Hello,
First and foremost, I would like to explain my absence from posting. I am currently in the research part of my program. As a result, I am running around all day to conduct surveys and interviews. As a result, I do not always want to blog when I come home from a long day. Plus, there is nothing really going on that is blog material.
Today I ran to the University of Jordan with a girl in my class to hand out survey's in our professor's class. As we were walking through the main gate of the university, there was a group of about 30 students chanting in Arabic and using a megaphone. This was the first demonstration that I have seen in Jordan and it was so small. My friend and I just walked past them and headed to the Faculty of Arts building to meet our professor. Upon arrival, we asked if he happened to know what the group was protesting. All we could understand was the phrase "Listen Carefully", so we had no idea why the group was upset. The professor said he had no idea and said that it might be about Syria or other things. These type of demonstrates are known to spring up at the university and are not a big deal. My friend Brooke who was with me said that there are protests like this at her university, Harvard (no big deal..), weekly and it is just a part of the college scene at Harvard as well.
After handing out surveys, I rushed home in massive traffic. My host mom, sister and I were going to my host mom's best friend's house for lunch, or the main meal of the day. My host mom very much wanted me to come and I very much wanted to be there. After driving for a bit, we arrived at the friend's house. I have never seen such a beautiful apartment! The details in the decorations were absolutely gorgeous. Everything was just so, and made me wonder if a professional design team (There are Ethan Allan stores in Amman) had designed the house. I was kind of shocked. I immediately started to worry about messing things up, because I tend to be clumsy when I am nervous. I was also glad I have put on a nicer scarf and teeshirt before heading to the apartment.
The friend made the best meal that I have had in Jordan, which is saying a lot. The friend's grandmother was Circassian and made a Circassian dish for me to try. It was awesome! There were huge balls of rice on a platter. You mashed it around on a plate with your hands. You then ate it with chicken and sauce that had garlic and other spices in it. You ate the dish with your hands. My host mom always worries that I will not like eating with my hands. Honestly, I am totally down as long as everyone else is using their hands. If that is how I should eat it, that is how I am going to eat it. The friend laid out a fork and spoon for me just in case, but I just dug in. The dish was called something similar to the words "Chips and Salsa". We joked about this for the entire meal. It was so so good!
Circassian, a Muslim kinda Russian group, people arrived in Amman, Jordan from the Northern Caucus in 1878 after the Russo-Circassian War and the Circassian Genocide. They lived in very good land in Jordan to the point where the local Bedouins were upset that they were taking their grazing lands. In the 20th contrary, many of the Circassian people worked on building the Hijaz railway and eventually ended up in the high castes of Jordanian society. Circassian people make up 5% of the greater Amman area. The group receives a quota of seats in the Jordanian lower parliament. They are considered full citizens in Jordan. Honestly, I had never heard of any of this information until I my host mom talked to me about it. I feel so ignorant that I did not know about a genocide.
Below is a link about Circassian people in Jordan:
Circassian people in Jordan
Here is link about Circassians in General
CircassianHistory
My host mom showed me this video about Circassian Dance. It reminds me of Russian folk dance.
Circassian Dance
After lunch, we had tea and fruits. We had watermelon, strawberries and green cherries which are very popular in Jordan. We sipped green tea, which was a nice change from the normal tea. I enjoyed playing with the two little girls, one was in kindergarden, the other in fourth grade. We watched Calliou. I was very very impressed by these girls. They known three languages: Arabic, English and French. The girls would just casually switch between all three languages when talking with each other with total ease. I cannot discribe the jealousy I felt! I wish I could switch between Arabic and English easier! The youngest girl started watching a youtube video in Spanish. I asked if she knew Spanish. She replied no. Very few young children would watch a show in a language that they do not know. These are very bright young ladies. If I ever have kids, I want them to go to a school with an emphasis on languages. Learning languages broadens your horizons and helps you look at different cultures and different ways of thinking. So envious!
The youngest girl has a tradition of giving nicknames. My host sister, Mayas, has the nickname of MuMu. The pattern being using the first letter of the girl's first name and throwing it in front of the ew sound. As a result, the little girl called me NuNu. I laughed and thought this was cute. Apparently, NuNu in Arabic means to pee or urinate. So the adults asked her to pick a new name. I personally didn't care. The girls started talking about Justin Beiber. So I said that my friends joking call Justin Beiber "The Beibs" in America. My host sister gave me a weird look. Apparently in Arabic "the Beibs" means boobs. The little girls kept pointing at their chest and I just thought why is it always me? Simply put this afternoon was a journey in language. It was funny.
After a while, one of the girls was telling me that she wants to go to America. I said cool and maybe she will go soon. My host mom then told me that the girl's father was in DC currently with King Abdullah. King Abdullah has a meeting with President Obama on the 26th so he is traveling with the king. I did not want to ask there what type of position the father has because I was worried about being awkward. Apparently, he is the Minister of Economic Affairs in Jordan. Holy Crap! That is such an important office. Now the Ethan Allan designed apartment made sense. Kudos to him!
After the fruits and tea, we had coffee and donuts. At a lunch or event in Jordan, you as a guest always gorge yourself on food and any Jordanian woman near you will always pile your plate full with more rice and chicken at any moment. It is hard for me to follow a conversation as I am trying to eat in a ladylike manner, and guard my plate from getting anymore food. I like to think of it as defensive eating. It is rude to not finish your plate as they take it ask you did not enjoy the food. As a result, once it is on your plate you better make a good effort to eat it all. It is also viewed as wasteful, which is totally understandable. I completed one full plate, which is a large victory for me as a not large eater. However, I was unable to finish the second and stopped halfway through. I had a feeling there would be desserts and fruit and I did not want to reach the "I'm going to throw up" part before the other courses. Plus, I like to enjoy the food and don't like walking away feeling gross. My host mom explained to her friend and it seems like everything was okay. Everyone else at the table did not have rice being put onto their plate, just me as the American. It appears to be customary to give the guest ridiculous amounts of food to eat. Arab hospitably it amazing, but sometimes it can be a bit heavy.
Essentially, I was talked into eating 2.5 doughnuts. I was now at my limit and the Jordanians were happy with my level of food consumption. Everything was delicious. At this point, the girls wanted to ask me some questions. The first question was if I was married. I said heck no and laughed. Then they asked if I have children. I paused and said no. I feel it is odd that people ask me if I have kids in Jordan even though I am not married. This happens in cabs all the time. I wonder if shows like "Teen Mom" lead to the idea that most American young women have children out of wedlock. Just a thought. They also asked me if girls were mean in high school and made fun of the types of clothing you wore. I said in my experience, No. They told me that in movies, people always get made fun of for their clothes in high school. I said maybe sometimes, but I had never experienced it. I did not have the "cool" clothes in high school because I came from private school where I wore uniforms for years. I had no idea about brands or fashion at the beginning of my high school career, but I caught on by the end of my sophomore year. I was never made fun of for my clothes, but people did laugh at me when I asked them what the logo on their shirt was. They often did not answer my question either.
Another fun event of the day was playing with the stuffed animals. The littlest girl brought out a collection of stuffed animals for me to play with. One was a monkey which she named Natalie (bahahah!). The others were dogs and one was a camel. I enjoyed playing the stuffed animals with a fellow animal lover.
When I go home I watched TV for an hour and I heard my host mom making sandwiches in the kitchen. I thought, "Dear God, no!". I walked into the kitchen and she asked what I wanted on my sandwich. I said I was so full from lunch that I did not think I could eat a sandwich. She looked surprised so I compromised and ate a banana. She seemed pretty pleased with that.
This is all for now,
Natalie
