Going Shopping

Hello,

Today was a good day. Mahmoud came back to teach and I love having an Arabic teacher who liked to challenge me. I actually did not mind when he grabbed my notebook today. He is a great teacher. I love how he teaches us hard and rarely used Arabic grammar rules. It's amazing.

Mahmoud always says the most interesting things. I normally do not agree with what he has to say, but I listen and enjoy hearing another viewpoint. We had a class discussion about whether Capitalism had morals incorporated in it. I stayed out of the discussion for the most part. Mahmoud thinks that capitalism is bad and has no redeeming qualities. I politely disagree, but did not feel the need to voice my opinion. However, one other comment grabbed my attention. He asked one of my female classmates if she wanted to get married someday. She responded that she did not know and maybe was not interested. Mahmoud responded that girls need to get married in order to be happy and needed a man to take care of them. Once again, I disagree. I told him I agree with the other student. After a while, all the girls politely nodded, but no one agreed with Mahmoud. He eventually just moved on.

After school today SIT arranged for the student helpers, Jordanian College Students, to take us shopping downtown. Our trip to the Badia, or rural desert community, is coming up. While it is not required at all, we are encouraged to buy traditional beduin clothing. Of course I was totally into the idea. The women wear a thobe, or a long dress that is embroidered with many different colors. The men wear a Dishdasha, a long shirt like dress, with a kefiya and egal. In addition to a thobe, many beduin women wear a hijab to cover their hair. The SIT program insists that it is not required for any female student to wear a hijab. If we would like, we can wear one. I decided I will wear one because I want the experience. When in Rome.... Some students will not wear the traditional dress. This confuses me. If you can to Jordan for a cultural experience, why would you not wear the traditional dress? It is showing respect to the culture and the people in the Badia will appreciate it. If you are a women wearing skinny jeans and a tank top, that is not quite what they want to see you wearing. Just buy the clothes! It's a souvenir!

A women wearing a thobe and a hijab

Men wearing a dishdasha, kefiya and egal

Shopping for the clothing was fun. We all went to a small store to shop together. The men of the group asked the ladies to help them with the color choice. However, the shop was tiny and did not have many different thobes to choose from. Many of the thobes were bright colors and had sequins. I know that traditionally the thobes are black, so I did not want a colored one. Also, I receive enough attention on a daily basis, I do not need to draw attention to myself with glitter and sequins.  I had saw another store a few blocks up and wanted to go there. I saw another girl who did not seem to enjoy the selection either. I asked if she wanted to go with me to the other store. She said yes and we left. On the way out, we grabbed one of the guys, Daniel to walk with us. He was our male escort.

Shopping was fun. We helped Daniel pick out dishdasha at another store, it was of better quality than the first store. Paige and I shopped around and made it to the store I had seen before. It was so beautiful! All the thobes were black and had colored embroidery. This was how the traditional thobe should look. Paige was impressed by the store as well, which was a relief. We immediately tried on many different thobes. I went for the pink ones. While I am dressing traditionally, I still have to be myself and I would always pick pink. I also tried on some rainbow ones, but they were a bit showy and Paige and I decided against them. It was a bit hard to find a thobe. Unfortunately, an extra small is still a big on me and they had not so many extra smalls. At the end, Paige picked a beautiful blue one and I picked a pink, brown and green one that I loved. The man told us that mine was $35 while Paige's was $50. This was a very high price. Since I had taken Paige there, I started to barter with the man over the price of her thobe. I said 50 was too high and asked for $25. He said no and responded that since we were American, we must be wealthy. I responded that we are college students without jobs and do not have a lot of cash. At that point he caved and gave it to her at $35. I was delighted that I had achieved this in Arabic and Paige was ecstatic. I totally forgot to barter for my own, but I'm glad I helped Paige. I am also glad I ran the whole sale in Arabic. I'm proud that I was able to communicate with all the shopkeepers. 

Thobe Store in Downtown Amman I loved! I loved the colors and would have liked to have tried all of them on!

After the clothes, Paige and I went to look at scarves and hijab. I originally put on a one piece elastic hijab, but did not like it and it was not comfortable. Next, I tried a two piece elastic. I put it on okay and asked the man working at the store to help. Of course, he was of minimal assistance with my lady product. I figured that this looked like the easier hijab to wear and just went with it. I argued down the price from 10JD to 7JD, once again the whole sale was in Arabic. I bought a light pink hijab and it matches my thobe wonderfully. Paige decided she did not want the hijab. I totally understand. I can't say it was very comfortable. But when she decided not to buy the hijab, the man was not very good about letting her leave. He wanted her to buy something. Out male escort, Daniel, stepped in and got him to back down. Thanks Daniel!

After shopping we walked around Souk Sukr a bit. Paige commented how people just kept staring at me. Honestly, I just look down when I walk. I don't want to invite attention. As a result, I now tend not to notice. Today at the souk was different then yesterday. The men there were aggressive. One man kept calling out for me and making comments about my hair and appearance. I pretended to be one of the many Americans that don't speak Arabic. A friend of my got touched on the arm. I can't say I would want to go back around 6pm again. I feel like it was a different crowd. I did help some SIT girls to buy dates and bags of coffee. They were appreciative. I was tired though so the bartering did not really work so well. 

When I got home, my host mom wanted to see my clothes. I showed her the dress. She noticed that it was about 6 inches to long. I explained that it was an extra small and that it was the smallest and shortest I could get. In fact, the store I went to first did not even sell my size. I guess I can eat a bit more of mom's cooking :). She offered to hem it for me. This was so sweet of her and now my those fits so much better and I will not trip over it. My host mom also helped me figure out how to wear the hijab. My host mom does not personally wear one, but she is better acquainted with them then I am. She liked how I matched the hijab with the thobe and was happy that I bartered for the thobe. She said Paige paid an appropriate price. That's good. I feel that sometimes I get overcharged cause I'm foreign. 

So you might be wondering what my thobe and hijab look like. I will post pictures of my outfit when I go to the Badia. Stay tuned...

PS- Its Three weeks in and I just made my first friend, Bridget. I thought this was noteworthy to post. 

Also, since it is three weeks in I figured I would post things I miss about home as well as things that are just better in Jordan.

1) I miss miss miss my car. Sometimes taxi rides home are exhausting and hard. I miss the sense of control and freedom a car gives you

2) Casual- I miss being able to flop on a couch or just slouch. Posture is just so strict here

Things that are better

1) People are nicer and more helpful here

2) Even the smalls things, like fruit markets, are interesting and different

3) you can barter. I love the bartering so much. Its a challenge and a game

See you later,
Natalie