The End

So here’s the end. I’ve been here for three and a half months now and honestly, it doesn’t even feel like a week. People always say time flies when you’re having fun but even when I wasn’t having fun, time just flew. I barely got a chance to blink. I mean, I’m looking forward to coming home but I’m not overly pumped. I’m going to be happy to see my family, drink out of the tap, eat bacon, etc. but I don’t know, I can always go back to those things.
I’m going to miss so much here. I’m going to miss the cheap, good food – the shwarma and falafel and maansaf. I’m going to miss the ridiculous T.V. shows, the beautiful Arabic calligraphy on every sign; I’m going to miss the people I’ve met and the friends I’ve made and playing backgammon with some of the guys while smoking cherry argeelah in a cafe. I’m going to miss the fresh juice, Turkish coffee, sharing a cigarette with a random taxi driver, my amazing and generous host family; but most of all, I’m going to miss the feeling of Jordan, the feeling of being here in the Middle East. We’re surrounded by warring nations but nothing can harm us, nothing is going to hurt me here, I’m safe. It’s a calm, almost serene feeling that I will never be able to fully explain. I don’t want to sound like I had this huge epiphany here, I didn’t, but what I can’t explain is the people, who they are, where they’re from, why they act the way they do. I don’t get it. Why are they so generous? Why would they be so kind to me? Americans are not kind to them so what are they trying to pull? I used to think this way, before now, but now, it’s easy to explain. It’s simple to understand. These are good and kind people, not all of course, in every culture you have good and bad, but here, the good is beyond anything one would see in the states.
I'm going to miss Jordan very, very much and I'm definitely going to miss my wonderful host family. This is really hard for me, Jordan is another one of my "homes" now and it's always hard to leave home, even if there is another one waiting for you. I can't wait to come back to Jordan again, I know that it will be waiting for me in a few years with open arms. See you later Jordan, and Palestine, here I come.

Tattoos

An interesting aspect of Jordanian society, especially Bedouin society, are the tattoos. Half the men here, at least out of the ones I've met, have a black tattoo on their hands or forearms. Most of them get them in Amman but some have gone to a Bedouin tattoo artist who does it with a hot needle and some ink. Either they are an Arabic letter or word or usually some sort of indistinguishable symbol. Every time I ask what they mean, they just smile and say its personal. It's very interesting because in Islam, tattoos are a no go, like most major faiths (don't destroy the body God gave you, etc., etc.). It's just another hypocrisy in this society that jumps out of you. I think, similar to Kenya, the tribal aspect of society, many of the times, overrules the religious aspects. In Kenya, it was with premarital sex/multiple "significant" others and here, there's a contradiction in regards to tattoos, war, respect of women (from my point-of-view), etc. We don't deal with a lot of tribalism in the states so when you encounter it here (which is all the time, your last name defines what tribe you belong to), it catches you off guard and it teaches you a lot more about the society which you will never read in a book or discover from a tour bus. I love it.

Patriarchal-ness of Jordan

I'm sure you all would've guessed by now but something that is very obvious is the Patriarchal type of society going on here in the Middle East. There are different levels of this in the Middle East, Jordan is far more liberal than the Taliban's Shari'a Law for example. In the Holy Qur'an, women are equal to men and everyone here says this as well but if you just look at the society, you will notice that the equality is not always there. For example, whenever my host family goes to visit friends or family for mansaaf, the men sit around one dish and eat first while the women serve us drinks, napkins, pickled goods, etc. Afterward, the women sit in a separate room and eat from the same plate as the men have. It's kind of like the women get the leftovers, I've never been very comfortable with this and this only happens when there is a good amount of people (other than that, the men and women always eat together). When I asked if this is done out of respect for the men or women, the men kind of laughed and said of course it's done out of respect for the men. You can see this in the mosques as well, the women are always either behind the men or in a separate room designated for women. They do this both out of respect for the men and so that the men don't get distracted when they are praying.

Even though everything Muslims believe teaches equality and everything they preach is based around gender equality, it is not apparent in everyday society. I found this kind of hypocrisy very interesting. What is also very interesting is despite the fact that many men here cat call, honk at women, creepily flirt with them, etc. (my host dad included), they all say they respect them as equal human beings. Hypocrisy is just a blast, isn't it? This treatment of women is probably one of the more interesting parts of Jordanian/Middle Eastern society, by no means am I saying all men do this but from what I've seen, the definite majority of men here say one thing, but their actions say another; at least from an American stand point. Here, in Jordan, its just another part of daily life.

Race in the Arab World

First off, just want to say that I finished my ISP, I mean I still have to tweak it, etc. But I'm pretty sure it's all khalas (finished).

Now, something that I've found very interesting here is the idea of race here. I never realized this, but Arabs view themselves as Caucasian. If you look at any form in the US where you mark your race, there isn't a separate box for Arab and I can assure you they should not be considered Asian. It just throws me off a little bit that they consider themselves Caucasian, there is even cream available for women that if applied daily, will make their skin more pale. Everyone in the states is trying to get tan, everyone here's trying to get a little whiter, good stuff. Many Jordanian views of African-Americans are pretty ridiculous too. Many believe that crime in the states is due solely to African-Americans, which makes the fact that our President is African-American just hilarious to some of them. A friend of mine was in a cab where the taxi driver literally laughed the entire trip about our African-American President and how that seemed like a bad idea. The funniest part about this for me is that they love Obama, they think he can do a lot of good for this part of the world, it's just his racial background that confuses many Jordanians. I have a lot more ridiculous stories about taxi drivers, I don't think I could fit them all onto this blog so when I get back to the states, I'll make sure to tell some of you folks about them.

Rest in Peace

Before I say anything, I just want to mention my friend from Drake, Ben Backstrom. He was the victim of a violent crime and died last night in the hospital. He was a fantastic guy and he and I would always share conversations over Rolling Rocks in the bar. I was like him in Middle School, kind of dorky, picked on a lot and I knew he had a rough time at Drake at times. I could have been there for him more and I needed to be and for that Benny, I am sorry. Rest in peace Benny boy, all of us at Drake will miss you very much, you were a phenomenal guy and had so much to offer everyone around you.

Now, I'd like to talk a little bit about the TV series here which honestly, are just hilarious. There is one channel that my family always switches on when we have friends or family over called Zweina Balidna which translates to "Our Nation's Pride." Basically, all it is is a bunch of video clips of the Jordanian military and King Abdullah II with Arabic music in the background. I actually saw my host dad, Amaar, on the channel one time marching with the military, great stuff. WWE Raw (wrestling) is also very popular here, not so much with my family but if there is ever a good match on, cafes will switch it on and people get really into it. The majority of people here get confused when you tell them it's fake so I've stopped bursting their bubble; they are very passionate about their wrestlers. Also, Egypt is kind of the Hollywood of the Middle East and the majority of their movies are just ridiculous. Usually, people get drunk off of one drink, sex is usually this dirty, secretive act, and there's some form of hashish (pot, green, grass, Mary Jane, Marijuana) in every movie, very funny stuff.

My ISP is coming along well, I have about 22 pages written consisting of the Introduction, the Methodology, and the Findings which are the chunkier parts of the ISP so now I just have to do my Literature Review, Conclusion, Bibliography, Appendices, etc. No worries, it's all coming along smoothly.

An Average Day

Things are going so far so good here. I've gotten a few interviews and I'm doing 5 more today and at least 2 tomorrow. I've heard some very interesting points of views ranging from a more "moderate" view to a clearly hard-line view. With the first interview I had, the interviewee had some very interesting quotes that I wrote down such as: "the concept of being a civilian in Israel does not exist" (speaking about how it's a "military state"), "the only way you could have a good and healthy relationship with an Israeli is if you were a subdued servant or if Israel was moved to the far western Sahara desert," and finally, "and those stupid assholes chose Palestine" (speaking about the choice of Palestine as the location for the creation of an Israeli state). I thought that last quote was pretty intense, he sad it in kind of a giggly anger which kind of freaked me out. I really enjoy doing these interviews. The only problem is that sometimes the students who are living with the host parents I interview are in the same room and even though I'm being chill and unbiased, sometimes they pitch in and start antagonizing my interviewee, no good. I think I'm going to request them to leave from now on since it's such a touchy and uncomfortable subject at times.

Now, here's a day in the life of me in Jordan (not during the ISP period). Every morning, I'd wake up around 8:00 and skip breakfast. I'd take a 5-7 minute walk with my computer bag to a roundabout close to my house and then wait 10-20 minutes for a taxi (taxis are pretty rare around my place). After arriving at SIT, either we'd have Arabic in the morning or in the afternoon depending on the day, 3 hours of Arabic every day (hour and a half of Ameia and an hour and a half of FusHa). The days with Arabic in the morning, we'd have Thematic Seminar in the afternoon where a speaker would come in and talk to us about the religion, society, culture, etc. of Jordan. On days when Arabic is in the afternoon, we'd have our Field Study Seminar in the morning where we learned about how to do our ISP: interviews, surveys, ethical research, etc. Every day for lunch, we'd either go to the super market close by SIT, to the roundabout a few blocks away, or to Reem (supposedly the top shwarma stand in the Middle East). SIT is right next to the British and Venezuelan Embassies and we're located in Abdoun (that's the name of the part of Amman). After school, some friends and I would usually shoot over to a cafe for homework and argeelah, then I'd head home and spend the rest of my night with my family. That's pretty much an average day during the school week here in Jordan. Also, the work week here starts on Sunday and ends on Thursday which causes some confusion but you get used to it after a while. Um, the end. Ma salaama.

Independent Study Project (ISP)

So school is over. No more classes whatsoever and now we're all starting with our ISP period. We have about a month to do literature review, interviews and surveys, and to type up a 35-40 page ISP paper based on our research. The topic I have chosen to focus on is the Jordanian view of the Israeli people, government, and the Israeli entity as a whole. I am planning on conducting the bulk of my research through 15-25 interviews of average, working (or studying) Jordanians over the age of 18. I am not going to interview scholars or academics on the politics of Jordan and Israel because I am looking for the opinions of the average Jordanian. I'm finding my interviewees through my family, family friends, and host families/friends of host families of other students in the program. I am also planning on interviewing a nice mix of both Jordanians of Jordanian decent, and those of Palestinian decent (supposedly 45% of Jordanians are of Palestinian decent but some say it's up to 70%). I am not planning on doing a lot of literature review since nobody has published articles on the solely Jordanian view of Israel but I am planning on talking about the history of their relationship in this section. These are the questions I will be asking for my interviews:

1. What are your views of the Israeli government?
2. Could you please elaborate on these issues? Why do you feel this way?
3. What are your views of the Israeli people?
4. Could you please elaborate on these issues? Why do you feel this way?
5. Do you see a separation between the Israeli people and their government? Why or why not?
6. How do you feel about the Israeli government’s actions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip?
7. If there is one thing you could say to the Israeli government leaders, what would it be?
8. If there is one thing you could say to the American government leaders, what would it be?
9.Have you ever met a Jew?
10. What was their occupation?
11. How has this encounter affected your view of the Jewish population?
12. Have you ever met an Israeli?
13. What was their occupation?
14. How has this encounter affected your view of the Israeli population?
15. Do you differentiate between Jewish and Israeli?
16. Do you have any other comments on anything we have discussed?
17. If this was read by influential political leaders, what would you want to say to them?

I've already spoken to a few Jordanians just in regular conversations about this issue and I've faced a couple different views. Some can differentiate between the Israeli people and their government and sometimes even support some Israeli's initiatives to help the Palestinian population. But most I've spoken to show a severe disdain (to put it gently) for the Israeli entity as a whole and actually believe that the Israeli people WANT war, and not peace. This interests me very much and both the director of SIT and my adviser have warned me against what I may hear. I'm not too worried, living in America, you get used to ignorance, misunderstanding, and unwarranted hatred towards things people don't understand. Something I believe fervently is this: people only hate what they don't understand. I think this project is going to partially prove my point but hopefully I can use this project later to help people understand one another a little better. Then again, this is me thinking optimistically which I don't do very often so bear with me. So what do you think of the topic? I'm pumped to start my interviews tomorrow.