These last couple of days have been so crazy. I’m in Jordan. It’s so
surreal. Things become so normal. I don’t mean this entirely literally.
Things are still very different. The way that people dress, the way that
people talk, the way that people interact. I have been having a bit of
trouble being a pedestrian here. There’s a perfect balance of caution
and aggression, and I have this strange mixture of the two. It’s not
working out so well. I’m getting there…
People drive so aggressively. I imagine that most larger cities are similar, but there’s so much personality behind it all. People yell to others. They gesture signs of requests, of anger. They honk. Lots and lots of honking. Perhaps it’s because there’s typically at least a small group of American girls, but I think that it is more than that. It’s a communication system of sorts that’s above American honking. The gestures I’m not entirely sure how to explain. Jordanians are just much more expressive. It’s like the cars become extensions of the people themselves. The drive so naturally, and have this way of communicating from within their cars.
Responding to people has also presented a bit of a problem, too. I need to learn how reserved I should be while still being polite. I feel like I’m being so rude. Ignoring people seems to be my tactic of choice… When I don’t ignore people, it’s been going really well. Professor Maisel has been sending us on little tasks around the area. Yesterday, Kate, Jenna, and I went and bought (and found) an English Newspaper (one of the only ones in the city). When buying food, ordering has been pretty fun although time consuming at times. Today navigating around the university and then going out and talking to students as a class task. People have always been really nice. While most of them likely speak considerably better English, the people that I’ve talked to have just smiled and gone along with very simple Arabic interactions.
It’s been really cool. I got to use my Arabic, and it’s so nice to speak it and be understood. Sitting in a classroom, it’s so easy to forget that the language really is alive or at least fail to fully comprehend the “meaning” of it. There’s so much value behind it. It’s not just a compilation of random sounds, but a natural, and native-tongue. It’s a fully integrated part of everyday life.
This is what I loved so much about France, but everything becomes an adventure. Stopping to ask for directions, ordering food, simply vaguely eavesdropping on random conversations. You can always take something away from it. It’s not something that you can really get outside of this.
Yesterday we took a taxi and talked to the taxi driver for a while. He was rather amusing. He was extremely personable and had very good English. He rated our Arabic at a 2.5% level. We apparently left quite the impression.
He took us to this giant supermarket at the mall. We had to grab a few necessities (we switched apartments last minute, and so there were a few things like towels, soap, etc. that we didn’t bring and now needed) This store was huge. It was like a mix between Costco and Kroger; the store was huge(the aisles were both wide and tall) but it had the appearance of a normal grocery store. They had everything . From baklava, to twinkies, to camping supplies to cosmetics).
Getting into Amman was absolutely crazy, though. It was funny on the plane to watch the terrain change. It happened so gradually, but sure enough, the desert came. The realizations of where we are come in spurts, and this was definitely one of them. Then walking out to catch our bus. The weather was so beautiful (I’m certainly a fan of dry heat), there were palm trees, the architecture, the colors. It was wonderful. Then driving through the city to get to our apartment building. I can’t describe it. We saw more blocky, stone buildings composing a white skyline. We saw fields (with cows and horses), a truck carrying a truck-load of sheep just chilling out on the top.
I’m sorry that this has been such a long post. It’s taken a while to get internet access to put it up. I guess I just wanted to catch you all up a bit. But I hope all is well and ma salaama.
People drive so aggressively. I imagine that most larger cities are similar, but there’s so much personality behind it all. People yell to others. They gesture signs of requests, of anger. They honk. Lots and lots of honking. Perhaps it’s because there’s typically at least a small group of American girls, but I think that it is more than that. It’s a communication system of sorts that’s above American honking. The gestures I’m not entirely sure how to explain. Jordanians are just much more expressive. It’s like the cars become extensions of the people themselves. The drive so naturally, and have this way of communicating from within their cars.
Responding to people has also presented a bit of a problem, too. I need to learn how reserved I should be while still being polite. I feel like I’m being so rude. Ignoring people seems to be my tactic of choice… When I don’t ignore people, it’s been going really well. Professor Maisel has been sending us on little tasks around the area. Yesterday, Kate, Jenna, and I went and bought (and found) an English Newspaper (one of the only ones in the city). When buying food, ordering has been pretty fun although time consuming at times. Today navigating around the university and then going out and talking to students as a class task. People have always been really nice. While most of them likely speak considerably better English, the people that I’ve talked to have just smiled and gone along with very simple Arabic interactions.
It’s been really cool. I got to use my Arabic, and it’s so nice to speak it and be understood. Sitting in a classroom, it’s so easy to forget that the language really is alive or at least fail to fully comprehend the “meaning” of it. There’s so much value behind it. It’s not just a compilation of random sounds, but a natural, and native-tongue. It’s a fully integrated part of everyday life.
This is what I loved so much about France, but everything becomes an adventure. Stopping to ask for directions, ordering food, simply vaguely eavesdropping on random conversations. You can always take something away from it. It’s not something that you can really get outside of this.
Yesterday we took a taxi and talked to the taxi driver for a while. He was rather amusing. He was extremely personable and had very good English. He rated our Arabic at a 2.5% level. We apparently left quite the impression.
He took us to this giant supermarket at the mall. We had to grab a few necessities (we switched apartments last minute, and so there were a few things like towels, soap, etc. that we didn’t bring and now needed) This store was huge. It was like a mix between Costco and Kroger; the store was huge(the aisles were both wide and tall) but it had the appearance of a normal grocery store. They had everything . From baklava, to twinkies, to camping supplies to cosmetics).
Getting into Amman was absolutely crazy, though. It was funny on the plane to watch the terrain change. It happened so gradually, but sure enough, the desert came. The realizations of where we are come in spurts, and this was definitely one of them. Then walking out to catch our bus. The weather was so beautiful (I’m certainly a fan of dry heat), there were palm trees, the architecture, the colors. It was wonderful. Then driving through the city to get to our apartment building. I can’t describe it. We saw more blocky, stone buildings composing a white skyline. We saw fields (with cows and horses), a truck carrying a truck-load of sheep just chilling out on the top.
I’m sorry that this has been such a long post. It’s taken a while to get internet access to put it up. I guess I just wanted to catch you all up a bit. But I hope all is well and ma salaama.
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