Egypt Awaits, And Then Some

Hey, here's just a quick update for you guys as to what's going on. Tomorrow, way too early in the morning, we're heading out to Egypt for a week. We're going to be taking classes while there but we'll also be doing the touristy stuff like seeing the Pyramids, Sphinx, etc. Also, while there, Nick and Marty and I are going to do some filming. We have a final project in Arabic which is due in a few weeks so Nick and I our writing a Rap-Pop song (all in Arabic) and making a music video for it. Marty is our lead cinematographer so since our budget for this film is non-exsistent, we'll just be using my digital camera, quality's pretty good though so I'm not too worried.

I'd also like to talk a little bit about relationships and sex here in Jordan if you'd like to bear with me. First off, the seperation between guys and girls is very strict, not so much in the city as much as the Badia, but the line is still there. From what I've seen, this is why men are given such a bad rap here. They cat call, and flirt creepily with strangers because they don't know what else to do, they're always around other guys and the only girls they see are usually in hijabs. If they don't do this, they just end up staring from across the room at a girl for a couple hours. A girl in the program actually rode in a cab where the driver kept staring at her in the rear-view mirror, she was confused by this but later realized he was masturbating. This is the kind of thing I'm talking about, that is truly pathetic and sad to hear about because that says nothing good about certain men here in Jordan. I think this lack of interaction ties into the emotions seen sometimes around here. Men of a certain age who aren't married yet are angered easily; I've seen it in cabs, on the street, etc. This sounds shallow but I think there is a close tie to these uncontrolled emotions and sexual frustration. Most Muslims here don't even kiss before they're engaged and if one has sex before marriage, they're breaking a law which a lot of the time ends in an Honor Killing (usually both the man and the woman but sometimes just the woman). This causes you to fear one of the most basic and animalistic emotions and urges we have. Sex is a necessary and healthy part of life and people here are forced to suppress this powerful urge during the time of their life when it's the strongest. Along with this, dating is non-exsistent; if you do go on a "date" it's along with a few of your friends and a few of her's. Marriage happens quickly here a lot of the time, just a quick meeting or two, then you agree to get married. In Jordan and most Muslim countries, you don't marry the one you love, you learn to love the one you marry. I understand and respect the customs when it comes to relationships here, but I believe people here don't understand how much basic interaction with the opposite sex could make life easier and better. I deeply feel that the physical part of a relationship is as important as the emotional, and here in Jordan, no physicality exsists until after marriage. A lot of men here come of as perverts or as desperate and deprived but who can blame them? I understand what's happening to them, it's happening to the guys in SIT too. If we see a girl without a hijab, we can't help but stare. I'm done for now, this is something that I've been thinking a lot about while here, I'm sorry if this post made you uncomfortable at all but this is an important and prevalent part of Jordanian culture that I feel people should know about.