on saturday i'm going to a TEDTalks event called TEDxRamallah. it was going to be held in ramallah but was moved to bethlehem, with participating events in beirut and here in amman. the bethlehem event will be streamed to beirut and amman (as well as over the internet to the WORLD), and speakers who cannot enter palestine due to travel restrictions will speak in beirut/amman and get streamed over to bethlehem. the talks address palestine-specific issues. i'm stoked!
here is more info about the event:
http://www.tedxramallah.com/en/home/index.php?
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
ana bohebik, khitam
my host mom is the cutest.
last night she came home from the gym feeling good. she asked me (in arabic, she speaks about 2 words of english) how she looked and did a little twirl. she looked great!
later she said she was going to the bank and asked if i wanted to come with her. i tagged along, and she hooked her arm in mine as we skipped down the stairs out of the apartment. we had a great conversation (the fact that i could understand her speaking so quickly and then respond in arabic was a huuuge confidence booster). she asked me if i drove at home. i said yes. she was very happy about that. she said she thinks it's important for women to be able to drive and to have independence. she said that the prophet mohammad (PBUH) thinks so too. he wants all things for women as well as men.
she asked me about my studies, when i'm going to graduate (spring 2012, "insha'allah"), and what i want to do after graduation. i said teach, partly because it's in my top 5 careers, and partly because i don't know how to say "map store owner/cupcake seller" in arabic. teacher ("mo3lima") is a little easier to explain.
she asked about my family. i said my sister is moving to china and i am very sad but also excited because maybe i can have christmas in china. the first thing she asked is if she's married (naturally). i said no, she's only 21 and she's not done with school yet. she asked what she was studying and i said chinese language, which she didn't like that much. she said chinese is not an attractive language. i think her opinion was also a bit colored by the fact that arabs here have very few interactions with pan-asians other than custodians or maids (jordan is not the most ethnically diverse of countries). we don't have a maid, but a lot of families have relationships with their maids that in america we would consider disrespectful; jordanian norms regarding service are much different than american.
anyway, after the bank we stopped for ice cream and happily nommed on it as we drove back home. ana bohebik (i love you), khitam.
last night she came home from the gym feeling good. she asked me (in arabic, she speaks about 2 words of english) how she looked and did a little twirl. she looked great!
later she said she was going to the bank and asked if i wanted to come with her. i tagged along, and she hooked her arm in mine as we skipped down the stairs out of the apartment. we had a great conversation (the fact that i could understand her speaking so quickly and then respond in arabic was a huuuge confidence booster). she asked me if i drove at home. i said yes. she was very happy about that. she said she thinks it's important for women to be able to drive and to have independence. she said that the prophet mohammad (PBUH) thinks so too. he wants all things for women as well as men.
she asked me about my studies, when i'm going to graduate (spring 2012, "insha'allah"), and what i want to do after graduation. i said teach, partly because it's in my top 5 careers, and partly because i don't know how to say "map store owner/cupcake seller" in arabic. teacher ("mo3lima") is a little easier to explain.
she asked about my family. i said my sister is moving to china and i am very sad but also excited because maybe i can have christmas in china. the first thing she asked is if she's married (naturally). i said no, she's only 21 and she's not done with school yet. she asked what she was studying and i said chinese language, which she didn't like that much. she said chinese is not an attractive language. i think her opinion was also a bit colored by the fact that arabs here have very few interactions with pan-asians other than custodians or maids (jordan is not the most ethnically diverse of countries). we don't have a maid, but a lot of families have relationships with their maids that in america we would consider disrespectful; jordanian norms regarding service are much different than american.
anyway, after the bank we stopped for ice cream and happily nommed on it as we drove back home. ana bohebik (i love you), khitam.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
i'm just a girl
this blog seems to have ended up being a run-down on the exciting events in my life here, and then some musings about being a bint fi al-urdun (girl in jordan).
i realized that i think about gender here on the daily, which is something i'm not really used to. at home i'm one of the bros, and often find myself the only girl in a group of boys. when this happens in jordan, i'm forced to reassess. is this culturally acceptable? what do people think of me? especially on a thursday evening. (keep in mind prostitution is a problem here, and the prostitutes are usually white)
male-female interactions are more nuanced. when dave and i met with our ISP advisor and he drove us to a local environmental NGO, dave offered me shotgun. i realized i probably should have declined, as women always ride in the back of cars, or at least in taxis. sometimes i go to shake a man's hand and he politely puts his hand over his heart and bows slightly, indicating that he doesn't touch women. normally i wouldn't think twice about using a men's single-person restroom (i mean, come on, it's exactly the same as the ladies room!) at a gas station or in a restaurant, but here i've gotten several dirty looks from doing so.
more than that, all the women on this program have at one point or another experienced some form of harrassment. this has ranged from over-conversational cab drivers to my friend getting sexually assualted when we were in petra. my experiences tend to fall on the "sarah, i love you" side (i always say my name is sarah when a cab driver asks) or proposals so that the cab driver can get a green card. but i also had a disturbing groping incident on a public bus on my way to jerash (remember that solo trip i was proud of myself for? i actually spent about an hour of it crying in a bathroom by myself).
in these instances, it's natural to seek blame, whether it be yourself, the perpetrator, or the entire culture. granted, i should not have been traveling on a public bus by myself, but also that dirtbag should not have violated my person. i could have easily gotten angry with the entire culture: the way women are second-class citizens; the way minimal contact between young boys and girls leads men to developed a warped perception of what women are like as humans and instead views them as physical objects; the way sexual assault or harrassment is not dealt with openly and is seen as more shameful for the woman than for the man.
but i'm in a unique position as an american woman in jordan. do jordanian women recieve the same treatment as i do? probably not, and if they do, they are much better equipped linguistically and culturally to deal with it and defend themselves. for all the benefits of globalization, it has also led to america exporting probably the worst version of itself possible to middle eastern countries. women in american pop culture/media are highly sexualized, one-dimensional characters who fall as easily into bed as into love. if this is the only side of american femininity that arabs are getting, naturally a certain number of sexually repressed men are going to take advantage of a young naive american student in jordan. (maybe if we were exporting more sydney bristows to the world it would be a different story!!!)
yet it is still indescribably frustrating that i receive certain treatment not based on my actions but based on my identity alone. in many instances, there is nothing i could have done to avoid these unfortunate situations. what can i do? am i supposed to never take a taxi? never walk down the street? but i always have to be on my guard, and it's a constant source of stress. and the things that i normally do at home to relieve stress are the things that cause problems here in the first place (i.e. go for a walk). it's a stress that i'm sure the other women in my program feel too, and something that the boys will never really understand.
for more information on this topic, please refer to the the lyrics of no doubt's "i'm just a girl."
i realized that i think about gender here on the daily, which is something i'm not really used to. at home i'm one of the bros, and often find myself the only girl in a group of boys. when this happens in jordan, i'm forced to reassess. is this culturally acceptable? what do people think of me? especially on a thursday evening. (keep in mind prostitution is a problem here, and the prostitutes are usually white)
male-female interactions are more nuanced. when dave and i met with our ISP advisor and he drove us to a local environmental NGO, dave offered me shotgun. i realized i probably should have declined, as women always ride in the back of cars, or at least in taxis. sometimes i go to shake a man's hand and he politely puts his hand over his heart and bows slightly, indicating that he doesn't touch women. normally i wouldn't think twice about using a men's single-person restroom (i mean, come on, it's exactly the same as the ladies room!) at a gas station or in a restaurant, but here i've gotten several dirty looks from doing so.
more than that, all the women on this program have at one point or another experienced some form of harrassment. this has ranged from over-conversational cab drivers to my friend getting sexually assualted when we were in petra. my experiences tend to fall on the "sarah, i love you" side (i always say my name is sarah when a cab driver asks) or proposals so that the cab driver can get a green card. but i also had a disturbing groping incident on a public bus on my way to jerash (remember that solo trip i was proud of myself for? i actually spent about an hour of it crying in a bathroom by myself).
in these instances, it's natural to seek blame, whether it be yourself, the perpetrator, or the entire culture. granted, i should not have been traveling on a public bus by myself, but also that dirtbag should not have violated my person. i could have easily gotten angry with the entire culture: the way women are second-class citizens; the way minimal contact between young boys and girls leads men to developed a warped perception of what women are like as humans and instead views them as physical objects; the way sexual assault or harrassment is not dealt with openly and is seen as more shameful for the woman than for the man.
but i'm in a unique position as an american woman in jordan. do jordanian women recieve the same treatment as i do? probably not, and if they do, they are much better equipped linguistically and culturally to deal with it and defend themselves. for all the benefits of globalization, it has also led to america exporting probably the worst version of itself possible to middle eastern countries. women in american pop culture/media are highly sexualized, one-dimensional characters who fall as easily into bed as into love. if this is the only side of american femininity that arabs are getting, naturally a certain number of sexually repressed men are going to take advantage of a young naive american student in jordan. (maybe if we were exporting more sydney bristows to the world it would be a different story!!!)
yet it is still indescribably frustrating that i receive certain treatment not based on my actions but based on my identity alone. in many instances, there is nothing i could have done to avoid these unfortunate situations. what can i do? am i supposed to never take a taxi? never walk down the street? but i always have to be on my guard, and it's a constant source of stress. and the things that i normally do at home to relieve stress are the things that cause problems here in the first place (i.e. go for a walk). it's a stress that i'm sure the other women in my program feel too, and something that the boys will never really understand.
for more information on this topic, please refer to the the lyrics of no doubt's "i'm just a girl."
on protests
2 days ago a jordanian man self-immolated in front of the prime minister's office. here is an al-jazeera article about it:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/2011487431621214.html
the article fails to mention a few crucial points: the man who self-immolated had an extensive criminal background; none of his crimes were political or up for debate. second, that this act was basically not political at all, despite the article's suggestions to the contrary; this criminal was trying to earn sympathy to get his record exponged. thirdly, everyone in this country thinks he's a complete moron.
from what i see, protests here are largely under control, even after the march 25 protests which turned violent, killing one and injuring 160. king abdullah responded quickly, voicing his support for reform while insisting that his people remain peaceful. it was kind of a brilliant move, actually. he said that anyone who doesn't want reform is not interested in what's best for jordan. but jordan prides itself on being one of the most (if not the most) stable countries in the region, and a lot of people are upset about the protests and the violence with which some people are responding.
personally, the protests haven't affected me much at all except blocking traffic in certain neighborhoods. life goes on as usual. i have noticed many more flags on people's cars and houses, though, and some new banners and graffitti calling for peace and unity, as well as a few more posters of the king around town.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/2011487431621214.html
the article fails to mention a few crucial points: the man who self-immolated had an extensive criminal background; none of his crimes were political or up for debate. second, that this act was basically not political at all, despite the article's suggestions to the contrary; this criminal was trying to earn sympathy to get his record exponged. thirdly, everyone in this country thinks he's a complete moron.
from what i see, protests here are largely under control, even after the march 25 protests which turned violent, killing one and injuring 160. king abdullah responded quickly, voicing his support for reform while insisting that his people remain peaceful. it was kind of a brilliant move, actually. he said that anyone who doesn't want reform is not interested in what's best for jordan. but jordan prides itself on being one of the most (if not the most) stable countries in the region, and a lot of people are upset about the protests and the violence with which some people are responding.
personally, the protests haven't affected me much at all except blocking traffic in certain neighborhoods. life goes on as usual. i have noticed many more flags on people's cars and houses, though, and some new banners and graffitti calling for peace and unity, as well as a few more posters of the king around town.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
al-janoub days 3 and 4 (or, nothing about this country is beautiful)
DAY 3: WADI RUM
after the single most visually spectacular bus ride of my life wherein i reunited with my long lost love, the cure's live album "show," we arrived in wadi rum from petra. our sleeping quarters were small 2-person tents with cots which were nestled against some sandstone to shelter us from the sandy wind (only half-successfully). natalie and i of course shared a tent, being spouses and all. there were some larger tents for dining and keeping warm by some fires, as well as a fire pit where we enjoyed tea. here's the group on the first afternoon, and a picture of it lit up later in the evening (ROMANCE):
there was a small sand dune behind our tents, and we saw no choice but to climb it to see what was on the other side. there were more tents! also, camels (jamal in arabic). also, sir ian smith in the fetal position (only sadness):
we were like small children, so excited. 6 others and i went on a walk into the wild before our scheduled jeep tour and climbed some rocks to enjoy the scenery (which turned out to be the same exact scenery we would enjoy on our jeep tour, but whatever). this included a brief, yet intense, sand storm, in which we all had to stop walking and turn our backs to the wind. the sand rippled like snakes across the valley floor giving me the feeling of being in motion. i spent some quiet time pondering the meaning of life (again! man, i'm so deep) and also god, and also my future. kateer introspective, though i came away with no definite opinions on any of these topics. also i did a lot of dancing and frolicking:
the jeep tour was amazing, if not terrifying. i piled into the bed of a trunk with megan, dropek, natalie, ben, and andy, where we bounced and bounded our way through the wadi and some unexpected rain. eminem and kanye provided the soundtrack for the adventure. our first stop was a sand dune/photo opportunity of epic proportions. we raced up the dune, an event that required so much effort and so little progress. natalie and i re-enacted the first scene of the lion king (i was rafiki) and then raced down the dune again.
next stop: some cave drawings that no one really cared about. but we took a group photo of everyone making finger moustaches (EPIC). after, a shrine type thingy for my main man larry the arab (lawrence of arabia for those of you not down with the lingo) and more dunes:
final stop: sunset at the same spot i went to earlier with my shebab. there was constant heavy wind, so much that i literally almost fell of a cliff. there was some great romantic time between the wife and me, which turned into a shway double date with megan and dropek (we are all women). we couldn't really see the sunset because it was cloudy (remember how it rained?) but it provided a beautiful and dramatic scene nonetheless. i think wadi rum is now my 4th favorite place on earth (behind my house, four winds, and silver lake, naturally). i will undoubtedly pay another visit during the independent study period (which starts in a mere number of days!)
DAY 4: AQABA
the last day before home started at 6 am and continued for another 21 hours of absolute joy and ridiculousness before sweet sweet slumber.
i took a sunrise walk with ben, and we soaked up the quiet and the pleasant absense of wind. after that: JAMAL RIDE. i was on a shway emaciated camel that couldn't walk straight, and spent most of the time playing bumper jamals. ouch! but it was fun and camels are so silly. i love them.
then we had breakfast (so many hard-boiled eggs) and i helped lead a discussion about the environment in jordan with zein, one of the SIT staff with a background in arid land environments. then, a short bus ride further south to the port city of aqaba on the red sea.
no big deal, we took a boat cruise where we snorkeled and danced to celine dion and some jordanian national songs. i saw many fishies before i got too cold and commenced with the dancing. also no big deal, from the boat i could simultaneously see jordan, isreal (the city of eilat ("eilatta what?")), and egypt. biff and i got our minds blown a little bit, and shouted many absolutely untrue proclamations in our overwhelming satisfaction, such as "nothing about this country is beautiful!!!!" dave and i reminisced about sailing and living on the ocean (he's from portland, maine) with a lot of satisfying sadness, at least on my part. if there had been an FJ that i could have sailed, i would have had a heart attack from happiness. actually.
then there was a night of true-to-college shenanigans which i won't repeat here. i can tell you that it did involve karaoke, as all good nights do. but i stayed up until 3 am, making day 4 in al-janoub one of the most action-packed and epic of my life.
as sarah mink said on her blog, i had loved jordan mostly for the people before this trip, but after these 5 days and 4 nights i fell in love with its natural landscape as well. the trip was a perfect mix of social time, quiet personal time, and especially nature time that i've been sorely lacking. i got a chance to step back from all the stresses i'd been overwhelmed with before the trip and think them through in peace without other distractions occupying my thoughts. and i got to do a little daydreaming as well. thank goodness for al-janoub. now back to work.
after the single most visually spectacular bus ride of my life wherein i reunited with my long lost love, the cure's live album "show," we arrived in wadi rum from petra. our sleeping quarters were small 2-person tents with cots which were nestled against some sandstone to shelter us from the sandy wind (only half-successfully). natalie and i of course shared a tent, being spouses and all. there were some larger tents for dining and keeping warm by some fires, as well as a fire pit where we enjoyed tea. here's the group on the first afternoon, and a picture of it lit up later in the evening (ROMANCE):
there was a small sand dune behind our tents, and we saw no choice but to climb it to see what was on the other side. there were more tents! also, camels (jamal in arabic). also, sir ian smith in the fetal position (only sadness):
we were like small children, so excited. 6 others and i went on a walk into the wild before our scheduled jeep tour and climbed some rocks to enjoy the scenery (which turned out to be the same exact scenery we would enjoy on our jeep tour, but whatever). this included a brief, yet intense, sand storm, in which we all had to stop walking and turn our backs to the wind. the sand rippled like snakes across the valley floor giving me the feeling of being in motion. i spent some quiet time pondering the meaning of life (again! man, i'm so deep) and also god, and also my future. kateer introspective, though i came away with no definite opinions on any of these topics. also i did a lot of dancing and frolicking:
the jeep tour was amazing, if not terrifying. i piled into the bed of a trunk with megan, dropek, natalie, ben, and andy, where we bounced and bounded our way through the wadi and some unexpected rain. eminem and kanye provided the soundtrack for the adventure. our first stop was a sand dune/photo opportunity of epic proportions. we raced up the dune, an event that required so much effort and so little progress. natalie and i re-enacted the first scene of the lion king (i was rafiki) and then raced down the dune again.
next stop: some cave drawings that no one really cared about. but we took a group photo of everyone making finger moustaches (EPIC). after, a shrine type thingy for my main man larry the arab (lawrence of arabia for those of you not down with the lingo) and more dunes:
final stop: sunset at the same spot i went to earlier with my shebab. there was constant heavy wind, so much that i literally almost fell of a cliff. there was some great romantic time between the wife and me, which turned into a shway double date with megan and dropek (we are all women). we couldn't really see the sunset because it was cloudy (remember how it rained?) but it provided a beautiful and dramatic scene nonetheless. i think wadi rum is now my 4th favorite place on earth (behind my house, four winds, and silver lake, naturally). i will undoubtedly pay another visit during the independent study period (which starts in a mere number of days!)
DAY 4: AQABA
the last day before home started at 6 am and continued for another 21 hours of absolute joy and ridiculousness before sweet sweet slumber.
i took a sunrise walk with ben, and we soaked up the quiet and the pleasant absense of wind. after that: JAMAL RIDE. i was on a shway emaciated camel that couldn't walk straight, and spent most of the time playing bumper jamals. ouch! but it was fun and camels are so silly. i love them.
then we had breakfast (so many hard-boiled eggs) and i helped lead a discussion about the environment in jordan with zein, one of the SIT staff with a background in arid land environments. then, a short bus ride further south to the port city of aqaba on the red sea.
no big deal, we took a boat cruise where we snorkeled and danced to celine dion and some jordanian national songs. i saw many fishies before i got too cold and commenced with the dancing. also no big deal, from the boat i could simultaneously see jordan, isreal (the city of eilat ("eilatta what?")), and egypt. biff and i got our minds blown a little bit, and shouted many absolutely untrue proclamations in our overwhelming satisfaction, such as "nothing about this country is beautiful!!!!" dave and i reminisced about sailing and living on the ocean (he's from portland, maine) with a lot of satisfying sadness, at least on my part. if there had been an FJ that i could have sailed, i would have had a heart attack from happiness. actually.
then there was a night of true-to-college shenanigans which i won't repeat here. i can tell you that it did involve karaoke, as all good nights do. but i stayed up until 3 am, making day 4 in al-janoub one of the most action-packed and epic of my life.
as sarah mink said on her blog, i had loved jordan mostly for the people before this trip, but after these 5 days and 4 nights i fell in love with its natural landscape as well. the trip was a perfect mix of social time, quiet personal time, and especially nature time that i've been sorely lacking. i got a chance to step back from all the stresses i'd been overwhelmed with before the trip and think them through in peace without other distractions occupying my thoughts. and i got to do a little daydreaming as well. thank goodness for al-janoub. now back to work.
al-janoub days 1 and 2 (or, human history is long and i am small and insignificant)
i just returned last night from a 5-day stint in the south of jordan, more exhausted but also happier than i'd been here in a while. before i left i really didn't want to go. i'd been feeling down and out, stressed about school work, unsure about my employment plans for the summer, and struggling with whether or not to do an honors thesis next year and wondering what my mac education was really doing for me. all those uncertainties remain, but i feel ready to tackle them head-on and with renewed energy.
DAY 1: AL-KARAK CASTLE AND DANA NATURE RESERVE
the SIT tribe drove about an hour and a half south to the impressive castle in al-karak. my wife natalie and i managed to get a free tour with our charm and good looks, and saw many hidden gems. this included a deep water well, and our tour guide lit a piece of paper on fire (without a heads up) and threw it down the well shaft to show us just how far it went. we unfortunately didn't go to the carnival that was raging nearby, and instead continued southeast to the dana nature reserve.
dana is a gorgeous reserve perched atop a huge wadi (valley), whose greenery made me feel like i was in the garden of eden (compared, at least, to the arid sparseness of the rest of the country). el hob called it the shire, i think, which goes to show how deprived of green we are in this country. we traversed the valley for a few km along the old town's waterways. the water flowed from a natural spring down a system of gutters to the town. we stopped and drank fresh from the source. i remarked that it was the most fresh water i've seen in the whole country combined. we stopped and ate bitter almonds from the tree, and sat and enjoyed a gorgeous view and the wind at our faces. i pondered the meaning of life (with much haneen, or nostalgia in arabic) and debated whether i want to live in a desert or by the ocean when i'm older.
at night we stayed at a youth hostel, where i stayed in a large tangerine-colored room with 7 other of the binat. we were absolutely giddy, and parkoured off the walls and sang "hard knock life" from annie. i had a major ah-i-miss-college-in-america when we had a co-ed bathroom for all of us to share, then we ran outside and played frisbee and kurat al-qadm (soccer). we watched the stars by the warmth of a fire. i got the worst night's sleep of my life, but i couldn't have cared less.
DAY 2: PETRA
we arrived in petra around 11 am, threw our bags down at the hotel, and immediately went into the city of petra where we had the whole day to explore. 6 hours was not enough. the city was gigantic, and i read later in my guidebook that they recommend at least 5 days for a visit.
you enter the park and are met almost immediately with rock-cut facades, mostly tombs, lining the road. there were so many tourists, so natalie and i ran ahead to try and beat them. after a while the road becomes narrower and you cut through an artery in the rocks. the shade is a sweet relief from the heat of the valley, and trees spring up here and there as you continue on. suddenly, so suddently that i exclaimed out loud, there is the treasury. i'm sure you've seen the picture before, but it's more amazing than that even. i couldn't really talk i was so excited and nervous. last semester i started having a recurring dream of the treasury, and i was nervous about whether or not it would live up to the dream. if i could have removed all the other tourists from the equation, it would have surpassed it.
sarah and natalie and i managed to get away from the crowd for a while when we climbed up a million (approx.) steps to the sacrificial site, a huge panoramic view of a large portion of the city where the nabataens used to sacrifice animals to their gods. we were all alone for a while, and had a half-hour meditation session. i thought the wind would blow me away it was so strong and constant.
after some aimless wandering, snapping countless pictures of facades that popped up out of nowhere, and serveral offers of donkey rides, we made our way back to the main road toward the monastery, which lay at the end of the city. after a climb of 800 steps (not approx., almost exactly), we came upon it. it resembles the treasury, but is larger. truly impressive. natalie beat sarah and me up there, and while she turned around pretty quickly, sarah and i continued on to the "view at the end of the world." but not before i accidentally started a dog fight by offering a few parched pups some of my water. dog #1 got jealous of dog #2, and i almost got my hand bitten off. classic.
the "view at the end of the world" was after another small climb and looked into the valley boyond petra, all the way west to israel. from this view we could see mount aaron/jebel haroun, where aaron, brother of moses and miriam, is buried. if we had stayed longer we could have maybe made it out there, but alas, we only had one day. we talked to a guy who lived up at the end of the world in his tent, and he pointed out a number of sites to us and offered his binoculars. while up there, i decided the world is split into two categories. the first, when considering the length of human history and all the accomplishments achieved, realizes his/her insignificance in the grand scheme of things and finds comfort in this fact. the second, when faced with the same prospect, is terrified. i don't know which category i'm in quite yet.
afterwards, sarah and i booked it back to the entrance (we had already been there an hour longer than we were supposed to), and decided to take a man up on his offer for a donkey ride. we managed to haggle the price down by about 50%. not too shabby.
unfortunately, i only have pictures from the end of the world because the rest were taken with my film camera. here they are:
DAY 1: AL-KARAK CASTLE AND DANA NATURE RESERVE
the SIT tribe drove about an hour and a half south to the impressive castle in al-karak. my wife natalie and i managed to get a free tour with our charm and good looks, and saw many hidden gems. this included a deep water well, and our tour guide lit a piece of paper on fire (without a heads up) and threw it down the well shaft to show us just how far it went. we unfortunately didn't go to the carnival that was raging nearby, and instead continued southeast to the dana nature reserve.
dana is a gorgeous reserve perched atop a huge wadi (valley), whose greenery made me feel like i was in the garden of eden (compared, at least, to the arid sparseness of the rest of the country). el hob called it the shire, i think, which goes to show how deprived of green we are in this country. we traversed the valley for a few km along the old town's waterways. the water flowed from a natural spring down a system of gutters to the town. we stopped and drank fresh from the source. i remarked that it was the most fresh water i've seen in the whole country combined. we stopped and ate bitter almonds from the tree, and sat and enjoyed a gorgeous view and the wind at our faces. i pondered the meaning of life (with much haneen, or nostalgia in arabic) and debated whether i want to live in a desert or by the ocean when i'm older.
at night we stayed at a youth hostel, where i stayed in a large tangerine-colored room with 7 other of the binat. we were absolutely giddy, and parkoured off the walls and sang "hard knock life" from annie. i had a major ah-i-miss-college-in-america when we had a co-ed bathroom for all of us to share, then we ran outside and played frisbee and kurat al-qadm (soccer). we watched the stars by the warmth of a fire. i got the worst night's sleep of my life, but i couldn't have cared less.
DAY 2: PETRA
we arrived in petra around 11 am, threw our bags down at the hotel, and immediately went into the city of petra where we had the whole day to explore. 6 hours was not enough. the city was gigantic, and i read later in my guidebook that they recommend at least 5 days for a visit.
you enter the park and are met almost immediately with rock-cut facades, mostly tombs, lining the road. there were so many tourists, so natalie and i ran ahead to try and beat them. after a while the road becomes narrower and you cut through an artery in the rocks. the shade is a sweet relief from the heat of the valley, and trees spring up here and there as you continue on. suddenly, so suddently that i exclaimed out loud, there is the treasury. i'm sure you've seen the picture before, but it's more amazing than that even. i couldn't really talk i was so excited and nervous. last semester i started having a recurring dream of the treasury, and i was nervous about whether or not it would live up to the dream. if i could have removed all the other tourists from the equation, it would have surpassed it.
sarah and natalie and i managed to get away from the crowd for a while when we climbed up a million (approx.) steps to the sacrificial site, a huge panoramic view of a large portion of the city where the nabataens used to sacrifice animals to their gods. we were all alone for a while, and had a half-hour meditation session. i thought the wind would blow me away it was so strong and constant.
after some aimless wandering, snapping countless pictures of facades that popped up out of nowhere, and serveral offers of donkey rides, we made our way back to the main road toward the monastery, which lay at the end of the city. after a climb of 800 steps (not approx., almost exactly), we came upon it. it resembles the treasury, but is larger. truly impressive. natalie beat sarah and me up there, and while she turned around pretty quickly, sarah and i continued on to the "view at the end of the world." but not before i accidentally started a dog fight by offering a few parched pups some of my water. dog #1 got jealous of dog #2, and i almost got my hand bitten off. classic.
the "view at the end of the world" was after another small climb and looked into the valley boyond petra, all the way west to israel. from this view we could see mount aaron/jebel haroun, where aaron, brother of moses and miriam, is buried. if we had stayed longer we could have maybe made it out there, but alas, we only had one day. we talked to a guy who lived up at the end of the world in his tent, and he pointed out a number of sites to us and offered his binoculars. while up there, i decided the world is split into two categories. the first, when considering the length of human history and all the accomplishments achieved, realizes his/her insignificance in the grand scheme of things and finds comfort in this fact. the second, when faced with the same prospect, is terrified. i don't know which category i'm in quite yet.
afterwards, sarah and i booked it back to the entrance (we had already been there an hour longer than we were supposed to), and decided to take a man up on his offer for a donkey ride. we managed to haggle the price down by about 50%. not too shabby.
unfortunately, i only have pictures from the end of the world because the rest were taken with my film camera. here they are:
mawwiage
so weddings here is jordan seem to be all about the bling. i have to say, jordanians' tastes aren't exactly in line with my own. but all the time spent sitting or dancing, but not really being able to communicate with anyone got me thinking about how much NOT like this wedding mine will be. there were some big mistakes (in my opinion).
1) the bride had the same dress for both the ceremony and the reception. how are you supposed to dance or sit in that? answer: you can't. and she didn't. not very fun!
2) they had hired two cameramen (video cameras) to record the event. the wedding felt more like reality tv than a celebration. plus, the cameras had giant blinding lights that made everyone feel super awkward. also, this involved a choreographer of sorts who ushered the couple around and told them what to do. hm. strange.
3) gold jewelry.
it was pretty fun though, despite these mistakes. the couple danced their first dance to "hello" by lionel richie under the magic of a combination bubble/smoke machine (i couldn't stop myself from giggling a little). and i got some great pictures because my host parents forced me to, and i also danced a lot. when everyone found out i was american they made me dance BY MYSELF in the middle of a huge circle. mortifying, but also hilarious.
jordanian weddings seem to be a lot like american weddings, with the exception of a few details. a lot more bling, first of all. also, part of the party involved the presentation of jewelry to the bride (gold, like i said). they also cut the cake with a huge sword instead of a regular knife. also, dancing was sort of segregated with all the shebab dancing together in one circle and all the binat dancing in another. and, true to jordanian fashion, the line for the buffet dinner was less of a line and more of a ravenous free-for-all, as lines always are in this country. my host mom grabbed me by the arm and shuffled me into the crowd. but other than that, it was pretty standard, except no one was drunk, obviously. we got home SO LATE for a weeknight (1 am, and i usually have the lights out by 10:30 or 11) and my host dad definitely didn't wake up for his sunrise prayer like he normally does.
here are a few choice pictures from the event:
1) the bride had the same dress for both the ceremony and the reception. how are you supposed to dance or sit in that? answer: you can't. and she didn't. not very fun!
2) they had hired two cameramen (video cameras) to record the event. the wedding felt more like reality tv than a celebration. plus, the cameras had giant blinding lights that made everyone feel super awkward. also, this involved a choreographer of sorts who ushered the couple around and told them what to do. hm. strange.
3) gold jewelry.
it was pretty fun though, despite these mistakes. the couple danced their first dance to "hello" by lionel richie under the magic of a combination bubble/smoke machine (i couldn't stop myself from giggling a little). and i got some great pictures because my host parents forced me to, and i also danced a lot. when everyone found out i was american they made me dance BY MYSELF in the middle of a huge circle. mortifying, but also hilarious.
jordanian weddings seem to be a lot like american weddings, with the exception of a few details. a lot more bling, first of all. also, part of the party involved the presentation of jewelry to the bride (gold, like i said). they also cut the cake with a huge sword instead of a regular knife. also, dancing was sort of segregated with all the shebab dancing together in one circle and all the binat dancing in another. and, true to jordanian fashion, the line for the buffet dinner was less of a line and more of a ravenous free-for-all, as lines always are in this country. my host mom grabbed me by the arm and shuffled me into the crowd. but other than that, it was pretty standard, except no one was drunk, obviously. we got home SO LATE for a weeknight (1 am, and i usually have the lights out by 10:30 or 11) and my host dad definitely didn't wake up for his sunrise prayer like he normally does.
here are a few choice pictures from the event:
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