| Happy New Year |
[Jan. 1st, 2007|08:43 am] |
Just a small update here, not much because I'm at the house of a friend of a friend who is kindly letting me use her computer.
I'm in Amman for the New Year mostly on impulse because I was so tired of sitting in my house without any power due to a big storm a couple of days ago.
This weekend is Eid al Adhar, the feast of the sacrifice. People all across muslim countries sacrificed a sheep or lamb and kept one part for their family, one part for friends, and gave one part to the poor.
I witnessed some of these slaughters and far from being horrified or disgusted I thought they were remarkably humane, and as someone who eats meat for the time being, it's important to acknowledge from where and how it comes to my freezer. Here, it's harder to hide from that fact than it is in the united states. My meal comes from some other creatures death.
The eid was wonderful, I walked around and visited, saw some people I haven't been able to visit lately, and had kebabs and all kinds of other delicious food. It was definitely an air of thankfulness and a big party for everyone involved and I had an awesome time. I'm so glad that I stayed in my village for most of the Eid.
The only sad thoughts I'm having are of home. I miss you all so much and love you too. The holidays hit me really hard and every hard time I had I kept thinking of how much easier it would have been with all of you there to support me. I just want to tell you how much your letters and phone calls mean to me. I never appreciated you all when you were within shouting distance, and that's one thing that jordan and jordanians have taught me, how important my family is to me.
I guess that's all there is to say. I love you all so much, have a great new year and know that you're all with me here in my heart. Thanks for your thoughts and your love, your support helps make it bearable when I miss you so much I think that I can't stand it anymore, and when the whole world sometimes seems strange and frustrating. Give me a call or write if you can.
Love,
k |
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| Finally I'm back |
[Dec. 1st, 2006|01:39 am] |
Hi there everyone. Or anyone who still thinks to read this thing. Sorry if you've tried to call me lately, but I accidentally washed my cell phone along with my laundry. I'm waiting for a new one which should hopefully be coming soon. Until then communication is going to be along the lines of nil.
Aside from my soggy cell phone, I'm doing good, writing to you from the capital city of Amman. I'm up here doing some training for the PC. Aren't I super special?
Nothing much has been happening in my life. Life in the village is slow as usual. My friend Tagheried is getting married today, I'm sorry I can't be there to see it, but I went to the pre-party last night which was fun. They wanted me to sing a song in English, so I took the drum and busted out Mary Had a Little Lamb. It was the pressure I tell you!
Speaking of songs, this is really funny. I was at a wedding the other night and we were talking about Bush because he visted Jordan recently. In the villages at weddings we sing and clap and often they stick someone's name into the song, so someone burst out singing "YA ya, ya Bu--ush! La la la la la la." God it was funny. Usually you sing about the bride and the groom. Maybe that's why it was funny, or maybe you just had to be there.
Let's see...OH! I know, Thanksgiving. I was really missing home in the days coming up to thanksgiving. The people here are great and I love sharing their holidays, but you sort of feel alone when an American holiday comes around--although my friends in the village did volunteer to celebrate with me, I love them so much!
Anyway, so I ended up going to Wadi Musa which is way south, and having thanksgiving with about 10 other PC volunteers. It was so much fun...just the way that we had to cook, and the difference of doing things here made it so very Peace Corps. For example, we cooked the turkey (which one of the guys had gotten butchered that morning after searching for one for weeks) in a giant metal box heated by propane. You have to use a lighter to light the thing and be careful that there's not too much gas or there's a WOOSH of flame. I don't know why but I found it really funny. Then, later, we carted the whole thing (it's BIG maybe the size of a small desk) into the house because it was so cold and we wanted to get some heat from it. The things you do when you don't have internal heating.
I, for example, boil water and then curl up with my teapot in bed because I'm so cold and I was stupid enough not to buy gas for my soba yet. But then there's the whole thing of (since the soba leaks gas fumes) you have to have a window cracked for the soba. Well, I insulated my house--a good energy consumer like my daddy taught me to be, so I can't crack the windows because they're covered with plastic and taped over to stop the drafts. And when I say drafts, I mean that each of the windows probably has a quarter inch crack in the seal somewhere so the curtains blow if it's not insulated. So in the end, I can't figure out if I'm better off taking down the insulation and getting gas for my soba, or leaving it up and curling up with my teapot. Probably the latter. I'm loathe to waste the energy like that. Maybe I'll just bring my stove into my bedroom and cook in there, that way I can retain that heat too, haha, good idea!
Oh, awhile ago, probably a month now (god it's been awhile since I've gotten to the internet!) I got a little orphaned kitten. His name's Gumr which means moon in arabic, and he drives me crazy but he sits on my feet and he's warm which is all that matters. Just kidding, he's a cutie pie.
Okay, I've got a funny story for you. M, I wrote this in a letter I'm sending to you too, so it's going to be a repeat but I think it deserves retelling because I'm still laughing. This story says something about Jordanian men, and I'm not going to comment on it, just going to let it speak for itself.
So anyway, I'm in Ma'an doing my Xmas shopping (I didn't get you guys much, sorry the PC has us on a volunteer income (which is appropriate if not always much fun I guess) and I'm pretty broke. Anyway, I was walking down the street looking for stuff that was light enough and baroque enough to consider shipping to you guys, and suddenly I become aware of what I think is a couple of imams going at it (imams are the religious leaders who call the prayers from the mosques).
So I'm looking around because it's the wrong time of day for prayer call, and it's frankly weird to hear these two voices fighting to be heard. Almost all of the mosques have speaker systems so sometimes if there are two nearby you can hear both at an equal volume and it sounds sort of dissonant, but these voices were genuinely warring. It took me a couple of seconds, but I realized it was the fruit and vegetable sellers.
In the soug in Ma'an there are huge tents set up where they sell all kinds of fruit and vegetables, and since there are lots of different ones they tend to get somewhat competetive, especially because now that it's winter, prices have gone up. Some of them even have their own speaker systems, complete with microphones, and this is what I heard.
There were two vendors side by side, and they each had a speaker system and they were trying to out yell each other. Naturally it was pretty funny, especially one guy would go LALALALA really loud to try to cover up the other guy's voice. So I'm walking along trying not to laugh out loud and looking for the guy in the nearest tent. I spotted him sitting under some bananas at the exact same moment he spotted me, apparently, because he went silent for a moment, then grinned and gave me eyes and started talking to ME over the speaker instead. "Hello...how are you...welcome, welcome..." Oh gosh...maybe you had to be there but it was just so funny, one second he's yelling tomatoes, fifty girsh a kilo at the top of his lungs and the next moment he's sweet talking me over the loud speaker.
Anyway, not much more to say. My life is fairly normal here and I've got to be getting back to the hotel. I hope you're all doing well, miss you all especially this time of year, but I'm doing great over here other than that. I'll try to update as soon as possible, sorry no pictures this time--I forgot my camera cord. I had pictures of my cat, too, darn it!
Tata for now! |
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| Hey all |
[Oct. 25th, 2006|04:06 pm] |
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Hey all much love and happy eid! I've posted a few new pictures in the gallery so go take a look! Love you all, wish you were here, yada yada. I'm sick so I'm going to go stick my head in a toilet or something. Tata. |
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| Hi from Amman |
[Oct. 22nd, 2006|10:26 am] |
Hi all! I'm writing from the PC office in Amman right now. Up here to celebrate Eid, staying with a friend. Not really much to report, just sort of getting to know people in my community, fixing up my apartment, and finding my place at work.
Today's probably the last day of Ramadan, WOOHOO! That means tomorrow it's falafel sandwiches for me, muahahaha. I just got a ton of books and I think my back will break from the weight of it. Anyway, I'm distracted so I'll get back to you hopefully sooner than my last post. Love all of you! |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 30th, 2006|01:29 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sore | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Wawa song | ] |
Okay, so it's been awhile since I've posted to this thing, basically because I've been super busy and haven't had access to the internet.
I can't quite remember exactly what I said in my last post, but here's the gist of it--I'm now a full fledged peace corps volunteer!
We had three separate ceremonies, one at the US embassy in Amman where we formally swore in, another which wasn't really a ceremony but a party/talent show with all of the staff and volunteers, which was way more fun than the ambassador's reception (even though he had really good food!) and the third was just really sad. Our counterparts were there, our host families, and all of the volunteers, you're just trying to say goodbye to everyone and hoping that you don't forget one of your bags.
Anyway, this month is Ramadan and I've been in my village for a little bit over a week now. Right now I'm in Wadi Musa which is right near Petra, visiting a friend of mine and doing a little shopping.
[[I have to stop here to insert that a big macho Jordanian guy sitting next to me just had his phone go off and the ring was "I'm a barbie girl, in a barbie world!"]]
I also just fell down outside and sprained my ankle. Slight sprain but it freaking hurts and it's really annoying. Add that to the fact that I still have to take several busses home and I'm tired, annoyed, and fasting. Anyway, enough bitching.
What else, what other news...? Not much really. I'll tell you some little things.
1. The way I found my way home for the first three days in my village was that there was a goat leg severed at the knee lying in the empty lot across the street from my house.
2. The last time I was in Irbid I saw a sheep carcass hanging in the window of a butcher shops with long stemmed silk roses sticking out of it's butthole.
3. I'm going to start teaching some english classes after Ramadan.
4. I love getting mail from home and I'm getting a post office box in Maan this week.
5. Rice is very hard to eat with your hands. There's a certain skill to it, and I'm glad that most people use spoons.
6. I'm thinking about starting to wear the hijab in order to complete my experience of cultural immersion.
7. I'm going to buy a telephone for my apartment and have a line installed.
Anyway, off to shop for a telephone. Love all of you guys, sorry I can't think of anything to say right now. My arabic is probably better than my english at this point. I just want to go back home and rest =( |
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| Chips and turkish toilets |
[Sep. 8th, 2006|09:27 am] |
I'm quoting a friend of mine here:
"Can I just say that turkish toilets don't smell that great in the summer? It reminds me of using the "Pot-o-Gold" porta-potties in Louisianna, or at least that's what I was thinking this morning. One day I squatted for so long all of the blood was forced out of my legs and I had pins and needles in them for about half an hour after I was done. The west was really on to something when they created the sit down toilet." --Molly (name changed to protect the guilty)
This is basically the sum and total experience of turkish toilets. They're toilets and they really do work well as such, but they're such a lot of work compared to western toilets. On a western toilet, you can sit at your ease while your bowels decide when they want to move. Turkish toilets are a dangerous and precarious balancing exercise that also require you to have the marksmanship of an expert archer unless you want to clean up a big mess.
I must note, that as much as I dislike turkish toilets, crouched with my pants rolled up to my knees to avoid splash effect, that my calves are firmly muscled from the time I spend crouched waiting for my bowels to make up their collective mind, and my sense of balance has greatly improved.
Moving from bathroom talk to chips, just let me say that there's not much difference when it comes to the chips that I'm talking about. Oh, I'm not alone here, but it's not universal either. Chips here taste like puffy styrofoam coated in ketchup. Not all of them, but the cheap kind which are shillein each, or 5 qierch. I hate them dearly but the tiny cheap dukans have little else, so I predict that I will loses weight on a khobez and bandoora diet. Oops, bread and tomato. The words bread and tomato look weird to me. I think the arabic words are sticking in my head a little bit better than english these days.
Anyway, friends, check out the peaceworker fellows program at the university of maryland for me. I'm interested but never have enough time to check it out sufficiently. Email me okay? Lovies, off to church, I'm visiting the mormon church in Irbid, bye! |
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| Gasoline and painting |
[Sep. 7th, 2006|04:55 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  thirsty | ] |
Hello there once again arabic fans, writing to you as always from a little internet cafe in Irbid. Things are going well over here. I know that you all probably heard about the shooting in Amman at the Roman Amphitheater, so that's the first thing I want to address.
Jordan, like all other places, has its fair share of sad, lonely, desperate people. In the US these people target children, foreigners, women, men, homosexuals, heterosexuals, racial minorities--or any combination of the above. The same is true for Jordan. Desperate, angry people do desperate angry things--living in the middle east scarcely changes the psychology of desperate angry people. This may easily have happened in any state in the US. It was the act of one single man whose motivations we will likely never know.
Anyway, I would like to extend my sympathies to the families and the nations of the victims of this terrible act, but I would also like to reassure my family that I feel perfectly safe here. The people of Jordan are probably the most open and welcoming people that I have ever known, and they have an ability that is rather rare in the US--the ability to separate the person from the flag and to welcome and love individuals despite what they may think of the politics of the person's country of origin.
Moving on, I want to tell you all about the practicum project my group and I did at our center! It was bitter-sweet because I knew that it would be our last days there with the kids and the teachers, and I didn't quite realize exactly how attached I'd become to them until I started walking away.
The day started with "assalamu alaykum" in jordanian sign from the deaf lady who works in the kitchen. Her hijab was blue and she tisked her tongue at the paint still in my fingernails.
We'd painted the playground the previous three days. Actually, the first was sanding, clouds of rust and sandpaper worn to rough pink cloth. I wondered if the paint was lead based--fortunately, the peace corps covers injuries incurred in service. If my brain begins to rot I'll give them a call.
Next my tall friend with the wicked tongue and freckles to match carried five gallons of water down the stairs for lemonade to fit our budget, which was weaker than my pinky finger playing field hockey.
Lemonade and cookies, or biscot and the kids played on the playground, sanded and painted, ordered with the weeds cut down to ankle length. We poured the paint thinner and the gasoline in the corner next to the carbureator which was decked with spots of whitewash.
Did I mention the paint? We painted two slides, one red and one yellow, the tall one stuck to the sun for the better part of the morning making photogenic pictures hard.
The jungle gym was terrible. Blue and green but our hair and faces rubbed against the sultry noon and after we'd left it all to cure, we washed with paint thinner, then gasoline, then kitchen soap. Gasoline is good for the skin, drains your pores right out.
Okay, I'm not going to change it, but I just realized that I was waxing sort of poetic and that likely no one cares for my poetic prose so I'll just set it out.
We sanded and painted the playground with the kids from the center. There were two slides, a big yellow one and a short red one. One big swingset, we drew polka dots on the wooden seats to make them nice, two small ones with green polka dot seats, a teeter totter and a jungle gym. The kids all helped in the sanding and the painting.
We also did a mural with the kids & the teacher's handprints making up the colors of the jordanian flag. It was fairly awesome. As for now, things are going well, we have our main language test next week which should be fairly exciting...even more exciting if I don't get home soon and study. My grammar is fairly good but I'm seriously lacking vocabulary. Anyway, today is the 7th of September, so that means that I will swear in and depart for my site in exactly two weeks. Time seems to have passed so fast. I'm really going to miss the trainees who live in my village with me. I feel so close to them. I'm sure that we will have time to go and visit each other but...sad anyway. I'm sure I'm going to cry that day.
Basically they're picking us up and dropping us in a cement room out in the desert. I have two cement rooms, actually, and they're all mine, so I don't mind. I'm going to paint blue polka dots on the floor and maybe some murals on the walls. We'll have to see! Ramadan starts in less than a month, too. I think it's the 23rd of September. We don't have to fast, but I'm going to, since I'm going to be trying to integrate into my community, and besides, it's an interesting experience.
As of now, in addition to my clothes, I have purchased or been given these things for my apartment:
a bowl
a cutting board
a mattress
a fan (IT'S HOT)
sheets
pillows
towels
a drying rack for clothes
a knife
a cat carrier (getting a kitty!)
Anyway, I will get back to you guys in awhile. Much love and all that jazz, hope all are well at home. Those of you in the know, packages of licorice would be much appreciated. |
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| Prayer on fridays |
[Sep. 6th, 2006|07:38 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  happy | ] |
Hey all, sorry I didn't post more pictures I think I told someone that I had more pictures to come, and I really do, I just didn't get a chance to get into the internet. It's been kind of busy lately.
Just wanted to drop a quick note about prayer on Fridays. Okay, even during the week prayer call is a busy time, but on Fridays, it's crazy. I was trying to leave the house to get to the bus (which wasn't running, we had to take a mini-bus) and the street was just filled with cars and men. It was like a single writhing, teeming mass almost sweating off the streets, and I watched in awe (overstated) until they just blew away. It's amazing how quickly and organizedly that mass just evaporated.
Okay, so that was this morning, let me think what else has been going on. Oh yea, we moved our classes to a half built building next to a farm. It's owned by the host father of the two guys in our group. I think that if I had entered that building three months ago and been told that we would be having class there, I would be shocked. Now it's just audie (normal) and besides, the fact that half of it is still open to air means that it's got a nice breeze going during the day.
Okay, the next update with be on Umm Qais and Ajloun. It was a fun day and it was last friday I think, but I'm not going to write about it until I can put up the accompanying pictures. Just so as not to keep you in suspense, Umm Qais is a Roman ruin, and Ajloun is an old mountain castle, both are incredible. Hopefully this will be updated next Thursday, it's the next time I really get into town, and this week is going to be intense, so it's really the next time that I will have a break. See you then! |
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| Pictures |
[Aug. 24th, 2006|03:11 pm] |
Updated my pictures finally, so there should be some in there for you guys to see. I will add more eventually but it takes forever to upload at this internet cafe. I will be off to my future site this weekend, wish me luck! I will bring back new pictures of my apartment.
Pictures |
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| Today's my counterpart conference |
[Aug. 23rd, 2006|08:25 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Irbid, Jordan | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  curious | ] |
| [ | music |
| | something vaguely 80's | ] |
Hey all, writing again from the wonderful city of Irbid in northern Jordan. Today is the day that I meet my counterpart, who will be the one to introduce me to my village and help me move there in one short month's time. I really don't have much to say about that, other than I'm nervous, but there will likely be an update sometime tomorrow.
In other news, I have word about tan lines. A few days ago a fellow PCT and I were complaining about our tan lines to our arabic teacher--our feet face and hands are tan, everything else, white as the moon--and she joined our complaints, saying that her hijab leaves her with a tan line around her forehead and jaw--I never even thought of that! You could get a really weird tan line from wearing the hijab.
Anyway, other news? I'm done working at markez almanar for now, we are doing a project in a couple of weeks there, but this week I will be travelling from my village up north, Huwarrah, to my final placement Al-Hussenieh in the south. It's supposed to be a long bus ride and I'm not particularly looking forward to that part of the trip--in fact it would be nice if someone in a blue subaru with air conditioning picked me up and bought me a slurpee for the ride--but I'll live.
Arabic's coming along good, I just had a conversation with a lady on the bus on the way here--it's always weird yet strangely gratifying when people actually understand what you're saying in a foreign language.
Okay, some weird tidbits I've learned while here:
Jordanians don't really use napkins, they use Kleenex, and they too call it by the name brand popular in this region, Fine.
People tend to have at least one clock in their house that is an advertizement for a pharmaceuticals company. I have no idea why, but I went to Ohm Moawieya's (who is just about the coolest person in Huwarra) house last week and she had a Zyprexa clock in her living room. It was weird.
The falafel guy doesn't always wear a hairnet.
Not all shebabs (young men) are spoiled pricks but a lot of them are.
It is possible to have a leader you actually like and respect--King Abdullah seems to be universally held in high regard. Let's hope for a president I can do the same with in 2008.
Everyone and their brother owns a dukan--but be careful about whose you go to. If you're friends with someone who's uncle owns a dukan, it had sure as hell BETTER be his. It's all about the wasta (connections).
Don't argue with the bus driver when you're not REALLY sure whether 100 fils equals 10 grush or 1 giersh. It's really embarassing with you turn out to be wrong.
Shajara Huwarra does NOT mean Huwarrah traffic light
The times for call to prayer change with the light, so as summer goes on, they get earlier, totally throwing off my sense of time.
They have daylight savings here--I need to find out when.
Buzz is a bad word in arabic. So are zip and cous (as in cous cous). Jism, fucker, and aswald, are not, however, and mean respectively: body, I think, and black. There are plenty more, arabic is a fun language.
Anyway, sorry again all but I forgot my camera (actually, I couldn't find it, which won't surprize you if you know me) but I will definitely find it so I can take pictures in Hussenieh this weekend, and a few people said that I could borrow their camera cords because they're compatible. Anyway, that's for next week probably but I will definitely do some kind of an update about how the counterpart conferences went.
One last note--politics are quiet here for those of us who can't read newspapers, but they are all around, almost disturbingly omnipresent. When I realize just how much Jordanians know about the rest of the world in general, it makes me slightly ashamed at my lack of knowledge, and even more, my lack of a strong desire TO know. Yes, politics are depressing but I don't think that I realized how important they are. In the US we are allowed to live in a bubble that is nearly untouchable. It's been pricked a very few times--Pear Harbor, 9/11. Here people don't have that luxury. The world around them is active, vibrant and violent and there is no choice but to care. Everyone here has an opinion on everything and most of them are informed to some extent, though not necessarily based on a variety of diverse sources. There is a stereotype of Americans that paints us ignorant of politics. In my case it was true in many respects. I kept on top of what interested me and let the rest go. nyway, the point is, is that I've decided that no matter how painful it is, it's vital to be informed.
That's all from Jordan for now, lots of love all!
S--HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I didn't get a chance to tell you in person, but i hope you enjoyed your camping trip and I hope that E gave you my message. Lots of love!
Samurai-HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I know birthdays don't matter much when age is like the wind through your hair, but happy birthday anyway, and keep fighting the good fight. |
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| Hello once again |
[Aug. 17th, 2006|05:49 pm] |
Hi people, once again writing to you from the wonderful city of Irbid, in North Jordan. Today was our last 'practice day' at our center, so now we have just about a month until we head off to our sites. Fortunately (or unfortunately, I'm not sure which) Ramadan starts 3 days after we move to our permanent site. On the plus side, we might get dinner invites and be able to meet people--on the minus side, we might not, and we will have already been there a month after Ramadan ends, so the excitement of our arrival might have worn off, and people just won't care to get to know us.
Anyway, nattering worries aside, I'm having a great time. It was one of those highly ironic moments that occurred a few days ago--my host mother said to me, "Kris, did you hear? The war is over." I, of course, was shocked. So I said, "WHAT?! How, when?!" She said, "The man from the UN, Kofi, he said they should stop." I stared at her blankly for a moment, then I realized that we both appreciated the profound irony of the UN declaration, and I grinned at her. She grinned back.
Speaking of profound ironies, there is a group here in Jordan from Japan, that is similar to the PCV's, and they're called JICA volunteers. I'm not sure what the acronym stands for, but it doesn't quite matter for the story. One of the PCV's here in Jordan was telling us about a JICA volunteer in her village. She said that the girl had been trained in standard arabic, whereas most people here don't understand standard--we are being trained in the colloquial dialect. Anyway, the villagers could not understand her arabic, and she could not understand theirs, and the villagers did not speak japanese, so, by default, the common language of a japanese volunteer in the middle east and the arab volunteers in the south of Jordan, is English. There's something hauntingly "globalized" about that.
Anyway, earlier yesterday, I found out that my neighbor's brother had died. Abu M is a very nice man--he arranged an awesome trip out for us to see a virtual castle that someone is building outside of my village. His brother died in Aquaba which is about as far away from Irbid as you can get and stay inside Jordan, so I can't imagine that he'd seen his brother too often or too recently. Abu M is also the amam for the mosque that is right across the street from my host family's home.
At evening prayer call, the last of the day, el aisher I think, I heard Abu M in the minaret over the speakers, announcing his brother's death. I heard it announced by another amam a few blocks away at el magreb the 4th call to prayer when we were in class, and our language instructor told us what it was. I'm not quite sure whether it was my perception that it should be sad because it was his brother, or if it was really as filled with grief as I believe I heard, but either way, I stopped reading after the first note and I just listened with my eyes closed. Real or imagined, Abu M announcing the death of his brother in that loud, quavering voice over the speakers of the mosque, all of his family for miles around listening to news of the death of one of their members -- it may be melodramatic, but in that moment, it was truely one of the most heart rending things that I have ever heard.
Aside from such sadness, all is well here. I'm progressing in arabic (though not as quickly as I'd like) and my last week teaching at the center was awesome! We studied emotions and I saw genuine improvement in the kid's ability to recognize facial expressions and describe their own emotional state.
I will probably be in again next week and will drop a line to this journal then--I am meeting my counterpart next week and then going down south to visit my permanent site--YIKES! Where did the time go? It seems like I just arrived here yesterday. Anyway, lots of love habibti, ana bidi agra email hessa--maa sallama! |
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| in irbid again |
[Aug. 13th, 2006|12:45 pm] |
Hey all, to the all that are reading my livejournal! I'm in Irbid again, typing from an internet cafe, a different one which i don't like quite so much. The weird thing about the internet here is that it seems like only guys use them, so it's not exactly culturally appropriate that i'm here, but not exactly inappropriate either.
Yesterday we took a cultural trip to Amman and there was a party at the country director's house! The ambassador was there as were all of the j-9's, so we had an awesome time =) The highlights were the springrolls yum chinese food!
We also visited the King Abdullah mosque in Amman, which is just incredible. Women have to be covered to enter mosques, so I have pictures of me in a hijab, which i will put up soon. It's really an architectural marvel, and gorgeous, I suggest that you google it because my pictures don't do it justice!
After we got back to Irbid, we went shopping at Shaeria Cinema, which is basically a local's shopping district with nice cheap clothes, woohoo! I got a thobe which is black with peach and olive flowers, so pretty! I've decided that these will make good presents back to the states for my friends =)
Later, we stayed at the hotel in Irbid again, and we had a waxing night with some of the girls. We ate falafel sandwiches, complained about bedbug bites and waxed various body parts. I did my arms and screamed each time, YEOWCH!
Oh, last thing, I got calling cards, so expect some calls tonight back in the states =) MUCH LOVE EVERYONE, Jordan is awesome! Next time I write, I'll probably be able to tell you about my site and my apartment, we're going on site visits next Tuesday I THINK. Bye from Jordan! |
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| NO TIME! |
[Aug. 10th, 2006|07:48 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Irbid, Jordan | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  excited | ] |
| [ | music |
| | I swear by the sun and the moon in the sky etc. | ] |
Hey I'm here with a group so I don't have much time to update, but I wanted to write and tell all of you that things are going great! I just got assigned to the Ma'an governate in a city right near there to work with the mentally and physically challenged in the community. I am so excited!
I don't have any pictures up but hopefully I will soon. Weather is hot and I got a novice mid on my mid language exam, which is halfway there (but it's frustrating because I know I could have done better!)
We had some yummy strawberry cake to celebrate our site announcements, and we're going to Amman this weekend, writing this now from Irbid but I have to go! So, anyway, give me a call and look up Ma'an. I'm in the northern end of the province, right up by the border of the Tafeela provice. Love love to all! |
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| Long weekend |
[Jul. 29th, 2006|08:05 am] |
Hey all, back again. I went to visit a PCV this weekend which was okay. You know how sometimes people just don't get along right from the start? Maybe they're too similar, or there's just something that each takes an instant annoyance to in the other? Well, that's sort of how it was. Don't get me wrong, she's a great girl and a good volunteer from what I can tell--it's just one of those strange unexplainable things that happens from time to time.
Also, another mark for me on the target tally. This time I got a corn cob thrown at me. Although it is true that I am being targeted for harm, the acts are so patently ridiculous (getting kicked/punched in the butt and having a corn cob thrown at me) that they're pretty easy to shake off and laugh at. Annoying, but not traumatizing in the least. In fact, I feel like I'm in middle school again, but too bad for them, I've grown up, even if they have not.
My arabic is coming along pretty good now! I can understand or at least get the gist of most simple conversations that I hear, and the volunteer that I visited complimented me on my arabic. I am happy that I am making progress. We are having our mid-LPI exam pretty soon (an oral exam *snicker*) and I'm hoping to make novice high, which is a pretty ambitious goal, since novice high is the rating that we have to make before we swear in and begin our term of service.
Let me give you a rundown of the ratings, as I remember them:
Novice
Low
Mid
High
Intermediate
Low
Mid
High
Advanced
Low
Mid
High
After this there are two more levels which I can't remember the names for, but they are pretty much for native speakers or those who have studied the language for a really long time. So, we only have to get to Novice high by the end of our language training, which isn't really that hard. Novice high means that you can introduce yourself, talk about most basic information about yourself (your family, your favorite food, etc) and understand when others do the same. It's not bad at all!
In other news, Lebanon and Israel are still all over the news, which I feel is part of the reason that I've been getting so much attention, along with the other volunteers. People around here are wonderful and welcoming, but they are also angry. Those that don't know us, and why we're here, see us walking down the street and see an american. They don't see a person, they see a rich priveledged supporter of Israeli policies whether it's true or not. Put that in conjunction with the fact that more than 60% of the population of Jordan is comprised of Palestinian refugees and you see why people are angry. I cannot condone their actions, but I can understand their pain.
Right now I'm in an internet cafe in Irbid, and it's a LOT nicer than the first one I went to. I think that I will try to frequent this one in the future. Oh, yeah, the reason that I've been having trouble sending letters to those who had anticipated receiving letters and postcards is that first of all, it costs .80JD to send a postcard or a letter to the US which is really expensive by local standards. I could probably buy lunch for 2 with .80JD and the PC gives us an allowance of 18JD every two weeks, most of which is spent on bottled water since boiling your water is nasty.
The other issue with letters and postcards is that Jordan recently phased out postage stamps. Suckage, I know! So, in order to send a letter I have to go to the post office, have it weighed and pay like that, which wouldn't be too much of a problem because there's a post office in my village, except that I'm pretty sure that the post office is only open something like Sunday-Thursday 8am-1:30pm if they're feeling ambitious that day. I have language class and then I go teach at the Al Manar Center so I don't get back to my village until after the PO is closed, suck. So don't expect mail anytime soon, but it WILL come eventually.
Speaking of Al Manar center, one of the kids there BIT me. She's a little demon, and she's already my favorite because she said that the devil was in her head and made her do things sometimes. I'm wondering if she's ever had a psych assessment. Anyway, it broke the skin but it didn't get infected and since I just got a tetanus shot, I'm good. I kind of felt like it was my special ed welcome to Jordan. You're not really in the special ed field until you've had someone bite you, punch you, kick you, pull your hair or spit on you. It was an odd sort of welcome, and is posthumously appreciated =) I hope everyone at home is doing well, love you all lots!
One other thing, I'd like too include a recent poem of mine that for me, sort of sums up Jordan so far:
A ghost town stuffedwith
litter-children stomping gutters--
My tongue tries licking at letters--
The ghosts keep picking figs
and wait for olives to ripen.
Grapes that boil beneath their skins
patient in the heat of late July,
my rush brings whispered smiles
as some ghosts can hear me speak.
Enshalla
They'll sit beside
the fifteen dukans to each street
slaughtered lambs swing cobbled
by their hooves, zaaki fii wedding maansef.
The garbled words of greeting
wring sunburned smiles across their faces.
Bandoora! Kheeyar!
The market man screams his goods
before the fifth and final prayer
and staring eyes that glue my face to God
Straight ahead without a twitch
Until I lock the door and
Gauzy curtains break my room with breeze
Assalamu alaykum--I feel real.
Wa alaykum issalam, I wipe my eyes awake and breathe. |
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| Internet access! |
[Jul. 24th, 2006|07:52 pm] |
Hello all, and welcome to the wonderful world of frequent updating! An internet cafe just opened up not even a 5 minute walk from my house. And so here I sit, typing on a keyboard with arabic letters inscribed side by side with english letters, the fourth prayer el magreb singing through the air from the mosque next door. It's really incredible.
It's only been 9 days since I updated this thing, but it feels like a lot longer! So much has happened, particularly with language acquisition. I think that we have covered about a semester's worth of material in the short time I've been here. In fact, as soon as I leave here, I am going to prepare to teach my first class, tomorrow, yikes!
Last week I observed the kids in the school we are in. It is much like special ed schools in the US--not enough time, training, resources or materials--but for the region, I've been told that it's good. It's an Al Mannar center, which is run by the government here, so it has a lot more funding than some of the NGO's operating in the area, but then again, it is not eligible for foreign aid, which is a minus.
Anyway, the kids are great and we already get along. Some of them were scribbling pictures and I was teasing them about what they were drawing--"Azarek zarafa?" (blue giraffe, most likely the gender of the adjective is not in agreement with the noun, but since that is my homework, I'll get back to you on that matter) And they would stare at me in open amazement then tenatively giggle and say "La!" then tell me whatever it was they were really drawing. I, of course, had no idea what they said, but smiling accordingly works wonders!
On to my fellow trainees--they're great =) It's an incredible relief, no matter how beautiful and welcoming this place is, to have a source of support to draw on, because believe it or not, some of the things that people do and say here can be confusing, frustrating and aggravating--not necessarily because they are wrong things, but because I either can't understand, or because I simply cannot understand that aspect of their culture yet.
There was one incident--while I was walking down the street in my village, a young teenager ran up behind me and either punched or kicked me. I felt like I was kicked, but the girl who was walking with me said it looked more like he punched me. I wasn't particularly angry--I figured that the motivation probably had a lot to do with what's going on in Israel and Lebanon right now--oh yeah, we get the news over here too. And I can't believe the Senate vote on that matter. Let me say very personally and definitively that it PISSES ME OFF. The matter is, of course, complicated, but in my personal opinion they should not be condoning the actions of either side. Anyway, it's just insanity, and my ranting about it is never going to stop it.
To continue, the PC reaction was swift and surprising. They're very efficient and the kid was found quickly and given a talking to. I was also surprised at how embarassed everyone was in the village--they were so helpful! Every dukan I went into, whether I was there for a bottle of water or a phone card, they would point to boys on the street and ask me if they were the ones. My host mother and sister keep picking me up everywhere, protecting me from being kicked again =) which i doubt will happen!
What else? Oh, I spent last night in Irbid which was kinda nice. The city is still kind of abuzz with what's happening with Israel and Lebanon now, since it's basically degenerated into a full scale war. In fact, one of the girls wanted to go to church in Irbid last week but we were restricted from going into the city because of demonstrations. Friday is the day that everyone attends mosque here, and also the day that many Christians attend church, and afterward there were many planned protests, which require permits, so everything was quite orderly. The PC was just erring on the side of caution I think.
Anyway, I will definitely be back tomorrow to clue everyone in on how the first day of teaching goes at Al Manar Markez (the lighthouse center)! Wish me luck, love and kisses,
K
P.S. M THANKS FOR THE LETTER I GOT IT ON PI APPROXIMATION DAY!!! |
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| First week in Irbid |
[Jul. 15th, 2006|06:33 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  enthralled | ] |
Hey to anyone reading this journal. I've started my first week in the Peace Corps and it's incredible. I've found the people of Jordan to be so incredibly warm and inviting. Right now I'm in an internet cafe in Irbid, surrounded by rowdy teenagers undoubtedly commenting on the funny foreigner =) which I don't mind, because I'm sure I do seem funny. It's okay, I consider myself a walking talking cultural project.
My days are so busy, filled with language lessons and just taking everything in that I'm sorry if I haven't had the opportunity to write to any of you. I also haven't had a chance to get to the post office yet. I'll admit that some parts of these first days are uncomfortable. Men whistling and making comments, taxis honking and people hooting out of the windows of busses--but still, I think that this is something that I will get used to, if never enjoy or approve of.
Aside from these small incidents though, the little that I've seen of Jordan so far has been incredible. Yesterday I had my first experience of mensaaf, a traditional dish you eat with your hands! Delicious! I have to go, looks like my group is leaving, but hopefully I'll get back to you soon. I move in with my homestay family tomorrow, wish me luck! |
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| FINALLY DONE! |
[Jun. 6th, 2006|09:13 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  novicainated | ] |
I've finally finished all of my dental work. Not that you want to know, but I had to have 6 teeth extracted (4 of them wisdom teeth, so I figure my smarts are leakin') 2 root canals and like 6 fillings.
I now owe the dentist $1400 in addition to what I've already paid him! I suppose it's my fault though, I hate the sound of the drill going through my teeth, up my jaw and into my brain. I bore it though.
Well, more later when I get approval for this page!
Later my friends, 29 days and counting! |
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| Test posting |
[Jun. 2nd, 2006|06:05 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  pedantic | ] |
Hello all, this is a test post to make sure I like the format of this journal, and to explain exactly what will be going on in this journal.
In September of 2005 I applied to join the Peace Corps. I didn't really care exactly where I went, so I kind of threw it up to the program, and I ended up being invited to join the Peace Corps in Jordan starting in July of 2006.
I'll bet you've noticed that it's now only June of 2006--well, good for you for being so perceptive! At the time that I am writing this, I have about a month to go before I leave to join the Peace Corps. This journal will take place over that month, and the 27 months that follow it. I must note that 27 is one of my absolute favorite numbers because not only is 27=3^3 but 2+7=9 and 9=3x9...I have a thing with the number 3, so anyway, I take that as a sign that this trip is foreordained.
Before I start writing I will need to get approval for this blog, and I would like to state once again (it is in my info page) that this site is in no way sponsored, endorsed or backed by the Peace Corps. This is simply a page that is dedicated to the expression and exploration of my own personal thoughts, beliefs and experiences over the course of the next 28 months. |
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