the Nabateans. They controlled the region when it was a key route for trading between Egypt and Arabia to the south and India, China, and Europe to the north. They built an elaborate network of tunnels, caverns, and sculptures that incorporate Arabic, Greek, Byzantine, Turkish, and Roman artwork. Most of the freestanding structures have fallen, but the ones carved into the cliff face are beautifully preserved.

 The Siq is the ancient road leading into the city. The wall like structure to the left is the plumbing system that the Nabeteans designed to carry water to all of the city. 

 At the end of the Siq is the Treasury, the most famous structure in Petra 

I spent 5 hours wandering around Petra, and it still wasn’t enough. The pictures can’t adequately capture the brilliance of the city. It was far and away one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Way better than the pyramids.

 There are dozens of these sorts of dwellings built into the rock face. 

 The Monastery- the second most famous structure. It was used as an actual monastery by Monks during the Byzantine period, but was built as a tomb by the Nabateans. 

We spent the night at the Petra Marriot, which was one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed in. The beds were like sleeping on clouds, especially compared to the concrete slab that serves as my bed in Amman. Alexandra and I were so thrilled that we only left the room once, for dinner (which was the best meal I’ve had since coming to Jordan) and then ordered tea to the room and watched terrible movies in our beds before falling asleep at 11:00. Not exactly cultural immersion, but so so relaxing.

Day 3: The Desert Camp

After we checked out from the hotel we made a total 180 in living conditions. We packed up the bus and drove to Wadi Rum, an area of Jordan that looks exactly like Luke Skywalker’s home planet. We unloaded at a small camp in the desert, which I affectionately named our Terrorist Training Camp. 

Home sweet tent 

We took off for a two hour Jeep tour of the desert. The sand dunes and rock formations were remarkable. I have huge issues with sand, especially when it touches my feet, so I didn’t scamper about as much as some of my classmates, but I had a great time seeing some of the spots that Lawrence of Arabia camped during the Great Arab revolt, and drinking tea with some Bedouins we met along the way.

 Our carriages 

Temperatures drop quickly in the desert, and by the time we got back to the TTC it was getting cold. We moved into our tiny tents, added layers, and sat around a campfire for a while we waited for our dinner. Dinner was traditional Bedouin style, cooked in a giant pot covered with coals and buried in the sand.  After dinner we sat around the fire and talked, played “would you rather” for hours, and roasted marshmallows that the camp director gave us. We ended the night reading Edger Allen Poe allowed, because it was Halloween, after all.

Wadi Rum near sunset. 

The night was spent shivering in our tents. Ali and Eve, my two tent mates, didn’t sleep well due to the cold and a dog barking, but I slept like a baby. 

Day 4: Ships of the Desert and Actual Ships

We woke up early the next morning and took a camel ride through the desert. This is more traditional than the Egypt camel ride, which was pretty much designed just for tourists, but the men who led our tour were real Bedouins whose families have been raising camels for generations.  

After a delicious breakfast we packed up and left the TTC. The ride to Aqaba was short and pleasant. Aqaba is a pretty, coastal, city that reminds me of the San Diego of the Middle East. We stopped at the hotel for a short rest and then boarded a small yacht to sail on the Red Sea. The water was brilliantly clear and blue. It was very relaxing and pleasant to sit on a boat in that blue water and look around. At one point we could see the coast of Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia all at once. How many people can say that? My classmates snorkeled, but I was cold and didn’t much fancy being salty and wet all day, so I stayed on board and took pictures.

 The coast of Saudi Arabia 

For dinner we walked downtown and ate pizza and gelato (I was sick of shwarma and falafel) and looked around. Aqaba is a special economic zone, which mostly means that they import a lot of cheap Chinese stuff to sell to tourists.

Day 5:  Home again

The day started slow with Ali and I walking down to the coast of the Red Sea and sitting for 45 minutes drinking tea in a café. Cultural note: There is not much regulation here, so a lot of people with property set out a few tables and chairs, buy a stove and some hookas, and call it a café. We saw some gypsies with dirty, un-panted children walking along the coast. The Jordanian woman at the table ext to us was very concerned that we not think that they were Jordanian, and spent a lot of time telling us that they were “No Urdoni” in a combination of her broken English and our broken Arabic.

A sign I found in downtown Aqaba. Apparently they had a problem with this. Maybe we should get some in Ocean Beach. 

After tea we walked along the shore until we found a cool little store that sold hand crafts made by local women. The store was run on microcredit loans and worked to raise money for women in the region. I bought a few things. They were too expensive, but I like to have something that is made locally, not in China, and goes to a good cause.

I got home last night to a host family that is ill (probably my fault) and frantic getting ready for 3eed, and a month of research ahead of me, but rested and relaxed from such a great trip. 

More soon, 

B