The semester is over! 70+ students at the CIEE Study Center in Amman left for home, Europe, or other travel destinations last week. Seven of us will stay with CIEE next semester, ready for another four months of Arabic and cultural immersion! We will meet another incoming class of around 50 students.
What an incredible semester! The best so far. Last week the 70+ of us and CIEE staff and teachers met for a farewell dinner where we said goodbye, shared many laughs, and took many pictures. It was great getting to know a group of greatly diverse students, living, learning, and figuring how to navigate this new city we’ve come to love.
Before the dinner, one of my teachers hosted me and two other students in her home. She took us shopping so we could buy traditional Jordanian gifts for our families back home. We bought all kinds of things like spices, marble boxes, and pottery, taking pictures everywhere we went. I think it’s nice to be able to show someone where you bought their gift when you give it to them.
A week earlier, a group of us travelled to the Dead Sea. The sea was surprisingly warm and we were able to swim and spend a relaxing day at the day resort before finals week.
During finals week I found a conference on Facebook titled, Women on the Front Lines: MENA Chapter, hosted by the May Chidiac Foundation and under the patronage of HM Queen Rania. I went alone with no idea of what the conference would be like. Half in Arabic, half in English, with many news station cameras set up, I stayed at the Four Seasons hotel listening to panels, interviews, and presentations from successful, poised, and prominent women leaders, businesswomen, newscasters, authors, activists, the former Italian foreign minister Emma Bonino, the first female private space explorer, Anousheh Ansari, and the great May Chidiac herself. Apparently it’s quite normal for the queen herself to show up to an event under her patronage! I never thought I would stand 15 feet from any queen. It was very interesting to hear only the flash of the cameras as she entered the room and walked down the aisle. In the US you would hear screaming and shouting at any celebrity, but the room was utterly silent as she entered. It was one of the most memorable days in Jordan so far. To be in the company of such amazing women, hearing their stories and advice, as well as their dreams, hopes, and wishes for women in today’s world. Empowering and incredible.
After an intercultural workshop, a group of us had the opportunity to travel to Kerak, a city 130km from Amman, known for one of Jordan’s most well preserved crusader castles. A CIEE staff member and native of Kerak treated us to a lunch of traditional Jordanian mansaf and then brought us to her uncle’s café on the side of the castle cliff. Carved-in caves dot the Kerak cliffs, and we were fortunate enough to explore some of these caves and drink tea with our teacher’s uncle.
We had the chance to learn more about Kerak and Jordanian history from our guide. I told him about a book I had read called, “Married To A Bedouin,” a true story of a New Zealander who married a Bedouin man from Petra and documented her life there. Our guide took out his cell phone, called his friend, the author’s son, and handed me the phone. In the small world of Jordan I was able to talk to the author’s son and plan to go visit them when I return to Petra next semester.
A week later a terrible terrorist attack occurred at the same castle in Kerak, killing Jordanians and a Canadian tourist. All of Jordan has stood with Kerak over the past week and we held a moment of silence before a concert I attended last night.
Another of the most memorable experiences in Jordan has been spending time with my Jordanian friends. A group of us spent a day exploring downtown Amman and the Citadel. It was my second time returning to the ruins after the CIEE program brought us on our first day in Jordan. We ate breakfast at the famous Hashem Restaurant, shopped downtown, visited a mosque, at kanafeh at famous Habiba’s, explored the Citadel, and then rode an amusement ride in at a mall. It was a memorable day and the next day I visited my friend in her home in Zarqa again. I rode a bus to Zarqa but mistakenly got off the bus too far north and spent an hour finding my way back! At least now I know exactly how to get there and the next time I return I will successfully reach her house! *Note: The next time I went there I got off half a mile before the stop! Go Jane!
My friends introduced me to more of their friends and we spent the rainy day baking a cake, playing cards, and laughing. The next time I visited, I stayed the night and we had a BBQ dinner. I had so much fun meeting some of my friend’s family members, including an aunt who is humorously convinced that I would be a perfect for one of my friend’s brothers! Maybe she really will be the “matchmaker” someday! The best part of my semester has been making lifelong friends like these. They are so kind, hospitable, and wonderful and they have made my life in Jordan the most memorable. I will miss them in the three weeks I am away from Jordan! I will be forever grateful.
Amman has been decked out for Christmas, something I never expected! I set up the Christmas tree with my Christian host family and we attended church a week before Christmas. The church was also beautifully decorated. All the malls around the city have Christmas trees and are playing Christmas music. There are events, concerts, and Christmas bazaars all over the city, so I feel as though I’m right at home. My friends have helped me buy gifts for my family back home. I attended a CIEE friend’s choral concert where we had a nice evening singing along to all the Christmas songs – in Arabic of course! I also had the chance to hear the Jordanian Orchestra (whom I hope to play violin with next semester) in an opera concert. A pair sang one of my favorite songs, Time to Say Goodbye. And wow! It really is time to say goodbye: ma3 salama! But only for a little while, see you in three weeks, Jordan!