One Month Mark!

Please clap for me - today, after one month of cold showers, I figured out how to work the hot water. I will never again complain about cold showers!

My host parent’s daughter from California and a Lebanese family friend have been visiting for the past three weeks. A lot of people have been in and out of the house recently and it’s been interesting to hear their conversations and watch interactions. On the downside I have been asked to stay in my room once in a while when special guests are over. It’s been explained to me as a traditional cultural aspect of keeping certain family business private to unknown guests. It’s been something very difficult to get used to. I’ve been out with my family twice now and we’ve gotten delicious ice cream both times! My host mother is a wonderful cook and I’ve had kofte, mansaf, shwarma, maqloubeh, and the best dessert here ever – kanafe. 11JOD/kilo she said, for the good stuff.

With Arabic in my homestay I feel like I understand a lot of words that are being spoken, but that I’m just not able to piece the words together completely. Outside of the house it has been easier to interact with taxi drivers, sellers, and people on the street – maybe they are more use to hearing foreigners speak Arabic?

Transportation is constantly on my radar! I am determined to prove Amman to be a walkable and bus-friendly city since the common quote about Amman transportation is “taxis all the way.” I’ve been able to walk to many places in my neighborhood and I’ve been riding the bus from classes to my internship. I do have to take taxi’s often though. Most taxi rides have been fine, or great, but one stands out as being the most interesting so far… a young driver was flirting with me, taking side roads, and trying to make me pay more than the meter. I had my maps on my phone out and while trying to communicate with him in Arabic he laughed at me for having my maps out on my phone and then he exclaimed “you don’t know any Arabic.” The first negative comment about my Arabic so far! I took it a little personally because then I exclaimed, “I really do like Jordan, but I’m not so sure about all these taxis…” NOT the right thing to say and it was really uncomfortable after that, but I got right home and paid the exact fare. Although there have only been a few instances, it’s been difficult for me not to respond to negative comments like these (including the few obnoxious catcalls)! It’s my gut reaction to respond back.

Amman seems to popping with events, despite the handful of people who claim Amman in boring. Amman Design Week had works of art and handicrafts on display at the Ras El Ain Gallery a few weeks ago. Yanni was just here in concert. The under-17 girls FIFA soccer tournament will be hosted this month. The souks are popping with people and haggle-worthy goods on the weekends. CIEE-organized lectures and events, one was a dabkah, horse jumping, birthday party event. Language exchanges with Jordanians are always going on here. I’ve been attending Wednesday night exchanges and am glad to say I finally have some Jordanian friends!

Classes have been excellent! Some of our professors are from local universities like the University of Jordan. My Modern Standard Arabic teacher is by far the most interesting. She is a short but extremely loud person that will call you out when you make a mistake and maybe even pull your ear as a reprimand! She gives so much homework and will expect a lot from us but I told her I’d rather be in a challenging class than a comfortable class. I think it’s going to be a great semester. I’m so eager to learn more from my dialect class too since my host family only speaks Arabic and I want to understand them better. I have two more classes, Arab Diplomacy and Political Structure and Development of the Middle East Regional System. I picked the classes because the professors sounded great and so far I have not been disappointed. We have such great discussions and I’ve already learned so much. I started an internship with a local NGO called Leaders of Tomorrow this week. It’s an organization that focuses on youth and young adult-led community projects and development. It’s a great group of young people in a crafty modern office with a beautiful rooftop view of the city.

Things are going. Slowly bus surely. One step at a time.