Desert Castles

This weekend I took a trip with my program and we explored the "Desert Castles" of Jordan. It was a really long day. We saw three Castles, an old Roman Military Fort and a Jordanian Wetland. It was all pretty neat, the weather was beautiful and a few of my good friends went on the trip which made the company really awesome. Needless to say, the castles here are nothing compared to those in Europe, but the sheer age of these buildings is what is crazy. I almost thought the buildings would fall apart right in front of my eyes. It was really fun because you were allowed to climb around and in and out of old rooms (I dont know how safe that is haha) but it was really awesome because again it was an interactive experience.

I hope you all enjoy the pictures. Sorry I dont really have more to write, I'm not an expert with all the history. This Thursday I leave for Syria, so Im sure I will have tons of stories next weekend. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and enjoys the time at home with family. Less than a month and Ill be home for the Christmas holidays! Ma'salaama

Jerash Pictures

Alison and I with my "Jordanian Husband"







Sweet Columns










Say "cheese"








Old Main Square of Jerash










Just thought I'd look cute






Looking at old Mosaics











Yup I'm Super Strong










Pretty View







Arabic POLICE walking and patrolling









Marketplace again

JERASH

Yesterday my roommate Alison and I hit up a popular tourist attraction north of Amman. Jerash, an ancient Roman city is one of the coolest places I've seen. The archeological site is extremely interactive, you can climb all over the ruins and explore the site. Alison and I had a great afternoon and a very authentic time.

We left Amman and headed to the bus station in North Amman, what a FUN experience. Basically the buses line up in designated areas for different destinations and you get on and wait for the bus to fill up, then you leave. So Alison and I were some of the first people on the bus, so we WAITED forever to leave. It was totally worth it because we were the only two white people on the bus, every one else was Arab. The experience was really funny. There were a bunch of crying Arab kids, men who were chain smoking, women who were loudly "yelling" well speaking on their cell phones, and the bus was blasting arabic music. It was less than a dinar for the 45 km trip out of the city (soooo cheap) but I have to say, the hectic bus ride was priceless. About halfway through the ride a mother made the bus stop so her young son could pee on the side of the road, haha it was really cute.

After walking around the ruins for a few hours Alison and I shopped a bit a the local gift shops and bought a few small things. We both got a few marriage proposals from some local Jordanian men, well boys and called it an afternoon. I had a really great time and hope you all enjoy the pictures! Next weekend Im going on a program trip called "Desert Castles" during which we explore a bunch of old castles in the country. Be looking for another update sometime soon!

Miss you all! Ma'salaama!

Wow it's November already?

Time has been both an enemy and a friend recently. I've been very stressed out with all my classes, not to mention the looming case study for my internship. I cant believe it's already November, but I also am counting down the days until I step off the plane in December. My mixed emotions have continued, I feel out of place here, like I will never fully fit in. Part of me feels like I am missing out, I wish I could travel more and see more places while Im abroad, but I have so much work I have to stay committed.

My friends and I are planning a trip to Syria over the next Eid (break) which is around 4 days right at the end of November. I am bummed I am going to miss out on Thanksgiving, it will be my first official Holiday away from home :( as well as my 21st birthday. I'm sure the celebration will continue once I return home though, and I know my roommates have some stuff planned here :) Other than that things are pretty low key. I've really cracked down and started researching for my Case Study and have been productive. I honestly dont have that many class days left, I think we are down to 23 or something like that. Its really close, but far away. Ive got a ton to accomplish before I wrap the semester up.

As for Jordan, I found a blog of a student who studied here over a year ago... he had a really great post of "typical life" here... thought I'd share it with everyone!

Arabisms

You know you’re in Jordan if:

• The policemen carry AK-47s and wear camo.
• The graffiti crudely spray-painted all over the concrete walls either 1) contains a religious phrase praising God, or 2) advertises for some local business.
• None of the signs written in English are grammatically correct.
• Crossing the road is an act of faith and everyone is devoutly religious.
• American fast food places are ritzy.
• American fast food places do delivery.
• American fast food is ridiculously expensive.
• Taking out your Gateway 2000 desktop computer that’s been in storage since 1999 and starting a local internet cafe with it sounds like a good idea.
• The local microbus has “what God wills!” written above the door and plays Qur’anic verses after sunset.
• Even though the women show infinitely less skin than they do in America, they have a much more heightened sense of fashion.
• Climbing around on the thousand year old local ruins isn’t only allowed, it’s encouraged.
• People teach or run a business during the day and drive a taxi during the night.
• Everyone out in the country honks and waves for you and invites you over for dinner.
• The local bookstore carries twice as many religious books as anything else.
• Any article of clothing with any kind of English printed on it–no matter what it says or whether it even makes sense–is posh.
• Local traffic laws would make more sense if you posted them at the bumper car arena at the theme park back home.
• Several newspapers refers to Israel as “the Zionist entity,” not as a sovereign nation.
• Men hold men’s hands and women hold women’s hands, and nobody has a problem with it, but it’s rare to see a man holding a woman’s hand.
• Cell phones double as boom boxes.
• Even though the streets are abhorrently filthy, everyone’s clothes are immaculately clean.
• The television is another member of the family.
• When you go to pay a taxi driver and ask for change, he responds by saying “no, that’s alright.”
• You go to the bathroom and instead of toilet paper you find a hose.
• Watermelon is the quintessential after-dinner dessert.
• Copyright doesn’t exist, especially for pirated DVDs.
• Olive trees are so common, they grow uncultivated on the roadside in some places.
• Taxi drivers try to pick up passengers by honking at every pedestrian walking on the side of the road.
• You can enjoy fireworks every night from all of the wedding celebrations.
• When you’re driving in the country and you pass a village, you have to slow down for the speed bumps.
• There are metal detectors at the gates of all the malls and hotels, but nobody cares if you set them off…repeatedly…

That's all for now... Ma'salaama :)

Let me help you there...

SO I've been wanting to compile some info about the Middle East, because I feel like Westerns are really confused. Obviously, we view the world from the American Standpoint, but there are some interesting things that often people dont know about Arabs and Arab society in General. So, with that being said.... I just thought I'd give you all some facts.

Basics:

1.Arabs are part of an ethnic group, not a religion. Arabs were around long before Islam, and there have been (and still are) Arab Christians and Arab Jews. In general, you’re an Arab if you 1) are of Arab descent (blood), or 2) speak the main Arab language (Arabic).

2.Not all Arabs are Muslim. There are significant populations of Arab Christians throughout the world, including in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Northern Africa and Palestine/Israel.
Islam is a religion. A Muslim (roughly pronounced MOOSE-lihm) is someone who follows the religion. So you wouldn’t say someone follows Muslim or is an Islam, just as you wouldn’t say someone follows Christian or is a Christianity.

3.Shia Muslims are similar to Roman Catholics in Christianity. They have a strong clerical presence via Imams and promote the idea of going through them to practice the religion correctly. Sunni Muslims are more like Protestant Christians. They don’t really focus on Imams and believe in maintaining a more direct line to God than the Shia.

4.People from Iran are known as Persians, and they are not Arabs. Iran is NOT considered the Middle East.

5.Arabs are Semites. We’ve all heard the term anti-Semitism being used — often to describe Arabs. While antisemitism does specifically indicate hatred for Jews, the word “Semite” comes from the Bible and referred originally to anyone who spoke one of the Semitic Languages.
According to the Bible, Jews and Arabs are related [Genesis 25]. Jews descended from Abraham’s son Isaac, and Arabs descended from Abraham’s son Ishmael. So not only are both groups Semitic, but they’re also family.

6.Sunni Muslims make up most of the Muslim world (roughly 90%).

7. The country with the world’s largest Muslim population is Indonesia. WOW thats not part of the middle east?!?!?!

8.The rift between the Shia and Sunni started right after Muhammad’s death and originally reduced to a power struggle regarding who was going to become the authoritative group for continuing the faith.

9. The "middle east" is not equal to the "arab world" -Afghanistan, Iran, Israel and Turkey, to name just four countries, are in the Middle East, but except for Israel’s Palestinian-Arabs, the majority of their populations are not Arabs.

10. Not all arabs are oil billionaires, bombers or bellydancers. haha

I found this great article that I hope people will read if they have some free time.... Please, please, please, realize not everything you see on TV or read is the exact truth, often times stuff is fabricated or left out to spin something a certain way.... http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=Artamp;Culture&article=1188

An unexpected break sent from Allah!

So things here have been absolutely crazy for me the past week. Im sorry I havent been as diligent about posting, my life's been a ball of stress.

I guess Ill start with school. My normal arabic prof is still out, Im guessing most likely for the rest of the semester. We havent been told exactly what the deal is, but we know the baby is okay and she is currently on bed rest. So the past week has been filled with different subs, with different styles and teaching methods.... in arabic its been frustrating. Every day feels like square one again.

Yesterday, our program recieved some great news. Well not great for everyone. Apparently one student in my program has come down with swine flu. There are really strict rules about H1n1 here so he's currently quarantined in the hospital for the next two weeks. Of course there is mass panic, and everyone adds to the rumors, which makes life here even more interesting. Anyways, our program director decided to give us all a 4 day weekend, in hopes that we would rest and not sprend the swine flu which is now evident in our group. Funny thing is, people are going crazy (because of the unexpected break) and leaving the country and traveling for the weekend. I dont think anyone plans on resting, and if anything people will probably bring more sicknesses back to Amman after the long weekend.... oh well, the break is well needed and appreciated by me. My friends and I are going to relax and hang out here. Theres no point in last min travel, esp around these parts because visas are hard to obtain. We are thinking about doing a day trip or two, either way Ill keep you posted.

I was really thankful for the extra time, mainly because this week was super hard for me. I've been really annoyed with my classes and a lot of the kids in my program, my internship has me bogged down in work and Ive just missed a lot about home.

Last night, well actually this morning, I woke up at 2 30 am to register for classes at Villanova next semester. My registration time was 7 30 in the states and so it was great waking up mid sleep to get my courses settled for next semester. Im actually really happy with my schedule and all the stressing this past week and emails to school have been worth it. With that being said, I have a huge hole in my heart for NOVA right now. Pre- season basketball is starting, its halloween so my sorority is having our annual halloween formal ( MY FAVORITE ) and choosing my classes has gotten me pretty excited for the spring. I just keep telling myself, I am so lucky to be here, experiencing this because so many other people cant. I guess the little things here that are so hard are just getting to me. Although I know I am so frustrated now, when I get home I will be so frustrated and shocked that life is so easy. Its hard having this experience, but it's humbling and it makes you realize that you can survive without being in America's bubble of security.

Over the past few weeks my love hate relationship with Amman has continued. Life really is a rollercoaster. All I know is I am ready for this weekend and a nice break. Ill post again soon haha miss you all!

ma'salama

MY BABIES!!!!

SO basically a few weeks ago I broke down and started feeding this really sweet cat that was hanging around our apartment, little did I know she had 5 kittens. So long story short, I've been buying food and feeding these sweet kittens and their mother for the past week. They are really cute and always, always around. Just wanted to put some pictures up for everyone to see!!! Beka and Forrest be really jealous haha they are so much fun to play with :)