Yesterday I had my first day of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) classes and colloquial Arabic classes. There are four different levels for Advanced 1, and the level I ended up in means that I will be reviewing chapters I have already done for the first half of the semester. This will give me some relief, but I am still getting back into Arabic mode after a 3-month hiatus. The colloquial Arabic seems to differ a lot from MSA. Conveniently, the most used words are completely different in dialect, but the less common words are more similar to MSA. There are also a number of letters you don't even pronounce, or that you change the pronunciation comes up. Interesting cultural inferences can be made by noticing these differences. For example, the letter for q is pronounced g by men and is silent for women, because glottal and aggressive consonants are considered unladylike. The letter for th is changed into t because it is considered impolite to stick your tongue out when speaking to someone.
After Arabic class I went to check my email and do my homework at the peaceful refuge that is the American Center for Oriental Research (ACOR). I then shared a cab home and relaxed with my host family. My host mother was stuffing grape leaves, my host sister's favorite dish. Today I tried it and it was, as any food in Jordan, absolutely delicious.
In the evening a friend of a friend who had kindly answered some of my questions in planning to move here over facebook picked me up in her car, along with her husband and 9-year old daughter. I had an amazing Jordanian evening with the family in downtown Amman. We first went to Jafra and they ordered all their favourite dishes, like fattoush (salad with Middle Eastern croutons), Manakeesh Bil Za'atar (flat bread with thyme), and Fattah (small strips of lamb and marinated bread in a sea of hummus, olive oil, and pine nuts) which may be one of my new favorite foods. We finished the meal with cups of mint tea and a melon mint shisha. But the meal wasn't over yet! Jordanians show their appreciation for guests by feeding them. To the brim. So we went to a cafe across from the amphitheater and ate two different kinds of kunaafa, which is a cheese pastry topped with sugar-sweetened water. I preferred the more orange colored kunaafa in the picture below, but both were delicious and perfectly satisfied my sweet tooth. However, eventually I had to say خلاص, the dialect word for enough among many other meanings and one the most common words I have heard Jordanians use.
Today I had my two Area studies courses. I will eventually need to drop one, but here is my current dilemma: I love both the classes so much. The titles are America and the Arabs and The Middle East: Alternative Perspectives. Both classes are both anthropology and international affairs oriented, focus on overcoming misconceptions about the region, and both have highly qualified professors with PhDs and a sense of humor. The difference lies in that the former class is slightly more political and focused on Middle East relations with western USA, while the latter class is more literary and arts oriented and focuses on intra-regional interaction. I am meeting one of the CIEE directors tomorrow to get advice.
Among other news I joined a gym here in Amman. I chose an all-women's gym, Aspire, up the street from the CIEE Study Center and the main gate of the University. For 120 JOD I have access to the machines, aerobics classes, jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, and showers for 36 times in 3 months. The premises are clean and modern, and if you have a 6-month or year-long membership you also have access to the rooftop pool.
Moving on to other things, I have a lot of exciting plans coming up that I will definitely post about. Tomorrow, Jordan meets Australia in football at the King Hussein Stadium and I am very tempted to go, since I did promise my loyal blog readers to see a football (soccer) game in Jordan. From Tuesday September 11th to Monday September 17th the Hakaya Festival is taking place in Amman, celebrating the arts with dance performances and storytelling from all across the Middle East. I hope to go to at least one of the events. On Thursday I am going with a group of other CIEE students to Wadi Mujib, where we will stay in chalets overlooking the Dead Sea, swim in and learn about the Dead Sea, and finally hike up and rappel down waterfalls in Wadi Mujib Nature Reserve before returning to Amman Friday evening. The trip is arranged by Wild Jordan and cost 64 JOD ($90) including all transportation, meals, entrance fees, and accommodations. I asked both my mother and my host mother whether this was a good deal and both encouraged me to take this opportunity. I guess it goes along with that whole YOLO craze that is spreading across the world right now.
When I return to Amman I go straight to the Roman amphitheater to see one of my new favorite Lebanese bands, Mashrou' Leila. The next day at 10am the Jordanian family I went out to dinner with last night will pick me up and take me for a day trip to Ajloun, the forests in northern Jordan, and the ancient city of Jerash. After that it will probably be time for me to do homework and get a good night's rest. Do you see what I mean by that I need to learn how to say خلاص sometimes? Over all I am so excited though, and I promise to document and share all these adventures with you.
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