A Week with Bedouins

This week we’re on our retreat in Ajloun, Jordan. Ajloun is north-north-west of Amman and it is amazing. Everything is so green. Bright green, not the dark New England forest green I’m used to. We’re staying at the Friends of Middle East Eco Lodge in small cabins. The cabins are fantastic. They have heat/AC, a normal bed, a comfy pillow, a warm comforter, nightstands, an armoire, and electricity. I would actually prefer to live in this cabin with my friend, Amanda, than live in my home to be honest. It’s much more comfy, private and warm.

Our schedule each day is pretty packed, beginning with breakfast at 8am and ending with cultural time/games around 10-11pm. The first day we went on a hike around the lake near our camp. We started off on a path with our guide using his knife to clear anything in our way. Then, he somehow ended in the middle and the director of Arabic Language was leading the way. Well, as it goes, we lost him after we had to cross the river (I was in front). So my friend, Sarah, and I just started walking and found a road which eventually led us back to the camp. On the way back we saw the most beautiful sunset. Our camp is located in a valley so when the sun sets over the valley, it’s absolutely gorgeous.

The second day we visited a local school. We first met with the principal and gave her gifts such a basketballs, paints, tennis rackets, etc. for the children since their budget is 300JD a month, which is about $5,000 a year. They split us into groups of three that would go to each classroom. I went to an 8^th grade math class and could actually follow the lesson. The good thing about math is that it’s the same in every language, even if they use different letters for variables and different symbols for numbers. The class was all female, even though the school was mixed. Something I noticed is that the class was very loud – constant people talking over each other. And the teacher barely tried to deter that. She just talked over them. I was surprised because that would not fly at all in the US. After the lesson finished, we were swarmed. I was asked questions such as “Are you married?” and “What’s your mom’s name?” in addition to the normal “How old are you?” and “Where are you from?” All the girls were extremely nice and loved to take pictures of me with them. Afterwards we went down to the courtyard and played 6 on 6 girls soccer (Americans versus Jordanians). I scored a goal! We ended up winning 4-3. They play dirty though. None of us were expecting that.

Nick and me with some 8th grade students

Eventually we said goodbye and headed back to camp for lunch and classes (yes, we still had classes this week despite being away from the city). The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Yesterday we started off the day with painting the entirety of a local family’s house. Their farm was near the camp, about a five-minute drive away. I made myself the designated photographer for the trip since there were too many students and not enough work. I got some great shots. One of my favorites is of the sheep – I just find it funny. It reminds me of the ostrich photo I took in Honduras two summers ago. Both are below for comparison.

Painting the inside

The sheep

The Ostrich (flashback to Honduras)

After returning, we ate lunch, had classes and then walked up a small hill to sit with an 85-year-old Bedouin man and ask him questions about history, Jordan, culture, etc. It was very interesting listening to him talk and to hear his opinions. We asked what he knew about the US and his views on Israel and Jerusalem. He was honest. He doesn’t think there will ever be a peace with Israel and he doesn’t like the US because we’ve sided with Israel. Understandable. We also spoke with a woman today who voiced similar opinions. After discussing our thoughts after both talks, a lot of us agree that it’s the older generation that’s holding peace back. The younger generation is tired of war and we’d rather have peace. It’s a great experience to talk with the people though; in fact, I think it’s necessary that we did that.

The man we talked to

The view from his tent at sunset

Today was the day I was slightly dreading because all we were doing this morning was preparing lunch, a dish called Mansouf. It has bread on the bottom, rice on top of that, and meat on top of that. It doesn’t sound complicated and you probably have no idea why I was dreading eating that meal. Well. We were making this from scratch. This morning, two lambs were brought to our camp. Yes, folks. We had to kill, skin, and cook our meat. Originally I wasn’t going to watch them being killed, but then I figured that since I am a carnivore, I should watch it. So I did. Watching the actual slitting of the throat and bleed out was the hardest. After we hung them up and started to skin them it wasn’t that bad. I even helped out skinning them (you would’ve been proud of me, Mom!). It was also a great photograph opportunity. As my friend Lucie said, “That is the most photogenic rib cage I’ve ever seen.” And I had to agree. I got some really great shots. I won’t post them here but if you want to see them just shoot me an email or Facebook message and I can send you some. The meat was delicious. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to eat it, but I did.

We convinced our professors to not have class today so I wrote most of this in our three-hour break before “dinner.” Dinner is a loose term because all we were going to eat was eggplant and Kinafa (a dessert) since we ate such a large lunch. That night we finished up the weeklong competition that’s been going on. They split us into two teams and we’ve done different competitions throughout the week such as arm wrestling (which I won!), 3-legged races, who can eat the most crackers/drink the most Pepsi in 2 minutes, etc. My team ended up winning and we're all supposed to get a 5JD phone credit, which is coveted here.

Today we went to the Dead Sea and the headed back to Amman. The Dead Sea was really cool. Everybody was complaining how cold it was so I was nervous to go in but after tentatively stepping in I pretty much ran the rest of the way in. The water was so warm!! Much warmer than Maine or Massachusetts in the summer. It was strange how buoyant I was. You could actually stand in the water and not be touching anything because you wouldn't sink. I loved it. Almost like zero gravity. But boy, was it salty. You could see the salt on my body after the water evaporated - that's how salty it was. I was so happy to take a shower.

I was both relieved and sad to be going back to the city. This week was great and necessary because staying in the city the whole semester would drive me crazy. And the great thing is it’s only a hour or so away from Amman.

Random Observations/Thoughts:

- Bedouins make the best tea.

- I’m amazed that the US has such a good relation with Jordan despite the attitude of many of its people. No wonder the US embassy is a fortress here.

- I miss camping.

Our lake by the camp

Valentine's Day in Jordan

Jordan doesn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day like we do in the US. Here, you will see a few people wearing red on the holiday, and men will try to sell you roses on the streets, but for the most part it is a normal day. Having a significant other is forbidden for the majority of people and I suspect that the only reason I even saw some Valentine’s Day decorations for sale is because I am in Amman.

My host dad had invited me to a party the night of Valentine’s Day and despite the steep price tag – about $50 – I accepted because I thought it would be an excellent cultural experience. The party was hosted by my family’s church so the 250+ attendees were Christian. The party was at The Meridien Hotel, with a Jordanian singer, excellent dinner and dessert buffet, and dancing. Two of my friends, Linnea and Amanda, joined me for the evening and we all dressed up (still conservative of course). The party was slated to begin at 8:30pm.

The Meridien Hotel

Sidenote: I have come to note that time in Jordan is not like time in the US. A meeting a noon may begin at 12:30. Classes are the only thing you can really count on starting on time. Everything else is usually late.

Back to my story. The party was slated to begin at 8:30pm. Pre-dinner dancing began around 10:15pm and dinner was served a little after 10:30pm. We didn’t end up leaving until after 1am.

There was another family seated at the table with Linnea, Amanda, and me. They were Iraqi, having moved to Jordan seven years ago. The four children were also in attendance, as well as a cousin who had grown up in the UK and was now working in Amman. When they first sat down, I was seated next to the cousin. And I could tell I was assimilating to Jordanian culture because my first thought was, “I feel strange sitting next to a stranger who’s male.” That realization was weird. Not in the realization itself, but the fact that that’s how I thought after only being in the country for a month. Men never sit next to women they do not know here.

Dinner was lovely. I had salad, coleslaw, lamb, rice, pasta, bread and hummus. Dessert was two different types of chocolate cake, two different pastries with pistachios on top and Jell-O (Jell-O is strangely popular here – The Meridien is a 5-star hotel and they served Jell-O for dessert!).

Dinner

Dessert

After dessert the dancing began. The daughter of the family at our table was teaching us how to dance Jordanian because it’s quite different than the dancing we are used to. Jordanian dancing is slightly slower, and your arms are more flow-y and you use your shoulders and hips more. The music itself was good. There were Iraqi and Egyptian songs in addition to normal Jordanian songs. Towards the end of the night I had flashbacks to prom because they played one slow song in English that I felt was very out of place. Overall, it was an excellent night and well worth my money.

Today is Not Ash Wednesday and Why I Now Love the Desert

Today is February 13, 2013. In the Roman Catholic calendar, today is Ash Wednesday. But not in Jordan. I discovered this the other day when I asked my host dad what times mass was at for Ash Wednesday and he looked at me like I was crazy. It turns out that all Christians follow the Orthodox schedule over here. Easter (even for the Latin Christians) is May 5, not March 31. And Orthodox Christians don’t celebrate Ash Wednesday so today is just another normal day.

Now to backtrack and tell you about my weekend to Wadi Rum and Petra. We had quite the exhausting 36 hours. We left at 8am Friday morning and first headed to Um Al-Rassas, which is an archeological site about an hour outside of Amman. Below is a picture of the mosaic floor of an ancient church. The rest of this post is going to be pretty picture heavy but it's necessary so you can see how fantastic and amazing Jordan is.

Next, we arrived at Wadi Rum. “Wadi” in Arabic means valley. Wadi Rum is the desert. We rode on the back of trucks through the desert, climbed up sand dunes, raced down them, saw ancient markings of camels on rocks and rock climbed. I got yelled at to come down because I was too high up on one of the rocks. I considered it a successful climb. Then we were dropped off at a small Bedouin camp to begin our camel ride. I have to say, nothing is quite like riding a camel through the desert while wearing traditional Jordanian clothing. The camels are tied to each other in groups of 3-5. My camel was last but clearly didn’t want to be. We rode to Sunset Point where we (you guessed it!) watched the sunset. Then we walked down to the Bedouin camp where we stayed for the night.

 

My camel and Me

                                                                Climbing up sand dunes

                                                   Ancient camel markings on the rocks

                                                                    Riding a camel!

The Bedouins were great. The food was awesome and after dinner they sang songs and everyone danced. As the night grew longer, a bunch of people were smoking hookah, but I decided to go out into the desert with my friend, Lucie, instead. The stars were incredible. I can’t remember the last time I saw stars that bright. And then just for fun, Lucie and I woke up early the next morning to watch the sunrise. We just wandered towards a rock and climbed up to watch the sunrise. When we got back to the camp everyone was eating breakfast.

The Sunrise

We departed Wadi Rum around 8 and drove to Petra. Petra was incredible. First, it was incredibly hot. The weather forecast we were given had said the high would be around 46. I, dressed for 46 degrees, sweltered under the 70-75 degree temperature. Despite that, the sites were amazing. We had about a three-hour tour of the main sites (in Arabic of course) and then they let us run free after lunch. We were recommended to go up to the monastery but it was a hike up a mountain. So, eight of us took a donkey ride up the majority of the mountain. It was cool. I think I like riding donkeys more than camels but I think it’s because there are no stirrups when you ride a camel. You have more control with a donkey.

It looked like a fish!                                            Petra

The monastery was amazing. Better than the main Petra site, in my opinion, because you can actually climb up onto the site. And the view climbing up or down the mountain was spectacular. You can see from the rocks that this entire area was clearly underwater at one point. Over 6000 years ago. But it was definitely underwater. The way the rocks are carved out just look like they belong underwater. And I have never been so convinced of plate tectonics until I visited Petra.

To the right is a picture of the monastery.

Below is the view from the mountain.

It was a wonderful experience and we were all exhausted by the end. All 100 students or so from the three different programs run by CIEE went on this trip but our group of 15 was separate from the others since all our tours were in Arabic. If you ever have free time and happen to be in Jordan, I highly recommend going. I wish I could’ve spent at least another day at both Wadi Rum and Petra.

More observations about Jordanians:

- They love mayonnaise like I love milk.

- They do not drink milk.

- They are miraculously not messy. I was at a coffee shop yesterday and ordered a chocolate milkshake, which I then proceeded to spill on my pants/chair/floor (in my defense, it was filled all the way to the rim). I asked one of the baristas if they had napkins. His answer: No. Thus, I concluded Jordanians must not spill anything. Finding napkins is a problem in general but I had thought that at least a coffee shop would have some. Nope. 

Revisiting Taxis and The People That Drive Them

At the beginning of my blog I wrote about my first experiences with taxis and how successful I was at getting to and from school those first couple days. However, I must revisit my first experiences now having lived in the city for three weeks.

Taxis are unpredictable. That is probably the best lesson I’ve learned. Sometimes, you get an excellent driver who has cleared the meter from the previous ride, put the meter in a visible location, they know where your destination is, and they give you the proper amount of change when you pay them. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. For example, many times, the meter is situated in between the two front seats and is impossible to read from the back seat.

Some Experiences I’ve had in a taxi:

1)    The driver stopped for gas. He did need gas (I made sure to check) but since the meter is run by distance and time, I had to pay extra because of the time we spent parked at the gas station.

2)    My driver did not know where I lived. This has happened more than once. Taxi drivers do not know Amman by street names; instead they know them by neighborhood and landmarks. I live by a mosque in Daheit Al-Hussein (neighborhood). However, it is frustrating to get a taxi driver who asks you how to get to your destination when you are a foreigner who just moved into the city a week or two ago. Now, I know how to get to and from my house and the university in case I need to direct my taxi driver.

3)    I only had 20JD and I knew my ride would cost me a little less than 2JD so I told the driver at the beginning that I didn’t have any small bills. When he dropped me off, he tried to rip me off 8JD, only giving me 10JD in return for my 20. The total cost of the ride was 1.80 and I fought with him to get those last 8JD. Finally he gave in, counting them out one by one in contempt. I gave a curt “Thank you” and got out.

Despite those experiences, I have had some good taxi drivers. When I tell them I’m studying Arabic, some of them try to teach me basic Ammia (colloquial) phrases. Others ask where I’m from and attempt to pronounce Massachusetts. I do my best to not chuckle because it is a really hard word for an Arabic speaker.

The majority of taxi drivers are on their phone the whole time and/or smoking a cigarette. I’ve been offered cigarettes before and politely refused. In the 10-15 minute drive between my house and the university, it’s not uncommon for the taxi driver to go through two cigarettes. Normally this isn’t too big of an issue when he has the windows rolled down. However, it was raining last week and I had a taxi driver who had all the windows rolled up, save for a small crack in the driver’s seat window. I was trying to eat falafel and just about died because he was smoking. It was really hard to breathe and I was thankful to leave.

I mentioned above that taxi drivers don’t know the city by its streets but rather by landmarks. GPS is not a thing here. If your taxi driver is lost or you’re having trouble communicating, he can call somebody to find where he should go. If necessary, he’ll hand you the phone so you can tell the person where you’re trying to go and then they will explain to the driver how to get there. Such was the case when I was trying to get to the US Embassy. The driver didn’t realize that the Embassy was where I wanted to go; he thought I was just using it as a landmark and kept driving after we passed it. An alternative to calling somebody is to use Google Maps (shameless plug, I know). The Google Maps app can locate you even when you do not have Internet, due to some unbeknownst cool technology ability. When my taxi driver was lost, I used it to direct him to my neighborhood.

Thankfully, I have not had many creepy taxi drivers. I’ve only been asked for my phone number once, which I consider a win in these first three weeks. And no one has tried to follow me after I got out (I never ask to get out directly at my house). Hopefully the next three months will follow my good streak of drivers.