A Movie about my Jordanian Experiences!

So I am in a competition for an iPad at my university and I need as many people as possible to watch this video and comment about it on youtube.com as possible.  If you could talk about how it makes you want to travel or study abroad that would be great!  I hope the link works for you and that you enjoy the video!  Thanks everyone.

All Good Things Come to and End...

Well, it is over.  My wonderful Journey to Jordan has finally finished and I am writing this at one o'clock in the morning from the bottom floor of a coffee shop/hookah bar with a live band partying the night away upstairs.  During ramadan the party doesn't end until late since they can only eat from about 7:30 to 3:30 they have to make the most of it!  It's amazing, and a wonderful end to my time here in Jordan.

  Also, on a side note, just because I won't be in Jordan anymore doesn't mean I won't be posting things on this blog!  I have a lot of stories and experiences that I have yet to put up here, and I will continue to post about my experiences while at school and my interpretations or thoughts on the news and my research on the Middle East.  This summer has really changed me, it has opened my eyes to some of the inequalities of the world and especially the arrogance and the ignorance that we as Americas exhibit on a daily basis.  Hopefully this blog has helped you question some of your ideals, and what you think about the Middle East and Arabs in general.  Hopefully my experiences and the things that I have learned have helped you learn as well.

  What was my favorite part of Jordan?  That is a hard question I must say.  I would probably have to say on a general note I enjoyed the foreigness (Do you like me making up words?) of the entire experience coupled with the amazing hospitality of the Arab people that I was confronted with every day.  On a smaller note, my absolutely favorite THING in Jordan was the Ahdan or call to prayer.  I had several chances to hear it from on top of one of the 7 hills of Jordan and it is spectacular.  As I sit there listening to  it I feel like I am transported back to a time before computers, electricity and modern conveniences.  Especially during Ramadan when I know that so many people are breathing a sigh of relief, eating some dates and drinking their first drink of the day it is almost ethereal.  There is also something amazingly beautiful for me to see an entire culture that embraces religion so intimately and so homogeneously.  As an American, it is completely different for me to be in a society that embraces religion openly, is homogenous in race and background and so many other aspects.  Back to the ahdan, however, I honestly do not know if I have ever heard anything as beautiful as the simple chant calling people to prayer and in praise of their God.  The closest thing that you might recognize is Gregorian Chant, it's basically Gregorian Chant with an Islamic twist, and you get to hear it 5 times a day.  Wonderful.

  I have a lot to write, a lot of thinking to do, and a lot to tell people about.  This experience has helped me to take a step back and appreciate the idiosyncrasies of culture, and the differences that make the world such a beautiful place.  We as Americans are too insulated and too comfortable in our world view.  We are so different from the rest of the world, and it really shows in our foreign relations and our personal relations with foreigners.  I have realized, this summer, just how much I do not understand simply because I grew up in a culture that is so completely different.  I will probably write again about this later, but just think about it.  How many things about another individual's culture is it hard for you to understand?

  On a closing note, I love Jordan.  I love the country, the people, the language and the religion.  I love the foreigness (there's that word again) and awkward situation it places me in.  I love the hospitality, the beauty and the many amazing places to see.  I love that these people have definitely been handed lemons and they are making lemonade.  I appreciate my comforts in America and I appreciate my country for the wonderful institution it is.   Before I close this I would like to do a few thank yous.  First of all, thank you to the BYU International Studies Program and Ralph Brown for making this internship a reality, thanks to the Kennedy Center and Phi Kappa Phi for providing me grants so that I could afford this trip to the Middle East.  A special thanks to the Ministry of Social Development and my boss Ms. Rasha for her patience and help.  Thanks to all of my awesome Arab friends and co-workers who put up with a constant stream of atrocious Arabic.  Thanks to everyone who came on the program for putting up with my craziness and my constant desire to go exploring, especially Annie, thanks for dealing with me so many times.  Finally thank you to my Grandparents who gave me savings bonds for every birthday and Christmas growing up which I thought was stupid but paid for my trip here, my parents for being supportive, living vicariously through me and also helping me pay for this trip and finally my wonderful fiance Jade who although I left her only a week after getting engaged has supported me the entire time and understand why I was here although it was hard to be so far away I think I love her more now than when I left.  Thanks everyone, it has been amazing! I can not wait to go home, but at the same time I can not wait to return to this amazing place next year.  Ma Salaam, Insha Allah.

Prayers

  I have had the wonderful opportunity to pray in my local mosque not once, but twice this summer!  We have a mosque about two blocks from my home that apparently has one of the best imams in Amman.  About a month ago I was speaking with our neighbors who had their cousin over who spoke really good English and whom I could ask a lot of questions about Islam and how it works because that is the topic that he wanted most to talk about.  They went insane when they found out that I had a Quran in English and Arabic so we went from there and they showed me a lot of interesting surah's they said that proved the Quran was true scientifically.  Additionally, as we discussed my beliefs they said that I was almost a muslim and they seemed so happy about that it was awesome.  They then invited me to go pray with them the next morning at 4:00 AM and I said that of course I would love to go.

  The next morning at about 3:45 I woke up bright and early and jumped into the shower so that I would be clean before going to the mosque (something that is absolutely necessary).  I went over and woke up my neighbors and then took a trek over to the mosque.  Let me just say that is was surreal to be out in a Middle Eastern City at 4:00 AM listening to a prayer call of a mosque that I was going to.  It was awesome.  When we got to the mosque we sat in the main prayer hall and saw a number of older gentlemen who obviously did this everyday at 4:00 AM because they were all extremely comfortable and knew everyone that was there.  I got a couple odd looks, but everyone just accepted my presence with a nod.  Because it was a morning prayer it only lasted about an hour with a short 'reading' of the Quran (it is really an Islamic version of Gregorian Chant which is seriously one of the most beautiful things that I have ever heard in my short little life), a short sermon by the Imam and of course the prayer themselves.  It was amazing to go through the motions of billions of people the whole world over and feel united to them for a small moment as I showed my devotion to the God of each one of us, no matter what you call him.  After the prayers I was greeted by a few of the gentlemen who loved the fact that I was there and then I walked home marveling at my life as I collapsed into bed.

  Since then I have gotten to pray one more time in the mosque, and this time it was this past Friday which is the main prayer service for all Muslims, basically like a Christians Sunday worship service.  This time my experience was quite a bit different at the sermon was much longer (about 45 minutes)  we were in the basement of the mosque which was absolutely packed and I was with my friend Austin.  Still it was no less cool, and it was best of all to see how devoted these people are to their religion.  Many of the people had to sit outside in the intense heat and sun because there was no room in the mosque for them.  It is very different to be in a mosque and be with this misunderstood religion face to face.  I felt their peace and their devotion, and knew of their love and kindness to others.  I'm extremely grateful I have had this wonderful experience and hope to return someday when I know more arabic and can better understand the sermon.  Everyone should try going to another faith's worship service, especially a faith you don't understand, and seeing what it's life.  After all, ignorance is really boring... we just don't know it.

Do Something Good While Surfing the Internet today

Here's a petition for the UN General Assembly to recognize the Palestinian Nation and create the worlds newest state.  All you have to do is write your name and put down your country for it to make a difference.  Help a people who have nothing, including a country of their own, finally find some justice.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/independence_for_palestine_9/?rc=fb&pv=67

Terrorism, what is it?

The other day I was watching Television with my Arab neighbors, the Atmeh's, and having an extremely enjoyable time eating, laughing, and experiencing the culture.   LIke television does, it went to commercial and I saw a most interesting commercial.  The commercial started off with a young girl flipping through what was obviously the Quran.  As she got to the end of the Quran you suddenly saw a blank page splashed with blood.  As she looked at the page, there was a flashback to a typical picture of a hostage being filmed by multiple terrorists as they demanded ransom and then the girl closed the Quran suddenly.  The screen went black, and in simple white arabic script it said that terrorism is not a part of islam and that it must be fought and then gave a website about stopping terrorism.
  Many Americans say that there are no moderate muslims speaking out about terrorism, but here is direct proof of efforts to fight against it.  At the same time, we are asked the extremely difficult task of defining what terrorism is.  So the question is, what is terrorism?  Does it revolve around violence?  Violence for political purposes, is based on a religion is is perpetrated by an ethnic group?  Does it matter who or what that targets are, or why they were targeted how do we decide?  What about states, can they be terrorists and how do we decide that?  At first it seems like simple answer, but what divides a terrorist, a rebel, and a freedom fighter?
  I think these are fundamental questions that more and more of us have to ask ourselves and think about, we can't just let someone tell us a group is a terrorist group.  For instance, one of the things I hear a lot here in Jordan is that people do not agree that Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist organizations, like the United States has listed them.  To them, Hamas and Hezbollah are freedom fighters seeking what is best for Islam and fighting a superior enemy (Israel and the West) with what they have at their disposal.  In addition, these groups have legitimacy in the eyes of the people because they offer much needed services to the community that are not offered by the state or aid organizations.  In the case of Hamas, they were even elected democratically and Hezbollah members have been elected to government positions in Lebanon.  Now, I do not know if I completely agree with these statements, I know that both of these groups attempt to use terror to accomplish their tasks and use violence against non-military subjects to accomplish their tasks.  So the question is, what is a terrorist?  Are Hezbollah and Hamas simply organizations of a people who have no other way to voice their opinion than violence?  Are they people who have been pushed into a corner and are now fighting like a cornered rat, or are they groups simply working on terror, violence and fear?  Would they stop their attacks if their people were given basic services from Israel and the United States instead of isolated and sidelined?  Would Israel gain legitimacy if it helped it's neighbors rather than fight them?
  These are not easy issues, or simple answers.  They are complex, and the answer is not clean or black and white.  This past semester, while attending classes at Brigham Young University, I had the opportunity to meet and speak with George Selim of the Department of Homeland Security.  He spoke in my introduction to the Middle East class and was asked the question, "What is terrorism."  He said, that the United States Government can not and will not ever monitor ideals.  It does not matter why a violent crime was committed, just that it was.  This was eye-opening for me because I thought that an integral part of terrorism was the political purpose behind it.  Again, it adds another dimension to the question that really helped me think about the problem.
  The purpose of this post is simply to make each of us think about what seems like such a simple thing and to increase dialog about this subject.  I am not saying I support terrorist groups or that I do not think violent crimes are wrong, in fact, I have specifically sought to keep my opinions from this post.  I am simply saying that there are two sides to every issue and it is extremely important for us to look at both sides.  I hope you agree.

A Jordanian Wedding

Woot, Fireworks and men dancing while holding hands,
it must be an Arab wedding!

Ever Since I have arrived in Jordan I have wanted to see a Jordanian wedding. When a month or two ago, my facilitator stated that this was wedding season and we would hear a lot of fireworks, I had no idea how true that statement would be. Up until this past week, all I knew about weddings in Jordan could be summed up in a few words, loud, long, and expensive. Every night we hear fireworks going off late into the night and processions of cars with people hanging out of them, yelling, and honking their horns non-stop. It seems like that’s simply what you do at a wedding, and I thought I wouldn’t know anything more about it until a friend at work invited us to his nephew’s wedding party.

Arab Wedding Cake, not sweet at all!

First of all, calling it a wedding is misleading and any Arab will correct you when you say that. There is no religious ceremony for an Arab wedding, at least from what I understand, and the day before the festivities start the families and the groom (I’m not completely sure if the bride goes) go to the local courthouse and sign the wedding license making the couple officially married. After that, the partying ensues. Traditional weddings, the only one that I’ve seen, used to last a week but with dwindling money most families shorten it to two or three days. The first day is a party in a huge tent on a rented piece of clear property for only the groom’s family. The men and women are separated and for the first 3 hours or so the groom meets all of his guests (many of whom he may barely know) and loud music plays incessantly. This is the time of the party where shabab are dancing constantly, old men are talking about how things have changed with the years, drinks and snacks are sold, and basically the groom doesn’t get to have much fun. The party we went to was called very small because it only had 200 male guests and was only two full days long. Anyway, there are a lot of traditions to be involved in and the normal antics of the groom’s friends, lifting him on their shoulders, dancing with him, and generally having a lot of fun being completely sober. A few interesting traditions I saw involved the music. Specific songs require you to do certain actions. For instance, when the older/traditional music began we were told we had to stand up in the front of the the gathering with all the men, shoulder to shoulder, and sway side to side while clapping.

Henna and that wonderful Parasol!

This was where we all had to stand next to each other and clap.
The old my next to me is wearing a shamech traditionally denoting
someone of palestinian descent (It's white & black not red).

 When another song started, it signaled that henna had been delivered from the women of the groom’s family. A few elaborately dressed little girls brought over two heaping plates of henna which was then applied in designs and letters on the groom’s hands so, “They will look beautiful to the bride,” as a few arab men told me. The whole time the music is playing loudly and the men are joking around and playing with a garishly decorated parasol that the little girls brought with them. Apparently, by having the parasol placed over you, or dancing with the person holding it, it signals that you will be married soon (much like the throwing of flowers at American weddings). Also at this time, the mother of the groom came to the party to see the henna placed on the groom’s hands. I was told it is how she shows her approval of the wedding and if she doesn’t show up, the shabab at the wedding will start to chant trying to get her to arrive. Anyway, it was quite an adventure, and like always, I got to hold hands with lots of random Arab men and dance the night away, it seems to be a theme in my life.
After this aspect of the wedding was over, we were taken with the close family friends and family up to the house at about 11 o’clock (at this point we had been here for about two and a half hours). With the smaller group of about forty men we went to the grooms new home and ate mansaf which was amazing. It is probably the only time that man cook in this country but it was fantastic. There were probably a dozen seperate plates of mansaf with about 5 kilos of lamb meet on each. The men from the groom's family were the servers as all of the men devoured the mansaf and enjoyed themselves. After a very short time, less than 15 minutes, all of the non-family members were miraculously done (except for us) which we thought was extremely interesting. We found out, after everyone else left, that the family had not eaten and that everyone left so that they could eat. One the men had had their fill, the food would be delivered to the women in the family and finally to the bride's family. Nothing is put to waste here ever!

Mansaf partay ...woot!

Overall, the wedding was amazing and quite an experience. It was loud and long like most Jordanian parties but at the same time wonderful and eye-opening. It is awesome to see cultures who put such a high price on weddings and feel that they are so important, but I hope that they put that same type of emphasis on the marriage which is what actually matters.

ممنوع (Mumnua)

So, Mumnua means forbidden in Arabic and it was the title of an amazing film that I watched last week at the Royal Jordanian Film society.  Mumnua was an illegal film categorizing all of the things that were forbidden in Egypt and the people's unrest at the state of affairs prior to the revolution.  It was quite interesting to see a first hand account of what made the people so angry and what caused them to finally rise up and throw out the incumbent government.  What was so cool about the movie was it talked about so many issues that I can't talk about here openly because I am a foreigner and I can not pry into personal lives.  It addressed questions such as free press, wearing of the Hijjab and preferential treatment of foreigners.  It was also interesting because it delved into the world of Egyptian politics, talking about the absence of opposition parties, and censorship of media and things like.  It was simply awesome.
  One of the reasons I loved it, is because it helped me see the necessity of free-speech and freedom of the press.  For instance, at one point in the movie the people being filmed, members of an illegal political party, went to Gaza to cross the border that Egypt said had just been opened by Israel and themselves.  They went, bearing supplies, and banners and sat for over 24 hours at the border but were finally refused. They said, "It's not forbidden to enter Gaza, it's just not allowed."  They said that Egypt was curtailing itself to Israel's wishes and did basically whatever Israel wanted and had surrendered their sovereignty and what made them Egypt.  Now, if a free press had existed, this direct contradiction of an official declaration would have been splashed all over the news and the public would have been outraged.  However, with a news force controlled by the state, they could do whatever they wanted without worrying about public opinion.  I finally had my eyes opened to the need for a free and open news group that can act as a balance between the government and the people.  I have always known it was important, but it just helps me to see some of the 'unofficial' mechanisms of democracy that we have in place and must protect in America. 
 Censorship is a sticky subject.  We must decide if something is grossly indecent, a concern for national security, or simply garbage that shouldn't be put on Television but at the same time we can not worry so much that opinions and beliefs are squandered.  How do we decide what insights to violence and what is a push for democratic institutions?  Who is the judge when all of us our biased?  A man came to BYU, where I am a student, this winter semester from the Department of Defense.  When asked to define terrorism he said it was only based on actions.  At the time I disagreed with him because I felt like the motivation behind the actions mattered but he said, "We are America.  We don't police ideas."  I didn't understand it at the time, but I better understand it now.  Of course, I am not saying that everything should just be given free reign, but I am saying that if we silence every person that disagrees with us, even if it is presumed to be radical disagreement, we go against one of our basic beliefs of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.  The wonderful thing about democracy, is that it protects even those we disagree with.  
 "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," Was written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall and I think that today, the American Day of Independence, we should remember this and embrace the differences that make our culture and country so great, diversity and free speaking.

Madaba, Mt. Nebo, the Baptismal Site and the Dead Sea

The Church of St. George

Yeah, you read it correctly... I went to all of those places in the same day and it was pretty darn spectacular I must admit!  I suppose I should tell you about my adventures so here we go!

Mosaic factory...

  We started off our journey in Madaba which is about an hour south of Amman and a historically Christian city and famous for it's amazing mosaics and frescoes.  We visited the church of St. George in downtown Madaba, which is an ancient Greek Orthodox Church.  It has been rebuilt many times and on the floor is a huge mosaic map built hundreds of years ago that details the sites of the Holy Land.  It has been partially destroyed multiple times by earthquakes, but is magnificent none-the-less.  After the visit to the church of St. George we went to a local mosaic 'factory' where disabled individuals from the community were given work creating beautiful mosaics by hand and selling them to Tourists like ourselves.  Unfortunately they were huge, heavy, and really expensive but beautiful and also amazing to see created.  The great thing is that anything large enough that you buy they can ship for free to anywhere in the world which means you can buy huge, heavy and beautiful furniture if you so desire.  Just make sure you love it because it's gonna be pricey!  I bought an awesome gift for one of my brothers that although it isn't exactly what he told me he wanted, the workmanship and story behind it more than make up for that.  It'll be a great ornament peace.

  Next on the stop was Mt. Nebo, the sight where Moses saw the Holy Land and passed his mantel to Joshua.  Although it wasn't an amazingly spectacular PLACE it was amazing to be in such a place and to see the Holy Land.  To know that Moses traveled for so long and to be halted at the gates of the promised land must have been horrible, and seeing the lushness of the Jordan valley below me I could definitely understand how wonderful it would have been to see that place after 40 years wandering in the desert.  Definitely a sight for sore eyes.  It was a beautiful view and only created a longing to see and experience more of what I saw before me.

What Moses saw from Mt. Nebo

The baptismal sight and me in all of my
 glorious American touristness

  The next stop was the proposed Baptismal Site of Jesus Christ.  Apparently in the past few years it has been upgraded immensely and definitely westernized.  A lot of the tour you get to see from the beauty of an air-conditioned bus while listening to an "Audio-Tour" (My wonderful friend that everyone else in the group hates immensely).  Anyway, the tour takes about 2 hours because they show you a bunch of things that no body cares about and then push you a long from the places you actually want to see.  I thought it most interesting, that the way they justified this is the baptismal sight is that there were so many old churches built here and new churches springing up.  Also the fact that the pope came in 2007 and dedicated the land from Elijah's hill (supposedly the place where Elijah was lifted into heaven on a chariot of fire).  One of the reasons they do this is because there is another purported baptismal sight close to the sea of Galilee on the Israeli side of the Jordan.  This means it's a competition to get more tourists and also to just have bragging rights.  My whole thing is that there is really no way we can know where Christ was baptized or where pretty much any of the events of his life happened exactly.  It's nice to think and speculate, but it isn't the place that mattered but the action that occurred there which is important.  Anyway, it was a beautiful tour and by far the best part was the Jordan River.

The Jordan River

  My experience at the Jordan River was quite interesting.  On the Jordanian side of the river there was a beautiful and rustic wooden structure that led down the river in two tiers.  It ended with a simple wooden stairway leading you down to the green water of the Jordan and the beautiful mud and reeds of the bank.  Now, only 10ft away was Palestine or Israel depending on who you talk to.  Since Palestine refers to the whole ancient region and I'm not sure if that was actually the state of Israel or occupied Palestine I will simply call it Palestine for simplicity.  Well, the Palestine side of the river was developed and open.  They had concrete and rock buildings, a rock sitting area in the water, and fenced off areas for individuals to walk into the water but not cross into Jordan.  In addition to the fence, there were two Israeli Guards with M-16s and one Jordanian with a British Submachine Gun.

Here is where I go on a bit of a brain adventure, if you'd like to see what about please read my post entitled "Natives, who the Heck are they?".

  Overall, the baptismal site was awesomeness squared and everyone who visits Jordan should go there and enjoy themselves while there.  Like I said, it's been westernized (including the price of 12 JD) but is very nice.

Just Chilling in the sea!

  Our final stop was the amazing Dead Sea (باحر متت) and the joys of "Amman Beach".  Now, pretty much everyone knows that the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth, has so much salt that almost nothing can live in it and it's really easy to float in but there is SOOOO much more than that.  Actually, I guess there isn't really much more than that but that makes it amazingly fun.  The only bad part about the Dead Sea is that if the water gets in your eyes or mouth you hurt like hell and have to shut your eyes tight until you can wash them out.  This may or may not have happened to me twice.  Also, the sand is so hot that if you don't have sandals you will literally (or hyper-literally Jeremy) burn your feet by walking on it.  Again, I know from experience since I have blisters on the bottoms of my feet now... not fun.  All of these bad things aside, the Dead Sea is so much fun.  You can float in whatever position you can imagine.  On your stomach, on you back, on you side, curled in a ball, sitting indian-style, with all your arms and legs in the air and everything in-between.  It's like nowhere else on earth and is extremely relaxing because the water is warm (at this time of year it still feels good but apparently later on in the summer it feels like a salty warm bath) and it is oh so refreshing.  Another wonderfully relaxing aspect is that there are no waves, and nothing living to step on or bite you.  Additionally, there are no boats or loud people playing in the water because the salt destroys engines and the kids would all get salt water in their eyes and start screaming.  Basically imagine laying on water in one of those floaty things, expect you are never going to fall off.  You are cool because of the water, it's silent, and you can lay there as long as you want without using a single muscle on your body.  Yes, it is that fantastic.  I think what I need to open now is a "Sweet Sea" where instead of salt you have sugar.  Maybe it would provide all the same properties but fewer of the problems.  Of course, you would probably get tons of interesting organisms living and growing in it so maybe that wouldn't be the best idea.

Add caption

  Anyway, the place was sort of like a resort and as such had showers and a normal pool as well.  Basically the program was to get in the dead sea for awhile and relax, shower and clean yourself and then jump into the pool where you could play and swim and be cool, then jump back into the Dead Sea and repeat until tired.  In there you can also cover yourself in Dead Sea mud (apparently very good for the skin), eat, drink, read and generally be merry until your heart explodes or you have to go home.  It was amazingly fun and relaxing and honestly one of my more favorite excursions while here in Jordan.  I would like to go back sometime and experience the relaxing loveliness of the Dead Sea.

Random huge stone at Mt. Nebo

This was an actual sign on the way into the
 Mt. Nebo site

A serpent wrapped around a cross... epic

Yeah, I was that close!

This is how women swim while still in Hijjab

That's a lot of Mud!

I promise, I'm actually floating here!

Salt deposits on the Dead Sea

Natives, who the Heck are they?

Now, the water was beautiful and enjoyable, and as such the Israelis on the other side were enjoying the water as well and yelled across this somewhat tense border and asked where we were from.  Someone from our group said England and then ask the question of them to which they said, "We're natives, we're from Tel Aviv."  Well, this was a very interesting comment to hear yelled across the Jordanian border.  Mainly because it is entirely possible this woman could have said that to Palestinians or the children of Palestinians born and raised in Palestine but forced out with the creation of Israel.  Again, I will not comment on this subject politically, but it raises an interesting question of what is a native?  Both Israelis and Palestinians claim the land of Palestine as their homeland.  The Israelis born and raised there say they are natives and the Palestinians call it their land.  How do we decide?  How do we decide a native?  In America, who are the foreigners and who are the Americans?  Does it matter about citizenship?  The entrenched population often look down on those we think of as foreigners or new-comers but also upon the Native Americans who we replaced as owners of the land.  In the history of America every wave of migration disliked the one previous to it.  The English didn't like the Germans, the Germans and English the Irish, all of them against the Italians, Spanish, Greek and other Southern and Eastern Europeans.  When other continents starting arriving the bigotry became more complex with the advent of sizable diasporas from Japan, China, Korea, South East Asia, Oceania, Africa, Central Asia and India, and much of South and Central America as well as the Middle East and Northern Africa.  We all know this, and we all see it, but who gets to decide who is a 'native' and who is a foreigner?  I don't know if subconsciously I believe simply getting citizenship or a green card makes one an American but yet I support it and love it.  I don't know how to answer this question, and the problem is that it is an important question to answer the world over.  So many wars and conflicts are fought over boundaries, land, and history.  So many hatreds are perpetrated and inflamed over issues generations before.  How do we stop it?  Who do we side with, do we even need a side?  As the world gets smaller, it becomes more divided and yet united as well.  Social contracts and understandings that have stood for thousands of years are being reshaped in less than a generation and new problems that societies have never faced are appearing everywhere.  It probably sounds like I am being pessimistic, but I am simply talking and exploring the scary recesses of my brain.  I also feel that as I write I am able to think through and understand things that were not concrete before. I wish I had an answer, or even a purpose for this other than simply to be thought provoking but that is what it is.  Perhaps, we if we are aware of these things, each one of us can work a little harder to heal the social ills, listen a little more, and work a little harder to seek out solutions and peace between cultures.  At the very least, maybe this post got you to think for a little bit about the meaning of being a 'native'.

Umm Qais, Another Adventure!

So, this week was pretty darn awesome. After doing next to nothing for the first two days (we did meet the children we will be teaching English to starting Sunday) we were told to absolutely not come back until Sunday because neither the marqez or the mudireea had any work for us. Well, we asked them a few times and then decided that if they were going to give us three days off of work we were going to use them in an epic fashion and go on an adventure. The biggest thing that I look for in an adventure is uniqueness, so as I was searching for someplace to have some fun I looked for a place I have never heard of. Hence, why we went to a random town in Northern Jordan called 'Umm Qais'.

When I looked up Umm Qais I was told that it was a beautiful "Decapolis City" overlooking the Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights, and even Lebanon in the distance. Also, it is a favorite destination of Palestinians living in Jordan who go to see some of their homeland where they lived and their family still live, but they are unable to visit. So, that is Umm Qais and that is what I will be describing to you today because it was epically amazing and I feel like telling you, even though I haven't posted anything about Petra, Wadi Rum, or Aqaba yet which is also sad.


To get to Umm Qais was actually not very difficult, we took three buses to get there from Amman and one of them was an hour long drive in an air conditioned touring bus (like we have in the United States) and only cost about $3.00. All together, for both of, we spent about $14 to get from our house to the city and back. When we got the ruins we were both pretty hungry and so we went right up to the local restaurant which was overlooking the valley in front of us and was shaded and breezy. I had delicious chicken and Austin had hummus as we sat and thought about the many historical things that happened within our view. It was especially cool to think about the religious significance of that area and to look at the hill where Christ is supposed to have cast the devils out of the people and into the swine who then ran off the hill into the Sea of Galilee (or Lake Tiberius as it is called in Jordan).

The city was really fun to explore. It is not typical looking ruined city because instead of brown sandstone or white granite being the building blocks, they used black basalt which brings an interesting new color to the mix. There was a beautiful museum that was extremely detailed and comprehensive where we got to see a number of mosaics that were being protected as well as a sarcophagus that we both laid in (a little weird to lay down where you know someone who was dead was and then they decomposed into it). Probably the coolest thing was an ancient 10in thick door made of solid rock that you could still open and close because it was perfectly balanced on a giant stone hinge. It was awesome. Also, the sight still has a lot of excavation yet to be done and so as you walk around you see many old arches and passageways just sitting around. You think they are nothing until you explore them a little bit and are then quite amazed at the things that are under your feet all the time in this beautiful country.


As we were walking to the edge of the cliff we saw this little house made of rock balancing precariously on the edge. I thought it would be cool to go have a look and also to see what the view is like from the promontory. Well, as we approached, two amazingly relieved Jordanian Soldiers appeared outside of the little hut and proceeded to greet us enthusiastically and then proceed to tell us what everything in the distance was including the Golan Heights, the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberius), the Jordanian/Israeli Border, and the Syrian Border. It was amazing to see the Golan Heights especially and then to release why Israeli needed to take them and the strategic position it places Syria in if they receive them again with the creation of a Palestinian State. The other interesting thing I noticed was the technological divide between Israel and Jordan. The forward observation post for Jordan was very rustic, the soldiers had a single set of binoculars and were simply asked to look for signs of movement or advance. I'm sure that on the Israeli side they employ high technology such as radar and other devices, as well as many more soldiers to watch the border. It was very interesting and again, seeing how close they are to one another, it makes me grateful their is peace between Israel and her Arab neighbors. The other cool thing, was that the defenses from the 1967 6 Day war were still in place on the hill. There were extensive concrete and rock trenches, supply trenches and pill-boxes. It was amazing to be standing to something that was so important in such a modern time and to see the front-lines firsthand.

The last thing we did was head back to the city up to the ruins of the Byzantine Basilica which had a number of intact and ruined pillars. Of course, we were up for a challenge and so we were decided to scramble up a number of the pillars and take cool pictures on top of them and around them which I will include here. It was a lot of fun, and helped us be entertained for another hour or so.

Over all, Umm Qais was extremely awesome. I'm grateful that I was able to find a less-visited tourist destination and to finally see the area surrounding the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberius) and the Golan Heights. It helps understand the strategic advantage of this area and the reasons behind some of Israel's policies and procedures. Also, sitting in Umm Qais I wondered if Palestinians actually came there and looked at their homeland that they were unable to visit and the families they wouldn't know. I thought about what it would be like to be in Canada, away from my family, and refused entry into my homeland, the United States of America. I will not comment on the political situation here, but it simply made it more real for me and helped me have empathy instead of simply sympathy. I think this is one of the greatest things I have gained here in Jordan, a better understanding of the Arab people, especially Palestinians and a better understanding of some of the situations in the Middle East according to other people's eyes.

Look, I know Karate!

That's a weird center pillar!

This is the flat Chameleon I found while walking down the road,
pretty cool eh?

Progress on the Internship!

Well, this week we have made remarkable progress in our internship.  We had hoped to be teaching English this week as well as beginning the survey but have received the assurances and created a schedule whereby these will both begin next week.  So every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday Austin and I will go to the marqez in Iraq Al-Ameer where we will teaching two separate courses on English, one for beginners and one for more advanced or older students (I have also decided that I will go to the handicraft village pretty much every day after work in Iraq Al-Ameer to weave and make ceramics).  Austin will be teaching the boys and I will get to teach the girls.  Hopefully it won't be too hard but I have never proven too able to teach or hold the attention of children for very long so we will see how well we can do.  It will definitely be an adventure.

  On Mondays and Wednesdays we will report to the Mudireea in Wadi Il-Seer where we will begin work on a comprehensive survey in the Iraq Al-Ameer area.  The survey will have a demographic aspect and also focus on needs, and solutions for the community and what programs the Ministry of Social Development can implement in order to help the people of Iraq Al-Ameer.  It should be a pretty fun survey, although I believe it will take quite awhile to get the answers we need from individuals in the community mainly because I'm sure that every family we talk to will take a minimum of an hour since we will be drinking tea and offered lunch at every home.  It should be fun and will hopefully improve my arabic comprehension and conversation skills.  Over all I am excited for the progress we are making and excited, if a little nervous, for what this internship will entail next week.  Below I have included some pictures to add a little flare and show you a little of what we have done at the center.  I hope you enjoy!

This is the room where I will be teaching English to between 10 and 20 girls age 5-15:

Before

After

These are the kids that we met on Monday.
It should be pretty interesting!

Inter-Gender Relations

So that might have been a weird title but believe me, it is a good one for today's blogpost.  So, ever since I have been in Jordan I have wanted to talk to the women and find out about them, their lives, and how they feel just like I have been with the men.  Well, obviously that is quite hard since men and women aren't allowed to eat together, women are very closed and won't speak to you on the street, and I think the only woman I have regular contact with right now is Fatimah at the center.  This weekend all of that changed.

The sign for the Iraq Al-Ameer
(It means cave of the prince)
handicraft village

  Saturday, I decided I wanted an adventure and headed of the "Iraq Al-Ameer Handicraft Village" a women's cooperative near to my work where they hand-craft shawls, paper, soap, and ceramics and are also close to two different archaeological sites.  I had visited it before with a person from our work and found out that I could take classes in traditional Jordanian weaving, pottery, soap making, and ceramics all of which sounded extremely interesting.  Well, since I got there late in the day I was informed that they were already closed but was shown around and introduced to every single woman in the center.  It was very interesting for me, because like I mentioned earlier, I have wanted to talk with Arab women my entire time here.  Mainly I have only seen them in passing and have never had any meaningful interaction with them except for our boss, as work.  I was surprised to find that instead of closed off women who did not wish to talk, I found women who were very accommodating and interesting in what a random American who speaks very bad Arabic was doing out in the middle of no where talking about learning how to weave.  After getting a tour of the ceramics and weaving areas, I informed them I would be back the following day (Sunday) after work to begin classes in weaving.  I was then asked to sit down with the director of the center who was very nice and found out that her cousin who was sitting beside her, Naeem, spoke extremely good English and was preparing to go back to school to earn a masters degree in Geography.  She asked that I help her practice English when I am at the center and I told her that I can help her in anyway possible.  It was very nice, and I then went and sat near the caves and pondered/read a book for a few hours.

Me attempting to create a beautiful hand-made Jordanian Shawl

  Since my first encounter at the Handicraft Village I have returned twice with Austin after work.  The women have opened up to us immensely and apparently find us quite attractive (which was a completely unexpected occurrence).  In fact, the first day we visited they even fed us lunch which made it the first time I have ever eaten a meal with an Arab woman in this country.  They are extremely nice and accomadating, and are allowing us to work on Shawls that they are doing to fulfill an order in the United States.  Can you imagine the label on those shawls, the people think they are getting ones made my little Bedouin ladies from Iraq Al-Ameer and instead the label reads "Hand woven by extremely tired American Interns for the Ministry of Social Development."  Oh well, what they won't know won't hurt them right?  Basically, I am having a wonderful time learning how to weave and find it to be a very tiring and labor intensive process.  Not only do I understand them and theirs lives better, but I also understand why the industrial revolution rocked so much.

My Arabic name is Mohanned which means Sheath,
Apparently it is because I look like this fellow
who is an extremely famous Turkish Television Star.

  Perhaps the coolest contrast to see is the difference between these same women when we are talking to them in private, and when we enter the public sphere and get on the bus.  In private they are vibrant, fun and talkative.  They make jokes, laugh hard and can be seen to enjoy life immensely.  In contrast, when we board the buses these same women are solemn, closed and completely quite.  They do not say hello and do not register our proximity.  It is not my place to judge whether or not this is appropriate or good.  This is simply my observation, instead, I simply find it interesting and enlightening.  Some would say this means that the woman are belittled and demeaned but I do not know.  I think I need more information and understanding in order to form an opinion on this point.  To close, our boss informed us today that the prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, said that knowledge should be gained first by observation, then by listening and last of all with questions.  This is much the opposite of how we look at it in the west and we must remember this as we seek to learn about the Middle East and it's people.

Syrian Sunset

   Well, I'm a little behind in multiple different ways but this past weekend I saw Syria!  Can you believe that?  I saw frikin Syria which I think is so darn cool.  Also, judging from what I saw... all of the Media is lying.  Seriously, the only explosion I saw was fireworks and there was no sign of gun fire or tanks.   Seriously, our media must be lying because my first hand extensive knowledge says they are wrong ( haha, I hope everyone knows that I am joking).

  Maybe I should explain why I was chilling close to the Syrian border, especially since people are probably freaking out right now.  Well, the director of our program, Ralph Brown, was in country and was able to get all of us students invited to a huge dinner in Northern Jordan with a very powerful family he knows quite well.  So, after church on Friday we all pile into some vans and made the long trip up to what seemed like the Middle of nowhere.  It was amazingly gorgeous and surprisingly green from all of the agriculture.  Of  course the family we were eating with had to show us all of their property and expensive possessions so we go to see a lot of camels and I even got to ride one, bare back!

Once again, I feel like the best way to describe the day is through a number of pictures so here you go!

This is dozer, the huge bull camel I got to ride bareback.
I was the first person in the group so he wasn't angry
 yet but it was actually surprising enjoyable

Dozer's disgusting mouth after he became angry a little later.
Camels are huge and have disgusting mouths.

This is the sign on the outside of the camel pen.
  Apparently a camel can kill  you quite easily.
Maybe that's what that disgusting smell was...

That is Syria in the background.  Pretty cool photo in my opinion.

This is "Sophia" the pregnant white camel in a different pen that
absolutely love to be scratched under the cheeks.
Is she smiling at my kiss?

Just a cool picture in my opinion

The Syrian Sunset...

So yeah, this was the most eventful thing I did last weekend and it was a heck-of-a-lot of fun!  Also, if you ever want to ride a camel bareback, just let me know and I can give you some pointers!

Adventures with Heat Stroke

The Canyon of Heat Stroke

This was just one of the few things offered at the "market"

Today was the first adventure we had as a program and we went off to the Wadi Dana nature preserve and Al-Karak Castle south of Amman.  We were really excited to go to the nature preserve because on the website there were a number of amazing hikes that were promised including one to abandoned roman copper mines, a waterfall, and local craft shops as well.  I was really excited because we were also promised there would be running water at the 'rustic hotel' and I hadn't gotten a shower for almost a week.  Well, we woke up early and all jumped in a van with our driver Mr. Shoeki and headed down the freeway to Dana.  For breakfast I usually eat a piece of fruit or something small like that so I was really hungry when we arrived in Dana village at lunch time.  I hadn't bought any food along the road because Mr. Shoeki had told us that there would be many supermarkets open in the village and we could get food for cheap there.  However, when we arrived in Dana village our tour guide then informed us that all of the supermarkets were closed but that we would be able to eat when we got back from our hike because dinner was provided.  (Anyone who has ever hiked knows that his was a bad idea).  We wanted some snacks or something to eat so we pushed him a little more and were finally able to get him to take us to a 'supermarket' where they were selling only badly refined sugar that had been sitting on the shelf for far to long.  Well, I bought them just in case and then we headed out down the valley.

The sweet ruins I found and explored

  The valley was pretty cool, although hiking down hill was hard on the knees and the whole time I was thinking about how much it was going to suck to have to hike back up this huge hill.  The first part of the hike was pretty boring and quite ugly, it was simply really deserty and boring.  However, as soon as we saw something cool off in the distance we left the path and began exploring for real.  This is how our adventures truly began as we started to climb all over cool rock formations, sun bath, take cool pictues and generally have a great time.  We also discovered some ruins that were perched precariously on the top of a huge rock that were pretty fun to explore as well.  Most of all I simply enjoyed being in nature and being in peace for a small time.  Like always I spent some time simply sitting down and enjoying the peace while taking sometime to ponder (which most other people don't really understand here on the trip and is starting to make me sort of the joke of the group but that is ok).  At this point half of the group broke off and returned to the village in hope of finding a cooler hike with more to see while the other half proceeded further into the canyon where we could see beautiful green flowering plants in the base.  The valley floor was beautiful and quite like a jungle and the half that I was with spent some good time down there simply talking and enjoying one another's company.  Realizing it was getting a little bit late we then proceeded up the mountain and in an attempt to cut a little bit of distance from our trip we took a short cut which caused us to go up a very steep rock cliff.  As we got about half way up the cliff I bega to feel a little bit flushed, winded and dizzy so I sat down and took a little break.  I soon recovered my breath and continued waling, making it another quarter way up the mountain before feeling extremely weak.  At this point I took stock of my symptoms and what may ave been happening to me and decided that I must be suffereing from heat stroke or something related to it.  I was not sweating, my skin was extremely warm, I don't think I was dehydrated since I had drank almost two liters of water and I felt dizzy and extremely weak.  Unfortunately for me I discovered as we crested the rock hill that we were probably still about two kilometers away from the village, food, and cold water.

My 4 wheel drive up the mountain...

  Finally, putting my pride aside and realizing that I was in a dangerous situation I admitted that I was too weak to make it to the top of the hill and to the safety of the village.  Luckily we had cell phone reception and were able to call the village and explain the situation.  Although we were on a nice road they originally told us that they would not be able to send a car down to get us and instead would be sending a mule train.  Well, instead of making me sad I thought this was pretty cool since it would be a really cool cultural experience and after I felt better I knew it would make for an even cooler story.  Just as I was getting used to the idea of a mule train they called back to tell us that a car was on it's way and it was bringing cold water and bread for me because it was likely my blood sugar was low.  Luckily it didn't take too long for the truck to get to us and the scariest part of the entire trip was when he was turning around and backing up to the edge of a cliff in a manual.  I got scared but one of the girls that was with me, Jennae, actually screamed out and bit into her back pack because she was scared.  Anyway, the ride up was great and really saved my bacon so for that I am extremely grateful.

A small view of our beautiful hotel

  The evening passed rather uneventfully with us eating dinner, playing chess in a semi-permanent bedouin tent and talking with everyone in the group who I really like.  The best part of the entire day, however, was the fact that I finally was able to take a shower!  Although the water pressure was horrible and I didn't really have the things I needed it felt so good to finally be clean again after so long of a wait.  It was wonderful and I know that the first thing I do when I get home is going to be to take a really long warm shower and then dry off with a nice, thick, clean towel.  Oh glorious!  Anyway, tomorrow we go to Karak which is supposed to be the best and largest ancient castle in Jordan so I am really excited.  Hopefully I won't be suffering from heat stroke again tomorrow!