"He'll be like rabbit, not like chickens"

I have absolutely no clue if this is a Jordanian saying or if my host mom is just that brilliant at coming up with analogies. By the way, this is in reference to being quiet (i.e. like a rabbit) in regards to Fu Fu.

So I posted a really long list yesterday, and I'm going to get to some of it now. First I want to recap a little from today. Today was the big exam (imtiHan kabeer) and I felt so stupid by the end, especially the oral interview. But I'm hoping I'll still be bumped up to Intermediate II, inshallah. A group of us went up to north gate (bawaabit shamaalia) to get copies from Jafar and then find some lunch. Copyright laws here are pretty loose, so all our professors just photocopy passages (or whole books) and let us get them for like 2 dinar, which is awesome. We stopped at some shawerma/McDonald's type place ("Big Mac: an Epic Story" is their sign) and just chilled for a bit before we split up. Brooke, Quinn (a newfound neighbor) and I went to City Mall to get some things. OH MY GOD. the mall here is insane. This place is HUGE. They have room for inclined moving walkways - you know, like the ones in the airport? like that, no stairs, just flat and they take you from one floor to the next like an escalator. We also found out that this mall is 90% high end American stores. We found a Starbucks and sat down to have a snack and a chat (btw: java chip frappuccino = 2.65 JD) and it was wonderful. After being here for a little over a week, I was really craving just a little something from home. We've now nicknamed the City Mall our "oasis" because everything there is so American.

Onto the list!
1) The men in storefronts. In American stores, especially boutiques, people wait for customers to come in, but they wait at the counter or sort of lurking behind racks or shelves. Not here. Here, the men stand in the open doorway staring people down waiting for someone to come in. It's funny to pass by the stores in a taxi and see a whole row of guys just leaning in their doorways, silently waiting for people to come in. They don't hassle anyone, they just stand and wait. It's a little intimidating, but more amusing than anything.

2) sharmander and lift together = khalel. Khalel is a jar of pickled vegetables, I'm not sure what they are but there are two kinds: one is white and one is pink, and together they make a deep red/purple liquid that stains everything that color. It is incredibly sour, incredibly healthy, and to me at least, incredibly good. So good, I made the mistake of telling my host family twice. I then had the following conversation:
"Ah, I send some with you to school. In little jar like this" she holds up her fingers to indicate about a cup-size jar "And I will slice them and you share with your friends. Sah?"
"That would be great, shukran!"
This jar was not cup-size. This jar is about two pints big, and she filled the ENTIRE THING. I was carrying around about a pound and a half of pickled vegetables (I still don't know what exactly they are) in my backpack for the entire day. And no one ate any of it, so now I'm hiding it in my room from my host mom so she doesn't get offended. If you ever come to the Middle East, know that food is going to be your biggest cultural obstacle. Knowing when and how to accept, decline, and eat whatever it is that is set in front of you is an acquired skill.

3) Hipster Jordanians would exist if they were in America. As in, there are potential hipsters, but they don't know that. This is especially prevalent with the girls. There exists a sort of fashion scale among the girls. The most Western and liberal are the girls who wear hijab or don't (usually Christian girls, obviously) and wear skinny jeans and sweater dresses and fashionable, sometimes four-inch heeled, leather boots. Every girl, regardless, carries a large purse (much like Denison) and wears lots of makeup. The girls in Jordan, I am convinced, are some of the most beautful women on the face of the planet. Also, some of them wear the flowers (see Jordanian Bump-Its) and sometimes even walk arm in arm with boys, which is INCREDIBLY rare. Guys walking arm and arm, holding hands, or arms around waist, is totally common. And everyone kisses cheeks. It's hard not to stare because that kind of behavior is so ridiculously taboo in America...back on topic. After the skinny jean-clad girls comes the girls who wear more modest hijab and the long coats and dresses that are more typical Muslim dress. However, many of these girls are also wearing jeans and chucks, you just can't see them. After these girls comes the niqab girls, who wear the full hijab and niqab (which covers all the face but the eyes) and all their clothes are incredibly loose and flowing, covering up all of them. Again, however, if you look close enough, you can see jeans and chucks or cute boots poking out from underneath the voluminous skirts. It just goes to show that all the girls here are like American girls, but sometimes more modestly dressed. They all want to look pretty and wear cute clothes, even if they don't show.
Oh, and the guys. The guys mostly look like greasers. Tight jeans, boots, leather jackets, slicked back hair. They pretty much all look the same, there's a lot more variation among the girls.

4) All the buildings here start out with "Koliat al____" but the translated English underneath always says "Faculty of____" instead of department. And apparently there's no good translation from Arabic to English for "Rehabilitation Sciences" which one, I don't even know what that means and two, no one knows where it is.

5) My professor. She spent an hour and half telling us why Arab Women literature is important, and why it's important to be passionate about it. I was afraid I might frighten her with my enthusiasm. Her syllabus looks like every English I've ever taken, and I'm one of maybe two English majors in the class. Also, we have the option of writing a short story instead of a research paper, and the final exam is just like the AP exam. Also, on the recommended reading list were both Mustafa Bayoumi and Geraldine Brooks. I almost cried with excitement.

6) finding this class, however, was not easy. It was listed on our schedule as in the Humanities building, English Seminar room. After about half an hour of walking around looking, we found out that "Humanities" actually means "Faculty of International Studies" and that "English Seminar Room" means "Meeting Room" in the English department. Also, the assertion that people who hang out in the Humanities area study English and therefore know at least some English, is totally wrong. We actually ran into a girl who said "I major in English" and couldn't figure out what "Where English department/area/building/room" meant. That was a little frustrating.

7) Although it's not as cold as Ohio, since this is Amman, no one has central heating. And the buildings aren't insulated. So the cold = constant. I see my breath in the bathroom, my bedroom, and most of my classes. I spend a good chunk of time everyday simply looking for someplace warm.

8) The tea here is excellent, as is Turkish coffee, even with the weird, gingery taste. My host family makes amazing tea (as does my rooommate) and the leaves are loose and they put tons of sugar in it. And we get to drink it out of the fantastic cups they have here. I look forward to shay everyday. I get at least two cups: one at breakfast and one after dinner, guarunteed. And my host mom loves for us to eat in our pajamas (I have no idea why) so I'm also really comfortable when I drink shay, which is just awesome.

9) This wasn't on the list, but I got my first taste of Arabic techno the other day. The taxi drivers typically listen to Qu'ran readings or talk radio, but this one was into techno. This was also the driver who pulled over on our way home, got out of the car and went to get tea. This is totally normal in Jordan.

10) the tunnel. The tunnel passes under a really busy road between the University of Jordan and Khalifa plaza, where the CIEE study center is. The tunnel is jam packed with little kiosks and stores, selling everything from cellphones to snacks, spongebob slippers to hijabs. You can buy almost anything you want in the tunnel, and it's only a 100 feet or so long.

I think that about sums up this addition of my blog. There's so much I want to share, but just not enough time or energy to write it all down. Don't worry, you'll all hear way more than you want to when I get back to the States :) Yellabye!

Beth