Culture الثقالفة

After reflecting on my blog I feel there is so much I could share that I haven't. Living in Jordan has become so regular for me, I often forget that what might have become normal to me- or the new experiences I continue to have that don't surprise me as much as they would a first time visitor- still remains a mystery to people who have never been to Jordan or any other Arab country.

Now that the new semester is starting and I continue to meet many new students who just arrived I am reminded of various aspects of the society and culture that are unfamiliar to many. Below I will mention one of the many parts of the culture that I've thought of recently about commenting on. I will continue to think of topics and write more, and for any readers out there can think of other things for me to add, or would like me to add on something I said, please comment and mention those things. If you find yourself slightly embarrassed about asking something and don't want the comment to be viewable by anyone else, feel free to email me: gregdistic@live.com.

TRAFFIC / TRANSPORTATION

As I mentioned a long time ago (so it seems at least) crossing the street was a chaotic and frightening experience. Having lived here for a while I developed the skill and confidence that keeps me from seeing my life flash before my eyes, as often is the case with the 'newbies.' With a population of over 2.5 million people, the roads are quite chaotic at times. Although, compared to when I was in Cairo, which has a population of over 8 million, Amman seems like nothing. My developed skills are definitely practiced everyday I go to my internship. As far as I can recall, crosswalks are non-existent. When there is the occasional pedestrian bridge or tunnel, they are often very far apart. So it simply takes walking into the street at just the right time where you will get past the first 'lane' and wait until the next car passes in the following lane until you reach the other side. TIP: find a speed bump which are sometimes common, as the slowdown in traffic will be slightly more likely.

I did not have the chance to rent a car, but my friend Houston did; he said it was definitely a new and quite different experience. Another American classmate of mine had a car from his company and I've been able to see how his driving assimilated into the Jordanian way. While there are some lines painted to form lanes, they are rather optional. When no cars are around, people will often tend to dive in the middle of the street. Amman has seven major circles which have been a major venting point for many Jordanians I've met. The 'rule' for circles, as it has been explained to me, is "whoever is in the circle gets the right of way". However, as I have often thought my taxi would be considered "in the circle" he would stop and other cars would go.

I was born in New York, but since I grew up in California I cannot make an accurate comparison, but here the horn is used much more often than back home. Even when I am going to bed (or as I type this at 11:30pm at night) there is never a minute (and rarely 30 seconds when I count) when I do not hear a honk. It is sometimes used as it is in the states, a warning for others; I've also seen taxis honk to let pedestrians know they are empty; and I have also seen a few taxis honk (with passengers in them) honk at attractive girls walking on the street.

If/whenever I do return to Jordan for a job or further study, one of the top items on my to-do list is buy a car. While taxis are convenient and not too expensive (especially compared to the US) I get so tired of riding in them. However, for anyone traveling here for a short time, taxis really are a great way to travel. You must make sure they run their meter (unless it is after midnight in the really early morning, which prices must be negotiated. Even so, prices anywhere in Amman can easily be negotiated to no more than 5JD, which is still most likely too much). I also just heard (and notice) a new taxi system here, called "Mumayez taxi". I don't know who owns them, but apparently you can call a number and have them pick you up from where you are. Someone was telling me that you can have multiple stops/a schedule and at the end you pay the bill. They too run a meter, although it starts slightly higher than the normal yellow ones. However, after midnight they will continue to run the meter and not require you to pay more than it reads.

I still have not yet explored the buses, as many others haven't. Their routes are constant and there are quite a few of them in Amman, however their schedules seem to be quite irregular. Oftentimes, buses will leave when they fill up...which could take 20-30 minutes or even an hour. When walking along the street, you will also have a guy standing in the door way of the bus shouting at you to see if you want to get on the bus.

For traveling long distances there are many ways to travel. There are a variety of major tourist bus companies which are much cheaper than taxis; these buses are a lot similar to Greyhound or similar ones in the US. There are also small buses that can be found which are even cheaper, but the size and comfort is much less. Service taxis (white cabs) can also be taken from major bus/transportation stations; although often they will be more pricey. I have also heard from friends who took a taxi to the Dead Sea (30 minutes away or so) that the driver continued to complain that they need to get back since he said staying at the Dead Sea was losing him business...although in reality he probably made more money on that one trip than he makes in a day.

Commentary on the recent Gaza event...

Here’s a blog I forgot I had started to write and never posted regarding the situation with Gaza. Since it’s been almost a week since the fighting has halted, at least temporarily, and since I started my internship and have been briefly looking into a few aspects about Gaza I figure it’s worth updating and sharing.

For the last two days my boss had me look into psychosocial work in Gaza. It’s been quite depressing to come across a lot of the information about the casualties and how everyone else suffered, especially the kids. Psychosocial work addresses the trauma faced by living in a war zone. As a result of witnessing one or even all of their family members being beaten or killed, or their house- which should be a symbol of safety and security- being demolished by foreign forces, a large percentage of children have displayed signs of post traumatic stress syndrome and/or depression. I came across some pictures drawn by children in Gaza, when asked to draw by therapists, which displayed military aircraft or soldiers gunning/bombing people. I can’t even imagine the additional signs that the psychosocial workers find in the children.

On the January 20 World Health Organization Cluster Bulletin, it was estimated that 1300 people were killed, with around 5300 injured during the Israeli operation (lasting from December 27, 2008 – January 18, 2009). The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that up to 100,000 people were displaced. Also, as of January 14 approximately 500,000 people had no access to running water, and the rest of the population only had access for a few hours each week. The destruction was far worse, as the already infrastructure, already weakened by the blockade that was set up, was damaged even more.

While I was always safe here, especially with Jordan’s strong security, the situation with Gaza was pretty sad and had a lot of negative reactions. To share some perspective, here is a brief description of what I experienced here related to the situation in Gaza. People are really upset and the mood is down and hopeless. Since the initial air strikes there were several organized peaceful demonstrations throughout Amman. New Years parties were cancelled throughout the Amman (as well as other cities, such as Dubai) and the overall mood during the holiday season was rather solemn. I've had Jordanians here tell me they don't support Hamas and would not mind seeing them destroyed/disappear. But with the amount of collateral damage and the number of innocent deaths, people find this act as horrifically brutal, unjustifiable and often come to believe that Israel does not want peace at all with the Palestinians. I have had numerous graphically disturbing emails sent to me with pictures of some of the innocent casualties, among them babies, youth and women. When the argument that Israeli is defending itself against the rocket attacks of Hamas, people will often respond how ineffective the rockets have been. Compared to damages, the rockets have really done nothing compared to what this recent bombing of Israel has done to the entire Gaza population, which is estimated to be 1.5 million. Others have expressed that the desperate situation in Gaza leaves nothing else for the Palestinians to do. Since Israel left Gaza for the Palestinians, they put up a blockade where they were severely restricting what goes in and out of Gaza (including supplies and people). During the ceasefires, which I have been told rockets were still being fired, albeit in much less frequency, no progress was made to ease the blockade and allow for an improvement of life within the walls around Gaza. In my opinion I feel the rockets are still wrong and only hurt the Palestinian cause, but I also see the response of Israel was far too strong and in the end very destructive to the path to peace.

Overall the people here feel helpless and don't feel they can really do anything for their 'fellow brothers'. The Arab culture is unique in that the identity of being Arab exceeds national borders. There are so many cultural similarities between those all throughout the various Arab countries which I have witnessed in Egypt and Lebanon and among those from other Arab countries that I meet here. Since the Palestinians are part of the Arab culture, hurting them affects the rest of the Arabs in one way or another. For the more liberal Arab countries, Jordan specifically, a situation like this puts the government in a really tough spot where they must weigh their choice of actions carefully in siding with the West for the continued, essential economic support, and with the cries of the people for some type of action to help their fellow Arab brothers in dire need.

Internship and touring Jordan

As of last Sunday I have an internship! I will be an intern for People In Need, which is a Czech NGO. People In Need works in crisis areas around the world in relief and development. It works in over 40 countries. The office in Amman remotely works on projects in Southern Iraq- in the Basra, Misan and Thi-Qar provinces, which are the poorest in Iraq. Since a westerner can't go walking around the area there, and since there are a lot of Iraqi refugees in Jordan, the office hires Iraqis to do the implementation and training needed. One project manager has been waiting his resettlement approval; for the last 2 or 3 months he has been told "any day now". A Rotarian, Assil Bakki, knew the head of mission, Megan King, and put me in touch with her. I worked one day so far and will be really starting to work more starting this week.

Another Rotary Ambassadorial scholar that I met back in my scholarship orientation last March, Annelise Cohon (http://guesswhereiamtoday.blogspot.com/), came to visit with her friend. I hosted them at my place and showed them around. I was filled with a renewed feeling of excitement for being here, since life had become a rather dull routine. I reminisce back on the first several weeks in Jordan and how new and different somethings seemed. While every now and then there are new encounters that I haven't yet experienced, it is certainly less frequent. We went bowling in Amman, we toured the Jerash ruins, we saw the Desert Castles which was new for me as well as Mount Nebo (the site where Moses looked onto the promised land before dying) and then we took them down to meet up with a friend of mine in the Peace Corps, who they had met on the bus coming from Israel. They then went down to Petra and Wadi Rum before going back home. It was a nice and reassuring feeling to translate and communicate with the shop owners/tour guides/servers when they were here.

The desert castles were pretty interesting. They were mostly from the Umayyid era (7th-8th centuries). Many are beleived to have been made for recreational retreats. One was believed to be used as a shelter for some wanted to go hunting. Another was believed to be one of the first hotels in the area. One of the last castles we visited had a bedouin tent where we were all invited for a nice cup of tea and relaxing. The bedouin, Hakim I believe, was very friendly and shared some of the traditions with us, particularly with the meanings of the different ways to wear the kufiyeh. When a man wears it with the corners pulled up/wrapped up on top of his head, it means he is single and looking for a wife. If a married man wears it simply hanging on his head, with the black band holding it in place, it would mean he is happy with his wife. If he pulls it up to cover his face, it would mean he is unhappy with her. He told us if he takes it off he is probably going crazy by his kids or wife, wanting to rip his hair out! Now it is become a lot more of a fashion trend, so the reasons/moods of the person wearing it different ways may not be as it had once been. It was quite enjoyable and another highly recommended experience for those visiting Jordan. Below are some pictures of our trips:

Some goats on the way to the Dead Sea.
View that moses saw of the promised land before dying.
Mount Nebo,
Downtown Amman produce market.
Downtown Amman.
Desert castle/believed to be old hotel.
Hakim at his bedouin tent.
Well at a desert castle.
Desert Castle.
Desert castle.
Me, Annelise and Lindsay.
Me at a desert castle and the beautiful site.
Jerash view from apitheater.
Old Temple at Jerash.
Me at Jerash

Winter Break

Yesterday I had my last final. I feel really good about all of them. We had a speaking final where we had to just talk for a few minutes about the positives/negatives of Jordan so far; since it was such an open topic it wasn't too hard. Speaking has been my weakest point though, but it was the best speaking presentation in Arabic I've done so far. Other classmates even said I did a good job! Then I had a listening test where we listened to a story/paragraph from our book for 10 minutes or so on the Language Center's state-of-the-art tape players, and then answer questions. We had a small reading test for pronunciation and then finally, the hardest of all, the written. The written final, like the midterm, was a hit-or-miss since we learned countless words throughout the entire semester. Anyway, I put a lot of studying in for all of them and it definitely paid off. I'll get my grades in a few days. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do for the break now that school is out.

I went to the Bethany on the Jordan (the Baptism site) last Friday. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was there, along with the Vatican Ambassador to Jordan as well as other major religious figures. There was a service followed by a procession to the river itself. At first it was closed to everyone but the Patriarch and some higher ups/alter boys who processed there; they came back with water from it and anointed everyone with branches dipped in the water. Omar and I waited and then they finally opened it up and we went down to it. It was a really nice place and amazing to think Jesus was baptized there so long ago. Here are some pictures:

O' Little Town of Bethlehem

Christmas seemed to pass as quickly as it came. I'm used to the Christmas season seeming to begin just a little earlier every year, with stores and restaurants playing their Christmas music and pulling out their decorations immediately after Thanksgiving, if not before. A Rotarian I go to church with, Omar, took me to a Christian town outside of Amman, FuHeis. They have an annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony followed by carols. We missed the lighting ceremony, but came back another day to walk around more to look at the Christmas lights. While the neighborhoods back home are often decorated more 'extravagantly' it was a very nice way to get into the Christmas spirit.

My Christmas celebration however, was truly unforgettable. I ended up going to Bethlehem a few days before Christmas by myself, and came back to Amman for a Christmas dinner/party Christmas evening. I stayed at a hostel which is part of a the Dheisha Palestinian refugee camp operated by the UN: the Ibdaa Cultural Center. For approximately $15 a night during Christmas in Bethlehem, it was definitely worth it.

My first full day in the Holy Land I went to tour Jerusalem. While I probably could have went sight seeing more efficiently with a guide, I had an amazing time simply walking around and stumbling upon biblical sites. A man on the bus helped me find the right gate to get off at (the Jaffa Gate or in Arabic "Bab al-Khalil") and asked a nearby shop owner he knew to help point me in the right directions to various sites. I first walked part of the Vio Dolorosa, or the path Jesus walked while carrying the cross and then I went to the birthplace of the Virgin Mary. As I was on my way to find the Church of the Holy Sepulchre I ran into two people I met at the border crossing and ended up having some tea with them. Afterward they pointed me in the right direction and I visited the church which was also "Golgotha" or the Mount of Calvary where Jesus was crucified, and is also believed to be where he was buried. After leaving the church I ended up walking to the Mount of Olives to visit the Garden of Gethsemane, the Tomb of the Virgin Mary and a place where Jesus went to weep over Jerusalem. The hill was quite a trek after a full day of walking and being in the cold, but it was rather spiritual. On my way back to Bethlehem I tried to go to a few places in Jerusalem to see about getting an entry ticket into the Midnight Mass...all places were out since they were giving them away for the past several weeks or even months. The tickets are free, but due to the limited number of space and the large number of pilgrims trying to get in, it was a long shot. Later that night I went to the Church of the Nativity (where Jesus was born, and where they have the midnight mass broadcast worldwide) to see if the parish office could spare one extra ticket. After asking around I was told to find "William" to ask him. He told me to come back tomorrow morning to see what he could do.

My taxi ride back was probably the worst experience of the entire trip (save for maybe the hassle at the Israeli border). I should have known better, having lived in the Middle East for a while now, but the price the taxi driver originally asked for was out of this world: 600 shekels. I knew this was way too much, although I was uncertain by how much since he did take me to and waited at a few different places in Jerusalem to check for tickets...after spending a while talking to him about how unbelievable that was, I told him 200 and no more...he was still insistent and so I paid him 240 and left. That was still 3x the amount I found out I should have paid him. As one can do in Amman and a lot of places in the Middle East, I should have said "let's go talk to the cop to see what he thinks the right price is". Since tourism is a huge part of the economy, the Governments look down on greedy cab drivers that rip tourists off.

I went to find William the next day and my hard work paid off: William gave me a ticket for the Midnight Mass. Since it was Christmas Eve and figured it would get busy, I decided to stick around Bethlehem. I walked around the Nativity Square, bought a few souvenirs and changed into my suit for the mass. I spent a good portion of the day in the Church of the Nativity praying. Eventually everyone was cleared out of the church as they prepared it for the massive amounts of people, news cameras and security. Outside I met up with a nice older couple from California and we had some drinks at a restaurant as I waited for my friend Houston to arrive, since he had planned to come to Bethlehem for Christmas as well. Strangely enough and perfect timing on my part, I had left to go check out the growing crowd outside, and ran into Houston who had just arrived! We had dinner and hung out for a while until I worked my way over to the Church. Fortunately someone suggested I to try to convince the guards to let me in the front gate, where I was, so I avoided a major line/crowd and got in with ease.

The Mass was enjoyable and a nice experience, but not your typical Midnight Mass. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, attended (an tradition I learned Yasir Arafat started and Abbas continues) so everyone was anxiously awaiting his (late) entrance and were focused on his (early) departure. Visiting Diplomats and VIPs took up most of the seats, and mot of us regular attendees stood the entire time...which was over 2 hours. The mass was in Latin and on occasion parts were said in a variety of languages. It was certainly not a Christmas Mass I will ever forget.

The trip was truly amazing to walk around so many of the holy sites and at times, completely unexpectedly, I was filled with a rushing sensation of emotion and almost burst into tears. I will post pictures on this blog, but was actually so caught up in my experience I didn't take as many as I would have liked. I would highly recommend visiting Jerusalem and Bethlehem to anyone.

For those traveling to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem here is what I experienced:

The trip would only take an hour, or less, but with Security check-points, crossing the border, waiting for buses, it took me over 7 hours. I left to the Northern Bus Station in Amman to catch a service Taxi to the Allenby Bridge border crossing (Jissr Malik Hussein in Arabic). There you pay the 5 JD exit fee and if you want to travel to any other Arab countries other than Jordan and Egypt, tell them to stamp a separate piece of paper. You then take a bus they have (the only transportation option) through the "no-mans-land" to the Israeli border control (with one check point in between). From there you get off the bus and give your bags up to be checked and briefly have them check your passport. Then you proceed through a metal detector, followed by some other detector that blows puffs of air at you and takes scans, I assume is to detect chemicals (when they saw my American passport they said "goodbye" and I didn't have to go through it at that point). Then you wait in a very slow line to have the Israeli border guards (oddly, all of which are young, attractive girls that look abnormally serious) stamp your passport. The difficulty for me and several others was the fact that we traveled to Syria. I was given a form to fill out which basically asked why am I in the Middle East, where have I been, why am I coming to Israel etc., and told to wait. After 30 minutes a girl came up to me to ask me the questions on the form, wrote a few notes and asked me to wait a little more. Eventually a different security person gave us our passports and told us to go back to the window to get our stamps. Then you proceed to yet another line to have your passports checked...when I gave mine and she asked if I was traveling alone, she told me to sit down and wait again. After a while a security guard came to take us through the "blower" machine. Finally, we go through one last line to have our passports looked at and received a "border crossing ticket". Once through the Israeli border you buy a ticket and get on a bus to Jerusalem, to the end stop which is at a major bus station. To get to Bethlehem you can take the 21 Bus, which its final stop called "Bab al-Zkaak" where you can catch a service taxi to your destination.

Vacation's over..

Last week was Eid al-Adha, or the Islamic holiday that celebrates the sacrifice of Abraham. A difference between Islam and Christianity that I find interesting is that, in Islam, it is believed that Ishmael was to be sacrificed, and in Christianity it was Isaac. Schools and many offices are closed for a week and people visit with family and friends throughout the holiday. It is customary to have a lamb sacrificed in celebration. I remember learning a while ago that it is common for families to send money to have them sacrificed on their behalf, instead of doing it themselves.

The first weekend I went with some friends to Petra and then spent two nights in Aqaba. To my mistake I came back and stayed in Amman the rest of the holiday. Many shops are closed during this time, and most restaurants don't open until much later in the day. While I didn't go out a ton during this Eid did not seem as exciting as during Ramadan or even the first Eid. The vacation was nice and relaxing, but I would rather be traveling and experiencing new things and worry about resting later...

Petra was amazing. We spent several hours there and I could have easily stayed even longer (if my feet and legs could take the walking). Petra was ranked the 8th wonder of the ancient world by archeologists. The ancient Nabataeans occupied the beautiful "rose city" and the area had been ideal for defending against attackers. Giving caravans safe passage for a toll and the strategic location helped the Nabataeans thrive. Water canals were built all along the walls in the canyon passages to help maintain the needed water supply; these were interesting to look at. We walked through the thin canyons and after a nice walk got to the infamous treasury. Afterwards we went to hike up to the Monestary, which I was told is abuot 800 stairs (and probably more, since it you don't only hike up stairs). After the Monestary there are several magnificent look out points which overlook the rest of the canyons and desert. It was a great work out and was well worth it. Unfortunately, as we were approaching the monestary we came across a group trying to recessitate a man, who I later found out, from an article in the Jordan Times, had a fatal heart attack. As many signs are posted, it is a semi-strenuous hike. However, you are able to take an "open air taxi" up (i.e. riding a donkey). We started our hike down at sunset, and ended up hiking through Petra in the dark (save for the beautiful moonlight) which made it even more amazing.

Aqaba was even more enjoyable than the first time. The hotel I stayed at was a cheap and barely "clean enough" hotel. It was in the middle of downtown though which was nice. I went on two scuba dives. The first was a sunken ship (the Cedar Pride) and the second was the "Rainbow Reef." The shipwreck was awesome, but the Rainbow Reef wasn't as exciting as the two dives I did back in October. However, since it was the Red Sea it was still VERY amazing and I saw countless gorgeous fish and other creatures as well as the colorful corals.

So I had this typed and took forever to finally upload pictures and post it. Oh well, late is better than never I suppose. Enjoy the pictures:

Egypt

I'm back from my trip to Egypt. It was amazing! I really enjoyed the entire trip. I'll break it down by day and post pictures.

DAY 1
I arrived in Alexandria with Ghaith (Rotaractor from the Amman-Cosmopolitan club) where his friend Mona picked us up. She was very nice and helpful and coordinated everything. If you read this: THANKS MONA!!! We had Tamiyya (the Egyptian falafel) then later their famous dish "Koshery" which is a mixture of noodles, lentils, rice, tomato sauce, crispy onions and I had mine with liver per their suggestion (which wasn't too bad); I also put the garlic and hot sauce on it for the final touch. During the day we went to see the famous library and the fort Qait Bey(a citadel that was built by the Pharos during the 15th Century).














DAY 2
I took the train to Cairo and got a quick tour of the 'essentials of Cairo' in the limited time. Another huge thanks to Mona for coordinating and Ahmad and Sara Naida for showing me around. I went to the National Museum which is just spectacular. There are countless artifacts, statues, tombs and much more from the ancient Egyptian civilization. While I had learned about the history briefly in college, seeing the artifacts made it so much more 'real' and amazing. Then I went to the Giza Pyramids (and Sphinx)...one of the sites I had hoped for most to see during my year in the Middle East. Afterwards we took a bus to the Souk Khan al-Khalili...2 1/2 hours due to traffic. That is Cairo for you! After eating Faniya we went to the train station. The 10:30pm train ended up showing up around 12:15am...and not leaving until 1:30am.














DAY 3
We left early for the RYLA by bus. In addition to the few sessions (mostly focused on Egyptian History) we had a Galabeya party; a Galabeya is a Middle Eastern robe worn by men and women.












DAY4
More sessions, a visit to an ancient Greco-Roman temple called the Karoun, more sessions and then a scavenger hunt.

DAY5
Other than sessions we went on a desert safari by jeep which was enjoyable and went to an area called "the Valley of Whales". There were fossilized whale bones from around 40-42 million years ago. The sea used to cover that area and the guide showed us where the coastline used to be (which was evident from a line in the silt). Some of the whale skeletons also show their existence on land at one point. We then went to the sand dunes and went sand surfing/boarding (like snow boarding which I had never previously tried). Despite my lack of experience I actually did quite well. It was exhausting to climb up the dunes, so I only made 3 runs, but they were all good. Afterwards we had a karaoke night which was a load of fun! There was a visiting German rotaractor, and we really busted it out on Hey Jude and New York, New York.









































DAY6
We finished up the conference with a photo contest (which I won 3rd place). Our trip back to Alexandria took quite a while, which was partly due to a 30 minute break that lasted 1 1/2 hours!

I had a great time and really fell in love with Alexandria. While I only saw a small piece of it, I think it would be a city I would not mind living/working in for at least a few years. I also met a ton of really nice people with which I had unforgettable good times. The rich history of Egypt is a must see for everyone. My tips for anyone traveling there is to know an Egyptian who can help you out with buying things, especially souvenirs, since Egyptians are known to try and get as much money as they can, especially out of tourists/foreigners.