Find me out on the mountain top...

So for the past few weekends I have been working at a school in Iraq Al-Amir.  We have painted the playground area and the classrooms as well as installed a type of railing for the kids so they wont push each other off the stair cases.  It has been really cool to see all the work come together and the place is starting to look pretty darn good. 

While I really like going and working and spending time with friends outside the classroom, I think that what I really REALLY like is getting out of the city.  Now Amman isn’t a bad place and it really isn’t a very large city but it is still a city.  I wish that you could all see the landscape out in Iraq Al-Amir.  It is just beautiful. I think I am meant to be in the country side as opposed to the city.  Im sure growing up listening to bluegrass my whole life (title of this post is a song lyric from a Blue Highway song) might play into it but regardless I love being out of the city.

Today the weather was super foggy.  On the way to the school our driver had a little bit of trouble seeing the road because it was so foggy.  This, however, set the scene for one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen.  Instead of talking about it I am going to post some pictures.  These pictures do not do the area justice in the slightest but it is all that I have to share right now....

The fog on the road in front of our poor driver.

More fog.

Iraq Al-Amir

Iraq Al-Amir

Iraq Al-Amir

Iraq Al-Amir

Cemetery in Iraq Al-Amir

Iraq Al-Amir

عيد شكر سعيد!!!

This week marks a few significant things for me and my time abroad. 

First- Yesterday marked one month until I depart from this country.  I didn’t think much about it other than simple reflection with my roommate and the boys that live up the street from us.  We talked about what we wish we had done or could do and what next semester holds and what we plan on doing as far as Arabic is concerned. 

I cant say that yesterday was all that sad nor was it happy.  It was just another day in Amman.  I told myself that I wasn’t going to label it beyond what the calendar said and I would simply make the most out of the time I have left.

Second- Today was Thanksgiving.  It was my first thanksgiving away from home.  The day started off as usual in Gloria Jeans cramming in all my homework that I didn’t get done earlier while I sipped my free iced tea and ate my blueberry muffin.  I then ventured to my colloquial Arabic class where we had doughnuts and an oral exam.  We then returned to Gloria Jeans to finish more homework and study for our vocab test in the next class.  That class was once again in our fishbowl of a classroom, as we were still off campus due to fear of protests on campus.  From our classroom, during our test we could hear another class learning a song.  Our professor invited the class to come over and sing to us during our exam….

Once class was finally over we headed to the Thanksgiving dinner which was arranged by CIEE for us.  We weren’t sure where the dinner was but once on campus we saw a large group of UJ students watching something.  At a closer look they were actually watching our group play American football.  Some Jordanian students along with some random Asian students had joined in the game.  Many of our teachers from CIEE were also playing which was so fun to see.

Once dinner was ready we all filtered into the UJ cafeteria dining room for our Thanksgiving feast!  The tables were decorated in traditional Thanksgiving colors complete with a pumpkin in the middle of the tables!!!  We had apple juice and water to drink and the food was set up in buffet style.  They had a mixture of traditional American foods such as turkey, mashed potatoes and green beans.  But there were also a few Jordanian curve balls thrown in there like rice, hummus and pita bread.  It was a great experience and since I couldn’t be home to celebrate I am glad that I was here with these people.

After the dinner Beth, the other girl from my school, and I along with James headed downtown to film our video for Jewell's hanging of the green.  We took a bus and I guess there was a huge accident or traffic situation cause it took us forever to get downtown.  We wanted to do the video in front of a mosque but to avoid being confused as a journalist we decided to film the video elsewhere.  Our first choice was at Hercules Temple on the Citadel but the bus took too long so we filmed it at the Roman amphitheater.

While we were filming a group of little girls were fascinated by us and kept asking questions about us.  We invited them to be in our video but they laughed through the whole thing and you could hardly hear us so we didn’t use that take.  Beth, James and I finished the video and did a little exploring (spending money…what? We don’t get black Friday!!!) Worried about potential and predicted protests we didn’t stay out very late. 

When I got home my host sisters invited me to go out with them and run a few errands.  We got toilet paper for a video that one of them was making along with a Barbie for the video.  After we were done with our errands we went to a pizza place called Pizza Lovers which they assured me was the best pizza in the world! It was pretty good but for me the BEST part of it was…well other than being with my Jordanian fam…was the fact that the NFL was on tv in the pizza place.  It was so exciting. 

Once I got home I called home and checked in on them.  I loved getting to talk to the family.  I felt like I was back at home for just a split second. 

So what am I thankful for this Thanksgiving? I think the question is what am I not thankful for? I have been blessed with an amazing family and support group back home in the states.  I have wonderful friends, peers, teachers and colleagues here in Amman.  I have been blessed with the opportunity to come here to Amman and live and learn and experience and try new things and make mistakes and learn from the mistakes and grow as a person.  My list could go on about what I am thankful for and what I am thankful for back home, my mom can attest as I sent her a ranting text the other day outlining all the things I miss from home, but I think I will just keep it at this.  Thank you to all of you who are reading this too because I know that if you didn’t care about me or have an impact in my life then you wouldn’t take the time to read the rants of a college girl in the middle east.  

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  Enjoy it!

Check out my video of my day HERE

Moving Forward

Last night we received this email from our program, CIEE.  I think it does a good job summing up the current situation.  I will capitalize some of the more important parts as I see them.

 

First, there are some protests and marches going on tonight.  They are not only in the usual places, but are starting to pop up in more places...this is deliberate on the part of the many groups organizing these protest activities.  Everything remains relatively peaceful here in Amman, but things are still very tough in other cities and towns around Jordan.  As I noted on Facebook, this could go on for some time to come.
This week we're moving off campus.  Campuses here are very political places (and not in the American way).  Not only do we now have a war going on across the river, we have a huge, by all appearances very well-organized General Strike headed into another day tomorrow.  These issues are going to make their way onto campus.  We are not necessarily afraid that campus presents a physical danger; we are, rather, taking a precaution in the hopes of minimizing any further disruptions to our academic program, especially in light of the strike and how little of our semester remains.  Some universities will be closed tomorrow.  At other universities, students are organizing for the strike and the universities are trying to disabuse them of that notion. 

The General Strike is a big deal, and a lot of people are participating both in an individual and organized fashion.  Leading the vanguard is the Teachers' Association.  They are a very smart organization, highly organized, and last year staged a walkout in which they made their point and won their terms.  It had the effect of politicizing a lot of people who had previously been fairly a-political.  You should be paying attention to the role of labor in what's going on.  Coming from an American perspective, we don't tend to do very well contextualizing labor at moments like these.  Especially in American-style Political Science and IR, there's so much focus on words in scare-quotes, like "Islamists."  We often miss a bigger and more interesting picture.  That said, the teachers will march tomorrow while we are in class.  The General Strike may go on, may pick up momentum, or it may fizzle; we just don't know yet.  What it means practically is that things might be closed more so than usual, and transportation might be more annoying than usual.  Just be prepared.

In terms of advice for dealing with our current situation, it's important to keep in mind that we are safe.  We are ready to make important calls should we sense that that might change.  You should continue to do all of those things we've suggested you do all semester:  heed our advice, warnings, guidelines, and policies; have situational awareness; stay on top of current events; maintain a low profile; stay away from anything that looks to be a protest; report anything weird; talk to us if you have questions or concerns.

The Stateside coverage of what's been happening over the past several days is appallingly bad, and unlike that coverage, we actually do know what's going on and try very hard to convey an honest picture to you.

Today we received two more emails that specify a few more protests and marches that will be going on tonight and tomorrow. 

• Tonight in Rabieh at 6 p.m. there is a protest scheduled in front of the Israeli Embassy regarding Gaza, etc
• Also slated for tonight after 'asha prayer:  a protest at Dakhliyya and Jabal Hussein.
• Tomorrow at 1 p.m. there will be a march from in front of the Professional Associations' building in Shmeisani (across from Spinney's) to the Prime Ministry in 4th Circle.
• As of now it seems that the Teachers' Association is slated to take the strike into another day.

My current thoughts on the situation. 

1. I am so thankful to be back in classes.  It gives me a chance to not only do what I came here to do, study, but also get a feel for how others are doing and what they think about the situation.  I really cant wait to hear from my history professor tomorrow in class.  It should be a good day.
2. After a significant bit of reverse culture shock, as described in my last post, I am starting to have dreams that I am back in the states.  I miss home, that is for sure, but I am honestly enjoying the time I have here.  I have found a new love for this country in the past few days and I love being here and in this region as long as it is relatively safe.  It is an exciting place to be and to learn.
3. I am currently sitting about an hour or so east of Jerusalem.  The other night they had the bomb sirens going off because some bombs were falling near the city.  That is a bewildering thought for me, that a war is going on just over an hour from where I am sitting. 
4. Speaking of war, I encourage you all back home to stay updated on the situation in the region just to the west of me.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, when doing research, look at both sides.  I am not defending either side but I think that more often than not, in the states, we only hear one side of the issue and forget about the other side.  There is more to the story and I encourage you to look into it.  A good site for international news, that isn’t biased on one US political side or the other, is Al Jazeera.  It is a fantastic site for up to date, honest journalism.  

That is all for now.  I am off my soapbox and I will keep you all updated, as usually, as I receive more information.

First World Problems

I am just a little bit upset right now and I am not quite sure how to put it into words.

For the past few days I have sat in my house and watched the events around me unfold.  I have received numerous emails with specific instructions on where I can and cannot go.  I have followed news sites and social media sites to try to get the most up-to-date information I can but this has left me in a rather depressing mood. 

I have tried to keep people updated with the information I have received because I know that back home there isn’t much news going on.  This has overwhelmed me and honestly my thoughts have been on the situation around me basically non-stop since Wednesday night. 

While these events consume me, I am noticing that others don’t seem to care.  I know that I cannot blame people for not caring or understanding because I know if I were at home I would be behaving in the same way. I am reading articles about sirens going off in Jerusalem or a peace negation was almost reached before the leader of Hamas was killed or how there are calls for the overthrow of the monarchy of the country in which I am currently living.  All of these things are directly effecting the world in which I am currently living and I am not even deeply rooted in this world.  I don’t pay taxes, I will be leaving in just about a month and I have no family here yet I feel for these people because they have taken me in to their offices, their classrooms, their cafes and their homes and made me feel as if I were one of them. These events have also affected my life for the past few days.  I have had to remain in certain areas of town, my weekend travel plans were cancelled and next week I will have to start paying more for transportation.

So compare this, what I have been reading and what I have been living with, to what I read on facebook and twitter.  Today I literally read a status that said "It's a sad day for America. No more twinkies...". If that is the worst thing our country has to deal with right now then we are sitting pretty darn pretty. I'm not saying that Hostess plant shutting down isn’t a bad thing and I am by no means saying that I am now an expert on foreign affairs but I just wish that we in America were not so oblivious to the world around us. 

This has been one of the most eye opening experiences of my life and although I am starting to reach my breaking point and feel a significant bit of depression in regards to everything I have just described I would not trade these past few months, especially not these past few days, for anything. You never know what you have until it is gone and I pray that we are able to recognize all that we are blessed with back home so that we won't have to suffer like so many people around the world.

Note- I did not write this to describe my life but rather in a an attempt to have my readers take a look at their own lives and just be that much more thankful.

Update- Today, so far, has been a rather peaceful day in Jordan. I was able to go out this morning and get a good "American" breakfast and spent the morning doing a little exploring.  I have not really witnessed too much of the protesting first hand but it is out there.  

Protests in downtown Amman today.