Remnants of a Former Life

We started a movie the other day in عامية, called Captain Abu Raed. It's Jordanian, so I can understand them! It was filmed actually in Jordan, too, so I recognized the airport and Amman and coasters...it made me miss it...

I signed up for a conversation partner so I could keep practicing my Arabic, and there was an ice cream social last night for everyone to meet each other. I meet a bunch of guys from Saudi Arabia and one from Qatar and a few from UAE and it was awesome because I could FINALLY speak Arabic/Arabeezy and people understood me! So hopefully this will work out because it would be great to keep using it.

I'm trying to put together a slideshow because I signed up to do a presentation on my time abroad, and I'm looking for all these specific songs that I can't find because I have no idea of their title, who sings them, or even the words...oh well. At least I found the nationalist song that they always show on Jordan TV. It's actually awesome - watch it. The funny part is it comes on TV and people actually intentionally watch it, volume cranked and everything.

To Smoke or Not to Smoke?

I was thinking about really being Jordanian back in the States and taking up smoking. No, not seriously (I don’t think). But I was walking back into my building this evening (for those who don’t know I live in the International House), passing a group of three smoking together, and overheard this one American guy asking this French guy about classes, and it struck me that these people were getting to know each other over a cigarette. What a convenient ice-breaker! Gee, got a light? By the way, what’s your life story? Things like that are what made me want to live in an international community anyway. If I have to start smoking to make international friends, so be it.

I feel your pain, brother.

Thanks mom for pointing me in the direction of this fantastic article from the Week in Review. I liked it so much I sent the author this email in response:

I have just returned from a semester studying abroad in Amman and I can appreciate the sentiments you express in this article. The vast difference in perspective even between the "liberal" American set and the Arab viewpoint was unexpected at first but it is something more Americans need to realize. I agree that it is important to show both sides of the conflict in equally legitimate light and not to give in to pressure from those who would have their news sources even more biased.

The point that ideas like Zionism can carry such a multitude of connotations is something not enough people understand. Our words matter, and not because we have power but because we are judged for them.

I just wanted to thank you for acknowledging that there are such diverse opinions on the conflict and for recognizing the difficulty of objectivity when everyone is ready to jump down your throat for the smallest turn of phrase or choice of words.

I really think his point is an excellent one; words and ideas don't carry the same meaning or weight everywhere and this simple knowledge is often lost and usually leads to misunderstanding which is where so many problems lie.

The End of an Era

Alas...I am now back in Philadelphia so this blog seems no longer relevant, at least for now. Sad! I liked blogging. So don't expect much, although if I come up with relevant ideas I'll for sure post.

Journey to the Center of Iraq

Or I should say, journey that never got us through the border. On Thursday Abe and I rented a car and trekked across the desert wilderness of Eastern Jordan with hopes of being allowing into Iraq, just to see it and say we’d been there. Four hours after we left Amman we got the Karameh border crossing, only the chat with the border guards for a few minutes until we were informed that we couldn’t go in without either Iraqi citizenship or a valid visa. Oh well, we tried. And now we can legitimately say we have seen all of Jordan; east to west, north to south.

Despite our failure to achieve our goal, it was a heck of an adventure. We ran out of gas in Ruwayshed, which is this tiny town 100 km from the border in one direction and 100 km from the next town in the other. And when I say closest town, I don’t mean you might see something resembling civilization in between the two. I mean there is nothing except igneous rock, sand, and mirages, for farther than the eye can see. Not only were we almost on Empty, but there was no gas in town. At all. They had run out and it wasn’t supposed to come till the next day. Not really wanting to stay in the middle of nowhere (literally, in every sense of the world) we negotiated to siphon gas from some guys tank, paid them 5 JD, and went on our merry way. Not entirely merry though, as we got stopped at something like 3 checkpoints on the way back. But return to Amman we did, eventually, with one more adventure tucked under our belts.

Pictures are on Picasa

What do we do when we're jetlagged?

We sleep till 2:30, that's what we do.

I can check at least one thing off the endless and ever-growing To Do While In Jordan List: eat at Reem!

Abe and I went to Faris in Sweifieh for chicken shwarma and then to Reem on the Second Circle for lamb shwarma. Both were delicious and hot and moist and mmmm just so good. Perfect jetlag breakfast-lunch-dinner food - I can see why Reem is the King's favorite. It's the kind of place that only makes shwarma and there is no writing anywhere. It's just a little red hut shack kind of thing tucked into the surrounding buildings with your typical Arab "line" aka clusterf*** gathered out front but boy, is it worth it. At .5 JD per sandwich you can eat your fill essentially for nothing. Faris, while a bit more expensive, is arguably the best chicken shwarma in the city.

Yeah, not so healthy, but hey, when in Rome...

Catch Phrase

I have created a meme, or perhaps a new buzzword, look for it in next December's NYT magazine:

propaganda prophylactic

The meaning is fairly self-explanatory but it is basically what is needed before either side can start making progress towards talking with the other. And I'm not talking about politicians here. I'm talking about 22 year old American Jews with 22 year old Palestinian Jordanians. The respective medias have such different perspectives and emphases, and no one can understand the other side completely, so you end up with clashes that don't even make logical sense because they are not arguing the same point. I therefore point out the need for a propaganda prophylactic - a way to understand both sides of the conflict without media or popular interference. Just the facts, no bias. Impossible, no?

For proof just check out and compare:
nytimes.com
jordantimes.com

1 good reason not to go Venti

Today I saw a protest, kind of. I was in a taxi and down one of the side streets there were a bunch of people with green flags...but that was about it.

And apparently you should boycott Starbucks because the guy that founded it is Jewish so he supports the Israeli Army. That's what I learned from facebook today. What does that even mean? And really, do you think a company that has branches in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon really be THAT supportive of Israeli military action, if they have an opinion at all?

Let's think first. THEN do silly things like blame any prominent American Jew we can find.

From One City of Brotherly Love? to Another

Watching a War Across an Ocean When I'm 100 Miles From a Real One

As far as I can tell there is a war brewing on Penn's campus between Penn Israel Coalition and Students for Justice in Palestine. Kids, read the name: JUSTICE. It's not called Students Who Hate Israel.

Here's a quote from an event posted on facebook: "Students for Justice in Palestine is putting on an anti-Israel rally for Gaza next Thursday, and we need a big turnout for our side!"

And here's one from the event page of the so-called anti-Israel rally: "...to raise awareness about what has specifically been going on in Gaza since the 27th of December. Though this will be a silent march, we will be holding signs that reveal facts about the blockade and genocide."

Not to choose sides indiscriminately, but it seems as though the Gaza march is a peaceful event, aiming to inform, not to intimidate. On the other hand, the PIC's march is reactionary and aims to silence its opponent rather than listening to what they have to say. How can anything be achieved if one side continues to act petulant, immature, and ignorant? This goes both ways, depending on the day, so don't go getting all uppity at me for telling it like it is. A Palestinian friend's facebook status recently read: "Israeli Rats have enough shelters 2 hide in.While Gaza have sky as a roof,blood rivers as floor ..Thats y PALESTINIANS R MEN & israelis r rats!"

Please, everyone, control your anger. It is rational, understandable, and necessary, but deal with it maturely instead of throwing around hateful words and stereotypes and become informed before you inflame. Only then may you have your opinion to do with as you wish.

Third Home?

Coming back into Amman yesterday was a weird feeling, the same as when I go back to Philly or to Maine, like going home in a way. I guess when you go through some kind of experience like this somewhere, even if it's for such a short time, it really does start to feel like home, even if it's one of many. It made me really think I do want to come back eventually, although definitely not right now. After graduation if I have a job or something I'll come back...insha'allah.

Didn't do much today, went downtown for lunch at Hashem's (one of the famous Amman restaurants) where we gorged ourselves on fuul, hummus, falafel, etc. Zaki kteer! It's funny how getting around down there used to be so confusing and now it makes so much more sense, although I won't pretend to be a master of wast al-balad.

My goal is to do some daytrips while I'm back here, so hopefully some of that will get accomplished and I'll have some interesting stories to share.

JFK again! My favorite place in the world.

Merry Christmahannukwanzaa and a Happy New Year to all.

After a brief respite for much needed cold weather enjoyment I am now en route back to the desert. After a whirlwind of a few days (since Wednesday) it has been non-stop phone calls, planning, packing, and for the last 36+ hours, traveling. Lovely Delta canceled my PHL - JFK flight this afternoon forcing me to seek alternate transportation which took the form of a nice older middle aged guy driving an airport shuttle from Princeton to JFK through snow storms and EWR, and I'm not sure which of those was more chaotic. But I got here, حمدالالله, and although my flight has of course been delayed an hour (it is JFK, so not everything can go your way). I've already made a friend who wants me to go to her house in زرقاء so she can cook me mansaf and I can marry one of her sons.

Also there's this one little kid (2 years old!) who according to his mother is learning four languages simulatneously: Arabic, French, English, and Armenian. Wow. If only ...

And there's this other really cute little kid, and now they kind of play together and it's very adorable. The second one took my SIGG (which is empty, of course) and started throwing it around until he hit himself in the head with it which didn't seem to bother him.

It's amazing how much I understand what's going on around me (it's basically all in Arabic)...I guess I didn't realize how much I know. I've spoken to people (like my future mother in law) and they say I'm good at it! So I guess 3 weeks isn't long enough to lose it, after all.

There were also a bunch of French people at the newsstand store and it was amazing how much of what they said I understood, although I couldn't say anything to them because I could tell that as soon as I opened my mouth Arabic would come out. Oh well. At least I can do one at a time, anyway...