June 29, 2008

Today was the first day of the second week of classes (the weekends are Fridays and Saturdays instead of Saturdays and Sundays). I'm in Level 4 (it ranges from 1-6) and I like it so far. The classes are still somewhat disorganized, but I'm learning a lot already and I think I will continue to. We spent Sunday and Monday getting accustomed to classes and making sure we were in the right ones (challenging and not too easy but not too hard either) and my friend Sophia and I went to the mall Tuesday. We got a couple cheap, cute things that we knew we could wear now that we've gotten a feel for what's appropriate at most places here. Wednesday we went to a cafe around the block from our apartment and watched a "football" (soccer game), which was very interesting because they take their football very seriously here. Whenever there's a football game we can hear the men cheering very loudly in our apartments, and sometimes we even hear fireworks (apparently they don't have laws concerning fireworks so they set them off almost every night- for weddings or any other celebration). All the tables and chairs at most cafes fill up with men who watch the game and smoke hookah (which is called argeelah, hubbly bubbly, or sheesha here). It was also nice because we ran into a few of our fellow students at the language center, (it's cool because we've been meeting people from all over the world who share an interest with us in learning Arabic) and found out about an apartment building we could possibly move into next month that may be nicer than ours and may even save us some money. Thursday a few of the other girls and I bought a 12-day-a-month pool pass at a local women's gym/pool, which is amazing to see. We get to see these women walk in in hijabs and burqas and strip down to their bikinis and act just like any American women would at a pool. We've only been there twice but we've already made some Jordanian friends we can talk to about culture. It's great to hear the perspective of a Jordanian woman, rather than what the American media tells us. We just kinda chilled this weekend because we were still getting used to being here and everything and the school trips haven't started yet, but our teacher Saleh took us to a great restaurant downtown. I got a dish called Ras Asfoor, which literally translated means bird head but actually just means lean meat (lamb) and it was delicious and very filling.

I'm still kinda getting used to things here, because they're very different from home, but I love it here so far and it's fascinating to see the similarities and differences in cultures. It seems that both cultures have a misunderstanding of each other based on perceptions of media both in America and the Middle East.