A Week of Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunities!

So this is the second-to-last-week-report and I can honestly say there is so much to do and so little time and there is no way to stuff it all in. Also, I am going to miss my friends here so much. Thank goodness for Facebook so that I can keep in contact with them all or I might just go insane. I have never thought about how hard it would be to have to say goodbye to someone and it literally be goodbye for the rest of my life. It is possibly the hardest thing I have ever done in my life and I definitely do not enjoy the experience.

I have to give a shout out to Phil now. His baseball idea was brilliant and has paid out in major dividends. I have written short, personal messages (it makes me write very succinctly) on the baseball and then give it to my teachers and friends. So far it has been a very original idea and everyone has appreciated it. I hope it really does mean as much as people have been saying, because it is something that you can’t find here as well as the fact that I do write personal messages and memories on the baseball. I have to thank Phil for that idea and would recommend to people who are doing the program in the future or are contemplating travel to other countries in the near future.
This past week started the official season of testing and I have never been as nervous or as confident (a weird paradox I know). We basically only know the name of the different tests we will be taking and everything on that test is a complete and total mystery from there. There is really no way to study, you either know it or you don’t. Cramming will do nothing and help no one. It is a true “test” of what you know and what you can do. I guess this is how I always wish education would be. It is a true marker of where you are and how much further you have to go, however, it is nerve-wracking because a perfect score is impossible and unachievable no matter how hard I try. It is the first class that has presented me with this type of learning and thought. There is no way to be the “top” student, there is only the daily struggle and the pay off of seeing slow progress. It has been a great learning and growing experience for me as well as very humbling. I have had to rely a lot more on actual studying and practice and prayer. Faith has definitely helped me a lot and made a tremendous difference.

Talking about faith, today I was able to witness the baptism of a family of four here in Jordan!!! How cool is that?!? The church is growing even here in Jordan, step-by-step. The Papkenian family is Armenian and lives in Amman. I have gotten to be good friends with the daughter Lucy and with the son Kevork. We have gone to Fruit Salad, Taj Mall, and Chinese food with them and some others who have become their friends. It has been awesome to become their friends and to hang out with them. We always talk about the differences between American, Jordanian, and Chinese culture and why we think those differences exist. We talk about all the normal deep friend topics like future dreams and goals, food, school, home life, and of course – who we think is the hottest/cutest Hollywood celebrities.

Seeing them get baptized today has been the spiritual highlight of my trip here to Jordan. There was a vast outpouring of the Spirit when they went under the water and came back up. And when they got confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost, the same thing happened again. The Saints here were so overcome with joy that they burst out in applause and exclamations. It didn’t feel out of place or weird either when it happened, I think they just didn’t know how to react. Baptisms here are a very rare thing and that was evident in the reactions of the Arab members as well as the difficulty in performing the ordinance. First, they had to come up with a translation that matched the English words as perfectly as possible and they had trouble remembering these words. Then, the baptisms. They were done outdoors in a font that wasn’t very full (that water shortage problem thing again). The men in the family had to be baptized four times each because some part of them kept rising above the water. As Elder Hammond described later after the ceremonies as the closing remarks, “the ordinances must be done perfectly because they were given to us by the Lord and as we follow His counsel exactly, blessings follow. He loves us and gives us everything for our happiness and success including ordinances like baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the temple. He advised the family to set their sights on the temple and I believe that they will get there. It was a very emotional and amazing day. I am definitely going to miss this family when I return home and will have to keep up with them on Facebook and Instagram.

For a complete change in topic! I found Mexican food in Amman, Jordan. There is a new place on Rainbow Street (which is like a European street picked straight out of Paris and dropped near downtown Amman complete with crepes, fancy cars, crazy traffic, and a variety of food from around the world. A new taco restaurant was just built next to a hot dog place and a shwarma place. The taco place is built like a hip London underground station. It was two big bars hanging from the ceiling with handholds attached and all the seats are done just like subway seats. It is kind of clever, how that connects to tacos? I honestly haven’t the slightest idea, but it is a fun place regardless. The food was quite expensive – I got a soft taco and a hard taco (both chicken) with fries (of all things) and a drink. The tacos were interesting – chicken cooked in an assortment of spices (not all normal Mexican), guacamole (tasted great), sour cream, canned corn, enough cheese for three tacos (a rare commodity here so I enjoyed every bit), and some sort of chip resembling nacho cheese Doritos. The overall effect wasn’t good or bad but nostalgic and got me excited for having real Mexican food the day I get back home. Oh yeah, they also had jalapeños in them so they had the right spiciness level. So good.

Before the food, we hit up a Christian Christmas bazaar that our friend Deen told us about. I am also going to miss him so much. A bunch of different Christian churches set up booths and were selling different Christmas decorations, Christmas goodies, and homemade wine. If I wasn’t a Mormon, I would have made out like a bandit at this bazaar. Every place boasted to have the best wine, made just the way it was made in Jesus’ day. Each place was also handing out free samples that were huge so that you could tell that theirs was the best. I have never been offered so much alcohol so freely in my life. They found it bizarre (like how I used both of the “bazaar’s” in one paragraph?) that we didn’t drink and yet claimed to be Christian. We got to explain the very basics of why we didn’t drink and they respected our beliefs. We also got to feel a touch of Christmas with the trees, the lights, the Santa Clauses, the reindeers, and the baked goodies. There was a bagpipe band that was playing Christmas carols as well and although they weren’t the best I heard, it was a great blessing to hear “Jingle Bells” and “Silent Night” in the middle of Jordan. Something I never dreamed I would have experienced before coming. I didn’t buy anything though, just enjoyed the general atmosphere and felt a touch of the Christmas spirit that added the perfect touch to my holiday weekend so far from home.

Well, that brings us to the next item: Thanksgiving in Jordan. Thanksgiving is definitely an American invention and holiday. There were no announcements like Halloween about it being evil or beneficial, no mention of it at all actually. Some of the Arabs that I talked with this week had a vague knowledge that something big was going down in America, but I had to explain everything about the holiday for them to have the slightest inkling of how big a place it really holds in American culture and tradition. I have never before realized how big an institution Thanksgiving is or how much I took for granted the fact that it has always been a holiday for me before. Here, there was no holiday. We went to class the same as normal and did homework the same as normal. One of the American members of the English branch did invite us all over to his house (along with all the other members) and we had a gigantic, potluck style Thanksgiving with all the traditional fixes and some Arab flair thrown in.

We had the turkey, mashed potatoes, yams with marshmallows (my favorite), stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, salads, rolls, and pie. And there was more than enough for everybody so that there was leftovers of everything. We could all eat our fill and then do the normal laying around/sleeping that has also become a celebrated part of the holiday. We ate dinner around 5 and finished everything around 7. It was a lot of fun. The Arab flair was that in addition to rolls, there was sherak bread. It is kind of like a really thin tortilla but much larger and with a lot more flavor. We need a lot more of it in America somehow in the future. Also, the drink was carcadae. It is this powerful base that you put in the bottom of a cup and then you add Sprite of Ginger ale to it until the liquid reaches the top. It has a vaguely fruity flavor reminiscent of a sparkling grape juice. Everything in the meal blended together real well and no one was left wanting. I had the most exquisite lemon cream pie for dessert that had been made from scratch as well as an apple crisp topped with ice cream. I am hoping that there might be pumpkin pie I get to devour when I return over Christmas break (hint, hint).

Well, that is everything I can remember right now to type. It is almost 1:00 AM and my brain stopped its normal function sometime ago. We were watching the Christmas classic “Elf” earlier while feasting on the most delicious of kebsa. Some of my roommates invited their friends over to teach them how to cook and the results were marvelous. It was the most tender, flavorful rice that I have ever had. I ate three platefuls of the rice alone and only had about two bites of the chicken that goes on top (although that was also good). As much as I rave about all the food on this trip, that rice tonight wins the award for best rice of my life and I hope to be able to cook it myself in the future after I return home. Some of you might get to be the guinea pigs to taste test it and help me get it to the level that I enjoyed today. Anyway, this week has been fun and sad and stressful and spiritual and amazing and depressing all at the same time, many times at the same exact moment. I hope to be able to get all my goodbyes in this week along with all my finals and packing and last minute eating around, sightseeing, partying, shopping, you know – last minute everything. Picture every last week of the semester and then multiply that feeling by about 50 and you might get all the feelings that I am going through right now. I really hope to return to this amazing country one day to see all my friends and to partake again of this marvelous culture that I have come to love and thrive in.

Ok, take that back about last things. Count this as my post scrip (or PS as they are written in letters). I had my official OPI this past week. It was a lot easier and more natural feeling than I had ever imagined it being. My last OPI that I took at the end of Arabic 202 felt like a test the whole time. I felt like I had to give the exact answer the proctor was looking for and the role play felt so contrived and scripted that it allowed for very little creativity or critical thinking. It was basically a test of my survival skills in Arabic. This time around, the whole thing felt more like a formal conversation or interview. I didn’t feel like I was being forced to give specific answered or backed up to a wall with my availability of responses. I was free to express myself and be me and not just a vague shadow of me. The first thing she asked me was to describe myself and that is a question I have always found awkward and too open-ended regardless of the language I am speaking. She let me talk for 6 or 7 minutes straight. I talked about my schooling, my family, my hobbies, my home, my friends, the cities I have lived in, the jobs I have worked, my future goals, etc. I just kept talking and talking and talking until I eventually trailed off because I was just giving off a big glob of information. Apparently she would have accepted more though because she waited for a give 15 seconds before giving me the next prop or question.

We spent the rest of the time discussing stereotypes. We discussed why they exist, what they are, how to change them, how I felt about them, how my personal views have changed, what I have done to change others views, and so much more. We talked about stereotypes that Jordanians have about Americans and vice versa and where these were based on fact and where these were based on conjecture. We talked about the role of the media in promulgating stereotypes and its responsibility in the matter as well as what the government could do to reign them in to show things in a more truer light. We talked about this blog and the pictures I have taken and my personal experiences with other people that have changes some of your stereotypes or beliefs about different people or cultures. In the end, my thesis came to be that only personal experiences really changes people. I have been changed so much from this program and I get word back from some of you that my words have helped to change your views or opinions as well. I suggested to Farah (my proctor) that all those who visit other cultures have the responsibility to paint an accurate picture for their friends and family that they left behind. This way people actually get to know the truth and not just the shock and awe version of it that we read in the headlines every day. And consequently caused my mother some anxiety regarding this trip before I ever left home.

We also talked about how the media objectifies women as sex objects and what that means for Western women and their treatment here by men in the Middle East. She made me reconcile the fact that the I called the people here nice and courteous and amazing with the fact that I also described that a woman is never entirely safe on her own on the streets here. I had to explain why I think that is and why there is such a divide. I blamed the Western media for creating a rape culture here that is very similar to the rape culture that many people see evident in America and Europe. I also said that this is exacerbated because there has never been a gender or sexual revolution here. Gender roles are very much still stuck back in what we would consider to be 1950’s America – women must work in the home, men must work in the office. Women outside the home must mean they have looser morals in every facet of their lives, which many men here sadly take advantage of. Don’t get me wrong, they are plenty of upright, Westernized men who treat women better than a lot of the men that I know in the USA. But there are a lot of men who come from poorer, more conservative circumstances that have no idea how to react to a woman in a supposed “man’s space” and therefore react in an inappropriate manner. Anyway, it was a very interesting conversation and I was amazed at the amount of Arabic I could get to come out of my mouth to discuss something so complex.

We ended with a role play that I did not do so well in. I was supposed to be addressing a giant forum of university students and administration about a new policy that required all students to live on campus. I was supposed to be giving a very formal speech with no filler words or pauses or problems. I had to give my opinion and evidence to back it up. It was a lot harder than what I was planning on and because of how long I had already been talking, I was slightly tongue-tied. I managed to get out that I agreed with the proposition because it would increase the security of the campus. The campus police would be much closer to the students and could react to threats in a timely manner. Also, it might help with student punctuality because they would be so close to where their classes are held. No need for cars or traffic, just walk to everything. We had already gone over time anyway so she wanted me to make it quick so I did the best with what I could. I felt that whole thing went a lot better than I had anticipated and I am grateful for your prayers that I know helped!

I also had the experience of having wings in Jordan this week. They weren’t quite up to par with Buffalo Wild Wings, but they were pretty good. Pretty pricey though. We also had a Jurassic Park marathon while doing studies, definitely hard to fall asleep while listening to those and reviewing newspaper articles. I love you all and hope you had an amazing Thanksgiving!!! I am thankful to have such amazing friends and family. I am thankful for my experiences in Jordan with these amazing people and beautiful language. I am thankful for the many wonderful blessings I have in my life that would go on for at the very least ten more pages if I only tried to list them all (and not even describe them). Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Winding down...

This week has been the week to check stuff off my list of things to do while still in Jordan. Which is good because time is definitely winding down at this point. I have to visit all the restaurants, the sites, get all the final shopping done before time rapidly runs out. I have eaten at a lot of my favorite restaurants again as well as tried some new things. This past week I tried Turkish food and it was......different. It was a giant potato (of Claim Jumper's or Joe's BBQ proportions, so bigger than a normal dinner plate or my face) stuffed with all things delicious. Although I don't know if they were necessarily delicious together, per se. There was this pea/carrot/white gravy soup thing that served as the base with corn, olives, chicken shwarma, ketchup, mayonnaise, and other things I cannot recall at the present time. It was like a gigantic glorified potato salad and big enough to fill you up for the rest of the day.

After so much starch from the potato, Ben, Isa, and I had to go try donuts in Jordan to add some sweet to our diets. We went to this place called Donut Planet and sampled the food there. It was quite superb. I got an éclair and it was everything I was hoping it would be. All the rest of their donuts were pretty good as well, albeit they were stuffed with something. Apparently, just normal donuts here are weird so they stuff them. The maple long john donut was stuffed with blueberry filling, the chocolate long john was stuffed with raspberry filling, etc. Not quite the normal American way, but not bad.

I know this week that I said I wouldn’t spend too much money on anything….well that was a little foolish of me to say. I finished up souvenir shopping this week by buying scarves for a vast variety of people – work colleagues, friends, teachers, etc. Plus I had to pick up some kuffiyas for some guy friends, I did have help getting them all bargained down to a much more affordable price. I hope everyone likes what I get them. I am trying to pick out things that would suit people’s tastes, but you just never know. I do have to say the gifts here are cheaper by a lot than the USA. That is, if you aren’t buying electronics. Electronics here are much more expensive and I am not sure why. Not as good relations between Japan/China and Jordan as between the former and the USA perhaps? That would be an interesting research paper topic for the future if I get the time.

Other adventures and grand happenings of the week? Let’s see. The new building , “center”, of the LDS church was dedicated here in Amman yesterday!!! How cool is that? They had a big district conference to commemorate the event and people came from Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt to see the building. I think they were all a little bit jealous and wished that they could have similar constructions within their own countries. However, the timing is not quite right for it. Too much war and instability and uncertainty to keep up weekly membership, but as one of the speakers said yesterday, “Jordan is an island of peace and prosperity in a sea of raging conflict and instability.” See? I always told all of you all that Jordan was safe. The talks that were given were spiritual and uplifting. Arabic is such a beautiful language and things can be conveyed through it in a much prettier fashion than sometimes than English. After the conference, the Church catered lunch for us – maqloube, rice, laban, hummus, baba ganoush, pita bread, and the ward members brought cookies. What’s a grand meeting without food after all?

The night before, there was fireside where one of the Lebanese members shared his powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. He brought up a really interesting point that I had never considered. The Book of Mormon uses the phrase “river of water” instead of just “water”. Americans would have understood “rivers” to mean “water” because the vast majority of rivers in America are always running. However, in the Middle East you have to specify a “dry river” or a “wet river” depending on the time of year and its location. It is similar to Arizona in many respects where rivers only really have water a select few months out of the year and the rest of the time they are this weird, barren ditch or gulch-like construction. He said Joseph Smith could never have known this distinction that is common for people living here to make because New York has so much water year-round. It made perfect sense to him though. His main point was that the Book of Mormon is the foundation of our testimonies and gaining a spiritual witness of it is the only way to know the Church is true. It was very powerful address to listen to.

The Saints in the Middle East are filled with so much faith. It never ceases to astound me. Despite the enormous challenges and stigma attached to being a member of the church here, the people are faithful and strong. They serve missions, strive to find anyone they can to marry in the temple (the temples and the eligible bachelors/bachelorettes are extremely limited to say the least), teach amazing lessons, and rely on the Lord in so many more ways than many of the people I know in the States. It has been a tremendous faith-strengthening experience to live here and witness the example of a very religious people and culture as compared to the secularism that is present in our current Western lifestyle. One of my speaking appointments this past week we even talked about our beliefs about animals. We both agreed that animals are one of God’s sacred creations and have a spirit and deserve to protected and treated with respect. At the same time, God gave them to us and it is ok to eat them and keep them as pets as long as they are treated with the dignity and respect that creations of God deserve. Let me tell you, that was an interesting conversation to have in Arabic and one I greatly appreciated. Muslims have such strong faith and find it so easy to share their beliefs in all that they do and say. I hope to be able to do the same thing in my life when I return to the USA.

Last night, an entire Muslim family came to dinner at our apartment. We made them pot roast, baked potatoes, and salad. They were fans of the potatoes and found the salad good. They had a hard time with the pot roast though, haha. They don’t usually use knives here to eat with and pot roast usually requires a knife to cut it into manageable pieces. They struggled with that concept as well as the flavor and the texture. The son thought that it tasted too much like tuna and not enough like cow. I guess that is what happens when your tongue is accustomed to the rich variety of spices that accompanies every meat dish here. Everything is always popping with flavor and color. Our meat seemed pretty bland to them in comparison. We had soda floats for dessert. They found the root beer to taste way too much like medicine. Also, we had to reassure them over and over that root beer is, in fact, non-alcoholic. They only took a sip each of that. Instead of the traditional American rootbeer float, they opted for Pepsi floats or Dr. Pepper floats. Those were a big hit and they all enjoyed them after getting over the stigma of mixing a soda with ice cream. They also brought a delicious apricot/blondie type bar with them and we feasted on those as well. It was a lot of fun to treat them as our guests instead of the other way around.

All the fun of testing starts this upcoming week, so pray for me if you would. I have my OPI on Wednesday night. That tests worries me about all the other ones. It is just straight speaking and has a huge impact on half of my graded classes here on the Study Abroad. I just have to be able to talk in paragraph-long discourse as well as keep the verbal system under control. Both of those things are easier said than done, for me at least. I am practicing though and praying that things will work out. This upcoming week is our last full week of classes (no Thanksgiving break for us). Then we have three days of classes next week before having five days of testing. After that, we leave for Palestine/Jerusalem the very next morning and spend two weeks there. I am so excited for that trip if I can just make it there. Although, I am getting incredibly sad about all the people that I will miss here. I plan on finding them all gifts (from my American bag of tricks that I brought with me) before the end. I just hope that they appreciate them and that Facebook will allow us to keep on being friends long after I am living back in good ol’ Provo, Utah.

The Climb (and yes, you should be singing that Miley Cyrus song in your head, it's the only good one she has anyway)

Just got back from a whirlwind tour of Salt and it was fun to get outside of Amman once again. Salt is a town just outside of Amman that was originally a Turkish city founded during the reign of the Ottoman Empire. It was almost picked to be the capital of Jordan, but was glossed over in favor of Amman by the-powers-that-be (in this case Great Britain) way back when. So it has a different charm and feel to it from the other parts of Jordan that I have been to. It was much more laid back and peaceful feeling as a city than Amman. It is also nice to get a day away from the hustle and bustle of the big city for me. There was a group of five of us that went down to see the city – Taylor, Anessa, Scott, Ben, and me. We went and saw the Archaeological Museum first (nothing too special there, but it only cost a half dinar, so ehh, not to bad). Afterwards, we went on a long hike up a hill to get to another museum that was built in a gigantic Turkish mansion. However, we were sidetracked by the most beautiful of garden/cemeteries at the top of the hill.
So the cemetery. I have never seen another culture’s cemetery and it was fascinating anthropological journey inside another people’s ideals about respect for the dead. Each of the graves only took up about 5 ½ - 6 feet of space length-wise and about 3 feet width-wise. Also, every single plot was raised up anywhere from a foot of the ground to as tall as me. None of the plots were left at ground level. It was quite a big difference from out Western-style of just setting up a gravestone and leaving the ground flat. In Salt, the entire plot is elevated and then they elevate the gravestone up and above that. I think that gives a certain amount of respect for the deceased memory – putting their memorial above the ground. It reminded me of how you can never put the Qur’an on the ground because it shows disrespect for the word of God here. In my mind, this simple respect between the grave plots and the Qur’an became connected and show great respect and reverence for both. I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone else, but it makes sense to me and I find the sentiment lovely.
After walking solemnly through the graveyard, we ventured up the hill through a beautiful garden to a giant monument to a bunch of Turks that died in a tremendous battle protecting the city a hundred or so years ago. It was quiet and peaceful and everything that a monument to dead war heroes is meant to be. Next, we ascended the final steps to reach the Turkish mosque at the very top. It was lovely, but unfortunately, closed. We ran into a family of Syrian refugees at the top and had a blast playing with all their children. The kids were so cute and so much fun! It never ceases to amaze me to see people who have lost everything and yet are able to be as happy and joyful as anyone I know. The two women who were watching the kids related to us their said tale. They were refugees of almost 3 years who had come from the southern border of Syria towards the early beginnings of the Civil War and found themselves refugees in Jordan and placed in Salt. Like other refugees, they aren’t allowed to work or live normal lives. They receive a stipend of 24 dinars/person/month to cover all their expenses from UNICEF and the UN refugee organization. That is not nearly enough to afford living here in this country. Food alone would come out to that a week per person if you were trying to be pretty frugal. They have found life hard in Jordan, but are grateful to have escaped the horrors of Syria. They were quick to tell us the need to visit Syria after the war ends. They said that Syria is the cultural capital of the Arab world as well as the most beautiful Arab country. I am inclined to believe them – they have water and a history that dates back to some of the oldest recorded that we know of (along with the purported oldest city in the world – Damascus).
After spending a couple hours with them, we made our way back down the hill to snap some pictures of the old-fashioned Middle Eastern market and some men playing backgammon and mancala. This is mancala on steroids by the way. Take a normal mancala board and triple it and quadruple the amount of stones and you get the picture. Also, the rules were a lot more complicated and hard to follow. Next came the meal of champions. We hit up a barbecue spot for lunch that was recommended by our teacher and enjoyed eating the traditional Arab style. Or as I like to think of it, as traditional family style. They bring platters of cooked meat and vegetables, pickles, bread, and hummus/baba ganoush (hummus’ eggplant-ish cousin) and set them between everybody. Then you just take a hunk of bread and put everything that you want inside of it and enjoy! There are no plates or utensils or anything like that. Everyone just shared and enjoys. I have grown to like the experience and always sharing huge meals. Generally, it tends to be a lot cheaper than ordering meals for each and every person as well.
Ok, so that was just today, but it was exciting day to say the least. I actually now have to try to remember what happened the rest of this past week and that can always prove to be a challenge. At least for me.
Last Saturday, I went and saw Interstellar in IMAX and absolutely loved it! It was an intense movie with so many twists and turns that I never saw coming. Plus being in an IMAX theater meant that our seats vibrated and it really felt like we were riding in the rocket ship and not just merely spectators to exploring the great depths of space. Also, there is a part where they fly through a wormhole and the cinematic presentation of it made me dizzy and almost motion sick. I have never had that affect from a movie before and I have to say I quite enjoyed the experience. I would recommend going to see this movie on the big screen if you get the chance, it was quite a treat. Small screen might just not do it justice if you are a Redbox-er, go see this one in theaters. It is worth the expense. Also, Arabic subtitles are a funny thing. They always make them in the most formal of foosha (the formal) dialect. So everything in Arabic read as if you were living back in Shakespeare’s day and were addressing the king at all times. It added an element of humor to the film that would be lacking anywhere else in the world (and a whole lot of meaning that definitely was not conveyed by the English words that we could all hear).
This week was get-back-into-shape week as well. I actually visited the gym almost every day this week and got in at least a good half hour work out. That is the most consistent I have been in quite some time because it is just so far away. I am hoping to keep up this habit until the day we leave for Israel and then keep it up there as well. I guess I will just be using the treadmill at home because that is what we have. That or run outside because the weather will actually be nice and Mesa is flat unlike the hill-y city of Amman. Running here would be an exercise in endurance, dodging garbage and cats, avoiding crazy drivers, and huffing and puffing up the most insane incline of hills you can imagine. So, needless to say, I choose not to partake in that endeavor.
This week I put my focus back into getting all the homework done each and every day as well as devoting about an hour a day to studying old and new vocabulary. There are only two more weeks of classes here, a few days of review, and then the dreaded finals. We will be tested in every aspect of our Arabic – reading, listening, speaking, translation, general understanding and comprehension, ability to figure things out in context while do each of the former, etc. The only thing I think we are not being tested on is our writing. Which saddens me because writing might be my strongest attribute in any language is what I am discovering. I love writing. Reading comes in close second, but being able to express myself eloquently on the page with the aid of a second language is something very beautiful and precious to me.
I also have been trying to cut back on my expenses this week and for the remainder of the Jordan part of this trip. I haven’t been spending a horrendous amount of money or anything, but I can live a lot more frugally if I choose to and I have decided to try it out. Although, at the same time, I did make a bucket list of final restaurants to hit up, experiences to try, and sites to visit in the last three weeks here. So I will still be spending some money no matter what.
This past week we discussed the economy in class and I found I had quite a bit to say depending on the topic of the day. When my teacher was absent, I attended another class where we discussing unemployment and I found myself in a debate with a fellow student over the causes and faults of unemployment. He was on the side of people being lazy and they should be grateful for whatever job they can get. I was on the side of there not being enough jobs even then, that people with higher educations deserve to get higher level jobs or be unemployed for a while during hunting for one. Anyway, we both had faults and problems with our sides. But I find myself to be more of a liberal economically speaking than most of the other kids in the class. It was fun. For the Thursday presentation, we had to discuss Jordanian’s attitude towards socialism. That is a difficult, nigh impossible topic to present on in English, let alone Arabic. But my partner and I were able to conduct enough surveys to formulate a theoretical, general attitude with evidence to back it up.
Generally, people seem to support the ideal of socialism anywhere in the world. That everyone is equal and holds everything equally between them. There are no social tiers, levels, or classes that seek to separate of differentiate people. We even believe such a utopia society will exist one day in the LDS church in the future with the “all for one, and one for all” mentality and practice. A lot of the people here believe that a utopian society of sorts existed back in Muhammad’s day. However, with his death, people fell away from the true living of Islam and differences popped up between people again. Obviously, they romanticize his time period a little bit, but the sentiment is nice. When we talked about moving past the theory of socialism to its practice, no one believed it was possible. People are too greedy, no one wants to get paid less if working a higher level job (such as a doctor), government will always hoard more money than it needs, people will always take pleasure in the luxuries of life instead of giving more to the poor, etc. – these are a sample of the responses we got from people about living a socialist life. They see China and Russia as failed socialist states that really became/always were capitalist in their practices at any rate. They also see the Ba’ath Party states such as Iraq or Syria used to be as extremely failed and corrupted. The Ba’ath party was founded on socialist ideals and teachings. However, each state really was a dictatorship where people who belong to the ruling party had all the privileges, wealth, and employment and left everyone else to rot. So maybe, socialist in name but tyranny in actual practice. Many people said that no truly socialist entity has existed at any time in the past, they all tended towards anarchy or tyranny or capitalism. Human nature meant corruption and failed system of the ideal and equalized dream. It was interesting to hear this perspective from the people here and not just that socialism is of the devil like one hears on a consistent basis back in the States.
All my scores in presentations, writing, speaking, etc. are still slowly improving. Learning a language might be the most slow-paced experience I have ever had in my life. It has been a true lesson in patience. It’s not like math where you master a principle in a couple days of practice and move onto a principle that builds upon the former one. It is not English were you read great works of literature and then think how to apply what you read to your actual experiences and frame of thinking. It isn’t the digestion and interpreting of the arts like a humanities course. It isn’t really comparable to anything else I have ever done is the simplest way to put it. You work on so many factors of one thing – grammar, vocabulary, speaking, reading, writing, listening, conversating, presenting, newspaper reading, translation, just everything. Each and every little piece of the Arabic puzzle has to be precisely put into place in order to get the greater mechanism of progression to move along. And then it does it at a creeping pace, comparable to how slow the Heber Creeper Train in Utah goes or a very long hike across the desert. You really don’t feel like you are moving anywhere or going anywhere until you look back and see the painstaking trail you have covered to get to where you are. You really have traveled quite a bit, but compared to the ideal you have in mind, you still have so much farther to go. I am learning how to deal with and be ok with this different form of learning and it has stretched me far outside of my comfort zone this semester. I just hope these last few weeks I can keep slowly trudging up the mountain to place that I can accept and be comfortable with. I will keep up my energy and focus in order to reach as far as I can and see what happens.
That’s about all I have on my mind for this week. I hope all of you are doing great and enjoyed the fact that Veteran’s Day exists in the USA. Definitely didn’t get any such break here. Also, someone please enjoy a slice of pumpkin cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory for me, that stuff is delectable. In return, I’ll have some more legit family-style Yemeni food in your honor.

Old Happenings and New Happenings

So I realized I forgot to post about the Dead Sea and the Jordan River Baptismal site. That is a shame since both were so amazing to experience and see! About two weeks ago, we went on a field trip to enjoy the two major water sites of Jordan - the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. That's it and both are so small now that there is a likely future possibility that there will be no above ground water sites in Jordan left to see or swim in or whatever else you want to do with water. This thinking and warning from various signs or obvious physical remnants of bygone days when the water was much higher reminded me of a similar problem we are battling in Arizona. The amount of water loss in the Dead Sea is probably comparable to the amount of water loss in Lake Powell or other major lakes or rivers in Arizona. The Jordan River should really be called the Jordan Creek, same as the Salt River in Arizona. They are barely flowing enough to get a nice tube ride out of it or be able to get baptized in it if you try really hard.

Anyway, we first visited the Jordan River and the "supposed" baptismal site of Jesus Christ. Of course, no one could really know for sure where that might be. However, there was still a nice feeling about the place that was calm and peaceful. There were a ton of people we could watch getting in on the Israeli side to be baptized. Some members of my program also climbed in. I refused since all the water is just agricultural run-off from farms further upstream. Still, the plants and vegetation are reminiscent of what was there during Jesus' day. Plus this was the spot claimed by the Byzantine church to be the site of the baptism. And they only came a few hundred years after Christ, so it was a close as we could get to authentic. It was reaffirming to me to watch about a hundred people renew their commitment to following Jesus Christ. There was another, more private site further down that individual churches can rent for special baptismal services. It has a lot of sitting and a pulpit-like space. This is where the LDS church does their baptisms here in the Holy Land - a few kids from the branch got baptized there about a month or so ago. How cool is that? And what a story to share with all future prosperity. In addition to the magnificent spiritual experience of reflecting on the baptism of Jesus Christ and what it means in my life, it was also an architectual marvel to see so many different churches so close together. Each has its own distinct style and features. It was a humanities' TA's dream to compare all the different features and what they mean or the purposes they serve - Catholic, Orthodox, Greek Catholic, etc.

After spending a short time at the Jordan River (there wasn't overly much to see since it is so tiny) we headed down to the lowest point of land on earth - the Dead Sea. First of all, we went to this really fancy resort complete with multiple swimming pools and its own private beach that led down to the Dead Sea. That was a nice start to the whole experience. The Dead Sea was something I could never had adequately prepared my mind for no matter how much I researched or tried. It was other-worldly. Firstly, let me warn everyone about the beach. It is a terrible beach - it is not the nice, sandy ones I was used to. It is filled with gnarly, prickly rocks from the ninth circle of Hell, but I digress. Just make sure you keep your shoes on until you are ready to enter the water or you will be regretting it for quite a while. Stepping into the Dead Sea is like stepping into the ocean if it was about a thousand times more like slime. The thickness of it feels like oil or grease on your skin but you just skim across the surface. It would make for the easiest swimming competition ever, there is little-to-no effort involved and just small movements propel you really far across the water. If you lean back, it feels like you are laying on a water bed and you could probably also take a nap. You can even pretend like you are running and actually move somewhere unlike normal water. If I would have done the treading water workouts in the Dead Sea, the result would have been to push me halfway across the sea or all the way to Israel, who knows? Also, I would never have gotten an actual workout but it might have been a lot more fun.

After getting my fill of floating in chemicals, I covered myself in the infamous Dead Sea mud and waited about a half hour for it to harden before scrubbing it off. I have to say this really did work. My skin has never felt as nice or gotten sunburned so fast as after I took off the Dead Sea mud. It totally exfoliated everything and left me with all new skin. I also used it to turn my hair into a sizeable and impressive mohawk. Someone has pictures to prove it and whenever I get my hands on them, I'll post them to prove it. After being reborn (quite literally) I went swimming in the pools. I first tried out the water slide, unfortunately, the water pressure here in Jordan is not what it is in America. I had to push myself all the way down the water slide, so that was only a one time thing. I can say I have tried a water slide in Jordan now though. After that, we had some awesome chicken fight matches. When I was on top of Nick, we won a fair few games and held our own. Next, Yao Yao was on top of my shoulders and it was her first time ever trying to play this definitely American invention. Needless to say, we didn't do too well. Yao Yao could take out the other girl Julia, but we lost miserably to a team of two guys who were more athletic. It was a total blast to get back into the water though and just enjoy life.

Following swimming and water adventures of the day, we had the most exquisite buffet I think I have ever tried. It had all sorts of food from the East and the West. I ended up eating a huge plate full of salads from all over the world, then different chicken dishes from all over the world and then a huge plate of desserts from all over the world. There was even an attempt at something vaguely Mexican (although this was not that good). The rest of the food was out of this world though and divine. I ate enough there to last the rest of that week and then some. It was that good.

Ok, now to the present time and week after our journey to yester-week. This past week was as filled with adventures and new experiences as any other. I already covered all the Halloween fun and extravaganza, so now we can move on to the rest of the week. I had a fun time this week getting my first hair cut in a different language. I have decided there are so many basic things we take for granted in life that actually require a good deal of specific vocabulary and grammar to get them done right. Have you ever considered the words for getting a hair cut like how many inches, what style you want, how to cut your bangs back, the number of the "buzzer" size and what that means, "finger-length", shampooing, etc. I have always taken hair cuts for granted but after this week I will never do that again. Thank goodness, the guy I got was very understanding and we got very good at communicating hair cutting terminology through miming and gestures. We also had a good long chat about families, work, life, the universe, and everything (points if you can name that movie) just like you do with anyone that cuts your hair. I also found out that men attend a special hair school here to learn how to do men's hair. Oh yeah, here in the Middle East there are different barber shops for men and women. Apparently, the women ones are kind of like a party because women can take off their hijab and let loose. I would not know this, it is just what I hear. Anyway, there are separate cosmetic schools or colleges for men and women to get trained for their specific gender. The guy who did my hair found my description of American hair-cutting establishments bizarre and slightly offensive since women cut men's hair and that is considered normal. It was an interesting discussion to have. Hair has a much more significant meaning here than in the USA. It is viewed as much more of a sexual, attracive object and seeing a woman's hair has a lot more meaning behind it, generally, than it ever would in the West. It was a great experience to have here.

Ok, I have to have my usual paragraph about food, since I manage to try something new each and every week. This week I went to a new Yemeni restaurant that instead of doing rice, does really delicious flat breads. You order dishes to share with everyone at the table and then you each take a chunk of bread and pick up whatever the dish is with that bread. Like most Middle Eastern dishes, you eat with your hands and not silverware. There was delectable chicken dishes, bean dishes, tomato soup-like dishes, and more. There was also a sweet bread (kind of like a tortilla) that was deep-fried and stuffed with bananas, cream, and honey. It was like a gift sent straight from heaven. I also had quite a bit more of the most amazing Chinese food this week. I also have started to pick out my favorite juices here in the Middle East that I can't get back home such as lime and kiwi, mint lemonade, watermelon and rose water, cherry and banana, etc. I drink quite a bit of those everyday, because they are so delicious and addicting. I also will miss so much other food upon getting back to the States, Trader Joe's might become my next best friend because of all the options that are there.

This week, I was able to attend an original Arabic play for Kaylie's birthday celebration. It was on the life of Gibron Kahleel Gibron who was a Lebanese artist who lived out a lot of his adult life here in America and wrote great works of literature in both Arabic and English. He had a very wealthy American patroness who provided for him as well as lots of interesting life stories and experiences (as all people do). The play lasted about two hours and was entirely in Arabic. I was able to understand the vast majority of it as were at the other people from my program. All of it fit together really well and was very interesting. There are differences in opinion though in what passes for comedy and drama between normal American plays and Jordanian plays. The play utilized two men throughout the play to act as "dimwits" or picture "Horace and Jasper" from 101 Dalmations or "Pain and Panic" from Hercules and just picture the guys from "Dumber and Dumber" and you can understand the role these guys played in the play. And they did it beautifully and laughter abounded. It would just be weird to include such characters in American biographical, time pieces. They also did Arabic expressions of body language and gestures that I don't know if were always supposed to be in there or not or if the actors and actresses just did it out of habit. Also an Arab woman portraying an American woman was quite a sight to behold and they kind of pinned our weird American quirks and tendencies spot on (at least of the 20's flapper type woman who were rich). It was a good boost to my Arabic confidence that I could understand what was being said in the play and what was going on, especially since it was all in Jordanian colloquial which I have had to learn from the ground-up since being here and just talking with people on the street. There is a tremendous difference between formal Arabic we study at Qasid each day and the normal, lower-level Arabic of the street. Basically, I can almost say I learned one-and-a-half languages or even two after this semester is over, because they are that different. It was a great play though and unusual because it was in colloquial and not in formal like things normally are done.

Yesterday, one of the families in the English branch through a movie night for everyone to attend from our program. We watched "The Giver" and after that "Knight and Day". "The Giver" was pretty much what I expected. A sorry attempt to adapt a classic book and work of literature into film. It was worth watching once though and I did enjoy it, but I felt let down by the giant chasm between the expectations I had from the amazingness of the book and its sequels. "Knight and Day", on the other hand, was a revelation of wonderment and laughter. It has Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz and it is a romantic comedy action. He is a spy and she is an unsuspecting citizen who gets caught up in the spy game and how a relationship develops between them and how clueless she is as he continues to save her. I definitely am going to be looking for the movie to buy now, I could watch it again and again. I also have a question for those back home if they want me to look for any movies while I am here or get them anything. Albeit, I have yet to find "Better Off Dead" yet for Lora. I will keep hunting and hope that it will pop up in the future. And two copies of it so I can have one and she can have one.

This week I have made a recommitment to study and do my homework. I think everyone in my program is suffering from burnout and wants to be done. And at the same time wants our Arabic to improve a heck ton more. We only have a few weeks left and we are all excited about the end of the homework and drudgery but at the same time feeling like we haven't made nearly enough progress yet. There is still so much more to learn and so much more to understand and so much more to speak correctly. I just have to find a way to keep improving after I get home and I am not quite sure what that is yet. In other news, if I want to postpone graduation and do the double major I might have the opportunity to go to Qatar for free and compete in an Arabic debate session. That would be really cool and it would be held right after the next semester ends. So that is making me rethink my life plan and goals, but ma'lish. We shall see.

I think that pretty much covers this week and what I was doing. I hope all of you are doing fantastic and are enjoying the grand month of November. You can think of all of us huddling in our apartments freezing because it is so cold here! I need to go buy wool socks so I can stay warm, or just live under a blanket for the next month.

The Illegalities of Halloween...

This week has gone by in a flash, or time flies faster and faster with no chance of slowing down. Apparently "time flies" is even an expression in Arabic, I used it in a presentation this week and my teacher liked it a lot. Also, they share the notion of something "spreading like a wildfire". It is nice to know some things bridge multiple languages and cultures. However, other sayings and expression definitely do not translate well in either direction. For example, at church today President Hammond tried to say death was not an exclamation point, but a comma. That definitely does not translate well into Arabic. They do not have the same meaning or feeling behind it. It didn't translate well at all, but points for a cool English saying. On the other hand, Arabs love to joke about how they will kill you. They will cut off your head or stab you or shoot you, etc. They always do it in jest, but it is their favorite comeback to anything. If they cannot come up with a witty remark to match what you said, they just say they will kill you and that is like the end all, be all in teasing one another. I guess we might also do that in America, but they are much more willing to jump to that saying here than I feel like we do back home. Now, don't fear for my safety, they mean "kill you" as in conceding the fact that you have the best argument or best sarcastic remark when they tease or kid or joke with one another or us.

On that note, saying greetings here in Arabic is quite a procedure. It is always a contest to see who can say the most stuff and compliment the other person the most. You say hi, hello, how are you, how's your family, how's your work, how's your mother, how's your studies, how's all your friends (you list the ones out by name that you know of), what's new with you, etc. The greetings themselves can take about 30 minutes and you can repeat the same question a few questions later with no problem. It can be very entertaining sometimes to see how long it will take to get to having a substantial conversation that is more than just the niceties. Also, each compliment must be returned in kind and then further returned. It is like a compliment battle that goes back and forth over and over and over. You always want to give the last and most creative and awe-inspiring compliment. It is quite a fun game to play and can be quite entertaining.

Ok, so sidetrack to Halloween. Halloween this year was declared illegal in Jordan so costumes or formal parties anywhere in public could end up with a person being arrested. As exciting as that sounds, I have made a life goal to stay out of foreign prisons if at all possible. Islam and some Muslims view Halloween as a devil's day and see it as a semblance of evil. They see it as a pagan holiday (basically any holiday that doesn't have a religious connection or meeting is a bad thing so Valentine's Day ST. Patrick's Day, etc.). Although independence days are ok, I guess building patriotism is always a good reason for a holiday. Anyway, Halloween was illegal and we warned about traveling to any parties in costume or mentioning anything to do with Halloween. Flash forward to me being in the activity and basically in charge of throwing a huge double-branch Halloween party with Zoya and her husband. And the help of all the students in our program, but basically just trying to plan everything was crazy. But it all turned out ok! We had a haunted house, a chili dinner, and lots of carnival games such as pumpkin bowling, a cake walk, donut-on-a-string, and bobbing for apples. We had a pretty big turn out and it was a lot of fun for everyone I think. Also, there were a lot of costumes and no one got arrested. We all just changed at the church and had the party and then changed back into regular clothes before catching a taxi back. I ended up just dressing up as Laurence of Arabia - long "thob", kuffiya and all. Then I worked the cake walk for most of the night after spending the day setting up and shopping for everything else that was needed. Then we cleaned up and that was that.

I also attended a Halloween party last night where we watched Hocus Pocus and enjoyed the great drink of wassail. I love that drink, especially this version that had lots of orange in it. It was a party thrown by Kendra and Phil and I brought the movie because I found it for one dinar at the movie store downtown. I also watched the Kung Fu Panda movie this week that I got from the same store in Arabic. It was a good boost to my confidence to realize I can finally understand the vast majority of children's animated movies in Arabic now. It only took 2 and a half years or so of study to get to this point, but it is nice to know I have improved over time. It is also hard to believe that there is only about a month left of classes and the program, I hope to improve even more and must keep working hard. It is so easy to burn out though sometimes and feel tired of trying to speak another language. However, it is worth it when I can speak to people and have a lot of good conversations on a variety of topics. I had a conversation with a taxi driver this past week on the way to the orphanage about the policies of both President Bush-es and President Clinton as well as President Obama. We were able to talk about different policies, especially in foreign affairs. It was an interesting debate to have and I was glad I was able to have it in a different language. I hope to keep practicing the language to get better and have even more deep conversations on a variety of topics.

Other things that happened this week. I went to the best Chinese restaurant that I have ever experienced in my life. One of my friends from the Amman branch was messaging me because I have obviously been missing it since now I got to the north branch. She was concerned that I was going less active and such. However, once I told her that I was assigned to go up north, she was ok with that but really wanted to hang out with me and a Chinese girl named Yao Yao. Yao Yao and Lucy (my Arabic branch friend) love Chinese food and so do I. So we planned to go to this Chinese restaurant where the real Chinese people go. When we got there, there were only Chinese people eating and our server could only speak Chinese or broken Arabic. All of these were very good signs. I opened the menu and what should appear? (I'll give you a hint it wasn't 8 tiny reindeer haha) it was pumpkin and vegetables with fried rice. My life was complete in that instant. It was fall, I am in a foreign country, Halloween was illegal, there was no leaves changing colors or even falling for that matter, and I get a touch of home with a foreign twist - pumpkin. Let me tell you, I am still fantasizing about that rice. It was absolutely perfect and I couldn't get over the taste of it. I don't know what the difference is or how they cook it to be so awesome, but it was. And also, pumpkin just makes everything the best ever.

In other words, volunteering at the Garden and at the Orphanage this week was a blast again. We made fire-starters this week at the garden that they sell for a dinar each. It was breaking up big twigs and branches into tiny pieces of wood and bundling them up. People in Amman love to drive out to places where there is a wide shoulder of the road that is dirt and have bonfires and picnics there. Almost of all Amman has some sort of awesome view because it is built on hills and valleys, so you can pretty much go anywhere to have an epic picnic. People just need a way to be able to start a fire which is there small fire starters. All the money then goes into the handicapped adults and the various activities and classes that the Garden tries to provide for them. At the orphanage, I had a lot of fun playing basketball with a group of very rambunctious, young boys. They were so excited to try to play. However, their favorite sport is soccer, of course. A lot of them were so excited to show me their Real Madrid jerseys and tell me why that is the best team that has ever existed on the planet. It was great.

I think that about raps up this week. Although, I also had amazing Arab food yesterday before the party. Spencer's friends Deen and Ahmed came over. Deen brought various vegetables that were cored and stuffed with a rice, meat, and spices cocktail. Ahmed made really great sandwiches with cucumbers, tomatoes, fried chicken, french fries, and some mayonnaise mixed with spices. Next week, Ahmed is going to make Egyptian food and I am so excited! I hope he makes us kushri, although I would be excited to try anything new as well. The Iraqi food that Deen brought was other worldly. There were peppers, eggplants, onions, grape leaves, and tomatoes that were all cored and then stuffed. Each different vegetable base lended its own unique flavor and texture to the dish that made it simply superb. I had to try each and every one and loved them all. I still think my previous comments about gaining weight by the time I come home might be accurate. At least partially at any rate.

The people here are so amazing. They are a continual reminder to me about the blessings and love of God in all our lives. They place such a high priority on religion and living good morals and worshipping God and God blesses them with happiness and peace in this very war-torn and war-weary part of the world where new tragedies and setbacks seem to occur on an almost hourly basis. These people will tell me stories of fleeing their countries in the middle of the night, how they watched brothers or mothers or children get killed in the most inhumane and barbaric of ways, how they lost everything and had to restart live and now live in small tents or temporary structures, and the list goes on and on. Their stories make me want to weep each time, and yet, they are such a happy and optimistic people. They believe that God loves them and has a plan for them and that He is in control. They have such a solid foundation of faith that nothing could really blow them down. It has been a great testimony strengthener to me about the need to build my faith and to truly put all my trust in God, regardless of what may be going on in my life. Allowing him to direct me will lead to happiness, peace, and contentment even in the direst and poorest of circumstances.

Happy Halloween to those of you who are in the USA! I hope you enjoyed it and also enjoyed the freedom to celebrate it, which is something I will never be able to take for granted again. I hope all of you are having a great Fall. And you should all know that Fall weather has arrived here in Amman - it was in the 50's all day and raining. It was marvelous!!! Have a great week!