This week has been full of exciting adventures and we are officially over half done with this program now. I can't believe how fast time is flying. I feel like I have barely had time to turn around twice and already we have been here two months!!! I can't believe it and I have so much more I want to stuff into these last two months...I just hope I can find space for all my plans. Hopefully, it will all work out (and I can get enough of the delicious food to last me for the rest of my life).
Last Saturday was my service day. I volunteered all day at a diplomatic bazaar which supported the orphanage that I volunteer at on Wednesdays. I sold raffle tickets with Nick Hafen from my program. Selling raffle tickets was definitely not the most fun thing that I have ever done, and people were very unwilling to buy anything. But we kept trying to sell and we met a lot of really fun people from all over the world. We met Indonesians, Australians, Brazilians, Ukrainians, Canadians, Jordanians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Russians, Chinese, Japanese (they were the nicest and bought the most), Indians, Dutch, Egyptians, British, and even more. They even had a stand from Mongolia (but I know exactly zero words at this point so that was not an effective sale place). The best part (aside from helping out an orphanage) was the fact that they set up a food court outside the large building with a both of native food from each country. I had the best samosa I have ever had in my life! It was something sent direct from heaven. I also enjoyed fried noodles from China as well as shrimp chips from there, kushiyas (delectable chicken dumplings) from Brazil, peanut butter chicken goodness from Indonesia (as well as noodles from there), pad Thai and mango-rice-coconut milk dessert from Thailand, and Oreo cheesecake. Some Americans things you just can't deny. Cheesecake here is an extremely rare commodity that must be enjoyed at any time it is made available.
Each country also set up a booth inside selling crafts and goods specific to their countries. Although everything was too expensive to afford, it was fun to walk around and talk to all the workers and have them explain why they were selling what they were selling. Why those few select items matter so much to their culture and their country. They were so excited to explain their different arts, cultures, and traditions to us as well as try to teach us bits and pieces of whatever languages they spoke. It was a great worldwide adventure in the period of 8 hours. It was interesting to try to be a salesman for a day and try to sell things in Arabic and English to people who spoke those languages as broken as I do. Lots of pantomiming and hilarity ensued. I am glad that I was able to work there, it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about countries all over the world. A valid and awesome use for a day.
Sunday was the day we started our weeklong classes and discussion on women's issues. It was a very insightful and interesting week. Although I wouldn't say it was always good and happy. We discussed veiling, women's education and rights, violence against women around the world, feminism, women in the media, abortions, etc. Class was never boring and was never lacking for conversation. Also, it hit me this week how much Arabic I can actually speak because I could talk about all those subjects. Maybe not a lot, but there was enough that I could say that I felt good about it. I still attribute that to prayers and God blessing me being able to understand and speak the language.
On Thursday, I gave a presentation on veiling and its various meanings and applications. I had to get all my information from native Jordanian sources. I talked to a lot of women about their opinions on the veil and how they feel about it. Every women that I talked with was a Muslim and all wore the hijab. Each made sure that I know it was their choice to wear the veil. They wear it out of sense of modesty and decency. They feel it shows their respect for God by wearing it. They also shared with me how wearing the hijab protected them from men in public places, put them on an equal playing field. There are far fewer cat calls, attacks, and assaults according to them then there would be otherwise. They say it takes the sex appeal out the equation between men and women in education, the workforce, and in public places. They said the hijab is a beautiful thing and that as a long as a woman has a choice to wear it or not, it is a great thing. They all agreed that one should never be forced to wear it. Families or governments should not force their dress codes upon people, it has to be the individual person's decision. I completely agree with what they said, and I totally respect their decision to wear it. And their ideal of modesty and dress. I also talked with a very conservative man and that was a much harder conversation to have. His view was that veils are required and any woman who does not wear one is a sinner. And he used a lot worse words and ideas that that. His ideal world is one where all countries have laws similar to Iran or Saudi Arabia where women are always veiled public places and the mixing of men and women outside of the home is extremely limited if it exists at all. Women should stay in the home when possible and that is that. It was good to hear his opinion and get his side of issue. However, I had a real hard time not fighting back and disagreeing with much of what he was saying.
I ate at Gabri Restaurant this past week on Garden Street, which some claim has the best mansaf (not made at somebody's individual home). However, I disagree. The food was really good, but not as good as other places that I have tried. Also, it was more expensive. So it was worth going once, but I will not go again. For restaurant mansaf, I will only go to Matam Al-Quds. That is my recommendation for anyone that comes to Amman. Of course, if you can make friends and they are willing to make it for you from scratch, that is preferable.
This week I have also enjoyed speaking Arabic more and more with people I have gotten to know better. I have some real Arab friends now and that makes a lot of difference. Some of them speak English so we have Arabizi (Arabic/English) conversations while others don't speak any English so that makes it a lot more of a challenge. Lots more acting and guessing on what a correct word for the conversation might be. Both are helping me to learn better bit-by-bit. The scary fact is that there isn't much time left for improvement and learning. There is only a limited time to keep speaking Arabic here and then it will be over. I hope to improve a lot more still.
I also did finally buy some movies this week from the movie store. I got some Arab films that I really like (and some I haven't seen yet) as well as a few cartoons that I can watch in English or Arabic. And then some modern fun movies just because. I hope that watching some of the movies in Arabic will help increase my understanding and speaking (according to all the people here, that is how they learned English). Hopefully, it works in the reverse as well.
Well, it was a great week and we just finished watching World War Z in honor of the season(I got Hocus Pocus to watch here in honor of the season). I didn't have very much time to write today, but I will write more next week since we are going to the Dead Sea and the Baptismal Sites as well as some other sites. I also have plans to finally go get a hair cut this week as well as try to go hit up some more places to eat and see and a lot more people to talk with and get to know.
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