Monday, September 29, 2008

Going to Syria

It’s Eid al-Fitr (the celebration at the end of Ramadan that lasts 3 days). I’ll be going to Syria (Damascus) with some friends from the language center (Houston, Andrea and Jennifer) until Thursday! There was a suicide bomb that went off a few days ago…call me crazy since it was still an act of terrorism, but it will not be as dangerous as I know many people back home will think. It hit a government building, the exact intensions unknown at the moment. Given it being Eid and such an event having occurred, I have a feeling security is going to be more strict than I might ever witness during my year here.

School is moving along well. I’m still learning, although each day there are hundreds of new words thrown at me wit’s so hard to keep up. Today I went to play soccer with some friends…I did really well considering I haven’t seriously kicked a ball since High School. Ramadan was a good experience…but I’m glad it’s over, since it will be easier to grab some food or a drink out in public during the day. Things were more calm than usual, although you could tell the stress of hunger and thirst on some occasions…especially on the road, before dinner.

I had another Iftar at an orphanage with Adeeb, the president of the Rotaract club I’ve been volunteering with. We’ll also be starting some fundraising and outreach programs sometime, and after sharing that I’ve had some experience doing so, I will be helping out quite a bit I’m sure. I also volunteered with a Jordanian community service group called Action Committee at an Iftar with refugee children, with my friend Andrew. I will upload pictures after I return from Syria. The kids were very enthusiastic to talk to us, and we had a great time.

The other day some friends and I went to some ruins in Amman (Roman and Byzantine). Those pictures will also be uploaded after I get back from my trip to Syria. Stay tuned…

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Ramadan Continues

It is very interesting to observe the different views about Ramadan by those not practicing the traditions of Islam. While Jordan’s population is vastly Muslim, there is a decent sized Christian community, as well as those who don’t practice all traditions of Islam. One evening a friend, Houston, and I were being polite and rather diplomatic to a taxi driver, asking him how his Ramadan was going and wishing him all the best; he used rather colorful language expressing his vast dislike for the month. Many have mentioned how much of an inconvenience it was for those not fasting, since practically all restaurants are closed and it is illegal to eat and drink in public. To those who may be traveling here in the future during Ramadan: there is a Subway sandwich shop not far from the University that is open, and the other day I went to a nice restaurant/bakery in Abdoun called Crumbs which even had a license to serve alcohol. There is also an extremely popular restaurant/café/book store called Books@ Café in the downtown area that is usually open during Ramadan. Although, apparently the restaurant was recently shut down for the rest of Ramadan by the ‘intelligence police’ (the Mukhabarat, whose name is somewhat feared by many Jordanians). I heard someone mention it was because someone was dining and drinking alcohol on the outside patio, and was seen and then reported by a neighbor…others have speculated the reasons were out of dislike, since Books@ has a considerably ‘liberal vibe.’ Books@ is definitely a good place to meet other ex-pats, and seems to be a good place to make a few connections.

School began on Sunday. The language test placed me in level four! To no surprise to me I moved down to level three after the first day, since the expectations far exceeded my skill level. Many of the students I met during my first month Language Training had to move down at least one level, sometimes two. The Language Center’s placement test is definitely not too accurate at assessing student’s levels. Also, there aren’t enough levels to put students into. My class has over 30 students and so does the level four. The variation in skill level also has some students in between the existing levels, as the class they are in is too hard, but the class under them is too easy. I find myself somewhere in the middle of my class as far as skill, and hope as the semester goes on I will be able to move up a little more.

I went to an Iftar at an orphanage on Sunday with two others from the Rotaract Club of Amman-Petra. It was a good experience. There are a few more planned that I hope to attend. We delivered the food, helped set up/arrange things in their dining room, talked to some of the kids for a little bit, ate when the mosque sounded the Idaam (the call to end the fast), I took a few pictures with the kids and then we left. It was a little shorter than I anticipated, but was good to show a group of kids that others are out there thinking of them. Here are some pictures I took:



















Last night I went to the annual Bingo night one of the Rotaract clubs hold and had a lot of fun. There was a magician who put on an entertaining show, as well as a small band that played for a little bit. Tonight I have a few parties/events that I’m invited to and am attempting to figure out how to divide up my time among them all. Tomorrow I’m going to the Dead Sea as well as a Desert Castle along the way with a friend, Alex. I’m pretty excited to finally see somewhere outside of Amman!

Late Update

I thought I had posted this blog before, but could not see it...so I'm copying/pasting it from the Word Doc I had originally written, and then posting a separate and more recent update:

So Ramadan is has been going on for the last week. So far, it’s going alright. The other day I actually ended up fasting until dinner unintentionally, since I was out and about all day with Fawwaz. We went to Popeye’s chicken (imagine that!...I’ve never been there back in the State’s). Some restaurant chains have a dinner “buffet” during Ramadan. It was quite an experience. Everyone was eager to get their food, so there was no order to it. The place was full of a lot of younger kids who all were much more excited and lively after eating…one kid had a guitar and started playing it. Despite the no-smoking signs, and the no-smoking law that Fawwaz mentioned, the place soon became smoke filled, from kids probably around 14 or 15 years old. Last night I went to an Iftar at the hotel I stayed in the first month with the receptionists I had frequently chatted with. We had Musakhan, a Palestinian dish of bread with oil, cooked onions, chicken and spices and many other smaller appetizers, such as Sambosak and Kobbah (stuffed pastries/really fine dough with meet, cheeses or vegetables), soup, salad, dates (which I brought) followed by very delicious peach/fruit custard and Quatayef (very similar to small pancakes, stuffed with nuts, coconut, sweet cheeses or spices, which are fried and dipped in a sweet sugar water/sauce.) Needless to say I was very stuffed!
















The other day I also went to my first, temporary host counselor, Yousef Bashton’s house, for lunch with his family, another Rotary Scholar who just arrived (Jennifer) and Liana. We had a lot of great food, none of which I remember the names of! We spent a while there, and had a terrific time. His brother and sister were their, along with his uncles and aunts, two nieces and his mother (who is 91). His mother was incredibly sweet, but unfortunately is pretty frail and kept forgetting things. She took a liking to me and kept asking me the same questions over. The whole family time made me reminisce back to when my family went to go visit our relatives back in New Jersey.

I’ve been going out to cafes or the huge mall (Mecca Mall) with some friends on occasion during Ramadan. One night some of us in the Rotaract went to a restaurant to celebrate someone’s birthday. While it was still quite warm outside and we were right next to a speaker for the live band that was playing, I had a great time. Being strongly into music and having played trumpet and guitar and been in a few bands, I really appreciate and enjoy the difference in music here. The singer at the restaurant sung all popular songs and many people would sing or clap along with the beat. During one song the singer mentioned locations (cities in Jordan and sometimes countries) and the people in the crowd would cheer when he sung their home town. Towards the end my group tried to request America for me, but he was finishing up. Music as part of the culture here is considerably different than in the U.S. Here you will find a wide mix of generations enjoying the same folk songs. There are much less obvious differences in a group’s musical taste by appearance. Back at home in the U.S.A., I would often see people walking around in the style unique to their musical preferences…such as the people into hard rock, rap, hip hop, emo, etc.


I am still waiting for school to start. Wednesday I have my language test and Thursday an orientation at the Language Center. So life has been relaxing. I had gone to Mass (in French) the other week with another Rotarian who is Catholic, Omar. Omar’s mother is Lebanese and so he is proficient in French (due to the French influence from after WWI), and enjoys going to that mass. While I have never studied French, I could still pick up a few words here and there since it has many similar “cognates” to English. It was yet another nice international experience for my memories.