Staying in a Resort and The Hospital

The year is winding down and several exciting things have happened.

To begin, my mom and sister came to visit. That was a lot of fun. They successfully covered all of Jordan in the span of a week. I met them at the airport and helped them rent a car and then direct them to my house. My mom got her first taste of driving in Jordan on that ride. She soon realized that she was the only person on the road using her blinker or following any signs or speed limits. After spending some days here, she equated driving to go-karts and I quite agree.

Here’s a list of all the places they saw:

- In Amman: Citadel, Roman Amphitheater, Hashem’s Falafel, Habiba’s, King Hussein Mosque, The Royal Automobile Museum, City Mall, the restaurant next to Bab Al-Yemen

- Outside Amman: Wadi Al Seer, Salt, the ruins in Jerash, Dead Sea, Madaba, Mount Nebo, The Baptism Site, Wadi Rum, Petra

The Jordan River - that's Israel on the other side

The site where Jesus was baptized

I accompanied them almost everywhere, except they did the Wadi Rum and Petra trip while I was in school. My favorite part of their trip was our stay overnight in the Dead Sea. We stayed at The Movenpick, which is the most fabulous hotel/resort I have ever stayed in. My host family has a cousin that works there so she got us a discount, which was awesome. She also gave us a wonderful fruit basket and a tray of sweets!

The resort was absolutely stunning. Our room had a balcony and wasn’t too far away from anything in the resort. The Beach Area included a summer infinity pool, a winter pool (basically a giant hot tub), a kiddie pool (complete with child-size lounge chairs), an adult infinity pool (next to a bar area), and the actual Dead Sea. I’ve never seen or swam in an infinity pool and I have to say, it’s pretty incredible.

The summer infinity pool. It's beach on one side and pool on the other side of the divider.

Sunset at the Dead Sea

I, of course, had not packed for a 5 star resort. Luckily, my sister, Queen of Fashion, had something suitable I could steal. We had a Jordanian buffet for dinner, which was delicious. I had been voting for the Italian restaurant since I have not had real Italian food in a while. But my mother pointed out she did not fly halfway across the world to eat Italian food in Jordan. She was right, but still…pasta…cheese…

These next morning we ate a breakfast buffet, which was delicious. It’s one of the things I miss the most about America. They had cereal! And doughnuts! And toast with butter! And waffles! And they made me a pancake in the shape of a turtle! They even had milk! It was wonderful.

My turtle pancake and waffles!

All in all it was great to see them and I’m so glad they were able to see what my life has been like living here.

My sister and me

My mom and me

Next adventure: Jordanian hospitals.

I ended up in the emergency room very early one morning with bad stomach pains. They did some testing and I had a parasite (entamoeba histolytica in case you were wondering) as well as a severe infection. I was in the ER for a couple hours and then they sent me on my way with five different prescriptions to take. Overall, my experience there was fine, except there was no soap in the bathroom. And no toilet seat. The toilet seat was supposed to come out and around when you pushed a button (so it would be more sanitary) except the button did not work. Slight issue.

So I went home with my medications and dozed off throughout the morning. I ate about five noodles for lunch, tried to take my post-meal medication, and I threw up. Back to the hospital. Except this time we went to a different one. They admitted me and said I should spend the night. I got hooked up to an IV and that’s where I stayed for the next 44 hours. My doctor was really awesome. He made sure I knew everything that was going on and why. The first night, after the nurse took my temperature, he called me on my cell phone to let me know that the nurse just informed him I had a slight fever and he was checking in to see how I feel. I was touched.

I had several visitors over the course of the two days. My host brother was there the most. He was really great about the whole ordeal. He brought me my laptop, movies, hairbrush, and clothes. My host mom and Lama came to visit me as well. My friend Amanda came to visit the first night when I was still not doing so hot so kudos to her for that. The mom and daughter of the family I babysit for came to visit me the second night. The girl made me a card and they brought me a pack of Kit-Kats. I want to thank everyone who came to visit – it meant a lot to me.

My get well card :)

Little tidbits about hospital #2:

- There was a cockroach in my room but the janitor came and killed it.

- They did an excellent job cleanliness-wise. My room and bathroom was mopped and wiped down twice a day. They emptied the trash even more frequently than that.

- When I had my chest X-ray, I was told to strip down to my underwear. I left my bra on because it didn’t have any metal. The technician (a male) told me I had to remove my “breast holder” as well. I found it funny, but I figure that’s probably the literal translation of the Arabic word for bra.

- I had a balcony and an excellent view of the city; however, I was connected to an IV in my bed so I couldn’t go on it often.

- The second night, I didn’t have a roommate.

- Also on the second night, two women came into my room, waved at me, and walked onto the balcony to sit. I wasn’t sure if they were patients or visitors. The next time the nurse came in I asked her who they were. She says to me “what people?” and I pointed to the balcony. She then starts talking (loudly) to them in Arabic. “Why are you here?” “We come here daily” “It’s not allowed!! Not allowed! There is a sick person here!” …So then they left.

- There are no visiting hours. You can show up almost whenever.

- There are no hospital gowns. You can wear your own clothes the whole time.

Only 9 more days and I’ll be back in the US!

Spring Break Part 2

Going from Dubai to Oman was quite the process. We found the bus in Dubai without any issues and we got to the UAE/Oman border about an hour after we left Dubai. First, we had to get the “Exit Dubai” stamp. Then we drove a couple more minutes to the checkpoint where we took all our baggage out so it could be checked. Then we re-boarded the bus and finally got to the “Enter Oman” part where we needed to fill out a visa form and get our passports stamped again. Luckily, since Amanda and I had arrived via Dubai, our visas for UAE carried over to Oman and we were not charged anything extra for an Omani visa.

As we drove through Oman to Musqat, I couldn’t help but notice how mountainous Oman is. We arrived in Musqat about 4.5 hours after entering Oman. Musqat was completely different from Dubai. Musqat spreads along the coast with several different sections. We stayed in Mutrah, Musqat. Mutrah has a couple souqs, or markets, as well as a lovely seaside view. And about 3km down the road along the ocean is Old Musqat, home to many forts and a couple museums. Unfortunately, nothing in Old Musqat was open when we visited, which was a real shame because it was in the high 80s-mid 90s when we walked there so we were quite tired and thirsty. Since the weather in Oman is so hot, most of the stores close from 1-4 every day for rest. Amanda and I decided to follow the same schedule because it was simply too hot. We would have fruit for breakfast in our hotel room, go out and see something, return for nap/reading, then go out again for a large meal, internet café, and to eat popcorn while looking over the ocean. Oman was very peaceful and relaxing. I dubbed it "ornate, rugged, and a quaint Islamic fishing town." It was a great way to end our spring break.

Mutrah, Musqat, Oman

Walking from Mutrah to Old Musqat

An old fort

The moon rising over a fort in Mutrah

Just kidding! We really finished our spring break with a 9-hour layover in Bahrain where I got to see my friend Kamal! He is from Bahrain but did his study abroad at AU which is how we met. It was great to see him. He first showed us the entire country in about 45 minutes, although he did explain that about the same amount of land is just for the royal family and military so technically we only saw half of Bahrain. But it was still cool. We saw the racetrack, which is Bahrain's pride and joy. We ended our tour at his home. His family was incredibly welcoming and served us a typical Bahraini breakfast, which is a mix of Arab and Indian food. Very tasty. Afterwards we hung out, met his cousin and then went to the beach just to dip our feet in because we had packed out swim suits and only had our backpacks with us. It was a fantastic way to end our break and I am so glad I was able to see him! 

Yummy breakfast

On the beach with Kamal!

Getting back into the swing of things was much easier than I thought. The first week after spring break passed by quite quickly and this week is already more than halfway done, which I can barely believe. I've gotten to see some of Paris Circle with Abdullah, former peer tutor of a student in my program, and  his cousin, Saif, who are really cool. I also got to meet Amanda's host sister and her friend Abdallah (emphasis on the first syllable). And, this past weekend I went on a community service trip to the outskirts of Amman to paint a boys school. The trip had students from all three CIEE programs and I liked being able to talk and meet some of the other students who we never see. 

In other news, my research class has successfully brought down our research paper page requirement from 20 to 10-15. I currently have almost 8 pages written and two weeks left before I need to hand it in so I shouldn't have too much of a problem. My topic is women and sports in Jordan and it’s really interesting. I’ll spare you the details until I’ve finished my research and can make a giant post about it.

Things I’m looking forward to in the next week:

1.     My trip to Aqaba this weekend. Aqaba is Jordan’s seaport located on the Red Sea.

AND

2.     My mom and sister are coming to visit next week! I’m really excited to see them.

P.S. Fatima, the Turkish soap opera we watch every night, is over. I came back from spring break and was told it ended. I think for good too, not just end of a season. Now, there’s a new show called “Life.” I haven’t seen any of it, but I assume it’s another Turkish soap opera. 

The Islamic Future

Friday morning I left for spring break along with my friend Amanda. We were flying Gulf Air from Amman to Dubai, with a layover in Bahrain. Amanda had slept over the night before (because my host mom is awesome) so we could carpool to the airport together. On our way to the new terminal that had just opened two days prior, I spotted a USA flag, which I thought was incredibly strange. Our taxi driver explained they were flying the US flag because President Obama was flying into Jordan that day.

Our plane left Amman about an hour late so we missed our connection to Dubai in Bahrain. Fortunately, there were 25 passengers on our flight that also missed their connecting flights so they rebooked all of us with little issue. We touched down in Dubai around 8PM and made our way to the hotel. We fell asleep pretty quickly then we checked out in the morning to start our adventure.

We first dropped our bags off at the house we were staying at in Dubai. The parents of one of my classmates from High School live in Dubai and they graciously let us stay in their home. It was absolutely beautiful and we greatly appreciated their hospitality. They were coming back from the US that day so we were even more grateful. After we dropped our bags off, we headed to Mall of the Emirates, which boasts an indoor ski slope. It was also where we were getting picked up for our desert safari later in the afternoon. We walked around the mall, completely in awe of all the stores we had not seen in months. In addition to all the stores and the ski slope, there was an entire arcade/kiddie ride section, where we found a Johnny Rockets. We ate there and finally had real ketchup! It was marvelous. We got real napkins too. It’s funny all the things I didn’t realize I missed as much as I do.

After we finished at the mall, we headed across the road to where we were getting picked up for our desert safari. We had purchased the tour through Groupon and saved a good bit of money. As we were waiting, we met a Turkish man and a German woman who were also waiting. We started talking and explained our plans for the week and the Turkish man said he had been given free bus tickets to Oman that he wasn’t going to use and we could use them. We were a little skeptical, but met up with him the next day, got the tickets, and we used them successfully, which was great. Now back to the safari.

He gave us free bus tickets to Oman!

We were picked up in a bus, drove about an hour out of Dubai and were dropped off in the desert. We were divided into groups of 5-7, got into 4-wheelers and began dune bashing, which was a lot of fun. You ride up and down the dunes, sometimes sliding down hills and feeling like you might die. It was awesome. After a while, we were dropped off at the camp, where we could try sand surfing, camel riding, henna and trying on traditional dress. There was also a belly dancing show and buffet dinner. The first thing we did was sand surfing because that had been the main reason we purchased the Groupon. It’s a lot easier than you might think. The sand really slows you down and it’s not too hard to balance. The night was very enjoyable and we left the desert around 8:30, getting back to Dubai around 9:30.

Since that day had been very eventful, we wanted to take it easy on Sunday so we went to the beach and to the mall. The mom in the house dropped us off at the beach, which was great because it saved us significant time on the metro. Since the sun is so strong, we were only at the beach for a couple hours and both of us were sunburned quite badly. We had Subway for lunch, because we hadn’t eaten it since being in the US, and then we walked past the Dubai Marina area to get to the metro. We got off at Dubai Mall/Burj Khalifa stop. Dubai Mall is the largest mall in the world, with a total area of 1,124,000 square meters, and Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world at 2,722 feet. It was quite exhilarating just seeing both.

Dubai Mall was incredible. The first thing I saw walking in was Coldstone Creamery and it only got better from there. The mall has an aquarium, which is three stories tall and holds a Guinness World Record (I’m not sure for what, but there was a sign on the side of the aquarium tank). There is also a movie theater, ice skating rink, fashion district, Arabian Souq (market), a waterfall, several food courts, and electronics section in addition to the normal stores. We visited the mall twice and even the second time we were walking and saw things we hadn’t seen the first time. The mall is immaculately clean, boasts Wifi throughout the entire building, and is organized very well. If you are lost, they have touch screens that direct you from where you are to the store you want (I tried it and it’s amazing technology). I want to give serious props to the marketers who work for stores in that mall because I was very impressed.

Behind me is a waterfall inside the mall!

Right outside the mall is the Khalifa Lake and Burj Khalifa. From 1-2PM and from 6-8PM, the fountains in the lake go off, perfectly timed with music every half hour. We were outside from 6-8 and every show was different. In my opinion, it was much better than the fountains in front of the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Burj Khalifa was spectacular. You can pay 125 dirhams, or $34, to go up to the 142^nd floor of the building. When we looked, the rest of the night and the following day were already sold-out so we decided not to go up. We sat down on a grassy area as the sun set just reading. It was very relaxing. Finally, we decided we were hungry so we went back inside the mall for food. I found Thai food, which I had wanted to eat at least once while we were in Dubai, and Amanda had some pizza. We headed back home to get ready for Monday.

The bottom of the Burj Khalifa to the left and the fountains

Monday we went to Ferrari World, an amusement park in Abu Dhabi. We left extremely early, walked the 45 minutes to the metro and then took a bus from the Ibn Battuta metro station to Abu Dhabi. It cost us 25Dh ($6.75) each way for the hour and a half drive. We finally got to Ferrari World and it was practically empty. It was great. The only ride that we had to wait for was Formula Rosso, the world’s fastest roller coaster. It takes you from 0-150mph in seconds and you have to wear protective eyewear because if anything gets in your eyes, it can cause serious damage. They even had special hijabs for Muslim women to wear over their hijabs so their hair wouldn’t become exposed during the ride. What was especially interesting about Ferrari World was that it was entirely indoors. Only the two roller coasters and one other ride were outside. We surmised that since it gets so hot here, it’s better for everything to be indoors so they can gain more business. After our long day, we finally made it back to Dubai and stopped at the Ibn Battuta Mall for a late dinner. The Ibn Battuta Mall was huge, with a Chinese Hall, India Hall, Egypt Hall, Persian Hall, and two food courts. Overall it was a tiring but fulfilling day.

At Ferrari World

Chinese Hall at the Ibn Battuta Mall

Tuesday, our last day in Dubai, we decided to a. sleep in and b. check out Old Dubai and some of the more historical aspects. We attempted to find the mosque that was supposedly the third largest in the world, but were unsuccessful. However we did find the Gold Souq, Spice Souq, rode across the Dubai creek in a wooden boat, and made it to the Dubai Museum, which was really interesting. The museum had everything from 5000 B.C. when the area was first settled to the 2000s. The Dubai we know today is relatively new. In the 1950s, the population was only 59,000 but by the 70s and 80s it had increased to 207,000. They didn’t discover oil until 1968 and that was when they were able to really start building and expanding the city.

I titled this post “The Islamic Future” because that’s what the city feels like. The future aspect: It is entirely man-made and the perfect blend of city and nature. The metro is impeccable, with trains coming consistently every 4 to 5 minutes. We never had to wait more than 2 minutes for a train, no matter where we were or the hour of the day. The entire city is tax-free, which means everyone is richer because there’s no income tax (except, of course, for US citizens). Emiratis (the natives of UAE) only make up 17% of the population, although they control the government. Dubai is a city where an Emirati drives his million-dollar car to school and it is common to have a Porsche. English is widely spoken, but you will also hear Arabic and Hindi. Dubai has a very large Indian population because it has a close proximity to India and a better standard of living (at least according to the mother in the home we stayed at). There is very little crime and everyone is very friendly. We weren’t stared at or cat-called and I felt perfectly at ease wearing shorts or a bikini on a public beach.

Their Metro.

The Islamic part: Dubai is a very Islamic city. The moment we left the airport and walked outside, we saw a “Women’s standing area” and a “Men’s standing area.” All of the malls had prayer rooms, separate for women and men. The metro had a separate car for women and children, if you wished to sit there. The metro buses even had separate areas. The vast majority of Muslim women there wore the full Muslim garment, not just the hijab. Overall, Dubai was a wonderful experience and I would definitely go there again, although probably not during the summer.  

Random Stories and the Countdown to Spring Break

Spring Break starts Friday and I can't wait to go to Dubai and sit on the beach and wear shorts!

Random Stories:

1) This week, I learned why the gym closes when the machines are being serviced. It's because men service the machines and none of the women can work out because their hair would be uncovered or they might be wearing a t-shirt. When they serviced the machines this week, the area was blocked off but I asked to go in and it was a few westerners with one Jordanian who was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt. I was perfectly fine in my spandex capris and spandex top but the trainers in the gym were wearing their hijabs because men were present.

2) It mid-terms week so I took a midterm Sunday morning only to get it back Tuesday with a -_- face on it. As my professor handed it back, he announced that I did terribly and I must not have studied. I told him I did study and he said I must not have studied well. In front of the whole class. I was very frustrated, especially after seeing my grade - B+. And unfortunately, that's pretty normal for Jordanians. The will tell you whether you're fat, ugly, stupid, whatever. One of the host moms of a student in the program told my friend she was too tall to be pretty. Just another cultural lesson. 

3) I continue to be fed too much. Last Friday my family had a BBQ and I was fed so much food. I had 2 chicken kabobs, 2 meat kabobs, a pita bread that was filled with meat and grilled, eggplant, and tabbouleh. I was so stuffed. Even on a normal day-to-day basis I am offered a lot of food. I generally eat a small dinner and Lama, the maid, keeps telling me to "Eat, eat!" I tried to explain that although all the food is delicious, there's just simply too much. Especially because I know after dinner there will be some sort of dessert plus tea and maybe other sweets depending on the company. Since extended family is over quite a bit, I can always count on some type of food being offered around 8 or 9pm in addition to normal dinner. 

Towards the end of the meal at the BBQ

4) I went on an adventure last Friday to Al-Mafraq. My friend Steven, who's host family is related to mine, invited me to go stargazing or something of the sort with his peer tutor. So we met up and got tickets (discounted for students) to some planetarium thing. I'm still not sure what it was exactly, but I think we were supposed to be seeing a comet. As it happens, the bus to take all the students failed to show up so we went in cars after getting our refund. I was with Steven, his peer tutor, and two other guys who were friends of the peer tutor. The vast majority of the students were male and I was feeling a little uncomfortable because it's very unusual in Jordan for a girl to be hanging out with a bunch of guys (even though there were about four other girls). So we started driving and about an hour in I start to see signs for the Syrian border. At the same time, I had the thought that the landscape (which was barren) would be perfect if you needed to get rid of a dead body. About 30 seconds after I thought this, what should come up in our headlights? A random guy with a shovel. I felt quite nervous. Finally, we got to our destination and it's a huge party. Everybody and their brother was sitting, talking, smoking argeela and having a good time. I ended up having a wonderful time and was very glad I went. 

Al-Mufraq - it was packed.

Handstand perfectly aligned with the Jordanian flag!

 Lanterns

5) Last Saturday there was a program trip to Ajloun, north of Amman. We toured the Ajloun Castle, went hiking in the Ajloun nature reserve, saw a soap factory (factory is a loose term), learned about calligraphy and ate a wonderful lunch. It was a nice break from the city and a great time.

The view from the top of the castle

Soap from the soap factory

Hiking in the Ajloun Nature Reserve 

Calligraphy

6) I had class at a cafe last week and I had to take a taxi to get there. We get to 2nd Circle (I needed to go to 1st Circle) and my taxi driver asks me if I want to get out there because there's too much traffic to drive me all the way. It was 80+ degrees and my walk from 2nd Circle would've been at least 20-30 minutes to get to the cafe. I told him no. I was just so surprised that he even asked me that. I was paying him to drive me to my destination, not 2/3 of the way there.