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.
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.
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