Sweet Days

Our DukeEngage group gathered yesterday for orientation of the Southern Excursion that we will be embarking on in three days. Our SIT directors have arranged for us to tour in Dana, Petra, Wadi Rum, and Aqaba, four major tourist areas of Jordan.  Of course, besides being destinations where we can ride on camels (could not be more excited for this!) they are historical centers of Jordan and we will be given a guided tour of castles, ruins, and the great outdoors.

However, before we were briefed on our excursion the program had us watch a movie called "Amreeka", a film that was released in 2009 that documents the life of a Palestinian single-mother family that immigrates to America to start a new life.

 I found the movie both incredibly amusing and poignant at times.  Essentially, the mother Muna and the teenage son Fadi move in with Muna's sister during a time where Arabs are discriminated against due to post-9/11 fear of terrorism.  The son is picked on at school and the mother, despite having two degrees and a decade of work experience in finance, is relegated to the fast food industry.  Though the movie has heartwarming and funny moments, it just really made me think.

My parents (who I am sure are reading this blog post, so shoutout to you guys) immigrated with me to America around 17 years ago.  They held minimum-wage jobs while taking care of me, still a toddler, and while being enrolled in university.  Through a combination of hard work, dedication, brains, and luck they managed to piece together a quality living and somehow reached the American dream.  But there are so many immigrants who come to America thinking it's a land of gold and riches, and I'm sure that many of them end up like Muna - working menially despite being very smart and passing on most of their dreams to their children.  My heart breaks for them. And my heart goes out to my parents, who had to overcome the almost insurmountable!

Anyways on a lighter note, after all of the information regarding orientation and the movie, we headed to Habibeh, most of the most famous restaurants in Amman - and that happens to be a sweets shop. Located in one of the most touristy areas, it is a two story desserts restaurant. Which already sounds fantastic.

But it was sooo much better than I expected. As we walked in to the vast expanse of sweets sitting at every counter, I realized that there were chefs behind each counter making desserts in real time.  There were trays of knafa (see my earlier post on Jordanian desserts), and other nutty and caramelized pastries as well as huge  displays of large chocolate and coconut truffles. I'm drooling just thinking back on it.

But even better - the escalator took us to the second floor which turned out to be a super fancy dining area.  Except instead of meals, the menu was entirely desserts.  I have a bit of a sweet tooth, so I found this to be incredibly lovely.  Regrettably, I had indulged at dinner so I contented myself with an iced peach tea and mooched off of other peoples knafas.  Fortunately I will almost definitely go back to that store, as my boss invited me on a desserts date with her!

   This city keeps on presenting me with more and more surprises and I can't wait to see more of it. Though of course I'm also very eager to see the rest of Jordan as well.

Summer Reading

Though experiencing the city of Jordan has been exciting, as has experiencing the lovely Arabic culture and spending time with my host family and DukeEngage group, I'm beginning to grow addicted to my daily routine and the amount of free time that I'm able to channel into various projects that I have never gotten around to doing during school.  Here's a little snapshot of my day to day -

Wake up at 7:30-8 Depending on how much I'm attracted to my bed, I will either get up earlier or later. It's rather pleasant because my bed is right by the window, so the first thing that I see is sunlight and the first thing I hear are bird chirping.  And yes, it's always sunlight - it has not rained once since I came. I try to start the day off with 5 minutes of meditation and a light bit of yoga or journaling before I take a quick breakfast and flag down a taxi to work.

Get to office at 9 Sometimes I will consciously force myself to get there later, because I know that if I am too early the door will the locked, as nobody comes in early to work (unless our boss is there).  I'll set my bag down at the front cubicle I occupy that happens to be farthest from the air conditioning since it gets really cold around the office. Then I take out my work legal-pad, plug in my laptop, and work diligently for the next few hours.

...Just kidding. I'll usually start off my work hours checking out news headlines, facebook, etc. But then it's on to my work, where I am developing a policy framework and writing a position paper for implementing Access and Benefit Sharing for biodiversity conservation and indigenous protection.  Depending on the day, I may also be heading to a conference with my boss to hear a presentation or attend a workshop for the state of sustainability in the Middle East.

Of course the productivity in my work is aided by grooveshark, youtube, and other sites that provide adequate music to tide me through the day.

Head to the gym at 4:15 My work day ends at 4, and it usually takes a while to call a taxi that does not blatantly attempt to overcharge me.  Then I will head out to Fitness One, one of the only female-only gyms in Amman.

I love looking outside the window from the taxi and into the crowded city. During rush hour, cars will be swerving in every which direction in the streets and brave pedestrians will be calmly "frogger-ing" through even the busy highway. Regardless, I enjoy looking up at the skyscrapers and trying to decipher the names and purposes of the endless street shops.  

On days that I don't go to the gym, our study abroad program (SIT) usually has some event or lecture planned for us.  Earlier in the program, we were learning survival Arabic techniques and lately we have been receiving cultural lectures such as the role of the Jordanian government and women's movements that have emerged in the city. It's all very fascinating and I am sometimes amazed at the ability of our SIT coordinators to invite relatively distinguished lecturers such as professors from Jordan University to speak with us.

Home at 7 When I get home, my host mama and sister are already back and I will unwind by chattering with them about my work, their work, and trying to learn some Arabic. Usually my host mama has some wonderful food already prepared as well, and I eat it with delight as I am famished after my stint at the gym. However, she and my sister do not join us because it is customary for Jordanians to eat dinner very late at around 9 or even 10 pm (they eat lunch at around 4 or 5 pm, I will never fully understand this). 

Post-dinner, I may do a little bit of light yoga or head straight into my mini-projects. One of these is attempting to recombine song lyrics and create remixes. Or I start right into working on my fiction novel. If I'm really tired, all I really want to do is read "Atlas Shrugged", which is an amazing novel by Ayn Rand that espouses the principals of Objectivism. The philosophy itself I don't agree with, but the characterization and plot are so far superb.

Other days, where I am feeling more active or post-lecture at SIT, I usually do not get home until 10 to 11 pm because our group will eat dinner and have fun around the city. A few days ago I saw Monsters University in theaters - and I must say that the movie was absolutely fantastic and full of so much heart-jerking comedy.

Bedtime by 12 I've become such a homebody at this point that I usually cannot make it past midnight without completely passing out in my bed.

 Usually, as I'm passed out my iPhone is hidden and snuggled right under my pillow or still glowing in my hand.  

Being a Woman

Islam is probably notorious for how it has manifested in the treatment of women.  In many middle eastern countries, women have less political power and social mobility.  Kuwait, for example, only just granted women the right to vote in 2005 and Saudi Arabia still has not granted full voting rights.  Women are now obtaining high levels of education and rapidly entering the work force, but this applies primarily in the cities.  Having lived in a Bedouin village, I can attest that there is still a very conservative emphasis on values.  Women do the cooking, cleaning, and raising of children and will stay at home expecting to fill these roles.

I'm not going to go into all of the details about women and gender roles, because that opens a huge box of issues.  I will briefly mention a few though.

Despite common misconceptions, these oppressive gender roles do not rise out of the Islamic religion itself, but is more of a social consequence of it.  That is not to say that people will not use the Qur'an to to justify unequal lady treatment, because they sure do. For example, in Mosque it is the custom for women to always sit behind the men and kneel behind them during prayer.

Women are expected to dress conservatively. Since I have been here, I have not seen a single woman wear shorts or sleeveless shirts on the streets.  Most women wear long pants, and a long sleeve shirt.  In fact, skirts that go to your knees are considered rather scandalous; when I walked back from the dinner with the US Ambassador wearing a formal knee-length black and white dress, I heard catcalls from men down the street and in cars.  Women are also expected to sit in the back seat of taxis and cars; men always sit in the front, and - as I observed on my bus to work - men would rather crowd in the front seat than sit in the back where there are vacancies.

I have grievances against many of the men in this city.  It is difficult to generalize, as there are also many men I have encountered who are kindhearted and respectful of women.  For example, my host brother Zed and my host father are both very kind and several taxi drivers have engaged me in meaningful conversation about the culture of the city.  On the other hand, many taxi drivers have verbally harassed me.  I will never forget the taxi ride where the driver consistently asked me where I lived and leered at me through the rearview mirror before pointing to his chest and asking me how to translate "chest" in English. It was very uncomfortable indeed.  When I walk from the gym or try to call a taxi, I have faced so many instances of men leaning out from their cars, leering in Arabic, and honking - my friend has told me that this has happened to her even when they were obviously with their wives or girlfriends! It's incredible what the men believe to be civilized and acceptable behavior.

On an even more serious note, we attended a lecture at SIT that was given by a Women's Studies professor at Jordan University.  She told us of many atrocities across the city that seem so conservative and yet so dreadful such as suicides of young Jordanian women and honor killings.  These will occur when a young woman has lost her virginity before marriage; she will even be forced into suicide to defend the honor of her family or a male relative may murder her.  In fact one young woman was recently murdered by her father because she had merely chatted with a man on facebook.

And what's worse is the civil code permits a rapist to marry the woman he has raped. Oftentimes her familly will go along with this sham of a wedding in order to - once again - preserve the family's honor. This makes me so angry.

 And because DOMA was overruled in America just yesterday (yay for the court upholding what was already a cultural norm) an honorable mention goes to the concept of how homosexuality is not only shunned and negatively viewed but young gays are brutally murdered. Horrific.

Social movements are now rising through the country that champion the role of young women in society, but it will be a while before anything substantial happens. The misogynistic tendencies are so embedded in the culture and associated with the religion that only a massive overhaul can overrule these traditions.

Policy Initiative

After finishing the various research tasks that my boss, James, had assigned me at work, my job reached a cool down period last week where I had not much to do.  This period was interrupted by our DukeEngage trip to the Badia, and I had prayed that when we returned I would have more productive tasks.

Well my prayer has been answered! When I returned from the Badia, James told me that I was start working on a policy guideline for the National Biodiversity Council for the monarchy.  I was literally giddy with excitement at this opportunity, for a number of reasons.

1. I am passionate about environmental work and believe that it is one of the most important fields for the future of mankind.  For me, there is no question that unless we reverse the impacts of global warming and make changes to improve the ecosystem, there will be catastrophic impacts in human health, animal health, and the biosphere.  And I also truly believe that if we work hard at it, we can improve the situation.

2.  Part of my work is to draft a policy to negotiate intellectual property for genetic engineering of plants (one of my favorite topics ever by the way), which is very intellectually stimulating.  In fact patents are my preferred future line of work, so it could not be more perfect.  But what makes it rewarding for me is that fact that many of these plants exist within Bedouin villages and tribe areas, who have been possibly harvesting the plants for medicinal or other purposes for decades in their own way.  The goal is to allow harvesting of the plants by the Jordanian government and other governments, but to do so in a way that respects the techniques of the locals and engages them in the process.  

3. The draft policy and proposal that I create will be presented in front of a standing committee of Jordanian politicians and inform the workings of the crown.  This is why I love policy work - it has very real implications that impact the government, even if it is seven years down the line.

Essentially, if you haven't already gathered from my excitement above, the crux of my work is research and looking into global Biodiversity legislation that was promoted by the United Nations.  They released the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) which has branched out into many sub-initiatives to cover all facets of plant work.  I am doing work on the Nagoya Protocol which is focused on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS), essentially contractual agreements on plant property and patents for local communities.  Very yummy work for me because it's a marriage of environmentalist, policy, and patent law.

I am also blessed to be working with people who are so interested and passionate about the environment.  James had a fascinating path towards coming to the RBG.  He was working in business and on track to becoming an investment banker when he realized that he wasn't passionate about it.  He quit school against his parents' wishes and worked on a fishing boat for a year in Vermont.  Then, to sustain himself, he took up gardening and farming and realized his passion for environmental work, quitting this job and going back to school to study horticulture.  

Habiba is a dear Canadian lady who is reminiscent of the vegan environmentalists who frequent one of my favorite stores, Whole Foods.  She goes to a local organic market every week and buys exotic herbs, sharing them with me when she goes on a weekday.  Passionate and spiritual, she embodies that in her holistic view of both the Middle East and environmental work.

Tomorrow I was told that we would have two new members joining us: a high school intern and a volunteer from America.  I am told that I will be managing the intern, which makes me feel powerful already.  But really it will be nice to share the mission of the RBG with others.  

The Monarchy

There is not a street in Jordan where you will turn and not see a picture of the current ruler, King Abdullah II.    His face is pasted over the side of every skyscraper, the tops of convenience shops, and within restaurants and hotel lobbies.

  Almost as common are pictures of the previous monarch, King Hussein (his father), and his son the Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah who is actually studying at Georgetown (so close to my house!).  

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, it is illegal to speak against the government and it is an especially heinous crime to verbally attack the monarchy.  The very fact that their pictures are juxapositioned everywhere guarantees in some small degree their overtures in the minds of most Jordanians.  It's easy to like what is familiar, and it is clear that this principal is especially exploited here.

Having read  an autobiography of Queen Noor (the wife of the late King Hussein), and discussed the issue with fellow DukeEngagers and natives, I feel more knowledgeable about the state of Jordan and its rulers.  Let me briefly explain; the monarchy is certainly not just for show here. There is a Prime Minister, but the King usually gets to pick and kick out this ruler.  Furthermore, any act from government has to directly pass through the hands of the King.  

King Hussein was apparently quite beloved by his people and his popularity remains to this day even after his death.  His father, Talal, was a schizophrenic and ruled the people for a mere year before the 17 year old Hussein had to step in his place.  Throughout his reign, he tried to ensure peace for the middle east and broker negotiations between Israel, the West, and the rest of the Arab world, placing Jordan in its neutral position.  Apparently, Israelis loved him so much that they joked he could be elected into office if he ever moved there.  

The current ruler, Abdullah II, is said to have done much to improve Jordan's economy and initiated a policy to provide quality housing to everyone in the country, including refugees.  However he has also come upon some public concern due to critics' claims that he is too involved in Western ideals.  This is exasperated because his mother, Princess Muna, was a British woman and also that he married Queen Rania, a beautiful Kuwaiti Palestinian woman.  

The situation is further complicated due to charges that the crown is corrupt.  There has been a lot of backlash recently against Queen Rania for squandering the crown's money on lavish affairs such as a birthday party in Wadi Rum where she invited many foreign dignitaries.  She has also been accused of embezzling money from her non-profit, the Jordan River Foundation (JRF).  

Of course, most of the business culture in the country is somewhat corrupt regardless.  Many CEOs and heads of non-profits only receive their jobs due to connections to the crown through their family.  Most of the deals in society as well as done through wining and dining rather than presentations.

Nevertheless, the pictures of the monarchy seem to inspire hope and awe in many of the people. Who knows what the future might bring?

Badia Rundown

My recent excursion into the Bedouin villages was nothing like what I anticipated.  I went into the trip anticipating that we would live in a small hut or a glorified tent with a pen of sheep and cattle in the backyard.    Imagine my surprise when we were shuttled into a rural community with old but relatively modern houses, replete with fences and yards.

I stayed with Natalie, a fellow DukeEngager, in a small house with a family that had four children varying between the ages of 4 to 10.  The first barrier that I encountered was my poor Arabic skills and the inability of the family to speak any English.  Communication was difficult outside of the few broken phrases that I could muster - keef halek (how are you), ana tabane (I am tired), elhamdellulah (I'm full) - and from the hand gestures that I would resort to.  Nevertheless, I was touched by the generous spirit of the mother, who continuously pushed tea and food towards us and cooked delicious meals, and the playful energy of the children.

The life of the Badia is so simple, so humdrum and routine.  It is a life where both men and women are in service of Allah and their family.  The daily life of our host Mama everyday involved cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children, then visiting her mother in law and having hours of conversation or just relaxed repose for hours on end.  As the day came to an end, she would watch some television with her husband and pray.  

To be perfectly honest, I felt as if I would go insane after the first day.  The children constantly surrounded us, leaving us little space for ourselves.  After hours of tickle wars, and various other forms of play, I was mentally exhausted and prepared for some alone time with a good book.  By the end of the trip, I had finished reading an autobiography of Queen Noor - the American-raised wife of King Hussein, the previous monarch of Jordan.  

One of the uncles, the youngest brother of our host Baba, spoke English rather well and took us on a tour to the ruins by the village.  Laced with dried goat dung, it was nevertheless magnificent to see the ruins of so many churches that were so well preserved and told the story of Palestine and Jordan in mosaic detail.  With another family, we walked a kilometer or so to a Bedouin olive tree plantation, which was very beautiful as the dense foliage of the trees contrasted the barren weeds in the rest of the desert.

Despite the beauty of rural Jordanian life, and how interesting the experience was, I am quite happy to be back in Amman - where there is internet, activities, education, and indoor plumbing galore.

Pre-voyage to the Badia Villages

Tomorrow our group will be heading to the Badia in order to gain cultural experience regarding the Bedouin tribal aspects of Jordan.  Literally translated in Arabic, "Bedouin" means "beginning"; essentially, our program directors wanted us to learn not only of the city life in Amman but also of how the culture of the nation began.  All of our directors came from the Badia to live in the city - an interesting fact, as Amman is essentially the only city in Jordan and seems very secluded from the rest of the nation.

I am highly anticipating this trip because I see it as a great way to learn more Arabic and to learn more of the authentic culture in the country.  Although living with my host family in Amman has been great, I have had little chance of practicing my Arabic as their English is far superior to my Arabic.  Furthermore, as they live in the city much of the household resembles a traditional western family.  In the Badia, their English abilities are almost non-existant so we will be challenged to communicate with only Arabic and gestures.

I also continue to hear about the generosity and simplicity of the Bedouin people and the spontaneity of their gestures.  It is ingrained in the culture to be excellent hosts and very giving, even to perfect strangers.  I heard from our director that one year a female student introduced herself to a family, believing them to be her host family, and stayed with them for almost an entire day before the program directors realized that she had not showed up to her true host family.  Meanwhile, the family she was with treated her with grace and courtesy, not even questioning her.

Regardless, I am apprehensive about parts of the stay.  The environment will be doubtless rustic, and we will go for four days without showering.  There will be no air conditioning or air circulation devices to combat the stuffy environment, nor will there be anything protecting me from the copious mosquitoes.  The food will be completely untreated, and I hear that the unpasteurized camel milk or accidental sip of tap water brings about wretched diabetes.

And of course there is no internet. Thus I will do my best to keep away from technology for the next few days and experience the cultural life.  Though it is said that girls do not do much besides housework or sitting around the tent throughout the day, I hope I will have the opportunity to explore the village, milk camels, and witness all facets of village life that will engage me even more.

Souq and Film Festival

Yesterday afternoon a few girls from the group went to the Souq Jara, a market on Rainbow Street composed of vendors with wooden stands displaying beautifully hand-created goodies.  If you can imagine, it is exactly like a loud and colorfully-decorated outdoors flea market that exposes all customers to the overbearingly hot Jordanian sun.

I set off to buy souvenirs for my friends and family.  We toured around the stands, admiring and handling the trinkets, bags, and jewelry pieces from each stand.  There were woven pillowcases, small metallic swords and compasses, hand-made bracelets and necklaces, and multiple stands that were selling local food.  Luckily most of the items are fixed in price so I did not have to bargain with the vendors. Although that might have been quite fun - I can be quite sassy when I want something.

Anyways I scored a bag of loot (maxing out most of my stipend while doing so) and will be excited to bring it back to the United States.  After sweating in the Souq, we all felt the need to cool down, so we headed into Turtle Green (the American hipster-style coffee shop in Jordan) and relaxed to pitchers of iced tea.

That night we were joined with a few guys from the group, as well as a ROTC student from Northeastern, to  head over to the French Arab Cinema.  This is a location on rainbow street that premiers films relevant to Arab culture but in French, with English subtitles.  Surprisingly, there were quite a few people who were interesting in seeing this film as the theatre - though far from jam packed - was relatively full.  I was excited to practice my french skills, so diluted from years of disuse (but luckily still functional... I guess five years of training will do that).

We watched "Renfraine", which was very reminiscent of all the French films that I have ever watched.  Full of angsty meaning and subtle imagery, I nevertheless could not keep myself from smiling as memories of AP French films filled my mind.  The movie depicted the marriage of an interracial minority couple - Arab and Black - and the troubles that each side of the family faced with regards to personal struggles and social prejudice.  It was very interesting, though parts of the movie were quite disturbing.  One part showcased a character appearing to be brutally tortured and murdered before it was unveiled that he was simply acting in a scene for a job.

Afterwards we all headed to a rooftop coffee soup and tried Jordanian desserts.  It was a delightful and culturally-stimulating day that had me believing myself to be part of the city.

Jordanian Youth and Education

At all of our host families, adults continue living with their families until they marry.  My elder host sister is a very sweet girl who has graduated from college for two years and is working with relief camps for refugees from Syria or Lebanon.  However, she continues to live at home and probably will continue to do so until she becomes engaged.

There is a culture of close familial ties that is probably perpetuated by close distances most Jordanians live to each other.  There is good and bad in this.  Close family ties and close distance of relatives means that families are usually quite connected and close... but it also means that children are sometimes very dependent on their parents.  

Mohammed, an Arabic teacher who is incidentally the host brother of one of the students in our group, gave an interesting presentation about the role of family pressure on youth career paths.  There is a mounting pressure to be involved in scientific careers such as becoming a doctor or engineer (haha remiscent of some other cultures).  Pursuing literary and humanity fields is frowned upon.  This explains the vast number of engineers that I have met through work.

Additionally, both of the presenters seemed aggrieved that the youths of Jordan did not take more initiative socially and politically.  In particular, they blamed the Jordanian government and established regime for the complacency and corruption that prevented fair and unbiased information from disseminating.  This was outright shocking to hear - it is rare that any words are spoken against the government.

I have observed much of what they have said.  Not many youths that I know are interested in greater social movement or the political process, though I do not blame them for this as politics is much less publicized and not part of the general culture.  There are too many things to keep busy with already daily to think about what the parliament is planning, what with the shortage of water and the masses of refugees entering the country as well as the threat of terrorism.  However, this means that many youths are quite blind to the platforms of the political parties and the charges of corruption.

Well, I think that with all the uprising in the Middle East (Turkey is really undergoing so much right now) it's hard to ignore politics any longer and that have indicated that youths are growing in power. 

Identity Crisis?

My appearance has never been so interesting to me and others than when I ride taxis and go grocery shopping.  Jordan is very homogeneously Arabic, and anybody who looks different sticks out like a sore thumb.  When I buy my lunch, the grocers and customers do not even attempt to hide their stares and will automatically communicate with me in English.  The attempt at English communication is nice, but the stares are disconcerting at best and I often feel the rudeness of them (though I do understand the curiosity).

However, I'm starting to experience a great deal of culture shock from my appearance.  I dress in very quintessentially American styles and speak English fluently with an American accent.  When the taxi drivers speak to me in English, I have always assumed that it was because they knew I was from America.

Once or twice, the drivers will ask me where I'm from, to which I'll respond America.  To my surprise, every single one of them are called me out and told me that I am not American.  They pointed to my eyes and signaled my face, and told me that I looked Chinese.  Indeed I do look Chinese, and I am ethnically Chinese, but I was raised in America and know so little about the Chinese language and culture that I've never truly considered that for myself.  I have always considered myself a typical American youth - and now - and typical American college student.

To be stared at, to be pointed out so blatantly as foreign, and then to realize that they see me not as the foreigner that I see myself but as somebody else entirely is disconcerting. I've pushed back and firmly told the drivers each time that no even despite how I appeared I was American. I welcome these moments, because they are an opportunity for me to show that one's identity is more than their appearance.

  

Al Salt and Mountain-side view

I just returned back from one of the most beautiful places I have ever had the pleasure to witness.  We headed into the city of Al Salt, Jordan which is an agricultural hub that is on the way between Jerusalem and Amman.  Just to give historical context, this town was thought to be built during the reign of Alexander the Great in Macedonia. It is now a provincial city within Jordan with some historic artifacts and displays.

Surprisingly, this area was further away than heading to the Dead Sea. Our tour bus shuttled us along for about an hour before we reached the city.  We visited a museum that showcased parts of Jordanian culture such as the wedding ceremony and progression of currency.  To be perfectly honest, though it was very historical much of the information did not stick with me because it was not particularly intriguing. My personality is such that I will only enjoy adventuring through historical areas if and only if there is a knowledgeable tour guide who can take me along.  If you were to ask me exactly what I remembered the most about walking through the museum, it would be the balcony outside of it on which I could see the rest of the city.

We stopped within a Christian church within the center of the city, surely a rare sight given the predominance of Muslim culture.  The inside of the church held ornaments and paintings that decorated every single wall.  There were several pictures of St. George slaying a dragon and the church was undoubtedly devoted to him.  We wandered through the church, a small and dismal comparison to the chapel on my college campus, and heard some of the history.  The pastors also gave us "holy oil" dipped in a cotton swab and a small bag of incense as a token of the faith.

Amusingly, my favorite part of this sight was the green ribbon that was given to us to tie around our ankle. Apparently, when the ribbon falls off you will be granted three wishes of your choice. Believe me, I chose carefully.

Afterwards we headed to a restaurant, where we were served traditional Jordanian food including chicken with rice and vegetables and pita.  Some of us ordered a hookah, which was fun to smoke But the highlight of our trip was the enactment of a traditional Jordanian wedding.  Two of our group members were dressed in ceremonial bride and groom garb. The rest of us were also given traditional formal costumes and we paraded around them as our guides sang and made merry.  Indeed, it almost felt like we were having a real party.

Afterwards, we walked around the city once more and were sheparded by the tour bus to our next destination: the oldest school of Amman.  Unfortunately, the school was closed because it was the weekend and we were unable to tour the inside.  However, we sat and discussed Jordanian politics while sitting outside.  Some of the guys also began playing soccer with the children hanging out outside of the school (and were beaten by them).

The day was near over, and our bus took us to our final destination: to the ridges of a mountain range dividing Jordan and Palestine.  Being scared of heights, I was afraid of venturing down the mountain.  However, the beauty of the landscape drew my courage up.  I wish that I could adequately describe the landscape, but I feel that words cannot properly capture it.  It was like viewing a hidden valley, with more greenery than I had expected to see in the middle east.  There was grey mist in the background, making the picture surreal, and in the distance were small houses that were widely spaced.

I took in the beauty of the scene as I sat on the edge of the valley and watched the sun slowly set.  I will always have that imagery within my mind as I continue the rest of my adventure here.

Middle Eastern Cooking

So far most of my experience with Middle Eastern cooking is with my host mother and through our restaurant excursions as an SIT group.  It is my goal to eventually understand the culture of the middle eastern cuisine and how to properly recreate it when I return to the United States. 

There is a very real reason that Middle Eastern cooking is represented as pita, hummus and falafels in the United States. So much of what I have eaten is pita with a side of hummus - and this dish is what Jordanians call a light meal. Even outside of  scooping hummus, it is very typical to eat a meal completely without utensils and to instead scoop everything up with the pita. The lunch I just had included me picking up pieces of fried egg with a pita scoop.  Other scoopable dishes include tabbouleh (a mixture of parsley, mint, onion and garlic all mixed together with vinegar and olive oil) or mixtures of herbs, olive oil, and feta cheese.

Rice is also commonly served as a side dish and is often mixed with yogurt. The rice platter is also commonly mixed together with other ingredients rather than eaten separately, usually put together with chicken or lamb and some sort of vegetables.

Mansaf is the national dish of Jordan and is also one of my host mother's favorite dishes to make.  She makes it with white rice that is coated in a layer of spice and oil, then mixes it together with dried yogurt and lamb that has been stewed with herbs.  It is then garnished with almonds.

Another common dish is maqluba or "upside down", named after the fact that the rice is layered upside down over the chicken dish.  Though it is popular in Jordan, the dish is of Palestinian origin.  The chicken is grilled and browned together with a mixture of spices and herbs.  Mama also fried eggplants for this purpose, simmering them until they are very tender and laying them on the very bottom.

There have been other dishes, all served with rice, including a delicious stew of spinach and garlic and another of creamy mushroom with seared chicken. However, none of these have names that are known to me so I will save it for another post. Instead, I will begin addressing dessert dishes.

The most common local dessert is undoubtedly a pastry called kunafa (pronounced kanafel). Extremely delicious as it is both sweet and savory, it is nevertheless extremely unhealthy and I cannot bring myself to eat too much of it.  The base of the pastry is woven from thin noodle threads and fine dough which are all fried with butter.  These are layered with cheese and syrup, then with more pastry dough and sprinkled with pistacchios. The entire concoction is again deep fried. It is essentially a heart attack squished into a single roll and yet so delicious.

I really want to learn how to cook all of these dishes and will assist my host mom in making them someday (I hope). This upcoming week I'm also going to cook some Chinese food for the family and will be perusing the internet for good fried rice recipes.
 

Let's Get Working

I've been going to work in the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG) for upwards of two weeks now, but for the most part all I was given was busywork.  For example, my day to day tasks at the office included helping the researchers sort through excel files and my tasks at the garden site included counting seeds and sorting plants at the herbarium.

Yesterday, the director (big boss) James finally came back from a conference he attended in the United States and I met with him. My impression was that he was quite well spoken and a capable man.

 He  explained to me how even though he's only been working with the garden for one year he already had to overhaul the entire organization and fire many workers, building the foundation up from scratch.  The RBG is run by one of the Princesses of the nation and her goal for the organization is to make it into a world-class recognized garden.  Of course, that is going to take a lot of work and James has been working to uproot much of the traditional work-culture of relaxation in order to "westernize" the institute somewhat.


So I've started working on three projects at work. One of them involves training the Jordanian staff to give them better professional skills such as how to work with Microsoft office. The other two are more long term projects - and the one that I'm most interested in is designing a scientific research project for plant conservation and to improve the grazing techniques of livestock.  So far it sounds very interesting and I am sure that I will very much enjoy my work.

 

Souq

Yesterday, our program director organized a group "scavenger hunt", which was a guise to have us explore the market areas of Jordan.  Even during the early afternoon of a weekday, the markets were more crowded than a shopping mall during black Friday.  Ladies and small children were trailing through the shops, swarming the food areas, and meanwhile I managed to weave my way through traffic to join my group.

Led by a Jordanian tour guide (who was actually a middle eastern student from California), we walked through the shops. Vendors on the sides of the street were peddling jewelry and electronics or popsicles.  We walked through a compound with several vendors selling traditional Jordanian garb, an exciting preview for our upcoming trip to Wadi Rum where will be living with the Bedouins in traditional gear.

Midway, we stopped at "Habibeh", a stand that sells Kanafeh. Kanafeh is a traditional Jordanian dessert and is also one of the most popular fast food eats within the country.  It consists of cheese and some sort of crumbs that are layered together with sugar and fried.  Needless to say, not the most healthy food choice, but it tasted rather good.

It was a great hit of cultural excitement, an experience that is so common in the streets of Amman yet I was always nervous about partaking in because I was afraid that I would be completely lost by myself. 

We followed up our middle east experience with a very Western evening. Dinner was pizza, accompanied by a late-night viewing of the latest episode of "Game of Thrones" at the bachelor pad of two guys in our group.   

Hiking and the Dead Sea

After another morning of Arabic learning, our group boarded a tour bus headed towards the Dead Sea. The ride lasted for only half an hour - I was surprised by how close this famous location was relative to our living situations.  The ride there was beautiful, we passed by buildings built on arid sands and a small expanse of greenery that housed a palm tree plantation (probably for use within the city). Finally, we reached our location.

Our program director informed us that we would be trekking through the river and embarking on a long hike. I had packed sunscreen, extra clothes, and (what I thought were) appropriate plastic sandals for the hike. I expected it to be tiring but straightforward and was surprised when we were handed lifejackets at the entrance. For the next two hours, we walked over stones and boulders and climbed rocks while braving a fierce stream that threatened to knock us down the river. Halfway across the hike, the water pressure forced off both of my sandals and washed them downstream. I walked the rest of the hike up barefoot, which was increasingly painful as I had to step on small pebbles and sharp rocks.

Parts of the hike also involved climbing on ropes and rocks as water streamed towards us. Luckily, we had guides who were agile and familiar with the area to help push us up. This process was made increasingly difficult by my lack of shoes, as I found myself slipping on edges with my bare feet. Thank God for those guides.

On the way back, one of the guides who had been continuously helping me gave me his shoes to wear and braved the trip back barefoot. The trip back was much faster, as we went with the flow of the river rather than against it. Exhausted, we piled on the bus to the Dead Sea.

The Sea was beautiful and glistening. After a late buffet lunch of middle eastern cuisine, we all went for a dip in the sea.  It was smaller than I expected, and from our side within Jordan we could see over to the other side towards Israel. Despite my hesitation, I waded into the water and found that I could sit up and float without any effort. The water felt thick, due to the concentrated salinity. But I felt refreshed as well... apparently the natural minerals and salt from the Dead Sea are used for therapeutic and cosmetic purposes.

I was extremely grateful to SIT for having provided us with an opportunity to visit this beautiful area and experience that hike. The trip re-engaged me with my love of the ocean and I could not have asked for a more exciting day.